IMatch 5.5

[Ger]

Up and running!

Mario:  thank!

[Mario]

@Ger: You're welcome.
Have fun. I hope you like all the new features and enhancements 

[ChristopherFoto]

After 18 months again just 70 euros inkl. Mwst. , I find already very much excessively 

[GERMAN]
Nach 18 Monaten schon wieder knapp 70 Euro inkl. Mwst. , finde ich schon sehr übertrieben 

[Ger]

Quick view zoom actually IS lightning fast!

[Mario]

After 18 months again just 70 euros inkl. Mwst. , I find already very much excessively 

[GERMAN]
Nach 18 Monaten schon wieder knapp 70 Euro inkl. Mwst. , finde ich schon sehr übertrieben 

Ah, a first complaint. I was expecting that

1. That's only 3,80 € for a full month. Not that bad, actually.
3. 50 (!) updates and about 100 enhancements and new features for free during that time.
2. Nobody forces you to upgrade.
4. Feel free to use the 5.4.18 version of IMatch as long as you wish. Or as long as you think for the initial license fee to pay off.

[Aubrey]

Downloading... I made a final check of email before going to bed... now behind computer getting ready to check it out...
Mario, did say it would be released in the Summer... we forgot to ask which hemisphere summer... anyway no doubt delay was due to releasing a quality product.

Aubrey.

[Mees Dekker]

Got it and yes, it is a lot faster than before.

Over the last few months, my 5,5 year old computer got kind of new life. W10 made a huge difference in speed, that was augmented by installing a 1 Tb SSD and on top of all this, is now Imatch 5.5. It all flies, no need to buy any new hardware anymore.

As a user: I'm only beginning to learn the new features, but I am sure there will a lot to enjoy.

As a translator: I discovered that there is quite a bit of translating work to do. That will take some time for completion. But we will be working on it over the next couple of weeks.

Thank you Mario for this new release. And for now: season greetings.

Mees

[thrinn]

I can only repeat what I wrote in May:

I will happily pay an upgrade fee for IMatch 5.5 without feeling disgruntled.

And so I did 

Feels like having Christmas early this year 

[Mario]

As a user: I'm only beginning to learn the new features, but I am sure there will a lot to enjoy.

Your SSD is probably the  biggest speed improvement. It's so cool how much these things speed up everything.
The GPU-powered Viewer and the Quick View Panel are mostly automatic (just remember the new keyboard shortcuts and the intuitive <Alt>+left-click zoom).

The Printing feature is a big one. As you probably can already tell from the huge help topic, there's lot's to explore. I hope users create awesome things with it.

As a translator: I discovered that there is quite a bit of translating work to do. That will take some time for completion. But we will be working on it over the next couple of weeks.

Yes. Unfortunately. Printing is such a big enhancemts and there are quite many new property sheets, strings and stuff.
I can only do the English and German versions, unfortunately. I should learn some new languages 

Don't waste yourself. Take your time.
From me, and surely the users in the Netherlands: Thank You !!! for your work with the Dutch translation. Very much appreciated.

[Aubrey]

Speed is awesome!
Looks like a great product... exploring the Design and Print module... it will take time!

well done Mario!
Aubrey.

[sinus]

After 18 months again just 70 euros inkl. Mwst. , I find already very much excessively 

[GERMAN]
Nach 18 Monaten schon wieder knapp 70 Euro inkl. Mwst. , finde ich schon sehr übertrieben 

[GERMAN]
Ehrlich gesagt, da fehlen mir schlicht die Worte.   
Unfassbar.

Aber: jeder darf seine Meinung sagen, klar.

[Menace]

[GERMAN]
Ich verstehe das auch nicht. Es steht doch jedem frei sich zu überlegen, ob einem das "Print-Modul" und der schnelle "Viewer" das Geld wert ist oder nicht. Das "alte" IMatch wird ja nicht auf einmal unbrauchbar; ganz im Gegenteil, es ist eine sehr stabile Profi-Software die keinen Blödsinn mit seinen wichtigen Daten macht. So sehr ich manchmal kostenlos Software schätze, so sehr ist es doch wichtig die Leute für ihren Job zu bezahlen.

