#when will PgS 2.0 ship?
28 messages in this thread
Just wondering people — here I am only about 3 months after getting
PageStream 1.8, and now we have version 2.0….
Does anyone have info on when it will ship — I see the $75.00 price tag on
the update and hope that I can get my work to pay for it….
At least now it will allow you to use Adobe Type 1 fonts!! Hoooray!! That
Apple LaserWriter II NTX with 434 fonts (at my full time job) won't be
going to waste after all!! (as well as the L-300!!!)
Barry,
SoftLogik is up to its usual unethical practice of advertising a product
that they don't have. I called then on Friday, 5/11 after seeing the 2.0
ad. I realized that they had never sent me my update from 1.6. (I had long
ago put the package away and had not even thought about it in almost a year
since 1.6 was unuseable) They insisted that they _had_ sent me 1.8, but
finally agreed to send me another copy. I asked about 2.0 and the girl at
the other end said she knew nothing about it (a typical SoftLogik
response). She said that the ad "came out early" and that they "have no
idea when 2.0 will be available."
SoftLogik advertised Pagestream (it was called something else at first) for
over a year before they shipped it. During that year they told blatant lies
about the delay, often reasuring callers that the product was in boxes
'ready for shipment' as soon as they could get to them, but that the stacks
of boxes containing the Atari version was in the way!
The release was unuseable due to bugs, which they denied. Then they ran ads
announcing that an upgrade was shipping long before it became available.
I think that magazines should exercise some responsibility toward the
consumer and refuse to run ads until SoftLogik can actually produce the
product. Don't hold your breath for 2.0!
Rich
I had much the same complaints before about the company (SoftLogik) and
still have many complaints — among those the famous "never shipped" product
that I kept hearing about before and their offerring the product for $50 for
a limited time only (while it was vaporware), but never going back and
offering the same sort of thing again (I didn't buy it originally because
of the bad rep, and didn't want to pay full price for it to find out how
much stuff had been fixed)….
My rantings stirred things up over in AmigaTech for quite a while, but most
people just considered that I was bitching because I felt I'd been cheated
out of a great offer — actually I was more bitching because the company
deserved the bad press.
I still have yet to hear back from them (negative or positive) about the
possibilities of some sort of free evaluation copy for my work (I work for a
service bureau in the D.C. area), and to get the program had to make other
arrangements.
Currently we still don't support the product here at my work, but I am
hoping to have my work pay for the update when it becomes available (which
as you point out could be sometime next year!!).
Definitely not a well run organization….
Barry: Which service bureau do you work at? I live in the DC area and use
a few bureaus with PageStream output.
===Ken
I work for a company called Corporate Press.
We are just outside of the Beltway in the Landover area, and have only
recently moved into the PostScript service bureau area…
I am the "expert" in this area for the company, so most of the software
decisions are helped along by me, though there are only so many packages we
can serve.
We could definitely handle the PostScript output files that PageStream
generates and you are welcome to check out our services….
Leave me email if you want more info…
Barry: That's really interesting about Corporate Press–I've been using
Corporate Press II for all the PostScript output I've done from the Amiga.
Mike Pummill has been really helpful.
===Ken
Glad to hear that Ken, and yes, Mike is normally very helpful (at least to
customers ;-} )
BTW, in the end you wind up getting Lino service from us if you are going
that far… Laser only output from CPii at this point… (Lino's aren't
cheap :-> )
Barry, I work for a service bureau here in Delaware, and I'm not too sure
if we can get work to pay for the update either, guess I'll have to go to
the bathroom mirror and work on my approach to the boss, problem is the guy
in the mirror looks just like him and he's been keeping me up later each
night reading CIS messages and replying to them. B^) [sigh] Our VT4300P is
now giving our Amiga a trying time ever since we put the 33MHZ '030 from
GVP into it. Seems that the centronics port won't handle anything that has
a clock faster than 7MHZ! I got to keep pulling the card out of the socket
to ouput to our imager! Putting the jumper in place and cold-booting
doesn't help! I have to physically remove the board! [sigh]
chris AT&G
Chris:
What is the cost of a postscript compatible Linotron setup that can handle
newspaper width output?
