Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    I got a letter from Oxxi a while ago saying they'd be shipping me
    the 1.9 update right away.  I haven't heard from them since, and
    with this news I doubt that I will.  The product has been renamed
    Plan/IT and is now distributed by BEST.  The new version fixes some
    bugs in Maxiplan and runs significantly faster.  It includes the
    macro feature, so it is equivalent to the -Plus version of Maxiplan.
        John Sauter

    John,
    
    	From previous replies, I know that you write software, and that
    you feel unkindly towards people that have disreguard towards
    copywrited material, but look what the SELLERS of MAXI-PLAN have
    just done, they dropped thier distributor, changed the name of the
    software.  Where does this leave the buyers? will they get the chance
    to upgrade to the new version at a minimal cost?  When the software
    writers show such contempt for the people that supported them, you
    can see why others have the same view of them!
    
    Jean
    

    When I purchased MaxiPlan, there was no representation made to me that
    there would be an upgrade available, at any price.  I wouldn't have
    bought the software if it did not meet my needs---I never buy a product
    if I need a future upgrade to make it useful to me; instead I wait
    for the upgrade to be available.  (Maybe by then there will be
    something even better on the market.)
        John Sauter

    Maxiplan owners can change to PLAN/IT by doing the following:
    
    Send:
     The cover from your Maxiplan or Maxiplan Plus manual,
     An original program disk, and
     $45
    
    To:
     BEST
     11525 Sw Durham Rd.
     Tigand, Oregon  97224            phone is (503)684-6655
    
    

	re: .-1

	Has anyone received their new Plan/IT software from BEST?  I sent
my $45, an original program disk and the cover of MaxiPlan Plus on July 10 and 
have been waiting but nothing yet.  As far as I know, they haven't cashed my 
check yet.  I'll call them on Tuesday to see what's going on.  I was just 
wondering if other people had success with the upgrade or if there is any new 
status on the upgrade.  

	thanks for any info,

	Gary Vaillette

    
    I'm in the same boat.   BEST ran out of manuals and has been waiting
    for a shipment from their vendor.   
    
    I called about a month ago and they said ...
      "we wont cash checks until we ship"
      "we'll be gettin manuals and shipping within 2 weeks"
    
    I called about 2 weeks ago and they said ...
      "we'll be getting manuals in and shipping in 2 weeks"
    
    According to my calculations, that means they're in the mail.  Ha!
    
    Actually, they were very nice to talk with and they simply seem
    to be honestly waiting for manuals.  I'm hoping to get mine any
    day now.  On the positive side - maybe we'll get the latest, greatest
    current release or something like that.
    
    Couple of points -
    
    I had taken a look at the manual one day at the Memory location
    and it didn't seem to be as nice a quality (construction wise)
    as the Maxiplan manual.  Looked like a plain old paperback binding
    (you know, the kind that falls apart if you use it a lot?).
    
    Here's a list of the major differences between Maxiplan & Plan/IT
     - they say they fixed all known Maxiplan bugs
     - rewrote all the database stuff
     - allow user text in graphs, and improved graphing techniques
     - got rid of all those extra screen updates
     - added project management functions (don't know exactly what)
    
    I asked "How about a decent sideways printing capability" ?  He
    thought that was on the list of things to do but has not been done
    yet (I've not fount a decent utility for the Amiga yet).
    
    I asked "How about fixing the locking of rows and columns so they
    work correctly (lock randomly, anywhere on the spreadsheet). He
    said that's a great idea an a common complaint, unfortunately it's
    not likely to happen.  They looked at this problem and determined
    the fix requires almost a rewrite.
    
    Hang in there, it's on the way.
    
    Frank

	Re: .-1  
	
	Frank, your calculations are right on.  Plan/IT is in the mail.

	I called BEST today and a very pleasant Cindy told me that all the
Plan/IT upgrades were sent out last week (week of Aug 28).  She called me
back later to let me know that my order was sent out on the 28th and said
I should receive it Wednesday or Thursday of this week.  

	MaxiPlan is one of my most used programs.  I'm looking forward to
the new features and bug fixes.  Thanks for entering the original upgrade
notice.

	(I agree that sideways printing would be a great enhancement for a
future upgrade)

	Gary

	

    
    Great ... Now if I can get my hard disk back from GVP it'll
    be like Christmas in September.
    
    Frank
    

    Well,
    
    I got home and found my PLAN/IT had been delivered  -  Ver 3.0a

    They now have a spiral binding on the manual which is nice.
    