Wenn ich mir überlege, was ich schon Geld hingelegt habe für Musik-Software (Ableton), Grafik-Tools (Adobe) oder Publishing-Produkte (Quark-Xpress) ist IMatch sehr günstig.

[sinus]

[GERMAN]
Ich verstehe das auch nicht. Es steht doch jedem frei sich zu überlegen, ob einem das "Print-Modul" und der schnelle "Viewer" das Geld wert ist oder nicht. Das "alte" IMatch wird ja nicht auf einmal unbrauchbar; ganz im Gegenteil, es ist eine sehr stabile Profi-Software die keinen Blödsinn mit seinen wichtigen Daten macht. So sehr ich manchmal kostenlos Software schätze, so sehr ist es doch wichtig die Leute für ihren Job zu bezahlen.

Wenn ich mir überlege, was ich schon Geld hingelegt habe für Musik-Software (Ableton), Grafik-Tools (Adobe) oder Publishing-Produkte (Quark-Xpress) ist IMatch sehr günstig.

[sinus]

I have downloaded the 5.5 without troubles (of course after the payment).

Installed without problems and until now it works very good, and fast.
If I have time, I will explore the new printing modul and of course other new things.
The viewer and quick view is very fast and comfortable.

Well done, Mario!

[Bokni]

Just updated to IMatch 5.5. Already installed and happy with the new Viewer   

[ianrr]

Thanks Mario  ... awesomely fast !!!

[monochrome]

I haven't installed it yet, but I want to thank Mario for a very generous upgrade offer, even for us long-time users. Thank you! (It was accepted on the spot.)

[oldhank]

Up and running without incident. Thanks Mario for all your efforts and an early Christmas present.

dnh

[kiwilink]

Wow!  I can't believe how fast the viewer is.  The install was like all the others, no issues at all.  Love it!!!!!!!

[seth]

After 18 months again just 70 euros inkl. Mwst. , I find already very much excessively 

[GERMAN]
Nach 18 Monaten schon wieder knapp 70 Euro inkl. Mwst. , finde ich schon sehr übertrieben 

Actually, I agree!!  Is this going to turn into another Photoshop?  Actually, like QImage LOL.

I have a couple of problems with it:

1. An email saying it's coming and here's why, would have been nice.

2. An email with, "I'm adding all this stuff, what do you think?"  A Twitter saying 'you can go buy this' is just a little hard core.

3. Finally, after the first "hit" of cost, this should be lower--like $49 USD.  After all, it IS a 5.5--not Imatch 6.0!!

[markkums]

Hi all,

I just made succesful installation of 5.5 and only had time to try Viewer.

It´s speed improvement over previous versions is amazing. Solely due to this improvement I can recommend this version. This makes my work flow much much faster and lighter.

Thanks Mario.

B.r: Markku

[Mario]

I have a couple of problems with it:

1. An email saying it's coming and here's why, would have been nice.

2. An email with, "I'm adding all this stuff, what do you think?"  A Twitter saying 'you can go buy this' is just a little hard core.

3. Finally, after the first "hit" of cost, this should be lower--like $49 USD.  After all, it IS a 5.5--not Imatch 6.0!!

1. An email will reach all users within a couple of days. It makes no sense to inform all users at the same day.
First of all, sending out too many emails from a small ISV like me will trigger all SPAM filters on the net, because they think my mail server got hacked. I don't send out "news letters" every day, so a sudden increase in traffic would trigger all kinds of measures.

2. I use this community to communicate with my users. Not emails.
I've talked about some of the new features in the IMatch 5.5 Sneak Peak topic, for example.

One of my hard disks died yesterday, after the two week 16 hours/day production cycle for IMatch 5.5
I had to buy a new one and waiting for the RAID controller to rebuild everything.
This slowed down everything today.

3. I extended the six month "free upgrade" period to almost 8 months for this release.
Besides that, I think that the upgrade fee is fair. It's the same price and rebate as in 2014! No changes.

