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Timeline of Forte Agent Releases

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Ralph Fox

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Dec 14, 2011, 3:57:50 AM12/14/11
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Timeline of Forte Agent Releases

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
            21-Nov-1995   Forte Agent 0.99c
               06-Feb-1996   Forte Agent 0.99d
                  01-May-1996   Forte Agent 0.99e
                       01-Oct-1996   Forte Agent 0.99f
                         05-Dec-1996   Forte Agent 0.99g
                            20-Mar-1997   Forte Agent 1.0
                              13-May-1997   Forte Agent 1.01
                                24-Jul-1997   Forte Agent 1.5
                                                         30-Aug-1999   Forte Agent 1.6
                                                            17-Nov-1999   Forte Agent 1.7
                                                                21-Mar-2000   Forte Agent 1.8
                                                                                 02-Aug-2001   Forte Agent 1.8 build 553
                                                                                      24-Jan-2002   Forte Agent 1.9
                                                                                        21-Mar-2002   Forte Agent 1.91
                                                                                             02-Aug-2002   Forte Agent 1.92
                                                                                                 24-Dec-2002   Forte Agent 1.93                        
                                                                                                               06-Feb-2004   Forte Agent 2.0
                                                                                                                                 03-Aug-2005   Forte Agent 3.0
                                                                                                                                  15-Sep-2005   Forte Agent 3.1
                                                                                                                                      31-Jan-2006   Forte Agent 3.2
                                                                                                                                        09-Mar-2006   Forte Agent 3.3
                                                                                                                                             18-Aug-2006   Forte Agent 4.0
                                                                                                                                             20-Aug-2006   Forte Agent 4.0 build 1071
                                                                                                                                               14-Oct-2006   Forte Agent 4.1
                                                                                                                                                  30-Jan-2007   Forte Agent 4.2
                                                                                                                                                   09-Feb-2007   Forte Agent 4.2 build 1118
                                                                                                                                                                         17-Dec-2008   Forte Agent 5.0
                                                                                                                                                                         21-Dec-2008   Forte Agent 5.0 build 1171
                                                                                                                                                                                    19-Nov-2009   Forte Agent 6.0
                                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                                                                            
    1995        1996        1997        1998        1999        2000        2001        2002        2003        2004        2005        2006        2007        2008        2009        2010        2011    

Don Kirkman

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Dec 14, 2011, 12:15:50 PM12/14/11
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On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:57:50 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid>
wrote:

>Timeline of Forte Agent Releases

Thanks for the time and effort, Ralph, and for giving me a reason to
use Agent's HTML-reading function. :-)

I suppose the earlier versions didn't count because they were very
early betas and not real releases.. I used 0.38 for a while and then
one in the .50s (maybe 0.56) before the 0.99 series began.

Unlike Nick, I didn't archive mine and I sort of regret it now when
nostalgia is setting in. :-}
--
Don Kirkman
don...@charter.net
Message has been deleted

Ralph Fox

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Dec 14, 2011, 1:28:04 PM12/14/11
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On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:15:50 -0800, in message <pukhe7d7paddv2j4i...@4ax.com>
Don Kirkman wrote:

> I suppose the earlier versions didn't count because they were very
> early betas and not real releases.. I used 0.38 for a while and then
> one in the .50s (maybe 0.56) before the 0.99 series began.


I have no information on those early versions, otherwise they
might have been included. I started with Free Agent in 1998.


--
Kind regards
Ralph

Randy

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Dec 14, 2011, 4:16:11 PM12/14/11
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On 12/14/2011 2:57 AM, Ralph Fox wrote:
>
> Timeline of Forte Agent Releases

Interesting. Looks like this is about one of
the longest gaps between releases.

