How would you rate Agent 3.0?

[Sam]

What is your impression of the latest release, Is it worth paying
19.00 to upgrade?

[Jim Rusling]

Post by Sam
What is your impression of the latest release, Is it worth paying
19.00 to upgrade?

Just do a new trial install and decide for yourself.

[Wavijo]

Post by Jim Rusling

Post by Sam
What is your impression of the latest release, Is it worth paying
19.00 to upgrade?

Just do a new trial install and decide for yourself.

May I add that one RTFM & other documentation 1st rather than later.
----------+----------
Wayne D. Johnson
Ashland, OH, USA 44805
<http://www.wavijo.com>

[Arthur T.]

Post by Jim Rusling

Post by Sam
What is your impression of the latest release, Is it worth paying
19.00 to upgrade?

Just do a new trial install and decide for yourself.

But make sure you have a way to gracefully fall back if you

Post by Jim Rusling
Current Agent users please note that Agent 3.0 is *not* backward
compatible with Agent 2.0. Make sure you backup your Agent 2.0 data
before upgrading to Agent 3.0.

[s***@nyc.rr.com]

Post by Sam
What is your impression of the latest release, Is it worth paying
19.00 to upgrade?

As the advertising indicated, v3.0 isn't simply a new interface. It's a
very different program than v1.x and v2.0. One of the things that I liked
about Agent was its simplicity of use. Some people complained that it still
looked like an old DOS program, but I thought it was elegant. I've been
playing with v3.0 for hours and I can't get it to look like or function like
"my" Agent.

I don't like the concept of "Desks." The interface and functions reminds me
of MS Office Outlook 2003.

v3.0 contains none of the features I want or use, so there really isn't any
point in my wasting more time learning how to use it. The features that I
want won't be in any of the 3.x versions.

Obviously this is just one customer's opinion, and I'm sure to be in the
minority. I sincerely hope that v3.0 and the whole 3.x stream are exactly
what the majority of customers want it to be. I've already found a
replacement that meets my needs much better than The New Agent does.

[Liberty]

Post by s***@nyc.rr.com
As the advertising indicated, v3.0 isn't simply a new interface. It's a
very different program than v1.x and v2.0. One of the things that I liked
about Agent was its simplicity of use. Some people complained that it still
looked like an old DOS program, but I thought it was elegant. I've been
playing with v3.0 for hours and I can't get it to look like or function like
"my" Agent.
I don't like the concept of "Desks." The interface and functions reminds me
of MS Office Outlook 2003.

What is there not to like about desks? I find it pretty nice to be able to
split different groups away from each other. Binaries together, Programming
groups together etc. Yet we still have the ability lump everything together
and endlessly scroll through them just as we did in 1.x & 2.0

[saur]

Post by Liberty
What is there not to like about desks? I find it pretty nice to be able to
split different groups away from each other. Binaries together, Programming
groups together etc. Yet we still have the ability lump everything together
and endlessly scroll through them just as we did in 1.x & 2.0

I don't like Agent's implementation of user-configurable folders. Better?

[Donald L McDaniel]

Post by saur

Post by Liberty
What is there not to like about desks? I find it pretty nice to be able to
split different groups away from each other. Binaries together, Programming
groups together etc. Yet we still have the ability lump everything together
and endlessly scroll through them just as we did in 1.x & 2.0

I don't like Agent's implementation of user-configurable folders. Better?

Then don't upgrade to A3.

My personal opinion is that Agent's implementation of Desks and
Folders is completely logical, and easy to use, if one thinks in a
heirarchical way.

Desks contain folders, folders contain newsgroups. This is very good.
Makes it very easy to arrange my newsgroups into logical
groups(Desks). Not only that, but the folders may be moved from Desk
to Desk by dragging and dropping. Forte has done a great job of
re-writing their product. Considering that versions of Agent in the
version 1 stream were static and unchangeable, Forte has come up with
a great implementation of dynamic folders and desks.


Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread.
If you must reply via email, remove the obvious
from my email address before sending.
=======================================================

[saur]

Post by Donald L McDaniel
My personal opinion is that Agent's implementation of Desks and
Folders is completely logical, and easy to use, if one thinks in a
heirarchical way.

After creating "Desks" and moving everything where I want it to be, there is
still a copy of every folder in the all folders desk. Why? Why can't I
turn off the all folders desk and only have all of my desks? All I see is
the ability to view all desks or only one. Did I miss that option?

[DevilsPGD]

Post by saur

Post by Donald L McDaniel
My personal opinion is that Agent's implementation of Desks and
Folders is completely logical, and easy to use, if one thinks in a
heirarchical way.

After creating "Desks" and moving everything where I want it to be, there is
still a copy of every folder in the all folders desk. Why? Why can't I
turn off the all folders desk and only have all of my desks? All I see is
the ability to view all desks or only one. Did I miss that option?

You didn't miss anything, but this is on the wishlist (I know, because I
had exactly the same comment) :)

[saur]

Post by DevilsPGD
You didn't miss anything, but this is on the wishlist (I know, because I
had exactly the same comment) :)

The last 10 years have proven that being on the wish list precludes Forte
from implementing it. Other than yEnc and multiple news servers, what other
significant wish-list items have been incorporated into Agent? And how long
did it take?

I will no longer pay any attention to the fiction posted on their website.
When the feature is in a released product, then and only then will I believe
it. I certainly won't pay for any more "upgrades."

[DevilsPGD]

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
You didn't miss anything, but this is on the wishlist (I know, because I
had exactly the same comment) :)

The last 10 years have proven that being on the wish list precludes Forte
from implementing it. Other than yEnc and multiple news servers, what other
significant wish-list items have been incorporated into Agent? And how long
did it take?
I will no longer pay any attention to the fiction posted on their website.
When the feature is in a released product, then and only then will I believe
it. I certainly won't pay for any more "upgrades."

New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

*shrugs*

[saur]

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

Wow. A new spell checker. That was really high on the wish list. And the
others were so significant you can't even remember them.

[Alex Heney]

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

Wow. A new spell checker. That was really high on the wish list.

Actually, it was one of the things most complained about prior to V2.0

[Frank J. Perricone]

Post by Alex Heney

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

Wow. A new spell checker. That was really high on the wish list.

Actually, it was one of the things most complained about prior to V2.0

He means it wasn't on *his* wish list. Most of these complaints are from
people who don't have to do this kind of job, and so find it very easy to
know how to do it better than those who do. It's so obvious: just do what
*I* want and everything will be perfect! Tidy.

[saur]

Post by Frank J. Perricone

Post by Alex Heney

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

Wow. A new spell checker. That was really high on the wish list.

Actually, it was one of the things most complained about prior to V2.0

He means it wasn't on *his* wish list. Most of these complaints are from
people who don't have to do this kind of job, and so find it very easy to
know how to do it better than those who do. It's so obvious: just do what
*I* want and everything will be perfect! Tidy.

Yup, unique. I want the features Forte advertised when they sold me an
upgrade. (It wasn't *my* list, but *FORTE'S* list.)

