Release candidate 1

Greetings helpdeskers,

This week PRD Software has released HelpMaster Pro release candidate 1.

This is a huge milestone in the history of PRD Software and HelpMaster Pro.  If we’ve been a bit quite on the web front, it because we’ve been busy…really busy.  It’s been a while since we last released a major version of software and the reason behind this is because we’ve spent the last few years totally re-writing and re-architecting the way we develop and deliver software.

One of the things that’s kept us so busy is that the core code of HelpMaster Pro v8 has been converted to 100% Microsoft .net technology.  It’s been a big learning curve, but we believe that the investment in time, money and developer hours spent on HelpMaster Pro v8 has been well worth it.  Not only is the product using the latest in development technology, it’s faster, stronger and looks a whole lot better – especially the web interface.

From now on, you can expect product releases from PRD Software a lot more regularly now.  By far the bulk of our time has been in converting HelpMaster Pro into the new .net language, refining our build and deployment process (big thanks goes to Final Builder), learning the new features and syntax of SQL Server 2005, .net obfuscation, Unicode cryptography, AJAX technology, and some good old fashioned graphic design (along with a complete PDC server re-build and network re-architecture).  Now that the basic .net conversion is complete, we’re eager to start work on the new and exciting features that have been in the pipeline for some time now.

That’s not to say that HelpMaster Pro v8 doesn’t have something new to offer!  For a list of what’s new in HelpMaster Pro v8, check out the “What’s new” section of our new website.

If you haven’t done so already, please download it and give it a go and be sure to tell us what you think – we’re listening.