BOB_TM  Extremely fast remote control app and multiplatform client as well as server. All is set for a killer app, but there are two drawbacks, both big ones:

- The client uses 100% CPU at all times (to be precise, it will take all capacity left on one of the cores on my Leopard laptop). This makes it useless for use with my MacBook, which becomes very hot and drains the battery fast. The server also uses a vast amount of CPU.

- The client does not let you scale to full screen, so either you must have matching resolution or see the remote screen in a small Window.  
(Version 4.1.6886)

BOB_TM  Confirmed working Mac Mini Intel with Matshita CW-8124 drive. Love it so far :)  
(Version 0.1.1)

BOB_TM  Oh my God - I've been waiting for this utility like forever. Can't wait to try it out - may be I can start using my Mac Mini to play CDs without having the Mini make more sound than the speakers. Great!  
(Version 0.1.1)

BOB_TM  Just to give kudos to the developers for their release notes. This is really the way to go about informing users so that they can decide whether to upgrade or not. Others would do wisely to do likewise.

Also - thanks for a nice utility :-)  
(Version 5.0)

BOB_TM  Can you say a bit more about what things set the two packages apart? For those of us who have not spent time on both, it would be helpful. It could also help the developers improve the package.  
(Version 0.7.2)

BOB_TM  > Wonder if you would still think the

> same if a bug in your FMenu caused

> someone to spoil your rating AFTER

> you fixed the bug already.

Hey - don't be afraid, man - if your product and intentions are good, they will prevail. The problem here (if any) is not with Krabbe (who rated the product - I did not as I uninstalled before trying it), but with the rating system which probably does not take into account new versions that are radically different. I see your point of view - it's crap when a small thing gives you a bad rap. See our point of view - a nagware that is very intrusive and pisses us off. We are not mind readers and could not know it was a bug, so we react to what we see.

I've had my software reviewed many times and at some point (like most musicians should learn early) I stopped caring about what other people thought. Trust your instincts.

> that's giving the dev a chance and

> if nothing happens kick his ass -

> not the other way round.

Well - as far as we knew you had already made your choice, so it was not a bug in our eyes, only one of those really offensive nagware program. See it from our perspective and I think you would agree. Had it been version 0.2 I might have given more slack, but this was a mature version.

> And maybe checking whether you're on

> the current release before spoiling

> the rating.

I rated this the day after I downloaded and installed the program. It was version 1.4.1 and no new version was available at the time, as I recall. I have seen your release note to 1.4.2 and it is not all together clear that you did indeed remove the problem of Safari being launched willy-nilly (btw: Do not execute Safari - use the default browser to activate the donation page) - a bug description (or a release note entry) should try to describe the change in a way easily recognized by those who fell victim to it.

To end this on a positive note: I think what your IP routing GUI offers is something I would like to use, as split horizon is hard to set up properly. I downloaded your program in order to evaluate it and pay if it worked. As you have now said that the nagging is not there anymore, I will try again :-)

Peace man - we're all just people.  
(Version 1.4.2)

BOB_TM  > "hope other users are a little more helpful"

I found that Krabbe and myself were quite helpful and clear - we explained in very clear terms what we did not like about the program and now you have fixed this. Whether this functionality was intended on your part or not is hardly relevant.  
(Version 1.4.2)

BOB_TM  This program is very annoying nag-ware. It launches Safari every few hours and shows the donation page, regardless of whether you are using the program or not. If you dislike this, don't install it until you are prepared to evaluate the program. This program is not staying on my computer. Shush... away, Son of Real Player.  
(Version 1.4.1)

BOB_TM  What's new

Version 2.5:

...

- More crash-prone data retrieval procedure

...

Now *that's* what I call honest advertising.  
(Version 2.5)

BOB_TM  The app doesn't handle being logged out very well. If you are logged out for some reason, FMenu just sits there and gives no indication that you have been logged out - it just doesn't update anything.

Another thing: How does one go about telling FMenu to fetch the password from the keychain?  
(Version 2.1)

BOB_TM  This is a good attempt to remedy the awkwardness of Preview when going through pictures, an area in which Windows XP does things better than OSX. I really like this app - it is snappy and a great way to go through a directory of pictures in sequence. What surprised me was that I could not open just a single pictures with this app. It must surely be possible??? I would like to associate picture viewing with this application rather than Preview, as I have done for PDF files with PDFview. The possibility of, after opening a single, particular image, being able to skip to the next in the directory would also be nice (like XP preview).  
(Version 1.0.4)

BOB_TM  A nice app - I like it! This version seems pretty stable. Seems that if I hide pokes they remain as unseen pokes in FMenu, but that's a minor detail. Great alternative to refreshing the FB page all the time.  
(Version 2.1)

BOB_TM  I upgraded my Mac Mini 1.5GHz Core Solo to a 2GHz Core 2 Duo (T7200) and the CPU got quite hot (reaching 87-88+ C during 100% load on both cores) and activated the fan control mechanism causing more fan noise. After installing this utility I managed to get a stable voltage of 1.0126V and reduced this maximum to around 75 C and the fan speed remained on the default value throughout my testing.