[DevilsPGD]

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

Wow. A new spell checker. That was really high on the wish list. And the
others were so significant you can't even remember them.

Actually the spell checker was a pretty significant annoyance before, at
least for those of us that use it.

I have decent spelling, and when I spell a word wrong I usually know it,
but it's usually because I honestly don't know how to spell the word in
question.

[saur]

Post by DevilsPGD

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

Wow. A new spell checker. That was really high on the wish list. And the
others were so significant you can't even remember them.

Actually the spell checker was a pretty significant annoyance before, at
least for those of us that use it.
I have decent spelling, and when I spell a word wrong I usually know it,
but it's usually because I honestly don't know how to spell the word in
question.

I can't believe people think an enhanced spell checker is a *significant*
*major* feature compared to everything else on the wish list. But you did
get that in v2.0 even before multiple news servers. Congratulations!

[DevilsPGD]

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

Wow. A new spell checker. That was really high on the wish list. And the
others were so significant you can't even remember them.

Actually the spell checker was a pretty significant annoyance before, at
least for those of us that use it.
I have decent spelling, and when I spell a word wrong I usually know it,
but it's usually because I honestly don't know how to spell the word in
question.

I can't believe people think an enhanced spell checker is a *significant*
*major* feature compared to everything else on the wish list. But you did
get that in v2.0 even before multiple news servers. Congratulations!

It's a minor thing, but it's a great usability improvement.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

This is from somebody who is not even trying 3.0 yet... but can anybody explain
why they didn't go with (or at least include an option to hook into...) the MS
Spell Checker? Seems like a lot of work already done there - and a lot of
users with custom dics already in place.

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by (PeteCresswell)

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

This is from somebody who is not even trying 3.0 yet... but can
anybody explain why they didn't go with (or at least include an
option to hook into...) the MS Spell Checker? Seems like a lot of
work already done there - and a lot of users with custom dics already
in place.

Surely you only get that if you have a version of MS Word installed? It
may be widely used but it's not universal.

[DevilsPGD]

Post by (PeteCresswell)

Post by DevilsPGD
New spell checker, larger database support, and a few other toys I
forget about.

This is from somebody who is not even trying 3.0 yet...

I'm confused... Who isn't trying 3.0 yet?

[(PeteCresswell)]

Post by DevilsPGD
I'm confused... Who isn't trying 3.0 yet?

Touche... -)

[Evo2Me]

Post by (PeteCresswell)
This is from somebody who is not even trying 3.0 yet... but can anybody explain
why they didn't go with (or at least include an option to hook into...) the MS
Spell Checker? Seems like a lot of work already done there - and a lot of
users with custom dics already in place.

Because CSAPI support costs rather high licencing fees, I guess. At
least that's why other small companies dropped it.

[Paul Hantom]

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
You didn't miss anything, but this is on the wishlist (I know, because I
had exactly the same comment) :)

The last 10 years have proven that being on the wish list precludes Forte
from implementing it. Other than yEnc and multiple news servers, what other
significant wish-list items have been incorporated into Agent? And how long
did it take?

Views, Global Search, Regular Expressions, Kill and Watch filters, header
joining. Virtually every significant feature in Agent was implemented within
the last 10 years.

[saur]

Post by Paul Hantom

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
You didn't miss anything, but this is on the wishlist (I know, because I
had exactly the same comment) :)

The last 10 years have proven that being on the wish list precludes Forte
from implementing it. Other than yEnc and multiple news servers, what other
significant wish-list items have been incorporated into Agent? And how long
did it take?

Views, Global Search, Regular Expressions, Kill and Watch filters, header
joining. Virtually every significant feature in Agent was implemented within
the last 10 years.

Everything in Agent has been in the last 10 years. If you believe that 10
years is an appropriate time frame for that amount of development, then we
have no common ground on which to base a conversation.

[Paul Hantom]

Post by saur

Post by Paul Hantom

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
You didn't miss anything, but this is on the wishlist (I know, because I
had exactly the same comment) :)

The last 10 years have proven that being on the wish list precludes Forte
from implementing it. Other than yEnc and multiple news servers, what other
significant wish-list items have been incorporated into Agent? And how long
did it take?

Views, Global Search, Regular Expressions, Kill and Watch filters, header
joining. Virtually every significant feature in Agent was implemented within
the last 10 years.

Everything in Agent has been in the last 10 years.

Which is what proves your statement of, "The last 10 years have proven that
being on the wish list precludes Forte from implementing it," to be obviously
false. All those things were on the wish list. If anything that was on the
wish list precluded it from being implemented then there would be virtually no
useful features in Agent at all!

Post by saur
If you believe that 10 years is an appropriate time frame for that amount of development, then we
have no common ground on which to base a conversation.

That is a different issue. I am just correcting your mistakes. Agent hasn't
had 10 years of development. At most it has had seven. There were three years
where the product was dead. Three years when the competition should have caught
up. Why didn't it? Where is the clearly superior product to Agent?

[saur]

Post by Paul Hantom
That is a different issue. I am just correcting your mistakes. Agent hasn't
had 10 years of development. At most it has had seven. There were three years
where the product was dead. Three years when the competition should have caught
up. Why didn't it? Where is the clearly superior product to Agent?

I've been using it to participate in this newsgroup, as have many others.
(hint: check the headers)

[Paul Hantom]

Post by saur

Post by Paul Hantom
That is a different issue. I am just correcting your mistakes. Agent hasn't
had 10 years of development. At most it has had seven. There were three years
where the product was dead. Three years when the competition should have caught
up. Why didn't it? Where is the clearly superior product to Agent?

I've been using it to participate in this newsgroup, as have many others.
(hint: check the headers)

But it isn't clearly superior. Some don't think it superior at all, mostly
because of its buginess. When I tried it, I found navigation painfully slow.
At best it is marginally superior because it is an Agent clone with some
interface improvements over 2.0. It is always easier and faster to copy a
design, in this case Agent, than design your own newsreader from scratch.

Biggest problem I found with Dialog is you can't open multiple browser windows.
And Dialog is certainly not clearly superior to Agent 3.0 for binaries.

[saur]

Post by Paul Hantom
But it isn't clearly superior.
Some don't think it superior at all...
At best it is marginally superior...

When you make up your mind, let me know. Or are you one of those pundits
who can't tell the difference between his opinion and fact?

[Paul Hantom]

Post by saur

Post by Paul Hantom
But it isn't clearly superior.
Some don't think it superior at all...
At best it is marginally superior...

When you make up your mind, let me know.

I have made up my mind. When you get some common sense, let me know.

Post by saur
Or are you one of those pundits
who can't tell the difference between his opinion and fact?

No, I am one of those people with enough intelligence to know that the
difference between slightly superior and slightly inferior are purely a matter
of opinion, and one's personal needs. It is subjective. Clearly superior
enters more into the realm of objectivity for those that are fair minded and
posses common sense.

