E_COMMERCE  iTivo (which appears to be based on the same code) works flawlessly. Not available on MacUpdate, but easy to find via Google.  
(Version 3.0)

E_COMMERCE  I would second the option of creating such reports as needed, as I frequently find myself scratching my head saying "I know I had 10GB more space a couple months ago, but I don't see any single spot where it went". Being able to compare past and present would be very useful in such scenarios.  
(Version 1.3.6)

E_COMMERCE  Many, many problems:

- Can't sync properly. Changes made sometimes propagate to Google, sometimes don't. Those that do make it to Google never make it to the desktop client and vice versa.

- Latest News doesn't sort articles by read/unread, and doesn't clear out read articles, so finding new ones is nearly impossible - defeating the entire purpose

- Feeds don't update their read counts properly. I marked all as read in "Latest News", and none of the other article counts on the groups and feed updated.

- Read feeds aren't hidden, making it very frustrating to find new updates and making the list of feeds unweildy and strangely fragmented. Some feeds have new items, some don't, and if you haven't gotten any updates yet, the feed won't show up at all. It makes no sense.

- The main list interface is deeply flawed. On the one hand, it tries to show the last update to a feed and the date. A nice gesture, but when it only shows four words - and only from the first update at that, it's useless ("Apple, rapper Eminem... Today, 11:10 AM").

- Stars don't sync to clippings/flags on the desktop. Star something on the iPhone, and it may as well be gone.

- The lack of preferences is a noble goal, but taken to extremes here that make the product all but useless.

- "Open in Browser" is in a submenu, yet it's the most commonly used button in an RSS reader (after "Mark All as Read"). What?

In a nutshell:

- Fix syncing, wherever the problem lies. Right now, this is a dealbreaker not having the same view on the iPhone as the desktop.

- Remove read items from all lists - main feed list, Latest News, etc. If people want it that much, and others (like me) hate it that much - make it a preference.

- Sort "Latest News" by unread. Or... make it a preference, much as I can sort how I please on the desktop.

- Redesign the main feed list.

Regarding the main feed list, I propose offering two modes: compact and detailed. Make it a preference.

- Compact: only shows what is currently the first line - favicon, name, and number of unread. Fairly high density, optimized for large numbers of feeds. Similar to 1.x.

- Detailed: shows a list of update titles beneath it, perhaps capped at 5 or 10 (but not 1!). Eliminate the dates when in portrait mode - there's just not enough space to show the title and date. That would allow for enough title to be useful, and show several (perhaps all) updates at once. The only downside is that list entries would be different heights, but then they would be useful.

Let me say it again - add preferences. I admire an application with sensible enough design and defaults to not need preferences, but this has been taken to an unfortunate extreme.

I have the deepest respect for Brent Simmons, but this update is much more difficult and irritating to use. Meanwhile, in any major rewrite there are bound to be bugs - and this is no exception. I'm used to finishing up reading things on the desktop, grabbing my iPhone, and being able to pick up where I left off immediately. Right now, no luck - no matter what I do, I can't get the iPhone to reflect read/unread status changes I make on the desktop. Perhaps there's a delay involved in Google Reader; whatever the case, the product doesn't work as well as it did in 1.x. Syncing is also glacially slow. Here's hoping 2.1 improves things, but we still have to wait for Apple's own glacial process to approve it. I wish I could go back to 1.x, as it was a vastly superior product.  
(Version 2.0)

E_COMMERCE  Very disappointed that NewsGator has switched over to Google Reader while this is still in beta (take a look at their site - 3.1 is gone). While the iPhone app has MANY problems, the desktop app (which I also paid for, and I also don't want to see ads in) just doesn't sync.

Make changes on the iPhone/Google - they don't show up in the app, or do infrequently and unreliably. Make changes on the desktop, and they rarely make it to Google (and thus the iPhone). Different sets of articles show up on each, with different unread statuses.

Right now 3.2 has rendered my other computers useless. I can read feeds on my desktop, but nowhere else, since syncing is broken, broken, broken.  
(Version 3.2b28)

E_COMMERCE  Nearly worthless program. Only after numerous tries would it connect to the Tivo (I know the Tivo connectivity works, as downloading via the built-in web server is fine, as is the NowPlaying widget). Interface is extremely glitchy, frequently not responding to user input, or bizarrely selecting list items that weren't clicked. Attempting to download does nothing - no data is transferred at all. Adding to queue and downloading the queue similarly does not work. Controls sometimes disable themselves, sometimes not, with no rhyme or reason.

It's nice that someone is trying, but this software is far too buggy to be of any use.  
(Version 3.0)

E_COMMERCE  Nothing to add that Gordon didn't already cover, but someone needs to give this the rating it deserves.  
(Version 1.1.4b)

E_COMMERCE  An excellent icon for an excellent program!  
(Version 0.98.40)

E_COMMERCE  The updater is awkward to use, it requires an original CD that may or may not be handy, it doesn't accept the CD most of the time, and then fails to burn the CD. It doesn't accept previously updated CD's. It doesn't allow for any way to update the application on the hard drive without updating the CD. Just a couple of the problems I had with updating to 4.2:

1) It does not accept disk images, which are far more convenient, especially if you have a computer without a CD drive handy (MacBook Air, anyone?).

2) It frequently does not recognize original disc regardless. If it fails to recognize it - whether because you tried an updated CD, the drive failed, or other causes - then it won't work at all subsequently. Quitting the program and relaunching it MAY work, or may not. After a dozen attempts, I got it to accept my disc at last.

2) Patching is quick, and an updated disk image is created in /private/tmp.

3) The program frequently (always?) freezes up when it asks for a blank CD to burn on (why can't I just save the image and burn it myself?). The program never starts burning, and furthermore, freezes and stops responding to any input, quit requests from the Dock, etc. Just... frozen. A Force Quit is required.

The only step that works reliably is the only one I want - the patching itself.

The only way I could get an updated version - of a program that I paid for - is after a dozen or so attempts, copy the image out of /private/tmp and burn it with Disk Utility, which finally worked.

I do not understand the rationale for updating the CD being the only way to update, especially for OS compatibility for an OS that is NOT on that CD. Why would I care about 10.6 compatibility when the CD boots 10.5? The only time I'll need 10.6 compatibility is when booted from it - which means the version on my hard drive. If I want to update the CD later, let that be an option, but not the only means of updating. As many posts here have shown, it's a fragile/buggy/broken process.

The obvious solution is for Alsoft to stop reinventing the wheel - poorly - and simply install the application like every other vendor does, and verify serial number after the fact. This works for everyone from Apple to Microsoft, and there is no reason for Alsoft to keep subjecting its users to this nightmarish rigamarole.

Meanwhile, MacUpdate has deleted a good dozen posts detailing problems with the updater over the last two days (including several of mine) - and Alsoft is a sponsor of the site. MacUpdate Admin, feel free to respond - we know that Alsoft never will.  
(Version 4.2)

E_COMMERCE  The folder is /private/tmp, not temp. Like other UNIX folders, it's invisible, but if you use "Go To Folder", you can open it and grab the image.

That is, assuming you can even get as far as creating the updated image. Many can't. :(  
(Version 4.2)

E_COMMERCE  Having a conversation with myself here...

