Recurring PI 11 problems

[Enki]

Problems you are experiencing: various, mostly crashing
CPU (Processor): P4 3Ghz Hyperthreading
Memory (RAM): 500K
Display Card: ATI
Hard Disk Free Space: 200Gig
Installer type/filename:
Operating System: WinXP SP2
Windows Region Settings:
Last time you ran Windows Update: weekly
Date when you purchased and installed PhotoImpact: last week
File Type/Size you are working on: 1024x768 or smaller JPegs

Undo levels - claims 200, but any number in that range entered produces dialog box claiming the entered number exceeds the capacity and should be in range of 99, including 99. Dialog box appears twice in a row and then goes to finally allow extra undo levels, but the software never remembers this sum, making it necessary to re-adjust every time.

Warp Usage with more than one graphic window open causes unrecoverable crashes quickly, and warp usage on single JPegs takes a bit longer to also sustain an unrecoverable crash; both with the usual "Encountered Unrecoverable Error and Must Close" dialog. PI11 is then unable to open under any circumstance in most cases necessitating a system reboot. Occasionally the program will ask me after a reboot whether I would like to salvage lost data, but if I answer YES it doesn't appear to accomplish anything. More often then not, if I try to reload more than one image after a crash and even after a re-boot (all between 600x800 or 1024x768 JPegs), and to date never more than 4 images at once, the software again shuts down as before, requiring endless fruitless reboots.

PI Album, Slide Show... on older version (PI5) if the time setting was left to "0" and the graphic was sufficiently small, it served as a handy Quick Animation tool for image sets, which would load and run quickly. It now appears to default to 1 second eliminating a tool I found useful and now miss.

Please Note that although I've used PI for years and loved the overall stability and usefulness of it, I have only now upgraded from PI5 to PI11, and I expect some quirks and learning curve related issues, but I also confess that these problems I've encountered in the first 3 days of use are derived from the only things I've tried with the program so far, and it has been a harsh introduction to the upgrade, because I assumed I was familiar with these functions.

It would be premature to complain until I am more familiar with all the upgrades and functions, but I can hardly offer more than what may sound like disconnected gripes while the fact remains that I really don't know what it is I could possibly be doing any differently than I usually do that could be creating "problems" to begin with. In all honesty, everything I've tried so far has led to system crashes that are so profound that the software won't even open again without a re-boot. That's a pretty profound crash. In no case did I do anything predictable to set it off, as the crashes seem to come at different times under different circumstances every time.

I suppose this experience becomes even more exasperating when I read 2log saying his software works fine, and further suggests that the simple recounting of problems isn't enough. My post itself may sound like more quibbling over minutia, but I would suggest that any sincere report of failure should not be dismissed out of hand, but open a dialog for users better trained or experienced with your software to pick up the thread and follow it to a better conclusion, otherwise why even get involved? We all do the best we can, and it seems evident that there are several issues to be addressed in PI11 based on my admittedly recent intro to it.

I'm looking forward to helping expose and resolve any and all issues related to PI 11 I encounter as time permits, but in my case, whether it's unique or not, I can not rely on this software enough at present to consider it an option for the work I need to do on it, and this is a simple fact you should also be aware of, even if it may appear to conflict with your own more favorable view of this software in it's present condition.

Should this post be considered inappropriate for discussion, I apologize, it's not my intention. In my experience it's best to keep all cards on the table, and I'm ready to take the beating I may deserve from the cards I'm dealt so I can move on to a better hand. I'm here because it looks like I'm going to need a LOT of help to get this thing in line. If I can't be involved here on looser terms then my only alternative is to shelf the program until others solve the issues. Feel free to take me to task. At this point I don't know where to start.


Incidentally... I wrote the previous in response to this board's request for feedback, and my response was not posted. This leads me to conclude that the request was insincere and the response unappreciated, and if that's the case I hope the public is more interested in solving issues than the moderators appear to be. To date I have lost all work performed on this new software, more often than not right at the point of trying to save it, and my impression is that this software was rushed to market and is a complete waste of time until several severe issues are addressed by Ulead staff more concerned with the problems they are selling than their ability to ignore them.