ROY VAN DER WONING  Did you check the DropBox documentation before you posted this?

https://www.getdropbox.com/help/27  
(Version 0.6.570)

ROY VAN DER WONING  The purpose of this application completely eludes me.

It is advertised as a solution to cut down the number of applications and the complexity involved in printing your photos. But unless I am overlooking something blatantly obvious, it does the exact opposite.

The thing is that PrintSprint doesn't actually do what its name hints at, which is making prints. It is merely an aid in resizing and cropping your photos upon which it allows you to "generate an order". What this boils down to is that the resized/cropped copies of your photos are saved into a folder after which the task of actually printing them is still up to you.

In other words, PrintSprint does not diminish the number of applications, views, windows, etc. as it claims on the tin, but rather adds itself into the mix, duplicates readily available functions (cropping, rotating, etc.) in the photo management software it is advertised to coexist with (iPhoto, Aperture) and stops where it could have been most useful: making the actual print.  
(Version 1.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  For the record, I never said or suggested that the developer "targeted" MacZot customers.

People who buy licenses through MacZot (and hence, not directly from the developer) likely feel that the reduced price is more realistic for what is being offered than the regular list price. Hence, the statement that they come out ahead doesn't hold water IMO, because many MacZot customers would likely not have purchased a license to begin with, if it hadn't been for that reduced price. I for one find $40 too steep for what's essentially a one-trick pony (albeit a very nifty and useful one).

Add this to the fact that a (questionably) major release is launched 6 months after the MacZot campaign (similar tactics have been heavily frowned upon in the past, and for good reasons), that the developer (by their own admission) did not finalize their FTP/SFTP implementation in the previous release and that they closed their blog article for comments after having their decision questioned (other articles still accept user feedback) and this thing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

And I'll let those be my final 2 pesos on the matter.   
(Version 2.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I found this utility useful enough to purchase a license through MacZot, but less than 6 months later, the developer launches a new release and sets the grace period such that droves of new customers that were reeled in through MacZot are not eligible for a free upgrade and now have to plunk down the same 20 bucks they paid for the original license. Not quite as sneaky as the YazSoft debacle, but it does bear a canning resemblance.

As icing on the cake, the blog article announcing the new release has been closed for comments after the developer was called on these business tactics and questioned on whether or not the new features warrant a major upgrade to begin with. Apparently, the developer does not appreciate the expression of legitimate customer concerns on their website.  
(Version 2.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Spamfilters either block mail or they let it pass through. Spamfilters do put mail on hold for 9 days, nor do they add "I'm only a small developer" to incoming mail.  
(Version 5.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Took me all of 5 seconds to find this:

https://www.getdropbox.com/help/27  
(Version 0.6.448)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Interesting observation. Can you name an example so I can verify this?  
(Version 1.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Contrary to what seems to have become the popular consensus, my experience with Burning Thumb's support has been exceptionally positive.

After purchasing a license, I noticed that some of my tracks' meta data was not retained during the conversion, such as my album art. I contacted the developer about this, and one hour (!) later, I got an initial response. Not only did I instantly get a refund for my purchase because DRM Dumpster did not perform to my expectations, I also got an email the very next day with an update which addressed the problem with the missing meta data. When I subsequently reported a few more glitches, the developer sent me a second update which fixed those issues as well.

Even though there are still some nice-to-have's on my wish list, and I did experience one or two stability issues, I find that DRM Dumpster is the closest to ideal, and most convenient option to enable my protected tracks for playback on non-Apple devices like my SqueezeBox. The developer has been very forthcoming in identifying an fixing the reported issues, and did so within 24 hours. I will report the remaining niggles in due time and have no doubt that they can be ironed out as well.

Whether or not DRM Dumpster is worth the price is highly subjective, but it definitely pays off to contact the developer if something doesn't work as advertised. It got me a free license and a tool that does a hands-off conversion of my DRM protected tracks, allowing me to attend to a less mind numbing pastime.  
(Version 3.3)

ROY VAN DER WONING  This was supposed to end up as a reply to the August 25th comment "thread".  
(Version 5.0.5)

ROY VAN DER WONING  No sure why you felt the need to point that out, but I'm still interested to learn what makes your two alternatives "the best".  
(Version 5.0.5)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I didn't say that using 1Password is more secure than remembering your passwords. I think it's pretty obvious that this is not the case, nor do the developers imply as much.

