SuperMemo 8.0 beta-testing program

You can no longer download SuperMemo 8 from this page. To obtain SuperMemo 8 do the following:

1. Download SuperMemo 8 from SuperMemo 8 Download Page.
2. Order SuperMemo 8 from SuperMemo 8 Order Page
3. Use the password obtained via e-mail to run SM8ZIP.EXE.
4. Run SM8.EXE.

(all beta-testers that completed the program by sending in their quesionnaires have obtained the password for free via e-mail)

In beta-testing of SuperMemo 8, we had 135 international registrants who submitted 183 beta-testing reports and contributed to removing 78 major bugs from the program! Although we used to invest in larger-scale non-Internet beta testing, this was our best beta-testing program ever! Among optimistic facts about beta-testing was an overwhelming proportion of international beta-testers (93%) from countries as remote as Malaysia and Singapore. Also the overwhelming proportion of beta-testers were highly satisfied with the program. Surprisingly, most criticism came from former users of SuperMemo 7 who find it difficult to adapt to new technologies implemented in SuperMemo 8.

Here is the detailed list of bugs and new features implemented in the course of beta-testing SuperMemo (February 25, 1997 - June 12, 1997). Come here soon for the results of beta-testing questionnaire distributed among beta-testers.

Bug fixes

Beta A Feb 25

1. See History of SuperMemo 8 Development for new features introduced to SuperMemo 8 as compared with earlier pre-release versions.

Beta B Mar 6

1. Cannot find optimization record would be reported upon creating a new system in read-only mode
2. Sound preview would not work on importing sound files to sound registry if one of registry files was playing
3. Changing title in the browser would mess up display if title column was moved
4. Default font color would not immediately be visible upon creating Classic Template
5. Append Node with empty Root and Hook would result in errors
6. Changing Default Template in Options would not save it in Append Node file
7. In dragging a new component, its size would be wrong if the second click was above and to the left of the first click
8. Forgetting index equal to default value would always be filtered by item filters
9. Element ListBox would be still visible even if texts have changed in registry combo box
10. After loading an empty subset, closing the browser would report errors
11. On detecting Genius knowledge system format, the user would have no way to abort the upgrade to SuperMemo 8

Beta C Mar 17

1. Recording problems have been fixed by patching a bug in Delphi Visual Component Library source code
2. SuperMemo would illegally attempt to register KNO extension in Windows NT user mode
3. Skip Frames if Behind for Video for Windows would not be set correctly
4. Localization table option would not accept language name if TRA file was not created beforehand
5. Navigation Toolbar would remain available during student test
6. ParentElement=0 bug would be reported occasionally at loading Classic Template
7. Searching registries would cause errors in read-only mode
8. Genius 2.0 systems would not open directly from CD-ROM
9. Spell-Pad variants terminated with question mark would occasionally be misinterpreted
10. Contents window would not allow customized fonts (e.g. Polish fonts)
11. #0, #1 and #26 characters in registry member names would cause errors in searching registries
12. Searching the last registry subset would produce empty result
13. Replace All in registry subset would do a global replace

Beta D Apr 2

1. Conflicting access to SM8.INI would result in serious instability of the program
2. Mercy on the first day of the process would occasionally fail
3. Double click on a registry member would duplicate the list of topics in the topic window
4. Bitmaps imported from SuperMemo 7 in CD-ROM mode would not show up on the screen
5. Play On Click value would be wrongly reported if it was zero
6. Repeated import from SuperMemo 7 would not create appropriate hierarchy tree
7. Dangling 'Other' node created in filtered import from SuperMemo 7 would not be registered among dismissed elements
8. GPF would be displayed if 'No' was chosen in response to "Do you want to create ...?" in reference to the last knowledge system on the pick list of the File menu

Beta E Apr 25

1. Searching for titles in the browser would not work
2. A newly created empty knowledge system would report wrong parent element at File : Export : As Text
3. Hyperlink option would not accept 0 as a way of deleting the hyperlink
4. Space in the Spell-Pad would always be accepted as a correct answer
5. SuperMemo icon would not show up on Windows 95 desktop
6. Spell-pads could not be dragged
7. Import files button was inaccessible in registries
8. Some Element window options would become inactive on switching focus to the main toolbar

