WARNING from longtime PB user - something to think about

[Dave -Turner]

I've spent many hundreds of dollars investing in Powerbasic software, but
more importantly many YEARS learning the software, which takes time. I've
also contributed thousands of Source Code forum contributions and am one of
the highest forum contributers.

When I first signed up to the forums a decade or so ago it wasnt with my
real name (this is the INTERNET and I believe in PRIVACY). Bob Zale emailed
me regarding it, and I basically said "at the end of the day YOU know my
real name, the rest of the world doesnt need to". I never heard from him
again.

Over the next decade I become one of the most prolific contributers to the
Source Code forum, and also set up the pbcrypto.com website.

Fast forward to a decade later. I email PB, and some new guy Jeff Daniels
answers the email, and goes into "oh my god thats not your real name" mode.
He subsequently suspends my forum account - essentially banning me, without
deleting all my source code contributions (ironic).

Bob Zale could've simply and quickly intervened, but he chose not to.

There are so many prolific Powerbasic contributers that have just vanished,
from Lance Edmonds to Semen Matsusovski to Steve Hutchesson to Borje
Hagsten, I always thought I'd had no idea where they've all gone to, or why,
but I do now.

Also I still keep getting spam emails from Powerbasic asking me to buy their
discounted software. Part of the latest email said "Thanks again for your
purchases. We do appreciate your business.", which I know is a lie as they
obviously do not appreciate my decade of business with them, so I wrote back
saying simply "You've proven that you don't."

The reply ...

SPAM REJECTED

Interesting - I was only replying to his spam.

I then thought I'd look at the various international job openings for
programmers to see how many were being offered to Powerbasic programmers,
and the answer is _NONE_. _ABSOLUTELY NONE_.

Even if you hang around at the Jobs subforum at the Powerbasic forums
themselves there's _BUGGER ALL_.

So my advice to other people considering using Powerbasic is PUT YOUR CAREER
OPTIONS FIRST, and realise that Bob Zale _doesn't give a shit_ about his
existing customers - neither their contributions, nor their privacy, nor do
any universities - try getting into a university with "Powerbasic
experience".

Anyway, that's been my personal experience with Powerbasic over the last
decade.

I'll let people make up their own minds.

Don't worry Bob - at the end of the day you've won, I've lost bigtime.

[Dave -Turner]

Interestingly I can no longer send any email to Powerbasic, it just gets an
"auto"-reply message of "SPAM REJECTED".

Again, I've spent hundreds of dollars on Powerbasic software - PBDOS, PBCC,
PBWin, PBForms, but this is how Bob Zale chooses to treat me for posting at
the Powerbasic forums under an alias, as he does not respect his customers
privacy, even though he has known about it since I first started posting.

I wonder why he won't delete my Source Code contributions ???

Wayne Diamond

[hutch--]

Wayne,

I have never wanted to argue with you as I have known you for years
but this campaign is simply bullshit and you know it.

-----------------------------------------
There are so many prolific Powerbasic contributers that have just
vanished,
from Lance Edmonds to Semen Matsusovski to Steve Hutchesson to Borje
Hagsten, I always thought I'd had no idea where they've all gone to,
or why,
but I do now.
-----------------------------------------

From running forums for years there is always a turnover of people for
a variety of reasons, I primarily work in MASM but I have used PB
compilers for years and bought the currect ones for my continuing use.
Adding other peoples names to justify this bullshit is nonsense, there
is no association between your assertions and their multitude of
reasons for doing other things or using other tools or growing older
or even passing away and not being around any longer.

It is not small companies that have survived in the US that are your
enemy, its the corporate sector having moved the work offshore to
India and China and left the bulk of programmers in western countries
with no work unless they have it locally. When you try and attack a
small company like PowerBASIC all you are doing is sucking up to the
interests of a foreign owned foreign staffed corporate sector that
really and truly don't give a flying PHUK if you starve to death as
long as they have successfully extracted some money out of you.