After finally recognizing the CD, imaging it, updating it - it froze while waiting for a blank CD. Insert the CD, nothing. From then on, the program was wedged and completely unresponsive. Finally I grabbed the patched image out of /private/tmp and burned it myself.

WORTHLESS updater. DiskWarrior may be a good tool, but the update process is atrocious, and support from Alsoft is nonexistent in my experience.  
(Version 4.2)

E_COMMERCE  And just like that, quit and relaunch the program and it works. Looks like if it fails to find a valid CD once, it screws up from then on. Yeah, that "testing limited configurations" sure helped get the bugs out, now didn't it.

Still hate the worthless updater process.  
(Version 4.2)

E_COMMERCE  Same boat - my original DiskWarrior 4.1 CD is also rejected as being invalid for the update. Why Alsoft makes us go through this utter nonsense every time is beyond me. Now I guess they'll charge me for sending a new CD since their tools don't work.

If I'm booting from the CD, I don't care about Snow Leopard compatibility, so I don't need to update it. If I'm using the copy on my hard disk to repair something, I need that updated - since then I will be booted into Snow Leopard. But there's no way to update the HD copy without first jumping through hoops to update the CD copy! Nevermind that everyone else figured out installer packages years ago - even Microsoft did.

You know what? Forget it. Disk Warrior saved the day once, about five years ago, and was indeed indispensable that day. I have never needed to run it since, and looks like I won't be able to moving forward. Another paid-for program to chuck in the trash.  
(Version 4.2)

E_COMMERCE  Clearly no one else here remembers when Leopard came out. Or Tiger. Or...  
(Version 4.2)

E_COMMERCE  Here we go again. New Mac OS X arriving tomorrow, and DiskWarrior is already reported to be incompatible. How many months will we have to wait for an update this time?  
(Version 4.1.1)

E_COMMERCE  Calm down there. Isn't the point of ANY virtualization software to allow you to install any x86 OS into a virtual drive?

Nothing to see here, move along (to vmWare).  
(Version 3.0.4)

E_COMMERCE  It sounds like you didn't try Cyberduck. Free, simple and non-flashy interface, and handles FTP, FTPS, SFTP, Amazon S3, etc. Sparkle updates, etc.

And did I mention that for all of that it's free?  
(Version 3.2.3)

E_COMMERCE  Yes, just what we need - a bunch of non-native bitmaps plastered on our interface. Ugh.

I'd rather they spend their time on codec support and a better native UI. Or how about improving seeking within files so the image doesn't end up garbled for a few seconds until the next keyframe?  
(Version 1.0.1)

E_COMMERCE  If you don't like it, when why are you bitching that you can't use it?  
(Version 8.2.1)

E_COMMERCE  Sadly, I have to chime in with a similar opinion. This is a very well-designed application, but it doesn't offer a significantly better interface than many other free utilities. No doubt it's convenient, and I could see giving something like this to my parents, but neither they nor I would pay $20 - for that I can deal with a couple of dialog boxes.

I wish the author the best in this endeavor, but I can't say I'll be supporting it personally.  
(Version 2.0)

E_COMMERCE  My apologies - I thought I had. Interestingly, it does seem to be fixed at this juncture. I think. :)  
(Version 0.98.28)

E_COMMERCE  *Longevity*? Clearly you haven't done any research - VMware just about started the whole virtualization business over a DECADE ago, and they own the enterprise virtualization market. A couple thousand sales of Parallels wouldn't show up as a blip.

Having used both (and made use of VMware's excellent VM migration tools on other platforms), I can comfortably say no one has as advanced and versatile a platform as VMware.  
(Version 2.0.5)

E_COMMERCE  Just a follow-on - the application doesn't function at all if you move it out of it's default spot at /Applications. Refuses to launch - tiny blip on the Dock and vanishes.

As for posting on mailing lists - do you really think that would do any good whatsoever? When I see a company that doesn't get it as badly as this, I've found they're not going to have an epiphany and suddenly understand why this stuff is important just because I post back and forth on a mailing list. It just wastes everyone's time.

No, they can go their way and screw up, and I'll continue on mine and stick with VMware Fusion (a lovely native Mac product from a company that had no Mac experience whatsoever beforehand, and did an absolutely smash-up job).  
(Version 3.0)

E_COMMERCE  Heh, even worse - it hardcodes the path to the application in the StartupItem - so you can't move it elsewhere without rewriting a root-owned bash script. What utterly horrid design.  
(Version 3.0)

E_COMMERCE  Still throwing files all over the disk when it has no business doing so.

- "/Library/Extensions" is not a standard location (but at least it's not in /System).

- StartupItems have been deprecated for over four years.

- Mixing in VirtualBox items in /usr/bin instead of /usr/local/bin is annoying.

All of this makes it hard to remove, hard to migrate to a new system, and hard to backup (it you're not running Time Machine). What's annoying is that none of this is necessary - kernel extensions can be dynamically loaded from inside the application bundle, the StartupItem can be changed to a launchd agent and loaded dynamically, and the command line utilities are optional (and could be installed by the app on first run if requested).

All this detrius is unnecessary and sloppy.  
(Version 3.0)

E_COMMERCE  Front page of mozilla.com now updated showing 3.5 released.  
(Version 3.5)

E_COMMERCE  An excellent product, but fatally flawed in one simple way - how asinine is it that when launched on login it opens the search box? When I boot my computer, I don't want to see the search box unbidden.  
(Version 2.0.0.1447)

E_COMMERCE  Never make it hard for people to give you money. I guess I just saved myself $40.

"Unable to Place Order

Please try again later.

If you are still having problems please e-mail support@delicious-monster.com for further assistance.

(Secret Error code: "can't open input stream, has status 0, error is (null)".)"  
(Version 2.1)

E_COMMERCE  Agreed. Using "Apple" in your name is not only confusing, but it could be considered trademark infringement. Change it.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Odd - when I connect to a computer with fullscreen as the default, the mouse position is incorrect (mouse is actually off on upper right, Jolly has it at lower left, for instance). Leaving fullscreen fixes it, and switching back to fullscreen remains fixed. However, logging in directly to fullscreen will always mess up the mouse position. It's almost like it's not adjusting the initial mouse position on the server end to match where it is on the client end (but this is just a guess).

This has happened for the last several mini updates; I'm not sure when exactly it began. :(  
(Version 0.98.18)

E_COMMERCE  Since upgrading to Safari 4, some of the CSS layouts are broken (Spotlight, for one). Not sure where I can file a bug.  
(Version 3.1.7)

E_COMMERCE  Does anyone have a clue what the different colors on the progress indicator mean? While I'm overjoyed to see the horrid "Tabs on Top" eliminated, I do miss the old progress bar built into the address bar. It was one of the features I thought was really innovative, enough that on Firefox I always use the Fission addon to get the effect.  
(Version 4.0)

E_COMMERCE  I'll bet everything that you have an InputManager hack like Saft, PithHelment, etc. Every update people come out of the woodwork bitching, and 99.9% of the time it's their own fault.  
(Version 4.0)

E_COMMERCE  Not a clue what this is supposed to be, thanks to what may be the worst-written description ever. Slashdot summaries are Pulitzer material compared to this.  
(Version 1.2 beta 1)

E_COMMERCE  An update to my previous comments. On the one hand, little has changed - initial setup and configuration is still decidedly arcane, and the updates are still the whole enchilada - 100MB per update now. However, they are coming at a much less furious rate, which helps.

