WisBar Advanced²

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/wisbar/">http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/wisbar/</a><br /><br /><i>"WisBar Advance 2 expands upon the successful task management features found in the original WisBar Advance. Now more tightly integrated with the PocketPC operating system, WisBar Advance provides greater responsiveness and a richer user experience."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2004/20041001-wisbar2.jpg" /><br /><br />Features include:<br /><br />• Compatible with PPC2002, WM2003 and WM2003SE <br />• Close, minimize or ignore any application <br />• Switch between any application currently running on your device <br />• Provides a cascading start menu (like in the picture above) <br />• Never miss a system notification again with the new dynamic notification icon <br />• Tap and hold the OK button to cancel a dialog <br />• Add or remove functions to the taskbar <br />• Each button on the taskbar can be assigned a tap and a tap-and-hold action <br />• Change the appearance of the taskbar, menubar, buttons and start menu in any program <br />• Supports high-resolution and landscape mode skins <br />• Customize the clock's appearance on the taskbar <br />• Hear sounds for system events, just like on your desktop <br />• Download and install themes created by other people <br /><br />This version is available for $9.99.

[David Johnston]

&lt;hippy> Aww, it costs money &lt;/hippy>

Is it me or have these Wisbar-based children got too over-bloated? I'm sticking to vBar...

[johncruise]

Whoa whoa whoa! Since when they started charging for this? There's not much improvement from the one I got from them. (that was free too)

[Wiggster]

Yea, I remember the big reason to get Wisbar Advance over Wisbar was that it was free. But it really seems to have improved a lot, with new features. I'll probably buy it in a few weeks, after some better VGA themes come out.

At least the old version is still free, I guess :?

[Stephen Beesley]

Whoa whoa whoa! Since when they started charging for this? There's not much improvement from the one I got from them. (that was free too)

I have been following the work in progress on Wisbar Advance 2 for some months now (and a long time user of the original WBA) and would have to say that for the amount of work the developer (Chris McKay) the price is very reasonable. Although at first glance it may seem not much different to WBA original or any of the other Wisbar developments it seems that it has pretty much been re-written from the ground up to work in with things such as notifications/vga/WM2003SE etc etc.

I have the beta on my PPC at the moment and will certainly be putting my money where my mouth is :D .

[Marcel_Proust]

How are people finding this?
I'm trying it, but getting a lot of hangups.

[KTamas]

Chris annouced 1 day before the final release that WBA2 will be commermencial...until then everyone belived that it'll be free...it's a shame... :(

[Jeff Rutledge]

I thought that a stipulation of the original WisBar code being made public was that any product based on it remain freeware.

Maybe I mis-remembered?

[David Johnston]

I thought that a stipulation of the original WisBar code being made public was that any product based on it remain freeware.

The original Wisbar code can only be obtained from the author...

I don't know, maybe WA2 has been coded from scratch but kept the name?

[huangzhinong]

Chris annouced 1 day before the final release that WBA2 will be commermencial...until then everyone belived that it'll be free...it's a shame... :(

There is nothing wrong to go commercial if Chris wrote everything from scratch and doesn't include "wisbar" in the product name.

Also, Chris should learn something from TodayPlus dispute: telling beta-testers that the prodcut is not free at the beginning.

[paris]

an awesome product IMHO.

I followed ALL the beta releases by the author so far and a lot of work went into it. I has happy to see that he is charging $ for WA2. This can only be good coz in the future he will be able to justify the time spend to develop further this product. Oh and i was not suprised at all when i found out it was not free, and it tool me less than 5sec to buy it instantly!! It is that good!!!

For those complaining about it being not free then if you visit WA web site you will find out that WA is still fee. However this new version which is completly different with many new features is not. I can say that it has been completly rewritten and the author has every right to charge for it.

Very nice work indeed!!! and kudos to the author for charging for it!!!

edit - Isnt this version VGA aware as well? coz i dont see it in the new features list you have put here. Anyone with a VGA screen corret me since my hx4700 is not here yet :D

[Wiggster]

It works like a dream on VGA. I started with Release Candidates 2 and 3 on my PDA, with RC3 on my HX4700. It's a beaut (although I can't stand the theme). It's definitely worth $10 for me, just not 'til I find if there's anything not great about it :mrgreen:

[Stephen Beesley]

an awesome product IMHO.

