F451  TapDex is simply more convenient when you want a name on the fly without having to open AB. Much, much quicker than Spotlight.  
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JIMW  Perhaps. However all I do is press CMD-Space, type in a name and a list pops up in less than 5 seconds. I then just click on the name I want and it pops up in either Entourage or Address Book seconds after, with all the info. No Apps to manually launch, no cpu cycles eaten up by an extra idling app. no extra memory usage, and no compatibility issues, now or in the future since Spotlight is part of the OS. Perhaps your tool has a place in someone else system, for for myself, I am perfectly satisfied in this case, with what Apple provides. However should I actually want to call a phone number I do use Jon's Phone Tool, which sits in my menu bar and will allow me to choose a contact and then uses the Apple Internal Modem to dial it for me. That is something that Spotlight, Address Book, or Entourage will not do alone so the tool is worth the overhead to me.   
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F451  First, I am not the developer.

Second, I have what you have, Jon's Phone Tool, and it sits around idling with allocated memory.

Third, I dumped Entourage ages ago.

Fourth, this developer does not force anyone to buy this app to use it, unless you want to use Vonage and stop his banners (banners that are not even an issue, more like a line that randomly mentions his other apps).

Fifth, why did you even bother to comment about it if you were simply going to demean it for the sake of argument?

Sixth, Spotlight is a dog. Use LaunchBar if you want to achieve better results or FIle Buddy if you want to go to the nth degree of locating files.  
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JIMW  To respond to your questions:

I did not demean the product. I just indicated that there were free alternatives, which I use, and I personally find them very satisfactorily. My implication was that people my wish to try what they already have first rather than to spend extra money on TapDex. Should my suggestion not fulfill their needs, as it obviously has not for you, then there is nothing in my comment to suggest not to try TapDex. I am just suggesting they might wish to try what they already have paid for first.

Dumping Entourage was your choice. Not everyone has or Microsoft would not be wasting their money developing a new version. Entourage does things that Apple Address Book, Mail and iCal simply do not. It also allows easy integration of contact info into Word documents. Just because it is not your 'cup of tea' does not mean it is a bad product for everyone else just as TapDex is not necessarily a bad product simply because I have no use for it.

No developer forces you to use their product. Users choose to use and purchase products based on need, quality, price, support, and features. As for myself TapDex does not meet enough of those criteria to warrant purchase.

What Vonage and banners has to do with this thread, I have no idea since I do not use Vonage as I do not believe VOIP is a viable service for residential use, as the stability of the Internet in times of emergency situations has yet to be proven under real conditions and in my opinion a conventional landline still offers the best chance of reaching emergency services in times of disaster or emergency. It is the same reason I have refused to switch my traditional cable phone service to Comcast's new digital phone service, as it represents another version of VOIP under a different name.

I have chosen to allocate memory for Jon's Phone Tools, because it has features I wish to have and use. In planning my machine use, I gave it consideration when purchasing additional RAM for my computer as it is a must have tool for me.

Frankly I have never heard of LaunchBar, although, judging from its name and your comments, it represents one of the multitude of Freeware and Shareware Launchers now available as a Dock replacement. I still use the Dock for my primary programs and use a combination of Spotlight and FinderPop (been around since early Classic) for lesser used Apps.

I also agree with your assessment of File Buddy, but I am not willing to devote machine cycles and RAM to keep it running all the time. I use it when Spotlight fails to find what I am looking for. It also rolls up into a single package most of the features of the other file management tools at an attractive price, along with good support and a great track record.

File Buddy to me represents what a great shareware produce should be as opposed to DIT's (Developers In Training) trying to extract moneys from naive users for single function utilities that are mostly preexisting MAC Unix commands, repackaged by the DIT's into easier to use GUI's as a programing exercise.

Mind you, I am not indicating that TapDex is such a product. However if the shoe fits, may the developer wear it in good health.

