MacUpdate: uncoy's Profile

Jan 18 2010

ROBOTANK Really? A one-star review because you assume that Spell Catcher is unstable? Do you have any evidence or experience to suggest that this version is as dangerous as you claim it to be? Can you provide an example of this "[in]stability and invasiveness"? Can you explain what you mean by "hack[ing] so far into the core OS"? Your "review" should be supported with something more than you've provided.
(Version 10.3.3)

Jan 18 2010

EVAN GROSS I'd love to know where you got this (mis)information from. It's not even remotely correct or accurate.

Please supply evidence of how I have to "hack so far into the core OS".

Please supply evidence of how Spell Catcher is "seriously compromising system stability".

I know you can't because both statements are entirely incorrect.

Maybe I have to work around a Mac OS X bug or two. What developer doesn't? But it never involves "hacking into the core OS".

Now tell me how "the guys at Spell Catcher seem to have gamed their recent MuPromo". These "guys at Spell Catcher" consist of one guy - me. How can one person (with a single MacUpdate user login) do this?

I'm not sure what your agenda is, but I am sure of how Spell Catcher does what it does. You or your "information" source most certainly don't.
(Version 10.3.3)

Jan 18 2010

UNCOY Hi Evan,

Anyone who installs SpellCatcher and uses it for awhile will note how use of the input menu is compromised by SpellCatcher (i.e. SpellCatcher has to be turned on there for it to work). Intercepting spellchecking is also hacking into the OS. In fact there are so many different hacks necessary for SpellCatcher to be able to do all the things it does, that it's difficult to list them all.

I like the idea of SpellCatcher but it tries to do so many things that it inevitably becomes a serpent wrapped around the user's OS.

If it's true that you didn't send a voting crew around to the recent MuPromo, then I commend you. I did catch another developer at it earlier this year. If that's the case, I am a at least a star too low in my evaluation.

I will say one thing for you Evan. You are dedicated to your customers and your program. So if someone has the time to struggle through troubleshooting SpellCatcher, you will help them. You've been working at Thunder and now SpellCatcher for years.

I do own a license so if one day you manage to simplify it all (not that Apple makes this kind of work easy), even if there is less functionality, I might give SpellCatcher another try.

My experience of using SpellCatcher successfully was like trying to administer a second computer. Just too much overhead for the functionality I needed. But on the other hand, I'm quite a good speller.
(Version 10.3.3)

-5

Jan 19 2010

EVAN GROSS Input methods, spelling servers, and application services (Services menu) are supported and documented Mac OS X technologies. Spell Catcher X uses them appropriately. They are not hacks. Implementing or using them is not "hacking into the core OS".

Enough said. Move this to our forums if you wish.
(Version 10.3.3)

Jan 19 2010

ROBOTANK Wow, UNCOY, you've really missed the point. Yet again you've failed to provide any specific examples of the problems you claim you're having or any detailed explanation of your claims about system hacking. I'm particularly interested to understand how simply running Spell Catcher could have caused you so much difficulty. By the way, I suspect that most people who write enough to need Spell Catcher are good spellers. However, we're all prone to typos and occasional spelling errors, and when one does a lot of writing, Spell Catcher becomes more than a convenience--it is a huge time saver with its on-the-fly correction and shorthand expansion. In any case, you're certainly entitled to express your own opinion, but I hope that people reading this forum don't take your comments as necessarily true or indicative of common user experience with Spell Catcher.
(Version 10.3.3)

Jan 19 2010

UNCOY Tag teaming are we now?

Here's the experience of another expert user Karl Craig from Apple's discussion forums:

Yes, it was Spell Checker! As others had suggested, I had previously removed the Services package from my library, but this still didn't help.

BUT, when I ran the Uninstaller as suggested by Johannes in another thread, IT WORKED! Apparently, Spell Checker must install some other resources that even Spotlight couldn't find - so a warning to us all: beware third-party software that interferes at a system level.

Here's the link for the Uninstaller:

http://www.spellcatcher.com/dl/extras/Uninstall_SCX.zip

Funny thing was that I bought Spell Checker over a year ago. I didn't like it at all, so I trashed the app and the login file. I never thought for a moment that one day this piece of junk was going to come back from the grave to haunt me � but it did! Worst $20 I ever wasted!

I wonder how many other pieces of junk we all have lurking on our hard drives that will one day cause us grief?

It looks like I'm not alone after all. Anyone who can live with the Apple built-in spellchecker but is interested in Ghost Writer should check out this overview of Mac OS X keyloggers.
(Version 10.3.3)

-1

Jan 19 2010

UNCOY Looks like html is not working at Macupdate these days.

