It's time again for the periodic "Is ProMash Alive?" thread. It comes up time to time, and I figured it was my turn to start it. I figure with the whole six degrees of separation thing, someone on these forums knows Jeffrey Donovan personally. But even if not, perhaps a friend of a friend has some info as to where the program stands? There were rumors of an update a couple years ago, but nothing came of it. Anyway, I'm too loyal by half. I won't change programs so long as I can make this one work. It's modifiable enough to still be useful. I'm just curious as to any scuttlebutt that might have been heard. FYI, I do have an email in to Jeffrey as well. Thanks!
From all the things I've heard, ProMash is dead, never to be updated again. I have the same loyal feelings to another dead software, StrangeBrew 1.8. I have almost 1000 recipes in my database and I will continue to use it until it becomes impossible. It is simply the very best... and I've tried many looking for a better replacement. There just is none better.
I'm still using ProMash as well. Too much effort and not enough reward to switch. I've got a copy of BeerSmith, but never took the time to really make it work for my setup/brain.
I am in the same boat as OldSock. 10 years and no compelling reason to switch so far. It even runs fine on my Linux laptop through Wine.
Another 10+ years using Promash. I tried Beersmith a couple of years back and switched back to Promash after one recipe.
Same here. Still using Promash. Close to 8 years now. I just update what I need. To bad it never got updated. Solid product! Cheers!
I can see how easy it is to get stuck on one form of software, be it because you are accustomed with it and/or you have lots of recipes saved in it. Heck even moving from beersmith 1 to beersmith 2 was frustrating for me at first. Glad I did though, as beersmith 2 is much better once you get to know the ins and outs of it. But once a software program is no longer supported or updated I would like to think I'd force myself to leap to another one. I'd hate to have to keep adding ingredients every year and or jumping through other hoops to try and keep the program somewhat relevant.
Thing is, the math doesn't change, so the formulas should be the same as well. Unless there's some breakthrough in brewing science from out of the blue, that will always be the case. When 2+2=4 no matter which program you use, there's no need to jump to another program for that. I tried BeerSmith, and while I'm certain it is a fine program that does what it is intended to do, it felt completely and totally "off" to me. Nothing made sense in the layout. I understand that's because I know my way around ProMash, but then that's exactly why I want to keep it. I don't mind adding grains or hops to the ProMash database, either. That's one of the things that drew me to the program way back when, it's easy expandability. Another fan of the program shared his ingredient databases a couple years ago to help people catch up, and adding things yourself couldn't be easier. So none of that concerns me as much as familiarity with the program and the "feel" of the layout, the intuitiveness that I don't get at all from BeerSmith. My hope with this post - albeit a slim one - was to find that Jeffrey was still supporting this for things like OS changes, etc. At the very least I was hoping he was still supporting new sales for those who want a solid easy to use brewing program with a logical layout. It doesn't seem like that's the case. I supposed I'll have to make the change when I do finally upgrade to Windows 10, if it fails to work. But I'll go kicking and screaming. ProMash has been everything I could ever want in a computer program - simple to use, sensible and intuitive GUI, accurate, expandable, adjustable. After many years of no activity on it, I'm not surprised it's apparently close to defunct. But I'm still disappointed.
Well, something is going on at the Promash site. I went to their homepage and got" The full ProMash website will be back on 06-01-2015" Maybe Jeff got his act together. I'm still a loyal user. I have an iMac and use Wineskin to run the program. Bill Tobler Brewing Great Beer in South Texas
Okay thanks. I will look into that. I wonder if anyone has an old copy of Promash I could buy, or does it have to be registered through the old site? Anyway I will look at Brewcipher in the mean time. Thanks
