[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Browning7

I have several Kobo readers, two of which are Claras. I needed to initiate my last Kobo using the desk top, and boy do I hate the new version of the software. As has been the previous case, the desk top, is very buggy. But the removal of various customizable features, like the ability to not have reading statistics has been removed. WHY?

Probably because users asked that for it. It doesn't make sense that the reading stats were hidden when the data sharing option was turned off. The two things are unrelated and shouldn't be linked.

What firmware version did you come from? The change to not hide the reading stats when the data sharing option was turned off was made over a year ago. And was discussed at the time. Actually, I think it was discussed a month or so afterward the firmware was released that contained the change. And only then because someone was trying to reset the stats and noticed the change. That's how little people cared about this "hateful" feature.

Also the ability to display page progress has been restricted. Is there any way one can install a previous version?

In what way has this been changed? The last time this was changed, it added more options to display the page number. Including hiding them completely. That change was over two years ago. And was extensively discussed as it did include one change in behaviour that people disagreed on. Though they also disagreed on the behaviour it replaced.

I take it that the developers of this program do not consult this forum, as why else would the take such a hateful feature as reading statistics and force it upon readers.

"Hateful"?????? A page that is in an unobtrusive place and takes several taps to get to. It isn't exactly hard to ignore. But, Kobo doesn't do these things without a reason. I bet they had a lot more complaints that the reading stats were hidden when the data sharing option was turned off than they have had complaints that it now can't be hidden.

And for the record, the stats were always being collected. Toggling the data sharing option resets them, but, even when you couldn't go to the reading stats page, they were being collected and stored in the database.

And no, Kobo does not consult this forum. This forum is in no way an official support forum. In fact, as I have said previously, the members of this forum are not part of Kobo's target market. Or the target market of the other ereader vendors such as Amazon or tolino. We are in no way typical users and our requirements are different from others. And there are far to few of us to actually make a noticeable impact on the number of devices they sell.

I would dearly love to go back to a previous version as this new upgrade has lessened my reading enjoyment considerably. Any way to do so or perhaps a different system?

I'm completely baffled by how these changes could "considerably" lessen your reading experience. Maybe you can explain exactly how so that we can understand where you are coming from. At least, explain what the change to the page progress was as I honestly don't know what is missing.

As to rolling back the firmware, that can be done and has been discussed in this forum many times. A search will find it. Same goes for alternative reading apps. KOReader and Plato are available and highly recommended to people that don't like the Kobo software for some reason. Instructions for installing and using them are easily found in the forum.