Don't let this be too discouraging. Once set up and configured it is an excellent, excellent media center, and has displaced Front Row on my home theater Mac Mini. It plays anything you throw at it, and launches in a fraction the time of Front Row. The user interface during playback is much more feature rich, and much more suited to HD displays. I really, really want to see this succeed.  
(Version 0.8)

E_COMMERCE  As someone else asked (and got no answer), how does this compare to Plex? They're based on the same core, right?  
(Version 9.04)

E_COMMERCE  You may want to reconsider the name; every time I see this show up I think it's something to do with Lotus Notes. A good case could be made for trademark infringement, if IBM was so inclined. Just FYI.  
(Version 3.0)

E_COMMERCE  You're advertising XP icons. On a Mac site. And then trying to charge money for it.

Are you insane, or just monumentally stupid?  
(Version 4.0)

E_COMMERCE  Tends to be crashy, and also a lot of sizzle and not much steak. It's a complete pain to set up and configure, and nearly-daily 70MB updates are onerous. I'm not saying don't update it - in fact, please update the UI some - but learn to send out patches, not these HUGE full-on "updates".  
(Version 0.7.13)

E_COMMERCE  On the one hand, an excellent feature list including transcoding that MediaLink and Rivet don't offer. On the other hand, ugly as sin. Decisions...  
(Version 1.03)

E_COMMERCE  Expensive, feature-poor, and an ugly interface - sign me up!  
(Version 2.5.18)

E_COMMERCE  There is also an iPhoto plugin for PicasaWeb. iPhoto may be dog slow, but this just doesn't look "Mac-like" to me.  
(Version 3.0.0.310)

E_COMMERCE  Oh, and things like "Open in Tabs" would be useful. Or if I choose to only show tags with "x" number of posts, add an "Other" bundle at the bottom with all of the hidden tags - otherwise you can't get to some tags.

So please, please take another look at this program. It's excellent and I'm enjoying it, but there are still areas that can be improved.  
(Version 0.9)

E_COMMERCE  Leaving the interface and functionality aside, using the name "MacPaint" (surely trademarked by Apple) and ripping off the old Stainless icon - you're just asking for it.  
(Version 0.2)

E_COMMERCE  Nice app - too bad it appears to be dead. It's a shame, as there are a variety of bugs, and some room for improvement:

- Sorting is applied haphazardly. For instance, my list of tags is sorted, but bundles are not. Tags underneath bundles are not sorted. Bookmarks are not sorted. Etc.

- No option to hide tags, bundles, or both. Especially if you have all your tags in bundles, seeing several hundred tags flowing beneath is kind of ugly.

Here's an example for improving nesting:

Say you have a particular set of tags that have been applied commonly. For instance, I have "webcomic" and "comic". In my tags, every "webcomic" is a "comic", but not every "comic" is a "webcomic" (make sense?). When I nest tags and look at "webcomic", why bother to show the "comic" subfolder, since every bookmark in "webcomic" has that tag? This can be extended - to make up a stupid example, say I also labeled them all "humor" since I don't read anything serious (just kidding). Currently, "webcomic" would now show two subfolders - "comic" and "humor", each with the exact same items. What it should really show is just the bookmarks, since all of them have the same tags.

Implementing it would be fairly simple - when showing a nested display, if there is any tag that shows up for all bookmarks in that folder, remove it from consideration - pretend it's not there for the moment. This way you can eliminate any "common" tags seamlessly.

There's more that could be done here, but like pretty much all delicious-based apps, this appears to have withered and died. Perhaps Delicious and social tagging wasn't all it was cracked up to be (lacking any sort of batch tag management and support for hierarchy didn't help).  
(Version 0.9)

E_COMMERCE  In a nutshell - SSH tunneling does work after all, but the program seems to be doing something odd with caching screen sizes. At least, that's how it looks here.

All this time I thought SSH tunneling was broken (see my various posts here if you care). It turns out there is a bug, but it's something else entirely. I downloaded the most recent version, saw the same behavior and was set to create another screen shot to illustrate. However, the stretched screen of my destination computer was in the way, so I changed it to "half size" - and the aspect ratio and size were fixed! I changed it back to full size, and now it snapped to the correct size (1024x768). All further connections to that computer have been correct ever since. Somehow it was picking up my local resolution (1440x900) from somewhere (a previous connection to something else?), which was not correct for what it was connecting to at the moment.

I'd like to say this is closed, but when I attempted to connect to a different VNC host (1400x1050) over the same tunnel, a similar scaling type of bug reappeared when the destination screen was set to "Actual Size", but strangely not when set to "Half Size" or "Double Size". Looks like something odd is going on with how the screen size is being handled.  
(Version 0.96.62)

E_COMMERCE  Ah yes, valid bug reports clearly should be bumped down. Because we all know the software is perfect and anyone else has an axe to grind...  
(Version 0.96.60 (2002))

E_COMMERCE  This is *Mac*Update. Get the iPhone advertisement off of here.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  No, it most certainly does not. I've posted before on this, and provided an absurdly simple example.

For a simple case, assume the local computer has no VNC servers running, and is a larger screen resolution than the remote server.

ssh -L 5900:127.0.0.1:5900 myremoteserver

Connecting with JFVNC to localhost 5900 will yield a window the size of the LOCAL screen, with the server's screen stretched to fit.

This has been ongoing for months. I've deleted prefs files, shut down every VNC server on my network except the one in question, and it still fails miserably. Every other client (Mac, Windows, and even Palm) works perfectly. Only JFVNC fails.  
(Version 0.96.56 (1994))

E_COMMERCE  Nobody "squealed" - the guy is hosting this from his home connection (note the gotdns domain name - those are generally only used for dynamic connections, or home ISP connections).

If you wanted to use this, you could have easily downloaded Mini vMac at any point in the last decade, along with software necessary. I've had Ancient Art of War and Dark Castle up in it for quite some time now.

If you need a more modern Mac (for instance, a Classic replacement), try SheepShaver.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  That does not place them in the public domain, or make it legal to redistribute. And ROM images most certainly are NOT legal to distribute.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Version 1.5 has been released, but isn't listed here. Sadly, it worked for about a week and broke again...  
(Version 1.3)

E_COMMERCE  While someone's home cable connection craters under the load, one quick comment...

If this *does* include copies of Apple System Software (especially 7) then I really doubt it's legal. I don't recall them putting any of that into the public domain.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Fascinating browser to use, and a taste of what Chrome may one day be like on the Mac. A couple of minor things I noticed (beyond the obvious, proof-of-concept issues):

- When switching tabs, the window noticeably deactivates and reactivates.

- There doesn't appear to be a parent process that owns all of the tabs as in Google Chrome.

- With search integrated into the URL bar, typing "foo" for "http://www.foo.com" does not work.

I'll be watching this one closely. :)  
(Version 0.1.5)

E_COMMERCE  SSH tunneling still doesn't work. Even the simplest possible test case screws up the resolution. Every other client works (Chicken, Screen Sharing, UltraVNC, MicroVNC, etc).

