Why is Now Up to Date broken?

Drew Reece wrote:

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I have found NUD 5.0.2 for Mac, is that the last release? The download page has fallen off the internet so I can't help (unless someone links to another version).

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Hi Drew,

I believe the last release was 5.3.2.

At least for the client programs.

From memory, the installer has three programs.

* Calander Application

* Contact Application

* Server

I have nudcm532.dmg and would be glad to share with you.

I just launched the installer:

See sections below in PINK

Also note, since version 5.3, it is Intel Mac Compatiable.

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Now Up-to-Date & Contact for Macintosh (NUDC-M)

5.3.2 ReadMe

Updated March 26, 2008

This Read Me document is divided into the following sections:

- What's New in 5.3.2?

- OS Compatibility Information

- Installation Instructions

- Version History

WHAT'S NEW IN 5.3.2

General

• QuickDay and QuickContact icons now appear and function properly on Leopard

• Corrects some scenarios where QuickContact experienced a delay in showing its menu on Leopard

Now Contact

• "Find A Hospital" web service fixed

Now Server Manager

• Fixed compatibility issue with Leopard where event servers could not be created or run properly

• Changed all occurrences of /Image to /image for event and contact servers, improving web publishing

• Fixed problem where the contact and/or event servers would not start up and would monopolize the CPU

OS COMPATIBILITY INFORMATION

Now Up-to-Date & Contact version 5.3.2 has been qualified on Mac OS X version

10.4 through 10.5, but not on Mac OS X Server v10.5 Leopard ("Leopard Server")

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

To install Now Up-to-Date & Contact 5.3.2, simply double-click on the installer and follow the instructions.

The default installation installs Now Contact, QuickContact, Now Up-to-Date, QuickDay and Palm conduits for Now Contact and Now Up-to-Date. To install Now Server Manager, click on the Customize button in the Installation Type window of the installer, and check Now Server Manager.

When you first launch Now Up-to-Date, you will be prompted to set Now Up-to-Date as your default iCalendar reader. If you elect to do so, clicking on iCalendar links online will cause Now Up-to-Date to launch and will add a connection to that iCalendar to your Now Up-to-Date file.

The installer places items in the following locations:

• /Applications/ contains Now Contact, Now Up-to-Date and Now Server Manager.

• /Library/Startup Items/NUDC/ contains supporting files for QuickContact and QuickDay

• /Library/Application Support/Now Software/ contains

- default QuickMerge Templates, Templates, Scripts and Web Services

- Now Up-to-Date & Contact Help files

- the eventserver and contactserver daemons, and the server database files

• ~/Library/Now User Data/ contains user-specific templates, scripts and web services.

• ~/Library/Preferences contains user plists and preferences.

A NUDC uninstaller script is available on the .dmg file in the Extras folder. In that same location, you can also find a script that will allow you to reset your default iCalendar reader back to iCal, and ReadMe files for both the uninstaller and the reset iCal script.

VERSION HISTORY

5.3.1

General

• Added new background color options in General preferences

• Changed plists from Power On Software to Now Software

Now Contact

• Added ability to dial via speaker

• Added some administrator scripts to move or copy comments to notes

• Fixed an issue where the port might not be selectable for dialing

• Fixed an issue with dialing preferences

• Fixed an issue where the number to call would not appear in the call dialog

• Fixed an issue where QuickMerge menu item could erroneously be grayed out

• Fixed an issue where Address Book Sync would attempt to open Now Contact after performing a sync

• Fixed an instance where an Applescript call that would return null could crash

• Fixed an issue where getting the preferred Address through Applescript would crash

• Fixed an issue where whose clauses in Applescript would produce an error

• Fixed an issue where generating an email on intel could cause a crash

Now Up-to-Date

• Fixed an issue where calendars on intel could print with errors of colored blocks

• Fixed display problem with Duplicates Preference pane on Intel Macs

• Fixed a crash that could occur when printing after a Schedule View print

• Fixed an issue where event edits to an offline server could be lost when server connection fails

Now Server Manager

• Fixed an issue where backups were not being created for servers imported from other computers

5.3

Now Contact

• Added Universal support (Intel Mac compatibility)

• Added long filename support for attached documents

• Fixed double selection in the custom fields dialog

• Fixed Unexpected Error that occurred when attaching documents to a contact

• Fixed the Scripts folder to be able to execute newer data fork based scripts

• Fixed the Open the Scripts Folder script

Now Up-to-Date

• Added Universal support (Intel Mac compatibility)

• Fixed the display of graphics in week view

• Fixed a condition that could lead to a crash when subscribed to multiple iCal servers

• Fixed the Scripts folder to be able to execute newer data fork based scripts

• Fixed the Open the Scripts Folder script

Now Server Manager

• Added Universal support (Intel Mac compatibility)

QuickContact

• Redesigned Find Contact window

Those release notes say the server is Intel, so it may be possible to launch it in 10.9.

Can you post a link to the dmg? I'll try to take a look later on a test system.

Temporary Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qjzx75kq3fiv8so/nudcm532.dmg

Thanks Leonard, it looks fine this end. I'll let you know how it looks later.

Does this download require a serial number?

MlchaelLAX wrote:

Does this download require a serial number?

I'm not sure, there was a 30 day trial version, I don't know if the above copy only runs with a SN.

The good news is that the server startup item is able to run & the 'nudcd' server will show in the list of running processes on 10.9. You need to show all processes in Activity Monitor to see it because it is a 'root owned' job.

