December 2009

eWallet 7.0.2 for Windows and Windows Mobile

by Marc

As promised, eWallet 7.0.2 for Windows and Windows Mobile is now available. You can download the latest version here. BlackBerry and iPhone users who own the desktop version should update their Windows PC version, but they don’t need to upgrade their device version.

For the details, read on after the jump!

I don’t typically do bug lists on new releases, but since I know some of you have been waiting for these I’ll make an exception. This isn’t everything we fixed but they’re the ones we’ve talked about here. Most people never saw these but for the folks that did I think this will be a welcome update!

The following bugs are fixed in eWallet 7.0.2:

  • Windows 7 64-bit Explorer Crash
  • Problems with synching custom icons to Windows Mobile
  • Error when running from two users on one computer
  • Fails to retain card list pane size between uses
  • “Non-Com” Exception when synching BlackBerry after entering password
  • Some sites didn’t work with AutoPass and FireFox
  • Problems with eWallet on 144 DPI displays
  • Problems with sync on close to a folder as a destination
  • CTRL + X produces an error
  • Global card display options reset on sync
  • Problems saving text pasted from a note card
  • Problems with passwords longer than 28 characters
  • Passbuilder Copy & Close button failed to copy

Again, we made many other minor tweaks but they weren’t things you’ll notice or they are things you likely never saw. And as I said - odds are you never saw any of the things listed here. I just wanted to list some of these for people waiting to hear about the fixes!

If you are still having trouble, please email our support team at support@iliumsoft.com. We really can’t do support in the blog comments.

And yes - the free upgrade emails are going out as we speak. If you didn’t receive yours, they will all be sent by middle of next week!

Take care, happy holidays, and don’t forget - we close for the holidays. Find all the details about our holiday hours here!

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A Nice Thing You Do

by Ellen

One really nice thing that a lot of people have done is to call and tell us that we’ve been mentioned in a magazine.

We’ve gotten a lot of mentions and writeups over the last 12 years - I’ve got several shelves of a bookcase dedicated to magazines in which we’ve been written up - but it’s always a thrill to go into a bookstore and find our name in print.

So many thanks to whoever called today and told Marc that eWallet was mentioned in the January 2010 issue of Consumer Reports. And thanks to the person who told us earlier in the week that we’d been included in an NPR segement. And to everyone else who’s gone out of their way to tell us about seeing or hearing our name somewhere, thank you too! We really appreciate it!

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What's with the Windows bugs?

by Marc

Although most of the people who have upgraded to eWallet 7 on Windows PCare having no trouble at all, there are a few folks running into bugs. A few of these bugs are really frustrating and we’re not taking this lightly. We’ve got developers working non-stop on these and we hope to have an update in the near future.

Most of the people who are running into trouble are already working with Kevin, Lee, and myself on getting the issues ironed out but I wanted to just take a minute to explain why you are seeing bugs! Understanding the developer end of things may not make everything better, but it might help give some insight into what is going on.

I’m also going to mention a few of the bugs we’ve seen at the end of this post. One reminder, however…please send us email if you need support. We just can’t do it here in the blog comments!

That said…read on if you want the full story!

So what is so different about eWallet 7 on Windows PC? The underlying challenge is this…with eWallet 7 we literally rewrote every single piece of the eWallet program. The program you were all using before was over 10 years old and while the original code base was strong, it had some issues. None of that is left in eWallet 7. It’s a brand new application.

But why did you change it? First, it was rigid, meaning it was exceptionally hard for us to do things that people felt “should be easy to implement.” We needed flexibility so we could remain relevant going forward.

Second, it saw a lot of add-ons over the years. eWallet 6 was a LOT different (feature-wise) from eWallet 1. At some point, all that adding on takes its toll and makes it really expensive (in time and money) to improve the application.

Third, the user interface needed a major face lift. I know a lot of our long term users didn’t mind it (I kind of liked it!) BUT many old customers felt we weren’t keeping up with the times (and said so!) and for new customers it made it hard for us to compete (once they TRIED the apps they chose us, but in a screenshot to screenshot comparison it was tough for us!) Just sprucing up the old version wasn’t an option (see the first and second points!)

Didn’t you test this thing? Did we ever! We had over 100 people actively using eWallet for around two months straight. In addition, we’ve been using eWallet 7 in-house even longer than that! Plus we did all our usual automated and manual testing that we do with every release. So yes - we tested this - A LOT!

