A Special Update
Dress Shop 9.02

Over the years, a variety of evolutionary issues have grown up around Dress Shop. The two most bedeviling ones have been:

1. Dress Shop data files were stored in the "Program Files" area, where the Dress Shop program was located. This was fine for all versions of Windows prior to Vista and Windows 7. But, current versions of Windows frown on that practice for several good reasons and now require that data be stored in the "My Documents" folders.

2. The differences between Dress Shop Standard and Dress Shop Pro are complicated, confusing, and difficult to explain. New customers, in particular, find it all quite baffling.

The Dress Shop 9.02 update, released in October of 2011, corrects both of these long-standing issues. This is an update, not an upgrade. Updates cost nothing for current Dress Shop 9 owners. It does not add any new patterns or collections. It will move all your data files to the recommended "My Documents" folder (see advantages and reasons in the Q&A section of this newsletter). And, it untangles the mess regarding what comes with each different version of Dress Shop. Let's talk about that one first...

DRESS SHOP VERSIONS:

The mish-mash of features and options that appears in Dress Shop Standard vs. Pro has long been confusing. The options and features included in Standard vs. Pro evolved, with new features being added to each with every new upgrade without any particular concern about which features really belonged with each version. We wanted to be sure that each new upgrade to Standard included new features, whether those really should have been in Standard or Pro. After awhile, Standard included many features that really should have been Pro only. Describing what came with each version to a new buyer became difficult and confusing.

To resolve it, Dress Shop Standard will no longer be sold. If you own that product, you still own exactly what you had before. We just will not be selling it to new customers. Those wishing to purchase Dress Shop in the future will have 3 choices. Those are:

Dress Shop Quick Start - $49

Comes with 20 basic wardrobe patterns, basic options, no settings and no design tools. This product is to try out Dress Shop and also for those that want to load-and-sew, selecting the desired neckline and sleeve type and accepting all of the default widths and lengths and such. It is super-easy to use with all options as radio button selections rather than data entry. Sizing options are the Measurement Wizard or the Full Chart only. We are dropping support for standard sizing as we really do not believe that is useful, particularly to new customers that may not understand how much better a fit they could get with the Wizard charts. Obviously the full measurement chart is still the best fit and that is available with all versions of Dress Shop.

Quick Start includes 19 neckline choices, 4 sleeve types, 9 closure types, and all the basic options one could find in the Dress Shop option menu. It does NOT include any settings to adjust those choices.

Dress Shop Deluxe - $199

Comes with 80 deluxe wardrobe patterns. All of these patterns were completely rebuilt, with reasonable default selections for neckline, collars, closure, pockets, etc. They are all intended to be load-and-sew candidates, with no need to make any decisions at all if you just want the default pattern. Deluxe is the replacement to our former Standard program. Nobody that owns Dress Shop Standard should switch to this as you would get nothing new.

Dress Shop Deluxe includes 46 neckline choices, 10 sleeve types, 15 closure options, and adds all of the adjustments that were available in the options menu. That includes things like neck opening width or depth, collar widths, vent height, pocket sizes, etc.

Dress Shop Pro - $449

Pro comes with 160 patterns - all the best. It adds 21 more neckline types, 5 more sleeve types, and all the asymmetric closure options. It includes every setting and adds the entire menu of design tools (princess designer, collar designer, yoke designer, etc.).

We hope that with these changes, the products in the line are easier to understand and describe, the value of upgrading is apparent to all, and what you get for the price is clearer. For a more detailed comparison of the 3 versions, including links that illustrate every Pro Tool, please check here:

Compare Dress Shop Versions

Support for Dress Shop
4,5,6, and 7 is ending!

The older versions of Dress Shop were great for their time. But, computers evolve and operating systems change, and things that once worked well no longer do so. We have had to revise Dress Shop 9.02 to work with current systems and the earlier versions will not. For that reason, Livingsoft Northwest is discontinuing support for versions of Dress Shop earlier than version 8. To make this change as painless as possible, we are offering several limited time upgrade specials. Through November 30, 2011, you can upgrade to the latest version of Dress Shop and enjoy these special benefits:

1. Lowest price ever to be offered for an upgrade - especially the  BEST BARGAIN upgrade to DS9 Pro. See below.

2. Get all the latest tools and multiply every pattern you own a hundred-fold with the variations you can select or design from them.

3. Continuing support. If you get a new computer, Livingsoft Dress Shop 9.02 will not conflict with security requirements on current versions of Windows. We cannot make that commitment for older versions of Dress Shop.

A. In earlier versions of Windows, nobody cared too much where files were stored, so Dress Shop stored saved patterns and charts into the Dress Shop folder, where the program also appeared. This made moving to new computers easy, uninstalling easy, copying files easy. But, things have changed.

As Windows evolved, new standards were put in place to have data files stored in the "My Documents" folder. That way, backup programs could find them and back them up. And, system security software was always  on the lookout for applications (possibly nasty ones) that might write to the hard drive where it should not (like into the "Program Files" folder). Vista and Win7 security software would not allow Dress Shop to do that.

So, stored data files had to move. When you install version 9.02, any saved files in the "Program Files" folder will be copied for you. Nothing is deleted, so the old copies of the files are now backed up in your Dress Shop folder, as before. But, the new ones can be found in a new "Dress Shop" folder in the global "My Documents" folder. Those are the versions you should copy and back up in the future.

Any Dress Shop owner running version 9.02 or later should be able to run their programs with a User Account as well as the Administrator Accounts that we have been recommending of late. The Admin Account limitation should no longer exist.

Q. I own Dress Shop Standard. Does anything go away or change?

No. Nothing goes away. Standard will not be sold in the future, but those that own it now will own it until they choose to upgrade to Pro. Hopefully, that will happen soon so you can get the even better patterns that the Pro tools will provide.  ;-)