PocoMail Future?

[blakelyg]

Hi Gord,

Hi Eric, you wrote this way back in January and there has not been anything since then on any kind of status or whether the product is being developed and there is active work being done on it etc. I am not sure if you are in active communication with Slaven or not but there have been several issues with the license keys not being accepted and access to the help desk, so I am hoping that you have had a chance to chat with Slaven (somehow) and maybe can give us some sort of update as to purchase questions (I could not check for what upgrade I am entitled to - based on my current product) and the help desk availability and maybe even any kind of development status.

I'm not in active communication with Slaven and nor did I hear anything from him lately.
As said before I really hope Slaven will make an announcement of what has been going on lately.
Until such announcement is made, I suggest you to put your purchase on hold.

For now I don't have a clue about the future of Poco Systems. Is it abandoned or still in active development?
It's however not good to let customers in the cold.
I really would appreciate an answer from Slaven, whether good or bad.

I realize that maybe you do not have the answers, but with long time members (see the post in General section) now bailing ship, it seems to me that current owners deserve some sort of announcement (one way or another), either on the Pocosystems web site or even via PM here.

I see it all the time and I agree fully with your statement.

Hopefully something will be forthcoming and while it is not your responsibility, you and the others mods are about the only indication that there is any activity and are in fact the front line to access to the developer(s).
Course this is only my opinion and is FWIW.

While we may have access to Poco Systems, that doesn't mean we have inside information.
We tested alpha's and beta's, but we never received more information about future plans.
I'm sure Robin will agree with me on that.

If by the end of this month no announcement is made, I will send an email to Slaven to ask about what's going on.
It's simply not done to current owners, members and nor to us moderators.

I've spend a lot of time on this forum and will continue to do in the future, if there's one.
The least we can expect is an announcement and by that I don't mean promises, but in fact to the point.
I'm tired, saddened of reading all those negative topics and members bailing ship.

I'll keep you all informed about any response I may receive from Slaven, but I would prefer he would do it himself.
For now I'm quite busy at work and at home.
Good night to you all.

Thanks Eric for the informative reply. I agree with everything you said. To clarify - my position is based on one of need. I am not going to abandon my current email client (Pocomail) as it does everything I need it to do. From what I can see a lot (not all but a good number) feel the same way.
Hopefully you have also read the comments in the forum that have been very (and rightfully so) complimentary of the tremendous support and effort that all of the moderators have done.
Would be appreciated if when you hear something (either way) that you update us here. I know it is not your place to do so, so hopefully Slaven will put up some sort of notification himself.

I am still interested in purchasing Barca, but will hold off until further information is forthcoming.

Thanks again.

Gord

[Eric]

Hi Gord,

Hopefully you have also read the comments in the forum that have been very (and rightfully so) complimentary of the tremendous support and effort that all of the moderators have done.

Yep, I've read all and it helps to keep going. Thanks for that support.

Would be appreciated if when you hear something (either way) that you update us here. I know it is not your place to do so, so hopefully Slaven will put up some sort of notification himself.

Message has been sent, although the first one was considered as spam.
Will keep you informed within a weeks time.

[blakelyg]

Message has been sent, although the first one was considered as spam.
Will keep you informed within a weeks time.

Thanks for the update .
Spam eh? Hopefully the second one will not be considered spam as well. Still that is not good.

Look forward to getting some sort of reply when I get back from vacation (in about a week).

Gord

[Slaven]

Sorry for the long silence, I wish I could've shared more info sooner but we were hit with a series of roadblocks on the way to Pocomail 5 that kept me unsure of what the next steps are. So instead of waiting for everything to be 100% clear here is where we are now, feel free to chime in with your thoughts!

As you can all imagine, desktop email market has been shrinking steadily every year, which precluded me from expanding our development team beyond the current 1.5 people (myself and various contractors, depending on time of year). The next logical step has always been Pocomail 5 (and with it Barca 3), and the biggest to-dos there were overhauling the message viewer and more importantly message composer to native HTML, and various IMAP improvements. There is a host of other small tweaks throughout, but those are the big ones that kept me busy.

Moving the composer to IE HTML had some drawbacks, but Microsoft has mainly resolved most of the security implications. Unfortunately, Pocomail's framework (the code foundation) has not kept up with times so as Microsoft drove Windows API forward it has become more and more difficult to support some of the newer Windows components. So much so that the partial build of Pocomail 5's Compose window was missing some of the must have features, and still wasn't fully stable. At this point I started seriously considering taking a step back towards 4.9 until we figure out a way forward. Sadly, a lot of the changes done for Pocomail 5 would be stuck in that codebase, so a lot of work would have to be done just to get to 4.9.

So currently I am exploring different ways to get us to a new version of Pocomail and Barca, whatever they may be. Some of these options is finding a Delphi coder skilled enough to bring Pocomail kicking-and-screaming into the current decade and give us options to grow, or even open-sourcing parts of Pocomail (sadly, due to several commercial libraries Pocomail relies on we cannot open-source it completely).

I wish I had better news but that is where we are today!

[blakelyg]

So currently I am exploring different ways to get us to a new version of Pocomail and Barca, whatever they may be. Some of these options is finding a Delphi coder skilled enough to bring Pocomail kicking-and-screaming into the current decade and give us options to grow, or even open-sourcing parts of Pocomail (sadly, due to several commercial libraries Pocomail relies on we cannot open-source it completely).

I wish I had better news but that is where we are today!

