CompuServe Messages

Barry: PageStream was designed to work on a 512K machine, back in the old days. Version 1.8, I think, was the first we said would only run with a min of 1 meg. It still runs in 1 meg. There is room left to create useful documents. On some 1 meg systems, PgS has system problems with memory usage. This did not come up during testing because none of our systems, or those of our beta-testers, exhibited this problem. It's not as easy as you think. For example, we have had serious problems with the Atari SLM804 printer driver for the ST version. Turns out, the combination of UK o/s roms with SLM printers would not print with our driver. Some machines have different timing mechanisms. Another wierd problem was IMG import on Amiga's. Some users blasted us because IMG files always crashed on their Amiga oops, on their Amiga's. We took forever to track that down. Turned out they all used a certain hard drive controller which didn't play by the rules, and its problem only cropped up during our IMG import. Go figure that. So it's not as easy as you think, just pick up an Amiga 500 with 1 meg and test. There are so many version of every motherboard, that we can never test everything to make sure it's 100% perfect or we would never be able to release it. We test it as much as is possible. I mean it's thoroughly tested. I sit here trying to crash PgS for hours on end. I have one bug I've been chasing for a year (still haven't got it!) All the betatesters report back to each other constantly exchanging info. It's a serious process. So don't say we don't test. We test more than most companies. But this isn't a word processor. This is one of the most complicated programs available for the Amiga. Few other programs are as complex. I didn't say we couldn't fix the 1 meg problem. We have fixed it in-house and will distribute the fix FREE to all users with 2.2. Think about it. 2.2 is FREE. You'll get it in the mail without having to pay any small fee. We send them to thousands and thousands of users worldwide automatically. We believe in strong customer support, and we are constantly upgrading our software.