[saur]

Post by Paul Hantom
No, I am one of those people with enough intelligence to know that the
difference between slightly superior and slightly inferior are purely a matter
of opinion, and one's personal needs. It is subjective. Clearly superior
enters more into the realm of objectivity for those that are fair minded and
posses common sense.

ROFLMAO Pure Doublespeak. Yup, you're a *pundit* of the First Order.

[Paul Hantom]

Post by saur

Post by Paul Hantom
No, I am one of those people with enough intelligence to know that the
difference between slightly superior and slightly inferior are purely a matter
of opinion, and one's personal needs. It is subjective. Clearly superior
enters more into the realm of objectivity for those that are fair minded and
posses common sense.

ROFLMAO Pure Doublespeak. Yup, you're a *pundit* of the First Order.

Yeah, and your problem is you have neither common sense nor a decent grasp of
English. To put it more plainly you have demonstrated yourself to be rather
stupid.

[Nostromo]

Post by Paul Hantom

Post by saur

Post by Paul Hantom
No, I am one of those people with enough intelligence to know that the
difference between slightly superior and slightly inferior are purely a matter
of opinion, and one's personal needs. It is subjective. Clearly superior
enters more into the realm of objectivity for those that are fair minded and
posses common sense.

ROFLMAO Pure Doublespeak. Yup, you're a *pundit* of the First Order.

Yeah, and your problem is you have neither common sense nor a decent grasp of
English. To put it more plainly you have demonstrated yourself to be rather
stupid.

It's times like these one wishes Agent had partial thread filtering...*sigh*

[Evo2Me]

Post by saur
When you make up your mind, let me know. Or are you one of those pundits
who can't tell the difference between his opinion and fact?

Since "superior" always implies opinion, it cannot be a fact,
particularly not in the case of complex phenomena to be explored. What
is important to you is surely not important to everyone, which would
be a necessary condition to make the word "superior" meaningful in
purely fact-base decision process.

Paul clearly differentiated between several cases, namely his own
evaluation and the evaluation of others. He also made it clear that
"superior" lives in a continuum, hence the first statement you cited
used "clearly" as a qualifier making it the operational word. It was
the meta-perspective he chose their.

His second statement took into account what others (beside him and
you) think about 40tude. And only his last statement made clear what
he thinks about it: in certain areas 40tude is slightly better in
others it may even be worse than Agent.

Rarely do I find such clear-cut and cleanly worded messages like
Paul's on the topic in Usenet.

[No Body]

Post by Evo2Me
Since "superior" always implies opinion, it cannot be a fact,

I disagree.

Since the discussion is about newsreaders, look at Outlook Express. It's a
fact that most newsreaders are superior to OE in the way they handle
binaries, since almost all of them automatically handle multipart posts
where OE makes you join them manually. UUD32Win has superior decoding
ability to Agent since it can handle subject lines that confuse Agent, can
decode past the missing parts of a yEnc post and can decode incomplete UUE
posts even if the first part is missing.

When something is more flexible and requires less user intervention to
properly do the same job, it's clearly superior.

[saur]

Post by Evo2Me
Rarely do I find such clear-cut and cleanly worded messages like
Paul's on the topic in Usenet.

Do the 2 of you share the same medications?

[Alex Heney]

Post by saur

Post by Paul Hantom
But it isn't clearly superior.
Some don't think it superior at all...
At best it is marginally superior...

When you make up your mind, let me know. Or are you one of those pundits
who can't tell the difference between his opinion and fact?

You seem to be, since you say it is clearly superior.

If it were that clear, then most people would be using it rather than
Agent.

[saur]

Post by Alex Heney
If it were that clear, then most people would be using it rather than
Agent.

I've heard the "experts" say that there were better OSs than Windows, but a
majority of computers run Windows. Since when does "the best" actually win
the consumer competition?

[Alex Heney]

Post by saur

Post by Paul Hantom
That is a different issue. I am just correcting your mistakes. Agent hasn't
had 10 years of development. At most it has had seven. There were three years
where the product was dead. Three years when the competition should have caught
up. Why didn't it? Where is the clearly superior product to Agent?

I've been using it to participate in this newsgroup, as have many others.
(hint: check the headers)

No you haven't.

You are using Dialog.

It isn't "clearly" superior. It implements *some* features that Agent
doesn't (in particular multiple personas/email accounts). But in most
respects it is similar, or (now) worse.

It may be better for *you*, and I am sure it is better for some
others. I am going to continue using it for email, because I need the
multiple email account functionality.

But I am reverting to Agent for news, because it implements multiple
NNTP servers much better than Dialog, *for my purposes*.

[saur]

Post by Alex Heney
It may be better for *you*, and I am sure it is better for some
others. I am going to continue using it for email, because I need the
multiple email account functionality.
But I am reverting to Agent for news, because it implements multiple
NNTP servers much better than Dialog, *for my purposes*.

Ah, opinion clearly labeled as such. Thank you. I've said several times
that I wish I had empirical data. I don't. My posts are also clearly
labeled as opinion.

[Don Kirkman]

It seems to me I heard somewhere that saur wrote in article

Post by saur

Post by Donald L McDaniel
My personal opinion is that Agent's implementation of Desks and
Folders is completely logical, and easy to use, if one thinks in a
heirarchical way.

After creating "Desks" and moving everything where I want it to be, there is
still a copy of every folder in the all folders desk. Why? Why can't I
turn off the all folders desk and only have all of my desks? All I see is
the ability to view all desks or only one. Did I miss that option?

I knew someone would ask that sooner or later. :-)

There is only one copy of anything in the database, and that copy is
kept in the All Folders list; I keep my All Folders collapsed and ignore
it unless something unusual comes up. It would be nice to have a Hide
function (perhaps it's there and I've missed it).

Think of desks as *super views* where you group together things in ways
that work for you; what you see inside a desk is functionally a shortcut
to the real copy in All Folders. This method allows you to put the
"same" folder in more than one desk and assign different properties to
each folder if you want.

[Marc Wilson]

In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, (Liberty) wrote in

Post by Liberty

Post by s***@nyc.rr.com
As the advertising indicated, v3.0 isn't simply a new interface. It's a
very different program than v1.x and v2.0. One of the things that I liked
about Agent was its simplicity of use. Some people complained that it still
looked like an old DOS program, but I thought it was elegant. I've been
playing with v3.0 for hours and I can't get it to look like or function like
"my" Agent.
I don't like the concept of "Desks." The interface and functions reminds me
of MS Office Outlook 2003.

What is there not to like about desks? I find it pretty nice to be able to
split different groups away from each other. Binaries together, Programming
groups together etc. Yet we still have the ability lump everything together
and endlessly scroll through them just as we did in 1.x & 2.0

I'd prefer genuinely nested folders like the way Thunderbird and Outlook
(spit) do it. It's a shame that Outlook is such a piece of
standards-shredding crap, because some of the things it does are quite
neat- being able to group messages by dragging headers into the group bar,
for instance, is nice.

I'd love a version of Outlook written by competent programmers to
standards- perhaps Thunderbird will get there, one day.

