PhotoByte experience?

digital faerie

I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with the PhotoByte software written by Tom Zimberoff. It came with his "Focus on Profit" book. I found the PhotoByte website, and apparently it has an online forum, but it never seems to be up and running. It appears to be a Yahoo group.

I did a dgrin search for "photobyte" and "photo byte" with no results.

The main thing is that I'm having some visual issues with the software itself, and it seems to be a bit glitchy.

OR, does anyone use another business management software that they like a lot? So far, PhotoByte doesn't seem to like Windows XP too much.

So any feedback/discussion on this topic would be wonderful! :thumb

Thanks in advance.

Mike Lane

digital faerie wrote:

I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with the PhotoByte software written by Tom Zimberoff. It came with his "Focus on Profit" book. I found the PhotoByte website, and apparently it has an online forum, but it never seems to be up and running. It appears to be a Yahoo group.

I did a dgrin search for "photobyte" and "photo byte" with no results.

The main thing is that I'm having some visual issues with the software itself, and it seems to be a bit glitchy.

OR, does anyone use another business management software that they like a lot? So far, PhotoByte doesn't seem to like Windows XP too much.

So any feedback/discussion on this topic would be wonderful!

Thanks in advance.

Perhaps the software in the book was outdated? Try going here http://zimberoff.com/photobyte.htm to see if there is a more up-to-date version of the software. I've never used it but it looks like it could be quite interesting.

sludge01

I tried it, but didn't like it. When you use it, you're confined to a very small window... about 640x480, maybe 800x600... At any rate, nowhere near filling your screen. Honestly, do any photographers work at those resolutions? I can't imagine it.

Such

sludge01 wrote:

I tried it, but didn't like it. When you use it, you're confined to a very small window... about 640x480, maybe 800x600... At any rate, nowhere near filling your screen. Honestly, do any photographers work at those resolutions? I can't imagine it.

I just read about PhotoByte, and decided to download it.

I use a Mac, and was not able to get the program to even start up.

I wrote Tom to inquire about it.

To which he wrote back:
---
If you would join the on-line group as I have asked all users of the software to do, you would have been apprised of a plug-in fix months ago and saved me from having to answer this inquiry over and over.
---

This came across very condescending, and I wrote Tom back stating just that! I told him I hope he is better with dealing with customers in his photo business than he was at support for his program.

I never heard of Tom before this program, and have sense done a little research, and found out that Tom is a pretty good photographer, but maybe just caught him on an off day.

digital faerie

Such wrote:

I just read about PhotoByte, and decided to download it.

I use a Mac, and was not able to get the program to even start up.

I wrote Tom to inquire about it.

To which he wrote back:
---
If you would join the on-line group as I have asked all users of the software to do, you would have been apprised of a plug-in fix months ago and saved me from having to answer this inquiry over and over.
---

This came across very condescending, and I wrote Tom back stating just that! I told him I hope he is better with dealing with customers in his photo business than he was at support for his program.

I never heard of Tom before this program, and have sense done a little research, and found out that Tom is a pretty good photographer, but maybe just caught him on an off day.

wow, what an a$$! I agree with you, that came off as pretty condescending. I guess you are supposed to be a mind-reader to know that you were supposed to join a forum. I don't remember seeing that anywhere in the "read-me" file when I installed it, do you? I have also found the search function on the yahoo group is iffy at best, so even if you had searched for it, who knows what you would've come up with for results.

I was finally able to get into the forum, and when I asked a question, all I got was that I needed to sign my name in order to get a reply (and I'm thinking, why the hell does that matter?!?)

after being on the dgrin forum, I'm quite spoiled and expect all people in the online world to act very nice and gracious as we all do here.

*sigh*

I'm still unsure about Photobyte myself. I'm sure it has potential, but until I start using it more in depth, I just don't know yet.

digital faerie

sludge01 wrote:

I tried it, but didn't like it. When you use it, you're confined to a very small window... about 640x480, maybe 800x600... At any rate, nowhere near filling your screen. Honestly, do any photographers work at those resolutions? I can't imagine it.

yeah, I actually have to change my monitor display settings to that just to make the program seem like a more "normal" size, it's a bit of a pain.

Kevyn

Yuck
While looking for books, I saw Zimberoff's "Photography: Focus on Profit" and read reviews on it. It mentioned this software, so I checked out a few screenshots. It is very amateurish looking. It may have decent functionality (can't say), but it's interface is just butt-ugly - this guy AIN'T no GUI programmer! As an IT guy sidelining in photography (my past profession) I would rather pay money for something that instills confidence, such as Photo One (just looked at it today as well). Of course, Zimberoff's free program is a lot cheaper than $1000 for a single user license of higher end software, but as my Daddy always said, you get what you pay for. Sure would be nice if Mr. Z. released his free software as open source so someone else could clean up the interface.

Considering my advice is free as well, take it for what it's worth...

Kevyn