Bring it all together

Your suggestions for future versions of EssentialPIM

Moderators: TerryRogers, Max

tahoma
Guru
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:45 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Bring it all together

Post by tahoma »

EPIM is great software, no day passes without me using it. Its customer support is outstanding, Max really listens to his users.

But for me the benefits of new features are smaller than the problems with the updates (even though they always get fixed). So let me suggest to start consolidating EPIM! For some time it seems I download beta-versions, it will be better then the last version, but not error free! I'd be very happy when EPIM's development went in a new direction. Once that is done, make it more expensive. It is worth it!

Tahoma
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15601
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:12 am
Has thanked: 1411 times
Been thanked: 984 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by admin »

Thanks for the suggestion, although do you experience any issues with the new 9.7 version? if so, please mention them, will have a look.
Android version of EssentialPIM. Keep all your data in sync!
tahoma
Guru
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:45 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by tahoma »

Thank you. I did and I got the reassurance it will be fixed. But that is not the point I want you to take home!
lk
Guru
Posts: 189
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:03 pm
Has thanked: 39 times
Been thanked: 9 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by lk »

tahoma wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:52 pm EPIM is great software, no day passes without me using it. Its customer support is outstanding, Max really listens to his users.
+1
tahoma wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:52 pm But for me the benefits of new features are smaller than the problems with the updates (even though they always get fixed). So let me suggest to start consolidating EPIM! For some time it seems I download beta-versions, it will be better then the last version, but not error free! I'd be very happy when EPIM's development went in a new direction. Once that is done, make it more expensive. It is worth it!
+1

While I appreciate the continuously ongoing development of EPIM, I strongly support your idea of a consolidating phase! No new features for some months, just concentrate on fixing existing bugs. There are still many of them, I keep a list of my own observations (in EPIM, of course <g>) and once in a while I open one or two threads in this forum, reporting bugs and quirks with detailed descriptions and screenshots. Most of the bugs get fixed in a reasonable time, but there are still some left though.

(And for a long time I have been skipping versions without a second digit after the point...)

@admin: Have you ever thought about introducing some kind of a bug tracker (there are a few free ones like Bugzilla or Mantis) in order to keep track of the reported bugs? Each issue would get its unique ID and all discussions about it would be collected in a single place.

lk
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15601
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:12 am
Has thanked: 1411 times
Been thanked: 984 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by admin »

What are the existing bugs?

We've been using a bug tracker since probably introduction of EPIM, although it's for internal use only. I doubt many users (except for couple of enthusiasts) will be interested in getting access to it.
Android version of EssentialPIM. Keep all your data in sync!
tahoma
Guru
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:45 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by tahoma »

What are the existing bugs?
@admin, your question is very legitimate, but can we keep this thread more general? Let's post bug reports in the support forum or send them by email. (you should know I've been reporting issues). It is a general suggestion by me.
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15601
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:12 am
Has thanked: 1411 times
Been thanked: 984 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by admin »

Not sure I'm getting what your suggestion is about.
Android version of EssentialPIM. Keep all your data in sync!
tahoma
Guru
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:45 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by tahoma »

If it is not clear, I suppose I need to explain it better. Even though I believe this sentence should say it all:
For some time it seems I download beta-versions, it will be better then the last version, but not error free.
New versions have issues. Things like Styles, Tags, Hyperlinks, Icons, Due dates, started to misbehave out of the blue over the last years. I reported on all this issues, and thus EPIM has, unfortunately, given me lots of contra-productive time. I have considered moving away after I had to strip all my tags from one of my note trees due to a issue I reported a month ago: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35631 . This again was a major setback for me. But I don't find an alternative that would give me close to what EPIM offers.

I don't consider EPIM a mature product, but I want it to be a mature product.