[Donald L McDaniel]

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 17:07:56 +0100, Marc Wilson

Post by Marc Wilson
In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, (Liberty) wrote in

Post by Liberty

Post by s***@nyc.rr.com
As the advertising indicated, v3.0 isn't simply a new interface. It's a
very different program than v1.x and v2.0. One of the things that I liked
about Agent was its simplicity of use. Some people complained that it still
looked like an old DOS program, but I thought it was elegant. I've been
playing with v3.0 for hours and I can't get it to look like or function like
"my" Agent.
I don't like the concept of "Desks." The interface and functions reminds me
of MS Office Outlook 2003.

What is there not to like about desks? I find it pretty nice to be able to
split different groups away from each other. Binaries together, Programming
groups together etc. Yet we still have the ability lump everything together
and endlessly scroll through them just as we did in 1.x & 2.0

I'd prefer genuinely nested folders like the way Thunderbird and Outlook
(spit) do it. It's a shame that Outlook is such a piece of
standards-shredding crap, because some of the things it does are quite
neat- being able to group messages by dragging headers into the group bar,
for instance, is nice.
I'd love a version of Outlook written by competent programmers to
standards- perhaps Thunderbird will get there, one day.

NOTE that "Microsoft Office Outlook" (a PIM/email client) and "Microsoft
Outlook Express" (an email/NNTP newsreader client) have absolutely no
relationship, code-wise. The only relationship between them is that they
are both written by Microsoft programmers. Microsoft Office Outlook was
not built on the Microsoft Outlook Express code-base, nor was Microsoft
Outlook Express built on the Microsoft Office Outlook code-base. Please do
not confuse the two products.


Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread.
If you must reply via email, remove the obvious
from my email address before sending.
=======================================================

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Post by Donald L McDaniel
NOTE that "Microsoft Office Outlook" (a PIM/email client) and "Microsoft
Outlook Express" (an email/NNTP newsreader client) have absolutely no
relationship, code-wise. The only relationship between them is that they

But you CAN use Microsoft Office Outlook to check/send POP3/SMTP as
well. Several of my friends do (because they are used to that at work)

[Alex Heney]

Post by Lars-Erik Østerud

Post by Donald L McDaniel
NOTE that "Microsoft Office Outlook" (a PIM/email client) and "Microsoft
Outlook Express" (an email/NNTP newsreader client) have absolutely no
relationship, code-wise. The only relationship between them is that they

But you CAN use Microsoft Office Outlook to check/send POP3/SMTP as
well. Several of my friends do (because they are used to that at work)

Of course. That is just what he said above.

Unless you mistyped, and meant to say NNTP instead of PoP3/SMTP.

In which case, Outlook does not do it natively, but calls a news
client to do it (which defaults to Outlook Express).

[Donald McDaniel]

Post by Alex Heney

Post by Lars-Erik Østerud

Post by Donald L McDaniel
NOTE that "Microsoft Office Outlook" (a PIM/email client) and "Microsoft
Outlook Express" (an email/NNTP newsreader client) have absolutely no
relationship, code-wise. The only relationship between them is that they

But you CAN use Microsoft Office Outlook to check/send POP3/SMTP as
well. Several of my friends do (because they are used to that at work)

Of course. That is just what he said above.
Unless you mistyped, and meant to say NNTP instead of PoP3/SMTP.

Note that I typed " 'Microsoft Office Outlook' (a PIM/email client)"
(the "PIM" means "Personal Information Manager"), not "NNTP" (which I
said that "Microsoft Outlook Express" was in addition to being an
email client.) "NNTP" is the type of server used on the Usenet. So
"NNTP" in Outlook Express's case means that it is also a Usenet News
client.

Both Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express are able
to address several types of email servers, one of which is POP3/SMTP.


Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread.
If you must reply via email, remove the obvious
from my email address before sending.
=======================================================

[DevilsPGD]

Post by Donald L McDaniel
NOTE that "Microsoft Office Outlook" (a PIM/email client) and "Microsoft
Outlook Express" (an email/NNTP newsreader client) have absolutely no
relationship, code-wise. The only relationship between them is that they
are both written by Microsoft programmers. Microsoft Office Outlook was
not built on the Microsoft Outlook Express code-base, nor was Microsoft
Outlook Express built on the Microsoft Office Outlook code-base. Please do
not confuse the two products.

They also share HTML rendering engines (along with IE and many other
third party programs), which means they share some vulnerabilities.

[siulo]

Yes, they share the insecure Trident HTML core.

Post by DevilsPGD

Post by Donald L McDaniel
NOTE that "Microsoft Office Outlook" (a PIM/email client) and "Microsoft
Outlook Express" (an email/NNTP newsreader client) have absolutely no
relationship, code-wise. The only relationship between them is that they
are both written by Microsoft programmers. Microsoft Office Outlook was
not built on the Microsoft Outlook Express code-base, nor was Microsoft
Outlook Express built on the Microsoft Office Outlook code-base. Please do
not confuse the two products.

They also share HTML rendering engines (along with IE and many other
third party programs), which means they share some vulnerabilities.

[Marc Wilson]

In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, (Donald L McDaniel) wrote in

Post by Donald L McDaniel
On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 17:07:56 +0100, Marc Wilson

Post by Marc Wilson
In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, (Liberty) wrote in

Post by Liberty

Post by s***@nyc.rr.com
As the advertising indicated, v3.0 isn't simply a new interface. It's a
very different program than v1.x and v2.0. One of the things that I liked
about Agent was its simplicity of use. Some people complained that it still
looked like an old DOS program, but I thought it was elegant. I've been
playing with v3.0 for hours and I can't get it to look like or function like
"my" Agent.
I don't like the concept of "Desks." The interface and functions reminds me
of MS Office Outlook 2003.

What is there not to like about desks? I find it pretty nice to be able to
split different groups away from each other. Binaries together, Programming
groups together etc. Yet we still have the ability lump everything together
and endlessly scroll through them just as we did in 1.x & 2.0

I'd prefer genuinely nested folders like the way Thunderbird and Outlook
(spit) do it. It's a shame that Outlook is such a piece of
standards-shredding crap, because some of the things it does are quite
neat- being able to group messages by dragging headers into the group bar,
for instance, is nice.
I'd love a version of Outlook written by competent programmers to
standards- perhaps Thunderbird will get there, one day.

NOTE that "Microsoft Office Outlook" (a PIM/email client) and "Microsoft
Outlook Express" (an email/NNTP newsreader client) have absolutely no
relationship, code-wise. The only relationship between them is that they
are both written by Microsoft programmers. Microsoft Office Outlook was
not built on the Microsoft Outlook Express code-base, nor was Microsoft
Outlook Express built on the Microsoft Office Outlook code-base. Please do
not confuse the two products.

I'm not doing. Point me to the place in my posting where word "Express" is
found.

Outlook is not as bad as OE, but it still ignores various standards, is a
piece of crap when it comes to security, and has a broken MIME
implementation.