Still want to use this, but still can't.  
(Version 0.96.50 (1932))

E_COMMERCE  Took several minutes to launch, during which my dual-core 2Ghz MBP was pegged. Didn't even take the time to create an icon beyond 32 pixels. Mouse behavior is strange - clearly something related to either X11 or Wine, but it's not using native tracking or acceleration profiles, which is very jarring. Command-tab does not work to leave Chromium. Overall, while this is a very polished but incomplete browser for Windows, it is both unpolished and incomplete in this CrossOver form.

Recommendation: Do not use this, and don't form any opinions about Chromium based on this.  
(Version 0.9.0)

E_COMMERCE  No, this requires code changes (that were horribly mangled by my post) and recompiling the program. And there are dependencies. I may post a modified binary, but first I'll have to get my setup up-to-date again.  
(Version 0.3)

E_COMMERCE  Yup, QT libraries in the application bundle, and the following message spewed to the log:

"9/4/08 11:26:22 AM [0x0-0x6ec6ec].org.virtualbox.app.VirtualBoxVM[12833] com.apple.console VirtualBox: supR3HardenedVerifyDir: Failed to open "/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS": No such file or directory (2) "

Whatever "supR3HardenedVerifyDir" is doing, it needs to loosen up.  
(Version 2.0)

E_COMMERCE  "Native" interface is anything but. It's still using QT, and it shows. Even besides that, a lot of the little details are not up to Mac interface standards for fit and finish. A beta I'd cut it slack, but not as a final 2.0.

Oh, and it doesn't help that moving the application anywhere but "/Applications" results in it failing to launch completely.  
(Version 2.0)

E_COMMERCE  Acqlite 0.3 still prevents shutdown and restarts from occurring properly if it's running at the time. I made the following changes to the 0.29 code that resolved it:

AqApp(Dialogs).m

// me: Added replyToApplicationShouldTerminate, removed startShutdown (no longer needed here)

- (void) sheetDidDismiss: (NSWindow*)sheet returnCode: (int)returnCode contextInfo: (void*)contextInfo;

{

if (returnCode == NSAlertDefaultReturn)

{

[NSApp replyToApplicationShouldTerminate: YES];

}

else

{

[NSApp replyToApplicationShouldTerminate: NO];

}

}

AqApplicationController.m

// me: Moved startShutdown to applicationWillTerminate, improved NSApplicationTerminateReply usage

- (NSApplicationTerminateReply) applicationShouldTerminate: (id) sender;

{

if ([[AqCoreController instance] coreWasTerminated]) return NSTerminateNow;

if (![[AqCoreController instance] coreWasLaunched]) return NSTerminateCancel;

/* warn quitting */

if ([[AqDownloadsController instance] active] && [defaults boolForKey: @"kAqWarnQuit"])

{

[self warnQuit: nil modalDelegate: self];

return NSTerminateLater;

}

return NSTerminateNow;

}

- (void) applicationWillTerminate: (id) notification;

{

[self startShutdown];

[self updateDockIcon: NO];

if ([AqSidebarController instance])

[[AqSidebarController instance]->window saveFrameUsingName: @"kAqMainWindow"];

[[AqQueryController instance] applicationWillTerminate];

[[AqSidebarController instance] applicationWillTerminate];

[[AqFilterController instance] applicationWillTerminate];

[[AqContentViewController instance] applicationWillTerminate];

}

- (void) startShutdown;

{

/* show shutdown panel */

if ([self isOS103OrHigher])

{

[[AqSidebarController instance]->window makeKeyAndOrderFront: self];

[shutdownProgress setUsesThreadedAnimation: YES];

[shutdownProgress startAnimation: nil];

[NSApp beginSheet: shutdownPanel

modalForWindow: [AqSidebarController instance]->window

modalDelegate: self

didEndSelector: nil

contextInfo: nil];

}

else

{

[shutdownProgress setUsesThreadedAnimation: YES];

[shutdownProgress startAnimation: nil];

[shutdownPanel setTitle: @""];

[shutdownPanel center];

[shutdownPanel makeKeyAndOrderFront: self];

}

// me: How can we wait for this to finish before quitting?

[AqCoreController writeString: @"shutdown\n"];

}  
(Version 0.3)

E_COMMERCE  Yes!! I've been using a version that I hacked enough to get compiling and running on Leopard, but it was always buggy as hell.

Thank you for picking this up! Now anyone want to take on mlMac? :)  
(Version 0.3)

E_COMMERCE  If the MUAdmins see this, this can also be deleted, as it was obsolesced some time ago (thankfully!).  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  Please feel free. Thanks!  
(Version 1.3)

E_COMMERCE  I agree wholeheartedly with brentb. There are aspects of this situation that could have been handled better, but it's all part of life's learning process. I've seen far more established developers trip up in the same way. What has happened has happened, and it's time to move on.

I was wondering why the site was down today as well; I'd strongly encourage the developer to come back, and here's some more unsolicited advice (from a donator):

- Disable the phone-home capability in current versions. If that means the server-side program just responds with "2.45 is the most recent" to those versions and responds with the real version to new versions, so be it. Otherwise, it ends up being a case of bait-and-switch - and little upsets people more than that.

- Keep versions 2.45 and earlier free. Anyone who gets serious value from this will upgrade to the new version over time. It may take a few versions for them to come around, but they will. If people stay with the free version for a while, theylld eventually upgrade due to features, bug fixes, or OS changes.

- Perhaps it's too late, but I echo other sentiments that a discount on the first "pay" version is usually a good way to get people on board; then all future users can pay full price. Version 2.6 could have been $20, and versions after it $30. That way current users who had been getting it for free feel like they've gotten a deal, and sign up. As it stands, you've got a very, very angry user population on your hands, which is a shame as the program itself is excellent. Back when I developed shareware I changed my fee a couple times ($0, to $10, to $20) and existing users were always grandfathered in. That way as the program became more valuable, I gained more profit, but my early users got more value for their money as a reward from supporting me early on.

- Be very upfront about ANY "phone home" activity. Whether it's checking for updates or anything else, the user should know about it, and have the option of turning it off. *Especially* in security software.

- Don't use any form of "remote deactivation". Even worse than having people pay for something that used to be free is taking away something that has been paid for. Things goof sometimes, and that will likely make any such situation deteriorate *extremely* quickly. Piracy happens - I found my program's old serial in one of the databases of the day, and I never found it affected my revenue. If people aren't going to buy it, they aren't going to buy it - they're jerks. But always treat your paying customers with respect.

So, put the web site back up, be gracious about this current debacle, and it will blow over and the money will come. It's all good.  
(Version 2.6)

E_COMMERCE  Oga, that is an unrelated issue on the MobileMe service. iWeb 2.0.4 has indeed fixed the problems. :)  
(Version 1.3)

E_COMMERCE  I've verified that this issue is fixed in iWeb 2.0.4, so please update!

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback the last month - it was a fun ride. :)  
(Version 1.3)

E_COMMERCE  I have no problem with paying for this software, but I would not disable old versions (which is what it sounds like from the tenor of the other post). That type of situation has backfired on other developers VERY badly in the past.