I think that news is terrific, at least there is some indication that the development on Poco/Barca continues. That satisfies me to the point where I am even comfortable with purchasing Barca. Would doing so entitle me to a new version (4.9 or 5.x) when it is available? Also can you tell me if the the upgrade link on the website will be working? Currently it cannot find my existing license key.

Gord

[Slaven]

I think that news is terrific, at least there is some indication that the development on Poco/Barca continues. That satisfies me to the point where I am even comfortable with purchasing Barca. Would doing so entitle me to a new version (4.9 or 5.x) when it is available? Also can you tell me if the the upgrade link on the website will be working? Currently it cannot find my existing license key.

Gord

Hi Gord,

Well, I really cannot predict what will happen to 5.0, if and when it would come out, but the major point releases we normally charged for at a discount to upgraders, with a 6-month grace period for those who bought recently. Minor releases like 4.9 are always free.

That link should work - can you email me your license key to check it's in the system?

[blakelyg]

I think that news is terrific, at least there is some indication that the development on Poco/Barca continues. That satisfies me to the point where I am even comfortable with purchasing Barca. Would doing so entitle me to a new version (4.9 or 5.x) when it is available? Also can you tell me if the the upgrade link on the website will be working? Currently it cannot find my existing license key.

Gord

Hi Gord,

Well, I really cannot predict what will happen to 5.0, if and when it would come out, but the major point releases we normally charged for at a discount to upgraders, with a 6-month grace period for those who bought recently. Minor releases like 4.9 are always free.

That link should work - can you email me your license key to check it's in the system?

Sure I would love to - where do I send it. The Private Messaging has been disabled on the board and I cannot see where to send it. I have also tried the Helpdesk but that is not working either - get a Zend Optimizer error at my end. I certainly will send information to you but am not comfortable posting my license info in a public forum. I have also tried the contact info from the main menu (left side) but only get a blank page also makes no difference which browser I am using (My preferred browser or Chrome or IE - none of them work for me).

Thanks for the quick response.

Ciao

Gord

[Slaven]

You can just send it to me personally, I thought you had my email - my first name at pocomail.com

[blakelyg]

You can just send it to me personally, I thought you had my email - my first name at pocomail.com

OK gone.

Thanks again.

Gord

[DRP6833]

Sorry for the long silence...

Slaven,

Since I'm the one who started this thread, I thought I'd chime in and thank you for the response and update. I think you've added some credibility to PocoMail's future.

[bareges]

It's great to hear from Slaven again. Like many here and despite having The Bat, Pegasus Mail, MS Outlook 2007 and Intellect availalbe as email clients I continue to use Pocomail as it fufils my needs very well and even when I decide to move to The Bat or one of the others I'm back again after a few hours. Quite simply, I'm sure there are some shortcomings like no virtual folders but it just keeps on doing what I need and like most.

I hope that after the many years I have been using Poco that it is not forced out of the market as that would be a sad day (no I'm not becoming emotional or sentimental about a software application) but it has proven over the years to be a hell of a good, reliable and efficient email client that is a pleasure to use.............there are many more powerful out there that are anything but a pleasure to use. Slaven's team have been fantastic particularly back in the days when I did a bit of testing and used to be in touch regularly.......great response and positive reaction to suggestions.

I hope a solution comes through as it would be a great shame to see a great programme fade away.

Keep up the good work

[Penintel56]

Hi Slaven!
Same opinion over here! A very very good piece of news to hear POCO lives on! Not that I need many changes, though!
Please do not alter the "Address book" construction! It's one of the best I know! And I tried a lot of "mailers" too, and always back to Poco!
Thanks to you and to Eric and Tomas who are keeping a friendly link with us, simple users!
Have a good Summer time!
All the best!
Pierre

[Bo98]

Slaven,

Many thanks for posting that update. Now I can set my mind at ease! (just remember to keep us updated)

[ente]

Sorry for the long silence, I wish I could've shared more info sooner but we were hit with a series of roadblocks on the way to Pocomail 5 that kept me unsure of what the next steps are. So instead of waiting for everything to be 100% clear here is where we are now, feel free to chime in with your thoughts!
(...)
Sadly, a lot of the changes done for Pocomail 5 would be stuck in that codebase, so a lot of work would have to be done just to get to 4.9.
So currently I am exploring different ways to get us to a new version of Pocomail and Barca, whatever they may be. Some of these options is finding a Delphi coder skilled enough to bring Pocomail kicking-and-screaming into the current decade and give us options to grow, or even open-sourcing parts of Pocomail (sadly, due to several commercial libraries Pocomail relies on we cannot open-source it completely).

I wish I had better news but that is where we are today!

Hello Slaven,
Great news! I join in with Pierre who says:

A very very good piece of news to hear POCO lives on! Not that I need many changes, though!

and Charles:

Keep up the good work

Poco 5 would be nice, but 4.9 would be fine aswell! And I do hope very much, that you will not have to open souce it. What I like so much about Poco is the guideline you gave it from the first version until now - and that ought to be kept!
Sincerely
Ente

[finding_mcflappy]

I would echo the sentiments expressed that it's good to hear something on Poco's future, albeit long overdue. I applaud Slaven for stepping out of the shadows and would suggest that continued good faith will rely on more information and regular updates forthcoming in the future. I would be happy to reconsider Poco if a new version makes it through development, but there seem to be a good few ifs, buts and maybes that make me wonder if this will happen. I know I have been critical in recent posts, angry even, as many here have been, but do still see life in Poco and would welcome any positive developments.