I also disabled gatekeeper to allow the unsigned code to run.

tomas_r's post on this issue is correct about the startup item, but it is not the whole reason for these apps failing to run.

The bad news is that all 3 NUD Apps still fail to run, they simply display a splash screen & die quickly. I have looked through the logs in Console & there is no sign of any entries being created for this behavior.

• No syslog entries
• No diagnostic reports
• No crash logs
• No messages entries

I also installed Xcode in the vain hope that older frameworks could be installed, the trouble is that I cannot see anyway to get the older frameworks installed. I think the latest Xcode doesn't allow earlier OS support.

The only thing I can think to try is to Migrate from an older OS installation with NUDC and older Xcode installed & hope that some old supporting Xcode frameworks remain in place. I don't think this will work either, Apple know waht parts need to be removed in an update.

Frankly I cannot see NUDC working at all on 10.9 in its current state and I'm not capable enough to unpick what happens as it dies with Xcode's Instruments app or the other debugging tools.

The applications are 'i386' binaries that means they are 32 bit - 10.9 should be able to run 32 bit apps

(page 6 of https://www.apple.com/media/us/osx/2013/

docs/OSX_Mavericks_Core_Technology_Overview.pdf )

Apple Core Tech overview says:

OS X now exclusively uses a 64-bit kernel, but it continues to run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

I think the best bet is if you hunt down what happened to the NUDC app when the company folded - someone somewhere will have source code. If you are very lucky and very persistent you may find someone who can recompile the apps in a way that works on 10.9.

Start by looking for clues in the company records or the apps credits?

Personally I would look at ways of getting your data out of these apps right now, since the export tools seem to be disappearing (there was an iCal export script at one time). If you can find a way to save the data to a universal format it may save you a lot of trouble when the Mac that runs NUDC dies, I would repeat it once a month in an attempt to limit the amount of data that gets left behind if/when the Mac dies.

It's clear you all have a real need for this software, I don't know what the solution is besides keeping an older Mac alive to run it and attempting to limit the damage caused when it dies. Multiply that by how many users you need to support. VM's will work with the perfomance costs.

P.S. Here is a copy of the installer log from 10.9 - all packages were selected, you can see some errors that may help highlight some things that NUDC expects (the Carbon framework is mentioned).

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59660/NUDC%205%20install%20log.pdf

edited - split long URL: Drew Reece

This is sort of a wrap-up for me, and sort of a reply to trevorspy and Drew and Michael. Thanks to everyone for the really knowledgeable explanations that helped to understand they whys as well as the whats of this problem. Software developers like Apple clearly do need to be free to move their software in a different direction from what might have been able to support old applications. They go to reasonable lengths - most of the time! - to make sure that something you just bought will continue to work for a while. But for something that's not even being supported any more on the application side, well, I guess you can't fault them for not letting that stop them from changing course.

To trevorspy, who said "too bad you weren't able to come up with a way forward," I say forward, into the past! That was ultimately our "solution." We rolled back to Mountain Lion. All this crapping around to try to make a dead horse walk, just did not seem justified. Now, we're back in the idyllic past, where operating systems were named for animals, as they should be, and everything worked.

And now to just make sure we never buy a new computer again. 🙂

trevorpsy wrote:

I mentioned awhile back that it appears that the NUD code was ported to a Windows program called Calendar Scope. If you download the demo, you'll see that it looks eerily similiar to NUD. (I think virtually identical is the accurate description.) I played with it for a few minutes until I figured out that there was no way to import NUD data. I emailed them about this problem, and they never favored me with a reply.

Calendar Scope's site already covers what you can import…

http://www.calendarscope.com/help/import_export/about_imp_exp.htm

You'll probably have to do some finagling to reformat whatever you can get out of NUDC, but that task isn't going to get any easier as less of the tools exist and the users with experience disappear.

If Calendar Scope is good enough consider running it in Parallels - it has a 'coherency mode' that makes the Windows apps work like built in apps (but still use Windows UI). You will need a Windows licence. Microsoft also release trial versions in pre-built virtual machines designed to allow web developers to test IE compatability - you can use them to trial other software too.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575

http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/

Another option is 'Wine' or Crossover - which doesn't need a Windows licence but is probably more complex.

It WILL NOT RUN in 10.9 / Mavericks. Please read the posts in this thread before causing yourself needless heartache.

I have a simpler Now Up To Date question. I use the contact manager only and want to move my data - including my notes over to a newer program. When I do an export to a .vcf file and bring it into Address Book the notes are not included. I can export a contact as a txt file and bring it into Excell, but then is the question of what new program to use and how to do the import.

Has anyone found a way to migrate their Now Up To Date contact data and import into a new program?

Okay so, I still miss it. A lot. Like all the time. Can't find anything comparable to replace it. So....Just curious...Would anyone get on board and support a kickstarter initiation to get Now-Up-to-Date & NowContact back in business? Or at least get behind a third party to make it compatible with Mavericks (and so-on)??

And if the add-on had proven profitable, they could have it carried into Mavericks.

Might be worth your while checking basic facts.

Rosetta was developed by QuickTransit and Apple licensed it, then Rosetta was sold to Microsoft who ceased development and sales.. Hence no more Rosetta.

Supporting a few instances of 10 year old software from defunct vendors is a job for your IT company, I certainly don't want to see Apple descend to the Microsoft method of doing everything badly.

But you claim that your copy is a Universal, not a PPC, and as the machine requirements for Mavericks are the same as Mountain Lion you should be able to run NOW on it.

Are you sure it's Universal, I can't find any reference to a Universal version (unless you mean Contact X)