[Vic Dura]

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 04:17:19 GMT, in
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent RE: Re: How would you rate

Post by s***@nyc.rr.com
Obviously this is just one customer's opinion, and I'm sure to be in the
minority. I sincerely hope that v3.0 and the whole 3.x stream are exactly
what the majority of customers want it to be. I've already found a
replacement that meets my needs much better than The New Agent does.

What is the replacement, if you don't mind my asking.

[saur]

Post by Vic Dura
On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 04:17:19 GMT, in
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent RE: Re: How would you rate

Post by s***@nyc.rr.com
Obviously this is just one customer's opinion, and I'm sure to be in the
minority. I sincerely hope that v3.0 and the whole 3.x stream are exactly
what the majority of customers want it to be. I've already found a
replacement that meets my needs much better than The New Agent does.

What is the replacement, if you don't mind my asking.

40tude Dialog

[John A.]

Post by saur

Post by Vic Dura
On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 04:17:19 GMT, in
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent RE: Re: How would you rate

Post by s***@nyc.rr.com
Obviously this is just one customer's opinion, and I'm sure to be in the
minority. I sincerely hope that v3.0 and the whole 3.x stream are exactly
what the majority of customers want it to be. I've already found a
replacement that meets my needs much better than The New Agent does.

What is the replacement, if you don't mind my asking.

40tude Dialog

Just checked it out.

Likes (things I would like in Agent):
SSL on incoming & outgoing mail
Multiple email accounts

Dislikes
No single-pane usage mode (Agent lets me switch between the group
list, article list, and article in full-window. I don't need
or want to look at more than one of those at a time, thank you.)
*Deal Breaker*
Apparently no "leave messages on server" option for email, much less
"until it get it from both locations." I fetch my email from work
and home, and need to be able to get it all at either site.
*Deal Breaker*

Undoubtedly there's more for both columns, but I gotta go now.

[saur]

Post by John A.
Dislikes
No single-pane usage mode (Agent lets me switch between the group
list, article list, and article in full-window. I don't need
or want to look at more than one of those at a time, thank you.)
*Deal Breaker*

F8 is the Zoom key. TAB moves through panes (as in Agent).

Post by John A.
Apparently no "leave messages on server" option for email, much less
"until it get it from both locations." I fetch my email from work
and home, and need to be able to get it all at either site.
*Deal Breaker*

Look in the POP3 properties for each email server. It's there.

[John A.]

Post by saur

Post by John A.
Dislikes
No single-pane usage mode (Agent lets me switch between the group
list, article list, and article in full-window. I don't need
or want to look at more than one of those at a time, thank you.)
*Deal Breaker*

F8 is the Zoom key. TAB moves through panes (as in Agent).

Okay, got that working, and with the group list, header list, and
article buttons added to toolbars 1-3 (which really should be renamed
to Grouplist Toolbar, Headerlist Toolbar, and Message Toolbar) got
Agent's interface roughly emulated.

Post by saur

Post by John A.
Apparently no "leave messages on server" option for email, much less
"until it get it from both locations." I fetch my email from work
and home, and need to be able to get it all at either site.
*Deal Breaker*

Look in the POP3 properties for each email server. It's there.

Yup, but it doesn't have Agent's ability to delete them once I've
retrieved them from both locations, so far as I can see. So much for
that.

I hacked around with it a bit more for a few hours, and except for the
email thing and not being able to display threads like Agent (Subject
on first post, authors below,) and a lack of multiple window support,
had it fairly Agent-ized.

I like that you can read groups without necessarily subscribing. And I
do like its ability to watch a branch of a thread, rather than simply
the whole thread or nothing. The filtering was very difficult to use
compared to Agent, though. I shouldn't have to learn a programming
language (however small) to have it watch threads/branches when a
certain user posts, or any other such simple filter actions.

The email thing's still a deal breaker, though, as is the HTML & image
attachment previewing. I don't want any previewing of attachments or
HTML rendering. Too much potential for exploitable bugs there, whether
you're reusing IE components or not. It's one reason I switched from
Netscape's newsreader to Agent 1.1 or thereabouts so long ago.

I also preferred Agent's Ctrl-D behavior when I use it with
not-yet-downloaded binary posts: it downloads them. (Seems like a
no-brainer there.) And I like being able to select multiple posts with
a swipe of the mouse in Agent too.

After all those hours of exploring & customizing, I decided that while
some of the other weaknesses were perhaps tolerable, the two-site
email behavior and the potential security compromises were
unacceptable, so I uninstalled it and deleted the 1+G of headers it
had downloaded (slowly, I might add.)

I believe I'll stick with Agent 2.0 for the foreseeable future. I'm
disappointed with Dialog, but more so with Agent 3.0. I really think
Forte threw the baby out with the bathwater when they reduced the All
Groups & Folders view to a simple Add Group dialog. I think they
really should have had zero loss of functionality as a design goal,
and I hope they rethink some of their choices when plotting out the
next version.

JA

[Alex Heney]

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 02:11:01 -0400, John A.
<***@spammers.virginiaquilter.allowed.com> wrote:

<snip>

Post by John A.
I hacked around with it a bit more for a few hours, and except for the
email thing and not being able to display threads like Agent (Subject
on first post, authors below,)

That is the way I have it displaying threads.

[saur]

Post by John A.
I believe I'll stick with Agent 2.0 for the foreseeable future. I'm
disappointed with Dialog, but more so with Agent 3.0. I really think
Forte threw the baby out with the bathwater when they reduced the All
Groups & Folders view to a simple Add Group dialog. I think they
really should have had zero loss of functionality as a design goal,
and I hope they rethink some of their choices when plotting out the
next version.

Thanks for the honest feedback on both Dialog and Agent. I hope you find
something that meets your needs!

[No Body]

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 02:11:01 -0400, John A.

Post by John A.
I like that you can read groups without necessarily subscribing. And I

I admit that I never tried Agent 2.0 (no new features I wanted), so I
don't know if they changed it, but I don't have a single subscribed group
in my copy of Agent, and they work just fine. As far as I can tell, the
only thing I'm missing is the ability to use the options that operate on
all subscribed groups, like downloading new headers. However, since I like
to download new headers in my groups in a particular order, and don't
always download them for all the groups I follow, this is no big loss.

[Marc Wilson]

In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, (John A.) wrote in

Post by John A.
Apparently no "leave messages on server" option for email, much less
"until it get it from both locations." I fetch my email from work
and home, and need to be able to get it all at either site.
*Deal Breaker*

Under POP3 settings, clear the box that says: "Delete mails on server once
successfully retrieved".

[Marc Wilson]

In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, (John A.) wrote in

Post by John A.
Dislikes
No single-pane usage mode (Agent lets me switch between the group
list, article list, and article in full-window. I don't need
or want to look at more than one of those at a time, thank you.)
*Deal Breaker*

You *can* get 2/3 - you can toggle between group list and headers/articles.

[Alex Heney]

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:25:54 GMT, John A.

Post by John A.