If you think that 60% of the full price is too much for an upgrade, you can just work a couple of months longer with IMatch 5.4.18.
It does not stop working just because the 5.5 is available.
When you got a bit more 'life' out of your original payment, you can pay the upgrade fee for IMatch 5.5.

Considering that competing products like Canto, Widen, FotoWare cost thousands of US$ per year in maintenance fees alone, ~70 US$ for IMatch after 18 months, 50 free updates with numerous new minor and major features is a steal...

[Lord_Helmchen]

I have problems with update process.    I received a new license key, but I don't see the license in user center or with provided credentials.

I've sent you a mail with more details.

[thrinn]

Just to be sure: After receivimg the new license key, did you log in using this new one? You won't see IMatch 5.5 when logged in with your IMatcj 5.0 credentials.

[Mario]

Correct. When you log in using your old license key, you won't see IMatch 5.5
The license is linked to the license key.

Just use the credentials contained in the email you receive from my distributor Share-it after your purchase is complete.

[Ferdinand]

Correct. When you log in using your old license key, you won't see IMatch 5.5
The license is linked to the license key.

You've said this before, but my experience has been the opposite.  I've been able to see all versions that I'm entitled to, no matter which key I use to log in.  I've assumed that this is because I've been careful to use the same email address for each purchase.  For example, I logged in with my 5.1 key, clicked on the link to purchase 5.5, went off and made the transaction, and when I returned to the customer web page, still logged in with my 5.1 key, lo and behold, there was 5.5 ready to download.

[ddprat]

Hello,

Thanks for the work, but after the update from 5.4.18 to 5.5.4 the Viewer or Quick View don't works.
I have a PC with Intel i5, 16 GB memory, Directx 11 and a GPU with 1 GB, running under Windows 7 SP1. All was fine with 5.4.18

The log file report this error when i call the viewer:

12.03 23:36:01+24632 [1D30] 00  E> Exception [80004002]  'IMDXCacheManager.cpp(1582)'
12.03 23:36:01+    0 [1D30] 00  E> D2D CacheManager: [80004002] Cette interface n'est pas prise en charge on line 1587 file IMDXCacheManager.cpp  'IMDXCacheManager.cpp(1327)'
12.03 23:36:01+    0 [1D30] 00  E> ...  'IMDXWnd.cpp(503)'
12.03 23:36:01+    0 [1D30] 00  E> ...  'IMDXWnd.cpp(503)'
12.03 23:36:01+    0 [1D30] 00  E> ...  'IMDXWnd.cpp(503)'
12.03 23:36:01+    0 [1D30] 00  E> ...  'IMDXWnd.cpp(503)'
12.03 23:36:01+   63 [1D30] 00  E> ...  'IMDXWnd.cpp(503)'
12.03 23:36:10+ 8611 [1D30] 00  E> ...  'IMDXWnd.cpp(503)'
12.03 23:36:12+ 1731 [1D30] 00  E> ...  'IMDXWnd.cpp(503)'
12.03 23:36:12+    0 [1D30] 00  E> ...  'IMDXWnd.cpp(503)'
12.03 23:36:13+ 1358 [1D30] 00  I> # Process Memory Info: WSC: 267MB, WSP: 277MB (NEW PEAK), PF: 1355007

What can i do ?

[ChristopherFoto]

After 18 months again just 70 euros inkl. Mwst. , I find already very much excessively 

[GERMAN]
Nach 18 Monaten schon wieder knapp 70 Euro inkl. Mwst. , finde ich schon sehr übertrieben 

In my first post I am probably shot a little after the aim, excuse  .
IMatch 3.x was developed for years without add-on costs.
Yes, Mario performs excellent work with IMatch and also his Support looks of his resemble.
And, yes, I have shopped IMatch 5.5 to support Mario.
What I would wish, however, would be a German documentation, but this becomes probably nothing.


[GERMAN]
In meinem ersten Post bin ich wohl ein wenig über das Ziel hinaus geschossen, Entschuldigung  .
IMatch 3.x wurde über Jahre weiter entwickelt ohne Zusatzkosten.
Ja, Mario leistet mit IMatch hervorragende Arbeit und auch sein Support sucht seines gleichen.
Und ja, ich habe IMatch 5.5 gekauft, um Mario zu unterstützen.
Was ich mir allerdings wünschen würde, wäre eine deutsche Dokumentation, aber das wird wohl nichts.