But with hundreds of my passwords currently managed by 1Password, it allows me to use distinct and more secure passwords for each resource which boosts security at that level. If I had to memorize all my passwords, most would probably be both the same and easy to remember (hence less secure).

Yes, IF someone steals your notebook and IF someone manages to hack your keychain (which is no sinecure to the typical casual thief), then you're hosed. But the other scenario, where most my resources are protected by the same simple password is even less secure. Hacking one such resource would provide access to many others and can be done from anywhere in the world (as opposed to stealing my computer).  
(Version 2.8.3b9)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Without a password manager like 1Password, most people will use the same credentials for all sites they sign up with. This, in and of itself, poses a security risk. The threat of your computer being stolen and your encrypted keychain being hacked is not quite as severe as that of a malicious site owner using your credentials to access a host of other resources.

That, combined with convenience provided by 1Password, makes this solution a godsend to me.  
(Version 2.8.3b9)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Tiger was released a mere 2 weeks before that review was posted. That hardly made Panther "outdated" at the time.  
(Version 1.6.6)

ROY VAN DER WONING  One has to wonder though what business an application of this sort has writing in the system wide library folder (/Library) as opposed to the user library folder (~/Library). Just a thought.  
(Version 5.1.2)

ROY VAN DER WONING  "By our careful calculations, an $8 app is not going to be able to finance the ongoing development and marketing necessary to move it forward."

The issue that many people may take (and in fact already have taken) with this statement is that no substantial "moving forward" has actually occurred before you raised the price of this product. It may be financially beneficial for you to raise funds ahead of development effort, but it does not sit well with (potential) customers.  
(Version 3.4)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Then again, when has a buyout ever been good news to the customer? Generally, it brings the indie developer's drive to innovate to a grinding halt and provides an easy cash cow to some indifferent outfit at the expense of both new and existing customers.

I'd love to see Boinx prove me wrong, but I agree that more than doubling the price while bringing nothing new to the table definitely sets them off at the wrong foot.  
(Version 3.4)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Since you are posting this as a blanket statement, I'd be interested to know what it is that makes these two applications "the best" for every individual purpose.

For example, how would 3-2-1 be "the best" for someone who needs a stopwatch? And how is Alarm Clock "the best" for anyone who would be interested in some of the features included with Alarm Clock Pro for example?  
(Version 5.0.2)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I suggest we leave that up to the site admin.  
(Version 1.5.7)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Why is your dock maxed out if you use Quicksilver?  
(Version 1.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  No experience with this application whatsoever, but the interface is keeping me from trying it. It just doesn't feel right to me.

It's what I was used to back in my Windows days. It seems unnecessarily cluttered, like every feature needed a control and all of these controls had to be in the main window.

Then there's the toolbar which has a Windows feel to it, right down to the Open (folder) and Save (Disk) icons which were copied verbatim from Windows. And there's at least 3 different styles of icons; they just don't match together.

Then there's the gratuitous use of borders which reminds me of a Windows app I used to have (Qimage). There's a border around the left pane, another border around the image portion of that pane and yet another (blue) border around that border. I'm sure there's a purpose to it, but it detracts from the clean UI that I've come to appreciate from Mac applications.  
(Version 2.2.7)

ROY VAN DER WONING  By all means, do divulge your method for controlling Photoshop from a fully automated environment that is not complicated, inaccurate and time consuming.  
(Version 3.7)

ROY VAN DER WONING  So you will actually sell/closet/torch your Mac if the developer decides to discontinue this product and the beta expires?

Gotta love those superlatives in reviews. :-)  
(Version 1.0b6.2)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Thanks for responding Reggie. FWIW: I do appreciate your reasons for wanting a donation, and I'd happily pay the $5 you ask for AppDelete.

