11-20-2004, 05:00 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,177
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Major Release from AppForge, Crossfire 5.5
AppForge recently announced a major release of their flagship product, Crossfire. Crossfire is a cross platform development enviromnent that snaps into Visual Studio .NET. Up until this point developers have been left to use only VB.NET when using the Crossfire libraries. With the new release the company adds support for C#, a decision that will prove itself to be very wise, I am sure.
Among the new features I also note support for the hot and upcoming technology RFID. "With Crossfire's support for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, developers can now use Visual Basic or Visual C# to create barcode or RFID applications for industrial mobile devices."
The article that reports about this announcement concludes: "Other new Crossfire 5.5 features include support for Microsoft Windows-based Smartphone devices, the Motorola A1000 smartphone, and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition features such as landscape mode. With cross-platform support for over 300 mobile devices, Crossfire effectively "future-proofs" companies against rising device diversity in the enterprise, AppForge said."
I've tested Crossfire thoroughly and my conclusion is that IF cross platform development is a must for you as a developer then Crossfire is the way to go.
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11-20-2004, 07:30 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 102
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Re: Major Release from AppForge, Crossfire 5.5
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Originally Posted by Andy Sjostrom
I've tested Crossfire thoroughly and my conclusion is that IF cross platform development is a must for you as a developer then Crossfire is the way to go.
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I have been testeing CorssFire too (see here:
http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/3308.html
... for my mini-review with screenshots and first impressions),
however I can't get over one small tiny fact: each end user needs to buy booster to run software written with CrossFire.
So if you are a developer you need to invest 1000 USD in CrossFire + 1000 USD in Visual Studio .NET 2003 and on top of that each your customer needs to buy booster for 25 USD. So unless you are developing custom-made enterprise applications, Crossfire seems not to be usable for development of mass market applications.
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11-21-2004, 02:43 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 258
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Re: Major Release from AppForge, Crossfire 5.5
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Originally Posted by MS Mobiles
...and on top of that each your customer needs to buy booster for 25 USD.
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Yeah, I called and they told me that too. So, basically it's cost-prohibitive to use it for PocketPC or Smartphone apps unless you have a limited number of devices to install it on.
Too bad :roll:
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11-21-2004, 04:15 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 27
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that's weird, the last time I checked, the boosters were free. Did they start charging again?
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11-21-2004, 04:46 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 4
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I've just been given Crossfire to play with and as far as I understand there are 2 versions of the booster, a standard and enterprise. The enterprise booster contains extended libraries for stuff like RFID, barcode reading, printing etc. So it depends on what Crossfire features you want to use as to whether you distribute the enterprise or standard booster.
I could be wrong though..... :lol:
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11-21-2004, 06:06 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 102
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Toshi
that's weird, the last time I checked, the boosters were free. Did they start charging again?
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"booster" is an old term and refers to programs written with appforge for visual basic.
the crossfire booster is called "crossfire client" and costs 25 USD + 5 USD yearly for support for ALL PLATFORMS.
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11-21-2004, 06:26 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 4
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Ahh I see... they've dropped the booster term from 5.1 (which was only VB) and called it a client which you HAVE to pay for now. Oh well.... at least I have a free upgrade to 5.5. :?
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11-21-2004, 08:01 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 184
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is this application in any way similar to IBM's mobile device developer? or jeode for java?
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11-21-2004, 09:06 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 135
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Re: Major Release from AppForge, Crossfire 5.5
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each end user needs to buy booster to run software written with CrossFire.
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Back when Crossfile was released I received a complimentary media copy. In order to install it I had to remove Mobile VB 3.5. I had some apps developed using Mobile VB 3.5. Well when it came time to upgrade those programs it was a show stopper when I discovered that the booster would cost that much.
I will not bite the hand that feeds me. And much as I want I will not use Crossfire. :evil:
I had quite a long running conversation with the AppForge Vice President of Marketing because I had "upgraded". I finally told him that I would not use his product and would have to rewrite the software using a different tool (.NET).
In the end I'm out a couple of thousand dollars with a product that I can not use. :evil:
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11-22-2004, 03:17 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 27
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ok, I see.
What a waste of money. Pretty tricky to not charge for the "booster", get a lot of customers, then add the booster price again.
Bye Appforge.
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