Goodbye Pastel, Hellooo Quick Books

[Alan]

After my 3rd data corruption file this year, enough is enough. I decided i wont have to wait for the shaky economy or down grade to junk status to give my business a hard time, a wobbly accounting package will do it. After five years on Pastel this is a major change for my business and is going to stress my accountant and book keeper out. I uploaded the corrupt files on the 4/04 today is the 10/04 so i phone support to see how far the repair is and i get told they are looking at it and they haven't even started on the repair. Now in the 20 mins i waited for a consultant, as their lines are very busy at the moment (easier to talk to someone at Telkom than Pastel support) I was informed that they will be closed over Easter. This now means i could hopefully get the file back early next week, about 2 weeks after it was uploaded.
Just been informed that it cant be repaired, apologies for the inconvenience.
Moving on, my poor Book Keeper, 60 to a 100 invoices a day, to be recaptured from the beginning of March!!
Rant Over.

[Neville Bailey]

Hi Alan,

I really wish you had contacted me before asking Pastel to assist you with your data corruption. I could very well have sorted it out for you, without you having to send me your database. I could have logged on with TeamViewer and fixed the corruption remotely.

Obviously I don't know the extent and nature of the corruption, so it might well be irreparable, but is it not too late for me to at least have a look?

[Dave A]

After my 3rd data corruption file this year...

Reading that, to my mind the big question is - why so many data corruption problems?

It's why I went off Pastel now nearly 20 years ago, and it seems they have still not got on top of the problem.

[Neville Bailey]

Reading that, to my mind the big question is - why so many data corruption problems?

It's why I went off Pastel now nearly 20 years ago, and it seems they have still not got on top of the problem.

Unfortunately the Archilles Heel for Pastel is that it runs on the Pervasive SQL database platform, which is extremely sensitive to any instability such as power fluctuations and network communication failures. There's been talk, for a while now, that Pastel will be re-coded to run on MS SQL which will be a massive improvement to the overall robustness of the product, but your guess is as good as mine as to when that will happen!

Nevertheless, there are many ways that one can minimize the risk of data corruption, such as the installation of UPS units, cabled networks instead of wireless networks, and the use of Terminal Services rather than server/workstation networks.

[HR Solutions]

Its why I left Pastel years ago as well - its not user friendly.

[Stephen Corrigan]

Hi Dave, despite popular belief, the Pastel data corruptions are NOT caused by unstable networks or power fluctuations. They are simply caused by poor outdated technology. The Pervasive Database (btrieve) is a flat file simple database with no securities, file relationships and more importantly no data integrity or roll-backs associated with more modern databases. In fact all users of Pastel require full admin rights to the data in order to use the Program so they can access the data files, copy it and really do what they like with it.

The other reason is that the Pastel Partner and Xpress products are developed using the Visual Basic programming language that was discontinued by Microsoft on 31 March 2005 (yes 12 years ago) with the last update being V6 in 1999 (Pre Y2k). Visual Basic also only supports 32-bit environments and is not designed to operate on newer operating systems. With no more updates, the stability of the language is just going to deteriorate more and more with time as other technologies advance. The official Microsoft statement on VB6 apps is "It Just Works" - sort of sums it up I suppose.

What's more of a concern is how the use of this dated technology exposes clients to the effects of ransomware attacks.

[HR Solutions]

Hi Dave, despite popular belief, the Pastel data corruptions are NOT caused by unstable networks or power fluctuations. They are simply caused by poor outdated technology. The Pervasive Database (btrieve) is a flat file simple database with no securities, file relationships and more importantly no data integrity or roll-backs associated with more modern databases. In fact all users of Pastel require full admin rights to the data in order to use the Program so they can access the data files, copy it and really do what they like with it.

The other reason is that the Pastel Partner and Xpress products are developed using the Visual Basic programming language that was discontinued by Microsoft on 31 March 2005 (yes 12 years ago) with the last update being V6 in 1999 (Pre Y2k). Visual Basic also only supports 32-bit environments and is not designed to operate on newer operating systems. With no more updates, the stability of the language is just going to deteriorate more and more with time as other technologies advance. The official Microsoft statement on VB6 apps is "It Just Works" - sort of sums it up I suppose.

What's more of a concern is how the use of this dated technology exposes clients to the effects of ransomware attacks.

All the more reason to stay far away from Pastel and stick with the modern day Quickbooks. As much as I respect Neville for being a Pastel fundi - if you check the accounting threads there are HUNDREDS of people that have problems and are always asking for help. Not too many for Quickbooks.