Is Your System Ready for IMatch 2020 Discussion Thread

[Mario]

Support for IMatch 2019 stops 6 months after IMatch 2020 was released.
I think I have mentioned this in the announcement, not sure.

It is explained (and unchanged for 10 years) on the shop page:

https://www.photools.com/shop/

Search for End-of-Life.  I will send out emails to all IMatch 2019 customers over the next couple of weeks. And also shortly before the EOL, as usual.
I was just too busy to run an email campaign in addition to all the other stuff.

IMatch 2019 is safe to use. It worked well for a long time and it should do a fab job for the foreseeable future.
IMatch users are notoriously slow to upgrade. There are still plenty of IMatch 3 users out there. And IMatch 5 users. And IMatch 2017 users. And IMatch 2018 users...

Of course each later version introduced bug fixes and 3rd party component updates, and of course many new features.
But that does not cause older IMatch versions to stop working.

The majority of critical bugs was fixed for IMatch 2020 were in 3rd party components, the Chromium browser engine, the database system etc.
All these changes and updates have been rolled into the IMatch 2020 code base and required substantial changes in places. Which caused a lot of work for me. In addition to all the new features introduced.

If my count is correct (based on this thread and emails) only very few (10 users perhaps?) have computers so old or processors so low-end that they cannot run IMatch 2020.
This is unfortunate for affected users, but inevitable.
Time moves on and requiring a processor feature than is standard for almost 10 years in 95% of all processors is not unrealistic.
It's not that I demand a 600$ graphic card as minimum or something. Just AVX, which is the oldest of all vector enhancement technologies introduced over the past decade.

I currently provide a special "no AVX" version for IMatch Anywhere 2019. Guessing that this software is often run on low-end "stick PC's" or smart boxes or similar. Here, often low-end mobile processors are used which have no AVX...

But so far, my guess is wrong. Since the introduction of the IMatch Anywhere 2019 compatibility update (for users with separate IMatch an IMatch Anywhere licenses, which is the majority) IMatch Anywhere 2019 was downloaded many times. But not once (!) the "no AVX" version.
It seems that it is not needed. If this stays that way or there is only a handful of users who need it, I may stop providing it. Creating and shipping 7 (!) different versions of IMatch Anywhere (the TRIAL is only available with AVX) takes a lot of resources and complicates the build process a lot. I'd be happy to get rid of the no-AVX version as soon as possible.

It's a bit like when IMatch switched to 64-bit only a couple of years ago. Some users were affected by this, because they had old PCs and only 32-bit Windows. But not many.

[mulomulo]

I am very sad about this. Just bought the upgrade -- I trust iMatch -- mostly because iMatch0-2019 *said* that a new version is available, and because I *like* iMatch and have done so for many many years. On the update page, in red and with a warning sign "End of support". Ok -- get it!

It even 'installs' and 'repairs' -- but doesn't run. What is going on? Ok, yes, further down the page something about AVX. Never heard of it.

I have an expensive system from 2009, i7 920: it fulfils all my needs hand has been carefully maintained and sensibly updated. There really is no need to generate more electronic waste, after all!

And now this?

Sad, sad times. Never mind the loss of money.

Here's an idea: why not NOT advertise the new version in a version that's running on a system and SHOULD know that it hasn't got AVX or whatever?

[Mario]

The requirement for AVX was not only announced months ahead in this community, but it is also explained here:

1. download page (https://www.photools.com/download/)
2. in the hardware & software requirements (https://www.photools.com/hardware-software-requirements/)
3. on the IMatch 2020 - What's New page: https://www.photools.com/imatch-2020-whats-new/
4. on the Upgrading to IMatch 2020 page: https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/#migrate_imatch2020.htm
5. in the big blue "Your upgrade voucher" box you see when you enter the customer portal. I'm sure you have seen this, otherwise you would have no upgrade.

[mulomulo]

Yeah. My fault. I've never heard of AVX and didn't read the small print. No other software has ever failed on this system, so surely this will work? RTFM.

Will I throw out a fully working system? Unlikely.

The 2019 version is great. I just wanted to support your fantastic software (and I liked the idea of built-in face recognition, which might have saved some time).

[Mario]

The i920 was introduced in 2008, 12 years ago. It is really an old processor.

If it does what you need, excellent. Whatever works for you.
If you upgrade your system to something more recent, IMatch 2020 will be there for you.