filePro executables vs Win 2003

Mon May 14 18:50:38 PDT 2018

For those running Windows XP or Server 2003, your systems have a large security hole.  I would strongly recommend advising your clients to upgrade to at least Windows 7 and Server 2008.  

Most of you *nix users try to diligently keep you systems up to date with patches.  In most cases this is an easier job in that only one computer needs to be updated.  Anyone with Windows XP as the OS is looking from trouble.  The cost of being hit by ransomware or other virus will be more than the cost of upgrading.  I had a client who refused to pay the ransom and spent better then $75,000 to remove the ransomware and for more time to fix his data.

Yes, if a computer is running Windows XP it is more than 5 years old and should be replaced.  A new computer with Windows  10 pre-installed costs less than $500.00  today.  That is a lot cheaper than the Win XP computer when it was new.  

There is an advantage to upgrading and that simply is a faster computer.  As for upgrading the server, if one is running Server 2003, except on a virtual machine, one has a fairly slow server which is past its end of life.  I just hope that there is a backup server available to keep the business running.  In my client's case,  we brought up their old server with Server 2008.  Their new server had the array rebuilt and the Server 2012 re-installed.  This went smoothly as a backup Server 2012 had been configured prior to the ransomware and that configuration was copied over to the primary server.

FilePro was pointing to a license on a third machine.

Yes, Microsoft may be the problem but it appears that many of the *nix installations have library problems.  The main difference seems to be that library files that are changed or missing are available for download.

I have a feeling that Apple most likely does the same thing once and OS reaches its end of life.

The upgrades that FP Tech can Make to filePro depend on what the programming language offers and what libraries are included.  We all benefit from the new functionality.  Can FP Tech do more - Yes. But it costs money and those developers who don't upgrade their clients slow down this process as it becomes a cash flow issue.

Just consider your own software development.  If you can’t get your clients to purchase upgrades or don’t have new functionality to offer new clients, your cash flow is affected.

I am stuck with a large number of clients who basic business has disappeared.  They do not want to spend for any upgrades unless absolutely necessary.  I usually don't hear from them until they need a new printer of computer. Most will not need to upgrade as they are running 32 bit filePro which will run on Windows 10.  I have two large clients who are running on Windows Server 2012 and FilePro 5.8.03.XX .  The clients are Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise.  They are not having any issues with filePro; plus I have been able to offer them upgrades to their basic application.  To keep their initial costs down, they are on the subscription program.  This has kept their initial upgrade costs reasonable plus giving them a head start on functionality that will be rolled into the next major release of filePro.  Keep in mind that I also get to test the new functionality prior to offering these to my clients.  I can test out options like the selectbox() in place of a listbox().  If this option is reasonable(cost for changing the code) the I can offer it to my clients.  If I feel that is not appropriate, then I don’t offer it.  One item I have implemented is PDF printing as a built in filePro option.  Yes, PrintWizard is better and takes less programming but it is nice to have this option available.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Filepro-list [mailto:filepro-list-
> bounces+rkreiss=verizon.net at lists.celestial.com] On Behalf Of Bill Randall via
> Filepro-list
> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2018 5:12 PM
> To: Fairlight <fairlite at fairlite.com>; filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> Subject: Re: filePro executables vs Win 2003
> 
> Being a Microsoft software provider puts us at the whim of Microsoft.   The
> available dll's and other tools needed to work with Microsoft are provided by
> Microsoft.
> 
> When they update the C and C++ compilers that we use to create filePro for
> Windows, we have to depend on the libraries being available on the various
> versions of Windows in order for what we compiled to work.  Unfortunately
> when Microsoft elects to stop supporting a version of Windows, those dll
> update and versions are no longer available for those OS versions and our
> version of filePro will not work without them.  And on top of that, there are only
> allowed certain public dll's that we can supply in our install.
> 
> So 5.8.XX.06 was the last compile that was compatible with what Microsoft
> decided.  When 5.8.XX.07 was compiled we were forced to use the latest
> available libraries supplied through the license agreement with
> Microsoft.  Anything after 5.8.XX.06 will not run on XP or Win 2003 Server.
> 
> It is not that filePro stopped working, but that our updates would not work with
> the no longer supported operating system versions.
> 
> It is more like 'Backwards Compatibility' is not a feature of Windows.
> 
> Bill
> 
> 
> On 5/14/2018 3:57 PM, Fairlight via Filepro-list wrote:
> > Yeah, but "stopped updating" and "removed" are two entirely different
> > things.
> >
> > Were the binaries -ever- working on the system in question, or did
> > they simply stop one day?
> >
> > m->
> >
> > On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 06:55:10PM +0000, Robert Haussmann via Filepro-
> list thus spoke:
> >> To follow up, we heard back from FP Support and it appears that only
> versions 5.8.07 and lower are supported on Windows XP/2003.  Apparently
> Microsoft has stopped updating the necessary libraries for these OSes (as they
> are no longer supported).
> >>
> >> Bob
> >>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: George Simon [mailto:flowersoft at compuserve.com]
> >>>> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2018 1:36 PM
> >>>> To: Robert Haussmann <haussma at nextdimension.net>; 'Filepro List'
> >>>> <filepro-list at celestial.com>
> >>>> Subject: RE: filePro executables vs Win 2003
> >>>>
> >>>> I am getting the same error message, not with filePro because I am
> >>>> still running 5.0.14, but with an .exe program I use to get credit
> >>>> card authorizations.
> >>>> It only happens with Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.
> >>>>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: Filepro-list
> >>>> <filepro-list-bounces+flowersoft=compuserve.com at lists.celestial.com
> >>>> > On Behalf Of Robert Haussmann via Filepro-list
> >>>> Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2018 4:50 PM
> >>>> To: Filepro List <filepro-list at celestial.com>
> >>>> Subject: filePro executables vs Win 2003
> >>>>
> >>>> Figure this is a long shot, but does anyone know if there were any
> >>>> changes in recent versions of FP (32 bit) that would keep them from
> >>>> working under Windows 2003?  The latest (5.8.00.15R9) EXEs do not
> >>>> seem to work ("dclerk.exe is not a valid WIN32 application") on
> >>>> Win2003, but work just fine under Win 2008/2012 (these are 64 bit
> >>>> versions, however we are downloading the 32 bit versions assuming
> >>>> it would be
> >>> backward compatible).
> >>>> The 5.8.00.00D9 32-bit version works fine on all platforms.
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks,
> >>>> Bob
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> 
> 
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