Found the Crashing Bug in Optigold, well actually Filemaker

Hello, we've been dealing with a serious crashing problem with OSX and OS9 previously... And Filemaker 5.5v2 with Webcompanion 5.5v4.

Some interaction between WebCompanion and FM causes FM to crash.. The same two crashes occur consistently and are completely reproducible. The problem is either with WebCompanion or FM... I lean more towards FM..

Since 5.5v2 is the last 5.5 incremental update of the FM software, the only route to upgrading is to Version 6. There is also no newer version of WebCompanion as well...

So where can I get FM Pro 6 for OSX??? Anyone have a copy I can test with? The only other route is moving to Windows for our web server..

We previously had a similar problem under FM Server, which was solved by moving to a newer version of OSX FM Server 5.5v4 ... Changing both OS and Server Software did the trick...

 

Mia you seem to be pretty active in this forum, What is the status of OG is it a dead product now or what.

If so what is other people going to. I would like to keep my OG, but if it is not going to be supported any longer then I need to think about moving to another billing solution.

Thanks for your time.
Greg

 

Greg, do keep in mind I do not work for Digital Point, but have known Shawn since 98 or there abouts. I've used Optigold since then as well. I would assume it is dead given the fact that it has not been updated since God knows when (2 + years perhaps) and input from Shawn is limited at best here.

However, we still use it, and moving forward, it still offers everything we need, and in areas where it does not, we do our best to work around that. The only major problems we have are stability with the FM product... FM 5.5 is the latest Mac version and 6 is the latest Windows versions that can be used with OG. That said, neither are multi-threaded, so both are slow, and both are buggy... At least 5.5 is on the Pro side... There is a problem with 5.5 Pro and Web Companion, which I have tracked down and documented. That said, we have our sign up server crash routinely and it causes problems on the ordering front.

These problems are likely solved in an updated version of FM, however given that OG cannot work with anything above 5.5, there is no viable solution to solve this crashing bug without geting OG to support later versions of FM.

We had a problem with our 5.5 server version as well, but that was when it was on OS9. Moving to OSX solved these issues... However, they still exist even with OSX on the web server end of things. That said, I think we will likely move to FM on Windows for our Signup/web server and see if that takes care of stability issues. If it does, I think we will stick with OG for a while.

The main reason for sticking with OG is the fact that while we have some problems, OG is the ONLY billing server out there that works well for businesses that have both on and off line business. We do a lot of paper invoicing and found that Modern Bill and other popular hosting based or ISP based billing systems do not allow for the type of auto or manual invoicing that OG does. Also, the reporting in OG is much better and the easy dumps to QuickBooks or Peach Tree make our accountant happy.

Also, we have noted numerous and similar support complaints on the Modern Bill forums and other billing systems like OG. We are not alone in a lack of support and feature rich additions... There are the same types of complaints on several popular billing forums, and these are from companies that ARE actively developing/supporting/selling the product.

Ultimately, I would really like to see Shawn stand by his promise of releasing OG to opensource so that those of us that use it can continue to do so, and perhaps continue development going forward. Even if it has to stay on FM, at least with the latest version of FM a truly multi-threaded, multi-user db exists, including the ability to work with PHP.

What we really need is for the product to go OpenSource!!!

Anyway, that's my two cents!

 

I would like to stay with OG, it does do pretty much what I need for it to do, but it seems that prople who need more licenses are kind of stuck, and the lack of support is a problem.

If you do know Shawn, why doesn't he release it to the general public so it can continue to be developed, or at the very least to a few close people on the list to continue the development process. I have only spoken to him a few times over the past years, and he seemed like a decent guy, so I really dont understand this behavior from him. He IS still alive isn't he. I would hate to think everyone was so P*##$# with him about the lack of communication, and he turned out to be dead or something... But this is a lilttle crazy.

Greg

 

Honestly, we have just been deleting dead users or canceled accounts out and recycling them... After seeing countless people have difficulty getting license keys renewed, I figured this was the easiest solution. I'd like to order some more, and will likely send a fax/PO in Monday... I have a hard time paying more money for something that is not being updated, but I, like you and who knows how many others need the licenses...

I said I know him... We don't do lunch every day.. I don't know, nor do I propose to understand what his thinking is. If I had to guess I would imagine that his other forms of income have been more worthwhile to him, so why waste time on something that is not making as much money? I cannot fault him for that.. Makes perfect sense to me.

I make mention of releasing the code because I believe he said if he ever stopped developing it, he would...

Yeah, he is a decent guy... I've met him, known him a long time, and again, can only assume that his efforts are paying off better in other areas. OG does not appear to be his passion or money maker anymore.

Personally, an updated version could likely blow everyone else out of the water....

There was talk some time ago of moving to a php/mySQL based version and some screen shots (likely photoshoped images IMO) were posted to appease those that were still on board... I think Shawn probably realized like I do that moving that direction requires an entire re-write from the ground up. Its not like there is some software out there that magically ports OG in its present form to something completely different. Its a lot of work. Perhaps that was realized a bit too late, couple that with the fact that all things being equal, more money is being made elsewhere with less effort, its probably a no brainer... Again, I cannot fault him with that....

All I want is the source so we can move forward. I'd gladly higher an FM developer to ad features, and move to a more current version of FM.

Anyway, ultimately I cannot speak for Shawn, I can only assume based on what he has or has not said and what others feel. Outside of that, I really do not know.

 

Mia, I have a problem I can 't seem to remember how to fix. I have a salesperson setup and he is paid via commission. I have him setup as a salesperson, etc. and when he looks at his unpaid commissions there is a list there but it doesn't show any commissions due (just the customers names, invoice amounts etc). and When I go to "Pay Commssions" it does not show any commsissions due just the customers names and the last invoice amounts.

What do I have to do to get it to compute the commission??

Thanks for your help
Greg

 

Greg, go to Maintenance and Preferences -> Edit Sales People. Insure that you have set a commission percentage rate for that sales person.

 

Yea I did that already, but it still does not show any commissions. It will list the customers, and it will list the Invoices for that customer, but it does not show any commission. I thought there was another box that had to be checked somewhere to make it actually compute the commssion that you put in the sale people area. If the sales person logs into the web interface and selects "Unpaid Commissions" it again list the customers there but does not show any commission earned.
Thanks
Greg

 

We pay everyone a salary here, so admittedly, I have never used the commission feature. If that did not do it, then there are two possibilities:

1. It does not work
2. There is some other variable that need be checked or actioned in OG to make it work.
3. What I said before

Looking at Page 191, Chapter 12 in the OG manual (I bought a hard bound copy from Shawn years ago)

I would pay particular attention to what I have bolded above.