ODYSSEUS  I beg to differ. The greatest thing Apple could do for the iPhone would be to sell it unlocked and allow other carriers to sell it.  
(Version 3.0)

ODYSSEUS  Shock J,

You are right on by saying "They need to move past this and stop trying to emulate a 10 year old defunct application everyone has gotten over." But even less than an original vision or product, the people at Infinity Data Systems don't have a clue.  
(Version 1.0)

ODYSSEUS  The problem is that you must have run a utility that removes language localizations and/or code from your programs. If you do this, the MS updater won't recognize Office anymore. The only solution is to reinstall from CD and then install the whole series of updates ...  
(Version 12.1.9)

ODYSSEUS  Beware of the update to iPhoto 8.0.3. After launch, it deleted all of my MobileMe photo galleries!  
(Version 8.0.3)

ODYSSEUS  How can they go from 1.0.4 to 1.1.1?!  
(Version 1.1.1)

ODYSSEUS   This has the potential to be a very useful program, but its fundamental operational principles are not well-documented: when you specify the amount of time you want to be internet-free, you are not specifying a countdown, but rather the actual amount of time your computer will be used before networking is restored. In other words, if it is 2pm when you specify 2 hours, your computer will only have networking restored at 4pm if you've actually used your computer for 2 hours during that time. Since sleep does not count toward computer usage, you never know exactly when networking will return.

When I inquired about this, the developer replied that this was a design decision and would not be changed. The program should accommodate both the current approach and a simpler one, where the user specifies a time interval during which networking isn't available (say 2-4pm). Since the developer is not responsive to this need, I would not contribute money this project.  
(Version 0.4.1)

ODYSSEUS  Exactly. Better to have a countdown. How does it work? I launched Freedom 0.4.1 at 2pm and told it stop all networking for 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours). Just before 4pm, I put my MacBook Pro (late 2008) to sleep. I woke it up at 5:45, expecting to have networking restored. It was not restored, and I had to restart.  
(Version 0.4.1)

ODYSSEUS  The best utility for converting Eudora mailboxes for Mail. It's not perfect -- Eudora actually discards information, making some changes irreversible -- but this is about as good as it gets.  
(Version 4.9)

ODYSSEUS   I bought version 6 dictionaries less than a year before version 7 was released with major UI changes, but I would have had to pay an upgrade price per dictionaries. The fact is that I've noticed only minor changes in the dictionaries between versions 5, 6, and 7, so it does seem prohibitively expensive to pay a per-dictionary fee when what is really changing is the UI. The Ultralingua Collins translation dictionaries have superior content to the base Ultralingua brand, but they still can't compare to the dictionaries sold directly by Robert-Collins.  
(Version 7.1.4)

ODYSSEUS  How is this different or better than MoneyWell?  
(Version 1.2.3)

ODYSSEUS  pdfpen is fairly inexpensive.  
(Version 1.2.1)

ODYSSEUS  Depends on what you mean by "compatible." Yes, Mellel can read the format, but how good is the conversion?  
(Version 2.6)

ODYSSEUS  Ponter's points are well-taken, but the fact remains that Mellel's incompatibility with the de facto standard word processing document format is a huge disadvantage. The developers at Nisus had the smarts to make rtf their document standard. Yes, it's a problem being beholden to Microsoft, but virtually everyone uses that document format, so unless you do your word processing on a desert island, you're probably not going to be able to rely solely on Mellel.  
(Version 2.6)

ODYSSEUS  What about Moneywell?  
(Version 2008r3)

ODYSSEUS  The developer is only a month late and you're upset about that?  
(Version 4.0)

ODYSSEUS  I think the developer doesn't grasp how upset users are that he has yet to offer anything like Salling Clicker for the iPhone. He also has been less than forthcoming about whether or not he intends to develop anything along these lines.  
(Version 1.0.2)

ODYSSEUS  Has anyone noticed that even after updating to 4.1.1, the app and its splash screen still show 4.1?  
(Version 4.1.1)

ODYSSEUS  You don't get it. BusySync makes possible over-the-air syncing of Google calendars AND subscribed calendars via MobileMe to the iPhone. It isn't possible otherwise.  
(Version 2.1.7)

ODYSSEUS  But NetShare doesn't require iPhoneModem. So what's the benefit?  
(Version 1.7)

ODYSSEUS  So wait -- if one is fortunate enough to have Netshare, we don't need to hack into our iPhones?  
(Version 1.7)

ODYSSEUS  "The point is that the Eudora user base was left largely without a viable alternative."

