Should I Update my Maintenance Plan...?

[Bruce]

Hey everyone just popped on to see what was new and I must say I really need an update but, I too will wait. WOW I've been here since 2.0! Time fly’s when you’re having fun. Good to see some of your names.

[Mark]

That's fair...after all it is IR's code. I would just really love to see some improvements. It would most excellent (according to Bill and Ted) to see the functionality of plugins like WinApi, Memory, Group, Project, GlobalPaths, and much of the stuff from ABI added to AMS natively. I'd gladly let you guys have at any of my ideas and port them.

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but with my new project having over 5000 lines of code and counting (all ported to external modules for convenience), folding is high on the list of desired features.

I guess in the end, I'd just like to know if IR actually plans to add features or if AMS has been back-burnered as it seems.

I understand why code folding is a nice feature, however we have looked into it before and the best way to accomplish this would be to use a new Code Editor. The problem with that is the amount of customization and bug fixes we have already put into the current code editor. So the actually change would take a long long time, and probably mean that we wouldn't be able to add other improvements.

We are planning on adding new features to AMS, chances are you won't see us adding an features from existing plugins. Whenever we have done this in the past we've met with a lot of anger from existing users of the plugins, plus I'm not sure it makes sense to duplicate existing functionality. Plugins help extend functionality so that we don't have to.

But we are here and we are paying attention.

mark.

[Centauri Soldier]

It might...but it also means that from our perspective AMS isn't dead. It's still a major product for us and still continues to sell, why would we let that die?

Honestly that's probably not going to happen. We rely on some closed source third party libraries that would not be compatible with an open source AMS. Plus the code audit that would be needed before releasing the code would be a massive endevour.

Never say never, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

mark.

That's fair...after all it is IR's code. I would just really love to see some improvements. It would most excellent (according to Bill and Ted) to see the functionality of plugins like WinApi, Memory, Group, Project, GlobalPaths, and much of the stuff from ABI added to AMS natively. I'd gladly let you guys have at any of my ideas and port them.

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but with my new project having over 5000 lines of code and counting (all ported to external modules for convenience), folding is high on the list of desired features.

I guess in the end, I'd just like to know if IR actually plans to add features or if AMS has been back-burnered as it seems.

[Mark]

Hey, nice to see ya, Mark .
Can we take that to mean you've all got something up your sleeves for AMS?

It might...but it also means that from our perspective AMS isn't dead. It's still a major product for us and still continues to sell, why would we let that die?

Or, alternatively, how about that source code? Any chance we'll get to see that in the next few years?

Honestly that's probably not going to happen. We rely on some closed source third party libraries that would not be compatible with an open source AMS. Plus the code audit that would be needed before releasing the code would be a massive endevour.

Never say never, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

mark.

[Mark]

Mark,
Thanks for your recent 2 posts....they are somewhat re-assuring.

I think, and rightfully so, that AutoPlay maintenance users are in a dilema--not seeing much activity from IR staff in the forums and not seeing any postings of planned new features, etc for AMS. I realize that IR is a small company---but once the decision was made to sell Autoplay software on a subscription basis--its very important to give the maintenance subscribers reason(s) to renew.

Not a problem. It's important to remember that Ulrich is an IR staff member and he is very active in the forums, so we do have a presence. We generally don't post much about features before we release anything, but I agree perhaps we could be a bit better at communicating what's coming down the pipe for those users with active subscriptions.

Thanks.

mark.

[Centauri Soldier]

Hey, nice to see ya, Mark .

Rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Can we take that to mean you've all got something up your sleeves for AMS?

Or, alternatively, how about that source code? Any chance we'll get to see that in the next few years?

[Waldo]

Mark,
Thanks for your recent 2 posts....they are somewhat re-assuring.

I think, and rightfully so, that AutoPlay maintenance users are in a dilema--not seeing much activity from IR staff in the forums and not seeing any postings of planned new features, etc for AMS. I realize that IR is a small company---but once the decision was made to sell Autoplay software on a subscription basis--its very important to give the maintenance subscribers reason(s) to renew.

I am afraid that the revenue stream IR earns from subscription maintenance will evaporate as the user mind set, as of now, is that it is not worth it. Once the downward revenue cycle begins---its almost impossible to halt it.

There needs to be more IR forum activity and a fairly regular schedule of updates / new versions / etc. JimC

[Mark]

ams is dead then

Rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

mark.

[Mark]

Yes we do. Ulrich is always on the forums, and the rest of us do pop in to read and see what's up.

We are a small company trying to do something new (Andromo) so it's hard for us to put the same amount of time an effort into the forums that we used to, but we are all aware of what is happening on them.

[naxo]

ams is dead then

[pakapaka]

I have been using AMS for years...however with Windows 8 and the new Metro UI just around the corner, AMS will soon become obsolete. Anyway,IR have already chosen their product roadmap and the focus is on Android apps, not Metro apps.

[Cybergraph]

Do you guys visit the forums anymore?

Good question indeed.

[Centauri Soldier]

Any chance we could a response from the IR staff? Do you guys visit the forums anymore?

[Kirkkaf]

Windows 8 is just around the corner with a whole new gui, seems a major new build of ams would be needed anyway or ams wont be supporting the latest Windows and that would not make any business sense, where are the beta's for testing?, do they release beta's to play with?

I don't know much about AMS as I have only been using it for a few days now. Due to the plugin SDK doesn't that prevent the need of a major rewrite of AMS as people could create new plugins to support the new GUI in Windows 8, if I'm right that could be done already with the developer version...

Please let me know if I am incorrect or overlooked the obvious.

Kirk.

[Centauri Soldier]

Well then, if it's dead and no revenue stream exists, why not release the source code and let us improve it?