The first lines of Panorama source code were written on October 31st, 1986. If you had told me that that line of code would still be in daily use all across the world in 2018, I would have been pretty incredulous. Amazingly, the code I wrote that first day is still in the core of the program, and that specific code I wrote 32 years ago actually still runs every time you click the mouse or press a key in Panorama 6 today.
Of course Panorama has grown by leaps and bounds over the ensuing years and decades. Along the way Panorama was highly reviewed in major publications, won awards, and gained many very loyal users. It’s been a great run, but ultimately there is only so far you can go with a technology foundation that is over thirty years old. It’s time to turn the page, so I are now retiring the “classic” version of Panorama so that I can concentrate on moving forward with Panorama X.
I know that some of you are still using Panorama 6, you may wonder what “retiring” means for you. Don’t worry, your copy of Panorama 6 isn’t going to suddently stop working on your current computer. However, Panorama 6 is no longer for sale, and we will no longer provide any support for Panorama 6, including email support. However, you should be able to find any answers you need in the detailed questions and answers page I’ve set up. I will be sending out an email to all Panorama 6 users in the next few days with this announcement.
As mentioned on this FAQ page, there is one exception to this retirement – organizations that are using Panorama Server. For them, this retirement will be delayed until Panorama X Server is available, so for now they will be able to contact us to get support and purchase additional serial numbers, if necessary. However, there will be no support for using Panorama 6 with macOS 10.14, I recommend you stick with 10.13 or earlier.
I’m sure some of you will have further questions, but please look on the FAQ page mentioned above before posting questions here. If you have further questions that aren’t answered on that page, please let me know.
Rather than a wake, I think it’s time for a celebration that Panorama will now continue on for a long time to come. How many programs have a lifetime of over 30 years? Speaking of that, November will be the 30th anniversary of the release of Panorama 1.0. I’m thinking of commissioning a Panorama 30th anniversary T-shirt, would anyone be interested?
Guess I will give my 2 cents on this.
I only wish that Jim could of waited until Pan 6 no longer works, it seems that we have another year on Mojave and we can still use it. Frankly If I can use Pan 6 for another year, that’s fine with me.
What worries me is if something happens and I have some disaster and can’t find a copy of Pan 6 to replace it with, sounds like I will no longer be able to get Pan 6.
The problem I have is that this seems so set in stone, I have the same problem Quick Time 7, I have been using it still for years, it’s the best way of doing quick edits on video. When I updated last year to High Sierra, it wouldn’t let me in unless I put in the password, which frankly I hadn’t seen in almost a decade.
So I was on the verge of losing the software until by chance I found a computer that I bought it with and was able to find the email sent from Apple with the serial #. Guess I have another year for Quick Time 7 until Apple changes.
That’s all I am saying is that this seems so sudden and forever. Thank god I leave for France tomorrow instead of today, may of missed the news and gone past the September deadline.
All I can ask, instead of giving us like ten days Jim, what about giving us to the end of the year??? For folks like myself that still use Pan 6, giving us ten days warning is a bit extreme.
Again, if something bad happens does that mean I can never get Panorama 6 ever again???
Ant number of us can send you a Panorama 6.0 installer. You may well still have one hidden away yourself.
You may be misunderstanding the situation Sal. Panorama 6.0 will still run forever - it’s just that ProVUE won’t support it, in the same way that Microsoft no longer support Windows XP (which one of my clients is still using quite happily). Lots of people on the forum will still be able to help you through problems just as we are happy to help you adjust to Panorama X when you make that decision.
And there is a link to the Panorama 6 installer on the classic FAQ page I posted earlier. If you are really worried, download it now and make sure you have backups. Here is the exact link.