Post by saur

Post by Vic Dura
On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 04:17:19 GMT, in
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent RE: Re: How would you rate

Post by s***@nyc.rr.com
Obviously this is just one customer's opinion, and I'm sure to be in the
minority. I sincerely hope that v3.0 and the whole 3.x stream are exactly
what the majority of customers want it to be. I've already found a
replacement that meets my needs much better than The New Agent does.

What is the replacement, if you don't mind my asking.

40tude Dialog

Just checked it out.
SSL on incoming & outgoing mail
Multiple email accounts
Dislikes
No single-pane usage mode (Agent lets me switch between the group
list, article list, and article in full-window. I don't need
or want to look at more than one of those at a time, thank you.)
*Deal Breaker*
Apparently no "leave messages on server" option for email, much less
"until it get it from both locations." I fetch my email from work
and home, and need to be able to get it all at either site.
*Deal Breaker*

That is there.

Look on the PoP3 (Incoming email) tab for each identity (under
Servers, Identities, signatures on the Settings menu) - there is a
tickbox there (ticked by default) for "Delete articles from server
once successfully retrieved".

There isn't the "until I get it from both locations" option though.

[Exiddor]

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 09:04:20 +0100, Alex Heney wrote:

[...]

Post by Alex Heney

Post by John A.
Dislikes
No single-pane usage mode (Agent lets me switch between the group
list, article list, and article in full-window. I don't need
or want to look at more than one of those at a time, thank you.)
*Deal Breaker*
Apparently no "leave messages on server" option for email, much less
"until it get it from both locations." I fetch my email from work
and home, and need to be able to get it all at either site.
*Deal Breaker*

That is there.

[...]

So is the single-pane (zoomed) usage option. I think the default key
for this is f8 but you can configure the keys any way you wish - I use Z
as that is what I was accustomed to from when I used to use Agent..

[Jeffrey Kaplan]

It is alleged that ***@nyc.rr.com claimed:

; As the advertising indicated, v3.0 isn't simply a new interface. It's a
; very different program than v1.x and v2.0. One of the things that I liked
; about Agent was its simplicity of use. Some people complained that it still
; looked like an old DOS program, but I thought it was elegant. I've been
; playing with v3.0 for hours and I can't get it to look like or function like
; "my" Agent.

Except for some icon graphic changes, you can get it to look the same.
There were some changes to the navigation controls and menus due to
reorganizing them into something more logical than the mishmash of
tacked on functions we had before.

; I don't like the concept of "Desks." The interface and functions reminds me
; of MS Office Outlook 2003.

Then don't use the desks. Set the folder pane to "All Folders" and
then zoom it in, and you will have all of your newsgroup and message
folders right there. Or, you can separate your folders into desks,
keep it zoomed to a single desk and then use the navigational controls
to switch it to another desk, similar to how previous versions would
switch between views of the groups list (this is how I use it).

; v3.0 contains none of the features I want or use, so there really isn't any
; point in my wasting more time learning how to use it. The features that I
; want won't be in any of the 3.x versions.

I'm sorry to hear that, but I respect an informed opinion, and this is
why it can be used as trialware. We'd rather have a user try it, not
like it and revert than buy it blind and +then+ be unhappy with it.

[saur]

Post by Jeffrey Kaplan
I'm sorry to hear that, but I respect an informed opinion, and this is
why it can be used as trialware. We'd rather have a user try it, not
like it and revert than buy it blind and +then+ be unhappy with it.

I paid for the upgrade because certain features *WERE* in the Roadmap at
that time. This wasn't "trialware." It was robberware.

[DevilsPGD]

Post by saur

Post by Jeffrey Kaplan
I'm sorry to hear that, but I respect an informed opinion, and this is
why it can be used as trialware. We'd rather have a user try it, not
like it and revert than buy it blind and +then+ be unhappy with it.

I paid for the upgrade because certain features *WERE* in the Roadmap at
that time. This wasn't "trialware." It was robberware.

Have you contacted Forte to see what their refund policy is?

[saur]

Post by DevilsPGD
Have you contacted Forte to see what their refund policy is?

Those "support emails" have not yet received a response. Perhaps Mr. Kaplan
will respond here instead.

[Nick]

Post by saur

Post by DevilsPGD
Have you contacted Forte to see what their refund policy is?

Those "support emails" have not yet received a response. Perhaps Mr. Kaplan
will respond here instead.

They aren't answering their mail.

[Jeffrey Kaplan]

It is alleged that Nick claimed:

; On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 21:29:35 GMT, saur <***@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
;
; >On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 15:22:12 -0600, DevilsPGD wrote:
; >
; >> Have you contacted Forte to see what their refund policy is?
; >
; >Those "support emails" have not yet received a response. Perhaps Mr. Kaplan
; >will respond here instead.
;
; They aren't answering their mail.

I answered every email in the Agent Support queue today.

[Mark Prince]

Post by saur
Those "support emails" have not yet received a response.

We send an email confirmation that your support request has been
received by us. Did you receive that confirmation?

Perhaps your email address was typed in wrong, or there is a spam
filter catching the responses and keeping you from seeing them.


Mark

[saur]

Post by Mark Prince

Post by saur
Those "support emails" have not yet received a response.

We send an email confirmation that your support request has been
received by us. Did you receive that confirmation?
Perhaps your email address was typed in wrong, or there is a spam
filter catching the responses and keeping you from seeing them.

I honestly don't remember if I received the automated response. It was
awhile ago. Why not just answer the question right here? What is your
refund policy? Thank you.

[DevilsPGD]

Post by saur

Post by Mark Prince

Post by saur
Those "support emails" have not yet received a response.

We send an email confirmation that your support request has been
received by us. Did you receive that confirmation?
Perhaps your email address was typed in wrong, or there is a spam
filter catching the responses and keeping you from seeing them.

I honestly don't remember if I received the automated response. It was
awhile ago. Why not just answer the question right here? What is your
refund policy? Thank you.

Oh, and I should go on record as saying I'm not asking for a refund
here, I'm rather happy with 3.0 (I don't care about the multiple-mailbox
support, although I wouldn't mind seeing a few email toys added)

[Tom Strike]

I think it was worth it. I don't use it as intensely as many do but
when I went to another computer I had 2.0 on I didn't like it at all
anymore.

YMMV,

Tom

Post by Sam
What is your impression of the latest release, Is it worth paying
19.00 to upgrade?

[Nick]

Post by Sam
What is your impression of the latest release, Is it worth paying
19.00 to upgrade?

Only if you don't own another binary downloader.
You do get $15 worth of APN service as well.

[Sam]

Post by Nick

Post by Sam
What is your impression of the latest release, Is it

worth paying

Post by Nick

Post by Sam
19.00 to upgrade?

Only if you don't own another binary downloader.

Thanks for giving me such an honest answer.

I installed the app, played with it for 12 hours and
decided that learning the quirks was not worth the effort
after using Agent for 7 years. Clicking on the help button
becomes a habit that is required just to get this version
off the ground.


I'm spoiled by the advanced features of Newsleecher, which
comes with an invisible manual and only requires the least
bit of common sense to master
.

Agent has always been light years behind the competition
and has not let anyone down by securing their place at the
end of the line with this latest version.