Your email client in its current state isn't close to being a valid alternative. There are valid alternatives -- they're just not identical to Eudora.

"Odysseus holds true to the interface and workflow of Eudora"

Congratulations, very forward-looking. Eudora is a program whose basic design and interface harkens back to the late 80s.   
(Version 1.0b3)

ODYSSEUS  They've been saying "we've been making significant progress with each new build." Would it be otherwise? They also said that towards the end of the testing cycle, the builds would be coming more and more quickly (which is usually what happens with betas). Is this really the case?

Let's face it -- with these guys, the expression "the Emperor has no clothes!" takes on new meaning. Just remember: this app is really a *copy* of someone else's app, without borrowing the code. What's the point?  
(Version 1.0b3)

ODYSSEUS  They're not trustworthy at all. The initial release date of the software was supposed to be *March 15*. Software delays are of course unavoidable, but Infinity repeatedly made specific promises about delivery dates and *never* delivered. It's time to move on.  
(Version 1.0b3)

ODYSSEUS  DiskAid (for Mac, not iPhone) is free and makes it easy to transfer files to and from your iPhone via simple USB connection. It doesn't preview the files on the iPhone like this, though.  
(Version 1.0.1)

ODYSSEUS  Actually, Lingon would be best for this, wouldn't it?  
(Version 2.0)

ODYSSEUS  This only temporarily affects networking and doesn't permanently alter any files, does it?  
(Version 0.3)

ODYSSEUS  And no basic rules/filters?! What format does the program store messages in?  
(Version 1.0.1)

ODYSSEUS  It does reboot your phone for every single note that you add to it. Really annoying.  
(Version 1.5.2)

ODYSSEUS  You may request a refund!  
(Version 9)

ODYSSEUS  It's not really the only game in town for these conversions. What about VisualHub and DVDRemaster, to name two?  
(Version 9)

ODYSSEUS  Has anyone compared this to MoneyWell?  
(Version 5.3.4)

ODYSSEUS  Instead of saving in Word format, did you try opening the NWP files directly in Word? Since NWP's native format is RTF, which Word also understands, perhaps that would result in fewer unwanted changes?  
(Version 1.0.3)

ODYSSEUS  This was pretty impressive a year ago, but nowadays there's no reason to use this software, unless you need to leave video voicemail (Skype is currently the best for videoconferencing). As another reviewer commented, they're not Mac-savvy. To add insult to injury, the app now displays ads -- none of the other free videoconferencing clients does this!  
(Version 6.0.6096)

ODYSSEUS  I was wrong -- in terms of overall usability, Bookends is *far* ahead of the competition, and it has widened the gap with this update, which adds an amazing number of incredibly useful features.   
(Version 10.1)

ODYSSEUS  I'm a little mystified here: aren't Scrivener and DTP *complementary*? As far as I know, DTP doesn't have any word processing features at all, not in the sense of allowing the user to assemble disparate notes or texts into a single one.  
(Version 1.09b)

ODYSSEUS  This is now the golden standard of bibliography management programs:

1. Sente appears to have the cleanest, best-designed interface. For example, you can do *all* your work in the main library window - no need to open up a reference window, switch between tabs within that window, etc.

2. Sente is unique in that it doesn't force you to use arcane character codes and field names in order to produce working formats -- it's all done in a graphic interface, with popups and checkboxes.  
(Version 5.0.19)

ODYSSEUS  I think Sente 5 has gone beyond Bookends:

1. Sente appears to have the cleanest, best-designed interface. For example, you can do *all* your work in the main library window - no need to open up a reference window, switch between tabs within that window, etc.