The only axe that I wish to grind is to provide a counterpoint for naive users to the developers who share a belief in the famous quote from W.C. Fields: " It's morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money."  
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F451  I believe that you are misunderstanding the registration of TapDex. You can use it for free, but if you want what Yellow Mug is calling Pro features (the use of Vonage, and removal of Yellow Mug's small text line of their own product advertising) then you can buy a Pro license. You have to install TapDex to see what I am trying to explain. If you are not using Apple's Address Book, then TapDex is of no use to you.

Here is the description directly from Yellow Mug's website:

"TapDex is Free

We're making TapDex available for free as a way of giving back to the Mac community and getting our name out at the same time."

If you install it you will see what I mean about the Vonage its preferences. It only installs two files:

1) TapDexPane.prefPane

2) com.yellowmug.TapDex.plist

You can very quickly see what it has to offer, and delete it just as fast if you like.

Where it works exceedingly well, for me, is when my wife uses my Mac (as she uses PC for work on her laptop, but is under strict confidentially agreements, so her PC has no personal data on it, and cannot be used for personal use). She constantly asks me for telephone numbers and addresses, and this is the simplest means of her accessing the data.

Everything else you wrote I too share the same opinions. Apple has something brewing with Safari 3, and the iPhone, and it appears that they are trying to have syncing abilities (they we could only dream of in the past) come to fruition, but only through Apple related software. I do not necessarily agree with what Apple appears to be doing.  
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JIMW  Actually I only use Address Box as a portal to make my addresses in Entourage available to .Mac and as a backup for Entourage.

VOIP (Vonage) is fine for business but I will not consider it for home use per my previous remarks.

Given that I currently am doing some testing for Apple as a contractor, I am quite limited as to what I can say given the confidentiality agreements that Apple, like most other High Tech companies requires workers to sign. What I can say is that Apple is a company and like most all other businesses, their reason for being in business is to make a profit - as much profit as they can while operating within the laws that govern them. In this respect Apple is no different than any other business and Steve Jobs has much in common in this regard with Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, and any other captain of modern business. Anybody who believes that a business has a conscious and is in business for their customers benefit is totally naive. Making money is the business of all businesses and what they make, sell and provide services for is how they do it. Companies only care about customer loyalty, customer service, and product satisfaction from the paradigm of selling goods and services in order to maintain and improve the bottom line. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in for a rude awaking. Companies are a paper entity and paper does not possess a conscience. The so called company conscience and culture of a company is simply a reflection of the values of its current senior management team. The two economic forces that coerce business to innovate, maintain reasonable levels of customer service, and offer products at a fair price are competition and customer interest in the products. Thus the only real leverage the consumer has is to buy the competition or do without. Everything else is window dressing. So it is only a natural course of business that as Apple gets bigger and improves its profits and market share, the level of customer service and quality tends to diminish. What will turn that trend around? Consumer resistance to their products and competition. Yes it is that simple. Implementing the forces to accomplish it is what is difficult.

Are their exceptions to this paradigm. Most certainly but they are rare and few. Additionally they are most rarely found in Silicon Valley.

So if you what to know what is going on with Apple, just examine their stock price from say 5-10 years ago and apply the standard business paradigm to them. Again, it is that easy. Now do it to Microsoft and you will have a good sense of what direction they will most likely take - i.e. they just relented and will allow computer makers to ship with XP.

Again it is a rare company that ranks tops in profits and customer service. Only companies whose leaders are involved in long range thinking are able to do that. Most just want to address the immediate needs of their stockholders for the next couple of years at most. What are modern stockholders needs - Dividends, and Stock Price increases - i.e. quick profits. In the unstable world we live in, sacrificing some profit for long term stability has little meaning to the modern investor. Stability tends to generally mean 5-10 years - the average amount of time between retiring and dying (or not realizing that you are alive). Yes people are living longer but they are also working longer and spending their last years senile. While you may not like this opinion and analysis, I suspect if you show it to any astute business person, that they would probably mostly agree with the majority of its content. It may not be what you wanted to read but for me it unfortunately seems to be the truth as to how modern business is conducted. I say unfortunately, because I feel that things would be different if businesses were driven by human values instead of greed. However such is the current social paradigm. What we have and what we want seems to take precedence over how our individual actions impact others. Enough said already.   
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