View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0001337GeoSetterUser Interfacepublic2016-08-28 00:47
Reportererikb Assigned ToFriedemann  
PriorityhighSeveritymajorReproducibilityalways
Status assignedResolutionopen 
Product Version3.4.16 beta 
Target VersionFixed in Version 
Summary0001337: maps page host no longer registered - not updating version numbers causes confusion
DescriptionThe old URL for the map file is at a host that has fallen out of DNS registration (sometime in the past two months):

http://friedemann-schmidt.com/geosetter/gmap21.html

Many people are opening reports on this because the maps have stopped working, some suspecting it may have been related to the latest Windows 10 update just because of the timing. (It's not.)

The solution, as pointed out in some other bug reports, is to change the map file link to:

http://www.geosetter.de/map_google.html

However, this is entirely non-obvious and non-discover-able for most users, unless they bother to come to the bug-tracker. There is no note on the program webpage, for example, which still indicates the latest version is from 2011.

This user confusion issue is made worse because the version number of the (non-beta) release of GeoSetter has not been updated since 2011. This all led me to think the program had been abandoned. However, I finally did some more investigating today, and found that the installer file I downloaded today is larger and different than the one I have from 2011, even though *both* files install 3.4.16 (build 2119) with a copyright of 2011. The newer installer seemed to know about the newer map address, as I it changed it to the correct one when I installed/upgraded it over my prior GeoSetter installation.

It appears that the non-beta installer for GeoSetter has been receiving some minor updates (which plainly show as files with dates from May of 2016 in the zip file installer), yet the version number hasn't changed for five years. The built-in update check doesn't report anything new either. This is not a good way of doing it, as it leads to significant user confusion. Please update the non-beta GeoSetter version number somehow to prevent further user confusion and tickets about the maps no longer working. If 3.4.17 isn't possible because that would conflict with a now old beta version, how about appending a letter such as 3.4.16b ?

At the absolute minimum, please add a note to the webpage on the both main page and by the downloads links (on EN and DE versions), instructing users to change the maps link. Hopefully, that will save many others, including the program author, many headaches! This is only a partial fix however, as it requires users to come to the webpage, and still leaves them scratching their heads when they just try the update check feature.

Thanks for a great program that I found hard to replace when it stopped working!
TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

Friedemann

2016-08-28 00:47

administrator   ~0002346

Of course I'm sorry about all the confusion! And of course you are right about a short note on my web site.

BUT: Why didn't you ask me by dropping a short mail? In the last weeks, I answered EACH mail about this problem. Sometimes after a few minutes, sometimes after maybe 1 hour. You are right, a short note on the web site would be a good idea. But honestly I have some problems with my version of WordPress. When editing the page, the language plugin does not work anymore. I think I have to upgrade to a newer version. But that will cost me a minimum of 1 day, because I have to do it first on my local PC etc. I didn't have this time in the last weeks.

To your trouble regarding the version: To prevent new users having this problem directly after downloading GeoSetter, I adjusted the setup process. The setup.exe changes now the old map file to the new one. I didn't recompile GeoSetter itself, so the version didn't change. That's absolutely ok, in my opinion!

I still have to do some changes on the beta version, but when finished, I will release it as the new official version, maybe version 3.4.7. But I always have to find the time to do it in the moment. It's always a job I have to do in my spare time, besides my family and my regular job ;-)

Maybe at the end of the year I will also find the time to continue the work on a new version 4, which I already began 2 years ago. But then I had to interrupt it...

Regarding the map problem: I posted the solution in 0001325

Best regards
Friedemann

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2016-08-27 20:22 erikb New Issue
2016-08-28 00:29 Friedemann Assigned To => Friedemann
2016-08-28 00:29 Friedemann Status new => assigned
2016-08-28 00:47 Friedemann Note Added: 0002346