    I'm kind of diasppointed.  There are quite a few bugs and the
    manual is full of discrepencies that cause the tutorials and
    examples to not work.  The problems are obvious to me but I
    think a new user would be extremely frustrated with attempts
    to follow the examples.  Kinds of things I observed:
    
    1. If you start PLAN by clicking on a project ICON rather than
       the program ICON -
    
       - none of the help menus work
       - the calculator doesn't work
       - try to add text to a graph and system crashes when you select
           a font.
    
       (these seem ok if you start by clicking on the program ICON)
    
    2. The manual sites several sample worksheets and demos that are
       not shipped with the product.  Some are supposed to be in 
       the "worksheet" drawer which is empty!  Others are in a different
       drawer called "cookbook" which I couldn't find described anywhere.
    
    3. Some of the examplse which are on the disk are changed from what's
       described in the manual and CELL numbers indicated in the tutorial
       don't match what's o the screen.  Great feature if your learning!
    
    4. I got it to crash a couple of times by doing some drag scrolling
       but I couldn't make it repeat.
    
    5. The manual says it's ready to go .... All you have to do is use
       preferences to pick the proper print driver for your system.
       Preferences is not on the workbench disk. Neither are the print
       drivers (except for "generic").
    
    6. The procedure for installing on other disks tells you to use
       supplied font "mover" utility for ccopying over the fonts. No
       font mover utility included in the product they sent me.
    
    7. The function and shifted function keys work exactly as they did
       in Maxiplan but BEST doesn't see fit to ship the strips to put
       on your keyboard.  If your a Maxiplan owner, hang onto these.
       If you're not a previous Maxiplan owner I guess your out of luck.
    
    8. All the screen pictures in the manual are from Maxiplan, not
       PLAN/IT.  No big deal but they could have done it right.  One
       of the changes is that they've put the memory useage stuff on
       top of the area where you used to click in the digits (0-9) in
       Maxiplan.   Whats interresting is that now you can't see the
       digits to click on but they're there! Just click on the memory
       useage stuff and watch the numbers get entered (Hokey)!
    
    I think there are 2 basic problems here:
    
     1. That Plan/IT is really written and supported by Intuitive
        Technologies (not BEST) and they are continuing to trade bugs
        with each release IMO(just as they did with OXXI/Maxiplan). 
    
     2. BEST cares more about getting the product out than making the
        documentation and the contents of the disk complete and accurate.
        They should at least proof read the manual and try some of the
        tutorials.  

    Well, I'm hoping BEST will take an interrest in feedback and clean
    up the product.  In the meantime I think I just wasted $45.
    
    Frank
        

    I just got a flyer from Intuitive technologies.  It says that they are
    no longer distributing throught oxxi or BEST.  If my memory is correct,
    the oxxi update costs $40, but the BEST update is free.  They are also
    selling a hypertext package.  
    
    The flyer is very brief, but it appears that there are bug fixes for both
    the BEST and the oxxi versions.  For exampe, they state that up to 50 graphs
    may be associated with a spreadsheet instead of the 8 possible with the
    BEST and OXXI versions.  
    
    I don't have the address with me here at work.  I'll add it later if someone
    doesn't beat me to it.  It is in the SF Bay area (menlo Park??), I think,
    I hope my letter didn't get lost in the earthquake!
    
    Rich.
    

    I talked to Intuitive today.  Here's what they had to say:
    
    1. That they had to dump OXXI due to poor technical support. They
       were sorry to have to do that as OXXI really helped get the
       product off the ground after Electronic Arts stiffed Intuitive
       and almost caused them to go out of business (according to
       Intuitive that is).  Funny thing - when I used to complain to
       Oxxi about bugs, they said it was intuitive who wasn't responsive
       in fixing them.  Today, Intuitive told me the problem was Oxxi
       wasn't reporting either bugs that needed to be fixed or enhancement
       requests from users.  Who do you believe?
  
    2. Intuitive said they had to dump BEST because best wasn't doing
       enough to advertise the product and was not paying the royalties
       on the units they did sell.
    
