PureBasic Forums - English

I tend to agree with most of what you mentioned (but i like the forums and they look just great) whenever i introduce PureBasic to a programmer, i got this kind of silly reactions ... surely PureBasic deserves much better recognition not sure if a re-branding can really help here (re-branding can be a double-edged sword) ...

I would strip Purebasic down nearly to its bare bones and release it for free to students/teachers/edu, and rename the current full-featured PB to something non-Basic. This would broaden its appeal to professionals, especially those who do write professional quality apps that are far from anything you could describe as "basic" (i can understand why some might not even want to let anyone know that they write in Purebasic, which wouldnt be the case if it had a non-Basic name), while at the same time still attracting programmers looking for generic Basic, and also breed a new generation of PB programmers by getting them into it when young and easily influenced heehee, which would result in a wave of sales of the full version as students quickly grow out of the bare-bones Purebasic and move to the full-featured one

Alexi wrote:With the actual range PureBasic has it would be fine, but there also could be just a rebrand, with PureBasic's core. I would at least recommend this to see how important name an appearance can be. As PureBasic is a real power horse, pretty on the inside.

Personally i am in favor of re-branding, i am just saying such a decision should be carefully taken ... Honestly, it would be much easier for me (and more appealing to my clients) to say i developed this program in C++/D/C#/Delphi/... rather than in PureBasic ! I came to know PureBasic while searching for an easy alternative to VB6 (i needed to convert a legacy VB6 app to native x64) and i was amazed by the simplicity and power of PB and got hooked since, PB is now my preferred tool .... but how many out there are looking for an alternative to a Basic dialect and seriously PB is much closer to C than to any Basic, this to say the Basic part in PureBasic is probably hurting and it is not accurate imho

I like Keya's idea ... nice plan

I am more of a 'mainstream' programmer I suppose, using C++, and C# .NET on a daily basis with work, and using those two languages have their advantages (since they're they're the industry standards) in a professional environment.

However, PureBasic carries a novelty about it. It's not Mainstream, it's very community driven, and it's very easy just to pop open the PureBasic IDE, type a few lines of code and have things running, which is why I do keep PureBasic in my tool box.. It's actually very handy.

PureBasic as in the branding itself? Well, it has always been the same image, same graphical design, the same regular faces ever since I first picked up the language 10+ years ago.

It does provide a familiarity which is great for the existing community, but to be seen as a competitor in the code race? It might not be effective at drawing people in as it would if it were more modern in appearance.

Keya wrote:I would strip Purebasic down nearly to its bare bones and release it for free to students/teachers/edu, and rename the current full-featured PB to something non-Basic. ....................which would result in a wave of sales of the full version as students quickly grow out of the bare-bones Purebasic and move to the full-featured one

I like the idea of a stripped down version of Purebasic, that could be used by students and absolute beginners. My first view of Purebasic, when I bought it some years ago, was how complicated it was relative to other Basics I had seen and used. I dropped it and moved on and only recently have I returned and persevered with it. I can now see its benefits. If I could have had access to a stripped down version that I didn't have to pay for I would probably not have been put off by its complexity. I think that it is true that users of a simpler version will then probably go on to purchase the full version.

However, the problem is what to leave out?????

RNBW wrote:[...] However, the problem is what to leave out?????

Some won't like it but just leaving out all the 3D engine stuff would make the PureBasic package a lot cleaner/slimmer. After all 650 of 1706 (38%) predefined procedures wouldn't be needed (and probably a similar amount of the constants etc. too). Note that these are the actual numbers for PB 5.41 (on Windows)!

RNBW wrote:My first view of Purebasic, when I bought it some years ago, was how complicated it was relative to other Basics I had seen and used.

My first view was the total opposite: I loved how I could just start the editor, start typing, and hit F5 to compile a running program. I came from Visual Basic where you had to always copy and paste declarations and stuff into separate files first, or drag components into the app just to do something (like the Winsock control). PureBasic is a dream!

PureBasic is an excellent tool with which most people can quickly become very productive. I prefer to use PB instead of C/C++ or anything else. If you want to see what a poor language is like, try Java or Pascal!

Improvements for marketing:
1) The name. As already discussed, "PureBasic" suggests something it is not, it is way more powerful than "basic Basic" but I'm sure many potential Users do not even take a look because of the name - that very nearly included me, I only spent some time playing with it after a friend explained how good it really was. Perhaps reduce the name to "PB"? Or have a forum contest to define a new, more meaningful name?

2) The IDE appearance. The IDE "look" can already be easily customised -I think it should be shipped with the more fashionable dark background etc by default.

3) Distribution. More resellers and affiliates. A click-through scheme for affiliates to earn a commission if the click-through results in a sale. At least one reseller in every country ~there may well be forum members that could sell PB in their country. In some regions, it is definitely easier to sell on CD than online.

4) Press Releases. When PB has a major upgrade, send out a Press Release to that effect to all programming and computer magazines, related industry magazines and blogs.

Personally, PureBasic has become my secret weapon of sorts, and within the industrial circle of my peers, I don't share it. Working mostly on closed-source projects, that's a luxury I have. Sorry, Fred.

But, on open programming forums, where my identity is not known, and by association my products, I will trumpet the praises of this little dynamo to no end.

Trade secrets!

@TI-994A

funny I was just thinking about that! When I have to come up with some quick code I just create it in PureBasic but my peers think I am using C or C++ of course when questioned I just admit to "throwing some code on my compiler".

Closet PureBasic programmer

I do feel guilty so every time Fred comes up with a new update I send some love via PayPal

All these changes sound great but you need a team of people to do any of them so unless you are sending a monthly fee to Fred and the whole team and staff then I rather they work on bugs and updates ( new date64 library? ).

If you ever sell an iPhone app you'll know what I mean. When after 6 months you get hate emails from people asking why if they paid their 99 cents you are not coming up with new levels. Now they will lower my rating because the fun of those 99 cents only lasted 6 months!

Help Fred help you by donating.

Norm.

Is the sun oldfashioned?
Do we need a new name for 'sun'?
Does the sun need an new 'outfit'?
Maybe cubic? And green?

I already posted this in 2008

http://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtop ... 56#p251456

An interesting thread anyway...