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future.doc
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1992-05-06
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------------------------------------
What the Future Holds for Amigadex
------------------------------------
Amigadex Version 1.6 is only a minor update for registered users who have
been keeping up with the latest versions. However, it is a major update for
the general public. The only prior public release was Version 1.0, which
first appeared in 1988. Nevertheless, 1.6 is only an interim release,
preceding the 2.0 major release. 1.6 adds some Workbench 2.0 support and
fixes some minor bugs that appeared under WB 2.0. It is also hoped that this
release will bolster ShareWare support.
This release represents a change in policy for registered users of
Amigadex. In the past, new releases were available only to registered users.
While this policy provided a good incentive for users to register, it also
deprived potential new users of a basic ShareWare privilege: the ability to
try new versions, something which might convince them to register. In
addition, it also prevented potential new users from seeing whether the
program was being supported as the author promised; a reasonable concern for
anyone considering registering a ShareWare program. For these reasons, this
policy will no longer remain in effect.
At first glance this may seem to be detrimental to the success of a
ShareWare program, as it removes the incentive to register the program.
However, the fact still remains that ShareWare programs are copyrighted works
which are the sole property of the author, and anyone who uses such a program
beyond a reasonable review period is legally obligated to purchase it!
Sadly, not everyone is so honest. Therefore, an additional incentive is
still needed for such a program to be successful.
To provide such an incentive, future releases of Amigadex will consist of
two versions, a REVIEW version and a REGISTERED version. The REVIEW version
will be made available publicly, and will be meant for review purposes
only. After reviewing it, if the user wishes to continue using it, he/she
will be required to register it. Upon registration, a REGISTERED version
will be provided. REGISTERED versions will be available only to registered
users. They will also contain personal information about the registered
user, which will hopefully encourage registered users NOT to give their
registered copies to others, or make them available publicly.
REVIEW versions will contain 'incentives' for new users to register. The
main incentive will be a reminder, in the form of an Intuition requester,
which will appear periodically during the execution of the program. This
will serve to remind the user that the program is ShareWare and must be
registered at the end of the review period if the user decides to keep it.
This sort of reminder can easily become very annoying and frustrating to
someone who is trying to avoid registering the program. In addition, some
features of the program may be partially disabled, with full functionality
available only in REGISTERED versions of the program.
This new policy would seem to serve everyone involved fairly: new users
will have the opportunity to examine new releases to see if they suit the
user's needs, and evidence will be provided that the author is supporting the
program on an on-going basis -- all providing incentives to register;
registered users will be happy with the feeling that they "got something for
their money", as only registered users will have REGISTERED versions of the
program; and the author will also be happy when more registrations come in
(hopefully).
The new policy will begin with the next major release, Version 2.0.
Version 1.6 is being released publicly at this time for several reasons:
1) It has been four years since the last public release, and the author
wishes to show the public that Amigadex has been supported on an on-
going basis during this time, and that it has been progressing
regularly.
2) Few MAJOR new features have been added since the last public release,
making version 1.6 more or less functionally equivalent to the last
public release -- ie. there are few things that 1.6 can do that 1.0
cannot.
3) With the advent of AmigaDOS 2.0, the author wants a public version
which is stable under AmigaDOS 2.0 and which provides some additional
AmigaDOS 2.0 support.
4) The author would like to announce the forthcoming update and invite
suggestions for new features and other improvements.
5) The author would like to encourage additional ShareWare support at
this time to aid in the development of the next release.
Amigadex Version 2.0 will likely include most (if not all) of the
following new features, more or less as described here. Any suggestions
and/or comments are welcome at this time concerning the new version. In
particular, opinions are desired on whether version 2.0 should run under
AmigaDOS 2.0 ONLY. This would allow version 2.0 to take full advantage of
the new operating system features in AmigaDOS 2.0, and may greatly simplify
the implementation of some new features. Is anyone opposed to this? These
are the planned features so far:
- ARexx support allowing importing and exporting of card data from/to
other applications.
- The ability to automatically dial phone numbers stored in Amigadex
cards.
- Sorting and/or indexing support.
- Redefinable records. Such a feature would actually turn Amigadex into
a user-definable, non-relational database. The user would be
required to define the record (card) format/contents, by entering the
number of fields, and for each field, the field name, type, size and
other attributes. To implement such a feature would probably require
a complete redesign of Amigadex visually, including its window
layout. This will require a great amount of work, and, frankly, the
number of registrations received between 1.6 and 2.0 will have a
very large effect on whether it ever gets implemented. Another
factor which will contribute to the fate of this feature is feedback
from users. Is anyone interested in such a feature? If there are
enough requests it will be implemented.
- Amiga clipboard support (importing and exporting card data).
- The ability to import cards directly from other card files.
- The ability to manipulate whole card files with operations such as
concatenating and splitting.
- A visual undelete mode that allows the user to browse through all
deleted cards in a cardfile, in a fashion that is similar to Browse
Mode, actually viewing the data that is in the deleted cards, and
interactively choosing which to undelete.
- The ability to use wildcards in the search string, providing greater
flexability when isolating sub-groups of cards for automatic
printing.
- The ability to specify a range (starting AND ending card number) for
operations such as browsing and printing.
- The association of a batch code with each card, allowing subsets of
cards to be defined as a group and manipulated independently of the
other cards in the file.
- A 'paste' function which will output card data to other programs by
inserting the data into the Amiga's "input stream". To other
programs it will appear as though the data had been typed at the
keyboard. This will allow card data to be inserted directly into
programs, such as word processors, spread sheets and data bases,
which don't normally allow importing of text via means such as ARexx,
text files or the clipboard.
- New 'string gadgets' will be incorporated which have many new features
in addition to those provided by the standard Intuition string
gadgets.
- Improved hot-key support: the hot-key will be active at all times, even
while Amigadex is not iconified -- pressing the hot key at this time
will cause Amigadex's window to be brought to the front. The
improved hot-key will also be more 'system friendly'.
- Other internal improvements, including a complete re-write of
Amigadex's event and keyboard handling systems. Such changes are
likely to reduce the size of the program executable, causing it to
require less disk space, as well as make it more efficient and
reliable.
Your suggestions are welcome.
Your support is encouraged.