I followed ALL the beta releases by the author so far and a lot of work went into it. I has happy to see that he is charging $ for WA2. This can only be good coz in the future he will be able to justify the time spend to develop further this product. Oh and i was not suprised at all when i found out it was not free, and it tool me less than 5sec to buy it instantly!! It is that good!!!

For those complaining about it being not free then if you visit WA web site you will find out that WA is still fee. However this new version which is completly different with many new features is not. I can say that it has been completly rewritten and the author has every right to charge for it.

Very nice work indeed!!! and kudos to the author for charging for it!!!

edit - Isnt this version VGA aware as well? coz i dont see it in the new features list you have put here. Anyone with a VGA screen corret me since my hx4700 is not here yet :D

Hear hear...!

[PPCMD]

I was following WA2 but for the Phone Edition tie ins, now that I have the hx4700 I am ready to get my copy tonight. Software developers cannot continue to create, support and update software if they can't make any money for their time and effort. I moved to a new VGA Ipaq and with that I expect there will be some costs associated with this support and I am willing to do so.

Just remember that we earn our paychecks because our companies have customers who PAY for what we sell.

[RealImpact]

I have been using the Beta's of Wisbar Advance 2 for several weeks now. I was a bit suprised to see that it was $10 now that the beta has expired. (must have missed the post about it not being free anymore). However, I have to say the Wisbar Advance 2 is awesome. I stopped using WisBar a couple years ago because it never seemed to behave well for me. I just got an Axim X30 and have been using WA2 since. Honestly I have to agree with the others on the cost thing. I already made the purchase. Chris deserves the money. He has been working like crazy to make this thing a success. From the programming time to the time he spends responding in the Forums at his site. WA2 is stable and fast on my X30. I have alot of PPC apps but Wisbar is now my favorite.

RealImpact

[surur]

So does it now support phone edition devices?

If so it may be worth it.

Surur

[x999x]

How can they honestly charge money for an application based entirely on someone else's work?

[David Johnston]

How can they honestly charge money for an application based entirely on someone else's work?

It's not entirely based on someone else's work. Wisbar Advance was built on someone else's work. Wisbar Advance 2 adds even more - so one of several things may be occuring:
0. The original Wisbar author has not been informed.
1. The original Wisbar author has authorised it, and gets a cut.
2. The original Wisbar author has authorised it, but gets nothing.
3. They've re-implemented Wisbar Advance themselves such that it is indistinguishable from the original Wisbar source code.

But it's probably rude to speculate without even attempting to find out the truth :)

I'm sticking with vBar for the moment.

[b3trio]

I appreciate all of the hard work that went into the development of this application and believe that it is easily worth $10.

That being said, as another poster wrote, the code that Wisbar Advance 2 is based on was distributed only to a couple of developers with the understanding that they would not charge for their work.

Now, I don't know if Chris has contacted the original authour of Wisbar to get his permission to charge for this app, but I would hope and expect that this is the case.

[LightMan]

It's not entirely based on someone else's work. Wisbar Advance was built on someone else's work. Wisbar Advance 2 adds even more - so one of several things may be occuring:
0. The original Wisbar author has not been informed.
1. The original Wisbar author has authorised it, and gets a cut.
2. The original Wisbar author has authorised it, but gets nothing.
3. They've re-implemented Wisbar Advance themselves such that it is indistinguishable from the original Wisbar source code.
But it's probably rude to speculate without even attempting to find out the truth :)

One of the reasons for the extremelly long beta testing period that Wisbar Advance 2 has undergone is that Chris re-wrote the whole thing from scratch, unlike WA 1.x which was based on the old Wisbar code.

Btw, mind that the latest free version (1.3.2.2) is still available on Lakeridge's site, so someone blaming Chris of becoming greedy is hardly fair or rational, after Chris spent countless hours programming WA2 from scratch and still making available (and supporting in the forum) the older v1.xx.

In my opinion, WA2 is worth the money, even more when you consider the quality of the support and updates that Chris provides, not to mention the stuff that is on the to-do list for the upcoming updates.

[mesposito2]

If users demand that software be free, eventually, there won't be anything but what comes in the ROM.

Writing software is fun, but eventually life gets in the way, and people have to spend more of their time doing things that pay bills. If we as users pay for the software we really use, they'll have reason to keep coding. Wisbar has been free for long enough!

