Basic PTE

[davegee]

Arising out of another thread, this is an invitation to discuss:

Do you feel that using BASIC Version 5.6xxx is easier/harder than using Version 4.49? WHY?

By BASIC V 5.6xxx, I mean WITHOUT the Pan, Zoom and Rotate features.

Is it, in BASIC use (WITHOUT PZR) any more/less memory intensive than V4.49?

Is it more/less intuitive to get a slide show on screen straight out of the box without help? WHY?

Do you consider it necessary to keep V4.49 as well as V5.6xxx? WHY?

It might help you if you have the ability to get both versions in view at the same time if you have, for instance, desktop and laptop PCs available.

DaveG

[xahu34]

Hi all,

There are several forum members who show hypersensitive reactions when a discussion on version 4.xx starts. Let me point out once more that I do not object using 4.xx.

I have just installed 4.49 and had a short look at it. Let me try to give a first impression as positive as possible for me: 4.49 is a very minimalistic slide show tool. To me it appears to be outdated, and it could never have been my choice. Of course, this is a matter of taste.

In my opinion, one thing should be avoided: 4.xx should not be offered to new users as an alternative to the current version, as it would place PTE behind its competitors. Furthermore, it would put pressure on WnSoft to maintain 4.xx, and to provide further support.

If WnSoft should again offer 4.xx for normal download (and not just via a deep link), it should be made very clear that this is not the product to buy, but only an old version without any further maintenance and support.

Regards,

Xaver

[davegee]

Xaver,

What you have said above is basically what others have said elsewhere.

I am trying to look at this from a different perspective and get some insight into WHY there is a need to keep 4.49 and why a newcomer to PTE could not do the same things with the BASIC features in 5.6 as with 4.49?

Would you like to take a fresh look?

DaveG

[xahu34]

Xaver ... Would you like to take a fresh look?

Sorry Dave,

I have already uninstalled 4.49 (it had grabbed the pte file extension).

As far as I got it from the few moments I looked at it, I could see that it places images in original mode. I think that newcomers, typically using several monitors and projectors with different resolutions, rather like relative positioning and scaling of images. So, the question arises, what should be the basic features of the new version which are to be compared with those of 4.49. For image positioning you need the pan function, for scaling you need zooms, even if you do not make use of keypoints and animation.

Regards,

Xaver

[fh1805]

Is it, in BASIC use (WITHOUT PZR) any more/less memory intensive than V4.49?

Do you consider it necessary to keep V4.49 as well as V5.6xxx? WHY?

DaveG,

During v5.6 beta programme I did a comparison of memory usage and published the results in a discussion thread here on the forum. Speaking from memory, each version of PTE that I looked took memory as follows (all measurements approximate and taken before loading any project file):

- v4.49 - 190KB

- v5.10 - 240KB

- v5.60 - 320KB

I believe these numbers to be meaningless because I suspect the bulk of PTE code is in dynamically loaded libraries and only shows up when a function is invoked. I feel that it would be very difficult for a non-technical user to get a truly consistent set of data.

I had kept v4.49 and used it regularly for Menu sequences because of the well-known and well-documented (here on the forum) problem of "desktop flashback" when running v5 of PTE under Vista. The new features of "Run slideshow" and "Run slideshow with return" in v5.6 eliminate this problem.

I no longer need v4.49 but I am keeping it installed (along with v5.04, 5.10 and 5.52) as a means of readily testing problem scenarios reported here on the forum. (In that respect my "need" for old versions of PTE is not representative of a typical user)

My "two-pennorth" for what it is worth is that I think v4.49 should now be offered as "freeware". Adobe let their old versions of Photoshop Elements get bundled as "free software" with digital cameras and scanners. There is no support for these old versions when so bundled - but they encourage the user to look into getting a more up-to-date version. Has Igor thought of using v4.49 in a similar manner to try and create some extra revenue stream?

regards,

Peter