But remember that many people will update directly from MacUpdate and will thus miss the information you posted on your site. And even though the app's listing may now have been changed from "Free" to "Demo" by MacUpdate's admin, I still feel that you should clarify your new licensing policy in your update description to ensure that visitors can make an informed decision on whether or not they wish to upgrade.  
(Version 2.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Although I really like this app, the upgrade to 2.0 reeks of a new case of bait & switch to me.

The update description says: "It is recommended that all users upgrade to this new redesigned version for the latest features and improvements." but makes no mention of the newly introduced "donation" scheme, thus luring people into upgrading without realizing that their app is no longer free.  
(Version 2.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I'd never buy a plugin that costs 50% more than what it's supposed to plug into. What's next, a $1000 Photoshop plugin?  
(Version 1.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Can you give an example of a file caught by AppDelete and missed by CleanApp?  
(Version 3.0b7)

ROY VAN DER WONING  You're overreacting.

I just gave you my view on the review you posted and you're going off on me like I've insulted your mother. Why so defensive?

And by the painter analogy I only meant to counter your suggestion that I need to post a "pro" review myself before I can comment on other people's contribution.

Do you get this acidic with everyone who doesn't value your comments?  
(Version 5.0.3)

ROY VAN DER WONING  You can't critique a painting if you don't paint yourself? Or comment on a movie unless you're an actor? You happily accept a botched haircut because you're not a hairdresser?  
(Version 5.0.3)

ROY VAN DER WONING  To me personally, this review goes right off the hyperbole scale.

Providing lost registration info belongs to the very basic support tasks of a commercial software developer. Helpful, yes, but IMO hardly an incentive for a glowing review.

All I could factually distill from your contribution is that Speed Download places my downloads "where I choose".

Perhaps you could elaborate on what "all your downloading needs" entails instead of praising the app's merits without actually naming them. That would allow me to differentiate between Speed Download and competing products and help me make an informed decision.  
(Version 5.0.3)

ROY VAN DER WONING  It would be great if the frequent updates to this fine application could be handled via Sparkle instead of the laborious (by comparison) [download DMG/reveal DMG in Finder/mount DMG/close active app/drag new version from DMG to Applications/unmount DMG/delete DMG/restart app] cycle.  
(Version 1.3.8)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Not to mention the inappropriate name. When I spotted this app, I fully expected it to have some bearing on photography, which it obviously doesn't have any bearing on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh  
(Version 1.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  How does the fact that this is a simple utility absolve the developer from fixing bugs?

And how does the fact that you never had a problem with it imply that it must be bug-free?  
(Version 4.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  How does the fact that you have no use for this particular application warrant a two star review? If you happen to have a satisfactory solution for a particular need, does that imply that all alternative solutions are dysfunctional or ill-fitted for their intended purpose?

If you qualify TextMate as "just another colorized text editor" and subsequently pass out two stars for functionality, then you have not been able/willing to grasp what TextMate is capable of.

Perhaps you could elaborate on what you think is so blatantly missing in terms of functionality?

No affiliation with TextMate - just a satisfied user.  
(Version 1.5.7)

ROY VAN DER WONING  This release must truly be a smack in the face of everyone who has been waiting 6 months for the developer to fix a bug in one of their other applications. Incessant complaints about the developer's lack of support fall on deaf ears as fail to respond to either forum posts or direct emails:

http://scriptsoftware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=2709

When I consider purchasing a product, developer reputation is every bit as important to me as the actual product quality and the iKey debacle doesn't bode well for a potential customer of CopyPaste.  
(Version 1.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Not to mention that passing out a 1 star rating just because the app is missing a single safeguard is unreasonable at best.  
(Version 1.2.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  This is NOT the only password app to sync via .Mac. Check out 1Password.  
(Version 2.7)

ROY VAN DER WONING  The widget's buttons don't look right on my MacBook (Leopard).

