FiveTech Software tech support forums

I clearly understand Marco's point of view. It has perfect sense for him. And its perfectly fine.

But with FWH we always tried to satisfy all our customers. The real good thing about Clipper is that could be used to build small applications, even for hobby programmers, but it was also a powerful tool that could be used by large companies. Thats why we want to keep providing solutions for all our customers.

Having a free and open source visual reports designer (EasyReport, if we finally get an agreement with Timm) its very good for many of you, and for some of you that need to target other requirements, FastReport, Crystal report, etc. are great solutions too. This way all our users are happy and get their needs covered

Thats the way I see it

Antonio,

Just tossing in my 2 cents....

I completely agree with your point of view.
A free open sourced report generator would be perfect. If others prefer a different method, it's available to them. That's the power of fivewin

As for a one-man-show and future support if something were to happen to you ... I would not have stayed with FWH if it was not for all the others that provide not only answers to problems but also suggestions to better ways to accomplish tasks. While you do respond to your users, I would bet that the majority of support comes from the users (I'm not putting you down with this statement Antonio).
I can't count the numbers of times I have run into issues (either simple or complicated) that were solved quickly with help from the wonderful folks on this forum.

Many many many people here add to fivewin all the time and that only makes it a better product.
I myself am working on a software protection scheme that I plan to offer to all here free of charge once I get it perfected. A little thank you for all the help I have received over the years.

Keep up the excellent work everyone

Jeff,

I fully agree with you. Without the great help and support that we all provide here, to each other in these forums (and on other FWH forums in the world, as i.e. the very good one from Brasil users), FWH would not be what it is today

I surely missed many names when I mentioned all the people that have helped and keep helping actively on these forums:

viewtopic.php?p=161825#p161825

But I will update this list as my (bad) memory remembers all of them

* James Bott (how could I forgot to mention you ? You have been providing such a huge help on these forums)

* Carlos Vargas (gracias Carlos!)

thank you.

There are so many of you that provide a wonderful help here to others, that is difficult to keep all of you in my mind, but now that I just remembered it:

* James Bott, he has been providing such a great help and support on these forums for years. Hearlty thanks James

viewtopic.php?p=161883#p161883

Yesterday Timm sent me an email explaining me that it was difficult for him to set a price and asked me for a proposal.

I read his email when I was with some friends that invited me to play golf (I have never played golf in all my life, but I really enjoyed walking on the green, surrounded by a great natural landscapes) and an idea came to me that I sent to Timm. I want to share it with you, so you know whats the current situation of our negociations.

Basically this is the plan that I explained to him:

1. Timm send me all the EasyReport sources, so I can show you some proofs that I already got them (directory listing, makefile, etc).

2. Those of you that may want to get it (full sources, makefile, etc) will have to make a donation directly to a Timm PayPal account. I suggested 100 euros, but of course this should be free, so each of you that may be interested will pay the amount that is fine for you.

3. Timm, upon receiving that donation, will let me know the name of the user to send the sources to.

4. This process will continue until Timm gets an ammount that he considers that it is fine for him. Something reasonable.

This way we don't have to wait a lot of time to collect all the funds, and those of you that pay will have instant access to it

Its a simple plan and I think it may work. I know that there is no 100% control over this, as it could be copied, etc. but I think that we should not care about it, as we will only provide tech support for it to those that contribute with a donation. Once Timm reaches a reasonable amount, as I fully trust Timm, the sources will be distributed freely to everybody (becoming open source).

I appreciate your comments about this. I think it is a very simple idea that could work really well

As you can see the walk on the golf course had very good results

Antonio,

Excellent.

Where should I make the donation?.

Thanks

Elvira,

Timm has the final word, so if he agrees, I would like him to provide us his PayPal account, and your donations will go directly to him

Antonio,

Jeff's 2 cents, says it all for me! I'm sure many more on this forum have benefitted from the great support in the FWH Community. I hope Timm will agree to your offer. I have my €100 ready.

By the way, I'm not a golfer either, but check out this links, http://www.oldhead.com. It would blow your mind. If you're ever in this part of the world, I'll take you around it. I'm currently developing a Golf & Country Club System in FWH + xHarbour, soon to switch to Harbour, when the trail is well aired.

Ciao
David

David,

wow, thats really nice!

If one day I have the oportunity to be around there, be sure I will take your word to visit it together, many thanks

No news from Timm yet, I have sent him several emails but I don't want to push him more.

If he does not accept my proposal then we will have to wait to know what amount he wants for it and we will wait for the miracle that the money appears somehow to pay him

I just sent Timm this new email and I am waiting for his answer:

Dear Timm,

If for any reason you don't enjoy my proposal, then we may set an amount for it and we will try to get the money to pay it to you.

I would say 6.000 euros, would that be fine for you ?

Please tell me something

thanks

In the case that Timm accepts, if someone of you has the financial resources to pay him such amount, the collected donations will go to the one who put the 6.000 euros in advance.

So in reality, it would be a kind of a loan that later on we will be returning from all of us

We continue crossing the fingers

Today's Timm answer:

Hi Antonio,

that sounds interesting. Please give me some time to think it over.

Best regards, Timm.