On the downside, the program GUI needs some work to be intuitive (at least for me) and the documentation improved. Fan speed information (maybe even load information on each core) and title bar display would give this gem a 5 star across the board.

I recommend this highly for anyone with Core 2 Duo on the Mac Mini and would guess that it would be of value to any Mac Mini user who wants little fan noise.  
(Version 2.0)

BOB_TM  Reunion is still PPC/Rosetta only and Reunion 9 (which will probably be universal) is still not released. Last update to the Reunion 8 program is abt. 20 months ago. It might be advisable for non-addicted Intel users to consider a another application.  
(Version 2.11)

BOB_TM  Ever felt the need to know where your disk space is going? Having been a faithful user of SpaceMonger for Windows, I've been on a lookout for similar tools on other platforms and this is a stiled-up version for OSX: It lets you uncover how iLife and GarageBand is filling up your hard drive and how old iPhoto-catalogs are claiming gigabytes.

I can but recommend this program. If you make it a part of your Mac life, consider donating.  
(Version 1.0)

BOB_TM  Yes - I'm sorry - you're right guys. Just got annoyed by the constant update reminders. I've moved it out of my watch list and to the wish list, which does not give update reminders while keeping it in MacUpdate - better way of solving it for me.  
(Version 8.4.08)

BOB_TM  Hmmm.... in theory this would be a nice app. Changing default app in Finder for MP3s changes this for almost all MP3 files, but some files are still given the iTunes icon and starts iTunes when clicked. Unfortunately, this application crashed with no error after selecting VLC as default app for MP3.  
(Version 2.0.1)

BOB_TM  I would recommend reconsidering your update policy. There has been 5 updates the past two weeks alone - it does not give an impression of seriousness. Prior to version 1 this is an affordable luxary of developer eagerness, but now it is just slightly pathetic. Try to gather non-urgent changes into monthly batches.  
(Version 8.4.05)

BOB_TM  How rotten can this piece of software be? There is an minor upgrade/patch every other day. And this is supposed to be version 8? Is this just to genenerate entries on MacUpdate or is there really an urgent need for all these?  
(Version 8.4.05)

BOB_TM  This app is really great. Since OSX is so well thought out I'm really surprised at the glearing shortcomings like Preview with PDFs. Luckily there are programs like this to fill the gaps. The rapid pace of development adds to the feeling that this app will go far in a very short time.

It is already an OSX essential - go get it!   
(Version 0.11.5)

BOB_TM  Shouldn't that be "Native TN5250 emulation for OSX"? It would be cool to run OSX on AS/400, but for some reason I don't see that forthcoming.  
(Version 1.7)

BOB_TM  Just a few examples on problems:

- Can't display Apple Support discussion forums with CSS.

- Problems rendering themixingbowl.org torrent entries.

- Crashes at arounder.com 3D quicktime views.

- Gives incorrect warnings with eJournal

- Has rare, random crashes.

- Can't handle URL links in Outlook Web Access messages when using "open links in new tab".

- Even if memory use grows slower than Firefox, it easily ends up on 150-200 Mb resident use and does not release it properly.

These are just problems I run into daily - Firefox works well. Sorry Opera - you just don't hack it - this is barely beta quality.  
(Version 9.0.2)

BOB_TM  Microsoft's current RDP solution for OSX is still PPC only. While accurate, it is too slow on Intel machines and needs external utilities for multiple instances.

In my hunt for a replacement, I've looked at the X11 rdesktop programs, but I found these to be unstable. I also looked at some attempts at porting rdesktop in a proper way, just like CoRD does. CoRD, on the other hand, is at this time the only usable RDP program for Intel based OSX machines. It has never failed me once (though I've only used it for a few days) and is amazingly good considering being version 0.2.

I've not used the disk sharing feature, but the audio on/off feature is just right for me.

Big kudos to the author of this port that has made my attempt at using OSX for work a much more rewarding experience.  
(Version 0.2)

BOB_TM  AFAIK the best mail client for OSX. Great spam filter - can do all I require it to. Still, the GUI is amazingly slow.   
(Version 1.5.0.7)

BOB_TM  A pleasant experience, but not usable for me due to compatibility issues with web applications I have to use daily.

As I see it, OSX has a problem with browsers:

- Safari: Too limited functionality. A lost cause.

- Camino: Fast and nice, but minimal functionality (too little for me). This has a looong way to go.

- Firefox: Great functionality, memory hog (grabs 200MB+ res. memory after a few days with 10+ tabs) on all platforms, bloatware. On OSX also suffers from tabs and GUI becoming unresponsive and slow. I see this as a major design issue - it will not improve over night.

- Opera: Great functionality, really decent memory-wise (starts out with the same memory use as Firefox, but doesn't keep growing). Unfortunately, cannot deal well with web-forms that work in every other browser and has some other rendering issues.

I'm not optimistic about the compatibility issues being fixed soon - Opera, having been around so long and still having issues like that.... bad. Should probably spend less time developing fairly useles widget eye candy.  
(Version 9.0.2)