[sinus]

In my first post I am probably shot a little after the aim, excuse  .
IMatch 3.x was developed for years without add-on costs.
Yes, Mario performs excellent work with IMatch and also his Support looks of his resemble.
And, yes, I have shopped IMatch 5.5 to support Mario.
What I would wish, however, would be a German documentation, but this becomes probably nothing.


[GERMAN]
In meinem ersten Post bin ich wohl ein wenig über das Ziel hinaus geschossen, Entschuldigung  .
IMatch 3.x wurde über Jahre weiter entwickelt ohne Zusatzkosten.
Ja, Mario leistet mit IMatch hervorragende Arbeit und auch sein Support sucht seines gleichen.
Und ja, ich habe IMatch 5.5 gekauft, um Mario zu unterstützen.
Was ich mir allerdings wünschen würde, wäre eine deutsche Dokumentation, aber das wird wohl nichts.

Thanks for this posting.
No problem for me, I hope, you can get with IM5, what you want.
This with a german Documentation will be at the moment very difficult, but of course I do not know this.
BTW: nice of you to write in two languages! 

[GERMAN]
Danke für dieses posting.
Kein Problem für mich, ich hoffe, Du kannst mit IM5 erreichen, was Du willst.
Hm, ja das mit der deutschen Doku ist wohl im Moment kein Thema, aber ich weiss es natürlich nicht.
Nett von Dir, in zwei Sprachen zu schreiben! 

[Mario]

Die Dokumentation nach Deutsch zu übersetzten würde mich Monate an Arbeit kosten.
Übersetzungsbüros rechnen pro Zeile (!) ab. Ich hatte die Kosten für eine Übersetzung der IMatch-Hilde mal auf 30,000 - 50,000 € geschätzt. Aber das drei Jahre her. Vielleicht ließen sich die Kosten dank teilweise maschineller Übersetzung jetzt auf 20,000 oder so drücken. Plus die Neuübersetzung der mit jeden Release hinzukommenden Teile. Illusorisch. Ich bin schon froh über die Freiwilligen (!) die IMatch in ihre Muttersprache übersetzen.

Interessanterweise fragen immer nur Anwender aus Deutschland nach einer Hilfe in ihrer Sprache.


ENGLISH:

In short: It is impossible for me to translate the Help for IMatch into other languages, because this would take months of my time. Professional translators get paid per line and I once estimated the cost for translation the IMatch help to something between 30,000 and 50,000 €.

[ChristopherFoto]

Interessanterweise fragen immer nur Anwender aus Deutschland nach einer Hilfe in ihrer Sprache.

This might be due that you are German and it concerns of the last end a German product.

[GERMAN] Das dürfte daran liegen, das du deutscher bist und es sich letzten endes um ein deutsches Produkt handelt.

[Mario]

Interessanterweise fragen immer nur Anwender aus Deutschland nach einer Hilfe in ihrer Sprache.

This might be due that you are German and it concerns of the last end a German product.

[GERMAN] Das dürfte daran liegen, das du deutscher bist und es sich letzten endes um ein deutsches Produkt handelt.

I see myself as European and IMatch is an international software. Looking at the "users per country in Europe", Germany is only at place 5.

[Lord_Helmchen]

Just to be sure: After receivimg the new license key, did you log in using this new one? You won't see IMatch 5.5 when logged in with your IMatcj 5.0 credentials.

Yes, I'd tried that, but it didn't work. After a while (1h?) I got response from Mario that it worked for him and when I tried, it also worked for me. Maybe I was to quick. 

[ddprat]

After applying this update -> KB2670838 (Update for DirectX 11.1) my problem is now solved. 

Thanks Mario for the great job: the Viewer is now very fast and this improvement will be helpfull for my work flow.

[Mario]

After applying this update -> KB2670838 (Update for DirectX 11.1) my problem is now solved. 

Thanks Mario for the great job: the Viewer is now very fast and this improvement will be helpfull for my work flow.