Here's the link to Karl Craig's post and the long thread: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5779527#5779527

Here's the link to the overview of OS X keyloggers: http://foliovision.com/2010/01/17/keyloggers-mac-os-x
(Version 10.3.3)

-1

Jan 20 2010

MISHA A forum post from a single user from 2+ years ago is all you provide as evidence of "hacking into the core OS"? If there was a bug present that caused what that user experienced, Evan undoubtedly has since fixed it... (disclaimer: I do not user SpellCatcher myself, but know more than a few people who do and have for many years and swear by it).
(Version 10.3.4)

Jan 20 2010

UNCOY Hello Misha,

Well I've shared my experience and documented at least one other example (there's actually about five or six over there in Apple discussions).

If others have had a better experience with Spell Catcher, so much the better. But that's my own experience above. I recently did a clean install to purge my machine of any lurking detritus of applications which install kexts and input managers. Spell Catcher is definitely in this category.

However, I do appreciate that Evan does provide an uninstaller which on the surface of things does appear to clean up after SC. And I do recognise that Evan, unlike many other recent shareware developers, is genuinely concerned about his users and is really committed to his software. As I wrote above, Misha, you are free to change my original rating to 2 stars based on issues clarified here.
(Version 10.3.4)

Jan 21 2010

EVAN GROSS MISHA:

Of course we had a fix right away. Here's what wasn't mentioned:

http://www.rainmakerinc.com/kb/index.php?article=87

(The discussion thread relates to the known issues regarding Services in that initial release of Leopard in the above FAQ)
(Version 10.3.4)

Jan 21 2010

UNCOY Thanks for the link Evan. Interesting reading.

To be honest, while it does show that you had some fixes available in a timely way, it also supports my point: running Spell Catcher is awfully hard work, due to the obstacles Apple places in your way.

Perhaps you could come up with a Spell Catcher lite which does some part of what Spell Catcher does without requiring so much tending?
(Version 10.3.4)

BackTrack	Jan 17 2010	UNCOY Nice concept. BackTrack is the only keylogger which actually separates your typing by document and keeps it cleaned up. Seems to work. It does install an exta MySQL lite database which runs constantly so you are looking at some overhead. But what I really object to and why I won't install or use BackTrack is that there is a daemon running constantly stealing processor cycles and pinging your whole network looking for other copies of BackTrack. Bill is effectively stealing your processor time in perpetuity. Not acceptable. What Bill is really after apparently is stopping people from running BackTrack on their own laptop and desktop at the same time. As many people, including me, have up to 3 Macs which are their own (although only two in the same place at any given time), per computer licensing is a bit annoying. I could live with a family pack but without the background checker. The pricing is right at $10. A real pity as I would buy BackTrack in a minute for my own computer and for the 5 Macs in my company if Bill would remove the processor and network stealing background processes. Bill, the pirates will always win (they beat Adobe everyday and Adobe is a lot better prepared for this war than you are). You should be worrying about the paying customers and not the pirates. Please let me know if and when you remove the spyware. My money is ready. (Version 5.1.1)		-1
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Replies:

BackTrack

Feb 23 2010

IPHONEANDMACDEVELOPER Uncoy, you really should not state things you don't know anything about. BackTrack does one (that's 1) check for duplicate serial numbers, and that's only at startup time. There is no "daemon running constantly that steals processor time." I don't really know how you came up with that idea. Are you sure you're talking about BackTrack? I know you're upset because you have to pay for the copies you want to use, but I have to make a living. I just can't give away the software. It's so frustrating trying to develop a decent application only to be dissed by people who don't know what they're talking about.
(Version 5.2)

BackTrack

Feb 23 2010

ROAMING NOMAD I honestly have no use for this software but I did want to verify your honesty by seeing if there was any truth to what you said or to what UNCOY said.

When I started up the BackTrack application, it was the only process listed in Activity Monitor. After I select the checkbox to start logging text the application reminds me to quit to start logging.

After I quit the BackTrack application, Activity Monitor shows that a new process called BackTrackBA is running.

On my Intel Mac that background application has a very low CPU profile at around 0.1 - 1 % but on my PowerPC it was jumping around and eating CPU cycles between 0.3 - 50+ %

I'll leave it for others to decide who is being honest here and the means to test this for themselves!
(Version 5.2)

BackTrack

Feb 23 2010

IPHONEANDMACDEVELOPER Roaming nomad, BackTrackBA may use a lot of cycles on a PowerPC, I don't know, I haven't used a PowerPC in a long time, nor do I have access to one. The point I made before is that there is no "daemon running constantly" as Uncoy states. BackTrackBA is a Cocoa background-only application, and it runs as long as you have text and/or image logging activated. It is not a daemon. There's a difference.

