Archived Announcements

23 Dec 2009 — Rare printing problem fixed — Two weeks ago, we received a report of a printing issue in version 6.1.5 of the OS X Engine and Client. That bug — which only occurs under very specific circumstances — has been fixed, and we encourage all users of Helix 6.1.5 (145) to update to 6.1.5 (146) to avoid this potential bug. See technote R6750 of our Knowledgebase for more information.

7 Dec 2009 — A short TLW related to Helix performance was posted.

30 Nov 2009 — Course corrected, ship righted, sails unfurled. Team Helix eats crow and rolls out Helix 6.1.5.

25 Nov 2009 — A potentially serious bug has been discovered in version 6.1.4 (134) of the OS X Helix Client & Engine. All Helix 6.1.4 users are encouraged to update to Helix 6.1.5 immediately.

31 Aug 2009 — At the stroke of midnight, A new edition of The Latest Word announces that Helix 6.1.4 has shipped to a waiting world. We also released a new survey soliciting your input as we accelerate our work on the OS X native Helix RADE.

28 Aug 2009 — Mac OS X 10.6 (aka: Snow Leopard) ships today. Unfortunately, the time table for Helix 6.1.4 was such that we froze our code early this month, before the Snow Leopard code was finalized. Consequently, we do not yet know whether Helix 6.1.4 is fully compatible with Snow Leopard. We hope to test next week. Until then, proceed with caution.

26 Jul 2009 — The Helix 6.1.4 beta cycle is drawing to a close. techdb is running the latest Helix Server beta, so if you want to join HelixChat or access the bug report database, you must download the compatible Client.

4 May 2009 — After a 290-day thrill ride, Helix 6.1.3 is available now. Read all about it in The Latest Word. A Press Release is also available.

31 Dec 2008 — A new edition of The Latest Word contains a New Years Eve message to all of our friends in the Helix community.

19 Dec 2008 — Two new technotes have been posted to our Tips page: Understanding Client/Server Communications & Dealing With Font Resizing in OS X.

5 Sep 2008 — The results of our recent survey and what it means are discussed in today’s edition of The Latest Word.

11 Jul 2008 — QSA ToolWorks, LLC today announced the immediate availability of Helix Server for Intel 6.1.2, Helix Server for PowerPC 6.1.2, and new Preview Releases of Helix Engine and Client for both Intel and PowerPC. The bug fixes in this latest release are described on the Helix Server product page, and in technotes BZ954 and BZ955.

30 Jun 2008 — QSA ToolWorks, LLC today announced the immediate availability of Helix Server for Intel 6.1.1, Helix Server for PowerPC 6.1.1, Helix RADE Classic 6.1.2, and new Preview Releases of Helix Engine and Client for both Intel and PowerPC. See the Press Release or The Latest Word for more details.

4 Apr 2008 — Helix Server for PowerPC 6.1: Leopard-compatible Helix Server — with support for native OS 9 & OS X Clients — ships.

31 Mar 2008 — The First Latest Word of 2008 brings news of new products, including a bug-fix release: Helix RADE 6.1.1.

19 May 2008 — QSA ToolWorks, LLC today announced Helix Server for Intel 6.1, with an expected shipping date of June 30, 2008, along new Preview Releases, available immediately. See the Press Release or The Latest Word for more details.

31 Mar 2008 — The second Helix Engine for PowerPC 6.1 Preview Release is now available.

14 Feb 2008 — It’s “Spring Training” time for Helix RADE. The first official Helix Basics class to be offered in the 21st Century is scheduled for April 10–11 in Houston, Texas and targets users who wish to learn the full range of capabilities in Helix RADE. The class will be led by Chuck Hinkle, who has been teaching this class since the early 90s. “As the developers of Helix applications identify the people who will support those databases in the future, this class is crucial to quickly give that next generation the skills they need to provide that support,” says Chuck. Pricing is $395 for the two-day course and includes lunch on both days. Visit the Helix Store to register for the class.