http://img.skitch.com/20080227-gjht1mkisb8ysmgaecfyduhgbe.jpg  
(Version 2.4.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Except that it doesn't do FIPS-181 like Make-A-Pass.  
(Version 2.4.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  It would have helped if they had posted a direct link to that page, but thanks for pointing it out!  
(Version 3.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I must be blind too 'cause I only see a list of new features in release 3, not the changes in 3.0.1 specifically.  
(Version 3.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  35 KB/s here, and that's in Europe.  
(Version 1.9.3)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Window title: "Screenflow Reviews"

Header: "Original Review"

When posting: "Write a Review", "Review type" and "Post review"

And how is this even relevant? Does labeling your blurb as "Comment" instead of "Review" somehow make it more relevant or valuable to MacUpdate community?

Being obnoxious and resorting to ad hominem attacks is a poor but telltale and transparant way to cover up a lack of comprehension/conversational skills.

I'm done here. Let the people decide.  
(Version 1.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Classy response; every bit as smug as the boilerplate "review" you apparently fail to see the futility of.  
(Version 1.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Funny how most people who end their review with "'nuff said" don't actually say much at all.

Just reading how an app "blows away" the competition is hardly "nuff" for anyone who is looking for factual info.  
(Version 1.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Testy much?

In what way did the other reviewer "judge" you?  
(Version 4.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Please explain how it is the same.

Imagine having to move all files in a certain folder into subfolders based on the first (few) letter(s) of the names of those files. For this, one would need to manually create countless smart folders to group the files, manually create all target folders and manually move the grouped files into those folders.

Compare this to a few clicks in TBMFM.  
(Version 1.3.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  There is nothing careless about making a factual observation.

If the app "looks thoroughly leopard", then its appearance must have been updated since brushed aluminum has no place in Leopard anymore. This would imply an outdated screenshot. And you call me careless.

So there!  
(Version 5.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Brushed aluminum is so 2007...  
(Version 5.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Funny how, with the rising popularity of David Allen's methodology, so many todo apps have suddenly become GTD applications.

This app may be useful in and of itself but lacks virtually all relevant prerequisites for a GTD implementation.  
(Version 1.2)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Perhaps the developer can provide some independent reports on "the ever-increasing malware threats being deployed against the platform"? I miserably failed to dig up anything substantial in this area.  
(Version 2.74)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I'd like to think that asking for an *option* to have an application display information in its intended format by default is quite reasonable and that the lack of such an option doesn't necessarily imply "hell".

And in spite of personal preferences, the HTML appearance of an email is not an attachment of its plain text counterpart. Presenting it as such may be preferable for some people, but it's a likely cause of confusion for everyone who is used to find such an option under a "View" menu of sorts.  
(Version 7.9.2)

ROY VAN DER WONING  No complaints, just an observation.

FWIW: I think this app is pretty cool. I already disabled the standard menu bar clock in favor of it.  
(Version 1.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Funny how you claim 27MB to be nothing and then worry about CPU usage for an app that changes your wallpaper once a minute.  
(Version 1.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  "doesn't use up any resources"?

On my MacBook, it consumes over 27MB of real, and nigh onto 1 GB of virtual memory. I'd like to know what hardware CYPHER is using, because I want it!  
(Version 1.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I had already removed MailSteward since my last review, but decided to reinstall it to verify the developers rebuttal.

I found that for various HTML formatted emails, there is no HTML link at all. In other words: viewing those messages in their original appearance is simply not an option in MailSteward.

For those messages that did include an HTML link, their formatted appearance did not match that of Mail.app. Differences ranging from fonts/spacing to missing images.

And finally, it strikes me as odd that MailSteward lacks the option to have HTML view be used as its default viewing mode. Having to scroll all the way down to the bottom of each and every message for a link to have that message appear in its original form is cumbersome at best. And the fact that this link is listed under "ATTACHMENTS" doesn't help to identify it, thus prompting my former review.  
(Version 7.9.2)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Purchased an upgrade from Saft Tiger to Leopard, but am unable to download it because the site does not recognize my account info. Sent mail to developer: no response.  
(Version 10.0.1)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Not everyone can determine the outside temperature by looking through a window.  
(Version 1.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Alas, no response from the developer...  
(Version 1.2.8)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Conceptually well designed and functional, but the non-standard interface did ring an alarm bell. A trip over to the Activity Monitor and sure enough: PPC. This spells a quick and dirty Windows port to me.