Furthermore, you didn't say how old your PowerPC is (old probably), the speed of the processor, how much RAM it has, and how many other apps are running. If you have an older PowerPC without much RAM and a lot of other apps running, BackTrackBA could use a lot of cycles trying to compete with the other apps. There are a lot of variables involved.
(Version 5.2)

Lugaru	Jan 17 2010	UNCOY Probably the best game I've ever played. Some tough levels further on. Killing wolves as a rabbit is not easy. Runs great on almost all Macs. With a powerful computer you can run it on a 30" computer screen. Alas, the new game Overgrowth has taken forever to develop. In the meantime, if you haven't tried Lugaru, you're in for a treat. (Version 1.0.6)		0
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Videobox	Jan 12 2010	UNCOY Thanks. I missed the non-standard SpiceShaker. I think you might have missed a couple as well, which I got by determined delving. One of the worst uninstalls I've been through. (Version 2.9)		0
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QuicKeys X	Jan 3 2010	UNCOY Keyboard Maestro is awesome, easy to use and less than $40. (Version 4.0.7 (131))		0
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Keyboard Maestro	Jan 3 2010	UNCOY After your review, I tried Spark. Interesting program with a much better and simpler user interface than Keyboard Maestro (Peter N. Lewis please take a look and copy the choose menu routine). And Spark felt much faster executing macros. Absolutely zero lag. But Spark was very unreliable with Apple Mail (would work three times and then conk out until the daemon was restarted). Keyboard Maestro 4's editor is crash prone but the daemon is much more reliable than Spark. And as you note, Keyboard Maestro can do a lot more than Spark. (Version 4.0.1)		0
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Videobox	Jan 2 2010	UNCOY Videobox is a tricky treacherous little beast. Installation follows correct paradigm: just drag and drop into Applications. But when you run it the first time, it installs some nasty plugins into Safari (that's okay in itself, actually) but even worse it creates system folder files most of which are called Spicerack which includes a broken control panel and which is added to your login list. Even worse, there is no uninstaller (just drag Videobox to the trash are the instructions). So you are stuck with these unknown Spicerack files. To get rid of them you need a system level file search with a tool like Find Any File. There are over a dozen files. Even then I'm not sure I got them all. If you like this kind of potential spyware/conflict-ware on your computer, then I heartily recommend Videobox. If not, I suggest you use Cosmopod instead. Cosmopod works great and doesn't infest your computer. (Version 2.8.7)		+7
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Replies:

Jan 12 2010

ROBACKJA I chose not to use the Safari plugin and I don't have any *spicerack* files or other strange files/plugins in my system folders (though I can see spicerack files in the Videobox.app folder). Maybe the best way to handle this app is to stay away from the plugin :)
(Version 2.9)

Jan 12 2010

LPETING SpiceRack allows you to add plugins to Safari (and other applications). It only gets installed when you say "Yes" to Videobox when it asks to install its Safari plugin. Personally, I have not had any problem with the control panel.

There is a menu item in Videobox called "Uninstall Safari Plugin". Did you try that?

Otherwise, these are the files to delete:

~/Library/Application Support/SpiceRack

~/Library/PreferencePanes/SpiceRack.prefPane

~/Library/ScriptingAdditions/SpiceShaker.osax

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.tastyapps.SpiceRack.plist
(Version 2.9)

Jan 12 2010

UNCOY Thanks. I missed the non-standard SpiceShaker.

I think you might have missed a couple as well, which I got by determined delving.

One of the worst uninstalls I've been through.
(Version 2.9)

Jan 13 2010

LPETING Yes, even though I like Videobox and appreciate how it integrates with Safari, I think TastyApps should supply an uninstaller for SpiceRick in case you want to remove all applications that use it. It would also be better if they were more clear about installing it, since some users may not want something that is a bit like a haxie.
(Version 2.9)

Feb 28 2010

LPETING I hadn't installed 2.9 when I made my previous comments, but the 1.3 version of SpiceRack that comes with 2.9 seems to have an uninstaller on the preference pane.
(Version 2.9)

Super Flexible File Synchronizer

Mar 1 2010

UNCOY The uninstaller doesn't get nearly all of it, as far as I remember. Sadly enough.
(Version 2.9)