--
Forte Agent: 6.0/32.1186; Windows: 5.1
(Build 2600.xpsp_sp3_qfe.101209-1646 : Service
Pack 3)

Nick Spalding

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Dec 14, 2011, 4:22:28 PM12/14/11
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Don Kirkman wrote, in <pukhe7d7paddv2j4i...@4ax.com>
on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:15:50 -0800:
Even my archive is incomplete. I started with .99c but only have .99d
of the .99s and I am missing the 1.x ones before 1.91, also 1.92.
--
Nick Spalding
Agent 6.0/32.1186, IE8, Vista Home Premium SP2, 32 bit,
Intel Viiv dual core E6300 (1.86Ghz, 1066MHz FSB), 2GB RAM,
320GB NTFS HD, Video Nvidia GeForce 7900GS LCD 1024x768x75Hz

char...@email.com

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Dec 14, 2011, 4:55:04 PM12/14/11
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>On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:16:11 -0600, Randy <nos...@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>On 12/14/2011 2:57 AM, Ralph Fox wrote:
>>
>> Timeline of Forte Agent Releases
>
>Interesting. Looks like this is about one of
>the longest gaps between releases.

I emailed Tech Support regarding future updates to Agent and received the following
response:

------------------------------------------
"At the moment I do not have an answer. Check our website in mid January.

Regards,

Ana Beck
Agent Team
www.forteinc.com"
-------------------------------------------

So, not sure what that means, but will check their website in mid January.

charliec

pyotr filipivich

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Dec 14, 2011, 5:25:08 PM12/14/11
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Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:57:50 +1300 typed
in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent the following:
><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"><html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-
snip

>> </font></td><td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><font color="#CCCCCC"> </font></td><td bgcolor="#808080"><font color="#808080"> </font></td><td bgcolor="#4C4C4C"><font color="#4C4C4C"> </font></td><td bgcolor="#E6E6FF"><font color="#E6E6FF"> </font></td><td bgcolor="#B3B3B3"><font color="#B3B3B3"> </font></td><td bgcolor="#999999"><font color="#999999"> </font></td><td bgcolor="#CCCCCC"><font color="#CCCCCC"> </font></td><td bgcolor="#808080"><font color="#808080"> </font></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><font size="1">    </font>1995<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#B3B3B3"><font size="1">    </font>1996<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><font size="1">    </font>1997<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><font size="1">    </font>2005<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#B3B3B3"><font
size="1">    </font>2006<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><font size="1">    </font>2007<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#B3B3B3"
>><font size="1">    </font>2008<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><font size="1">    </font>2009<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="12" align="center" bgcolor="#B3B3B3"><font size="1">    </font>2010<font size="1">    </font></td><td colspan="11" align="center" bgcolor="#E6E6E6"><font size="1">    </font>2011<font size="1">   </font></td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table></body></html>

How about offering just a plain link, as well?
--
pyotr filipivich
Watergate didn’t have a body count. Gunwalker has hundreds.

Ralph Fox

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Dec 14, 2011, 6:56:51 PM12/14/11
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On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:16:11 -0600, in message <cKOdndJjQqG7j3TT...@giganews.com>
Randy wrote:

> Interesting. Looks like this is about one of
> the longest gaps between releases.


The releases in 1999 and 2000 were all mostly Y2K bug fixes, not feature
releases.
1.6 was supposed to be the Y2K bug fix
1.7 was a fix for 1.6
1.8 was a fix for 1.7

The longest gap between feature releases was really the 4 years from 1.5
to 1.8 build 553. And even then, Agent 1.8 build 553 had only one new
feature...

| We added support for SMTP Secure Password Authentication (SPA), the
| new login method required by MSN for sending email.


--
Kind regards
Ralph

Ralph Fox

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Dec 14, 2011, 7:33:38 PM12/14/11
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On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:25:08 -0800, in message <2h8ie7tag209cdnjk...@4ax.com>
pyotr filipivich wrote:

> How about offering just a plain link, as well?


I assembled it from from lots and lost of little pieces of information
in different places, and not from a single link.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


To see my message in HTML,

(A) Press Ctrl+L in Agent 3.3

(B) Or follow this link to Google Groups.
Note the part of the URL to the right of the "=" is the message-ID.

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_umsgid=51pge71qf4uo0ddvg...@4ax.com


--
Kind regards
Ralph

pyotr filipivich

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Dec 15, 2011, 2:28:44 AM12/15/11
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Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:33:38 +1300 typed
in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent the following:
Thanks

pyotr

Ralph Fox

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Dec 15, 2011, 2:42:15 AM12/15/11
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On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:22:28 +0000, in message <lf4ie7hnfhr15tegr...@4ax.com>
Nick Spalding wrote:

> Don Kirkman wrote, in <pukhe7d7paddv2j4i...@4ax.com>
> on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:15:50 -0800:
>
>> Unlike Nick, I didn't archive mine and I sort of regret it now when
>> nostalgia is setting in. :-}
>
> Even my archive is incomplete. I started with .99c but only have .99d
> of the .99s and I am missing the 1.x ones before 1.91, also 1.92.