In summary - 2.45 and below should continue to function indefinitely - it's how they were sold. 2.5 and above, shareware.  
(Version 2.5)

E_COMMERCE  Maybe because two-pane is a horrible, horrible interface convention from the days of DOS?  
(Version 1.0.3)

E_COMMERCE  Note: It is unknown whether these issues have been fixed in iWeb 2.0.4 (released today). I'll post an update here if it's ultimately needed, or remove it entirely if the bugs are indeed fixed.

Here's hoping for the latter! :)  
(Version 1.3)

E_COMMERCE  Are you running Tiger by any chance? I've gotten one other report of this as well with someone running 10.4.11. If iWeb is in /Applications (the default location Apple puts it in), then the script won't even ask, and will patch the copy it finds.  
(Version 1.3)

E_COMMERCE  It's hard to tell in that last Thinkpad screenshot, but it is stretched horizontally. UltraVNC is the Windows VNC server.  
(Version 0.96.40)

E_COMMERCE  Modified for user name and IP's:

ssh -XC -L 5903:127.0.0.1:5900 jochs@mini

Deleted preferences and used default settings, other than IP's and ports (obviously).

Mini, Screen Sharing.app:

http://diamondsw.dyndns.org/Misc/JollysFastVNC/mini-screensharing.jpg

Mini, JollysFastVNC, direct connection:

http://diamondsw.dyndns.org/Misc/JollysFastVNC/mini-direct.jpg

Mini, JollysFastVNC, SSH tunnel:

http://diamondsw.dyndns.org/Misc/JollysFastVNC/mini-sshtunnel.jpg

Thinkpad, Screen Sharing.app (scrolls, as the Thinkpad screen is taller than my local screen):

http://diamondsw.dyndns.org/Misc/JollysFastVNC/thinkpad-screensharing.jpg

Thinkpad, JollysFastVNC, direct connection:

http://diamondsw.dyndns.org/Misc/JollysFastVNC/thinkpad-direct.jpg  
(Version 0.96.40)

E_COMMERCE  *sigh* Yet another chat client that offers less than Adium - and this one adds advertising...

yay.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  It doesn't support it over an externally created tunnel. I don't see any built-in functionality for creating SSH tunnels in JFVNC.

Also, I've since seen this same behavior when connecting to UltraVNC on my Thinkpad, without an SSH tunnel. The screen shows up, but stretched to the size of the host machine.

This unfortunately makes this software completely useless for me.  
(Version 0.96.36)

E_COMMERCE  Version 1.3 adds fixes for blog comments - please download this update!

Although version 1.2 hasn't even been posted yet (still waiting on MacUpdate), version 1.3 has been submitted which will fix blog comments as well.

I've added more information to the blog entry on commonly-seen issues and some more reference links; please take a look if you have problems.

Enjoy!  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  This has been corrected in version 1.2, which should be on MacUpdate any minute now.

Thank you for the report!  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  This has been corrected in version 1.2, which should be on MacUpdate any minute now.

Thank you for the report!  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  This has been corrected in version 1.2, which should be on MacUpdate any minute now.

Thank you for the report!  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  My apologies; version 1.1 was missing a trailing slash in the code that locates iWeb in its default location. So instead of making it easier for most people, it broke it entirely for most people. This has been corrected in version 1.2, which should be showing up any minute now.

Note that if you have successfully applied either version 1.0 or 1.1, you do not need version 1.2.  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  FYI, I only created the packaging. The actual Javascript changes came from Daniel Furrer. Unfortunately, Firefox's bugzilla tracking system mangled the formatting of the files, so I can't easily compare them to the originals to see the changes.

I'm still working on that, and if I see any updates I'll wrap them up and post them.

Enjoy!  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  This is indeed the same technique - would you mind posting a URL that I could check against?

Thanks!  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  FYI, when your server is down (as it is at the moment) the update checking code returns "A new version is available (null)". Might want to check that. Also, this makes the help unusable, since it just links to the PDF on the server.  
(Version 2.1)

E_COMMERCE  Wow! Sharp interface - much better than what I was describing, honestly. :) Only little bugaboo is a typo on "Store in Kechain" [sic].

Thanks again for this indispensable software!  
(Version 1.6)

E_COMMERCE  Oh, please, *please* don't mistake my posts for either criticism or demands! I'm just so happy to have this jewel of donationware that I can't help but to obsess over it. :-)

By all means, take a break, get through exams, and enjoy summer holiday. Write iVPN because you love doing it, not because of any of us.

(A former shareware developer who started at 11, but didn't have anything this polished or useful until MUCH later than 15!)  
(Version 1.5)

E_COMMERCE  Also, I noticed you're using a StartupItem for iVPN. These have been deprecated since 10.4, so you might want to use a LaunchDaemon instead.

To do this, just create a text file called uk.org.macserve.ivpn.plist in /Library/LaunchDaemons/ with these contents:

Label

uk.org.macserve.ivpn

ProgramArguments

/usr/sbin/vpnd

RunAtLoad

That's it. :)  
(Version 1.5)

E_COMMERCE  I've run into a couple of problems today with the new version 1.5:

1) Authentication fails immediately if the user name has a space in it. I'm not sure if this isn't allowed as part of the specification or if there is some issue escaping characters. This is on both PPTP and L2TP (I had not tried this previously, so it may have been in 1.4 and earlier for all I know).

2) I cannot get L2TP working at all. I put in all of the proper settings and credentials (and created a new VPN client service of the proper type), and after waiting for 10 seconds of trying to connect, it fails. I've also noticed that if the program is quit and relaunched, the Shared Secret field is blanked out - is it not storing it properly? Here's the error:

6/6/08 4:04:59 PM pppd[6566] pppd 2.4.2 (Apple version 314) started by root, uid 501

6/6/08 4:04:59 PM pppd[6566] L2TP connecting to server '---.org' (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)...

6/6/08 4:05:02 PM pppd[6566] IPSec connection started

6/6/08 4:05:12 PM pppd[6566] IPSec connection failed

3) Documentation doesn't specify that PPTP ports to forward are TCP, and L2TP ports are UDP. Also, isn't port 1701 UDP required as well for L2TP? This is according to this page:

http://www.steveneppler.com/blog/2005/12/07/pptp-and-l2tp-ports

4) Isn't it possible to run both PPTP and L2TP at the same time? Windows Server 2003 can; I should hope Mac OS X has the same capability!

Still excellent software; I'll just keep my eyes peeled for 1.6. :)  
(Version 1.5)

E_COMMERCE  Excellent changes! I'd say a help file should be included with the application, covering things like port forwarding (which also differs for PPTP and L2TP), what IP settings to use (I know, but others may not), etc. It doesn't have to be anything too detailed; I think what's on your web site covers a lot of it now.

Okay, a few more niggles, just because I'm always that way. :)

I'm not quite sure why the L2TP section has a border, other than to indicate the shared secret is part of it - maybe if the Shared Secret field was underneath the radio button and labeled?

x PPTP

x L2TP

Shared Secret: __________

Also, looking at it now, you have about as many non-IP options as IP fields; it might look good to move all of the VPN options (name/pass, VPN type, start on launch) to the left, and place all IP options on the right. This would make the window a little more compact, yet preserve the options and whitespace.