Sleep Display	Dec 31 2009	UNCOY Great. You can turn off your displays with a keyboard shortcut (none Apple keyboards) finally. Use Butler, Spark, Keyboard Maestro to do it. (Version 1.0)		0
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Find File	Dec 31 2009	UNCOY Other advantage of Find File is that it uses no CPU in the background, while Find Any File uses about 1% CPU on Core2Duo 2.5Ghz. (Version 0.3)		0
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Find File	Dec 31 2009	UNCOY Superb. You have your Mac Find File feature back, without all the beachball spinning of the incredibly slow DEVON EasyFind Very similar features to FindAnyFile but FindFile is wrapped in Cocoa instead of RealBasic and seems faster on its feet. Thanks John R. Chang for this wrapper! PS. Please put up a website and a donation button. (Version 0.3)		0
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Replies:

Find File

Dec 31 2009

UNCOY Other advantage of Find File is that it uses no CPU in the background, while Find Any File uses about 1% CPU on Core2Duo 2.5Ghz.
(Version 0.3)

Contour	Dec 29 2009	UNCOY This guy is a Mariner shill. Check his profile for his intrusive reviews of everyone else's writing apps to advertise Scrivener/Storymill. (Version 1.2.1)		0
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LittleSnapper	Dec 19 2009	UNCOY I own this and find it a bit laggy. A system without Voila runs faster or at least it does when you are trying to do screenshots. Some nice tools but for speed and staying closer to the core of the OS, I recommend ImageWell. Hopefully LittleSnapper will speed up in future versions and use less resources. But I fear rather that feature bloat is ahead. (Version 1.5.3)		-1
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Fan Control	Dec 18 2009	UNCOY Derman is a rip-off artist who likes to discontinue software without warning, even after taking update fees. He's also a producer of invasive online activation systems (the kind which require you to check in and out each piece of software). To be avoided. (Version 1.2)		0
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Yummy FTP	Dec 18 2009	UNCOY YummyFTP will import bookmarks from other ftp clients (Interarchy). It is one of the few FTP clients who saves a css file the first time (most require two saves to show up in the browser). But it's ugly and strange. Cyberduck manages to save the first time as well (Forklife, Interarchy don't) and looks a whole lot better doing it. Paid YummyFTP user moving over to Cyberduck. (Version 1.8.1)		-6
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Keyboard Maestro	Dec 14 2009	UNCOY Absolute champ of a macros program. Simple and with a lot of features. New version nice eye candy but arguably harder to use. Peter Lewis of Interarchy fame is the mastermind behind the renaissance of Keyboard Maestro. Buy it, treasure it. Plays nice with KeyCue from Ergononis and Butler from Peter Mauer. It would be nice if there were a way to record the menu items you want to use (iKey and the older version of Keyboard Maestro used to allow this). Came over from iKey which took a turn for the worse from version one to version two. (Version 4.0)		0
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iKey	Dec 14 2009	UNCOY I was an avid iKey v. 1 user. Great program. Version 2 made a mess of everything. I don't think it ever was stable. Fortunately Peter Lewis of interarchy fame took an also-ran off the bench and trained him into a champion. I'm speaking of Keyboard Maestro. Inexpensive. Powerful. Regularly updated. Could be a bit prettier (interface of iKey 1 was easier to use than Keyboard Maestro v. 4) but rock solid reliable. Plays nice with KeyCue and Butler too, (Version 2.3.4)		0
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Replies:

iKey

Jan 27 2010

FHAMPEL I wrote to the KB Maestro dev asking how to get it to hold the various versions of "open recent" sub-menus. KB Maestro requires the exact sub-menu name. IK does not. KBM is a very nice program but light weight compared to IK and QuicKeys.
(Version 2.4)

iKey

Jan 27 2010

FHAMPEL That was "hold open the various versions of the "open recent" sub-menu."
(Version 2.4)

iKey

Jan 27 2010

UNCOY I agree with you.

I'm in contact with Peter N. Lewis as well and have asked him to do something similar to iKey 1 or Spark in terms of automated menu programming.

He's promised to do so. It makes programming of menus/submenus a lot easier.

