Issue with Windows 10 Screen colors

Wed Jan 8 14:46:04 PST 2020

Ever read a purchase contract for an automobile?  It states that there is not guarantee for suitability.  

This statement also appears (or should appear) an many software contracts.  When I was working for an IBM VAR I was asked by the comptroller for a prospective client if we could remove that statement.  Our attorney thought is was OK to remove it.  After some thought I decided it wasn't.  My reasoning was that we had written an application that was for a textile converter and not an apparel company.  If the prospective client decided to change the business format from a textile converted to an apparel company, we only warranted that the software they were purchasing would work as demonstrated and we presented.  

Also please keep in mind that many software programs are licensed for single use and not sold. This is at the heart of what Mark was talking about. Think of all the apps available for smart devices. If these programs were sold through normal channels they would cost much more than the $.99 to five dollars that are charged for them. Many of the basic programs are free because the developers can market the information they are gathering by those using their program or they can monetize their expenses by selling upgrades from within their free application or do both. These developers are distributing thousands if not hundreds of thousands of versions of their program. This allows them to recoup their development costs very quickly and offer bug fixes or other fixes so that their programs can you to run on the device that it was intended for.

I have an iPhone and some of the apps which I downloaded will not work with the current version of IOS. The developer of these apps has chosen not to make their app compatible with the new version of IOS. This is probably true of apps written for Google's phone operating system. One often sees that particular features of these apps will work on one version of an operating system but not the other. This is not the developer's fault but the functionality they want to use may be available on one OS and not the other.

The auto manufactures have no control over how one uses there vehicles.  If one purchases a small SUV in a lieu of a small truck and tries to use to deliver items that are too heavy (more then the recommended load capacity) and the springs fail, that is not the manufacturers fault.  They never guaranteed that the vehicle was suitable for the purpose the purchaser had in mind.  Yes, the courts have limited this defense but it goes to the heart of this discussion.  Software has been written to run with a specific OS.  When that OS changes, there is not guarantee that the software will run. 

 Do any of you want to absorb the cost of a migration from a *nix OS to a Windows OS or a different version of the *nix system? From the posts on the last this seems to be a big issue, the differences between *nix versions. FilePro runs the same on all of these versions but must be configured properly for the particular OS that the program is to run on. The Windows version of filePro will not run on a*nix OS; however, the processing tables etc. can be migrated to run on a *nix OS and vice versa.

I have advised client's about upgrades to their version of filePro.  The cost of the subscription can keep the initial investment down.  However, many of them have had no problems with my application and have not wanted to upgrade since  Y2K as there is the cost of the upgrade plus the cost of my installing the upgrade in any additional programming that they may want to use the new functionality. Since each client has a slightly different version of the software I maintain a copy of their software and data on my system. I can do this because the cost of storage has come down tremendously over the past few years.

I only hear from them when they want to get a new computer or printer.  I fact on client informed me that they were purchasing another software program when I advised them that I was moving.  I told them that what the planned on purchasing was the program I had advised them originally to purchase.  Much to my surprise, about 54 years after moving I got a call form them that they had purchased a new server and wanted to know how to move my filePro application to that server.  I did help them at no charge.  It took me less then 5 minutes to explain how to move the software.

I have to agree with Nancy, FP Tech has no obligation and developers have no obligation to upgrade clients when the primary OS changes. Think MS-DOS to Windows XP; that's 16 bit to 32 bit programming.  Now most OS's are 54 bit so that they can take advantage of all the memory space available and also manage the computer cores.  It is "a feather in filePro's cap" that it has maintained backward compatibility this long.  That has allowed the upgrade path much easier.  In some cases they have created environmental variables for allow for using "bugs" that were in older versions and used by many developers.  However, I think it is time to stop worrying about backward compatibility which would allow them to take full advantage to what is available programmability.  I would love to see filePro have a real direct graphical interface and more easily print to "Dumb Windows Printers" directly without the necessity of producing a PDF document first.  A GUI report writer would ber nice also along with the filePro executable having the ability to check on how busy a processor core is and select the core which has the least usage.  This also might allow the Windows version to use background processing similar to that which their *NIX versions have.

When selling my Textile Brokerage Program, I add new functionality based on what each new client requested.  The upgrade was included in the cost of the software.  As for support contracts., most took a contract a year or two, This was so many hours of time available.  Most did not use the amount of time purchased even when the hours were not lost during a specific year.  They chose to pay me on a per diem basis as they felt that was more economical. I did have one client wanted me to modify a report that they had contracted for originally. I had underestimated the amount of time it would take to get this report to work and when they asked me to modify it I quoted them a ridiculously high price so that they would turn down the modification they were looking for. When selling software or offering services one must be aware of what the prospective client is prepared to pay against what one feels one should get for the service. If a client's business warrants a high price and they will pay that price, then you have a good chance of selling them something. If the price you are quoting is too high or too low, you probably will lose out in the end. My textile brokers were paid 1% commissions on business that they booked. I was very aware of their "frugalness" when I started dealing with that industry. I therefore had to keep my pricing in line with what they were prepared to pay for a complete system both hardware and software. That sometimes meant supplying them with refurbished hardware from a reliable source (that vendor stood behind their product). I did not hide the fact that I was quoting on the basis of refurbished hardware to keep the cost down. In most cases, they were very happy with my pricing. Also, when quoting with original equipment, I had them purchase directly from the vendor I was working with. Their pricing was much lower than list as I was not getting any commissions on the sale. I made my money doing the installation and setup. Is also made my clients happy when they were able to compare retail pricing to that which they paid. This was always lower.