Post by Nick
You do get $15 worth of APN service as well.

[Anestis Kozakis]

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 08:37:00 GMT, Sam <***@rar.zip> wrote:

[snip]

Post by Sam
I installed the app, played with it for 12 hours and
decided that learning the quirks was not worth the effort
after using Agent for 7 years. Clicking on the help button
becomes a habit that is required just to get this version
off the ground.

I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.

Got used to it in no time.

*shrugs*

[snip]

Post by Sam
Agent has always been light years behind the competition
and has not let anyone down by securing their place at the
end of the line with this latest version.

I think Agent 3 is a huge improvement personally.

Anestis.

[Nico]

Post by Anestis Kozakis
I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.
Got used to it in no time.

Here also no problems. The 'Desks' are great. Now I can use any
newsserver I want and get rid of Hamster.. :-)

Ciao!
|\ |
| \|ico

[Nostromo]

Post by Nico

Post by Anestis Kozakis
I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.
Got used to it in no time.

Here also no problems. The 'Desks' are great. Now I can use any
newsserver I want and get rid of Hamster.. :-)
Ciao!
|\ |
| \|ico

Man, not THE Hamster that frequents alt.internet.p2p? Damn, if so, he gets
around like a bad smell. Is there a way to not allow him access to this
newsgroup or any other one I frequent? Now THAT'S a feature I'd pay for!

Post by Nico
;-)

[Roscoe]

Post by Anestis Kozakis
[snip]

Post by Sam
I installed the app, played with it for 12 hours and
decided that learning the quirks was not worth the effort
after using Agent for 7 years. Clicking on the help button
becomes a habit that is required just to get this version
off the ground.

I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.
Got used to it in no time.

The transition is seamless and there is nothing to learn if a person
only reads text and does not have to deal with the maze of added fluff
that involves getting more than five servers to function properly.

Post by Anestis Kozakis
*shrugs*
[snip]

Post by Sam
Agent has always been light years behind the competition
and has not let anyone down by securing their place at the
end of the line with this latest version.

I think Agent 3 is a huge improvement personally.

Anything could be considered an improvement after waiting this long.
Forte promised the moon when they wanted an upgrade fee for version 2.0
and now people are forced to learn a program that was presented with
outdated features within minutes of being released.

Newsbin - Newsleecher have kept their interface simple and will
continue to run circles around the bloatware that Agent has evolved
into.

Post by Anestis Kozakis
Anestis.

[GregRo]

Ugh,

I thought the format would stay the same. No wonder it took them
years to add new servers. They could of done that with an update.
I don't like the new fonts and screen widths and the new names it real
confusing. Plus it already crashed on xp sp2.

Back to using agent 2.0

Greg Ro

[Anestis Kozakis]

Post by GregRo
Ugh,
I thought the format would stay the same. No wonder it took them
years to add new servers. They could of done that with an update.
I don't like the new fonts and screen widths and the new names it real
confusing. Plus it already crashed on xp sp2.

You can change the fonts, colours, and screen widths.

Doesn't crash on my system, and it's XP SP2 with latest updates.

Post by GregRo
Back to using agent 2.0
Greg Ro

Anestis.

[Sharon]

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:27:46 +1000, Anestis Kozakis

Post by Anestis Kozakis

Post by GregRo
Ugh,
I thought the format would stay the same. No wonder it took them
years to add new servers. They could of done that with an update.
I don't like the new fonts and screen widths and the new names it real
confusing. Plus it already crashed on xp sp2.

You can change the fonts, colours, and screen widths.
Doesn't crash on my system, and it's XP SP2 with latest updates.

Love the fact that I can rename newsgroups. And no crashes here,
either.

Sharon
Canyon Country, California

[(PeteCresswell)]

Post by Sharon
Love the fact that I can rename newsgroups. And no crashes here,
either.

Can you assign a different default return address to Newsgroups and email?

[GregRo]

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:27:46 +1000, Anestis Kozakis

Post by Anestis Kozakis

Post by GregRo
Ugh,
I thought the format would stay the same. No wonder it took them
years to add new servers. They could of done that with an update.
I don't like the new fonts and screen widths and the new names it real
confusing. Plus it already crashed on xp sp2.

You can change the fonts, colours, and screen widths.
Doesn't crash on my system, and it's XP SP2 with latest updates.

Post by GregRo
Back to using agent 2.0
Greg Ro

Anestis.

Duh,
I know that. They change the names. However, you did give me Idea on
how to incorperate the fonts from agent 2 to agent 3.
So it won't change on you. Compare the agent.in file and change
accordingly

It still confusing figure out. New header, all headers, subscribe
group, All groups, new groups. I wish they would be able to make it
look like the old style agent.

I may or may not give it another shot.


Greg Ro

[Jeffrey Kaplan]

It is alleged that GregRo claimed:

; I thought the format would stay the same. No wonder it took them
; years to add new servers. They could of done that with an update.

Supporting multiple servers is not a simple update. That one function
required most of the changes to the way Agent actually works online.

; I don't like the new fonts and screen widths and the new names it real

Fonts, colors, layouts, etc, are only changed on you if you make a new
install instead of an upgrade install. We specifically do not override
your existing settings on an upgrade, except in a few rare examples
when it's a real functional change and its to make the thing work.

; confusing. Plus it already crashed on xp sp2.

I have not seen a support request from you. Do you want to work
towards a solution, or do you only want to complain?

[DevilsPGD]

Post by Jeffrey Kaplan
; I thought the format would stay the same. No wonder it took them
; years to add new servers. They could of done that with an update.
Supporting multiple servers is not a simple update. That one function
required most of the changes to the way Agent actually works online.

I miss the "Online/Offline" button though, just a quicky way to force
Agent to go offline and stay offline.

Post by Jeffrey Kaplan
; confusing. Plus it already crashed on xp sp2.
I have not seen a support request from you. Do you want to work
towards a solution, or do you only want to complain?

Complain, naturally.

[TH1]

Post by DevilsPGD
I miss the "Online/Offline" button though, just a quicky way to force
Agent to go offline and stay offline.

Me too. I have needed that button several times today already, as I
try various experiments.

[+DiamondEagle]

Ugh,
<snip>
Plus it already crashed on xp sp2.

I'm also on XP Pro SP2. No problems here.
Check your system. Maybe the problem is there...

Back to using agent 2.0

Your choice!

[Tom Strike]

I'm using XP Pro with SP2 and haven't had any trouble with any of the
beta versions or the released versions.

Tom

Post by GregRo
Ugh,
I thought the format would stay the same. No wonder it took them
years to add new servers. They could of done that with an update.
I don't like the new fonts and screen widths and the new names it real
confusing. Plus it already crashed on xp sp2.
Back to using agent 2.0
Greg Ro

[Don Kirkman]

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Roscoe wrote in article

Post by Roscoe

Post by Anestis Kozakis

Post by Sam
I installed the app, played with it for 12 hours and
decided that learning the quirks was not worth the effort
after using Agent for 7 years. Clicking on the help button
becomes a habit that is required just to get this version
off the ground.

