 | Sep 19 2009 |
ROBBNASHVILLE I have supported this developer for years. For several years when this was a subscription item, I paid the $25 per year ... not because the software ever improved but because it would expire if I didn't. In August 2009, I was promised a CD version of the software that would not expire for an upgrade fee. I sent the PayPal payment and have never received the software. I wrote to the developer after several weeks and was told that it was an international shipment and to wait a few more days. I waited another ten days or so and wrote back. I have not received a reply to my last email ... more than a week ago. I have today filed a PayPal dispute. My conclusions are that I should have paid more attention to some of the other comments about this software & it's developer. I did not give these comments their deserved attention because I assumed they were written by those who tend to poke fun at the tarot and those who use it. However, I must say that this developer does not provide excellent customer service; and I will no longer support this software. As a side note for those who do enjoy using the tarot, I have recently learned that there is a free widget that has a lot more layouts than this software, which has not changed substantially since the first version that I paid for. It's true that MacTarot has a somewhat prettier interface; but the tarot widget also allows you to save it's layouts to html which carry over card interpretations that you can see if you roll over each card.
(Version 3.0) | |
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| Aug 12 2009 |
NEILJAMES Very interesting program. Still not sure if I believe in the cards, but maybe I'll have to give it a try. Who knows right?
(Version 3.0) | |
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| Apr 27 2008 |
SHANEMAC Universal Binary support was a long time coming but is here. Most of the good features like Minor Arcana are only available to registered users. Demo/unregistered users can still use Major Arcana but don't get access to speech.
(Version 2.0) | |
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 | Feb 18 2008 |
RISTENLEE I made the mistake of buying this and there my woes started.took many emails and finally a phone call to the developer at my expense to get a serial #. I got lies and humbug as to why i had not received a valid # then i found no great advantage over the demo, and after my direct experience with the developer I would NOT EVER trust consulting on the mac tarot web site. Now 3 months later when i try to launch the app I get "version expired get latest version from mactarot". So i do that and then i get "version expired get latest version from mactarot"!!!! And my password to the site dosn't work either. I've sent requests etc but I know I've been ripped off.DON'T YOU.
(Version 1.9.1) | |
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| Jan 28 2007 |
JOESCHISA Just curious. I wrote a tarot program, but then couldn't get permission from the people with the rights to the Rider-Waite deck (shown above) to use its electronic images in my program (scanned them from my own deck). Same went for Thoth deck from the folks with the rights to them. Both groups said they do not allow such things anymore. Wonder if this guy had better luck with them. I was disappointed.
(Version 1.90) | |
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 | Jan 28 2007 |
INFO51 The images in MacTarot are based on the 1909 Tarot deck known as the 'Pamela-A' deck of cards with the dried mud pattern on the back. These cards are in the public domain in the USA. Robert King has made his own changes, both in design and cosmetic to the 1909 Deck and these are Copyright 2003 by Robert King. This is the deck used within MacTarot. The 1909 deck was a collaboration between Pamela Colman Smith and Dr Arthur Edward Waite. Both of these people died more than 50 years ago. Several companies claim copyright over later versions of the cards. The only version clearly in the public domain is the 1909 Tarot deck by Pamela Colman Smith. If you can obtain a 1909 'Pamela-A' deck then you can use images of these cards for anything you wish, either within programs, in books, on web sites or even create your own derivative work.
(Version 1.90) | |
| Jan 28 2007 |
JOESCHISA Thanks to the developer for the information, but from my standpoint, I wanted the thoth deck (Crowley's) also (my program was partially for comparitive purposes, not mainly "spreading" of the deck). Good to know that there's a deck in public domain though. I came to the conclusion that the only way to go with my program was to let people scan their own decks and import them into database, but decided it was probably too much to ask and the project was abandoned accept for personal use.
(Version 1.90) | |
| Apr 27 2008 |
FYREFLYE The developer fails to mention that even if you could find a copy the very rare Pamela "A" deck it would cost you several hundred dollars through an auction house or eBay.