So how did bugs get through? Remember the part about rewriting the entire application? When you do that, no matter how carefully you test, it is impossible to find all the bugs. With Windows PCs there are literally an infinite number of installation and configuration combinations. There is NO WAY to test every condition. You test as many as you can and catch as much as you can, but you’ll never catch everything. It’s a mathematical impossibility.

Even now, with people helping us work on the bugs that have come up, many of these we can’t even replicate in-house. It is exceptionally difficult BUT we’re working on it and we will work these out. Believe it or not, the last version of eWallet had its problems - we worked through them and the same will be true here. We’ll do everything we can to help you in the meantime.

In the end it’s what we had to do… We knew we’d be facing challenges like this when we went into this. We had a 7.0.1 update release on the calendar prior to eWallet even going out. If we didn’t do this overhaul now, however, there would have been costs down the road. We had to bite the bullet and make it happen - it took a long time, a ton of work, and we’re working through some challenges now, but in the long run eWallet will be a better app for it and will be poised to serve you for the next decade.

So what is a customer to do? First, let support know what you saw by sending them an email. LOTS of people want eWallet 7 so we are getting slammed by questions, orders, and requests but we WILL answer you. If you don’t email us, however, we won’t know what is happening.

Second, if you’ve got one of the uglybugs and you decide you want to use eWallet 6 for now, that’s fine - just say so in the email and we’ll send you what you need.

Finally - talk to us! We really do want to make things right and we’ll do everything in our power to do so - so let us know what YOU need and we’ll work with you.

Sincerely, Marc

PS: Here are some things we know folks are seeing right now - Windows 7 Explorer Crashes: Can’t replicate this in-house but we’re working with some customers to figure out what is happening.

BSOD: Holy crap! A couple of people have seen really bad crashes - again, for the life of us we can’t replicate this but we’re working with some folks and will get this ironed out as well. The strange thing here is that we quite literally aren’t touching anything in Windows that should allow this! It’s nuts but we’ll figure it out!

Blank Text: Can’t see the text? We found that some customers using particularly high DPI settings are running into this. We have a solution we’re testing so hopefully we can get it into the next build.

Error 1010 On Sync: If something goes wonky during install (maybe from other programs running or something like that) it might damage your sync partnership. If that happens just delete the partnership from sync setup and re-add it. You should be all set!

These are a few that I wanted to mention just because they are the most likely to make you nuts if you get them! As I said - most people aren’t having any problems - seriously, we’ve got thousands of people using eWallet 7 now and only a handful see these - these bugs suck - we know - but odds are you won’t see them…and again…IF YOU DO, PLEASE EMAIL US! We can’t do support on the blog. It just isn’t setup for that!

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eWallet 7 Released! (Update 3)

by Marc

walletHappy Monday! The eWallet 7 release is going GREAT. We couldn’t be happier with the response to this new version of eWallet. Thanks to everyone for the amazing feedback, the purchases, and the kind words! It was a LOT of work getting here and seeing how much people like it is just great. Thanks! (If this is the first you’ve heard of the release of eWallet 7, definitely check out the post here that gives all the details!)

And I’d like to repeat something: a special “THANK YOU” to everyone who has gone to iTunes and either added a positive review or updated a review! We really appreciate that!!! iTunes reviews really are very important and we’ve never seen reviews as a customers “job.” As a result, every review is an amazing favor so thank you to everyone for your support!

We released eWallet 7.0.1 last week- it’s an update that fixes a problem folks with non-English Windows installations ran into as well as an issue with unlocking the BlackBerry version. Sorry to everyone who ran into these but thanks to everyone who supplied us with the info we needed to fix them!

Re: SUPPORT ON THE BLOG I just want to repeat something I’ve posted in comments. Although I do my best to answer any questions or concerns the come up in the comments, we really can’t provide tech support here. We do, however, offer email support with real people personally answering every email AND phone support with real people answering the phones. If you have a problem WE WILL HELP YOU!  The one caveat is that we’re running a little behind due to the massive amount of interest in eWallet 7 so it may take us an extra day or so, but everyone will get a reply!

Before I close out this blog I’ll hit a few of the FAQs that are coming up…so read on after jump for the rest of the story…

I can’t believe I have to pay to keep my iPhone sync working! YOU DON’T! We’re still trying to improve the upgrade wording and site descriptions but you do not have to pay anything to keep synching with your iPhone. If you do NOT want to upgrade to eWallet 7, you can download this minor update to eWallet 6 for free (assuming you already own eWallet 6) and keep syncing

I get “Error 1010” in the Sync Log after I sync. Not a lot of people are seeing this but it’s pretty darn annoying if you do so I figured I’d post an solution. I’d suggest is removing the partnership with the iPhone by clicking on the Setup button in the Synchronize group of the Home ribbon, and then re- adding it. It may be that during the upgrade the partneship was somehow damaged. As I said, not all that common but we’re still looking into why this is happening so we can stop it completely.

