[cuckoo5]

please can someone explain,, in simple way,,, the difference between 'web version' and windows version. are there other versions of BBO too. Which version should I be using, and what is the reason for using different versions. many thanks

[helene_t]

The windows version requires a download/install and runs only on windows. The web version just needs a browser (with the flash plugin).

The windows version is getting phased out because the technology is outdated. Nowadays users expect software to run in a browser. And they expect it to run on Mac (and Linux), not only Windows.

The windows version has not been updated for several years. So you probably should use the web version as it has more features, fever bugs, and is faster.

Some users have specific reasons for using the windows version, either because of taste or because they value some of the features the web version lacks (such as local chat logging).

In addition to the windows and web clients there is also a mobile client which you can get from Apple's AppStore or Google Play (for Android).

[1eyedjack]

I suspect that the windows download client is of no use to you, because as I recall you had to have set up your BBO ID before a certain date in order for it to work at all.

[barmar]

That's correct. The old version can only be used by accounts created before Sept 2012.

[barmar]

As announced here, we will be retiring the old, Windows version of BBO starting in February 2017. For users still using the old version, we understand this will be a shock to the system. We've created a guide that will hopefully help with the transition. We will also listen to serious requests about missing features. So if there's something that is really hindering your transition, here is your place to say something.

Please try to keep this to showstoppers. We're aware of the minor cosmetic differences, for instance.

[Infidel]

even if I am the lone voice in the wilderness, I object to the phase out: I have had the opportunity for many years to play with either system, and have "voted with my feet" for the windows version. I have tried the web version only a few times, but each time got frustrated and left it. I fully understand the lack of updates and maintenance, which will eventually render it unusable, but would really like to stay there until the bitter (natural) end, not a unilateral cutoff. I (obviously) will try to make the transition, but it will immeasurably lessen my enjoyment of the site.

[StevenG]

Thoroughly bad news

[patroclo]

For opening the old lin files, are there different ways, except than to use the Windows version ?

[diana_eva]

patroclo, on 2016-November-03, 14:50, said:

For opening the old lin files, are there different ways, except than to use the Windows version ?

You will still be able to open files, you just won't be able to log in anymore.

There's a lin converter on web too, if you wish to use the files on BBO (look in My BBO > Hands and Results > Import lin file).

[1eyedjack]

Purely out of curiosity, I would be interested to know some stats.

Such as, how many users currently stick to the Windows client, in absolute terms and relative to others?

And such as, just how much does it cost BBO to allow such users to continue to use the Windows client? Certainly it costs nothing in maintenance and support, since it does not provide any. So I am expecting it is just down to the cost of bandwidth?

PS - Speaking as a long since (happy) convert to the web version, by the way, after a LONG time committed to the Windows version.

I am, by the way, far more interested to know how the web version is going to survive the foretold demise of Flash.

[johnu]

The Windows client hand display is about 15-20 years ahead of the Web version. This is basically the OKBridge interface with fancier graphics which was OK for something from the early days of the internet. I've suggested several times that the Web version have options to:

1) Display dummy in columns by suit
2) Have the ability to rotate yourself to the South position (or declarer or original South) like the Windows client

Other suggestions:
3) Add sounds/voice as in the Windows client
4) Add drag and drop to play cards instead of clicking which is much more likely to result in user error.

For me, the Windows client is 10X better experience than the web version, even though it hasn't been updated for 8 years. If I want to use some of the new features, I can open the web version. The playing experience is where 90% of development should go IMHO, as everything else is peripheral stuff, and I don't see that the playing environment has changed in years.

[jandrew]

This will cause significant, perhaps fatal, problems to the tournaments run by the Acol Club.

I will restart the exchange of emails which we have had previously about this (which failed to find a way to manage our expectation of using the new software) in the course of the next few days, with a greater determination to find a manageable solution - even if it lasts for only a few years.

[45524]

I also find the Windows version far superior to the web interface. More importantly, I will not, in fact cannot, use Flash Player, which causes my touchpad mouse to behave erratically for several minutes at a time. If the Windows version must be retired (no longer practical to support it?), could this please at least wait until an HTML 5 version of the web version is available?

[Kaitlyn S]

Hi - this is a general question and probably doesn't belong here except that if the answer is 'you can't improve on your suggestion' it really does belong here for old time BBO bridge teachers.

A friend told me that he could teach on BBO by saving a bridge movie, open a teaching table, and send the movie to the screen so his students could play it. I tried to find similar functionality in the web version of BBO and this is what I did:

I went to Deal Source and under Advanced, I typed the entire deal in after the deal "predeal:.