I am rambling on and will now send this email.

Richard Kreiss
GCC Consulting

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Filepro-list <filepro-list-bounces+rkreiss=verizon.net at lists.celestial.com>
> On Behalf Of Microlite filePro Mail List via Filepro-list
> Sent: Tuesday, January 7, 2020 10:56 AM
> To: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> Subject: Re: Issue with Windows 10 Screen colors
> 
> I'm going to have to push back on your principle, or at least your silly and
> inaccurate analogy.
> 
> A software vendor has an obligation to keep a product running in perpetuity ON
> THE PLATFORM IT WAS WRITTEN FOR.
> 
> So if I write software for Windows 98 32 bit, and Windows 10 64 bit doesn't
> support Win98 32bit applications anymore, I've no obligation to make it work as
> is on that platform.
> I've agreed to make my Windows 98 version work on the platform you
> purchased it for, Windows 98. Not something that hasn't been invented yet.
> 
> Your choices are:
>  1 - Keep it running on a platform that supports what you purchased. Our
> agreement is intact.
>  2 - Purchase whatever I've got that runs on the platform you want to switch to.
>  3 - Buy something else.
> 
> It costs the vendor a lot of engineering time and money to support the newer
> platform.
> If you've gotten your money's worth on the old product, you are likely to want
> the new product and be willing to pay for it. If not, there is always door #3.
> 
> I'm going to have to agree with Nancy here. I'm well aware of development
> costs for volume software.
> 
> In our case I WILL update you to a product that hasn't been invented yet, IF I end
> up supporting that platform and IF you maintain a Support Subscription.
> 
> Tom Podnar
> Microlite Corporation
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Fairlight via Filepro-list" <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
> To: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 7, 2020 9:57:30 AM
> Subject: Re: Issue with Windows 10 Screen colors
> 
> Actually, why should we agree to that?
> 
> That's like saying GM isn't responsible for making sure their cars (which you
> purchased) are capable of driving on asphalt instead of concrete.
> 
> If people purchased software in good faith, it should be usable in perpetuity, or
> they should be upgraded for free.  I've expired product versions and forced
> upgrades, but the difference is that my old stuff doesn't stop working; it's an
> optional upgrade, and the only way you'll get support, but nothing prevents the
> old versions from working.
> 
> Hell, I replace old binary versions of programs with the script version, if it's an
> issue.
> 
> No, I wouldn't agree on principle.
> 
> m->
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jan 07, 2020 at 09:13:28AM -0500, Nancy Palmquist via Filepro-list thus
> spoke:
> > Scott,
> >
> > It may be time to update.  While I know those old versions work great
> > and have for over 20 years, you have to agree that filepro is not
> > responsible to make those old versions compatible with the hardware
> > and operating systems on the new computers.  Also, an investment in
> > fptech so the filepro product is viable for the future is a fabulous
> > idea.  Your customer got his money's worth out of 4.8.
> >
> > Nancy
> >
> > On 1/5/2020 8:03 PM, SCott Smith via Filepro-list wrote:
> > > So on a cmd prompt when trying to run eg. SITEPWD.exe you get a
> > > popup The version of this file is not compatible with the version of
> > > Windows. Check your version of the program, contact your software
> publisher.
> > >
> > > running a 32bit windows 10 version ...
> > >
> > > But as i mentioned haven't used these in forever so ...
> > >
> > > Its just that all the other exe files are 32bit / 64bit compatible
> > > yet 3 files on that ver media were not. I assume that these 3 files
> > > must be only
> > > 16 bit incarnations.
> > >
> > > I wondered if any of these files were updated prior to the end of
> > > that the
> > > 4.8 version.
> > >
> > > But as they service little to no purpose i would guess not.
> > >
> > > Scott
> > >
> > > On Sat, 4 Jan 2020 at 00:21, Fairlight <fairlite at fairlite.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Win10 64-bit still runs 32-bit binaries.
> > > >
> > > > Ancient 16-bit binaries will be deemed "not a Windows executable",
> > > > but it would say that explicitly if you open a command prompt and
> > > > try running it there where the window can't vanish.  32-bit should be fine.
> > > >
> > > > What error message are you getting when you try running them at
> > > > the command prompt?
> > > >
> > > > m->
> > > >
> > > > On Fri, Jan 03, 2020 at 12:39:57PM +1000, Scott via Filepro-list
> > > > thus
> > > > spoke:
> > > > > Hi all
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > We are just starting to change from win 7 over to windows 10 and
> > > > > some clients are running ver 4.8.10 and the fpconfig.exe must
> > > > > have not been running for a long time as fpconfig.exe seems to
> > > > > be crashing that it's
> > > > not
> > > > > 64bit compatible.
> > > > >
> > > > > Can anybody advice ...
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks
> > > > > Scott
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Audio panton, cogito singularis.
> > > >
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> > --
> > Nancy Palmquist         MOS & filePro Training Available
> > Virtual Software Systems    Web Based Training and Consulting
> > PHONE: (412) 835-9417           Web site:  http://www.vss3.com
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