I’ve been warning about this for at least 3 years. And as Michael pointed out, nothing spectacular is going to happen in ten days.
sounds like I will no longer be able to get Pan 6
It sounds to me like you didn’t look at the FAQ page I posted at all, just assumed the worst and spouted off. And how is your QuickTime 7 experience in any way relevant here? Yes, Apple treats customers poorly in transitions time and time again. They never announced that Rosetta (PowerPC) support was being cut off, or Classic. They dumped Final Cut Pro 6 the minute Final Cut Pro X was released. Aperture was dropped with no replacement. ProVUE hasn’t done any of that, and I don’t appreciate ProVUE being lumped in with bad Apple experiences.
Jim, over the 25 plus years of dealing with you I realize how easy it is to tick you off and I try not to “spout” things out. Yes, I read everything in the FAQ page and still think that the things that I asked weren’t “out of bounds” to get the arrogant reaction that I got from you.
The first thing you don’t realize is the fright that I have had over this and have had for 3 years now. I make my living off of my databases which run perfectly and I don’t have to stop and research how to do something in Pan X. At the same time, I was shocked and have to be careful when I get an email saying that things are stopping in 10 days.
I know how hard you have worked to transition us between Panorama 6 and X. But when you had the classes 3 years ago it really wasn’t that simple to transfer things over, gosh 2 years ago you had no way of importing a text file into Panorama X until I asked. I have taken a back seat on all of this because I needed to wait for you to get Panorama X to the point that it’s close to the way we use it in Pan 6.
I, like many others, don’t understand how to program like some on this board can do. I know just enough to be dangerous. Even now I understand that there will be a time in which I can no longer use Panorama 6 and should have my stuff transferred to Pan X, but again every time I sit down to do the transition I find it hard to solve some problems. The one thing I will say is that in the 3 years you have worked hard on Pan X to get it close to the way I use it now, but still it’s foreign and time-consuming figuring it out.
So on the eve of me going to Paris for the Ryder Cup I was caught off guard by the tone that Pan 6 would be shut down, sorry retired, sorry discontinued in 10 days time.
That is the reason I brought up the QuickTime 7 experience, I never realized the scoop of what happened when Apple shut that down and got left without knowing my serial number and not being able to retrieve that piece of software. So in reading through things and hearing that in 10 days, while I am out of the country things on Panorama 6 is being shut it sent shivers down my spine. Again I didn’t mean to take a swipe at you because I realize how hard you work to make sure to treat people better than Apple does. But at the same time, you have to realize my reaction on packing for my European trip that I had to tie everything down before I leave in the morning. The last thing in the world I wanted to do is have the same experience of not being able to use Panorama 6 as I had with Quicken Time 7.
Again what may seem fair to you with a 10-day warning, for some folks that have plans is not a lot of time.
As for your warnings of over 3 years you are right, you have warned us that this day was coming. But at the same time, Pan X is totally different now than it was 3 years ago or even 2 years or last year. The bottom line is that it was best to wait for you to upgrade Pan X to get it to the level that it’s at. So that is the reason for me waiting because I realize that if Pan 6 doesn’t work in Mojave I would not upgrade and take the next six months to make the transition. But if it does work, I could wait another year because you will have made more changes on Pan X to make it easier for me to transition.
So I apologize if I came on hard in your mind, but at the same time you have to realize that this isn’t easy for some of us that have utilized and rely on Panorama and have waited to let you catch up with some of the upgrades and fixes you have made in the last three years.
Jim, I have a database I use at my business which is Windows based. At present I do the design at home on my Mac, then my staff use the programme at work, which doesn’t own a design license. Would it be possible to transfer my Mac license to a Windows one for design, so I can continue to work on this database in Panorama 6 at work if/when I can no longer do it on my Mac?
It was said before already: The fact that ProVUE stops selling Panorama 6 on September 30, does not mean it will stop to work then.
Panorama 6 will continue to work just as before as long as you do not upgrade your Mac to a system that does not execute 32 bit applications.
So you decide: If there is any need for you to use a macOS greater than 10.14 Mojave, then your ability will end to use Panorama 6 directly on that system. Other ways (in virtual machines) may still be open then.
And a sales stopp does not mean there will be no download opportunity (the link was posted already), but since you are experienced users, you certainly have backups of the application or of the installer.