28 Dec 2007 — The log in process for accessing your account information has changed. If you have an Access Password (created by logging in to our database as a guest), you can now use it to log in to your account. If you have never created an Access Password for your account, you can still log in using your Last Name, full Company Name, or email address, but we encourage you to click the Modify Customer Info link and add an Access Password to your record. You can also connect to our Helix Server at techdb.qsatoolworks.com as Guest and use the Access Password Registration form to create your Access Password.

23 Nov 2007 — Helix RADE Classic 6.1: A new version of RADE Classic ships.

19 Nov 2007 — The Latest Word officially announces a release date for Helix RADE 6.1 and projects the schedule of releases for the remaining OS X products currently in development.

6 Nov 2007 — New Prices take effect today: Customers who purchased new licenses and would have gotten a lower price by waiting have been given a credit for the difference.

5 Dec 2007 — This week we were informed by Apple that the Authorized Business Agent program we participate in ends on December 31, 2007. If you are planning on making a purchase through this program, do it before then.

24 Oct 2007 — “Getting Ready for OS X Seminar” Update: This seminar has been rescheduled for later in the same week to avoid problems with the post-Thanksgiving travel crush. If you’re coming, you must first register by "buying a ticket" in the web store. One attendee is $450.00. Additional attendees are $325.00 each. Once we have received your registration, you will be forwarded hotel information so you can make your reservations.

19 Oct 2007 — The Latest Word discusses OS X Training, Universal Helix, a new version of RADE, and more.

8 Sep 2007 — OS X native Helix beta testing begins.

25 Jul 2007 — A quick new survey on sequences begins.

16 May 2007 — The Latest Word discusses upcoming price changes.

26 Mar 2007 — Command Rectangle (Button) survey ends. See the results and participate in the next one.

23 Feb 2007 — One survey ends, another begins. See the results of the old one and participate in the new one.

13 Jan 2007 — Two surveys are released, requesting feedback to go with today’s The Latest Word.

3 Jan 2007 — Collection repairs have been on the increase lately. Here’s one possible explanation. Make sure your backup plan is solid!

31 Dec 2006 — Year end updates in The Latest Word and the Mac OS X Progress pages.

3 Nov 2006 — Helix Server 6.0.1 (065) ships.

6 Oct 2006 — Help Helix with every purchase you make from Apple.

3 Jul 2006 — Helix 6.0.1 (064) ships.

20 Mar 2006 — Helix Maintenance Manager 1.0.3 (our first Universal Binary application) ships.

19 Dec 2005 — Helix 6.0 ships after nearly two years in development.

Google Search

One of the complaints we occasionally hear is that information on our web site is too hard to find. This has always baffled us because right there, over on the left of this page, is a search box that will find any documents that exists on our web site.

That box has been there for a long time, but we recently improved it, plugging it into Google’s AdSense program. The good news is that the search results are more accurate and more tailored to finding information on our web site. The bad news is that Google throws a few ads on the results page. Actually, that might also be considered good news: if you see something of interest to you there and follow the link, Google drops a few pennies in the QSA coffers. (Every little bit helps!)

So, instead of searching through the options at the top of the screen, trying to find the information you crave, just google on a couple of keywords and get there fast.

Web Store Open For Business

Our web store is open, featuring many enhancements:

• Non-linear shopping
• Interactive price calculations
• "Printer ready" invoice delivery via email or browser
• Coming soon: USU history
• Coming soon: Investor credits and other discounts automatically deducted
• Coming later: Order history
• Coming later: Packing list option for shipped orders

Orders can also be placed by calling the sales department at 1.800.784.7018. From outside the US, call 516.935.9151. We’ll return each call in the order it was received.

On Friday afternoons members of the QSA ToolWorks staff come online for our weekly “HelixChat” where, together with Helix users from around the world, we discuss everything from the latest in the Helix saga to the best in French cuisine. HelixChat uses Helix Client 6.0, so it also provides a good way to demonstrate Helix to a potential customer or to test out a remote network connection. If you do not have Helix Client 6.0, you can download the Client installer on our download page.