As someone that used to write a lot of shareware, I can tell everyone that for many developers it doesn't take huge sums of money to keep them interested. Having something coming in to at least buy the hardware, and maybe pay for lunch is a fine. For others that set out to develop full-time, it takes more than that. But then we expect more professional software, as we should.

Mark

[gregmills]

I don't have any problem with the guy writing a new program and charging money for it. But it is marketed as a 2.0 version of what was a free product. He didn't give the people beta testing the product (myself included) the courtesy to inform them that they were no longer participating in the development of a freeware project.

I think it's bad form and I won't be buying it.

[mv]

I don't have any problem with the guy writing a new program and charging money for it. But it is marketed as a 2.0 version of what was a free product. He didn't give the people beta testing the product (myself included) the courtesy to inform them that they were no longer participating in the development of a freeware project.

I think it's bad form and I won't be buying it.

That´s true. Also, if it´s not based on wis bar anymore, it should have another name. I tried it but didn´t find anything better than 1.3... Anyway, Wis Bar was a freeware project, and icBar is still free.

[Techtoys]

Even if this was based on the previous product the new software is much better than the old, which caused a fair few bugs on my iPaq 4150.

I've seen these topics rant and rave about what is fair or not before. I'm voting with my cash - $9.99 is a good price for such a professional looking piece of software that makes such an improvement to the UI.

[paris]

I don't have any problem with the guy writing a new program and charging money for it. But it is marketed as a 2.0 version of what was a free product. He didn't give the people beta testing the product (myself included) the courtesy to inform them that they were no longer participating in the development of a freeware project.

I think it's bad form and I won't be buying it.

well people that indeed get involved in the beta testing period ARE the ones who will not have ANY problem charging for this product. For a simple reason, coz they witnessed the amount of work that was put into developing this piece of software.

Someone like you who still insists on getting free software is not worth even buying and using it. If you do not apreciate the work put by people to create software then you are not worth even considering your opinion IMHO. I am a programmer my self, one thing i do not apreciate is people expecting other people to work hours, days and months to provide them services or goods without even saying thank you and apreciating them for their work. If you ever took part of the beta testing then at least apreciate the efforts Chris has put into this and say no more. If the software does not worth $10 for you then dont buy it. At least apreciate the work put into it and accept that it a person like you made it which has a life and has bills to pay.

[paris]

I tried it but didn´t find anything better than 1.3... Anyway, Wis Bar was a freeware project, and icBar is still free.

hmm did you not find the dynamic notifications interesting? did you not find the skinning of OS controls interesting? the VGA support interesting? the landscape support interesting? the cascading start menu? The Phone edition version does not sound interesting?

Those and even more seem quite interesting to me and its sure nothing like 1.3 ;)

[nuka_t]

How can they honestly charge money for an application based entirely on someone else's work?

It's not entirely based on someone else's work. Wisbar Advance was built on someone else's work. Wisbar Advance 2 adds even more - so one of several things may be occuring:
0. The original Wisbar author has not been informed.
1. The original Wisbar author has authorised it, and gets a cut.
2. The original Wisbar author has authorised it, but gets nothing.
3. They've re-implemented Wisbar Advance themselves such that it is indistinguishable from the original Wisbar source code.

But it's probably rude to speculate without even attempting to find out the truth :)

I'm sticking with vBar for the moment.

hte original author can still sue for 3. reverse engineering and using the same name is illegal.

[x999x]

But it's probably rude to speculate without even attempting to find out the truth :)

That's why my post was in the form of a question, to find out the truth.

Regardless, if it's not wisbar code anymore, why mislead the public with it's namesake?

Wisbar has long been established as a free task manager, banking on that to move product is rude.

[paris]

3. They've re-implemented Wisbar Advance themselves such that it is indistinguishable from the original Wisbar source code.


hte original author can still sue for 3. reverse engineering and using the same name is illegal.

He did not reverse engineer it, he has wisbar initial code which was given to him by the initial wisbar author. While developing wisbar 1.x with Pelmar Inc author.

Using a similar name yes is illegal if the author coplains about it due to having a trade mark on the initial name. I doubt any of there are happening!

[paris]

Wisbar has long been established as a free task manager, banking on that to move product is rude.

Chris has more right than the initial author to use the name. Why? Coz he worked on wisbar 1.x, wisbar advance and now wisbar advance 2 MORE that anybody else worked on this program. Is it 2 or 3 years? i am not sure but if you ask Chris all these questions he will be able to answer them better than me. A person who had his eyes on wisbar since the initial author was well to work on it.

