B-Liner revisited

Started by Stephen Zeoli on 6/18/2012
Stephen Zeoli 6/18/2012 2:41 pm
Hi, folks,

For the heck of it I just checked on the web site for B-Liner and was surprised to see that it has had a face lift -- the web site and (possibly) the software. The last iteration of B-Liner I'd seen was called B-Liner 2002. Now they call it B-Liner 6, but I can't tell if there has really been an update. I suspect not, since there is no mention of new features on the web site, but I was wondering if anyone here might have heard. Alexander, I know you have a license for B-Liner. Maybe they sent you a notice.

Anyway, this has always been a tool that has intersted me. If, indeed, it is revitalized, that would be welcome news.

Here's the URL: http://www.bliner.com/

Steve Z.
Alexander Deliyannis 6/20/2012 3:32 pm
Steve, I noticed indeed the change in the installation file about a year or more ago; I don't recall the radical change in the website then.

As far as I understand, it is no new version of the software, just an update to work with newer versions of Windows, i.e. probably a recompilation of the original code. The graphics, fonts etc are identical to previous versions.
Stephen Zeoli 6/20/2012 3:50 pm
Thanks for the intel, Alexander. I thought that might be the case. It's too bad B-Liner isn't being developed. It's an interesting application. Do you use it much?

Steve Z.
Alexander Deliyannis 6/20/2012 4:11 pm
I used it very much in the past as a hierarchical spreadsheet. In fact, "hierarchical spreadsheet" is the search term I had put in Google which lead me to it. For developing project budgets I couldn't find anything more convenient.

However, in recent years I found it broke down often (probably due to its older code compilation) and I grew frustrated with its inability to export to some convenient format. Then I found OpenMind (now renamed to MindView) a mind mapping software with good arithmetic functionality and switched to that, as it can export to well formatted Excel, including the full hierarchy of sub/totals.