iambic Releases Action Names DateBook 5.0

iambic, Inc. has just released Action Names Datebook 5.0, the newest version of its contact and schedule management app. It enhances the Palm platform's built-in Date Book, Address List and To Do list with advanced functions, views, and features. Action Names Datebook 5.0 offers more than thirty new features and productivity enhancements. It is available now for $20. Owners of previous versions can upgrade for $10.

The new version offers support for the high resolution display on the Sony Clié, items spanning multiple lines, and large fonts. A new "Contact History" shows, at a glance, the activities for any contact including linked phone calls, meetings, to-dos, and emails. Integration with smartphones like the Kyocera 6035 and Visor Treo lets user to send emails or SMS messages to contacts from within Action Names. Other new features include vibrating and flashing alarms; new weekly meeting, annual event shortcuts; and more.

"The new email integration and smartphone features in Action Names Datebook 5.0 are a great step forward," said Vidal Graupera, President and founder of iambic. "With the additional of many of the most requested features our customers have been asking for, this new release keeps Action Names up-to-date, ahead of the competition, and in-line with the latest technology. Action Names Datebook 5.0 will continue to be the leader in personal information management software for the Palm OS handhelds."

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$10 Upgrade?!

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/4/2001 6:43:55 PM #
You know, I like this product, BUT, it hardly seems fair that, since I already support iambic because of my earlier purchase of ActionNames for $20, new users only need to pay $20 for the newest version, but I have to spend $10 more to upgrade! It would have been better to wait and not purchase when I did. With strategies like this, people will eventually never buy iambic products because they'll keep waiting for the "newer, better" version to come out at the *same price*!

Signed,
Slightly Frustrated

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
kevin @ 12/4/2001 6:54:44 PM #
LOL or they'll find a palm warez site (they exist) and guess what they don't have ms handheld warez LOL.

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
kevdo @ 12/4/2001 7:00:35 PM #
Are you crazy? This is pretty much standard practice for software upgrades. The cost of the upgrade is 1/2 of the cost of the brand new purchase. Some companies (hint: Microsoft) don't come nearly so close as 1/2 just for an upgrade!

AND, it isn't like we're talking $1000 either. Hey, if you don't want to upgrade then don't. But don't hand Iambic out to dry for practicing what basically is an industry standard procedure.

-Kevin Crossman

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
jumex @ 12/4/2001 7:47:58 PM #
Good lord people. It is a whopping $10. You think this product isn't worth $10 to upgrade? I want to see you write a PIM that is as integrated as this. It is nontrivial work.
How can you expect a company to stay afloat if they don't charge for their software, especially in this economy. I'm surprised companies like iambic can do it at all. It isn't like there are millions of people buying Palm software everyday.

--
Trevor Menagh
www.trevreport.org
RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/4/2001 8:24:35 PM #
Action names is one of the best applications available to the palm. Talk to any ppc user that converted from the palm and they will probably tell you it is the application they miss the most. If the new features aren't worth $10 to you, then don't upgrade. When was the last time you saw a big name pc software company give a free upgrade to a major version? Beside Iambic has always given minor releases away free. If people weren't willing to pay for upgrades then there wouldn't be any. When [insert favorite car company here] comes out with a new model (which sometimes is no different than the current) do they let current owners trade up? In fact I am hard pressed to find any industry that gives away upgrades for free. </rant>

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/4/2001 8:31:50 PM #
DateBK4 - No charge for upgrades. Do I win a prize?

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
sford @ 12/4/2001 8:49:51 PM #
Actually, Dataviz does it a bit differently. The new version costs more, whole, than the earlier version, not the same; and upgrades cost less for current users.

I agree: it's a great app, and it's *only* ten dollars; but the principle stands: this does, in fact, make me hesitant to buy the upgrade and want to wait instead til the next upgrade...that costs the same...you know?

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/4/2001 9:12:35 PM #
You people are unbelievable. Ok, why dont we go have you write a full PIM application for a Palm, then give it away for free. Lets see how you feel. People these days, I cant believe it. Maybe people need to experience what it is like being a developer, to fully respect what developers do.

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/4/2001 10:26:24 PM #
I dont see why some folks are complainging about the measly $10 upgrade price. I am sure that the developers ar Iambic labored very hard to add the new features for this upgrade. Doesn't that count for something? Developers need to eat like everyone else. There is only so much your original $20 is going to take them. There are a lot f developers out there that offer lifetime upgrades. But the truth is that these upgrades are never lifetime. Why? These developers often abandon the productafter the 3rd or so upgrade becuse they realize that it is not worth it,

As for those that dont want to wait for the next upgrade...well this make no sense. We will always have upgrades of products. By the time you wait for the release of the next product upgrade, another one is on the horizon. Bottom line: If you do not see any value in the upgrade, dont do it.


This is the only program I will actually buy
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/4/2001 11:28:40 PM #
It is THE best. Without it, my palm's functionality will be reduced by 50%.

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 9:35:12 AM #
"I agree: it's a great app, and it's *only* ten dollars; but the principle stands: this does, in fact, make me hesitant to buy the upgrade and want to wait instead til the next upgrade...that costs the same...you know?"

