[peterjoh]

I bought this BridgeBase software (for Windows) back in about 2007, and although the user interface is naturally very dated I still find it the best way to practise declarer play. However, it has a security check on startup which requires that the CD has to be loaded. But by (I think) Windows 8, this stopped working, so I couldn't use it. However, after much experimentation I found that I could make it work by running it in a guest XP system using Oracle's VirtualBox. This has continued to work up to and including Windows 10, but with my new laptop running Windows 11 I have not been able to make it work. (The picture of Dave comes up, but then I get "bookview.exe has stopped working", which I think means that it hasn't recognised the CD, although the CD drive is known to the guest system.) This is very disappointing as I will have to migrate my desktop to Win 11 in due course.

I wonder whether anyone has found a way to make it work under Win11? Or is there any prospect of its being re-released? It will be a pity to lose this excellent aid.

Peter

[BTW I worked with Dave Bird at IBM for many years, but unfortunately I'm not in contact with him]

[barmar]

There's no prospect of it being re-released. We have no Windows programmers, and no longer support any of the standalone BridgeBase software.

[pescetom]

I imagine your best chance is to find (on ebay or whatever) a used PC with Windows 7 and run it there.

[peterjoh]

pescetom, on 2023-August-11, 15:14, said:

I imagine your best chance is to find (on ebay or whatever) a used PC with Windows 7 and run it there.

Or perhaps I'll look into dual boot. If it works, it won't be too onerous to choose which system at boot time.