Long ago, since wisbar advance was born people voted to keep the wisbar in the name. People voted to do so since it would embrace the memory of the initial wisbar author who was no longer able to develop it. And since it is a program which extended the use of the initial wisbar people voted that it should keep the wisbar name in it to identify it better.

[huangzhinong]

Chris has more right than the initial author to use the name.

I just can't beleive it somebody will say that. It's stealing.

If somebody write something better than pocket infomant, basen on the same idea, can he name it Pocketinformant advance?

Come on, common sense. It is plagiarism.

[griph]

How are people finding this?
I'm trying it, but getting a lot of hangups.

I seem to have a few too! Particularly after a soft reset following Sprite Backup running. I shall monitor this myself.

[paris]

Chris has more right than the initial author to use the name.

huangzhinong - aparently you dont know the history behind wisbar, the initial author, the people who continued the work, and how they did so.

Stealing? when the author himself gives you the code? and yes WA which is based on that code is still and will be free!!

WA2 on the other hand is completly rewritten and is not free.

With the same resoning shall Microsft sue MultiIE author for using IE in its application name?

If he has the initial code and concent from the author to develop it futher then he can yes use the name.

What you dont get is that by having Wisbar in the name honours the initial author who is no longer able to develop it and does not offend him. Inventing a different name and using the same idea would be rude IMHO since it will not embrace the work put by the initial author.

IMHO wisbar advance honours the initial authror a whole lot more than others which took the code and gave the product a completly different name.

[yawanag]

How are people finding this?
I'm trying it, but getting a lot of hangups.

I'd like to know, too. I found that WisBar would hang if I installed it before NiceStart.

Like the others, I find the FREE version is ample for my needs. I've had so many apps that I really like and then came the upgrade, YUK! New is not always better.

[huangzhinong]

Chris has more right than the initial author to use the name.

huangzhinong - aparently you dont know the history behind wisbar, the initial author, the people who continued the work, and how they did so.

Stealing? when the author himself gives you the code? and yes WA which is based on that code is still and will be free!!

WA2 on the other hand is completly rewritten and is not free.

With the same resoning shall Microsft sue MultiIE author for using IE in its application name?

If he has the initial code and concent from the author to develop it futher then he can yes use the name.

What you dont get is that by having Wisbar in the name honours the initial author who is no longer able to develop it and does not offend him. Inventing a different name and using the same idea would be rude IMHO since it will not embrace the work put by the initial author.

IMHO wisbar advance honours the initial authror a whole lot more than others which took the code and gave the product a completly different name.

Yes, I know the history very well, the orginal author, a Japanese programmer, was very sick and gave out the code to those programs who want to continue the project and KEEP IT FREE. Everybody who got the code from this respectable author has agreed the kind will from the author.

Nobody will go after this kind of stealing since the author has no ability to do it now. But it doesn't mean you can steal it because he can't defend it.

Your arguments become more and more funny now. The final conclusion you want to draw is that It's the victim's honor to be killed by the greatest killer in this world.

vBAR or ICBAR cannot use the name anymore, not because they want to change, but because the name has been taken by Pelmac.

[ignar]

I have to say using the name "wisbar" for a commercial product doesn't seem right. I like the program and appreciate what Chris has done for PocketPC users by developing and mataining Wisbar Advanced. So, I am willing to pay for his new software. But, I'd be much happier it was named differently (if it was developed from the scratch, why want to stick to the old name unless it is for marketing purpose) or he displays that he gets a permission from the original author.

[gregmills]

Someone like you who still insists on getting free software is not worth even buying and using it. If you do not apreciate the work put by people to create software then you are not worth even considering your opinion IMHO. I am a programmer my self, one thing i do not apreciate is people expecting other people to work hours, days and months to provide them services or goods without even saying thank you and apreciating them for their work. If you ever took part of the beta testing then at least apreciate the efforts Chris has put into this and say no more. If the software does not worth $10 for you then dont buy it. At least apreciate the work put into it and accept that it a person like you made it which has a life and has bills to pay.

I didn't test any of the beta versions of WisBar until a couple of months ago. I tried 2 or 3 release candidates and I posted one or two bug reports in the forums. I decided that even once the bugs were worked out it wasn't something I would continue to use (and that was when I thought it was going to be free). So I really don't care. Free or otherwise I'm not using/buying it.

