OK. But where's the appropriate place to put comments on the "posting and naming strategy"?

I think it's rather important that anybody (developers, testers, users) be able to determine what they are using. Nobody can do that with the current strategy. The "expired" message seems to be the same, regardless of version. The download file names, as well as the INTERNAL version numbers of the .scr files, seem to be the same, regardless of version.

As I recall, there was a similar discussion about MA 2.6.

This thread is the perfect place for discussion of the naming and version tracking.

The Announcements thread is one that I expect possibly hundreds of people to subscribe to so they receive an e-mail whenever there is a new development or new version of the Aquarium. If we opened that thread to general discussion, no matter how on-topic that discussion it might be, then I've lied to the customers because they'll get a lot of what (to them) would appear to be nuisance e-mails instead of notification of a new download (which is what they signed up for!).

This is why the Announcement thread only allows posts from Jim and myself.

I agree that the Beta Expired message could be improved, but it is certainly not impossible to determine which version of the Beta you have. Set your clock back to before the Aquarium expired, run the Aqurium, and right at the top on the 1st line in yellow letters it says Beta 2. Also there was a discussion in another thread about the fact that the filename for Beta 1 is MarineAquarium3.scr and the filename for Beta 2 is MA3Beta.scr.

The exact build number in Marine Aquarium 2.6 can be determined by opening the About box and clicking on the version number. I just ran my version of 2.6 and when I clicked the version number, elsewhere in the box (to the right of Prolific Publishing, Inc.), the build number PB30.2.6.37 appears.

The MA3Beta.zip has been replaced by a Beta 3 version. The only differences from Beta 2 are the fact that you can no longer create Fish Sets with blank names, and the outline of the rock against the fan coral has been fixed. The order that the fish are drawn in relation to some of the background objects has also been changed, but this would probably be fairly difficult to notice on most systems.

Note - there was initally a problem with the upload. If you downloaded the file within a few minutes from the time I posted this message, please download it again.

And it dosn't say "Expired" :):)

chippy - please note my last edit above. Anyone who downloaded in the last few minutes may have recieved the wrong file. Please download again.

1. Yes, I know how to tell the exact build number in MA 2.6 It's interesting that mine reads Q224.2.6.475, which is sure not the same as yours. Which is current?
2. Yes, I know that the filename for Beta 1 was different. That doesn't help (much), now that Beta 3 is out.

3. I presume that you know some of the dangers of setting the computer's clock "back". It's totally unsound practice, deprecated by Microsoft, etc. In addition, consider that (for instance) my computer is running software to automatically bid (snipe) on eBay items. Set the clock back?

The point was - don't make it more difficult than necessary, for your Beta testers to give you complete, accurate information.

By keeping the filename the same for the Betas, the same link will always download the latest file. That seemed easier than making people pour through all these messages for the latest link.

Makes sense. Now how about having the "product version" or "file version" or some other internal information in the .scr file, be something other than a uniform 1.0.0.1 -- perhaps even 3.b3, or something.

Also, the "expired" message could say "Beta Version 2 has expired".

I'm figuring people will use the link at the bottom of my announcement every time I change it, but either way.

I think what Dale is talking about is when you right-click on the Aquarium and go to Properties, under the various information placed there by Visual Studio, the version number is 1,0,0,1. I'm guessing you can assign a version number in VS.

When Beta 3 expires, it says "Beta 3 has expired".

I did some research, and I can change the info that shows up under "properties". From now on, I'll put some appropriate info in there.

Exactly what I was suggesting. Since I didn't know exactly what your development environment is, I had to describe it in terms of the version tab in the file properties.

If unique for each build, it provides explicit information without having to run the application.

Thanks for figuring out what I meant.

To be absolutely precise, it says "MA3 Beta Test 3 has expired". Which brings me to my real question: will there be a beta 4? If not, when will we be able to get the released product? (I really don't want to set my clock back in order to be able to use your wonderful toy. If nothing else, that is likely to screw up my Windows Home Server backups.)

Beta 4 is up: http://www.fish-byte.com/MA3Beta.zip

The only changes are in the FishPicker interface. I think I have fixed the bugs which allowed the wrong numbers of fish and starfish to be selected.

Still no bezel gap adjuster then?

Not yet.

for multiple monitor situations, there is a setting that says "display nothing on this monitor". however, this actually blacks out the monitor. i can't do any work while running ma3. can there be a setting where you display ma3 on your other monitor(s) but also allows you to work normally on a defined monitor?

Press the 'F' key, and have the Aquarium in a window. - Then type away on your other monitor! :)

Wow
 

Amazing. I loved 2.6 and after reading what you have planned, I cannot wait. ok so maybe i have no choice on that lol. it will be nice to see the see fan and anonome animated.

Help a Mac brotha out...
 

Hello everyone!

I would love to see some kind of screen shot or something to tide me over. PLEASE, direct me to a link or post a picture of something for me to view!!!

Thank you kindly,

eric

Eric,
Here's something. The wonderful 3D effect isn't there, but maybe it'll take the edge off your craving?