Some people might crucify me for this suggestion, but what about putting the Start/Stop buttons on a Toolbar? You could use a single labeled button that changes between a Play/Stop icon and the appropriate label. This would visually separate this from the settings below, and consolidate the two buttons into one in a logical fashion.  
(Version 1.5)

E_COMMERCE  Forgive me if this is an ignorant question, but is it possible to enable both PPTP and L2TP at the same time? I notice the interface only allows one or the other. I'd like to use L2TP, but some devices I'm using only support PPTP.  
(Version 1.5)

E_COMMERCE  I know that older versions of PPTP were vulnerable (specifically the MS-CHAPv2 authentication scheme), but I thought that current versions were fairly robust.

http://www.schneier.com/pptp.html  
(Version 1.5)

E_COMMERCE  This will certainly improve, but right now the list of limitations is quite extensive:

– No support for Host Interface Networking or Internal Networking (NAT is slower than an adapter configured for host interface networking)

– No support for audio input

– No support for VT-x/AMD-V

– No support for raw disk access

– No ACPI information (battery status, power source) is reported to the guest

And most importantly, there is no way to set a resolution beyond 800x600!  
(Version 1.6.2)

E_COMMERCE  Agreed; this is simply perfect. Drop-dead simple, and it allows seamless connectivity from any standard PPTP client - which is built into both Mac OS X and Windows.

About my only gripes are:

- Documentation: Really needs to discuss forwarding port 1723. Preferably would discuss what changes are made to the system to enable the VPN.

- Interface: Really dark. Give up on brushed metal - it's dead. Also, there's no good reason to split so few options into two tabs when they'll easily fit on one without looking crowded.

When that's all I can find to nitpick, it's a sign of excellent software.  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  After all this time it still doesn't support tunneled SSH connections properly. For instance:

Local: MacBook Pro, 1440x900

Remote: Mac Mini, 1024x768

ssh -L 5902:127.0.0.1:5900 mini

This will tunnel any request for port 5902 on the local machine to the remote mini over SSH (I use 5902 because I already have VNC servers running locally on 5900 and 5901). When I use JFVNC to connect, I get the picture of the remote system in a window the size of the local system. No other VNC client does this on any platform I've used (Ubuntu, UltraVNC, Palm microVNC, Apple's Screen Sharing, Chicken, etc).

Reported for the last six months at least, no progress. I'd really like to use this, but for now I just can't.  
(Version 0.96.28)

E_COMMERCE  Using a zip file doesn't leave a DMG behind, and also confuses novices less, who don't understand the concept of a disk image (yes, there are MANY).  
(Version 3.1v54)

E_COMMERCE  So... a completely inferior competitor to RSS Menu (which is also free), except this includes an icon of Animal from the Muppets.

Ah, the downside of software being so easy to develop on Mac OS X...  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  I hope we finally have updated VMWare Tools to support Linux kernel 2.6.24. The current versions will not compile, and kernel 2.6.24 is required for Ubuntu 8.04 which ships today.

Not seeing a mention in the release notes concerns me.  
(Version 1.1.2)

E_COMMERCE  Great interface!

Great functionality!

Great way to get banned!  
(Version 0.1b)

E_COMMERCE  "Error Reading Package: There was an error while evaluating JavaScript for the package."

JavaScript? In an installer package? Wha?  
(Version 1.3.1)

E_COMMERCE  Yes, we got an updater - after two months! So if you as a registered user needed it these last two months your only option was to buy it again at full price, since Alsoft wouldn't provide an updater.  
(Version 4.1)

E_COMMERCE  @strider: Perhaps you haven't noticed that there ISN'T a CD updater?  
(Version 4.1)

E_COMMERCE  Agreed with other reviews. This will fix things nothing else can. And sadly it is the case, because the company is arrogant and provides NO support.

I do not define "available soon" as over a month between a non-existant pre-announcement and still not delivering anything. Like others, I will not support anything from this company again.  
(Version 4.1)

E_COMMERCE  I've reported this repeatedly and the author claims it doesn't exist.

Clearly it's all in my head (and multiple systems across multiple OS installations and LaunchServices rebuilds)...  
(Version 1.6.1)

E_COMMERCE  Version 1.0 crashed for the first time; previous versions never did. Lost two weeks of downloaded content and 16GB of data. :(

VERY unhappy. Not to mention the ugly-as-hell toolbar icons...  
(Version 1.00)

E_COMMERCE  ARGH. The browser auto-launch "feature" is driving me nuts. Because of that little chestnut, I can't use this as a login item any longer, since it will throw up a browser window. I just want it quietly running in the background as a daemon, no app, as God (and Apple) intended. Include a link along with the package for people to open the web interface themselves.  
(Version 0.3rc3)

E_COMMERCE  Nice improvements in v1.3 - however, you'll need to update the listing here if people are going to be aware of it! ;-)

+ Smart Update is excellent

+ Toolbar looks much more polished

Still a couple little nits:

- Contrary to the notes for v1.2, it saves the window size but not position.

- Toolbar looks better, but please give us the standard customization sheet.

- Now that we have a "Browse" button for the WoW folder, why not drop the path entirely? Take a look at how browsers handle Download folder locations.

- Select All is a good start for the menu bar, but please flesh it out with the other various commands in the interface. Some people won't want to use the toolbar, and key commands on menu items are always helpful. :)

- Preferences window probably doesn't need an OK button; generally preferences are applied on closing the window.  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  An excellent start. Several things need some updating, however:

1) The user should be able to use a standard Open dialog to locate their WoW installation. Typing out paths doesn't cut it.

2) We need "Select All"; preferably the standard Edit menu.

3) Toolbar should be customizable.

4) Doesn't remember window position or size.

5) When updating addons, use a progress bar - you know how many addons are being installed, so there's no reason for an indeterminate progress indicator.  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  404, and no sign of such a file in the releases directory. But then again, I expect this kind of slipshod stuff from MPlayer.  
(Version 1.0rc2)

E_COMMERCE  I have to ask - does this run afoul of WoW terms of service? They frown heavily on external automation.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  10.4 "or later", eh? I hope the author has accounted for the fact that 10.5 uses a completely different picture location (/System/Library/CoreServices/).  
(Version 0.1)

E_COMMERCE  Version 2.7.3 appears to run fine, with a few graphical glitches. Nothing major, and nothing that impedes functionality.

http://www.objectpark.net/download/MenuCalendarClock-iCal-2.7.3.dmg.gz  
(Version 3.0.1)

E_COMMERCE  This is probably the nicest of these nascent tools. Kudos for that. :)

While I applaud what people are doing here, the real holy grail will be a solution that can make the menubar opaque - without modifying the desktop picture (or making a copy and modifying it - which is what I assume this does). After all, if you want to randomize your desktop picture (for instance), none of the tools so far will do this.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Whoa, this is a complete rip-off of MacAceUpdater:

http://code.google.com/p/macaceupdater/

It looks like they did clean up the interface some, but the fact remains that they stole an open source program, rebranded it with no credit, and aren't contributing any changes back to the original source code.  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  Wow, that's really nasty. I'd rather ditch it entirely than accept such practices.  
(Version 3.0.1)

E_COMMERCE  Hi. Welcome to the Mac. You're going to fail due to your craptacular interface. Have a nice day.  
(Version 1.38)

E_COMMERCE  Minor graphical problems (bottom is a pixel off). No way to manually refresh or have it auto-refresh when dashboard is opened. No way to show a particular category of items (for instance, the ever-popular Mac Mini).