    Anyhow,  Maxiplan III superseeds Maxiplan, Maxiplan Plus, and Plan/IT.
    It has some new storyboard and presentation features that look
    promising along with bug fixes and charting enhancements.  The upgrade
    rules are as follows:
    
    a. If you own Maxiplan or Maxiplan Plus and don't want to upgrade,
       you can re-register with Intuitive and they'll continue with
       technical support for you (phone help).
    
    b. If your a Maxiplan or Maxiplan Plus owner and want to upgrade,
       you can do so for $45. (same as if you wanted to upgrade to
       Plan/IT a couple months ago).  If you upgrade now you can get
       Maxiplan IV  for $10. when it comes out.
    
    c. If you've already upgraded to Plan/IT,  Upgrade to Maxiplan III
       is free.  Just send in your Plan/IT program disk.  You'll also
       be eligable for Maxiplan IV at $10.
    
    If you upgrade, you get a new disk and an addendum which describes
    the differences between Maxiplan 1.9 and Maxiplan III.  They are
    coming out with a new manual (don't know how soon) for Maxiplan
    III.  It's going to be loose leaf binder type so they can supply
    replacement pages for future updates.  When the new manual is
    available, people who have upgraded will be notified and will be
    offered an opportunity to by the manual at cost (they say).
    
    They're shipping Maxiplan III this week.  This is a week late as
    they just got back on-line following the earthquake.
    
    Address is:
    
    Intuitive Technologies
    2700 Garden Road, Suite 6
    Monterey, CA  93940          Phone: (408)646-9147   BBS: (408)646-9260
    
    
    They have another new product called Ultra-Card which I really didn't
    discuss other than to find out that it seems to be a multi-tasking
    version of Apple's  HyperCard, something else I don't understand.
    
    
    Frank
    

Please could somebody check the phonenumber
( 408 6469147 ) to Intuitive ?

I have tried to call them a couple of times but with no
luck. Maybe I am living too far. And I liked to know
if they accept VISA.

pekka

Re: .12

The phone number you have worked for me about 9 weeks ago.  Since then
Intuitive Technologies has moved, but they said they would keep the
same phone number.

They do take Visa.

I think they are a bit flaky.  I ordered Ultracard (another of their
products) directly from them.  They lost track of my order for about
two months (they really lost it: they didn't charge my credit card),
and I had a hard time getting a hold of them (I got their answering
machine but I didn't leave a message).  One day they must of found
the slip of paper they wrote my order on because a UPS package
suddenly appeared (and a debit on my VISA card).

    That number was ok a week ago but I trouble getting through.  I
    don't think they answer before 10:00am their time.  The guy appologized
    for the poor phone service and told me there all buried with work
    as a result of the Earthquake along with the task of taking over
    the marketing and sales of MaxiPlan III (which I'm wating for). 

    
    Randy,
    
    How about posting some sort of review of Ultracard after you've
    had time to digest it?  I curious, but hesitant to go for it
    at the moment.
    
    Frank
    

     
>    Randy,
>   
>    How about posting some sort of review of Ultracard after you've
>    had time to digest it?  I curious, but hesitant to go for it
>    at the moment.
 
I'll have to second that. I liked HyperHelp (anyone try that?).

John

Re: .13,.14

Thanx. The number seems to be OK. After many many  calls I finally
got through -- to IT's answering machine.

pekka

    So...after wading through all these replies, it seems that we should
    buy Maxiplan III from Intuitive, not from B.E.S.T?  All these ads I see
    in the various magazines are apparently for old versions of Maxiplan
    (few if any mention Plan/IT).
    
    I really appreciate that zoom-in/zoom-out feature and am finally in a
    position to buy it and don't want to get screwed up with an old
    version.  Any opinions/thoughts?
    

    In my opinion.  Maxiplan III is the only way to go, that is if you
    want the Intuitives product.  I think there are some slick things
    in that program if only they'd get rid of some of the bugs.  The
    bugs aren't show stoppers but some of the advertized features either
    don't work at all or not as advertised.
    
    Maybe it's worth looking at other products.  There are 2 or 3 other
    spreadsheet offerings out there.  I've not seen them and can't compare.
    
    Personally, I'm waiting for Microsoft to port Excel to the Amiga!
    
    Frank
     
    
    

    Re .18:
    
>   Maybe it's worth looking at other products.  There are 2 or 3 other
>   spreadsheet offerings out there.  I've not seen them and can't compare.
    
    I've looked at several.  They tend to be either grossly expensive or
    brain-dead.  I don't think it's too much to ask for a spreadsheet that
    will provide a reasonable selection of cell formatting options, decent
    table lookup & other functions, and cell/range naming (a lifesaver as
    one's spreadsheets get more complex) for under $80.  A sideways print
    capability (even if purchased separately) is nearly mandatory.
    
