You can read all of the "published" changes to each version at:
http://www.mtu.com/upgrades/hoster.htm#500
We have cleaned up a lot of code subroutines, and I would not be surprised if the Singers dialog now works faster. Try the demo first to see for yourself:
http://download.mtu.com/hosterdemosetup.exe
I have added a task to our specs for Hoster 5.xx to study speeding up the Singers search and display. Some of the delay is alphabetizing the list for you, which we didn't do in early 5.00 beta test versions. Our Testers complained and we added alphabetic ordering, which you can also change by clicking the title of any column.
We expect to release Hoster 5.01 today. After that, we will do some upgrades to our Software Development System that may bring unexpected benefits such as speeding up searching.
We use the Access 97 "Jet Engine" as it is a freely distributable version to run Access. It is only about 8MB, and may be part of the slow-down.
If we convert to the Access 2000 "Jet Engine", also freely distributable, it is 60MB, and would expand our downloadable "Hoster Installation File" from 23MB to ~75MB. This would be a LARGE project, and will not be put ahead of Tempo change, which will be THE next major feature we add. Also, we don't know this conversion would bring any speed improvement at all.
Everyone would have to convert their existing Songs Database to the new format, which WILL take up more room also. This... is a monumental effort and not to be done lightly. We expect the burden will fall on our shoulders to do this conversion for you. We're not jumping for joy to do this!!!