Server: techdb.qsatoolworks.com
User: guest (no password required)
Time: Every Friday starting at 12:00 PM US Eastern Time Zone (-0500 GMT)

We look forward to your joining us.

8 June 2005 — To head off and clear up any potential confusion regarding Apple’s announcement at their World Wide Developer’s Conference earlier this week, please read the latest Helix 6 FAQ entry.

26 April 2005 — We took your orders, we took your money and now we’re taking you to the download page or the mailbox to get your brand new software: Helix Maintenance Manager (HMM) 1.0 is available at last.

Use HMM to create "Plans" to manage your Helix collections. Use HMM’s Scheduler application to communicate with your favorite calendar program and put those plans to work on a schedule. HMM simplifies doing backup and running the Helix Utility and Helix Update Collection and provides you with the peace of mind you need when your business depends on Helix.

And for those of you who aren’t sure you need Helix Maintenance Manager yet, download the full version from our downloads page and use it free for 15 days before you decide to buy it.

22 April 2005 — While working on Helix 6, bugs were found (and fixed) that were easily ported back to the Helix 5.3 code. The result is Helix 5.3.2, a release that continues to refine the reliability of Helix for our customers while we continue our push toward Helix 6.

4 December 2004 — Helix’s networking has finally come of age: the move into TCP/IP has at last been properly realized. Expanding your own Helix universe from the single user through the local workgroup now seamlessly jumps to let individuals and workgroups interact regardless of location or type of internet connection.

No one can knock us for trying. When we have upgrades, we pull out all the stops and send emails, snail mails and make phone calls in an attempt to get the news to as many Helix users as possible...

…but sometimes those attempts come to naught. Most often the reason is either a new email address that we don’t have or a user who is filtering and doesn’t recognize us as a legitimate source of news about Helix.

If this describes you, we urge you to update your customer information in our database and make sure you allow mail from our new address. Otherwise, a process will be set in motion, which is described in a policy announcement.

If you’re using Helix 5.2 or 5.2.1 but our database shows you having 5.1.1 or earlier, this means that you did not purchase 5.2 or 5.2.1 — you took advantage of the free upgrade to that version. If, on the other hand, the system shows that you own 5.2, or 5.2.1, then you’re entitled to get 5.3 for free.
Start at "I lost my keys!" (above) and step through the process. You’ll find instructions there. To be extra sure, scroll to the bottom of the "Lookup Keys" page and click "See Keys in Other Versions" and if you’re entitled to a free upgrade your keys will be there.

Clicking the QSA logo at the top of any page will always bring you back to this (home) page.
Clicking "Product," "User Services" or "Everything Else..." will take you to the main page for that section of the site. A new row of buttons will appear to the right of the section’s button, leading you further into the topic.
As you move deeper into the site hierarchy, the path back is seen in highlighted links. You can use your browser’s back button, or click the appropriate link to jump back to the main page.

If you want to buy, upgrade or get information about Helix products, click "Product" above. You’ll be able to find out what Helix is, what’s in 5.3, what’s planned for Helix 6 and how to get demo versions of Helix. And of course this is where you’ll also find The Helix Store, where you can purchase Helix and related products online.

If you need any kind of help, be it educational, technical (including our rapidly growing Helix KnowledgeBase) or professional or links to third-party products that support and extend the Helix paradigm, click "User Services." Report a bug, request a feature, get answers to frequently asked questions, brush up on your Helix vocabulary, get some Helix training, find a developer (or learn how to become one!).

And, of course, for everything else, click "Everything Else..." That’s where you’ll find The Latest Word, our periodic transmission of information about what’s happening at Helix, access to our Forums, which seek user input and exchange on particular subjects related to the evolution of Helix, links to web sites of Helix users, reviews, testimonials, and our improved "Contact Us" page, which now provides access to your information as well as ours. While you’re in there, you can update your customer information or see if we’ve been trying to reach you on the Helix M.I.A. page (updated 13 November 2007).