Another one bites the dust?

Posted by Cassius
Apr 26, 2012 at 10:39 PM

Even if a PIM has been around a long time, development may suddenly end. Jot Plus is an example that I have used for years, but its developer has said he has found more lucrative pursuits. Yet it is still being sold on its Web site, kingstairs.com .

Serious problems include:

A new OS version may not support a program that has ceased development. Examples: GrandView, GoBack.

The solution in this case is to, if possible, keep the old computer and OS, just in case you need the material you stored in the moribund PIM, or only use PIMs that can export to a standard program such as Word, and do the export in the old OS where the moribund PIM still works. (Luckily, GV files can be converted and imported into Inspiration with rather good results.)

In government and industry, new OS and software versions can result in extreme expenses and errors when a model developed in an earlier version of an OS or program (e.g., Excel) has to be rewritten for the new versions. My approach, in cases when the model was unlikely to be used much, or at all, was to keep the old computer with the old OS and software rather than to rebuild the model. Of course, this only works if the original model builders DOCUMENT the OS and software they used. Regrettably, this often/usually doesn’t happen.