>   Personally, I'm waiting for Microsoft to port Excel to the Amiga!
    
    Heck, I'd settle for a port of Multiplan from the C=128!  Surely we
    should be able to do MUCH better on the Amiga.
                

    
    For you trivia buffs, Mike Lehman, author of the original MaxiPlan,
    wrote the spreadsheet section of Excel for MicroSoft.  Mike Lehman is
    also the author of Ultracard, a hyper-whatsis clone for the Amiga.
    
    I think Mike Lehman has good ideas, but his software has been
    incredibly buggy until the umpteenth release or so.  I've felt that all
    versions of MaxiPlan until 1.9 were too unstable to even consider using
    for serious work.
    
    

    The latest version of AmigaWorld has a committee rating of various
    packages and rates Superplan as the better general spreadsheet package
    (and it does have a sideways feature).

Can sombody help me with a problem I'm having with MaxiPlan?  I'm trying to
create a list of savings bonds to calculate their approximate current value. 

I want to be able to enter dates in some form such as 5.89 or 5/89 for May 1989.
So far, the only format I've been able to find in the manual is Julian, in which
I must enter the number of days between the desired date and MaxiPlan's starting
date of 1-Jan-1978. Is there a 'reverse' Julian function for entering dates? 

Dave

P.S. Just out of curiosity, what are some of the applications others are using
     MaxiPlan for? I don't need it for taxes since I use Phasar for that.

    .Re .22
    
Dave,

This is from memory so it may be flawed but I think this is what you
need to know.  I'll verify this tonight and get back to you if it's 
incorrect. 

EXAMPLE:
Suppose you want to enter the date of  15-Apr-1990 into cell A1 and use 
that julian information in some later calculation that involves differences
in julian dates (ie. term of loan).

1. Highlight cell A1 and then enter the DATE function as a formula

   =DATE(90,4,15)

   after you enter that formula, the cell data that will display 
   the julian number for that date.  The date has been entered and
   you can now reference A1 in any date calculations.

2. Next go to the Format menu and display A1 in one of the standard
   date formats.  That julian date will now be displayed in the 
   cell in dd/mm/yy or whatever the appropriate format option states.

Frank

    

    re: .22, .23---That's also what I do.
        John Sauter

<	1. Highlight cell A1 and then enter the DATE function as a formula
<	   =DATE(90,4,15)

Thanks Frank, that did the trick. 

Dave

    Has anyone every got Maxiplan to print sideways? Please share the
    secret.
    

    
    Wouldn't that be nice!  Sorry, I don't know of a way to get sideways
    output of any quality.  Can't do it from Maxiplan. I tried Flipside (a
    utility from MSS, a $30 DUD). I tried a PD sidways printer (name
    escapes me, results=junk).  I've been asking for that feature (seems
    like 100 times) and Intuitive response is "It's on our list, probably
    in 4.0".   Call and complain.
    
    If you do find a way, do me a favor and enter a reply.
    
    Frank
    
    
    
    
    

    
    Hmmm!  Anyone know if Intuitive is till alive?   I've been trying to
    call em' for weeks and the phone just rings ...... Not even an
    answering machine.   I've also noticed:
    
    - I have Maxiplan 3.6.  Intuitive had said they were working on 4.0
      and were about to come out with new manuals, etc, etc .... and I've
      never heard from them again.
    
    - Maxiplan 3.6 seems to have been only available directly from
      Intuitive and I've NEVER seen it for sale in the Amiga stores or
      mail order adds.  All the software vendors still seem to be still
      selling MaxiPlan and MAxiPlan Plus (the old Oxxi didtributed
      versions).
    
    - I also haven't seen any mention of, or adds for, their other product
      UltraCard in for a very long time.
    
    
    Very suspicious !!!!!
    
    Frank
    
    
      selling 
    

    What is the latest on maxiplan and its more modern connterpartts?? I
    want to but a decent spreadsheet and from what I can see this is among
    the best - but not if the supplier is getting a bit suspectetc. What is
    the current version. What ar other spreadsheets are currently
    considered the best??
    
    regards
    kevin

    
    re .29
    
    Kevin,
    
    There is a discussion of spreadsheets in another note where we seem
    to have gone off on a spreadsheet tangent.
    
