SuperCard may have gone extinct.

[FourthWorld]

The domain name renewal lapsed last summer, and SC's current owner, Mark Lucas, was unable to get the credentials from the estate of the former co-owner in time. He went to great lengths to try to reacquire the domain, but it was snagged by a foreign domain squatter who apparently didn't have much of an orderly process for handling bids.

I just spoke with ML this morning. He's in good spirits, and is working to establish a new domain for SuperCard.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

I just spoke with ML this morning. He's in good spirits, and is working to establish a new domain for SuperCard.

Oh, that's good to hear there's still a spark of hope for SuperCard.

Please let us all know when he gets s new domain / website / URL together.

[FourthWorld]

Back up at a new domain:
https://supercard.software/

[richmond62]

I'll be on it just as soon as I'm home: and hope for a 64-bit version in due course.

It will be good to explore things again.

[richmond62]

Unfortunately that website is still promulgating something I feel is wrong:

Unfortunately, producing a 64-bit version of SuperCard requires a complete rewrite of the software as Apple has gone back on their promise to deliver 64-bit Carbon frameworks.

emphasis is mine.

https://supercard.software/faq.html

Whether Apple made a promise or not, most people round these parts should have learnt, on the basis of 'promises' and 'stretch goals' (presumably 'stretch' as in 'stretching the truth') not to rely on a very large number of pronouncements that software companies come up with:

and Apple, having spent a long time running down 'Trumpy-poos' is sucking up to him like there's no tomorrow now: so, frankly, I would not trust anything they say: or, as my Granny used to say, "Let me see it!"

I do wonder, however, if it is worth the MONEY for the SuperCard chap to try and get a 64-bit thing off the ground, and whether it would be worth the effort if he were to make the source code Open Source and give it away, for anyone to try to run up a 64-bit version.

[richmond62]

What is also unfortunate it that there is a page of downloads:

https://supercard.software/downloads/

Where below every download it states:

Requires a valid serial number to run.

But nowhere to beg/borrow.steal/ or buy a valid serial number.

This does give the impression that this is JUST a place for people who have paid in the past to download installers they may have mislaid, rather than anything else serious.

[FourthWorld]

I do wonder, however, if it is worth the MONEY for the SuperCard chap to try and get a 64-bit thing off the ground, and whether it would be worth the effort if he were to make the source code Open Source and give it away, for anyone to try to run up a 64-bit version.

If open source was a panacea we'd be so happily coding away on ARM Macs we'd have no time to think about other xTalks.

[FourthWorld]

What is also unfortunate it that there is a page of downloads:

https://supercard.software/downloads/

Where below every download it states:

Requires a valid serial number to run.

But nowhere to beg/borrow.steal/ or buy a valid serial number.

This does give the impression that this is JUST a place for people who have paid in the past to download installers they may have mislaid, rather than anything else serious.

But there is a link to the forums where you can ask the owner.

He's there often. He doesn't even know about forum. Odds are low your request can be satisfied here, but very high he can find a way to update your reg code there.

[tperry2x]

This does give the impression that this is JUST a place for people who have paid in the past to download installers they may have mislaid, rather than anything else serious.

Yes, this is just a re-upload of the bare minimum to provide a download link by the look of it. Who knows if it'll go any further than this. I really hope it does, the more xTalks the merrier, and the more competition out there in commercial-circles, the better.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

I came back to this thread to post this info from the SuperCard google group, but you guys already know:

From Uli Kusterer:
Feb 4, 2025, 11:06:14 PM (10 days ago)
to SuperCard Discussion
Hi folks,

since there was some useful info up on the old SuperCard site, I've trawled the Web Archive's Wayback machine and my own backups to create a web site with the most relevant bits of the old SuperCard web site (with Mark'spermission).

It's all very basic right now, but I plan to add to it as time permits and the situation evolves. Here it is:

https://supercard.software

I for one, having as far as I know a still valid license for SC 4.7.3 (I believe, haven't 'dusted it off' in a long time), and having gone to Wayback Machine to try to scrape the old sites, very much appreciate this diligence (maintaining his own back up) and work from Uli. Should pop over to HyperCard Discord to thank him.

As I noted earlier in this thread, Uli also put the syntax dictionary/docs for SuperTalk online.

All I can say about Apple not keeping with its promised 64-bit Carbon API is...yeah, that sucks but when was that? That was like a decade or more ago... Now that I think about it, that is about when I think Apple really started to suck IMO. Anyway that was long ago now. I'm on the if-it-didn't-get-done-why-don't-you-do-it mindset, which can't happen with Private frameworks, which leads to the world of open-source Linuxes and other Unix-like OSes. I'd be done with Apple completely if not for the creativity apps I use working so well and having very intuitive UIs (IMO), Linux has gotten closer over the years though. Still haven't found a great Linux version of a 'GarageBand', a simplified DAW (digital audio workstation) replacement, but I can work on that.