Do you refer to a bug report with this? I'm not sure...

IMatch 5.5 requires Windows 7 with platform update 1, Windows 8 or later.
Platform update 1 is normally automatically installed, except on certain computers which are not compatible.
It includes DirectX11, which is what IMatch 5.5. needs at a minimum now. Windows 8 and later include newer DirectX versions, but IMatch is happy with the version included in platform update 1.

When I recall correctly, platform update 1 was shipped in 2013.

The IMatch Hardware & Software requirements page has the details:

http://www.photools.com/hardware-software-requirements/

[ddprat]

Yes it was in reference to this bug --> https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=4979.0

I had a look to the Hardware & Software requirements before opening this bug report. My version of DirectX was 11.0 and after the update 11.1.
I suppose it was the problem 

[tmcgill]

Actually, I agree!!  Is this going to turn into another Photoshop?  Actually, like QImage LOL.

Hey, I wasn't planning on spending $66 right now, either (especially since my DAW software for music production also just moved beyond my free upgrades period), but we're still a long way from Photoshop. To turn this into another Photoshop, Mario would have to charge half the purchase price every single year just to continue using the version you already have, and then the moment you stop paying, you no longer have access to any way to open your existing image database. (Can you tell I'm not a fan of the new Adobe subscription model, which has forced hobbyists completely out of the market for most of their products?) We haven't even gotten close to the old Adobe model yet, which was to release a new "major" version every five minutes with practically nothing new that was compelling in it, but costing hundreds of dollars and marking the end of support for the old version. IMatch moving from 5 to 5.5 was somewhat quick, but not ridiculously so, and 3 was current and getting updates for an unusually long time without any cost to us at all.

This, on the other hand, is just a higher price than you'd like to pay (but hey, what isn't priced more than we'd like?), which just leaves us deciding whether the new features are worth the price, a personal decision for every person. No different than how Ford comes out with a new model of each car every year, too, and you have to pay for that if you want to upgrade. But if you don't, just keep driving the old one and skip a version or two.

[Mario]

IMatch moving from 5 to 5.5 was somewhat quick,

Almost one  and a half year 

But if you don't, just keep driving the old one and skip a version or two.

That's what the subscription models prevent.
Adobe found out that many PS users (not only amateur users, but also Pro's) update PS only every couple of years. Ridiculous.
Now, once you've subscripted, you practically have to pay for the rest of your life. Buying a software from Adobe has become like getting another mortgage...

From an ISV perspective, I can fully understand their move, though... 

You work hard for a year or longer. You pay for all costs in advance. You have running costs like royalties to pay, whether or not you sell another license or not.
Then, ta-da, you bring out the new version of your software. And, oh, it's cool. It's shiny. It is definitely much better than everything you've shipped before...
...and then parts the user base goe 'Uhm, yeah, I dunno...maybe not be worth it...too expensive...paying for an upgrade after only 50 free updates...to little new things...

A subscription model solves this. Users pay every month, whether or not you provide support, updates, bug fixes or new features. And they have to pay, because else your software stops working, leaving the user standing in the rain...with files they no longer can use, or only use with severe restrictions, cloud storage becoming inaccessible...

There is no 'right' in this. Companies powered by billions of marketing dollars like Google have ruined the software business model.

I recently had an interesting discussion with some young folks. They told me "Google gives me that for free". And then I explained them that Google pays for all that with money they make from selling ads. That these ads are paid for by the companies who sell cars, software, electronics, beverages and whatnot. And that the money they have to pay to Google is added up-front to the cost of the goods. And that the youth's smart phone would cost 50 or 100 US$ less, if the companies would not have to pay money to Google...so much for 'free'...

[medgeek]

Mario, I just read this and  the other thread complaining about your upgrade policy.  I just wanted to say that I think the way you treat your users is more than fair.  After a year and half of free bug fixes and incremental improvements, I think it's quite reasonable to ask, as you have, for less than $100 US for a substantial upgrade.  The next time you speak to young people who think they get anything for free, I suggest you provide two answers.  First, the teaching from economics is that there is no "free lunch."  Second, a corollary is that whenever you think you're getting something for free, then you are the product.  This is in the sense that, as you pointed out, your personal information is sold to advertisers hoping in turn to sell you whatever products they are marketing. Of course, as you also pointed out, the cost of advertising in this or any other model is added to the price of the product.  I have no fundamental objection to this business model, except for the fact that the way this works is obfuscated by the idea that the user is getting something for free.

