The IBUC Committee is very sorry to announce that the 2020 International Blaise User Conference, scheduled to take place in Limassol, Cyprus will not be held. However, to honor all the preparation conducted by the conference host (The Statistical Service of Cyprus CYSTAT) and all the papers/presentations submitted by the users, a  virtual IBUC 2020  will be hosted in the week of  September 14-17. CBS (Statistics Netherlands) will be the sponsor of this event.

Since last week, the conference committee, CBS Blaise leadership and the conference host (The Statistical Service of Cyprus CYSTAT) have been conferring on the consequences of the coronavirus for the IBUC. Today’s meeting led to the unanimous and inevitable decision to postpone the IBUC until November. An earlier date is not possible due to room availability in the hotel.

The new date is November 3rd, 2020. The Pre-Conference Training will take place on November 2nd.

Version 5.7.1 (build 2248, dated December 18, 2019) has been released.
It can be found in the usual location on our ftp-server.
The 5.7.1 version of the Android App is also available, in the Google Play Store. A 5.7 version of the iOS App will become available early 2020.

This version includes, among others, the following new major features: Randomization, CATI-extensions/improvements, CARI extensions, a dropdown control for set questions, an extension to the DTAP environment, a Navigate TryLeavePageForward Event and deployment events.

CBS' CIO has been asked by the CBS Phoenix program management to take a position on browser usage. "Is the CIO or opinion that CBS is concerned about ensuring proper performance or CAWI questionnaires on outdated browsers at any cost, or will the problem solve itself, as Internet Explorer will be used less and less while Edge will undergo significant improvements?"

The recently released 5.6.5 (5.6.5.2055) build also has these security updates.

From 4 through 7 November, Statistics Netherlands will organise a Blaise 5 Layout Training, which is a four-day course for Blaise developers. It will focus specifically on how to specify and apply layout using the new tools in Blaise 5. The course is especially useful for existing Blaise 4 programmers who want to know more about how to make the transition to Blaise 5, or who want to know more about the new capabilities of Blaise 5.

This course consists of 3 modules.