On the other hand, Keyboard Maestro is reliable and powerful. Apart from finicky programming of menu options, I find KM an outstanding tool, even better than the once brilliant iKey 1.
(Version 2.4)

Apple Numbers	Dec 12 2009	UNCOY Another vote here for Tables. Numbers looks nice but come on: where did my processors go and what happened to my 6 GB of memory. Extremely sloppy wasteful programming (think Microsoft Word). On the other hand, back to basics Tables uses almost no memory and no processor in background. So you can keep a spreadsheet open all day (if you have lots of spreadsheet type info, basic calculations to do). (Version 1.0.3)		0
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GlimmerBlocker	Dec 1 2009	UNCOY I love GlimmerBlocker but it recently brought my work to a standstill for a couple of days. While editing Wordpress sites in North America (I'm in Europe), it would take more than a minute to load each page. I troubleshot everything before finally disabling GlimmerBlocker. And bingo. So back to normal adblockers for me. A pity as GlimmberBlocker was excellent for about a year for me. (Version 1.4.2)		+1
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Cog	Nov 11 2009	UNCOY Thanks Tutor. Will do. (Version 0.07)		0
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Vox	Nov 9 2009	UNCOY Cog is great but stopped working on me. Tried Vox, Taply and Play. Vox and Taply had very high CPU usage in background when not running. Vox was running at over 3%. Looks awfully good. Unfortunately the playlist is a bit of a pain to manage in comparison to Cog or Play. Play is a bit ugly but uses .1% CPU in the background. Which one you choose is a question of looks. (Version 0.2.6)		0
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Taply	Nov 9 2009	UNCOY Cog is great but stopped working on me. Tried Vox, Taply and Play for substitute. Vox and Taply had very high CPU usage in background when not running. In the case of Taply, 5.4% on a Macbook Pro 2.5GHz. Just too much background resources. Play is a bit ugly but uses .1% CPU in the background. (Version 1.6)		0
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Play	Nov 9 2009	UNCOY Cog is great but stopped working on me. Tried Vox, Taply and Play. Vox and Taply had very high CPU usage in background when not running. Play is a bit ugly but uses .1% CPU in the background. Plays music very well. Seems to have some kind of treble boost which makes music sound sharper on so-so systems. On my B&W towers through a top of the line NAD, the sound is a little bit too sharp. (Version 0.3)		0
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Cog	Nov 9 2009	UNCOY Cog is great. Just stopped working on me though (won't add songs to the playlist). Tried Vox, Taply and Play. Vox and Taply had very high CPU usage in background when not running. Play is a bit ugly to look at but uses .1% CPU in the background and plays the music very well. So if you have trouble with Cog, give Play a shot. (Version 0.07)		0
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Replies:

Cog

Nov 11 2009

TUTOR Try the latest build available under development:

http://cogx.org/development.php

The play list bug is documented in the cog forums.
(Version 0.07)

Cog

Nov 11 2009

UNCOY Thanks Tutor. Will do.
(Version 0.07)

Cog

Jan 18 2010

UNCOY This did work for me. Thanks!

Cog gets 5 stars from me then.
(Version 0.07)

iTextile	Oct 21 2009	UNCOY Recovering from the addiction: http://foliovision.com/2009/10/09/37signals-basecamp-url-change/ (Version 1.0.1)		0
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iTextile	Oct 21 2009	UNCOY A superb little tool to be able to write in Textile on your Mac and preview it live. The preview includes export so you can cut and paste html into your weblog, if like me you are a recovering Basecamp/Textile addict. (Version 1.0.1)		0
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Replies:

iTextile

Oct 21 2009

UNCOY Recovering from the addiction: http://foliovision.com/2009/10/09/37signals-basecamp-url-change/
(Version 1.0.1)

GraphicConverter X	Aug 22 2009	UNCOY Your comment is foolish. Graphic Converter is an extremely powerful application unlike the toys you mentioned. Sure it needs a makeover. But no need to be insulting. (Version 6.5)		0
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Photomatix Pro	Jul 19 2009	UNCOY Photomatix can make great images (unlike Hydra for example). But it's expensive and complicated. Bracketeer will generate great natural looking HDR for a fraction of the price. Far few bells and whistles, but I'm interested in results, not fiddling or fighting extreme presets. (Version 3.2)		+1
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Hydra	Jul 19 2009	UNCOY I agree with the suggestion to go with Bracketeer. I checked out Hydra's galleries and the results are atrociously artificial. The team look like nice people and they have their marketing sorted. Pity about the software. (Version 2.1.1)		0
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Replies:

Hydra

Aug 27 2009

HIGHERTERRAIN Thank you for correcting the version that is available.
(Version 2.1.1)