I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.
Got used to it in no time.

The transition is seamless and there is nothing to learn if a person
only reads text and does not have to deal with the maze of added fluff
that involves getting more than five servers to function properly.

Post by Anestis Kozakis

Post by Sam
Agent has always been light years behind the competition
and has not let anyone down by securing their place at the
end of the line with this latest version.

I think Agent 3 is a huge improvement personally.

Anything could be considered an improvement after waiting this long.
Forte promised the moon when they wanted an upgrade fee for version 2.0
and now people are forced to learn a program that was presented with
outdated features within minutes of being released.
Newsbin - Newsleecher have kept their interface simple and will
continue to run circles around the bloatware that Agent has evolved
into.

And they're both so good at threading messages and setting up responses
to messages, not to mention their email functionality.

[Paul Hantom]

Post by Roscoe
Newsbin - Newsleecher have kept their interface simple

They have kept their interface simple, especially Newsbin, because they have
limited functionality.

Post by Roscoe
and will continue to run circles around the bloatware that Agent has evolved
into.

If you only want to work on one group at a time, they have some advantages.
Want to retrieve headers for 20 groups while doing something else, Agent blows
those two away. It will handle a larger number of headers with less memory and
be capable of downloading headers faster!

[(PeteCresswell)]

Post by Anestis Kozakis
I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.

Could you revert to 2.x if desired? (i.e. are the file formats compatible?)

[Nick]

Post by (PeteCresswell)

Post by Anestis Kozakis
I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.

Could you revert to 2.x if desired? (i.e. are the file formats compatible?)

Nope
I was lucky.
I have several virtually identical instances.
I just switched to one of those and deleted the V3 instance.
I like to read my binary groups in order as the headers are retrieved.
There is no way I can see to even know which group has finished retrieving
headers in V3.
The get new headers button no longer grays out so you can't even be sure the
group is selected without opening the task manager and checking the list. It's a
PITA.

[Jeffrey Kaplan]

It is alleged that Nick claimed:

; I like to read my binary groups in order as the headers are retrieved.
; There is no way I can see to even know which group has finished retrieving
; headers in V3.

There is no way to know that in previous versions either, you could
only infer it by watching the status bar and/or the presence of the
Mark For Download icon if anything was set to mark for retrieval or
watch.

This is no different in A3, except that now Agent gets headers
asynchronously, as connections become available and the Task Manager
has more usable information about the several tasks that are in
progress.

; The get new headers button no longer grays out so you can't even be sure the

Disabling the get headers command while a get headers task was in
progress was a solution to a problem that no longer applies.

[Don Kirkman]

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Nick wrote in article

Post by Nick

Post by (PeteCresswell)

Post by Anestis Kozakis
I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.

Could you revert to 2.x if desired? (i.e. are the file formats compatible?)

Nope
I was lucky.
I have several virtually identical instances.
I just switched to one of those and deleted the V3 instance.
I like to read my binary groups in order as the headers are retrieved.
There is no way I can see to even know which group has finished retrieving
headers in V3.

That's easily found in the Task Manager, along with a great deal of
other on-the-fly information.

Post by Nick
The get new headers button no longer grays out so you can't even be sure the
group is selected without opening the task manager and checking the list. It's a
PITA.

Sounds like operator error to me. :-)

[Nick]

Post by Don Kirkman

Post by Nick
The get new headers button no longer grays out so you can't even be sure the
group is selected without opening the task manager and checking the list. It's a
PITA.

Sounds like operator error to me. :-)

I hit get new headers. Been doing that for about 8 years.:)

[Don Kirkman]

It seems to me I heard somewhere that (PeteCresswell) wrote in article

Post by (PeteCresswell)

Post by Anestis Kozakis
I've used Agent 1.x and 2.x for over 5 years now, and it was a snap to
move to Agent 3.

Could you revert to 2.x if desired? (i.e. are the file formats compatible?)

No; the release information, the notice of release, and the installer
all warn that file formats are NOT compatible with 1.x and 2.x.

[+DiamondEagle]

Post by Sam
I installed the app, played with it for 12 hours and
decided that learning the quirks was not worth the effort
after using Agent for 7 years.

I was up and running in minutes!

Post by Sam
Clicking on the help button
becomes a habit that is required just to get this version
off the ground.

It depends on the user!

Post by Sam
I'm spoiled by the advanced features of Newsleecher,

But you're struggling with Agent?

Post by Sam
which
comes with an invisible manual and only requires the least
bit of common sense to master

Ditto for Agent 3...

Post by Sam
Agent has always been light years behind the competition
and has not let anyone down by securing their place at the
end of the line with this latest version.

Remember, Agent was a dead product after it was sold to Adanté. If
Mark & co. hadn't bought it back there would be no V3...

Yeah, it's taken absolutely forever to deliver V3 and most users got
tired of waiting, but it's here now. Forget the past and get on with
the future...

[Wavijo]

Post by Sam
I installed the app, played with it for 12 hours and
decided that learning the quirks was not worth the effort
after using Agent for 7 years.

It certainly didn't take you that long to master the new Desk & Folder
thing? I wager you haven't really used A2 for 7yrs

Post by Sam
I'm spoiled by the advanced features of Newsleecher, which
comes with an invisible manual and only requires the least
bit of common sense to master

Like I said you really haven't used A2 then as you had already made up your
mind to jump ship.

Post by Sam
Agent has always been light years behind the competition
and has not let anyone down by securing their place at the
end of the line with this latest version.

Agent was actually one of the pioneering usenet apps so they couldn't have
been "always been light years behind" altho they did fall behind. Where was
Newsleecher 10 yrs ago?

I just don't understand how there are a few people that are so busy bad
mouthing something without really trying it & why in the heck are they in
this group if things are so terrible? Leave but don't make things miserable
for the ones that actually give a damn.
----------+----------
Wayne D. Johnson
Ashland, OH, USA 44805
<http://www.wavijo.com>

[b***@gmail.com]

Without support for multiple e-mail accounts to match the ability to
use multiple NNTP servers, I will pass.

Still no compelling reason to upgrade from 1.x, which I purchased when
I used one e-mail addy and one nntp server. Today, I have several
e-mail servers to check, and a couple of active nntp servers.

With an excellent open source mail and news client available, which
supports multiple servers of both types, I still see no reason to make
an investment. It was very nice "way back when" with 1.x to manage mail
and news in once interface.

The bells and whistles are nice, but until this product matches it's
non-commercial competition in basic modern functionality, I will keep
using the old version.

[Frank J. Perricone]

Post by Sam
What is your impression of the latest release, Is it worth paying
19.00 to upgrade?

I'm liking it; and thus far, most of the gripes seen here have been largely
without merit, falling into the two obvious camps ("we waited too long,
everything Forte does sucks, wah wah wah" and "it's different and I haven't
gotten used to the changes yet"). Of course, I didn't have to pay to
upgrade it, so it's easy for me to say. That said, if I had to, I would
have.