Creative's Future

[GWS]

Morning folks,

Other than a few individual cases, Creative is reported to work fine on Vista and Window 7 - so this 8 year-old, well proven software, can continue happily for some years yet.

A month ago when Paul fell ill, the source code only existed in one place - on Paul's hard drive.

To ensure it was preserved, I purchased the program, and achieved the first objective - to ensure other copies exist.
Now (barring destruction of the Earth), the original code is safe in several places.

Now comes the next big question - can it be maintained and developed ?   I don't have the skills to do it myself.

Although I became legal 'owner', I regard it as belonging to the Basic community.

As such, if anyone feels they have the know-how, and wishes to work on getting to grips with the source code, just get in touch.
I'm not expecting a rush for several reasons.

It would be a big job - and what's in it for them?  Understanding someone else's code is never easy.  In the past, I've had to run an existing program, observe how the user sees it working, and then write a new program to do the same thing.  Not easy.

Then there's the fact it compiles only with version 5 of Visual C++ , and DX7.  Not everybody will have access to those.

If several folk wanted to try their luck, suppose more than one variant arose?  Chips off the old block - add-ons - or new programs?
The developer of a new version would clearly want the rights to his work - and that's fine with me.

However you look at it, it's not easy.  So if anyone has any views on developing Creative - let's hear them .. 
I've looked at Sourceforge and Google code, but their systems seem a bit complicated to control.  I'd sort of prefer to keep it 'in-house' among the Basic community.

I'll post this on CM as well to reach others who may not inhabit this forum .. 

best wishes,

Graham

[Doc]

...and the good new is:

Regardless of the age for the the code base and/or if it never sees another update in the future, Creative is pretty much a rock solid product just as it is, as well as a genuine pleasure to use.

-Doc-

[GWS]

Doc,

You're biased  - like me - and him - and him .. and ... 

Hope you're well, 

Graham

[Rock Ridge Farm (Larry)]

I am almost in place to support it.
I set up a Creative page on the new web site at ionicwind.com.

Larry

[GWS]

Thanks Larry .. that's good news .. 

best wishes,

Graham

[ZeroDog]

Dont forget that you dont have to change the actual source code for Creative Basic to keep deveoping for it.  You can develop components using Creative Basic itself, compile them as .cbo, and distribuet them as add-ons, sort of the way I did with the D3DShapeEx component. Depending on the component, you could even sell them for a few bucks. 

[aurelCB]

Yes Zero you say once before that you will explain how components work.