My suggestion is to focus on a problem free release (that would be good for me, so I can stick with it!). But I also believe it is good for you. I believe there is a market for a mature EPIM that then easily might be higher priced.
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15601
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:12 am
Has thanked: 1411 times
Been thanked: 984 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by admin »

I see now, thanks for the explanation. Unfortunately there's no such thing as a bug free software in existence, the difference is only whether the found issues are critical for your workflow or not. Theoretically to minimize an impact you could wait a bit after the new version is out, although this doesn't guarantee anything.
We always strive to a problem free releases, of course.
Android version of EssentialPIM. Keep all your data in sync!
tahoma
Guru
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:45 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by tahoma »

I'm sorry my suggestion is not to your liking
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15601
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:12 am
Has thanked: 1411 times
Been thanked: 984 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by admin »

It's not about liking or disliking, it's about deep understanding about how the whole process works. If you wish, we can continue this conversation through PM.
Android version of EssentialPIM. Keep all your data in sync!
tahoma
Guru
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:45 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by tahoma »

Let's first see if it resonates among other users.
a8907433
Guru
Posts: 1047
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:57 pm
Been thanked: 170 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by a8907433 »

I am the same opinion as tahoma: Sometimes EPIM is really very buggy- you get three new features and five bugs, three of them new ones, two reoccuring bugs. Then you have two wait a few days for the next minor update or silent update, to get: four bugs repaired, one not repaired, and..... one new bug! :lol:
But...... just as tahoma said: there is no realy good alternative to EPIM. EPIM is for me the only one PIM with all features I need and want and like!
So, for the most time I can live with a 99,5% working program which has all I want.

One new bug (just an example) I will NOT report (hmmm.... do I report it now?) is VERY strange: The new feature "Select default background color for HTML emails" works for every color than a dark grey! When I set background color to dark grey, the cursor disapears in the new email and you can do nothing in this email. But, because I never will use dark grey as background, I will not report it. :lol: And- it is not easy to report it without taking a video....

One thing, I do not understand, is: Are EPIM developers using EPIM themselfs? If yes, there are some things I would like to define as a bug, even if tey aren´t.... because this is so very inconsistent, that I can´t imagine this is deliberate. For example: I work with email, type Ctrl + and the font gets biger. So, why should this great feature work in one module, but not in others? It was more than once suggested for the notes module. Another one: In notes you can do all you can do in a RTF editor, especially make the font biger (or smaler). In the note of a task or appointment you can´t......
I use it every time I use my (Windows) Tablet. On Desktop resolution is ok, on tablet I want to increase fonts temporaryly- in emails and in notes. In emails it works, in notes not.... for me this inconsistency is a bug.
But, as for tahoma, the positive parts of EPIM for me by far outweigh the negative ones. I hope, I deviated not to much from the subject....
MetalDrop
Guru
Posts: 866
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2016 10:19 pm
Been thanked: 189 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by MetalDrop »

I do agree in that you can't have problem free software, though I do also think that EPIM could better utilize it's willing alpha/beta/enthusiasts testers to avoid as many problems finding their way to the general public hands.

So I think part of the suggestion here might be to consider it a good time to consider creating a more robust beta testing system that allows you to easily and automatically get beta builds to willing/interested testers at least a couple days before releasing them to the general users.
EPIM Portable Pro Running/Tested On: Windows 11 Pro 64-bit US-ENG|i5-6400+Quadro P620|i7-7700K+1050ti|i7-8700K+970GTX|AMD 5600x+1080ti|16GB+RAM&NVMe SSDs
[I'm helpful and often reply to questions, however I am just a fellow user and not staff.]
mihalvld
Guru
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri May 04, 2018 7:33 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: Bring it all together

Post by mihalvld »

MetalDrop wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:04 pm I do agree in that you can't have problem free software, though I do also think that EPIM could better utilize it's willing alpha/beta/enthusiasts testers to avoid as many problems finding their way to the general public hands.
+1. Look at the Beta forum. No one beta for 9.1 - 9.7.
Attachments
Screenshot_20210218-191827~2.png
EPIM Pro Portable 10.2 / Windows 7, 10
Post Reply