Nice first effort, but very incomplete.  
(Version 1.5)

E_COMMERCE  Your opinion is functionality must come before "aesthetics". If I don't care about usability, I can use the terminal.

This is simply not a "Mac" program, and seeing a middling review from me would not convey my true recommendation on the application.  
(Version 3.0.1)

E_COMMERCE  Versus Butler, which is free, has far more features, and fits into the menubar wherever you want.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Found an odd bug today - the new release of iStat Pro decompresses with BOMArchiveHelper, but not with The Unarchiver.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/20364/istat-pro  
(Version 1.6)

E_COMMERCE  Decided to check this out after seeing all of the hype. Indeed, the speed is simply amazing. On my local LAN I can just about watch video over this. However, there's still a LOT to do on the interface. A few recommendations:

- Move "Host Type", "Keyboard Layout", and "Connect" to the drawer - they're certainly not the primary settings, and likely don't need to be changed often.

- Since the default values are so well set (very few programs do this well - bravo!), show the connection name, server address, and port in the columns. That way someone could complete basic setup of a connection without ever opening the drawer.

- Remove all key commands in the program; they will conflict with those in the VNC window for Mac clients. Command-W has hit me a few times.

- Remove the Help menu, or add some help.

- General polish - things like the icon, buttons in the main window not matching usual interface design, and the OK buttons being "Ok" and shrunken. For the Transport Encoding Order, move "Use" column to the left side and remove the title (it's redundant) to match standard UI.  
(Version 0.86a)

E_COMMERCE  Works extremely well, automating the use of NZB's to download files from Usenet. A few comments:

- As this program has no GUI, it would be much better distributed as a StartupItem or LaunchDaemon, rather than as an application with a Dock icon with no way to quit.

- If there is some odd reason it must remain as an application, please add the "LSUIElement" key to the Info.plist. This will keep it from adding a Dock icon, but may be confusing as there is no feedback the program is running.

Looking towards the future, a GUI would be good to add, especially a "first-run" wizard that could set the server and directory settings, rather than using the (admittedly excellent) web-based configuration interface.  
(Version 0.2)

E_COMMERCE  Perhaps that's after its first check? Unless it leaks memory constantly (which I don't see across days/weeks of use) then it's a non-issue.  
(Version 1.4.7)

E_COMMERCE  It's so hard to review this, because the features are arguably good, it's fairly stable, and free cant be beat, but...

The interface is utter crap, and I would NEVER consider using it or recommending it to anyone. Under any circumstances.

Ported from Windows - and not even a good Windows interface at that...  
(Version 3.0rc2)

E_COMMERCE  Yes, because they mark their final versions and betas so clearly. Hell, until recently all they posted were build numbers - good luck figuring out what was 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, etc. Quick, what version was 1970?

And their support is rather lacking...  
(Version 3.0.5120)

E_COMMERCE  And what is with the trend of people posting icon makeovers like this? At the very least post it as a patch to the original menu extra, and perform some integrity checks. Distributing a copy of the whole extra is going to cause inevitable version mismatches and breakage. I can't wait until people screw up their Leopard installations with crap like this in a couple months... Looks like it's already happening with PPC vs Intel.

This goes for all other programs that see fit to wholesale replace things they have no business replacing, including other "color menu extras" offerings, and Aqua4iTunes.  
(Version 1.0.8)

E_COMMERCE  Wow, that is amazingly ugly. Colorizing the current Airport logo might be nice, but the black background of this makes it nearly unreadable, and the shape isn't as pleasing as the default one either. Certainly not usable at a glance.

And what is with the trend of people posting icon makeovers like this? At the very least post it as a patch to the original Airport menu extra, and perform some integrity checks. Distributing a copy of the whole extra is going to cause inevitable version mismatches and breakage. I can't wait until people screw up their Leopard installations with crap like this in a couple months...

This goes for all other programs that see fit to wholesale replace things they have no business replacing, including other "color menu extras" offerings, and Aqua4iTunes.  
(Version 0.5b)

E_COMMERCE  Thanks. I was suggesting just scanning inside /Applications (or ~/Applications), which would avoid the "second drive" problem, commonly seen with backup drives.

[Admittedly, there are a multitude of reasons not to move Apple's applications around, but I do it anyway. I'll have a clean applications folder whether Apple's installers/updaters have any sense or not (I manually move everything back before an update).]

One other thing I noticed is when applying the "unified" Uno look to metal windows, the window title text is always in grey, making it look disabled even in the foreground. Only problem I've noticed so far.  
(Version 1.5.2)

E_COMMERCE  Excellent program which does almost everything right. It has the right number of options, and most importantly, does everything *safely*. Checksums and integrity checks are performed for every step (unlike certain other programs which tamper with the interface). It appears to be impossible to screw things up.

My only issue has to do with locating the various applications. Uno does not seem to search for applications in non-default locations. If like me you have them in other places, the program will pause for several seconds for each application. For half a dozen applications, this gets tiring, and it happens on every launch.

My recommendation would be to either search slightly for applications (two levels deep has worked well for most applications, or use Spotlight), or at least eliminate the delay for selecting applications.  
(Version 1.5.2)

E_COMMERCE  So, let me guess - this is now broken for iTunes 7.3.1, isn't it? And it's probably going to do nasty things if you install it?

I sense a pattern here.  
(Version 3.3)

E_COMMERCE  Beware using this on iTunes 7.3. Since this replaces the entire resource file, it will certainly break the new iTunes. Replacing an entire resource file without version checking or other safety measures is inherently dangerous, and poor design.

PLEASE, look at the way CandyBar handles this. For each resource you want to replace, run a checksum on the existing resource (to make sure it's what you expect), and then change ONLY the resources you need to. That way if Apple adds new ones (AppleTV, iPhone, etc) then you're safe, and you can support most new versions without needing an update to Aqua4iTunes at all. Not to mention it makes the whole process a lot safer, makes the download much smaller, removes any potentially objectionable copyrighted items in the iTunes resource file, etc.  
(Version 3.2a)

E_COMMERCE  Thanks for the reply - very civil considering my comments. I do tend to be harsh. :)

I think it's because I've seen so many teases of iStat menus for months that I had expectations that were too high. The problems with SystemUIServer choking after rebooting with Apple's CPU menu extra loaded didn't help the impression, unfortunately.

As for not being able to tell gauges apart, this refers to the graph/bar ones when used without the text labels. As others mentioned, different colors for each gauge would help a lot.

For fan and temperature, a graph would help. Fan could be based on minimum and maximum values (1000 and 6000 rpm on a MacBook Pro, for instance).

Again, thank you very much for your professional response - that says as much to me as the quality of your software (and I'll be watching how this evolves from 1.0).  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Sadly, I can't necessarily agree with the previous review. It does provide a lot of system monitoring, and the dropdown menus with full graphs, are first rate, but it has some serious problems.

First off is the fact that it's a menu extra. While a great API, it has been deprecated. I ran into some serious problems when I loaded Apple's CPU menu extra (to enable to disable processor cores), and on restart SystemUIServer got very confused. The menu extra from Apple was gone from the menu bar, but the menu still showed up. iStat Menus refused to load at all from that point. Probably has to do with trying to load multiple copies of the code that allows injecting third-party menu extras.