For anyone who wants to (partially) complete their archives,
there are 1.5, 1.7. 1.8, 1.91, and 1.92 here:
<http://mirrors.easynews.com/agent/ftp.forteinc.com/pub/agent/english/old_versions/>

You will notice that I did not say 1.9 ;-)


--
Kind regards
Ralph

Nick Spalding

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Dec 15, 2011, 3:46:35 AM12/15/11
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Ralph Fox wrote, in <cp8je7972djrfuh8f...@4ax.com>
on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:42:15 +1300:
Thanks Ralph, I might waste a few minutes on those!

Randy

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Dec 15, 2011, 6:56:40 AM12/15/11
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Yep. Interesting.
Message has been deleted

drek

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Dec 18, 2011, 8:47:25 PM12/18/11
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On Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:42:15 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote:
<cp8je7972djrfuh8f...@4ax.com>:
i remember 1.91 added yEnc. Does anyone remember what was added in 1.92?

Ralph Fox

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Dec 19, 2011, 12:13:15 AM12/19/11
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On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:47:25 -0800, in message <7r5te75odg9imf0cp...@4ax.com>
drek wrote:

> i remember 1.91 added yEnc. Does anyone remember what was added in 1.92?


No need to remember. Here you can find what was added...

* Version 1.92: http://www.forteinc.com/release/notes.php?id=192

* All versions: http://www.forteinc.com/release/index.php


--
Kind regards
Ralph

Wayne Garmil

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Dec 22, 2011, 12:29:33 PM12/22/11
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On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:57:50 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid>
wrote:

>[This timeline needs to be viewed in HTML]

Thank you for this alt-text annotation. I usually read in text-only
mode so have html turned off by default. That was a cool indication
that html was needed for that post. Very much appreciated.

Wayne

--
Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem.

Monty

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Dec 27, 2011, 6:00:32 AM12/27/11
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On Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:28:04 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid>
wrote:
Hi Ralph,

I have three versions prior to the 0.99 series - 0.38, 0.46, 0.55.

Using the dates of the EXE files as release dates, we have:

0.38 Agent.exe - March 10, 1995

0.46 Agent.exe - April 04, 1995

0.55 Agent.exe - April 25, 1995

Also,

0.99 Agent.exe - July 02, 1995; Readme.txt - July 06, 1995

Agent .99 Order Form - July 06, 1995

"For a limited time only, Forte is offering a pre-release version of
Agent, called Agent .99, to individuals who wish to purchase our
commercial newsreader product."

It was at this time that I ordered Agent.

Cheers,
Rex
Message has been deleted

Nick Spalding

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Dec 27, 2011, 11:13:05 AM12/27/11
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Marc Wilson wrote, in <3iqjf7l13fej6q2ju...@4ax.com>
on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:55:03 +0000:

>In alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent, (Monty) wrote in
><437jf7pilu54e23i5...@4ax.com>::
>
>> 0.99 Agent.exe - July 02, 1995; Readme.txt - July 06, 1995
>>
>> Agent .99 Order Form - July 06, 1995
>>
>>"For a limited time only, Forte is offering a pre-release version of
>>Agent, called Agent .99, to individuals who wish to purchase our
>>commercial newsreader product."
>>
>>It was at this time that I ordered Agent.
>
>+1. 0.99c, if memory serves.

I bought 0.99c and 0.99d was released a week or two later.
Message has been deleted

Ralph Fox

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Dec 28, 2011, 2:35:38 PM12/28/11
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On Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:00:32 +1100, in message <437jf7pilu54e23i5...@4ax.com>
Monty wrote:

> Hi Ralph,
>
> I have three versions prior to the 0.99 series - 0.38, 0.46, 0.55.
>
> Using the dates of the EXE files as release dates, we have:
>
> 0.38 Agent.exe - March 10, 1995
>
> 0.46 Agent.exe - April 04, 1995
>
> 0.55 Agent.exe - April 25, 1995

Many thanks.