We currently have on our net my 2500/30 Amiga as well as several 386s with
Ventura. Since we write and spec quite a few ads for the NY Times and Wall
Street Journal, but have a third company do the layout and typesetting, my
bosses asked me what it would cost for us to set up an ad agency division
in house that could do this instead, and let us keep the money while giving
the client better control over the product (fewer suppliers in the loop).
?|^] Ray Lewis
IT may have been buggy, but it was NOT unusable. We used it from the first
release, and got a huge amount of work out of it in the initial version.
1.8 is very nice (and stable) and we still get a lot of work out of it.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Ben,
I DON'T want to start these wars again.
Pagestream 1.6 was unuseable for us in a professional graphics environment.
Going to Lino was a nightmare. Loss of data was a nightmare. Unexpected
corruptions of the page format was a nightmare.
I have been a registered owner of PageStream since it was first released. I
have JUST now received the 1.8 upgrade! I don't think I'll even take a look
at it. It's just not worth the learning curve at this time for me. I _will_
try out 2.0 when it's available, although ProPage 2.0 may be out before.
I would really like to see Saxon, but my dealer has never heard of it. I
can't tell from messages here whether it's in final released form or a late
beta.
Rich
Barry:
SL's press release (which Dr. Rose apparently hasn't read – see the
other message) says available June 1990.
It's a shame some people can't find anything better to do than
complain. I've been hearing the same b*thcing for about a year over
PgS…I've bitched myself..but some of the complainers don't seem to have
noticed that the program GETS BETTER with each release.
When (not if) it's released, I'm sure 2.0 will have bugs, but it
will probably have some good solid advantages, too.
sj
What press release, and how come I didn't receive any kind of notification?
(Actually never received any kind of notice that I might have been added to
the mailing list, or list of registered users….)
Barry,
You haven't gotten any notification about 2.0 yet because they won't
send out the notifications until the program is ready to ship – and that is
supposed to be at the end of June.
The "press release" has appeared on SL's BBS, and on their section on
GEnie.
Lloyd
Lloyd, I don't even have the number for the BBS…
After sending in the registration I have absolutely nothing that shows that
they received the registration and am now on the mailing list —
It would help if they took time to send back a card thanking you for
registering the product (like so many other companies do).
Barry,
Not every company takes the time or expense to send a "thank you" note
for the registration cards. But that's neither here nor there. When the
upgrade is about ready to ship they will start sending out notices. If you
hear about OTHERS getting notices, and you haven't gotten yours yet, THEN
it is time to "worry", not until. If you sent your registration card,
you'll get a notice.
Lloyd
While I could take the ball in my hands and run with it by having sent the
registration card in RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED, it would still be nice to
think that a company that is getting my hard earned $$$ would take the time
to acknowledge that they know I am here and have spent the $$$ on them/their
product.
I will be waiting with baited breath to see when others are receiving their
notices, and will not start ranting and raving again until then.
(Only started doing it now after seeing the ad in the magazine and wondering
what others knew).
I didn't receive any notification, either, except seeing the ad in
AmigaWorld. Soft-Logik had the press releases uploaded to their BBS. As
for no notification
in the mail, I think most registered users, even the satisfied ones like
me, have heard a lot of this stuff about upgrades being ready real soon
now. We know better. Still, I'm looking forward to the product.
sj
Has this press release been uploaded to Compuserve yet? I'd like to see
it… or can you direct me to this ad?
The press releases haven't been posted as far as I know…but maybe if I
can find them here I'll post them. The ad, which is vague and
poorly-written, ison page 57 if the current AmigaWorld.
sj
I protest the writings of those reviewers who, when they write about
PageStream, spend more time talking about how it was then about how it is.