I have to imagine that it is dissappointing for people who risk crashes and data-loss to test this software to find out they aren't even going to get to enjoy the final release. Beta testing is a way that a non-programmer can contribute to the development process of a product they like. And when the product is freeware to begin with there is a sense that you are not only helping the developer but your benefiting the PPC community as a whole.

Waiting to the very end of development to announce that the final version was going to be a commercial release was classless. Neither personal attacks on my character nor guilt trips are going to sway me from that opinion.

I hope he has great success. I'm sure he's a nice guy. I won't be supporting the product. But neither am I trying to convince anyone else not to.

[jkendrick]

I can't think of a single program that went from free to commercial that didn't cause this very type of discussion. The truth is he can do whatever he wants and call it Wisbar if he wants if the original author gives him permission.

Heck, even if the original code was GPL open source you could still modify it and sell it. It's a common misconception that open source = free.

[victore]

One reason that I like Wisbar Advance is that it works on my Windows Mobile 2003 SE device. Are there any other xxxbar alternatives that will work on my e800?

[Empyrean]

For any SBSH PocketBreeze users, there is a discount available that brings the cost down to $6.99. Nice deal!

[mashtim]

Not to get back on topic or aything, but does this new version support Phone Edition or not? If so, how does one set it up for P.E.?

[juni]

Well, I like that he kept "Wisbar" in the name, although the code has been totally rewritten. I suppose it could be renamed but what is the point?

I get people telling me "I can't justify paying for your skin suite since all your other skins are free. Hand over a copy for free" about my one and only commercial suite. :D

I can't even imagine the amount of work Chris put into WA2. I think it is well worth what he charges for it.

[Jereboam]

The main thing for me is are you going to support it with skins Juni? ;)

I agree with the comments mostly...I would like to know that Chris has at least spoken with the original Wisbar developer about releasing a commercial product, even if there is no common code, and I do think it was not right to keep his beta testers in the dark about the eventual commercial status. Many people are evangelical about freeware/open source projects and would otherwise not have supported it with their time, effort and the risk to their device and data. He has benefited from their testing and feedback with no apparent reward for them, which is simply wrong.

On the other hand, Chris has done a lot of work clearly, and deserves to be rewarded for that.

I have often lurked in the WA forums and know that as a developer, he has always been extremely responsive to bugs and feature requests.

Anyway I hope he stops by to address some of these questions because he doesn't deserve this level of hassle...

I will look at this again when I have a VGA device...for now the original WA is still free and serves me admirably, and for that Chris has my thanks.

J'bm

[LightMan]

I can't believe in all this ranting and accusations to a guy who has given so much to the PocketPC community for so long (about 1 and a half year of coding/updates/support for the free version of WA) without asking nothing.

Making acusations about Chris using the same name for the commercial version or other meaningless issues just to hide the true purpose behind their complaints (the fact it's not free anymore) is just lame and pitiful.
There are rules and ethics to be respected in the software business, but I really don't think Chris has done anything that is deserving of all this...even more with his background that I already mentioned.

I'll also stop my ranting here and now.

[jonathanchoo]

I don't know whether the original author GPL'ed his source code but I doubt it since all the WisBar spinoffs never came with the license. He probably license the source code privately to all the developers who wanted it.

I do not know what are the terms (since he has since closed his WisBar website) but I do know that WisBar Advance is bloated when compared to all the WisBar spinoffs out there. Personally I think they should have changed the name instead, but who am I to say since I don't have all the informations.

However....to those that complain that WisBar Advance is too big - use IcBar instead! 100k total storage needed. And very fast.

Note: I am not attacking the author for commercialising his product. But I do have the right to criticise a program.

Regarding the GPL

The GPL allows people to sell copies. The GPL also allows for someone who paid for a copy to then post it for free in the public.

However from the limited informations available, it seems the original author of WisBar did not GPL'ed the original program.

[weisco]

Mashtim wrote "Not to get back on topic or aything, but does this new version support Phone Edition or not? If so, how does one set it up for P.E.?"

Surur wrote "So does it now support phone edition devices?"

Has anyone tried WisBar Advanced 2 with the H6315? Has it been compared to Gigatask?

Anyone???

Thanks

[mashtim]

ok, I've answered my own question:
Apparently, the developer is going to have a separate version for Phone Editions that he plans to have a Beta for in the next couple of weeks.
For those of you (us) interested, I would suggest keeping an eye on the Lakeridge Software forums.