If you have any more info I would appreciate it.
Those versions, are they "Free Agent" as opposed to "Agent"?
AFAIK the version numbers for "Agent" and "Free Agent" were
different back then.


> Also,
>
> 0.99 Agent.exe - July 02, 1995; Readme.txt - July 06, 1995

Many thanks.

Is that "Agent" or "Free Agent"?
AIUI there were several different builds of Agent. Do you know which build that one is?

> Agent .99 Order Form - July 06, 1995
>
> "For a limited time only, Forte is offering a pre-release version of
> Agent, called Agent .99, to individuals who wish to purchase our
> commercial newsreader product."
>
> It was at this time that I ordered Agent.
>
> Cheers,
> Rex

--
Kind regards
Ralph

Monty

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Dec 28, 2011, 5:05:04 PM12/28/11
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On Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:35:38 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid>
wrote:

>On Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:00:32 +1100, in message <437jf7pilu54e23i5...@4ax.com>
>Monty wrote:
>
>> Hi Ralph,
>>
>> I have three versions prior to the 0.99 series - 0.38, 0.46, 0.55.
>>
>> Using the dates of the EXE files as release dates, we have:
>>
>> 0.38 Agent.exe - March 10, 1995
>>
>> 0.46 Agent.exe - April 04, 1995
>>
>> 0.55 Agent.exe - April 25, 1995
>
>Many thanks.
>
>If you have any more info I would appreciate it.
>Those versions, are they "Free Agent" as opposed to "Agent"?
>AFAIK the version numbers for "Agent" and "Free Agent" were
>different back then.

The three versions above are "Beta Trial Release" versions.

The version numbers of "Agent" and "Free Agent" were out of sync
during the 0.99 era.

Free Agent 1.0 was released at the same time as Agent 0.99

>> 0.99 Agent.exe - July 02, 1995; Readme.txt - July 06, 1995
>
>Many thanks.
>
>Is that "Agent" or "Free Agent"?
The 0.99 versions were "Agent" versions.

>AIUI there were several different builds of Agent. Do you know which build that one is?
My recollection is that build numbers were not displayed in the Agent
"About" panel until Version 1.0, which was build 390.

I don't recall build numbers being displayed in Free Agent About
panel; version numbers were displayed.

drek

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Dec 29, 2011, 9:57:08 PM12/29/11
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On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:13:15 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote:
<2phte79c0sqmf1c9p...@4ax.com>:
Thanks for that I have notes also but can't say how I got the impression
the web site only shows high points. It was a poorly written question to
ask if anybody knew of something that's not on their list.

Looking things over again I don't find anything but see the site doesn't
mention the reason for 1.93.

Ralph Fox

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Dec 29, 2011, 10:49:30 PM12/29/11
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On Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:57:08 -0800, in message <k39qf71cfernbmacp...@4ax.com>
drek wrote:

> Looking things over again I don't find anything but see the site doesn't
> mention the reason for 1.93.


The Agent 1.93 release notes disappeared from the site around the
beginning of 2007 (about the time Agent 4.2 was released).

The Agent help file has the old release notes. Help >> Index >> Release Notes

• It seems to me that the main reason for Agent 1.93 was the translated
user-interfaces in Dutch, French, German, and Italian.

• There were also some improvements; such as increasing the number of messages
you could sample.

• The line count abbreviation introduced in 1.92 which many people complained about,
was changed.


--
Kind regards
Ralph

drek

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Dec 31, 2011, 6:01:40 PM12/31/11
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On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:49:30 +1300, Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> wrote:
<d1cqf7h7vc0kmrocl...@4ax.com>:

>On Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:57:08 -0800, in message <k39qf71cfernbmacp...@4ax.com>
>drek wrote:
>
>> Looking things over again I don't find anything but see the site doesn't
>> mention the reason for 1.93.
>
>
>The Agent 1.93 release notes disappeared from the site around the
>beginning of 2007 (about the time Agent 4.2 was released).
>
>The Agent help file has the old release notes. Help >> Index >> Release Notes
>
Well so it does. I have never seen that.

>
> � There were also some improvements; such as increasing the number of messages
> you could sample.

That's worth noting too, 32767 doesn't buy what it used to. Thank you
Ralph.


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