UI consistency and integration was one of my major reasons to switch to the Mac. No more fugly, non-native kludges for me. Cross-platform development frameworks (Java et al) generally only serve the developer and more often than not provide users with a less than ideal UI experience.

Also, all of my applications are Universal Binary, and I plan to keep it that way.  
(Version 1.0)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Done.  
(Version 1.2.8)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Fails to show the contents of iPhoto libraries with version number 7.1. When selected, it just says "Loading" in the bottom right panel, but doesn't get past that stage.

I still have a couple of version 7.0.1 libraries which work fine with iPhoto Buddy, but get upgraded to 7.1 as soon as I open them with the current version of iPhoto. So eventually, iPhoto Buddy won't be able to tell me the contents of any of my libraries.  
(Version 1.2.8)

ROY VAN DER WONING  The file count bug has been reported through Cocoatech's support forums several times, as far back as a year ago. The issue has been confirmed by a staff member and said to have been put on "the todo list".  
(Version 4.8)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I'm assuming that FvdG's "still" means that they do not fix bugs in "no time at all", which matches my personal experience.

While some issues may take longer than average to squash, things such as remembering a window's position and keeping an accurate item tally does not seem like brain surgery to me.  
(Version 4.8)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Amazing how even a "major update" fails to fix bugs that have been reported many moons ago like the counting of hidden files, even though PF's preferences have been set to hide them:

http://forum.cocoatech.com/showthread.php?t=3326

Cocoatech defends this "feature" by claiming it is by design, but it does not make sense to have system files like .DS_Store included in a folder's item count.  
(Version 4.8)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I'm quite surprised to see that none of the (albeit largely appropriate) glowing reviews make note of an IMO rather glaring deficiency: MailSteward is unable to display formatted (HTML) mail like Mail.app does. Everything is shown as plain text.

Not only does this make messages harder to read (especially those that make extensive use of formatting), it is also hampers the process of sifting through messages with inline attachments (predominantly images), each one of which has to be opened separately instead of them being displayed within the message body.  
(Version 7.8.7)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Under Windows you'd use Ctrl-A, not "Home followed by Shift-End".  
(Version 4.2.180.1134)

ROY VAN DER WONING  Well executed and a good start for further development.

For that, I'd like to see more (advanced) splitting criteria though (regular expressions, or at least wild cards for filenames, as well as other file attributes such as size). Also, an option to control the name of the created directories instead of them being generated from the split criteria. This can be done in the preview step which could offer an option to edit the suggested directory names, or beforehand in the hierarchy scheme form using placeholders. The latter would also open a door to creating droplets so one can drop one or more folders onto a desktop icon and have BMFM perform an (unattended) split/merge operation. Finally, it should be possible to do a file move instead of a copy.  
(Version 1.0b2)

ROY VAN DER WONING  No updates for 8 months, is NewsFire still under development or has it been relegated to a dormant project?

I would love to see the one missing key feature being implemented: (.Mac) syncing. I tend to divide my RSS reading time between my MacBook (office) and iMac (home), but it's really cumbersome having to weed through the onslaught of news items twice.

Other than that, NewsFire fits me like a glove. As a recent switcher, I've come to appreciate applications that mirror Apple's minimalistic approach to hard/software design.  
(Version 1.4v69)

ROY VAN DER WONING  I have Home Zone setup to lock my key chain whenever I leave my wireless network at home. However, when my MacBook wakes up from sleep mode, it takes a few seconds to reestablish a connection to that wireless network. This triggers Home Zone to perfrom the "leave" actions, even though I didn't actually leave home. And since there's no reverse action for key chain locking, I have to manually unlock it every time I wake up my Mac Book.

A solution could be to add a configurable delay (a few seconds usually suffice) between an established event (enter or leave) and the triggering of the configured actions.  
(Version 1.0b8)