[TylerE]

Those selling browser based thin clients claim that the cloud is the way of the future. I remain sceptical personally. I think it's very telling that all of the google apps on my android phone are native apps, NOT browser based, and that's a pretty beefy device by mobile standards.

[Rain]

Web version grows on you.

I sometimes switch back to check stuff on downloadable version, and I can see myself using the old version to use myfav52 or right through the pack or bm2k, but otherwise have pretty much switched.

I was convinced by Indonesian BBOers playing robot rewards, who basically all use web version. They claim robot is faster. I don't know if it's true, but it feels faster (sometimes the score is generated before you click last trick!) and speed is an advantage in this game.

This is a good poll btw, very useful in seeing what's holding a segment of players from switching, thanks for starting it.

[fred]

Rain, on Aug 10 2010, 01:28 AM, said:

This is a good poll btw, very useful in seeing what's holding a segment of players from switching, thanks for starting it.

Agree - please keep those comments coming

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[mrdct]

I assume BBO track exactly how many hands are played each day with the windows version and the flash version. It would be interesting to see how closely they match the results from this poll.

I do a bit of both, but tend to use the windows version as it seems a lot better suited to netbooks which is what I'm usually using.

[Dwingo]

Not switched to web version fully.

Team Match organising is that much simpler in Downloadable version ( chat to lobby is a must to start Team games, if you dont have the full 8 to start). Also the view of the other table, when some is RED is easy to spot and hence easier to substitute people who have a connection problem.

Casual play in MBC - much easier to find a compatible partner and sit on time in the downloadable version.

[TylerE]

Best of all worlds would be a new native client written against a crossplatform GUI library. QT for instance will allow the same code to be used on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, and a Nokia smartphones.

[Hanoi5]

I think as long as some features in the windows client are not present in the browser version I will not completely switch. I'd like, for example, to be able to have a look at a file in my computer with BBO, say a hand I played or watched being played or even one I created or better still that someone else created and have it for a class or a bidding practice; this can be done at this moment BUT only if you input the hand into the browser version and save it to your favorites or something. What if I have a file of 32 boards? It's a drag having to input it into the browser version.

Maybe this could be done easily, maybe you could translate lins into handviewer (I think this should be easy, I saw it somewhere, don't remember where) and then from handviewer to Browser version. Handviewer is also a great tool, by the way.

[paulg]

Although I initially did not like the look and feel of Flash, it does grow on you as some have said. However this will not happen if you continue to use both and you just have to bite the bullet and use the web client exclusively for a week or two. Then the windows client starts to look old.

So I use the web client exclusively now. However I only play with friends so some of the deficiencies mentioned are not relevant to me.

As I mentioned on the Support forum, better advertising for team matches on the web client is my most important request for enhancement - as I would occasionally like to play team matches with soon-to-be-friends.

p

[calabres]

I have made translation to Portuguese of new web version.

I regret to say, that I will never change from Windows version to Web version.

Mainly as a TD, when I try to change any parameter of one of my tournaments in Web version, all the initial description is lost and tournament changes to something like that #??? Untitled. Very bad. and if one of my TD's is directing from Web version, if i am not in the Windows version, the simple fact if he/she add time to a round causes the same effect.

Fred and BBO Stuff, please make the same efforts to make a better Windows version, like you are doing to the Web version.

The 90% of BBO'ers using Windows version will appreciate.

Happy Bridge

[fred]

calabres, on Aug 10 2010, 03:42 PM, said:

I have made translation to Portuguese of new web version.

I regret to say, that I will never change from Windows version to Web version.

Mainly as a TD, when I try to change any parameter of one of my tournaments in Web version, all the initial description is lost and tournament changes to something like that #??? Untitled. Very bad. and if one of my TD's is directing from Web version, if i am not in the Windows version, the simple fact if he/she add time to a round causes the same effect.

Fred and BBO Stuff, please make the same efforts to make a better Windows version, like you are doing to the Web version.

The 90% of BBO'ers using Windows version will appreciate.

Happy Bridge

Hi Luis,

What you describe is a bug and I am fairly certain we have fixed it. If not we almost certainly fix it soon and then you will have no excuse to continue to use the Windows version

Sorry but at this point in time it seems very unlikely that we will do any serious work on the Windows version in the foreseeable future. I am not in a position to discuss the exact numbers, but I can tell you that they are nowhere close to the 90% that you mention. I can also tell you that the % of people using the Windows client is steadily dropping.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[USViking]

I hope I made the correct choice by selecting the "windows only version".

