Trial version stinks ...

[jeremy]

... at least that is what a member of my group thinks!

I posted this to my group at the end of a message making the "Big Posters Awards" (using Statistics Builder):

>>>The number of postings comes from the group's startup page.
The number of posters and thread initiators was produced (in about 10
minutes total) by statistics reports in the program PG Offline:

http://www.personalgroupware.com/

I have tried twice already to interest members in this program. It
saves me hours a day keeping in touch with 9 groups. If others are
interested, I will upload the complete group message archive to the
PGO site from where you can download it onto your own PC. (I would
upload it as several zipped files, each about 5 MB)<<<

Yesterday I got a very angry email from one of the most respected members:

>>>I finally got around to trying out PGOffline to create my own searchable archive of all of the Z scale related Yahoo groups, and after attempting to download 11 messages (each of which seemed to have a problem downloading due to http errors) from the Z_Scale group, PGOffline displayed an error message saying that Yahoo had blocked access.  When I went to my browser and tried to access any Yahoo group, I kept getting the error page shown below in HTML.  Now, I can't get into any of the Yahoo groups!  Thanks a lot!
...
So far, I'm a very dissatisfied user of PGOffline, and want to kick it into
orbit around Saturn's moon Titan (without hitting Cassini, of course)!<<<

I would like to make a very serious suggestion: please change the trial version so it has the same performance as the purchased version but is limited to, say, 1000 messages in the database. That would be enough to see PGO's benefits without showing its disaster areas. I know the background, but in its present form it must be frightening some customers away.

Personally, I think PGO (purchased) is a wonderful product. I would like to see some of my group using it.

Many thanks, Jeremy.

[Wilson Logan]

Hi Jeremy,

At the moment, I am changing the trial version to have the speedy download as standard. I'll just include a warning that Yahoo may bugger it up at some point.

For the moment, a copy of the z_scale archive on my downloads page might fix a few problems.

Cheers,

Wilson.

[jeremy]

Thanks Wilson! I'll get to work on the archives in a week or so. Jeremy.

[lklawrie]

To the angry lister, don't blame PGOffline -- blame Yahoo!!!  It's the one that blocks things.

But it doesn't really block things for all that long...

I downloaded one of my groups yesterday (now at about 50000 messages overall).  I had to download in several pieces because some of the middle pieces are missing (yahoo fault).  (i.e. from 1 - 11600, 18000 - 30000).  I did get blocked at one point but just came back to it later.

Linda

[Wilson Logan]

Thanks Linda,

The next version ought to sort this though.

Cheers,

Wilson.

[Wilson Logan]

Hi Linda, Jeremy,

There is now a new trial version which has the faster download:

http://www.pgoffline.com/groupmanager/PGOffline-2-5-027.exe

Cheers,

Wilson.

[jeremy]

Thanks Wilson. I've told my angry lister and he will try the new patch as soon as he sorts out that his trial version has expired!

Linda, I know it was Yahoo that did the blocking, but for my angry lister it was trying PGO that caused Yahoo to block him. Anyway, hopefully the new trial version will be better.

Wilson again: what are the default download parameters in the new trial version?

Jeremy

[Wilson Logan]

Hi Jeremy,

The default is 100 messages per hit on the server. Just like the registered version.

You can tell your angry lister to mail me & I'll give him a licence so that he can try out the full version. If he likes it he pays me.

Cheers,
 
 Wilson.

[jeremy]

Wilson, thanks for that offer. I have emailed you privately with his name. Jeremy.

[Wilson Logan]

OK, thanks Jeremy.

[peakquester]

Something i saw online suggested the security block occurs at around 1000 messages every 12 hours.  I'm still testing the trial version, but I set for 900 per download, which gives me enough to read the rest live.  I should have my biggest group inside of a week and a half, which I can live with if that's what Yahoo's doing.  

[Wilson Logan]

Hi Mate,

Get the latest version (2.5.027) and you can DL at over 1000 msgs/min & not be locked out till you've got over 60,000 messages DL'd.

Cheers,

Wilson.