Off-topic lamentation

[kelzer]

I really miss BRIEF. :(

Best editor ever. The only one I've ever found that does really good BRIEF emulation is Crisp, but it's too big and bloated (I want something that launches instantaneously from the command line), and the screen's too busy.

I'd still be using my BRIEF 3.1 today if it had long filename support.

I guess I'll just reminisce about the good ol' days.

[dnanian]

Hey, I miss it too!

Amazingly enough, it still works... and the OS/2 version actually had LFN support! Someone told me at one point that you can even use the OS/2 version under NT/XP/2K, but I've never tried that...

Anyway -- glad you liked it. Not too bad for a first commercial program, eh? :)

[kelzer]

... and the OS/2 version actually had LFN support! Someone told me at one point that you can even use the OS/2 version under NT/XP/2K, but I've never tried that...

I know. I searched and searched hoping to find a vendor with an old copy of the OS/2 version still in stock, but had no luck.

[dnanian]

Didn't the Borland published version have both in the same box?

[kelzer]

Didn't the Borland published version have both in the same box?
Yeah, I believe so. Since my first post I realized my personal copy is version 3.0, but I got my boss back then to spring for several copies of 3.1 before your publisher was sold to Borland. I can't remember the publisher's name - Solution Systems or something? I also bought a copy of Sorcerer's Apprentice (source control software) from them (which was a mistake - it actually corrupted some files when I was trying it out. Luckily they were just for testing - nothing important).

I have managed to get BRIEF to kind of work with long filenames - the following batch file will take one filename (including a LFN path, if included) and convert it to short version before launching (works under XP, not sure about other versions of Windows):


@echo off
setlocal
set bpath=c:\brief\macros
rem set bhelp=c:\brief\help, set . . ., etc.
for %%f in (%1) do c:\brief\b.exe %%~fsf
endlocal

Dave, one of the things that made me a loyal user was your tireless and enthusiastic support on BIX. It's nice to see you still have the same level of commitment to your users in these forums today. Thanks.

[dnanian]

Yep, Solution Systems was the publisher. Actually, v3.0 was the last one that UnderWare did -- v3.1 was actually done by Solution Systems' own team after they bought the product from us. (We did the OS/2 version v3.0, too.)

Sourcerer's (sic) Apprentice was, indeed, a terribly product. Actually, I didn't like v3.1 of BRIEF much either, but perhaps that's just me... once you sell a product, you don't have any control over where it goes, and although we had approved the product team that was supposed to work on BRIEF, all sorts of things happened after the sale that caused a totally different team to be in charge. Long story.

Didn't know you were a BIXen! I try to stay as connected to customers as I can -- it's very important to keep an ear to the ground. Been doing it an awfully long time! Most people don't even know what BIX is/was! :)