Alpha 5 Version 5 - When??

[awj]

Hi;

We've all been waiting for what seems like a long time for the new Alpha Five Version 5.0 to come out.

Does anyone have a real sense as to when this will actually happen?

many tks, AWJ

[forskare]

no

[awj]

Surely? Just "no"

[forskare]

Hi Andrew,

Yup, just no. No one knows for sure although there's been lots of speculation. Try a search on this board using "v5" and see what comes up. It's been discussed a time or 2.

kenn

[Phil Rolf]

I would just like to thank Alpha for allowing me to eat crow this past weekend. About this time last year I presented a prototype program for a sports program that schedules officials for which I am responsible. At that time I showed the features that Version 5 had to offer and we should have it in a month or so (as it was promised). Here it is a year later and still nothing. I completed last season by finishing the program that I wrote with 4 & 4.5.

The topic came up at the board meeting this past weekend and I had to stand and explain that I have no idea when the new software is to arrive. The credibility of Alpha sure got a black eye from the board this past weekend. I made no promises and version 5 may have to be put off until 2003. If we have it by then...

I am sorry but I had to let off some of my frustration relative to the on/off release of version 5 on this board.

One man's opinion and frustration...

[Melvin Davidson]

Philip,

You are not alone. However, maybe you will be happy (or not) to know that I have figured ouot the reason for the delay.

Alpha Software is attempting to follow the example of industry leader Microsoft Corp. They have discovered that it takes less resources and money to announce a product that is only planned, but does not yet actually exist. Then they determine if there is an interest in it by seeing how many people actually advance the money for it. If they get enough money, then they start work and promise they are very near to completion. If there is a long delay, they just say they are trying to add more features. :)

Melvin

[forskare]

Hi Melvin,

I don't think there is anyone who's been around awhile, that doesn't share the frustrations about the release of A5v5. There are several who are using the beta version so it is getting closer to release.

Will it be released at conference time. One can only hope. However, if it's not, and unlesss there is a extremely good explanation, I wouldn't want to be working in the Alpha's office or reading the email.

In Alpha's defense, here's my speculation of the reason for the delays:
1. Alpha was sold to Softquad who did no or little development.
2. Alpha was bought back and now Selwyn & comapany are playing catch-up and then some. There are some features that Alpha doesn't have that Access has had for over 5 years.
3. Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last 2 years alone. That in itself is tough to keep up with.

I haven't a clue how close Alpha is for the release but I know that Selwyn wants it released ASAP but in an effort to keep up with MS XP, and creating documentation comparable to that of A4, he's doing the only thing possible: Waiting until it's all ready.

Let's see....25 or 26 days to go and counting down.

kenn

[Peter.Greulich]

To add to what Ken said, my take on this is that in a sense, Alpha bit off more than they can chew - in terms of timing. It seems that they kept adding features to v.5 until just two or three months ago. They should have stopped adding features way back 15 months ago, when Selwyn gave us an overview at the Nov. 2000 A5 conference. Back then, I overheard two of the programmers say that the only thing stopping release then was "feature-creep".

It has been over three years since the last real update. Two years is way too long as far as I am concerned. Ideally there would be some kind of release (not merely bug fix) every year. Each release wouldn't have to be as jam-packed as this one is going to be, just something to keep us going.

I know they are getting very close. I just hope it isn't buggy. I will say this: Alpha must be a rich company if it can have these long periods w/o a new release.

I don't want to dump on Alpha, but in the future they should target a realistic date with a realistic set of features that can be completed within a given time frame. Anyway, like everyone else, I'm holding my breath...soon...I hope.

Peter