In Australia tha arse has fallen out of programming for exactly the
reasons mentioned above, the work was moved offshore years ago and OZ
is a programming backwater living like a New Guinea cargo cult where
almost all of their software comes from overseas.

RE: the "hundreds of dollars" you have spent on PowerBASIC compilers,
try this as a sobering fact, I paid more in 1990 for the Microsoft SDK
(The real one) than you have paid for all of your PB compilers and for
what its worth, if you still have an old timer like PBDLL50, you can
STILL write successful working 32 bit exe and DLL programs for 32 bit
Windows.

Try buying a heap of sh*t like the currect Deplhi (by whatever name it
lives under these days) or even worse, actually pay for a commercial
version of VC2010 then see if you can make money out of it. If you can
raise the purchase price, they will surely make money out of you but
you won't be able to earn a brass razoo out of it.

Come on mate, give it a rest, Neither Bob Zale or Tom ot Jeff or Steve
are responsible for a world wide economic downturn, we all cop it as
the work went elsewhere. Why not try making a buck, start bashing out
web sites at a discount, suffer PHP to do some server side scripting
and try and hit the market where it still has some money.

Regards,

hutch

[Basic Guy]

Post by Dave -Turner
I then thought I'd look at the various international job openings
for programmers to see how many were being offered to Powerbasic
programmers, and the answer is _NONE_. _ABSOLUTELY NONE_.
Even if you hang around at the Jobs subforum at the Powerbasic
forums themselves there's _BUGGER ALL_.

I've never participated (nor even looked at) the forums on
powerbasic.com.

Can you (or anyone else reading this) tell me how many of the
discussions there seemed to involve PB code or programming that was
being done in (or for) some sort of commercial or employment capacity,
or for financial renumeration?

Post by Dave -Turner
So my advice to other people considering using Powerbasic is PUT YOUR
CAREER OPTIONS FIRST,

As far as where PB (or any form of Basic) can be financially rewarding,
I would bet that there were (and still are) programming jobs in the area
of scientific computing. This involves data acquisition, analysis,
presentation, etc. Also industrial device command and control, process
engineering, etc. Such software has a very high profit margin.

Post by Dave -Turner
and realise that Bob Zale _doesn't give a shit_ about his existing
customers - neither their contributions, nor their privacy, nor do
any universities - try getting into a university with "Powerbasic
experience".

I don't see why it's so hard for anyone that wants to participate in the
PowerBasic forums to use a fake name, and do it in a way that Zale and
his stooges never find out.

Post by Dave -Turner
Don't worry Bob - at the end of the day you've won, I've lost
bigtime.

What's stopping you from signing up to the PB forums, as a new user, and
use a fake name?

Here, this will help you:

http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

Do that, and become a "new" participant, and Zale will have lost.

[hutch--]

HAY Goy Boy,

You haven't got any smarter have you ? Could you publish my details
again so I get a bit more free publicity ? While you are at it, tell
us where you STOLE your copy of PB 3.5 and how many viruses will you
catch when you try and use your stolen software links.

Now come clean Goy Boy, (not in your pants), is using STOLEN software
the reason why you can't join the PB forum and actually learn
something ? Are you that catshit mean that you cannot spend the lousy
few bucks to actually OWN a legal copy, come on Goy Boy, let go of
your DICK, pull your pants back up and whatever you do do take it like
a man.

Why don't you try using some bullshit name in Usenet ? (whoops, he has
already done that). Then you can jump up and down, throw a tantrum or
two and make a real jerk of yourself. (Damn, he has already done that
as well).

Never mind Goy Boy, we all feel sorry that you sat on your dummy and
never got over it.

[Auric__]

Post by hutch--
us where you STOLE your copy of PB 3.5 and how many viruses will you
catch when you try and use your stolen software links.

Sadly, PB/DOS can be found on a great many "abandonware" sites, despite not
being "abandoned" by any definition of the word.

[MikeTrader]

Wayne, please contact me
***@gmail.com

[MikeTrader]

Wayne, please contact me
Mike Trader 2 at gmail dot com
(no spaces)