(Version 2.0) | |
| Apr 27 2008 |
JOESCHISA I know nothing about the Pamela "A" deck, but the cards in the screenshot don't look any different from the standard Rider-Waite Deck; if one is just talking about the backing pattern of the cards (I don't know) it seems irrelevant to the source of the front side pictures.
(Version 2.0) | |
| Apr 28 2008 |
FYREFLYE All you'd ever want to know about the various Rider-Waite-Smith editions: http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/
(Version 2.0) | |
| May 13 2008 |
JOESCHISA Thanks for the link. It seems the copywrite status on Tarot Cards is slightly complicated, perhaps unclear and rather like a game of poker in the backing up of claims and pursuit of lawsuits.
(Version 2.0) | |
| May 13 2008 |
FYREFLYE All you need to know about RWS copyright issues is that U S Games, which holds the current copyright, will aggressively litigate against everyone and anyone they believe is violating it. And they have a lot of money to do so.
(Version 2.0) | |
| May 13 2008 |
JOESCHISA From a link to "copywrite" questions on the link you provided it seems to be suggested that the copywrite does not apply to the pictures, rather to the backing and the packaging, though also mentioned is the agressive defense of their territory by those concerned with copywrite infringement on what they "own" (which I have no argument with, otherwise I would have never bothered ask for permission when I wanted to put a "tarot deck comparison spreader" freeware program out). Anyway, it's probably a dead issue for me, be it just the backing that's protected or not, though I maintain my curiosity and would wonder what Waite, Crowley et al. might feel about their creations from whatever level they be at (perhaps level nil) though feelings from ghosts would no doubt be besides the point legally.
(Version 2.0) | |
| Aug 14 2005 |
ANONYMOUS This guy is a complete fraud. Be aware be very aware. Buy your own cards bless them and have fun. Don't trust someone you don't know.
(Version 1.72) | |
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| Jan 28 2007 |
HOLYPOLY Except your own analyst, of course. | |
| Jun 2 2005 |
ANONYMOUS This version does include Minor Arcana. I'd really like to see an application that "feels" much more at home in MacOS X. I'd also love to see a feature to help memorize the meanings (and inverse meanings) of all the cards, as well as the visual significance of certain things on said cards. I think with a memorization feature on-board this program is much better priced. As it is, it's a bit pricey for limited functionality.
(Version 1.72) | |
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| Jan 14 2005 |
JOHN If I can't try out the software, I'm not even going to consider buying it. I recommend that you can go buy your own deck with a book (for the same price) You'll enjoy them more than some app that just regurgatates pre-written interpretations of the cards.
(Version 1.5) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
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| Mar 28 2005 |
THESAGEGAME Check out Sage Mental Spa. We wrote a new deck and did all of the artwork
(Version 1.52) | |
| Nov 23 2004 |
ANONYMOUS Unfortunately, this application completely disables itself when a new version is released. This forces you to update, even if you don't want to do so. It's very inconvenient for users who might be in a low-bandwidth situation at the time of the version check. It also makes me wonder in what other ways the application might be "time bombed" to stop working.
(Version 1.2) | |
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| Nov 14 2004 |
ANONYMOUS Complete BS! Don't bother. Go buy a deck of cards. This thing doesn't have ANY minor arcana. :p
(Version 1.0) | |
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| Nov 3 2004 |
ANONYMOUS I'd love to see a flash card-like learning mode to learn each of the cards. That would be awesome and make me and baby Jesus very happy.
(Version 0.99) | |
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| Jan 15 2005 |
ANONYMOUS You and baby jesus??? Your a nutter!
(Version 1.5) | |
| Nov 3 2004 |
JOHN A decent little app but a little unfinished. It's missing an application icon and there is no documentation. Thankfully, the content is there and it appears fairly complete. However, the app queries ns1.sootica.com on port 80 every time it is launched with no explanation or option to turn it off. Why it is doing this is completely unclear. Until it has an application icon, documentation and and doesn't perform spyware-like activities without your consent, I'd stay away.
