The PB Experience

[John Spikowski]

I have sent multiple e-mails to PowerBASIC support asking what the issues might be with my forum access and account. My request for any response has been ignored. At one point I could post then I could only download attachments and now I can't do anything. 

Maybe buying something I don't need would do it. 

[Norbert Spoerl]

That are already again alarmingly news.

If you wish it, I could publish your here written words in the cafe of the US-Forum.
And with the request to answer of your emails.

[John Spikowski]

Thanks Norbert for your kind offer but I'm not a current customer and it's a commercial offering. If PB was freeware or open source I could claim bias.

[John Spikowski]

Is it just me or does it seem like the PB Experience has come to a screeching halt?  José Roca hardly posts anymore and the PB forum seems like ghosts wondering the halls.

What is your take on what is going on.

[James Klutho]

I have noticed the same.

[Patrice Terrier]

PB's break point occured on november 6, 2012, "point final".

[Theo Gottwald]

Hopefully somebody will buy the company and put ne light in the offices.
The problem with PB was always that their bussiness model did not pay out unlike for example PureBasic (that was even cheaper),
They made some huge mistakes in the fields of
- customer contributions
- free new versions
- pricing

While PureBasic did not make these mistakes, they took a lot of the market away.
A person who is really good in Software Marketing could make money with this compiler.
I wonder that nobody uses this chance.

[James Klutho]

Their latest PowerGrade sale was pitiful marketing.  The only notice of the sale, I think, was a strange post in the Product Annoucement Forum to the effect "Has anyone noticed the sale?".   To me, this is the one thing they could have gotten right.  I understand that further development in assembler would be daunting (much less porting the source to C or even PowerBasic itself), but product marketing should be something executed as common business practice - especially since these go on periodically so a pattern should be in place.  With so many free or cheaper development options out there, PowerBasic has to justify its relative more expensive cost.

A note: What set Powerbasic a part as a community was a group of professional programmers that used PowerBasic in their work which lifted Powerbasic above the "hobby" status of most of the alternative development options.  They would share their knowledge and code snippets with others.  With many of these types losing interest, the Powerbasic language is in "hobby" status and does not justify a premium cost.

[James Klutho]

My guess is that they do not know exactly all the changes in the last update so being vague is the path they have chosen.  Bob's documentation was probably not complete on his last good build which was probably what we saw in 10.04.  I chose not to update and stick with 10.03 for now.  I am sure they can not write a HISTORY.TXT for these reasons.

[Patrice Terrier]

Theo

Don't fool yourself, nobody will ever be able to take over Bob's work.

Speaking for myself, i am very glad that i never put all my eggs into the same basket.

The PowerBASIC forum, is now the private yard of the nostalgic, and the lost DDTer's.

[John Spikowski]

PB's break point occured on november 6, 2012, "point final".

I would have to agree with Patrice that Bob was PowerBASIC and with any single developer effort, it's a risk you have to be willing to take. Unfortunately there isn't a commercial BASIC (other than VB.NET) that isn't susceptible to this nightmare that effects everyone at all levels.

My heart goes out to José Roca that has put so much hard work into making PowerBASIC worth using with his include files. I fear that effort is too closely married to PB to have any fate of it's own.

Open source is the solution to risk free development. IMHO

[Christopher Boss]

I find it disconcerting that so many are so quick to give up on PowerBasic (the company). Sure, no one can replace Bob, but it only makes sense he knew that too and did all he could to make sure that PowerBasic would survive if something happened to him (which it did). The transition is of course difficult, but I plan on giving them the benefit of the doubt.

While third party developers in the past may have been a degree of support to PowerBasic, likely now they can do even more. The power and quality of the PB compiler is obvious. I wrote EZGUI 4.0 (previous version) with PB 6.1 which as a number of generation behind whatever was current then. I could write stuff for some time using even PB 8.x if I wanted to. I am currently using PB 9.x and 10.x for development which have a long life span IMO (at least another 5 to 10 years at least). 32 bit CPU's are also now back in fashion, not because of PC's, but because of the shift to Tablets. It is all about mobile right now if you all haven't taken notice. Intel is pushing its Atom line significantly because of its low power usage and longer battery life. Many tablets will be running Atom CPU's in the years to come and Atom only comes in 32 bit versions. All the Windows 8 Atom based tablets will be 32 bits. Microsoft is also taking notice of customer feedback and at the last build conference they talked about Windows 8.1 being a better "blend" than Windows 8, meaning more commitment to the desktop.

I have tested a good bit of EZGUI 5.0's features on Windows 8 and the WIN32 API is alive and well. Well designed desktop apps built using PowerBasic likely can run circle around Metro apps. I am not impressed where Visual Studio is going and WINRT only furthers many of the bad choices Microsoft has made in software design. Object Oriented Programming rules, to its own destriment. PowerBasic, while supporting some OOP, can also be used very effecitively with 100% purely procedural style coding which produces smaller apps, faster apps and with less complexity. I am convinced of that. For the Microsoft world its all about Metro (Windows store apps) for tablets and I don't think that the VS programmers for the desktop really have a good handle on Touch and Tablets. For me, that is the direction I am going in. The next version of EZGUI will be touch enabled and designed specifically for building hybrid apps (both the desktop and tablets). PowerBasic, the current compiler, has many years of life in it.

Also the people at PowerBasic have not given up. True some of them have been in the shadows of Bob in the past, but Bob likely hired some very good people who have the same passion for Basic as he did. I have been impressed with Jim Bailey. He seems to be doing a good job, likely more managerial stuff that in the past for him. PowerBasic though will likely change. Now they are in the transition stage which Bob likely set for them in his plans. That will likely simply be following through on some premade plans. This will require adjustments at they try to take over Bob's responsiblities. As they do this though, at some point they will have to start making some choices of their own. I for one, plan to be supportive. PB has done me good for the last ten years. Hopefully it will be around for the next ten years.

[Patrice Terrier]

Chris,

Companies investing in software development need to have a clear vision of the future, i couldn't see any future for PB that is already years back of all the other tools i am using.

Stop walking in circle around your nombrilla and look around to see what other companies already have in their shelves.

PB was handy to write small DLLs that wouldn't require any runtime.
But when it comes to create modern UI, it is a true nightmare.

Try to create something as simple as this with PB, and tell me how long it would take to you, even using EZGUI.



...

[John Spikowski]

Chris,

It's understandable that you are having a hard time accepting that PowerBASIC has come to the end of it's useful life. It was always 5 or more years behind the technology curve. Ignoring COM for years and then 64 bit was the fatal blows that became it's demise.. Bob passing just sealed the deal. I think it's obvious with your sale every other week that no one is buying PB or 3rd party add-ons. You need to find a real job or get behind a product with a future.

John

[Chris Holbrook]

Chris,

my sympathies. I haven't built a career on PowerBASIC, in fact have earned very little with it, but I can tell you that a long time ago my entire IT career was built on another product, in this case an operating system. I had just started my first high-paid contract job after years in employment, and poof - my future (and that of my young family) disappeared when the manufacturer made it obselete. Fortunately I had picked up some developer skills along the way and these kept me going.

Without presuming to offer advice, I can at least reveal that I have survived by a) adapting b) mining "legacy" for every penny.

Good Luck!