Why am I hitting bugs? Didn’t you test this? Yes! We tested this a LOT and we did a large Beta for months AND we used it inhouse for months. Here is the thing though - eWallet is a very complex program and we just rewrote the ENTIRE program from the ground up. I’d be insane to suggest we could do this without there being a couple bugs. Now, we aren’t one of those companies who run “paid beta tests”, so we caught the majority of the issues and most people aren’t having any trouble at all- really - with the HUGE response we’ve gotten very few people are having trouble.

BUT that doesn’t mean no one will see a bug - so if you see a bug, please email us or call us! We WILL help you, and if you’ve found a bug we will attack it to find a solution for you! Most importantly, we’re VERY sorry that anyone is hitting bugs - we HATE bugs - but as I said, realistically, a release of this complexity would be nearly impossible to get out without a few bugs (unless we spent another 12 months doing QA which really doesn’t help anyone!)

Do you have an Android version? We are seriously considering writing Android versions of our products but no final decisions have been made. We’ll certainly let everyone know if that changes!

Will I have to pay for the full Mac version if I buy today? First, please don’t buy this just to get the Mac preview - it really is a preview and not a full version. I assure you that there will be some issues - the point of the preview is just to let people see what we’re working on in a cooler way than simple screenshots.

That said, at this stage, we are unsure if the Mac release will be part of a free update or a paid upgrade. Either way, if it is part of an upgrade it will be at a discounted upgrade price - not an extra full price purchase. And regardless, if you purchased within 45 days of the release, it will be a free upgrade.

How about ListPro for iPhone? Not really an eWallet question but lots of people are asking so I’ll answer!  ListPro for iPhone is currently in developement and is undergoing early beta testing. We don’t have a release date scheduled for it but we hope it will be out sometime early next year.

When will ListPro for Mac be out? Unfortunately we don’t have plans to do ListPro for Mac right now. Feel free to email us if you think we’re nuts, however! We’ll add your vote. :)

So there you go - the latest update - and thank you again to everyone. Whether you purchased the software, posted a positive review, or emailed us with a problem - every bit of this is helping us and we appreciate you support!

Sincerely, Marc

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eWallet 7 Released! (Update 2)

by Marc

walletHey, everyone! The response to eWallet 7 is overwhelming. Thank you to everyone for your excitement about this new version of our flagship product! (If this is the first you’ve heard of the release of eWallet 7, definitely check out the post here that gives all the details!)

And I’d like to repeat something: a special “THANK YOU” to everyone who has gone to iTunes and either added a positive review or updated a review! We really appreciate that!!! Honestly - I can’t thank you enough - around here we DO NOT feel that posting positive reviews as a customers “job”, so we see every positive review as a kindness - thank you again!

On to the updates! The biggst update is this:

We fixed the BlackBerry unlock issue and the eWallet Crash for Non-English Windows Installations!

If you download the latest version from our site you’ll get the fix! Again - VERY sorry for the trouble there - like I said - rewrite an application from the ground up and you’re going to hit some snags.

If you want the rest of the details (some of which are repeats that I want to keep around for new visitors to the blog), read on after the jump!

“I updated iPhone. Do I have to update Windows PC?” NO! Just because you updated your iPhone version to eWallet 7, you are not required to upgrade your desktop version. We hope you will, but if you don’t want to, you can download a special version of eWallet 6 (eWallet 6.2) here that will let you keep using the older version with eWallet 7 on your phone. NOTE: If you installed eWallet 7 - please uninstall it before installing this special build of eWallet 6.

“eWallet on Windows PC Crashes When I Start It!” We’ve resolved this problem and we’re very sorry to those who ran into it. You can download the latest version from our site to fix this!

“My BlackBerry Unlock Codes Don’t Work!” We’ve resolved this problem and we’re very sorry to those who ran into it. You can download the latest version from our site to fix this!

“Sync Isn’t Working After I Upgrade” We aren’t seeing a lot of this, but certain events on the PC can cause problems with the sync partnership. A really simple solution to this is to just delete the sync partnership from Sync Setup and then add it again. Not the most graceful solution but if you want something quick and easy that’s the route to go!