2. Sente is unique in that it doesn't force you to use arcane character codes and field names in order to produce working formats -- it's all done in a graphic interface, with popups and checkboxes.  
(Version 10.0.3)

ODYSSEUS  When I launch 1.1, it acts as if it can't find my previous settings (by launching Setup Assistant). Anyone else?  
(Version 1.1)

ODYSSEUS  In my experience, it is only shareware developers (as opposed to companies) who offer many free updates to their products over several years (three years in the case of Bookends and Mellel). It is interesting to speculate on how this can be possible: it seems that aside from having extremely low distribution costs, certain shareware developers may also have other sources of income (just as open-source software developers must). Can you imagine a company, with many employees, offering free upgrades over a significant period of time, relying only on sales to new customers for income? How would they stay afloat? I think that a different business model applies to Bookends and Mellel. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.  
(Version 10.0.1)

ODYSSEUS  Bookends is currently the most full-featured bibliography program available for the Mac (others, such as Sente, are close behind, however, and may surpass it in the future), and its developer is obviously very committed to it and updates it very regularly. Version 9 was a miracle of improvements and the developer didn't even charge an upgrade for it from version 8, which is just amazing. Some may disagree, but I and others feel that version 10 is a much more modest change from version 9, but the developer is obviously deserving of his reasonable $29 upgrade fee.

That being said, I have a number of reservations about the program and its developer. First of all, the program itself doesn't feel very responsive, and there are reports from several users that it bogs down with databases of several thousand references or more, even when the cache is increased (and one could argue, why should a cache require manual adjustment?). This may be due in part to the fact that Bookends is written using a development environment and language called RealBASIC, which appears to impose many constraints in terms of how the program "feels" and looks. Indeed, in terms of UI, this program is a far cry from the best-of-breed OS X programs. Furthermore, some of the early UI decisions, such as a non-configurable reference entry window with fixed-size fields that require individual scrollbars or otherwise button clicks to view their entire contents, is becoming a handicap now that the program handles many more fields: in version 10, the reference window had to be broken down into tabs, and as evidenced by a long discussion forum at the Sonny Software site, many users are upset with the limitations that it imposes, such as the move of the "Abstracts" field from the primary to a secondary tab. The developer promises a workaround, but I wonder how long he can keep everyone happy, and there is always going to be a compromise with this approach.

A couple of other notes. The developer of Bookends is also one of the most mercurial fellows I've ever dealt with, and while he is devoted to those who constantly praise him and his program, he doesn't handle criticism very well and even resorts to deleting users' posts and identities from his forums without evidence of bad behavior. However, he himself openly criticizes the competition, namely EndNote, which is bad form. Contrast this with the forums of DEVON Technologies, where I actually mentioned alternatives to DEVONThink Pro; the moderator expressed gratitude at the existence of competition.

For those who criticize EndNote: I too have expressed disappointment with the pace of development, but it's a myth that the company (Thomson Scientific) doesn't care about its customers. First of all, the program has improved much more rapidly under Thomson's direction than it ever did under its original owner, Niles and Associates. Second, users need to remember that the development of a cross-platform application (for Mac and Windows) is a much more complicated affair than a single-platform app such as Bookends. Indeed, because EndNote's user base is so much larger, and includes government clients, EndNote has to comply with complicated regulations such as US Government Accessibility Guidelines that the developer of Bookends can simply ignore. Lastly: while more costly than Bookends, EndNote looks and behaves much more like a well-designed OS X program, it's fast, and it handles thousands of references with aplomb. I've been using EndNote since 1991 (version 1), and I've never had an instance of database corruption, whereas I've observed it several times in the year or so that I've been using Bookends (although I've not yet lost any data)  
(Version 10.0.1)

ODYSSEUS  It *is* a universal binary!  
(Version 0.1.1b)

ODYSSEUS  Surely the widget could keep the return address instead of it being kept by Callwave. In addition, I find it disturbing that Callwave keeps a record of *all* SMS messages sent  
(Version 3.6.1)

ODYSSEUS  Have you thought about using something like SpellCatcher?  
(Version 1.0)