Please help with Updates!!
I have only been using Moneydance for 6 months and I am relatively pleased with it but there has to be a better way of dealing with updates.
At the moment new users will automatically download 2021 (2006). As soon as that is installed a number of them will find that it doesn’t actually function correctly and if they use the public discussion area they might well find instructions to update to a ‘preview’ version.
I think the last completely stable preview version was probably (3034) but this has been superseded several times recently and the latest version is now (3056). As of today, 22/3/21, there appear to be faults with that version!
To try and find out which version is best to use you need to troll through most of the public discussions and read all the requests, reports and responses and see what you can find, and you might be lucky!
Is there not a case for a new public discussion called Updates or something similar to help us keep our programs working?
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Support Staff 1 Posted by Maddy on Mar 22, 2021 @ 12:16 PM
Hi Peter,
Thank you for contacting Moneydance support.
You can download the 'Moneydance Updater' within Extensions --> Manage Extensions, so you'll be notified when a new version is available.
You can also subscribe to our blog on this page, where we'll post about new versions and include details of these new releases.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions or need more assistance.
--
Maddy, Infinite Kind Support
2 Posted by peter3 on Mar 22, 2021 @ 12:48 PM
Hi Maddy
Thanks for your response. I'm not sure why my discussion became Private but I hope it is now able to remain public.
I must confess that I am not sure what the solution is to this issue but considering your two suggestions:-
1. Moneydance Updater will tell you that you are up to date if you have anything later than version 2006 installed even though that version is not suitable for all users. If you tick the preview option you will be offered the latest preview which over the last few days/weeks would have given you a version that was in some way defective. This takes me to my point that you need some way to be able to find out the efficacy of the preview version from others reports without having to troll through all the recent public discussions.
2. The last post on your blog appears to be on 20/10/21 and does not relate to any of the recent releases.
Maybe others will have views on this matter, particularly the, extremely helpful, 'just a fellow user'.
3 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on Mar 22, 2021 @ 12:53 PM
Hi Peter.. This has also been a discussion on Slack - (Moneydance-beta forum) and I would say that most people concur with your points... I.e. what is a Preview? Is it beta? Who should have access to it. It is a big problem that build 2006 has problems, but the only option is to to grab a preview which may or may not also have problems.. This point has been made. Sean, the IK developer, has commented on this and I believe he is considering his options...
(not support, just a fellow user)
Support Staff 4 Posted by Maddy on Mar 22, 2021 @ 12:56 PM
Thank you for sharing your views over the recent issues affecting Moneydance. We do appreciate your feedback.
Unfortunately we found a bug in the preview version that was affecting MacOS, as soon as Moneydance 2021.1 (3037) was released, so we had to disable its download temporarily.
Then the preview version for MacOs Moneydance 2021.1 (3036) was reintroduced.
Finally, Moneydance 2021.1 (3056) was released.
For a full list of improvements in the preview version, please refer to this page.
--
Maddy, Infinite Kind Support
5 Posted by peter3 on Mar 22, 2021 @ 12:58 PM
Hi Stuart
Thanks for your input. I'm fairly new here so still finding my way about but pleased to hear I'm not alone with this issue. Maybe I'll have a look at Slack.
Maddy
This isn't a criticism of the last few preview versions more a concern about getting feed back from other users to help make a decision. At the moment I download all of the versions later than mine and keep them so I can revert to an earlier one if necessary.
6 Posted by dwg on Mar 22, 2021 @ 07:44 PM
I'm a fellow user.
If you get 10 people responding you are likely to get 12 different opinions.
Build 2008 resolved most of the issues that were in 2006 so this build or 2012 probably should have become the stable build, to be fair a lot was happening around that time so I do not think any clear decision making was happening.
If you use direct connect with Schwab or especially Fidelity I would say Build 3034.
Unfortunately there have been far too many regressions with the preview builds since 3034 and to be quite frank many should never have been released in my view.
7 Posted by dtd on Mar 22, 2021 @ 07:57 PM
One of 12 opinions, with 10 responding.
Although many have been directed to the preview area, I believe that shouldn't happen in the normal course of events. Previews should be for those who want to look at the new stuff before it is released, or to get something specific they need that was added.
The normal user should use the stable release.
Unfortunately, the current stable release (especially for the mac) has problems, which caused the "download the preview", which then led to "oh, the current preview is more like a beta".
To me, the solution is more stable release points.
Sean stated the same recently, so maybe we'll see stable releases more often.
I'm currently using mac 3036 at the moment, and don't plan to change at the moment. But, yes, I watch what is stable and what doesn't appear so. (I do like the previews, so test them on a test VM area...
8 Posted by peter3 on Mar 23, 2021 @ 08:34 AM
dwg & dtd
Thanks for your comments.
I don't profess to have the ideal solution but I, like some others, am always happy to try out new versions.
Until last year I participated in a forum which, over many years, provided a small number of members with copies of beta software to test and evaluate. A section would be provided within that forum for those testers to report back to so that the software could be 'improved' and re-released until deemed satisfactory.
I appreciate that this a different set up and there maybe changes to the way beta/preview versions are dealt with in the future but I do think it would help if members could post any views in a specific Public Discussion rather than all over the place so that others could make a, relatively informed, decision on whether or not to proceed with it.
peter3 closed this discussion on Mar 24, 2021 @ 10:43 AM.