“When Will Support Call/Email Me Back?” As soon as they can. To give you some perspective of what we’re dealing with - since the release of eWallet 7 we doubled our one day sales record. Yeah - things are a little busy here. :) We are working as quickly as we can and we will contact everyone - unfortunately it may take a couple of days. In the meantime, please watch the blog! I’ll post updates like this to help folks that are running into common issues so you don’t have to wait!

“When will the full Mac version be out?” As before, we have not set a date. We are continuing to work on it and will let everyone know when there is more news we can share. Please note that the 30 day preview is limited simply because unlimited use is part of the complete eWallet package - not because eWallet will be out in 30 days. Again - we’re working as fast as we can on the Mac version but we haven’t set a release date.

“Where do I send Mac comments/requests/bug reports?” Send them to info@iliumsoft.com with the subject heading of “Mac Report”. We’ll take all of these, put them into a mailbox, and go through each and every one once we get past the release! Thanks!

“Where do I get the Palm OS/U3 version of eWallet 7?” Unfortunately we’ve had to discontinue support for both of these platforms. The demand for these versions was so low that it just wasn’t financially possible to keep producing upgrades for them. We’re very sorry that we can’t offer solutions for these platforms at this time.

“When Will I Get an Upgrade Email?” We’ll send out upgrade emails starting next week. The entire process takes 5-7 days (we have a LOT of people to contact!) If after that time you still haven’t heard from us, please drop us a line!

That’s it for this update! If there is more new information I’ll post again tomorrow!

Thanks Everyone!

-  Marc

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eWallet 7 Release Update!

by Marc

walletHey, everyone! As I mentioned in a previous post, this is the biggest release we have ever undertaken and it is extremely exciting. The response we’re getting from customers is phenomenal. Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support! (If this is the first you’ve heard of the release of eWallet 7, definitely check out the post here that gives all the details!)

And a special “THANK YOU” to everyone who has gone to iTunes and either added a positive review or updated a review! We really appreciate that!!! Honestly - I can’t thank you enough - around here we DO NOT feel that posting positive reviews as a customers “job”, so we see every positive review as a kindness - thank you again!

Needless to say, a release of this type is bound to have some hiccups and this one is no different. The following are issues we are currently working on or frequently asked questions. For all the details, read on after the jump!

“I updated iPhone. Do I have to update Windows PC?” NO! Just because you updated your iPhone version to eWallet 7, you are not required to upgrade your desktop version. We hope you will, but if you don’t want to, you can download a special version of eWallet 6 (eWallet 6.2) here that will let you keep using the older version with eWallet 7 on your phone. NOTE: If you installed eWallet 7 - please uninstall it before installing this special build of eWallet 6.

“eWallet on Windows PC Crashes When I Start It!” We’ve discovered that some customers that are using non-English versions of Windows are running into this problem. We’re working on it right now and we’ll keep you updated on the progress. We are very sorry for any trouble this is causing and we hope to have an update soon! This problem is resolved!! We are testing the installers now and hopefully we can have this out by morning! “My BlackBerry Unlock Codes Don’t Work!” This one is fixed and we’re in the process of rolling out a new version of eWallet for BlackBerry this morning. You can get it here when it is released (I’d suggest sometime after 3:00PM ET. UPDATE: Since we fixed the foreign language issue, we’re relasing this update along with that one in a single release tomorrow morning! “When Will Support Call/Email Me Back?” As soon as they can. To give you some perspective of what we’re dealing with - since the release of eWallet 7 we doubled our one day sales record. Yeah - things are a little busy here. :) We are working as quickly as we can and we will contact everyone - unfortunately it may take a couple of days. In the meantime, please watch the blog! I’ll post updates like this to help folks that are running into common issues so you don’t have to wait!

“When will the full Mac version be out?” As before, we have not set a date. We are continuing to work on it and will let everyone know when there is more news we can share. Please note that the 30 day preview is limited simply because unlimited use is part of the complete eWallet package - not because eWallet will be out in 30 days. Again - we’re working as fast as we can on the Mac version but we haven’t set a release date.

“Where do I send Mac comments/requests/bug reports?” Send them to info@iliumsoft.com with the subject heading of “Mac Report”. We’ll take all of these, put them into a mailbox, and go through each and every one once we get past the release! Thanks!

“Where do I get the Palm OS/U3 version of eWallet 7?” Unfortunately we’ve had to discontinue support for both of these platforms. The demand for these versions was so low that it just wasn’t financially possible to keep producing upgrades for them. We’re very sorry that we can’t offer solutions for these platforms at this time.

That’s it for this update - I’ll post another one tomorrow as I compile more comments, requests, and questions and have new information.

-  Marc

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