Wow wise thinking. A company adds lots of cool features in his app, leave it the same price and ask for a tiny upgrade fee and you scream "scandal". So you say, they better have changed the price to $39 like DataViz does when he adds 1 simple new ****y feature?

I had Action Names on my Palm for like 2 years now. This is version 5 and that's the first time they charge for an upgrade. My advice. Just think...

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 1:53:41 PM #
Actually, DateBK4 charged a $10 upgrade too.

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/6/2001 1:26:50 AM #
I seem to recall when I purchased Iambic ActionNames 1.0 for my Palm 5000 that I was promised I would never pay for an upgrade for the life of the product. As a matter of fact I have upgraded from 1.0 to 4.61 at no cost.

Apparently that agreement no longer holds.
I find that rather disheartening. I, for one, will be re-evaluating Datebook4 before considering the upgrade, and will have second thoughts about purchasing Iambic products in the future.

RE: DateBk4 no $10 upgrade
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/6/2001 8:45:54 AM #
I registered DatBk3 and then upgraded to DateBk4 for nothing. If I remember correctly, if I could use their web-based reg. code form (which worked like a charm), I was allowed to upgrade with no fee. But if they needed to manually give you the code, then you had to pay the $10.

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/6/2001 11:00:14 AM #
If CESD, Datebk's developer, had to manually give you the code, yes you had to pay a 10 dollar upgrade fee. However, it should be pointed out that Datebk3 is still being sold and supported AND upgraded so people who don't want to have a program the size of Datebk4 can still get new versions at no cost.

Finally, Datebk4 version 4.1 will be released soon at no cost to current Datebk4 owners or owners of Datebk3 who use the automatic Reg-code form.

Jason

RE: $10 Upgrade?!
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/8/2002 5:06:32 PM #
I paid about $40 for Action Names just before they dropped the price to $20 (to be more competitive with DateBk I guess). I was furious and felt like I should have gotten a refund or at least a few free upgrades.

Charge me and delete my icons?

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/4/2001 11:00:12 PM #
Could anyone tell me if my icon .pdb will be overwritten automatically of is it a seperate install? I don't want to pay to lose hours of work making icons.

RE: Charge me and delete my icons?
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/4/2001 11:20:48 PM #
According to their site, it will be overwritten-

RE: Charge me and delete my icons?
fireman54 @ 12/5/2001 12:32:44 AM #
If you install the icon database supplied with the AN5.0, your icons will be overwritten. If you backup your icon database <Icons-IAMBIC.PRC>, you can re-install it and use your existing icons if you had already installed the new icons. Otherwise, just install <ActNames.prc> only and it will use the existing icon database. I have done so and I see no problems. The icons included with AN5.0 are the same format.

Quit whining

Islander @ 12/4/2001 11:50:22 PM #
sford said:
"Actually, Dataviz does it a bit differently. The new version costs more, whole, than the earlier version, not the same; and upgrades cost less for current users"

Maybe they should also raise their standard price to 60 bucks or so. then charge 20 bucks for an upgrade. An upgrade price only a third of the price. This is exactly what Datavis does. Is that somehow better?Their prices are outrageous to begin with.

Never mind what the new guy pays. The only thing that matters is what YOU pay. 10 bucks is very reasonable.

RE: Quit whining
Islander @ 12/5/2001 1:40:26 AM #
Made a mistake. Its even worse.
DTG is a whopping 70 bucks.
Upgrades are 30 bucks.

I cant believe anyone wants other developers to follow their example.



DXTG 4 and AN 5
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 4:20:22 AM #
What DataViz did was raising the price and charging an update price for new software that
-keeps Word documents intact on the PC, even if it has OLE-objects, pictures and other elements the Palm version can'T display (and it's the only app that really keeps everything, not like the "destroy my docs" Pocket Word or the better but still not perfect WordSmith that changes OLE-objects into pictures)
-can add formulas in spread sheets on the Palm, now with full color
-can display Power-Point files on Palm
-can use an own directory on VFS file system expansion cards

This is actually a REAL upgrade, and it'S worth the money.

Now look at AN 5.0. How many people use a Palm OS smartphone? How many use iambic mail? (their advertising says it can handle Word and excel attachments, but in the forums they state that it can only handle them when HotSycning to Outlook, not wireless and so on) - the free Eudora or the small Version of Multimail that comes bundle with new Palms are much better.

In fact most of the new features are worthless to most users. ´Besides some minor bugfixes and very small improvements the only benefit I see in AN 5 is a sligthly expanded icon set and the new block week view, which shows color and icons for events in the block. I am angry, too, because I don't want to pay $10 for that. I would gladly pay for a REAL upgrade, or, if they always make ferequently new version with only few new features at once, I also woudn't mind paying $10 every two years or something like that.


RE: Quit whining
Islander @ 12/5/2001 4:47:30 AM #
Quote:
"I am angry, too, because I don't want to pay $10 for that."

If you have no use for the upgrade features, DONT BUY IT. You aint missin nothin special anyway right?