My choice is the "Version 5.2.6" accessed by clicking a Knave icon
on the desktop screen.

I have tried the other version but have not found any comparative
advantage to it.

I have noticed one comparative drawback to the other version:
the shade of red used for the heart-diamond pips is too dark for
my slightly colorblind eyesight, and appears almost black and
undistinguishable from the spade-club pips. The different shade
of red used for the "Play or Watch Bridge" and seveal other caption
bars is ok though.

I guess I could get used to browser version if I had to, but I am
close to 100% happy with the windows version, and I hope it never
has to be shut down.

[BillHiggin]

USViking, on Aug 10 2010, 10:24 AM, said:

I have noticed one comparative drawback to the other version:
the shade of red used for the heart-diamond pips is too dark for
my slightly colorblind eyesight, and appears almost black and
undistinguishable from the spade-club pips. The different shade
of red used for the "Play or Watch Bridge" and seveal other caption
bars is ok though.

I too have impaired color vision and agree that the red suit symbols are a problem.

What works best for me is dark red outlines with bright red fill, but of course I have no clue how that looks to the rest of the world.

[onoway]

I have tried the Flash version from time to time and each time found it very frustrating. It seems counterintuitive and so much more challenging (using the word advisedly) to get around and has ambiguous labels tucked away in weird corners..I had to get help to find out how to find a yellow, for example. It seems the the Flash version is much more popular with people who are perhaps more comfortable with computers and like the bells and whistles. Perhaps also people who never used the download version to start with so never had the pleasure of a very user friendly clearly laid out and straightforward site.

It seems that people who like to play/work with computers somehow often lose the concept of simple. (not just referring to BBO here, I have run into a couple of other programs which have been "improved" to the point they are sometimes virtually unusable for the computer naive. ) Much to my astonishment, I find that I am not even the least computer competent person on BBO.

If there were two versions of Flash.. one could have all the bells and whistles but other be as easy to navigate and had the same emphasis on the options that I prefer (such as the way the chat area is organized in the download version, including going automatically to c/drive, and being able to go directly to a club without being challenged as to what table and why) then I would be happy to change but right now not a chance. To tell me that if I keep using it I will eventually like it is like telling me if I keep hitting my head with a hammer I will eventually enjoy being a masochist. Sorry.

[awm]

Well, I use the Flash version exclusively now because I'm on a Mac.

The windows version is not really all that easy to use either. For example, figuring out how to turn the sound off or deactivate "auto-play singleton" took me a while at first. I think both versions have certain things that are easier to do and other things that are harder to do.

For someone just starting out with BBO, neither version is particularly easier to use than the other. I think most of the people who prefer the windows version, it's just because they're more used to it.

[matmat]

I am probably in a very small group that feels this way, but I expect to not switch to the web version until the chat keyboard bindings are implemented there.

[calabres]

Some tools used by the best Hosts/TD's on BBO, I forget to mention, are the Chat Assistant or OKScriptX to sent the main announces during a Tournament.

I love OKScritX that I adapted to BBO Windows version.

I don't think those tools can be used on Web version, and not being possible, it will be very boring to TD's to make that using old way of copy/paste from a macro, insted to make the same with a simple hit on a button.

Best regards

[jkljkl]

without repeating other points already made:

- My cahe and history is cleared after every session, so the client has to be downloaded every time anew. This takes longer than to start the windows version.

- Every time I tried it in the past it crashed my browser (opera).

My needs are covered 100% by the downloadable windows version and I will stick to it till bbo will not longer allow it.

ciao stefan

[Rossoneri]

Use the Windows version as well.

Let's just say, the main reason why I still prefer it is the fact that it is still more stable than any web browser!

[TimG]

calabres, on Aug 11 2010, 03:30 AM, said:

I don't think those tools can be used on Web version, and not being possible, it will be very boring to TD's to make that using old way of copy/paste from a macro, insted to make the same with a simple hit on a button.

There is a chat manager in the Flash version. Maybe not as efficient at the OKscript, but it does work.

[fred]

matmat, on Aug 11 2010, 12:14 AM, said:

I am probably in a very small group that feels this way, but I expect to not switch to the web version until the chat keyboard bindings are implemented there.

You will have them in the next version of the web-client.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com