Beta F May 23

1. Edit file on component pop-up menu would not duplicate the file in primary storage
2. Random change on an empty registry would cause an error
3. Font changing option would not be disabled in non-font registries
4. Deleting deeply nested branches of knowledge hierarchy would cause stack overflow
5. Align : Vertical : Center in window would not be accurate
6. Search and Replace would be available in registries in learn-only mode
7. Template : Load From File With Objects would hang the program if one of the objects was missing
8. Double click on a hierarchy leave would not switch the focus to the element window
9. Commit would be available on an element deleted in the browser
10. Double click on a hierarchy leave would not switch the focus to the element window
11. File browser would display the current date instead of the file time stamp
12. Providing *.* in Import File would report an error
13. Operation Add as Last Child in Contents would occasionally cause Index Out of Bounds error
14. When turning to simplified SuperMemo (hidden and translated) the hints would be permanently turned off
15. Minimizing the element window in hidden SuperMemo would not minimize the status bar
16. Newly introduced status bas in hidden SuperMemo would eat up windows resources
17. Hidden SuperMemo would keep statistics icon visible though unusable
18. Process window would not be updated correctly during hierarchy operations
19. Outstanding bar would use Total instead of Pending+Memorized as the measure of the proportion of the material learned
20. Circular references in orphaned hierarchy branches would be unrecoverable!
21. The element and contents windows would not be updated correctly after Search&Replace
22. Memorizing new items would not affect the appearance of the outstanding repetitions bar
23. Cancel in importing multiple files to registry would report a registry error
24. Import button in registries would not be disabled in registries that do not import object files
25. Outstanding repetitions bar would be invisible for Outstanding 0+x if the day started with Outstanding 0+0
26. Focus would occasionally remain with the element window upon activating Contents window with a mouse
27. Tab would select the next component even if the current component were not in the editing mode

Beta G May 31

1. Editing would be possible in LearnOnly mode with mouse click
2. Editing titles in the Contents windows could result in wrong title registration
3. Using element pop-up menu in browsers would bring the element window to front
4. Opening new knowledge system in hidden SuperMemo would not update the status bar caption
5. In final drill with topics, status bar would not be updated correctly after the last repetition
6. Changing append node from the toolbar would occasionally cause non-fatal errors
7. Drag-and-drop would occasionaly report List index out of bounds due to a bug in Delphi Visual Component Library.
8. Fatal errors would often result in an attempt to run File : Recover on a system that had not been subject to a crash.
9. Template : Load From File with Objects would duplicate fonts in the registry.
10. Delete in the Contents window would occassionaly lose the synch between the database structure and the displayed tree resulting in multiple errors in a given session.
11. Previous Topic would lock the system if there were no topics.
12. Timer button would start the timer from the current repetition time even after resetting the timer.

Final release June 12

1. Save as default would misplace windows with negative coordinates

New features

The following new features have been added to SuperMemo 8 in the course of the beta-testing program (Feb-June 1997):

1. File Find in file browser
2. File browser can be used in determining the secondary storage path
3. Templates with spelling components can also be used in importing from SuperMemo 7
4. Delete file on component pop-up menu first removes the file from the primary storage (acting as file editing undo)
5. Review will initially review only pending items, and only then, upon request will circulate indefinitely over memorized items of the reviewed node
6. File : Reset : Knowledge system will move topics automatically dismissed in the learning process back to the pending queue
7. File : Reset : Knowledge system linearizes the pending queue (the previous function without linearization is preserved as File : Rest : All items)
8. Contents and element windows as well as the classic template size down automatically for lower VGA resolutions (down to 640x400)
9. Importing second SuperMemo 7 database in CD-ROM or CD-ROM Alias mode warns the user about path conflict
10. Repetition meters in the status bar
11. Optional floating status bar in hidden SuperMemo
12. Multiple file import to registry
13. New file browser with a number of useful options (file delete, file execute, file attribute viewing, etc.)
14. Spell-Pads can optionally be case-sensitive
15. Repetition progress bar visible at the bottom of the element window
16. Tip of the Day on startup
17. A drag-and-drop operation Transplant children for transplanting all descendants of one hierarchy node to another node
18. Customizable font in the Contents window
19. Timer Reset button

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