I find it very usable, tho Lord knows it could improve. I will not,
however, part with a thin dime, or concern myself in any slight way with
the alleged existence of 2.0 til I see it on dealers' shelves.
*** RJE ***
? type I agree with your generally cautious attitude. Waiting for it to
appear on dealers' shelves might take a while, though. When registered
users start gettig their upgrades, you'll see message traffic about it
here. As someone who has only paid $55 for PageStream, received three
upgrades, and gotten more then my money back in desktop publishing jobs,
I'm willing to take the plunge.
sj
Steve,
Everything I have posted about SoftLogik is accurate. The events happened
just as I described them. They have lied to me and to others repeatedly.
What 'press release' have they posted? Do you mean an advertisement? The
human voice at SoftLogik (Gina ?) said she had, "NO IDEA" when 2.0 would be
released. June, 1990? I think not.
. . "It's a shame some people can't find anything better to do than
complain. . . "
Well, Steve. All of us have better things to do than complain, and we do
them all the time. We also have the right to tell the truth, especially
about the unscrupulous business practices of some of the companies with
which we have dealt. What is really a shame is that such compaines continue
to get away with this dishonesty, and that some people excuse them.
Rich
? Richard:
As for press releases, several have been posted on Soft Logik's
BBS. The June 1990 date comes from the release announcing version 2.0. As
for the "complaining" remark, I have yet to read a sinlge message from you,
on -any- topic, that conveyed an attitude any better than the attitude
reflected in your messages about PageStream. Waiting for it and using it
have been frustrating experiences for me, too, and I have reflected that in
some of my past message traffic. Howver, over the past year successive
releases of it have been increasingly stable and user-friendly..and -that-
is the truth as well. I have produced excellent work with PageStream,
from version 1.5 on. While I sympathize with the problems of anyone who
can't get a straight answer
from a software company, I feel the vitriolic tone of your messages here
does not reflect the attitude of many PgS users.
sj
Steve,
Good luck with PageStream. If it works for you, fine. What ever makes your
boat float. If you find fault with my attitude, that's your problem. The
only negativism you've seen in my messages concerns problems like I've
described with SoftLogik. You apparently have a problem with honesty. And
you apparently need to win arguments by personal attack on someone with
whom you are in disagreement.
SoftLogik has published no 'press releases.' Messages posted to their own
BBS hardly qualify. I have stated many times that my remarks have nothing
to do with the program. I have every expectation that the programer(s) is
(are) as dedicated to his/her craft as I am to mine. I think that
SoftLogik's business practices are dishonest and unethical. I have a real
problem with the mixed messages of a BBS posting/magazine ad which promises
a June release and a company representative giving me a curt, annoyned
answer that SoftLogik has "no idea" when the program will be released, and
that their ad "was released a little early."
Actually, I'm sorry that I ever got involved in this silly discussion again
and I have no intention of carrying it any further. Happy computing.
Rich
Steve,
If you think Dr. Rose is in the minority, or unjustly hard on SoftLogik, I
suggest you start calling them about the release date. Write to them about
the bugs with step-by-step descriptions of the bugs and sample disks. A
little such interaction with that company and you will realize that SL is
lucky that nothing more offensive than "complaining" is aimed at them….
wmc
Steve,
I'm one of those chumps that got the original PageStream for $55. I
waited 8-9 months and the first two versions were plenty buggy. However
1.8 is pretty solid and much easier and faster to use than PPage. I love
the AgfaCompugraphic fonts for display in PPage but they slow it down even
more. I am not TOO excited about PageStream 2.0 and their June release
only because I don't believe it will arrive in June. The outline screen
font support will be a big plus and I will get it when it ships.
So far I have only spent $55 for PageStream and have received 3 versions
and two updates to the manual at no charge. They (Softlogik) must be
trying to overcome their bad image. Meeting or coming close to June
shipment of 2.0 would go a long way for image building.
….Mark
Mark:
I agree. PageStream has a lot on the line with their June 1990
announcement. I hope they make it…but I'm not betting any money on it.
sj