[n1ck]

I have been using the various beta versions for a while now and have found it a very impressive program with the perfect price of free. However I had to soft reset my Pocket PC virtually every day - it seemed especially sensitive to Nevo.

I have now gone back to the free version and make use of Juni's outstanding skins. I would encourage anyone to try the 1.3 version to give a taste of what 2.0 can give.

[shanipaqman]

Can anyone tell me how to find instructions on using this program that I'm trying out?

I just can't seem to find how to do all the cool things I see on the pictures and such???
thanks for any links to help...
shannon

[Jereboam]

I'd like to say a few words in my own defense. Several people have called me a scam artist or have accused my of purposely deceiving the community. Nothing could be further from the truth. Did I make a mistake, yes. Please let me explain.

First of all, I did not originally intend to make WA2 commercial. When I set out to upgrade WA1, I did not know that it was going to take as long as it did. Nor did I know that I was going to have to create an entire rewrite of the program.

As time went on, I found I was spending more time developing the software and fulfilling requests. Unfortunately, many people were demanding and just plain rude about it. Sure, they were getting a free program, but they DEMANDED that I change things.

After a while, I found that development was draining me, both emotionally and financially. I couldn't afford to develop and support the program and maintain a website on what funds I had. So, I asked for donations. In the course of a year I collected approximately $150.

As I said before, when I opened the program for testing, I did not intend to sell it. But, I had several developers begin approaching me, asking me to start selling the program and also to co-market their programs with it. Also, MANY people on this forum started asking me/suggesting to me to start selling it. Because of the lack of funds, I started to consider it.

I mentioned this to several people, usually in the form of private messages. So, I did fail to inform the community that I was considering the option. For this I'm sorry.

When I finally made the decision, I was approached by another developer to co-market WisBar Advance with their software. Because I was trying to keep this as a surprise, I again neglected to inform the community that I was entertaining the option. This was a lapse in my judgement. The idea was not to deceive, however. It is just that I did not think about it.

When I made the announcement the other day, it was a little rash. I should have created another beta and announced that it would become commercial. Again, for this I'm sorry. Unfortunately, at this point the damage cannot be undone.

As a compromise, I will do two things: First, I will change the name of WisBar Advance 2. The program does not contain ANY code from the original WisBar (this was explained in another of my posts which I don't want to go into again here). Second, I will bring WisBar Advance 1.x up to WM2003SE functionality, albeit without many of the features in WA2. This WILL remain free.

Again, I'm sorry. I did not intend to deceive anyone, nor was this a planned "scam". I am hurt that many people feel that way. I am also hurt by the personal attacks being spread on this site and on other sites. While I understand why people feel the way they do, the attacks, I feel, are not called for. I do hope that you are more kind to one of my competitors (who will remain nameless) that are planning to start charging for their next version and have not yet announced their intentions to charge either.

Please feel free to comment on this in any way. Just, please, keep it clean.

I have taken the liberty of pasting this from this thread (http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679). I think it should cover it and put a stop to the heckling...

J'bm

[huangzhinong]

I also want to paste the orignal author's commet here, hope it can make some peole realize what's going on.
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110797&perpage=15&pagenumber=4



Here is your answer. Quoted from a post by Chris McKay(the developer).

"I posted a response about this earlier, but I'll explain it again. What I did was start working with Marc Pelmar, who got permission to use the WisBar nam. Shortly after that, I started working with Marc and ended up doing most of the development on WisBar.

For a while he stopped developing entirely and I got permission from him to create WisBar Advance. When WM2003SE came out, I found that the entire skinning engine needed to be reworked, hence the need for a full upgrade. Since it was an upgrade, it kept the WisBar Advance name.

During the testing, code was rewritten and even removed. After a while, there wasn't any code left that was originally from WisBar. That's why there is no code related to the old program and why the name kind of stuck."
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I kind of resent those comments. Contributed yes, most of the development not really. But I did stop developing because of time and well like I always said, "I wanted to keep things simple" period, mabe Chris wanted a lot more functionality. If you want tons of features then get wisbar advanced.

Also another thing I抎 like to clarify is that wisbar advance has nothing to do with my version of wisbar, they are 2 separate products. Hopefully the name change will remove this confusion. And yes my version if free and will remain free forever, my wish and the authors also.