The only reason to get so bent over this is that you reeeaaly want it, dont you. Just so cheap you have to grumble about it.

When it came to DTG for me, the upgrade wasnt worth it. If I had to have Powerpoint on my tiny Palm screen it may have mattered to me.
Since wordsmith is a better WP anyway I went elsewhere. Still got 3.0 sheets to go. No need for me to upgrade.

If it aint worth 10 measly dollars, it aint worth the bother. Be happy with what you have.


RE: Quit whining
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 6:17:40 AM #
I agree with Islander. Why gripe about soemthing that you dont need? if you don't see the value on the $10 upgrade then do not buy it. $10 dollar isn't goign to make you any poorer...but it will help put food on the tables of the Iambic developers.

I prefer to have major upgrades than minor upgrades every week (like some developers that post on PalmGear.com do).

RE: Quit whining
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 6:56:06 AM #
(I'm the one with the "Dataviz did a real upgrade, I don't want to pay 10$ for only one more usefull feature in AN5"-post):
I missed something they didn't advertise on the "Hot new features" page when writing the post:

It's finally possible to use flashing LED and vibrating alert (this one should have been free, I think) and (a BIG ONE for me) to convert todos to meetings or meetings to todos - with this three I think I'll buy the upgrade, and you're right: If it's not worth 10$ for me, it's also not worse worrying - I simply can't control my emotion ;-)

Disappointed....

Foo @ 12/5/2001 9:05:59 AM #
I love Action Names! It is my primary PIM for everyday use, so when I learned of the newest release...I hit the ground running to PalmGear. But after downloading and trying the new version, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. With such a large version jump to 5.0, I expected to see a lot more changes than what I found. I at least expected a change to the UI, but it looks the same to me.

The $10 upgrade price is more than fair, but I don't see a lot to upgrade to? Action Names is still my tool of choice, but I expected more from this release.

RE: Disappointed....
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 9:44:57 AM #
"I at least expected a change to the UI, but it looks the same to me"

God NO! The UI is one of the strenght of Action Names, and has always been. What do you want? color icons for buttons, 3d effects and stuff? Be prepare to install a 1MB application. Just the CONTACT HISTORY feature is worth every penny...

RE: Disappointed....
martopiggus @ 12/5/2001 11:33:16 AM #
Whoops. Have you got CLIE? Wonder how nice to see the day view from 8am to 11pm all in one page? And every item in weekly view?

This version is more than enough I appreciate. Thanks!

RE: Disappointed....
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 3:30:27 PM #
A different user here:

I used a Prism for a year. It had an enhanced datebook already built in, so I never seriously considered buying Action Names or its major competitors. However, I've now switched to using a Sony Clie N760. I miss the enhanced datebook features from the Prism, so I will probably buy something. From the description, this seems like a winner. And it uses the enhanced resolution! $20 seems very reasonable to me for all it appears to offer.

I forget what the major competitor was to Action Names. A reminder on that would be appreciated, as well as a quick comparison. Thanks!

RE: Disappointed....
I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 5:51:02 PM #
The prism came with a Handspring licensed Datebk3 ("Datebk plus") from Pimlico software. They now have Datebk4, which has hires support too (but only in weekly calander and agenda view).

RE: Disappointed....
Islander @ 12/5/2001 5:52:00 PM #
Datebk4 is the other one.
I own both products.
The enhanced datebook on your prizm is a watered down version of that product made by the same developer.

Compared to ActionNames?
DB4 gives you a far greater level of customization. Saved views, and templates are very powerful.
But along with "Power" comes a level of complexity rarely seen in palm products. (You must read the manual.)

If you take the time to read the manual and set thing up right Day to day use is very fast.
It is set up more like your built in datebook on steroids, its interface being more like the built in datebook.
Support for DB4 blows AN out of the water. It is not even close. Service is the stuff of legend.

Initially AN is much easier to use. It has more features "hard wired" into its product. Many prefer its more intuitive feature set. ANs is much smaller in size.
ANs is also different than both DB4 and the built in apps in that it is far more contact centric by nature. The new "History" feature is a further evidence of this.

Think of the difference betweeen Outlook and Act. Information manager, and Contact manager. Similar capabilities but differing ways of getting there.

Neither is really better, both have their fans, I for one keep bouncing back and forth.

Finally! Multiple lines!!!

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/5/2001 7:24:28 PM #
Geez ... long time coming, don't you think? I thought that AN was an all-around great date book (well, considering the only competition is DateBk4*, I guess it's not saying TOO MUCH), but they didn't frickin have MULTIPLE LINE SUPPORT, which even the original DateBook app had. Quite disappointing. Now they have multiple lines, but I'm still dissatisfied with the limited choice Palm users have when it comes to DateBook apps. I'm sure there's a more intuitive DateBook that can be conjured up by somebody, right?

Info about upgrade on Iambic's site

smokegordo @ 12/7/2001 7:40:31 PM #
I was just on Iambic's site, and clicked on a link for the upgrade policy when I went to get my upgrade. From there, I found out that the $10 upgrade applies if you purchased Action Names Datebook prior to September 1, 2001.

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