The end of NCVForms - Now what

[JSmith43]

I'm tempted to look into IOS 8 development & see if it might be a good time to produce an IOS field data gathering system including sketcher that is mostly portable to OSX. I'm pretty sure that Apple is on a course to merge most features & functions of OSX & IOS at some point.

If only the next iPhone 7+ has a disco measuring function built in & a screen optimized for daylight viewing as an option. :laugh:

It's too bad JD can't stand Apple products.

 

[Evincere]

Meh. Bradford is the real loser. And he is obviously blinded by his own "visionary" delusions. Even though I had in previous years, for many years used Bradford, on principle alone I would never, ever, buy his product again.

To my satisfaction is that I have other software alternatives and this decision is within my control.

 

[TRESinc]

If only the next iPhone 7+ has a disco measuring function built in & a screen optimized for daylight viewing as an option. :laugh:

i want one of these. my disto only puts out one single red dot. disco measuring lights would rock!

 

[Fargo1]

There is definitely a need for a simple, low cost alternative provider in this space. I think the prospects are slim because the startup costs are probably prohibitive.

This is what I keep looking for. I do 100% Residential work, but I've managed to find a few local clients so I don't have to deal with AI ready or any of the other major transfer protocals. As long as I can create a simple UAD compliant report and email or upload the file into my clients server system I am set.

So my needs are pretty simple, although probably a bit unique. I keep looking at other venders trying to find someone who offers a simple form filling software, but everyone has pretty bloated packages. I'm sure others require all those features but for me they are bloated.

The more I look around, the more I remember why I ended up at NCV in the first place. The software had its issues, but it was easy to use, had all the functions I needed and didn't require 'the latest technology' to run.

I've been too busy to do a thorough software search, but from my search 3 years ago when I found NCV, I haven't seen many changes in the appraisal software field. The only one I haven't looked at in the past is Homeputer. The price is certainly right. But I have read some reviews in the past that lead me to believe the software is a bit incomplete even for my needs. But I may give it a try. Who knows, it may just be simple enough that I can even get it to run on my Linux system with Codeweavers WINE.

 

[dobie]

This is what I keep looking for. I do 100% Residential work, but I've managed to find a few local clients so I don't have to deal with AI ready or any of the other major transfer protocals. As long as I can create a simple UAD compliant report and email or upload the file into my clients server system I am set.

So my needs are pretty simple, although probably a bit unique. I keep looking at other venders trying to find someone who offers a simple form filling software, but everyone has pretty bloated packages. I'm sure others require all those features but for me they are bloated.

The more I look around, the more I remember why I ended up at NCV in the first place. The software had its issues, but it was easy to use, had all the functions I needed and didn't require 'the latest technology' to run.

I've been too busy to do a thorough software search, but from my search 3 years ago when I found NCV, I haven't seen many changes in the appraisal software field. The only one I haven't looked at in the past is Homeputer. The price is certainly right. But I have read some reviews in the past that lead me to believe the software is a bit incomplete even for my needs. But I may give it a try. Who knows, it may just be simple enough that I can even get it to run on my Linux system with Codeweavers WINE.

I looked at Homputer. It certainly is simple and low cost but IMO it had a clumsy way of incorporating sketches into the report. There was no way to make Apex a default sketcher so you had to go through some copy/paste contortions.

 

[stangtime]

I used Homeputer many many years ago for a short while. It works but is pretty basic. I don't know if things have changed but I think there are three fonts and they all look like they were typed and a little off the lines or the boxes. I seem to remember a front to back kind of checking or filling out that I didn't like.

I'm very sorry to hear that NCV won't be continued. For the time being I have perfected my templates and over the last four or five years it has worked extremely well.

Dan

 

[Fargo1]

Call me niave or whatever you want, but I keep hoping JD will pop in here and say something like 'You know what, this is an opportunity. I can't sell my old NCVForms any longer, but I can write new software from the ground up.' Then he proceeds to write something using the Qt toolkit than can be compiled to run on Mac, Linux, Windows, Android, well Qt runs on any platform he wants it to.

Yeah, I know it won't happen. You can hear it in his post he doesn't have the energy for that.

 

[TN Pro]

It is kind of sad that it will be going away. I'll miss clickforms lite.

 

[JSmith43]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(software)

Wiki already has a reasonable history of QT.

I wonder why Nokia dumped it in favor of Windows only? Maybe QT is a perpetual homework assignment of updating, in order to maintain all this cross platform ability? One would have to wrap themselves up in this deeply to find that answer, which I suspect, made Nokia bail.

 

[Fargo1]

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(software)[/URL]


I wonder why Nokia dumped it in favor of Windows only?

Who knows, they gained Qt when they acquired Trolltech. They probably wanted Trolltech for other reasons and just sold off the rest. You see it all the time in businesses. Also the top dog at Nokia is a big MS fanboy. He has said so himself. I believe he now works for them after selling parts of Nokia to MS. I don't think it had anything to do with QT and recompiling issues. Its different than Java. Once its compiled it runs natively. There is no virtual machine engine like Java uses. As far as I know its a very reliable way to create cross platfrom software. But, hey, I'm an appraiser, not a software developer.