-5

Bracketeer	Jul 19 2009	UNCOY Great straightforward software. The HDR that Bracketeer produces is what you want to see (if you are aiming for gorgeous but realistic HDR). If you want plasticy, fake hideous HDR you'll need Photomatix or Hydra. The interface is really well sorted and minimalist - as a good Apple application should be. Works great in Aperture. In short, together with PTTools for lens correction, Bracketeer is my best photo processing purchase. (Version 3.3)		0
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MimMac	Jul 6 2009	UNCOY After another interaction with Benjamin, I can tell you he really cares about his users. I bought a new computer and again ran into licensing trouble but Benjamin had me sorted out within 12 hours. MimMac also handles packages well (iPhoto, Aperture generate packages into the hundreds of Gigabytes), treating them as folders so you only have to update the files which have changed not the whole database (minutes instead of days of copying). MimMac is the only affordable high quality sync tool available on OS X. SuperDuper! is the way to go for volume backup but SuperDuper! doesn't handle folders or partial drives well and won't do two way syncing at all. MimMac and SuperDuper! are a killer combination though. I've since bought another license to support the developer's efforts with MimMac, despite our rocky start. What's even better is the licensing scheme will be changed so that your license will continue to work even if Ascendent Softworks disappears (hopefully not!). All that's left on my wishlist for MimMac is dry run preview of two-way syncing. (Version 1.9.2)		0
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Keywurl	May 8 2009	UNCOY Superb free plugin. Makes Safari a joy to use. I've been using it for months. Really improves browsing experience. Stays out of your way. Something similar in Safari Stand which I've just started using for the highlighted source code. (Version 1.4b3)		0
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Super Flexible File Synchronizer	Mar 7 2009	UNCOY It is pretty ugly. No excuse for that sloppy a UI job on a Mac. (Version 4.53)		-1
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Replies:

Apr 10 2009

ANONYMOUS Well there is. My customers need the functionality. The program offers features which simply don't exist in any other tool. Due to cross-platform considerations, the user interface must look the way it does, and it isn't that bad really.
(Version 4.56)

Super Flexible File Synchronizer

Apr 10 2009

PANTHERA Just curious... on the web page it says this software doesn't transfer file permissions. Isn't that pretty important for files from a Unix-based system like Mac OS X?
(Version 4.56)

MimMac	Jan 14 2009	UNCOY While the MimMac registration system is extremely dangerous (if Benjamin stops his software business you'll have no way to install MimMac on your new computer), otherwise the software is sound. And little else in this sector is. Drive Utilities are difficult to program and seem to attract a peculiar breed of developer (very expensive, locked down in non-user friendly ways, buggy). MimMac scores very well on two out of three. And that is a lot better than the competition. For full bootable backup, I recommend SuperDuper! but for sync, MimMac. I am reviewing MimMac again as there is no way to edit my recent rating. If MimMac were did not require developer intervention to move to a new computer, it would be a 5. (Version 1.9.2)		0
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Drive Genius	Jan 13 2009	UNCOY Come on David, cut the excuses and give the poor soul his/her money back. The software is clearly defective. (Version 2.1)		0
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Drive Genius	Jan 13 2009	UNCOY Thank you to all of you guys who lost your data with the Defrag tool for reporting it here. Drive Genius 2 has a lot of useless animation but there is no way such a buggy feature as Defrag should be out in the wild. The benchmarking tool is okay I guess (I have InTech's SpeetTools Utilities as well and they do an even clearer job). I used some of the other testing tools as well (if the scan does work, that's a useful test but I think InTech has that as well). I think I am going to retire Drive Genius now, before I lose data. I can't believe they allow the Defrag tool to be marketed or to run when it is in this condition. I really don't have a day and a half to set up my computer again after a Drive Genius explosion. If you want to defrag it's cheaper and faster to buy a second external backup drive (you need two backups to do this safely) to clone to the external drive and then clone back to your boot disk. Keep in mind that one of those backup drives has to be Firewire (so you can boot from it). Clearly, the only Mac disk software you need - or is safe - besides DiskUtility, is Disk Warrior which has saved some buggy disks for me. Oh, and SuperDuper for backups. (Version 2.1)		-1
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MimMac	Jan 12 2009	UNCOY In fairness to Benjamin, he did exchange the serial number quickly this time. Moreover, out of all the sync apps out there for Mac, MimMac seems to be the only one which works quickly and reliably and/or is not crippled with parasitic copy protection background applications. I wish Benjamin would find a simpler system for protecting MimMac which does not put the burden on the end (paying) user. (Version 1.9.2)		0
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MimMac	Jan 12 2009	UNCOY You cannot reformat your hard drive or sell your old computer and move on and keep using MimMac. You have to personally contact the developer and hope that he will get around to allowing you to reactivate your software. If I had to this much babysitting for all the shareware I buy, I would be out of a job as I would be spending all my time just sending out authorisation emails (for what it's worth, I switch one of three Macs at least every six months and when I do a reinstall I've moved to doing clean installs and putting everything I need back on). Stop worrying about the pirates - they get whatever application they want anyway - and start worrying about the legitmate users. Take a page out of Dave Nanian of SuperDuper fame from shirtpocket software. 1. The basics are free. 2. Pirating is easy, but you'd be a few dot versions behind. Anyone who pirates mission critical applications like backup isn't going to be a customer in any case. When the pirates grow up, they'll buy SuperDuper. In the meantime, Dave doesn't have to deal with them. This model scales. Microsoft and Adobe used a similar strategy for years, although Adobe seems to be moving towards making their applications unpiratable. The consequences - huge hassles for legitimate customers with licensing. Those who do pirate the application actually have less hassle in the end. What is happening is that the Adobe crackdowns and their absurdly high prices ($2000+/suite/workstation) are making the shareware - reasonably priced photo and graphics space attractive again. Anyway the point is you won't defeat the pirates, you'll just annoy legitimate users with the heavy handed authorization scheme you are using. KISS is the golden rule. You follow it almost everywhere else. I ask again, Benjamin, what are you thinking about with this heavy-handed and unscaleable authorisation scheme? (Version 1.9.2)		0
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Replies:

MimMac

Jan 12 2009

UNCOY In fairness to Benjamin, he did exchange the serial number quickly this time.

Moreover, out of all the sync apps out there for Mac, MimMac seems to be the only one which works quickly and reliably and/or is not crippled with parasitic copy protection background applications.

I wish Benjamin would find a simpler system for protecting MimMac which does not put the burden on the end (paying) user.
(Version 1.9.2)

Netfixer	Jan 12 2009	UNCOY Absolutely brilliant for capturing an image of a full webpage. I've tried them all and Netfixer is both the simplest and the best. It works all the time. Oh, and it's free. (Version 0.2)		0
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RAGE Domainer	Jan 9 2009	UNCOY Well, I have so many domains to manage and it sounded so good, I went ahead and bought it straight up. I wish I�d waited till I�d demo�ed the app first. The developer states you can import details from a txt file from your DomReg. This is true but VERY limited; you can�t map your nameservers to the fields supplied and there are no fields for: Private, locked, Reg/Admin contacts or most importantly, key info etc. Sure you can add these infos to the Comments field manually but when you have 50+ domains you need to set aside the whole afternoon (yawn). It�s almost seems like the developer either just didn�t think things through, was in a big hurry or has no idea about domain management. This app has huge potential but needs some follow through at the basis levels. I�d give it a 5.5 (Version 1.8)		-1
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RAGE Domainer	Jan 9 2009	UNCOY The basic idea is good. Unfortunately the domains within the applications don't automatically get new information periodically. You have to choose to update any given piece of data about the domain. Far worse is that Rage Domainer freezes regularly. If it doesn�t take down the whole computer you are lucky. Awful experience. Nothing but trouble. Three users in a row. Comments from Rage: "It's high quality". No it's a badly broken RealBasic app. Someone please build us a decent Cocoa app. I think I'm going to go to running one of the Windows apps under a virtual OS. That's how bad this is. (Version 1.8)		-1
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GlimmerBlocker	Jan 1 2009	UNCOY Great ability to self-configure for the reasonably technically competent. Turned Barefeats.com from animated GIF mess into a nice white and black website. Brilliant.\ PS. I am also an ex-PithHelmeter (paid). Due to the constant issues of breaking (and current releases don't cover animated GIFs anyway), I gave up PithHelmet a while ago. I have a custom .hosts file but it's a pain to configure. Glimmer solves the configuration issues. (Version 1.2)		+1
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Ultralingua Dictionaries	Dec 8 2008	UNCOY The upgrade prices and the ridiculous prices for each module (now duplicated with Collins dictionaries as well) should alert anyone with any sense to stay away from this pack of wolves. I see people who upgraded to version 5 have been shut out in Leopard and have to pay another $20 per dictionary. If you are online, there are better versions for each language which you can bookmarklet in your browser for quick use - dict.leo.org for German - English for example. On the other hand, when you find yourself offline Ultralingua (or its equivalent) can be useful. Good news - if you can live with non-Universal Binary, version 4 works just fine under Leopard and doesn't show any signs of breaking in future versions of the OS either. The interface I don't find particularly Windows-like, just very plain-jane. But it works. And that's all we need. Screw Ultralingua. After seeing what they did to the people who upgraded to the most recent version, they will not be seeing any more of my money. Talk about a good concept gone bad. (Version 7.1.1)		0
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Replies:

Ultralingua Dictionaries

Jan 10 2009

HMURCHISON An Ultralingua rep says this

"As a representative of the company, I just need to clarify a couple of points on the upgrade policy. First, we have never charged $25.00 for upgrades: upgrades cost $19.95, and for customers with multiple dictionaries (three or more, as in the case of the previous post), they are $14.95. Of course, upgrades are always painful. But Ultralingua provides many free upgrades during the life of a product, and major version upgrades only occur every 18 months to two years.