(Version 0.99) | |
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| Aug 31 2004 |
ANONYMOUS I don't know much about Tarot, but this lacks ANY features whatsoever--but it IS a beta, so I give it a 2 for the promise of more features in the future. The card graphics are very good, and playability is fine, but I question the sanity and/or intelligence of anyone that believes that they can predict the future with a deck of cards--computer-based or otherwise. I wish I could sit you down with Penn Jillette for about an hour.
(Version 0.95) | |
| [ 5 Replies - Reply ] | |
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| Aug 31 2004 |
ANONYMOUS Like you say, you know don't know much about it. I question the intelligence of anyone who mouths off about things without at least putting in some research first. Each to their own.
(Version 0.95) | |
| Aug 31 2004 |
ANONYMOUS "I question the sanity and/or intelligence of anyone that believes that they can predict the future with a deck of cards..." Indeed. It is for entertainment purposes, along the lines of the venerable Ouija board. Simply a curiousity and nothing more.
(Version 0.95) | |
| Sep 1 2004 |
ANONYMOUS I answer the sanity and intelligence of people who use Tarot (and Runes, and Nemed, and Astrology, and any other form of 'reading'): Intelligence is simply the recognition and sorting of patterns into meaningful data. For a highly intelligent individual, Tarot is like the legend of the guy who tricked the devil into counting every grain of sand on a beach before he could take his soul, (and thus survived) - in other words, it's a distraction. 'Sanity' is a euphemism for a lack of mental or social aberrations: in other words, there's no such thing as sanity. It's purely subjective. Tarot is like a book - the Major Arcana tells a story of spiritual enlightenment, each card a chapter of that story. Using the positions as placeholders for areas of your life, and cards as cues, you exercise your mind into helping you make decisions. Some people take that further, and use it as a visual aid for their supposed clairvoyance. Nobody believes their future is "in the cards". So target your ire elsewhere - Tarot is a tool. Nothing more.
(Version 0.95) | |
| Sep 1 2004 |
ANONYMOUS Ire? I detect no ire whatsoever in any of these posts. Perhaps you should learn the definition of the word. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913): Ire \Ire\, n. [F., fr. L. ira.] Syn: Anger; passion; rage; fury. See Anger. n 1: a strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance [syn: anger, choler] 2: belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong (personified as one of the deadly sins) [syn: wrath, anger, ira]
(Version 0.95) | |
| Sep 1 2004 |
ANONYMOUS Ah well, i question the intelligence of anyone who rates a Tarot app for 'playability' :) Tarot is just a way of opening your eyes to ideas outside of stagnant thought patterns. How often do you seriously sit, with nothing going on.. basically - meditate, and work through things in your life? Tarot can help with that. And it helps a lot of people cope with day to day stresses in a completely harmless way. Yes it can be used wrongly, and can be taken too far, but the crazies aren't the norm.
(Version 0.95) | |
| Aug 25 2004 |
F_ELZ Great app. Works fine with me. Easy to use and understand.
(Version 0.70) | |
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| Aug 23 2004 |
ANONYMOUS could not minimize the screen at all, couldn't even reach the bottom to submit the question, interesting idea, poor execution...needs a better gui. time limited beta?...should be listed as shareware then...
(Version 0.70) | |
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| Sep 1 2004 |
ANONYMOUS Why does beta equate to shareware to you? It says it's free.
(Version 0.96) | |
| Aug 23 2004 |
MICHAEL PUSKAS Neat little app-- the tarot images are clear & wonderfully illustrated, and the descriptions of each card are easy to understand. I've been reading tarot cards for years & it's great to finally have a program like this for my Mac. The only downside is that it's a time-limited beta with only one possible card spread. Future versions promise to have more spreads, but they won't be free. It comes with instructions, but it doesn't tell you how to reveal the cards. It tells you to type in your question [I assume for your own reference] and click the "shuffle cards" button, but you have to click each card displayed on the right to turn them over.
(Version 0.70) | |
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