PerfectTablePlan newsletter 28

PerfectTablePlan is 5 years old

PerfectTablePlan was first released February 2005. Despite a very low key start, selling only through a single wedding website with no advertising, we were delighted to make our first sale within 24 hours. 

We have come a long way since then, but:

• we are still only charging £19.95/€22.95/$29.95 for the Home Edition
• PerfectTablePlan v1 still runs on the latest version of Windows
• PerfectTablePlan v4 can still read PerfectTablePlan v1 plans
• many of our original v1 customers are still customers, having since upgraded to more recent versions

We hope to still be improving PerfectTablePlan in another 5 years time. Software industry sage Joel Spolsky says good software takes ten years. It is exciting to think about where we might be with 5 more years work and 5 more years of improvements in software and hardware technologies.

20% off all new licences for 5 days only

To celebrate our fifth birthday we are offering one fifth off all new licences for the next five days only. To get the discount you need to go to the page below (not the normal purchase page):

And enter 5THBIRTHDAY into the 'Coupon' field, as shown below:

The discounted price will then be displayed after you click the 'Secure Checkout' button.

If you know anyone who might be interested in PerfectTablePlan, please tell them about the discount.  We would also be delighted to have details of the offer posted on discussion forums, blogs, twitter, facebook etc. But remember, it ends on Sunday the 7th of February.

Next PerfectTablePlan release

We are currently working hard on PerfectTablePlan v4.2. This will be a free upgrade to all customers with v4 licences. We have already added a number of significant new features. Watch this newsletter for further news.

Are you interested in a customer forum?

We are considering adding a web-based customer forum to www.perfecttableplan.com . This would be a place you could ask, search for and answer questions relating to event planning in general, as well as PerfectTablePlan specific issues.

The intention isn't to replace email support, but to allow customers to help each other with a broader range of topics than is possible through email support. For example:

• what is the best website to order place cards?
• what fonts work well on a seating chart?
• what is the correct wording for an invitation?
• what is the best table layout for my event?

You will still be able to email support with questions relating to PerfectTablePlan.

Before we take the time and effort to set up a forum, we would like to know how many of our customers would find a forum valuable. Please click the link below to tell us what you think.

The oldest seating plan?

We've been wondering what the oldest recorded seating plan is. Did the the ancient Egyptians leave behind any seating plans? A quick search on Google didn't turn up much. Please email support with your suggestions. We will send a $50 Amazon voucher and a free PerfectTablePlan Professional Edition licence to the person who can tell us the earliest seating plan.

Rules:

• You need to provide some evidence we can use to verify your claim (e.g. a link to a reputable website or a scan of the appropriate page from a book).
• The seating plan must have a diagrammatic element (i.e. not just a prose description of seating arrangements) and must include at least two individuals with their name written on the plan (which rules out Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last supper').
• The competition closes on the 12th of February 2010.
• In the case of a draw on dates the first person to email us wins.
• Inevitably there will be an element of interpretation relating to what constitutes a seating chart and when it dates from. Our decision is final.

We will report the winning entry in the next newsletter.