I'm impressed that a solitary developer can produce, by dint of personal effort, a fine product like IMatch.  Best wishes for continued success.

[Mario]

Thanks 

It's hard sometimes. But it is also rewarding (i don't mean that in the monetary sense).

[Jingo]

Mario - I personally want to thank you for all you do and the efforts and time you put into the software AND this community.  I'm a big believer in small group (or independent) developers and support their software whenever and wherever I can.  Though my use of IMatch has slowed a bit lately (busy at work) and I have other software that can handle the printing module - I just gladly upgraded my version to support your great work.

Keep it up and thanks again!! - Andy.

[Mario]

Thanks for upgrading 

and I have other software that can handle the printing module -

I've heard that during the initial tests with the local tester group. And there are plenty of 'photo book' applications around. Many of them free, offered by the on-line print services.

But then I showed them what can be done with metadata in IMatch printing. And the awesome flexibility and power of the Dynamic Templates. And that's what differs IMatch printing from other solutions - the way you can automate things, create dynamic templates which work with any number of files etc. I think that this will have some use even for users who use other software for photo book production.

[ThisIsAnonymous]

Not sure if it would make sense but I would think that making the "paid" versions major releases such as Imatch 6,7,8 and so on might actually reduce some of the feelings users have about paying for X.5 etc. I'm not suggesting you only charge for a major release, I'm suggesting that perhaps you should have just called this release Imatch 6. I've seen some other applications skip to major numbers when they have a release like this. Seems there is some sort of resistance to paying for what people consider an incremental release (because it was called X.5) even if it is major to the developer.

[Mario]

I often work with / for "open source" software. Here versions often are 0.51, 0.52, ...

I could also have called IMatch 5.5 IMatch 2016 or something. Or maybe IMatch 10 
But I don't have a marketing department which spends a couple of hundred thousand dollars to figure out the best marketing-compliant version number.  I just named it .5 to indicate the first major upgrade for product generation 5. The next will be 6, but there's plenty of work and updates until then.

There are always some users who will argue or resist to part from their hard-earned cash. Adobe got rid of these by switching to subscription models and software which stops working when you upgrade/pay no longer. I don't. Most users understand that there is no free lunch and that I have fixed costs which I need to cover somehow. I don't even display ads on my web site or in this community because I like it quiet and focused.

[ThisIsAnonymous]

I definitely agree on how Adobe has handled things and much prefer the IMatch model. I'd rather the software keep working so I can choose when to upgrade or upgrade right away etc. IMatch is a fantastic product and I think the current system works well. It's hard to please everyone...lol

As far as IMatch 10, is it going to be compatible with Windows 9? lol

[tmcgill]

Working on installing the 5.5 upgrade now!

Just so you know, Mario, as I'm not sure how else to best report this, the credit card processing seemed to be having some trouble. It processed for a moment, then said the transaction was declined, twice. I called my bank, who said both of those transactions were visible to them and had actually been approved, not declined. My best guess is that your payment processor has a timeout set too low when waiting for an electronic response from the bank. I tried again using Paypal and it worked fine. (Now hopefully I haven't been charged for three copies.)

[Mario]

Hi,

I'm not involved in the payment process or credit card processing. All this is handled by Share-it. I work with them for 10 years now, and usually they are very reliable. They handle hundreds of thousands of purchases per day via their various fronts, e.g. Share-it, MyCommerce, DigitialRiver. Even Microsoft sells they software via them in many European countries.

You can contact their support team via https://www.mycommerce.com/support/shoppers.html 24/7.

[tmcgill]

Thanks, since I did get the transaction to complete, I guess I'll contact them if it turns out that they did charge me for those attempts. Just thought you should know, in case it turns out that others have the same report of difficulty with credit cards, in which case you might want some support answers from them as well.