Anyone try the preview of row pro 5?

[bisqeet]

It's on the download software page - only 70mb compared to 250 of 4.3

Just curious if it's workable or they want testers...

[Carl Watts]

You mean the Mac version ?

Cannot see V5 for the PC yet, V5 for the Mac has been out for a couple of months now.

Its fully functional for the Mac and it includes Online rowing.

http://www.digitalrowing.com/Products/software.html

Ahh ok my mistake, thats the preview version thats popped up so if its like the Mac preview version there will be no Online rowing as yet.

[bisqeet]

i'll answer my own question...
installed it on a seperate laptop -
looks a little different, no big optical changes - looks to be fully functional.
a few additions reagarding on-line rowing, which might please a few (Carl).

Looks at first glance much easier to setup an online row - using custom, normal plans already created (need to test).

no excuse not to row on-line - even if you are on your own.
didnt check the logbook integration, looks to be ok.

[bisqeet]

You mean the Mac version ?

Cannot see V5 for the PC yet, V5 for the Mac has been out for a couple of months now.

Its fully functional for the Mac and it includes Online rowing.

yes for windows - its the preview version
http://www.digitalrowing.com/Products/software.html

i guess its not the final version - but thats what preview is for.

easier to get out the bugs using the banana principle.

[Carl Watts]

Ok sounds good, I did feed Pete a whole list of things to add.

The whole package should move to an Online platform, no excuses really who doesn't have an internet connection these days ? The success of RowPro is based on the numbers using it online. The only way a new user can gauge the number of people using it is to be able to SEE who is using it from the scheduled rows and the results.

You can still exclude others by making the row "Private" or just set-up something and start rowing before anyone has a chance to join or you can opt to include others so no excuses really. I guess this also helps the RP LogBook immediately synchronise with the Concept 2 LogBook which is a bonus, no more manual uploads.

[rewarriner]

Due to problems with v4.3, I have been trying v5 preview for a month. Yesterday I paid $49 for the upgrade (already cross at having upgraded last year to v4.3 which kept freezing on my system). Immediately I entered my activation code v5 said it had expired! So I have lost my remaining trial period and uninstalling and reinstalling it doesn't help, clearly the key is hidden in the registry somewhere. This can only alienate legitimate customers. I also really worried that they are creating a support problem that a small company such as Digital River is unable to cope with concerning activation issues. They already seemed unable to devote the resources to fixing v4.3 when a MS update broke it for me and a number of other users.

On the plus side as I have mentioned elsewhere installing v5 somehow fixed v4.3 which now crashes less often.

[rewarriner]

Further to my last post Digital River have provided me with a new licence number as the previous one had already expired. I don't understand how a perpetual licence can expire nor how their system can issue a licence number that has already expired. At least all is OK at the moment.

[Carl Watts]

No problems at all with V4.3 with Windows 10, perhaps I have been lucky. Not keen to jump to the preview version of V5, will wait for a full release I think, got enough problems fixing other things at present without that playing up as well.

[Gaitskell]

Can the version rowpro 5 preview and the 4.3 co-exist on the same laptop?

Specifically, does installing the 5.0 preview stop 4.3 form working? Are their licensing complications?

Thanks, Rick

[Livio Livius]

The game is changing seriously next years. Look at what Trainerroad and Zwift have done with indoor cycling community. The same will happen with RowPro. They have to create a really online platform / app.

[Carl Watts]

The game is changing seriously next years. Look at what Trainerroad and Zwift have done with indoor cycling community. The same will happen with RowPro. They have to create a really online platform / app.

RowPro is an online platform but 90% of users chose NOT to row online. The majority of users do not like the perceived "Competitive" nature of online rowing and think everything online is a "Race". The new V5 version has tried to provide a more direct path to rowing online instead of practically hiding it.

There is already plans for an APP, its on their website.

http://www.digitalrowing.com/Pricing/index.html

Basically they wasted WAY TOO MUCH TIME developing the Mac version and should have skipped it entirely and got the Android and iOS Apps running as a "Lite" package. Basically dump all the background stuff, like the training plans, the analysis and just kept the LogBook and made it Online ONLY. The needed to get the product to market and then fiddle with the extra bits if they had time, which they don't have now trying to support multiple OS and constant new Microsoft OS releases.

There is unfortunately a possibility they have left the door open to another developer. You may think this is good but it isn't. The whole online rowing clearly only appeals to a very small percentage of Concept 2 users so buy splitting or spreading this tiny user base over different packages you will find yourself rowing by yourself online.

[Euroman]

Can the version rowpro 5 preview and the 4.3 co-exist on the same laptop?

Specifically, does installing the 5.0 preview stop 4.3 form working? Are their licensing complications?

I've installed RowPro 5.0.6 together with RP 4.3 on the same laptop. RP5 installs into a different program folder and has a different licence key that you obtain from your Digital Rowing account. I found that it was best to restart when changing from one version of RowPro to another. I have since removed RP5 and RP4 continues to work.

Even though RP5.0.6 has a fix to allow it to work with the PM5 V22 firmware, I found that I needed to downgrade to V20 firmware. In general I liked the ease of use of RP5, though it is currently missing all the features of RP4. I also had problems seeing other rowers in online rows, so for that reason I removed it, I sent Digital Rowing my observations and log file. I will give the next version a try when available. I'm running Windows 10.

[john_n]

I'm using RowPro 5 for the Mac and loving it. The biggest reason I like it is because up until now, for many years I had to use a dedicated computer with Microsoft Windows installed just to run RowPro.

Then I switched from a PC running Microsoft Windows, to a Mac Mini for the same version of RowPro for Windows, by installing virtual machine software (Parallels) on the Mac Mini and running Microsoft Windows inside that virtual machine.

One advantage of the virtual machine running Windows on a Mac is that the Mac Mini uses much less power to do the same thing. It uses about 18 watts when idle and a very maximum of 85 watts if doing something which would use its full computing capacity. In contrast, the Windows PC had a 300 watt power supply and was always warm to the touch, even when idle. The Mac Mini is never warm to the touch, even if it has RowPro running in Microsoft Windows in a virtual machine while it simultaneously runs the Mac operating system, OS X.

But with RowPro 5 for the Mac, I now run RowPro directly on the Mac Mini without need for virtual machine software and all the extra work of backing up the virtual machine and all the attention Microsoft Windows needed every week or several times weekly to update it, defrag its disk, etc.

With RowPro 5 for the Mac, it "just works," relatively speaking and I have a lot more time on my hands not dealing with the virtual machine and Microsoft Windows.

The only little thing that doesn't currently work for me with RowPro 5 for the Mac is that when I row online, which I do most of the time, the voice doesn't work, that is supposed to be there to announce "Prepare to start!" and then to say "ROW!" when the race begins. The programmers at RowPro say it is because I'm using a 2012 vintage Mac and that there is no problem with the sound of the voice working if RowPro 5 for the Mac is run on a 2013 or newer Mac. The sound on that 2012 Mac Mini works for everything else, including music, videos, all of the appropriate sound effects etc.... I imagine that RowPro 5 has a couple of sound files for each of those two sounds it is suppose to broadcast from the speaker at the start of an online rowing session and that the sound files are either not being triggered or their outputs are not being fed to the right input in OS X... but I'm no programmer so I can't dive into the RowPro software and tweak it for the sound to work like it should.

So... even though I greatly miss hearing the voice say "ROW!" as my cue to pull the first stroke, I am getting used to focusing on the screen and using the visual display, instead of auditory, as my cue to begin.

And all-in-all I totally "love" RowPro 5 for the Mac.