Matrix user forums

Any news on the release date for version 5?

Hello,

We are currently looking at releasing v5 sometime in December.

A datasheet for the new version should appear on our website in the next few hours...

Hi Steve
Found the link to the V5 datasheet but its broken (as of 18:27)

Hello John

Where you found the link?

Wolfgang

so what about the people that just bought flowcode 4 in the last couple months, isnt that a slap in the face that we have to pay to upgrade consitering the long run time of version 4

saschech@gmx.de wrote:Hello John

Where you found the link?

Wolfgang

Hi Wolfgang
Link is here:
http://www.matrixmultimedia.com/product ... PHPSESSID=
But as John stated, link to the datasheet itself is not working

Martin

Hi Matrixteam!

It is perhaps wrong place to ask, but now the thread started, I dare to ask. I will definitely buy the new Ver.5.
Matrix comes with an offer if you order now you can get a free ver.4 with the bargain. For those of us who already have a ver.4 pro is it not an advantage with an extra ver4. but ok.

Is it not possible to download a demo version? so you can just see the difference.

Is it possible to import previously and/or continue with ongoing projects from FC ver.4 to FC Ver.5

I have now FC Ver. 4 Pro and would like to continue the same way to make programs.

regard a very satisfyed FC4 user.

Jorgen.

brandonb wrote:so what about the people that just bought flowcode 4 in the last couple months, isnt that a slap in the face that we have to pay to upgrade consitering the long run time of version 4

Edit:
I did reply to pricing, which was a guess and I was wrong.
Therefore I have removed information I had posted to avoid confusion.
Please see Steve's reply below for upgrading structure
Thanks.

Regards

Martin

Hi Martin!

Please!

Kindly, is it possible You can give an answers to my question to.

Best regard

Jorgen.

Hi Jorgen. In answer to your questions:

Is it not possible to download a demo version? so you can just see the difference.

Unfortunately not at the moment. We are currently in the final stages of development and testing on v5 and I would imagine the demo would come out some time around the release of the full version, just so we can ensure all features are synced up for each release.

Is it possible to import previously and/or continue with ongoing projects from FC ver.4 to FC Ver.5

Absolutely. All versions of Flowcode should be backward compatible and v5 is no exception.

Cheers,

Jonny

Hi Jorgen,
Sorry was waiting for staff at Matrix Multimedia to answer, as they know far more than I do on the subject.
But here are my thoughts.
FC5 should be backwards compatible. So You should be OK to carry on with V4, then load into V5.
However you will need to bear in mind, that once saved as V5, you will not be able to re-open with V4.

Martin

P.S Jonny has just posted at the time of submitting this, but I will leave my reply as is.
Sorry if information is the same.

The link has now been fixed. It is on the main Flowcode page of the website.

In response to the issues around pricing and upgrades, I want to explain in more detail what we are doing.

A lot of software companies get around the issue that brandonb has raised by selling "software assurance" instead of a real product. This is typically in the form of a yearly subscription to the licence that grants the user free upgrades to new versions as and when they are released. For example, you can buy Microsoft products on this basis.

You can also buy Microsoft products in a "one-off" way. And when a new version of Office (for example) is released, you will need to pay for the upgrade. I don't believe there is any grace period in this case, so buying Office v4 a day before the release of v5 would give you no reduction in the upgrade cost.

We have decided to opt for the latter approach, but we do have a grace period and it has been decided that the starts from the beginning of November. The chosen date is never going to satisfy everybody, and I would not rule out some flexibility in certain cases.

To accommodate this grace period, we are now essentially pre-selling Flowcode V5. So, a new user can buy Flowcode V5 now. But because it has not officially been released yet it, they will receive a copy of Flowcode V4 (with no upgrade rights) so you can learn and use Flowcode immediately, plus instructions on receiving the free upgrade to V5 once it has been released. We have done this so that new customers have no reason to hold off their purchase of Flowcode.

If you are an existing V4 user, then you should wait for the official release of Flowcode V5 and buy it with the 50% upgrade discount. There is absolutely no advantage in buying V5 now at the full price if you qualify for the 50% upgrade from V4 to V5.

I hope that explains things, and more information is available in the datasheet. And of course, I'll try my best to answer any questions that arise.

Regards,
Steve.

Hello matrix Team,
does V5 support 3 PWM Channels?

Hello,

V5 should support all hardware PWM channels on all devices.

Well saying this there is currently a maximum of 8, I'll probably up this to 10 in the C code as I think there are some 18F devices with 10 channels.

I saw the datasheet. Looks interesting and I can't wait to try it out. One edit: The data sheet says,

"Version 4 to version 5 upgrade
Upgrades from version 3 to version 4 will be charged at 50% of the version 5 price."

I think you meant

"Version 4 to version 5 upgrade
Upgrades from version 4 to version 5 will be charged at 50% of the version 5 price."

steve- i understand your point, i do get unseated about these things since i had a couple friends buy pro to be able follow my evolving projects and that i've been planning to buy pic24 version in early january, gotta say that the $300 for version 4 is the best 300 dollars i've ever spent, i guess the timing was wrong for continued updates and added chip library by 2 months, thing is if i upgrade to v5 in january when i get the pic24 how long is the product gonna be supported until i have to buy it again

If the trend continues as it has done over the last 5 years, we will probably be releasing V6 in 2 years time. But it's far too early to even be talking about a V6!

I'd also say that we continue to support v3 even now (although I'm not sure for how much longer), and that v4 support will continue at least into 2013.

plus instructions on receiving the free upgrade to V5 once it has been released.

I'm a recent pruchaser of v4 pro and I recieved the email instructions to upgrade, but if I understand you..you are saying to wait until the offical release next month to install the file and get the free upgrade..correct..

Hi
I have a Pro license for Flowcode 4 and one Pro license for Flowcode ds24 version 4. Since they are mergin in to the same product in version 5, will I have two Version 5 Pro copies at 50% discount or one for 100% discount?

beambase wrote:Hi
I have a Pro license for Flowcode 4 and one Pro license for Flowcode ds24 version 4. Since they are mergin in to the same product in version 5, will I have two Version 5 Pro copies at 50% discount or one for 100% discount?

i dont think thats correct that they are merging, in the list of supported chips they are merged but the very last page of the datasheet shows the box for two seperate products

brandonb is correct - there will still be 2 separate products. We will be releasing the PICmicro (8-bit) variant first, and within a few months we hope to release the other variants - i.e. AVR, ARM (SAM7S) and dsPIC/PIC24.