The next major problem is that the menu gauges aren't anywhere near as useful as they could be. Either you keep a lot of ugly labels on your menu bar (CPU, MEM, HD, etc) or you can't tell what gauge is what. You can't assign colors independently to gauges. Networking does not have a graph mode, so instead of watching the overall pattern over time, you just get jumpy numbers that tell you nothing, other than network traffic is spiky. Things like fan speed and temperature also don't use graphs, and the text they do use is not customizable (I like smaller sizes that take up less space).

Bluetooth? Clock? Why are these in there at all? They add no real functionality over the original Apple counterparts. For a real enhancement, try MenuCalendarClock, which integrates nicely into iCal. Still, not something that belongs here by any stretch.

Finally, with all of the hoo-hah over this, the iStat application has been completely ignored for eons. Perhaps this will change now, but I'm no longer holding my breath. I've dumped this and iStat, and just use the widget. Which, of course, gives me no ongoing history...

So much potential, but just not there. And after all the hype and lack of updates on other software, I'm really disappointed.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Not the help you're looking for, but Ive had no problems with our corporate copy of Windows XP Pro.  
(Version 1.0b4)

E_COMMERCE  I'll agree that first setting up the Missing Sync can be very difficult. For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to pull in "existing" data all that well initially, and this can lead to many problems. Mark/Space should really work on this, and backup the iCal and Address Book or Treo data beforehand at the very least.

However, once it's all set up, it is nirvana. All of the data on your Treo syncs into the Mac perfectly, which then makes it accessible to every other program on your Mac - dashboard widgets, menu extras, a single unified address book, iLife. I can't overstate how much of a change this makes.  
(Version 6.0)

E_COMMERCE  Bull. Most people use IE on Windows. IE on the Mac has been dead for years, and no, they don't render alike in the slightest.

There is absolutely no need for IE for the Mac - good riddance.  
(Version 1.5)

E_COMMERCE  Okay, seems every time I start getting negative, I'm happily proven wrong. Meteo looks like it will get some new development in the coming weeks/months, with an unofficial build posted that fixes the current issues with 1.4.4. See it all here:

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1728782&forum_id=268087  
(Version 1.4.4)

E_COMMERCE  Excellent news - it looks like we may get some additional development on Meteo in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, a new unofficial build has been posted that incorporates the various fixes, and is Universal to boot.

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1728782&forum_id=268087  
(Version 1.1)

E_COMMERCE  Looks like it died in its entirely today - no longer pulling any weather updates.

Hopefully someone else will pick it up, since the "developer" certainly hasn't done a thing in years.  
(Version 1.4.4)

E_COMMERCE  Geez - a partially functional tunneling program, which will ultimately cost money when it's simple to do yourself for free. Wow indeed...

Several methods here:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060831091645414  
(Version Beta1)

E_COMMERCE  Now this looks like exactly what I've been waiting for to use MacFUSE. I'll be watching this closely.

Oh, and you may want to redo that screenshot - your domain names are still quite readable through the blur.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Nice update. A few notes:

- Temperature readouts are a bit buggy; when I disable certain sensors, either it doesn't respect that setting, or I get duplicates (for example, I disabled all heatsinks yet one shows up, and I have three readouts for "enclosure bottom")

- New skin is okay - why did the old one "have to be removed"? While the new skin works well on a Dashboard widget, it will look like crap on the desktop via "debug mode" or the iStat application

- Speaking of the iStat application - where are updates to it? It's been over six months while MAJOR enhancements have been made to the widget (intel fan support, much better memory statistics and reporting, etc).

The lack of an application version really bugs me, as graphs of CPU and memory usage don't do much good if they can only record while the dashboard is active.  
(Version 4.0)

E_COMMERCE  Great - it doesn't seem to handle resource forks or folders, yet it doesn't use the standard diff format as far as I can tell. So we get an incompatible format that offers no advantages other than a whizzy GUI. Which could have been put on top of diff/patch.

Ugh.  
(Version 1.0)

E_COMMERCE  Okay, this just jumps back and forth. Still no luck with the forums (so this has to substitute), but incredible progress between beta2 and beta3!

All of the performance and networking problems I had in beta2 have been resolved, and the log entries are no longer created.

I only have a few minor interface quibbles left.

- Suppress the constant "unsigned driver" popups in VMWare Tools installation.

- Toolbar is not customizable in any way - size, labels, or contents. Devices and USB in particular get out of hand quickly.

- When a VM has been shut down, it stays on a large black screen. It would be much better if that window closed and the Welcome Screen were re-opened. Similarly, editing the settings for a VM should not open the large black VM window.

- VM Settings window - it works fine, but it would be much nicer if it looked and felt like preferences windows elsewhere on the Mac (toolbar icons for each section, etc). Repeated confirmations for "Apply" get annoying fast. Look to OmniWeb for a good example.

- Command-R for "Run" - please? :)

- "Windows key" mapping cannot be disabled. This would be useful, as otherwise traditional Mac command keys and shortcuts like "Command-Tab" are unavailable.

Given everything I push the VM to do, this is pretty darn incredible. Everything I pushed it to do, it handled admirably. A few interface tweaks, and this will simply clean up. I'm quite amazed!  
(Version 1.0b3)

E_COMMERCE  I'm rescinding my previous positive review based on two problems:

1) It is impossible to register and log into the VMWare forums; I get stuck in an authentication loop every time and they haven't fixed it over a period of several weeks.

2) Even if you don't use it, it's simply destroying your system.log, by polluting it with dozens of entries a second:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2007030619493199  
(Version 1.0b2(41385))

E_COMMERCE  Great interface, but three problems:

1) First and foremost, this needs to be able to store serials for items that aren't on your Mac! As several other people have pointed out, it would be great to store passwords for Windows, Palm, and software on other computers (or stuff that's currently not installed). The way it integrates with Mac software is very, very slick, but we do need to store other things.

2) Why does it create a folder in my Documents folder? I didn't ask for it and it doesn't make documents anyway. Keep application support stuff where it belongs - in ~/Library/Application Support.

3) Not as important to me, but I can see how encryption would be desirable. Aren't such facilities built into the OS, given its OSS foundations and Keychain support?

Again, I love the interface. Needs a little bit more development, but I'm going to be following this one closely.  
(Version 1.3)

E_COMMERCE  I must have been in a bad mood, because despite these limitations, it's still by far the best monitoring style application out there. It looks good and works well - it's just a shame there hasn't been any focus on the application version.  
(Version 2.0)

E_COMMERCE  So... what does this offer that PAR files do not? It certainly sounds like you're implementing a parity-based recovery solution, which quite frankly has been done to death. PAR2 is an especially good implementation, and free for any use. What does TrueDisc bring to the table?  
(Version 1.0.1)

E_COMMERCE  This would be a lot simpler, smaller, and safer if it only replaced those resources it needs to, rather than carrying around several full copies of the iTunes resource file. Replacing the entire resource file is inherently unsafe anyway, as it can easily change every point update.

Please, just use Resource Manager calls to replace the appropriate PICT resources. That will also allow more customization and flexibility, and avoid problems inherent in overwriting other resources that may easily change from version to version.  
(Version 3.1b2)