PlanMaker for Pocket PC in Public Beta

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.softmaker.de/pmpdemo_en.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.softmaker.de/pmpdemo_en.htm</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20040403_planmaker.gif" /> <br /><br />SoftMaker has just released a public beta version of their long-anticipated <a href="http://www.softmaker.de/pmp_en.htm">PlanMaker software.</a> This program is meant to replace the "de-fanged" and much maligned Pocket Excel that is included with every Pocket PC. It does so much more than Pocket Excel that it's impossible to list all of the features in this space. That said, here's the shortlist: <br /><br />•Seamless roundtripping of Excel workbooks<br />•322 calculation functions vs 110 in Pocket Excel<br />•Display and edit any chart that desktop Excel can<br />•Excel-compatible drawing layer (including smart connectors)<br />•Data Analysis<br />•AutoFilter, Auto Format and Smart AutoFill<br />•Syntax highlighting<br />•Merged and rotated cells<br />•Conditional formatting and cell styles<br /><br />For a much larger feature list, check out the huge <a href="http://www.softmaker.de/pmpcomp_en.htm">comparison table,</a> where PlanMaker's feature set is measured against Pocket Excel, PTab, SpreadCE, and even the Palm apps. 8O <br /><br />What do you think? Is this something you've been waiting for? :D

[GoldKey]

Here is the feature that caught my eye - "Reads and writes password-protected Excel files". About time!

[Jonathan1]

Can I be scared of the price point they will set for this? 8O

[PR.]

I may be wrong but I think they said there would be offers for existing Textmaker users

[SoftMaker]

Can I be scared of the price point they will set for this? 8O
I don't know if it scares you, but here is the new pricing:

TextMaker for Pocket PCs: USD/EUR 49.95
PlanMaker for Pocket PCs: USD/EUR 49.95
TextMaker + PlanMaker: USD/EUR 69.95

If you need additional platforms (remember, we support Windows, Linux, Handheld PCs, and FreeBSD), each additional platform is USD/EUR 20.

Oh, there will be introductory offers for TextMaker users. Stay tuned.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

[jlp]

If you need additional platforms (remember, we support Windows, Linux, Handheld PCs, and FreeBSD), each additional platform is USD/EUR 20.

Oh, there will be introductory offers for TextMaker users. Stay tuned.

I suppose it would logically be $/€20?!

[SoftMaker]

If you need additional platforms (remember, we support Windows, Linux, Handheld PCs, and FreeBSD), each additional platform is USD/EUR 20.

Oh, there will be introductory offers for TextMaker users. Stay tuned.

I suppose it would logically be $/€20?!
We can't go _that_ low, but I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

[jlp]

Personally I'm scared about the file (.exe) size, load time and compatibility with my device. With TextMaker I have to soft reset my X5 every time I want to launch it or it'll freeze the OS.

Has this been resolved with TM?

Hope it's not the case with PM?!!!

[jlp]

If you need additional platforms (remember, we support Windows, Linux, Handheld PCs, and FreeBSD), each additional platform is USD/EUR 20.

Oh, there will be introductory offers for TextMaker users. Stay tuned.

I suppose it would logically be $/€20?!
We can't go _that_ low, but I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

Boy that was a fast answer.

Given the fact the price for an additional platform is $/€20, it's quite logical that PM for TM owners would be that much, especially for an introductory offer 8)

[SoftMaker]

Personally I'm scared about the file (.exe) size, load time and compatibility with my device. With TextMaker I have to soft reset my X5 every time I want to launch it or it'll freeze the OS.

Has this been resolved with TM?

Hope it's not the case with PM?!!!
Some (= a few) people have that problem, and it's nothing we can fix. It would be Microsoft's job to do something about it. Load a number of big applications and your Pocket PC runs out of DLL virtual memory space. This may happen with or without TextMaker or PlanMaker involved. For example, if you run Calligrapher, Clearview, Pocket Informant and a bunch of Today screen utilities at the same time, you might have this problem. It's more pronounced on PPC 2000 and PPC 2002 than PPC 2003 because Microsoft doubled the DLL space in PPC 2003.

Usually, disabling some Today screen plugins or quitting Clearview (Clearview uses an enormous number of DLLs to do its job) solves the problem because it gives back enough address space to the operating system pool.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

[binstpa]

I think a close reading shows that PM is going to be more than $20 for existing TM users. If you own TM for Windows then to get it for PPC will be $20. This seems to relate to cross platform purchases of the same product. It doesn't have anything to do with purchasing a new product.

[buckyg]

I just downloaded it and will be giving it a try. For my own use, I'm glad there will be some sort of intro. price deal for existing TM users.

For work, if PlanMaker works well, $50 a copy may just save us some serious time & money by letting us quickly create some field spreadsheet applications instead of having to write our own custom apps.

[Zack Mahdavi]

Can I be scared of the price point they will set for this? 8O
I don't know if it scares you, but here is the new pricing:

TextMaker for Pocket PCs: USD/EUR 49.95
PlanMaker for Pocket PCs: USD/EUR 49.95
TextMaker + PlanMaker: USD/EUR 69.95

If you need additional platforms (remember, we support Windows, Linux, Handheld PCs, and FreeBSD), each additional platform is USD/EUR 20.