Wisbar was open source at one time, I got the ok from the developer to open source it but it never flurished so I closed it, people would just steal the code never contributed and ran away. I was hoping developers would contribute and make it a feature galore task manager (But still wanted to keep my personal version simple).

Also if Chris rewrote the whole thing they he should be able to sell it if he wishes so, but the name should be changed for the sake of confusion.


__________________
Marc Pellus

..Pelmar..
www.pelmarinc.com

[mrkablooey]

wow, thanks for posting that huangzhinong. interesting... :?

[gorkon280]

One of the reasons for the extremelly long beta testing period that Wisbar Advance 2 has undergone is that Chris re-wrote the whole thing from scratch, unlike WA 1.x which was based on the old Wisbar code.


If this is a complete rewrite of the WisBar code, then this would be ok. I do remember that code for WA 1.x was released, but not sure if it was GPL'd. If it's a rewrite and it's GPL'd, there had better be no code in there that is GPL'd. If it was released under some other license or none at all, then it COULD be ok to use some of the code and sell it.

Based on previous experiences, I have had issues with all of the task managers including betas of WA. I had to do more soft resets with any of these (includign Magic Button) when I had these installed then when I did nto so I have been using iTask and the standard way of killing programs. Seems to work pretty well for my style anyway.

[pdawirelessfan]

The link for this prog is not available, anyone help please ?

[victore]

Chris' website must be having some problems or maintenance. Check back again in a little bit for WisBar Advance.

[RobertCF]

Back in the days of my iPaq 3630 I tried all the various utilities and eventually settled on the original Wisbar and Dashboard combination as giving me all the flexibility and skinning that I wanted. I dutifully upgraded as each went a long. When Wisbar2 came out, I wasn't surprised to see it moving out of the freeware realm. The cost of the software is totally worth it and it's miles ahead of all other versions of Wisbar and Wisbar Advanced. I've only scratched the surface so far, but it stands to add considerable life to my X5 rather than plunking down more $$ on the latest (and not so great) PDAs. The only thing so far I have found not quite up to expectations was that, while the notifications are greatly improved, I had an instance where the X5 did NOT wake up to alert me to an appointment. The alarm went off the second I manually turned on the PDA, but of course it was too late.

Everybody wants everything for free. Bunch of communists, sheesh.

[jlp]

...I had an instance where the X5 did NOT wake up to alert me to an appointment. The alarm went off the second I manually turned on the PDA, but of course it was too late.

I've had that problem as well with my US ROM X5, AND I've never used WisBar in any version!!

[Darius Wey]

Chris' website must be having some problems or maintenance. Check back again in a little bit for WisBar Advance.

http://lakeridge.tkcws.com/

This is a temporary link to the website,but you will have to wait a little while before the actual link (http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com) refers to the site.

[KimVette]

I don't believe that the original code was under GPL - it was a private license distinct from the GPL. I tried emailing the original author over a year ago fior the code but unfortunately he is (or was at the time) on a host which is on the DNS blacklists so I didn't receive the reply. I was hoping to take the original wisbar, add a cascading start menu for PPC2K and fix a few bugs.


With that said the ONLY problems I see with Wisbar advanced, considering it contains NO original wisbar code, (in regard to the release, aside from the inability to run it on PPC2K)) are:

1. Using the original name which is in violation of ethics and trademark law (even if you do not file a trademark it can be automatically protected under common law). However if he was indeed one of the original authors and does have permission from the original author, that issue is moot.

2. He didn't announce it was commercial until well after beta. What he should consider doing is making a "lite" and a "pro" version, where the lite version is functional but limited in some way, and the full version obviously allows full access to all functionality. I wouldn't say it was a scummy move, but a very poor error in judgement and he could very well have alienated much of his original customer base.

[Jereboam]

I just thought I'd chime in with something unrelated to the controversy - Wisbar Advance 2 is actually a fantastic upgrade, bar a few minor issues (and some apparently major issues on the 4700, but fixes coming).

J'bm

[Darius Wey]

I just thought I'd chime in with something unrelated to the controversy - Wisbar Advance 2 is actually a fantastic upgrade, bar a few minor issues (and some apparently major issues on the 4700, but fixes coming).

J'bm

Issues with the hx4700 are also discussed in two threads in the Lakeridge Software forums.

You can see them here (http://lakeridge.tkcws.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=664) and here (http://lakeridge.tkcws.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=743).

[caesar54]

For my uses, icbar is a beautiful thing.