For example:

predeal south SAQ542, HKJ87, D32, CAK
west SKJT, HAQT, D654, CQJT9
north S987, H965, D987, C8765
east S63, H432, DAKQJT, C432

(clearly this is crap and not a teaching deal )

Then when the students sat at the table, a hand was dealt but it was not the predealt hand. I hit 'redeal' and the correct hand came up.

Is there an easier way to get a specified deal to your table?

I also noticed a 'Use saved deals' tab. I'm not sure what it's looking for, but I had one entry "My Favorite Hands" but the "Select" was greyed out. Is there a way to get a file of PBN's into a selectable format?

I would think that bridge teachers using the client could make up deals beforehand by clicking the cards they wanted in the "Bridge Movie" tab and save them to be used later at a teaching table, and many probably do just that. I hope that the functionality will be there for them after the client goes away. If it's easy to create "saved deals", I would assume this would work. Any help or documentation on how to do this would be greatly appreciated. If the answer is "it's much harder to do now", then you are going to have lots of BBO teachers squawking about the loss of the client.

[johnu]

Who is considered a "premium" player? Does that apply only if you are playing a "paid" game, or if you have played in paid games in the past, can all your play be done on the windows client?

[scarletv]

Setup of tournaments with uploaded player lists will no longer work. That is a problem especially for clubs. The black and white lists in the web version cant be used as substitute.

Download of hands for teaching/training purpose still not working. It must be possible to export them as file.

[diana_eva]

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-November-03, 16:57, said:

Hi - this is a general question and probably doesn't belong here except that if the answer is 'you can't improve on your suggestion' it really does belong here for old time BBO bridge teachers.

A friend told me that he could teach on BBO by saving a bridge movie, open a teaching table, and send the movie to the screen so his students could play it. I tried to find similar functionality in the web version of BBO and this is what I did:

I went to Deal Source and under Advanced, I typed the entire deal in after the deal "predeal:.

For example:

predeal south SAQ542, HKJ87, D32, CAK
west SKJT, HAQT, D654, CQJT9
north S987, H965, D987, C8765
east S63, H432, DAKQJT, C432

(clearly this is crap and not a teaching deal )

Then when the students sat at the table, a hand was dealt but it was not the predealt hand. I hit 'redeal' and the correct hand came up.

Is there an easier way to get a specified deal to your table?

I also noticed a 'Use saved deals' tab. I'm not sure what it's looking for, but I had one entry "My Favorite Hands" but the "Select" was greyed out. Is there a way to get a file of PBN's into a selectable format?

I would think that bridge teachers using the client could make up deals beforehand by clicking the cards they wanted in the "Bridge Movie" tab and save them to be used later at a teaching table, and many probably do just that. I hope that the functionality will be there for them after the client goes away. If it's easy to create "saved deals", I would assume this would work. Any help or documentation on how to do this would be greatly appreciated. If the answer is "it's much harder to do now", then you are going to have lots of BBO teachers squawking about the loss of the client.

You can upload deals from My BBO > Hands and Results > Recent tourneys (or Recent Hands) at a teaching or bidding table if, for example, you want to go over some hands you just played.

You can set constraints to the dealer by clicking Deal Source and then choose who deals, distribution, HCP, etc.

You can create deals from scratch by clicking My BBO> Hands and Results > Hand Editor and save them to your hand folders (either in My Favorite or in new folders, you can create your own folders of hands).

If you already have the deals in lin format, you can convert them to web format and save them in your folders to be used when needed (My BBO > Hands and Results > Import LIN file)

There's a teaching section in the Help files here: http://www.bridgebase.com/help/v2help/

[Kaitlyn S]

diana_eva, on 2016-November-03, 18:17, said:

(the answer)

Thank you very much! I knew there was a reason I nominated you for most helpful poster

[Pertinax]

johnu, on 2016-November-03, 16:00, said:

4) Add drag and drop to play cards instead of clicking which is much more likely to result in user error.

Drop and drag is the last thing you want. It's hell on the wrist and the easiest way to carpal tunnel syndrome.

[Pertinax]

The Windows Client has a much better interface, more features like Rubber Bridge, and doesn't use Adobe Flash which buggy and a serious security risk that everybody else is moving away from not to. For 8 years you've been promising upgrades to add features to Browser client to make it as good as the Windows Client but have done nothing. That is why after 8 years of trying to stop people using the Windows Client it's still in use. Now you are forcing people to use something inferior and you will destroy all the communities that have been built up using it.

I play mostly Rubber so won't be here much anymore.