Oh, there will be introductory offers for TextMaker users. Stay tuned.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

Aww.. Linux but no Mac support? This program looks awesome, but the fact that there's no Mac support plus the high pricepoint makes me reconsider my decision. I'd gladly pay $49.95 for both. Possibly you can sell each for $39.95?

Oh well.. maybe there'll be PPCThoughts Subscriber discounts soon! :D

[SoftMaker]

Can I be scared of the price point they will set for this? 8O
I don't know if it scares you, but here is the new pricing:

TextMaker for Pocket PCs: USD/EUR 49.95
PlanMaker for Pocket PCs: USD/EUR 49.95
TextMaker + PlanMaker: USD/EUR 69.95

If you need additional platforms (remember, we support Windows, Linux, Handheld PCs, and FreeBSD), each additional platform is USD/EUR 20.

Oh, there will be introductory offers for TextMaker users. Stay tuned.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

Aww.. Linux but no Mac support? This program looks awesome, but the fact that there's no Mac support plus the high pricepoint makes me reconsider my decision. I'd gladly pay $49.95 for both. Possibly you can sell each for $39.95?

Oh well.. maybe there'll be PPCThoughts Subscriber discounts soon! :D
Hmm, tell me of any other spreadsheet that supports Windows, Linux, Pocket PCs, and Handheld PCs ... :D

This said, Linux is the first step in the Mac direction for us.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

[jlp]

I think a close reading shows that PM is going to be more than $20 for existing TM users. If you own TM for Windows then to get it for PPC will be $20. This seems to relate to cross platform purchases of the same product. It doesn't have anything to do with purchasing a new product.

I had the introductory price for TM owners in mind.

[chirurgen]

Must be a very popular program, my download is running like treacle!

I am just waiting for the version that runs macros then I will get it

[Tavinho]

As a beta tester, I could tell you that PlanMaker is a very solid piece of software. And yes, there are some features such as macros and controls that some of us (mainly people that have used SpreadCE) are missing, but hopefully, SoftMaker could include them in the near future. By the way, I've not heard a word about it, those are plain wishes. :D

[SoftMaker]

As a beta tester, I could tell you that PlanMaker is a very solid piece of software. And yes, there are some features such as macros and controls that some of us (mainly people that have used SpreadCE) are missing, but hopefully, SoftMaker could include them in the near future. By the way, I've not heard a word about it, those are plain wishes. :D
We are already working on form controls and, medium-term, we'll port our Visual Basic-compatible scripting engine to Pocket PCs as well.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

[Thinkingmandavid]

Howdy
I recieved an email from them informing me of planmaker as a beta.
I am assuming everyone who bought texmaker also received this emal.
Those who are existing users of texmaker will more than likely purchase planmaker....we are already familiar with the product. We enjoy the ability of good word documents on our ppc, so then the assumption of good excel documents.:)
I down loaded it when I first recieved the email, but I have not used the application yet.

[felixdd]

I hope it does T-test statistics better than SpreadCE...the latter just does gives plain wrong results! :evil:

[SoftMaker]

I hope it does T-test statistics better than SpreadCE...the latter just does gives plain wrong results! :evil:
Please try it and give feedback in our beta forum. I'm sincerely interested in bug reports.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

[wiz]

I have been using the various Planmakers betas for a while now, on PPC and on HHPC and have seen it grow, slowly but surely, into quite the performant spreadsheet that the public beta is.

I use Excel an awful lot in my work, and have alsways found pTab a good alternative, but not a complete alternative to Pocket Excel. Therefore I judge the quality of Planmaker by the number of times I have to sigh when stumbling onto something I miss compared to my desktop Excel, and I can tell you, that happens a LOT less often than with pTab! :D

Keep up the great work, Martin & colleagues!! You will have my purchase!

[JBC]

Looks like a great product! In looking over the detailed features at SoftMaker's site, I noticed that there's a "Print Preview" function...I'm wondering if any 3rd party printing software supports PlanMaker?

[dlangton]

I'm wondering if any 3rd party printing software supports PlanMaker?

You could save as an xls file and use ClearVue for printing with HP print software.

[Tavinho]

We are already working on form controls and, medium-term, we'll port our Visual Basic-compatible scripting engine to Pocket PCs as well.

Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

:mrgreen: What a great new!

No doubt, we have a winner here! Those features will add an amazing power to this spreadsheet.

Just can't wait to get one of the new PPC with HiDPI (I think the ASUS A730 will be my choice); then, I will really enjoy working with those BIG spreadsheet I use to carry on my PPC.

[huangzhinong]

I remember there was a huge discount textmaker sale before($19.99?), I am waiting for the same sale for planmaker now, can't afford $49.99, esp I may only use it once per month.

[T-Will]

I remember there was a huge discount textmaker sale before($19.99?), I am waiting for the same sale for planmaker now, can't afford $49.99, esp I may only use it once per month.

Wasn't it $11.11 in honor of some crazy German holiday? ;)

[Tavinho]

:D I'm really impressed about your memory, T-Will. You're right, SoftMaker was selling TextMaker for 11.11 (either Euros or US Dollars) by Nov 11, 03 (Click here if you like to check that announcement) (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20433)

Hopefully, it won't be necessary to wait until Nov 04'