fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) (07/26/88)
I guess I owe this to the ST community. Yes, I owned PPP for
about 1 hour. Groan.
A little background. SSC does UNIX consulting, training, sells
Pocket References and software. About 2 years ago we bought an
Atari ST and Publishing Partner to do the graphics work on our
flyers and catalog. Most of our typesetting is done directly
on a UNIX system, producing PostScript that we proof on a LaserWriter.
Final copy is done on a Linotronic typesetter.
Although Publising Partner has some bugs, it has been usable
for what we had intended. We wrote UNIX scripts to include the PP
output in UNIX typeset documents. All is sort of ok. The things we
missed were: being able to rotate text, use the downloadable fonts
with the LaserWriter and have bug-free software.
I called SoftLogik in May after I received a letter that said that
I could upgrade for only $50 if I ordered before the end of May.
The new PPP offered rotatable text and, hopefully, had fewer bugs.
I called and asked if downloadable fonts worked with a PostScript
printer. I was told, "Oh, yes, that is one of the new features."
I was going to order but was told it wouldn't be ready to ship until
the end of June. I decided to wait.
I ordered it a couple of weeks ago (still for only $50)
and got it last week. I returned it an hour later. Here is what
I found out:
* It does not support downloadable fonts with PostScript devices
* It has all kinds of new features
* It crashes under almost all conditions
* The documentation isn't really done. You get a big notebook and
a few pages of documentation
* The input files are not compatible with Publishing Partner
This last one really does it. It might, some day, be bug free
(although I doubt it as it is written in assembly language) but
the fact that we would have to throw away all of the source documents
we currently have makes it just as easy to buy a package that works.
Why do companies have featuritis? I would so much rather have
a program do what the manual says than have twice as many features,
only 20% of which actually work.
Anyway, too bad. Anyone out there know of a good program that
will do publishing stuff and produce PostScript?
Phil Hughes, SSC, Inc. P.O. Box 55549, Seattle, WA 98155 (206)FOR-UNIX
uw-beaver!tikal!ssc!fyl or uunet!pilchuck!ssc!fyl or attmail!ssc!fyl
--
Phil uunet!pilchuck!ssc!fyl fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) (07/26/88)
This is an addition to my previous posting. I forgot but there is nothing in the new manual about the keyboard sequences used to perform functions and the keyboard equivalents have been removed from the drop-down menus. I tried my usual ones, load, save, bold, italic, etc and they no longer worked. Either they changed or Softlogik thinks people really like to use drop-down menus to change into and out of bold when entering text. -- Phil uunet!pilchuck!ssc!fyl
nelson@kodak.UUCP (bruce nelson) (07/26/88)
In article <1376@ssc.UUCP> fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) writes: >I guess I owe this to the ST community. Yes, I owned PPP for >about 1 hour. Groan. > Phil, Publishing Partner Professional's schedule slipped one heck of a lot since it was originally announced. On June 28th +/-, they took a survey on GEnie, asking if we, the registered users who had sent in the upgrade fee, would like to recieve a BETA copy of PPPro. The response was almost unanimous that we'd like to see it in its present, very unfinished form. SoftLogik has made it VERY clear that that program DOES NOT WORK in its entirety. They are the first to admit that there are many, many, many bugs and crashes. This version was released to show us what features will be available in the final version. Many of the bugs that are in this BETA version worked on previous BETA versions. The ability to import Pub. Partner version 1 files is a #1 priority, as is the ability to covert version 1 font files. They have made it abundantly clear that this BETA version was not intended for anyone to do any useful work with it. The manual is a quickly put- together so you can see the features. The final manual will fill that 3" binder they sent. I have faith that the final version will encompass all the features that they have announced. The opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect the opinions of my employer or anyone else. Bruce D. Nelson | UUCP: ...!rutgers!rochester!kodak!hawkeye!nelson Eastman Kodak Company | Voice: 716-726-7890 901 Elmgrove Road | Company Mail: Dept 420 Technical Support Services Rochester, NY 14650 |
fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) (07/27/88)
I already received E-mail pointing out that PPP doesn't do everything because it is the beta version and Softlogik released the beta version because people kept asking for it. Here are the facts behind the rumors :-) :-) I never requested a beta version of anything. Softlogik made me an offer to upgrade for $50. It sounded good and I called them to make sure it would do downloadable fonts on PostScript printers. I was told that it would and was asked if I wanted to place the order over the phone. I asked, "Is it ready to ship?" I was told, no, it wouldn't be ready until the end of June (this was mid-May). Even though the $50 deal was supposedly good only through May, I elected to wait and order when the software existed. When I called in mid-July and asked if it was ready to ship, I was told, "Yes, we started shipping it last week." I was also told that I could still upgrade for $50. So, I did. The program I received did not say "beta version". There was a list of bugs (some bad enough to make the program almost useless) and a card to return that stated this wasn't the final version and if I returned this I would get upgrades. To me, the final version of software is the one you archive when you have stopped using the software. To me, this didn't imply that I have received a beta version and someday they would ship the real version. Nor would I have ordered a beta version. I want to use this product, not test it. I can survive with the old PP until a stable version is produced. Further, lots of things that worked perfectly in PP don't work in PPP. For example, keyboard sequences for commands in the drop-down menus. I would have prefered to pay $50 for a version of PP with the bugs fixed rather than $50 to get a program that isn't compatible with PP and doesn't work. I'm sorry if this sounds like ranting but I have been in the software racket for 20 years. I worked on testing an operating system for Computer Sciences Corporation. There were 20 people in the test group. Our product worked. I now work for a company that, among other things, sells software for UNIX systems. Sure, it isn't perfect software but it works, we support it and generally it is supplied with source code so you can fix a bug. Prices are fair, features are reasonable. We don't offer binaries of programs that supposed to do everything but have so many bugs they can't be used. If we, as ST users, want to see people accept the ST as more than a toy, we have to expect both Atari to produce hardware that doesn't break and the software vendors to produce software that works. Otherwise, people will buy Macs. They may be a dog but the software for them runs. and -- Phil uunet!pilchuck!ssc!fyl
cheung@vu-vlsi.Villanova.EDU (Wilson Cheung) (09/28/88)
I haven't been reading the net lately. The last time I got on I heard a lot of angry complaints directed against Soft Logik's release of unfinished software. Does anyone know if Publishing Partner is finished as advertised?, or at least fixed up? I am particularly interested in its structured graphics tools, and high quality dot matrix output. Wilson Cheung