I use Agent only for Usenet--not for e-mail-- and I only visit text
newsgroups--no binaries, no html. I use it on the latest version of
Windows 11 Professional, and I use the server News.Individual.NET

I've been happy with Agent 6.0, which I've used for years, but I was
just thinking about whether I should consider upgrading to 8.0.

I went to https://www.forteinc.com/agent/index.php which says

"Forté has optimized and redesigned Agent 8 to work seamlessly with
large Usenet binaries. Now you can select, download and view large
Usenet binaries with just a single click. Agent will download, join,
and repair your binaries without requiring any 3rd party software."

That may be value to some people, but not to me. I have no interest in
Usenet binaries. The video on that page also didn't tell me anything
that convinced me I should upgrade.

So I thought I would ask here. Can somebody tell me about an
improvement, new feature, or fix that might make it worth my while to
upgrade? Yes, $19 to upgrade isn't a lot of money, but I don't want to
do it if I end up with what's effectively the same thing I had before.

All opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:

>So I thought I would ask here. Can somebody tell me about an
>improvement, new feature, or fix that might make it worth my while to
>upgrade? Yes, $19 to upgrade isn't a lot of money, but I don't want to
>do it if I end up with what's effectively the same thing I had before.

Similar situation here. Have been using Agent since the days of Free Agent and
happily upgraded as there were significant improvements with each release.
However, since I upgraded to 7.20 I said that was the last loyalty upgrade I was
going to do.

v7 has some nice improvements for multithreaded downloads and larger folder
sizes. The value of those depends on how much history you keep on your local
machine. v8 has some minor improvements for binaries, but filter expiration is
still a problem.

Given Usenet has been on life support for years, the market for Agent is
exceedingly small and shrinking every day. This makes the economics of upgrades
impossible. Open sourcing would be nice, but apparently Agent uses licensed
libraries that can't be released.

The release notes for each version are here. You can decide if it's worth
upgrading:

https://www.forteinc.com/release/index.php

--
Usenet: The world's first (and best) social network.

On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 15:44:54 -0600, Arthur Conan Doyle
<dont@bother.com> wrote:

>Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:
>
>>So I thought I would ask here. Can somebody tell me about an
>>improvement, new feature, or fix that might make it worth my while to
>>upgrade? Yes, $19 to upgrade isn't a lot of money, but I don't want to
>>do it if I end up with what's effectively the same thing I had before.
>
>Similar situation here. Have been using Agent since the days of Free Agent and
>happily upgraded as there were significant improvements with each release.
>However, since I upgraded to 7.20 I said that was the last loyalty upgrade I was
>going to do.
>
>v7 has some nice improvements for multithreaded downloads and larger folder
>sizes. The value of those depends on how much history you keep on your local
>machine. v8 has some minor improvements for binaries, but filter expiration is
>still a problem.
>
>Given Usenet has been on life support for years, the market for Agent is
>exceedingly small and shrinking every day. This makes the economics of upgrades
>impossible. Open sourcing would be nice, but apparently Agent uses licensed
>libraries that can't be released.
>
>The release notes for each version are here. You can decide if it's worth
>upgrading:
>
>https://www.forteinc.com/release/index.php

Thanks. I just looked at the notes for 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 8.0. I see
nothing that makes it look like I should upgrade. So unless someone
can convince me that I should, I'll continue to pass on it.

On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 16:42:21 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 15:44:54 -0600, Arthur Conan Doyle
><dont@bother.com> wrote:
>
>>Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:
>>
>>>So I thought I would ask here. Can somebody tell me about an
>>>improvement, new feature, or fix that might make it worth my while to
>>>upgrade?

snip

>
>Thanks. I just looked at the notes for 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 8.0. I see
>nothing that makes it look like I should upgrade. So unless someone
>can convince me that I should, I'll continue to pass on it.

How about for the collectability factor?

You'll have the last version ever done. LOL.

On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 17:20:38 -0800, BorkedBorg@13of9.com wrote:

>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 16:42:21 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 15:44:54 -0600, Arthur Conan Doyle
>><dont@bother.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>So I thought I would ask here. Can somebody tell me about an
>>>>improvement, new feature, or fix that might make it worth my while to
>>>>upgrade?
>
>
>snip
>
>
>>
>>Thanks. I just looked at the notes for 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 8.0. I see
>>nothing that makes it look like I should upgrade. So unless someone
>>can convince me that I should, I'll continue to pass on it.
>
>How about for the collectability factor?
>
>You'll have the last version ever done. LOL.

There is a bug in Agent 6 regarding encoding which was fixed in later versions.

Take a look here: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent/c/jUpaVjp4Hzo

On Tue, 06 Dec 2022 12:41:49 +0000, Me <Me@me.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 17:20:38 -0800, BorkedBorg@13of9.com wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 16:42:21 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 15:44:54 -0600, Arthur Conan Doyle
>>><dont@bother.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>So I thought I would ask here. Can somebody tell me about an
>>>>>improvement, new feature, or fix that might make it worth my while to
>>>>>upgrade?
>>
>>
>>snip
>>
>>
>>>
>>>Thanks. I just looked at the notes for 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 8.0. I see
>>>nothing that makes it look like I should upgrade. So unless someone
>>>can convince me that I should, I'll continue to pass on it.
>>
>>How about for the collectability factor?
>>
>>You'll have the last version ever done. LOL.
>
>There is a bug in Agent 6 regarding encoding which was fixed in later versions.
>
>Take a look here: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent/c/jUpaVjp4Hzo

That talks about a problem with html mail. As I said, I use Agent only
for Usenet, not e-mail.

Thanks anyway.

On Tue, 06 Dec 2022 07:59:32 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 06 Dec 2022 12:41:49 +0000, Me <Me@me.com> wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 17:20:38 -0800, BorkedBorg@13of9.com wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 16:42:21 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 15:44:54 -0600, Arthur Conan Doyle
>>>><dont@bother.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>So I thought I would ask here. Can somebody tell me about an
>>>>>>improvement, new feature, or fix that might make it worth my while to
>>>>>>upgrade?
>>>
>>>
>>>snip
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Thanks. I just looked at the notes for 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 8.0. I see
>>>>nothing that makes it look like I should upgrade. So unless someone
>>>>can convince me that I should, I'll continue to pass on it.
>>>
>>>How about for the collectability factor?
>>>
>>>You'll have the last version ever done. LOL.
>>
>>There is a bug in Agent 6 regarding encoding which was fixed in later versions.
>>
>>Take a look here: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent/c/jUpaVjp4Hzo
>
>That talks about a problem with html mail. As I said, I use Agent only
>for Usenet, not e-mail.
>
>Thanks anyway.

Oh yes. Sorry