Done evaluating beta...purchase question

[JenniferRT66]

I have worked with PM's most current beta and so far, so good. I have been learning and settling in to a workflow, with some photos I took last weekend.

Per the "beta" warning to only work on "test" photos, I copied photos from my memory card to my computer, and kept the originals on the card "in case." Everything went well, and today my demo has expired.

So far, I like the product, and I really like that when there are issues, that there is a forum where the developers listen and respond to their users. That gives me confidence to purchase PM.

My only question is, since the current "official" release is being tweaked with the current beta release, what is everyone using for live workflow? When I first testing PM last month, I was using the current release, but had problems. The beta seems to be going fine for me, and I'd like to buy PM, but can I continue using the beta? I understand the warning is there as a disclaimer because it's a beta release. Is there an anticipated official release date for the beta?

Thanks,

Jennifer

[TiggerGTO]

I have been using the betas for my current work, and have not run into any problems.  I am only semi-pro and won't lose any significant income if a glitch somehow causes the loss of some images.  If I was making my living with my pictures, I would probably be using 4.6 which is the latest released version.

Danny

[BillyDix]

The current beta is pretty stable. I suggest you keep using it because it contains fixes that are not in the "offical release" and those fixes make PM more stable.

[Kirk Baker]

Jennifer,

I have worked with PM's most current beta and so far, so good. I have been learning and settling in to a workflow, with some photos I took last weekend.

Per the "beta" warning to only work on "test" photos, I copied photos from my memory card to my computer, and kept the originals on the card "in case." Everything went well, and today my demo has expired.

So far, I like the product, and I really like that when there are issues, that there is a forum where the developers listen and respond to their users. That gives me confidence to purchase PM.

My only question is, since the current "official" release is being tweaked with the current beta release, what is everyone using for live workflow? When I first testing PM last month, I was using the current release, but had problems. The beta seems to be going fine for me, and I'd like to buy PM, but can I continue using the beta? I understand the warning is there as a disclaimer because it's a beta release. Is there an anticipated official release date for the beta?

I would expect that most folks are using the beta for production work anyway.  We want to release the final 4.6.1 version as soon as possible, but we don't have a final release date since there are a few more known issues to solve.  Once everything is solved and no new serious problems are reported we'll release a final version.

So I suggest purchasing 4.6 and use the 4.6.1 beta 7 version for now.  And if you have any problems, please let us know about them as soon as you possibly can.

-Kirk

[Kevin M. Cox]

Count me as someone using the 4.6.1 Beta 7 for production work. The beta fixed an issue I had in 4.6 final so for me it doesn't make sense to backtrack.

[JenniferRT66]

I have the most currrent beta demo installed, set to expire on 5/22. I bought PM and have a password. Do I register the beta copy? Is there a point when I have to install and register the official release? It doesn't seem that I can do that at this point, because only one version of PM is active at a time. I had tried installing and registering the crrent "official" release, but I am not sure it registered. My name was in the registration field, but not my password.  It seems like you can only have one version of PM running at a time, also.

Jennifer

[Kirk Baker]

Jennifer,

I have the most currrent beta demo installed, set to expire on 5/22. I bought PM and have a password. Do I register the beta copy? Is there a point when I have to install and register the official release? It doesn't seem that I can do that at this point, because only one version of PM is active at a time. I had tried installing and registering the crrent "official" release, but I am not sure it registered. My name was in the registration field, but not my password.  It seems like you can only have one version of PM running at a time, also.

You only need to register once.  Just make sure you install the beta version last.  Everything should be fine after you install the beta version.

-Kirk

[vAfotoriporter]

I use the latest beta for production work. On one of my machines I still have a 4.5.something version I switched back if I found some serious obstacle in any betas. But the latest beta 7 seems to solve all troubles I recently found, so no need for worry.

The greatest trouble can be with using the betas is to have the ever occupied IT department install the new beta every while the former one expires - since in a company environment the photographer is not allways allowed to install programs on the machine...