    Check out note 4628.19 thru .29
    
    Frank
    

    Has anyone out there used Maxiplan Plus from the Disc Company.  They
    are offering to upgrade Maxiplan and Planit users to the latest
    incarnation  of Maxiplan Plus 2.0.  I was just wondering if $50.00
    would be a good price for this product.  The latest version according
    to the letter from Micheal Rivera of their Customer Services is WB 2.0
    compatible.
     
    I do not have WB 2.0 yet, but I doubt my version 1.9 of Maxiplan 500 will 
    survive the upgrade to workbench 2.0. 
    
    This upgrade was mentioned in the October issue of Amazing Amiga, John 
    Steiners "bug bytes" collumn, and confirmed in a letter to me from the 
    Disc Company's Customer Support.  
    
    For $50.00 and the original Maxiplan disc you can have the latest
    version of Maxiplan Plus 2.0.  They are currently shipping version 2.7.
    There was no mention of a time limit on this offer.
    
    Has anyone had a chance to see this program in action.  From the
    review in June's Amizing Amiga it sounds like a good replacement.  And
    I have not had any problems with upgrades from Kindwords bought from
    the Disc Company.  I have always had a timely response to my queries.  
    this latest query by mail only took 5 days round trip.
    
    Thanks 
    Alan
    

    
    Alan,
    
    For what its worth, I've run Maxiplan Plus V1.9 and Maxiplan III under
    WB 2.0 and didn't find any problems.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if
    your Maxiplan 500 also worked.  If all you care about is the transition
    to WB 2.0, hold on to your money.  On the other hand if you're after
    features of Maxiplan Plus, it may be worth the upgrade.  Especially if
    the program is "really" supported by the Disc Co.  By that I mean, "they
    actually have acces to the code and can fix bugs" rather than simply
    provide "how to use advice over the phone".   In fact I'd  be willing
    to dump my unsupported Maxiplan III, for a properly supported version
    of Maxiplan 2.0.
    
    Frank
    

I had a nice talk today with a technical support person from the Disc Co.
regarding the state of Maxiplan.  Here's what I learned:

The Disk Co. is reviving Maxiplan as an Amiga spreadsheet product. They claim
that the product was nearly lost due to inadequate support and distribution
channels.  The Disc Co. is doing fixes, rewriting the manual and will be
starting the advertizing campaign very soon.  The Disc Co. feels that
their European distribution channels will do a lot for the product. 

Right now the Disc Co. is offering upgrades to PlanIT and Maxiplan 500
owners.   The upgrade takes you to what they are calling Maxiplan 2.x,
a stable version of Maxiplan Plus but with less functionality than the
existing Maxiplan 3.x.  At the moment there is no support for Maxiplan 3.x
but it's coming soon (2-3 months).  Here's what's happening:

Maxiplan 2.x is now available and supported by the Disc. Co. 
Intuitive Technologies still owns Maxiplan and is currently updating
Maxiplan 3.x.  In about 2-3 months, Intuitive will release Maxiplan 4.x.
At that time, a several things will happen:

  - Intuitive will update Maxiplan 3.x owners to Maxiplan 4.x at no charge
    and at the same time the Disk Co. will take over support for Maxiplan 4.x.
    All Maxiplan owners will then get support and future updates from the
    Disc Co.

  - The Disk Co. will offer an optional upgrade from Maxiplan 2.x to 4.x but
    there will be an upgrade fee.  I believe he said that the upgrade will 
    include a new manual.
     
  - When Intuitive upgrades Maxiplan 3.x owners to 4.x, they will be sending
    "yet another" manual addendum to document the differences.  The Disk Co.
    is providing a new manual for Maxiplan 4.0 and will allow Intuitive
    customers to a purchase the new manual (price unknown). 

I'm glad to see that the product has not been abandoned.

Frank

    

    I recently picked up a copy of Maxiplan 500 at a computer store in the
    Mall of New Hampshire before I came across this note.  It was new and
    has an upgrade card for Oxxi's Multiplan Plus.  Apparently this item 
    got lost on a back shelf somewhere and they are clearing out inventory
    (I only paid $20).  I've read this note stream and I'm still confused. 
    Who can I call to see if I can get an upgrade to a less bug riden
    version?                                                        

    Eric

    
    Eric,
    
    Call the Disc Company about upgrades.  I don't remember their phone
    number but it's listed in a file called VENDORS.TXT over in the
    EOT:: upload area.  I've found their support people very helpful.
    
    Frank