Here at MPP, we’re very big on supporting software companies who make great products that are reliable, trustworthy, and relatively free of bugs. When soemthing comes along that really makes us wince, though, we have to say something about it.

Such is the case with PHP Expert Editor, the PHP IDE from Ankord Development Group. It has very few features that the freeware Dev-PHP doesn’t have, and it has a few things that the others don’t.

• Frequent Random Crashes - At least once a day, the application will simply stop working in the middle of typing a line of code. Repeated inquiries to support netted us zero replies.
• Wonky laptop behavior - Our developers often use two or more monitors on their machines, and we’re all on laptops. If we need to present to a group, we’ll hook up to a projector. With PHP Expert Editor, disconnected or reconnecting an external monitor disables the ability to open a file or create new files until the application is restarted. This is exceedingly annoying.
• Macros that simply don’t work - There is a macro interface, but it’s just an interface. Macros just don’t work, no matter what you do.

Did I mention that it crashes randomly in the middle of writing code? Nothing like losing your work in all unsaved open files randomly and at the drop of a hat for seemingly no reason, definitely.
Normally, we don’t complain about software too hard that we use from day to day. Then again, normally the software works.

Take it from a professional programming house, Ankord’s PHP Expert Editor offering is a lemon, and their support has been abysmal in our experience. Forget purchasing it, get Dev-PHP instead. It has all the same features and doesn’t lock up and die for no reason.

~A!