Finally, if we were only changing the user interface, upgrades would be much cheaper. In fact, our dictionary team is working constantly to improve the dictionary content, adding new words as they enter the languages we cover, and expanding on usage notes, conjugators, and more. We work hard to bring the highest quality for the most accessible price."

So if you have 3 or more Dictionary you get a %20 discount in addition to constant evolution of the product in between standard paid upgrades. Is that really blood sucking from a company that starts off at shareware pricing for some solid language tools.

I think it's a bit more appropriate to merely comment on the price of upgrades versus centering your whole review around something that is auxiliary to the new features of UL7. Some of us want to know about the latest version who don't own the program and thus would never be bent out of shape about the upgrade prices which you used so eagerly to demonize the company.

When you do a review you're providing a service. Anger simply clouds your views and turns your post into a bully pulpit. I hope in the future you'll refrain from posting editorials as reviews. I have taken to heart your points and will make sure I understand the upgrade pitfalls but I have learned absolutely nothing about UL7 with your review and that is unfortunate.
(Version 7.1.1)

Ultralingua Dictionaries

Mar 28 2009

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

	Nov 5 2008	UNCOY I'm not sure I was clear enough. I sent in the money before the beta or alpha was released. I'm good like that, taking people on their word. I'd love to see this project succeed or even see a best effort. That's not what we've seen to date. (Version 1.0b7)		0
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	Nov 5 2008	UNCOY Hey Tim, I sent the money on spec, based on their promises to deliver a Eudora equivalent email client for OS X. IDS haven't delivered anything like Eudora. How does that make me a bad person, supporting developers? Go fly a kite (euphemism). (Version 1.0b7)		0
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DiskLibrary	Sep 13 2008	UNCOY Slow and awful. Why didn't I pony up full price for CDfinder instead of buying this second-rate knock off on promo... Two stars for running at all. If you've never used a decent cataloging application and don't use the image cataloging functions DiskLibrary is better than nothing. (Version 1.8.1)		+2
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	Sep 10 2008	UNCOY Hello, I don't want my money back. I would like you to finish the application. That's why I and thousands of others sent you $20. (Version 1.0b3)		0
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	Sep 9 2008	UNCOY I can't believe I sent these lying cheats money. Where is the working software? Or some semblance of it... A deceived Eudora fan. (Version 1.0b3)		+1
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Replies:

Sep 10 2008

INFINITY DATA SYSTEMS Pre-registration is entirely voluntary. Each build of Odysseus comes with a 30-day trial period. Each build of Odysseus resets the previous trial period.

If you would like a refund, just contact billing@infinitydatasystems.com and we'll arange it.
(Version 1.0b3)

Sep 10 2008

UNCOY Hello,

I don't want my money back. I would like you to finish the application.

That's why I and thousands of others sent you $20.
(Version 1.0b3)

Sep 10 2008

INFINITY DATA SYSTEMS We are working on finishing. We've been very open about the delays we've ran into with development of Odysseus, and tried our best to keep everyone apprised of the situation. And we will continue to keep everyone apprised as development continues.
(Version 1.0b3)

Nov 5 2008

TIM.DEHRING So you downloaded a BETA product and paid for it without actually testing it? What part of FREE TRIAL don't you get? If you try it and don't like it, DON'T PAY. I know, it's too simple to be true.
(Version 1.0b7)

-1

Nov 5 2008

UNCOY Hey Tim,

I sent the money on spec, based on their promises to deliver a Eudora equivalent email client for OS X.

IDS haven't delivered anything like Eudora.

How does that make me a bad person, supporting developers?

Go fly a kite (euphemism).
(Version 1.0b7)

Nov 5 2008

UNCOY I'm not sure I was clear enough. I sent in the money before the beta or alpha was released. I'm good like that, taking people on their word.

I'd love to see this project succeed or even see a best effort. That's not what we've seen to date.
(Version 1.0b7)

teleport	Jun 8 2008	UNCOY If you've looked around at KVM switches you've seen that they are pretty dicey. Either they don't work or are buggy or the video doesn't pass through well. If you can manage to get your video going into a monitor with multiple inputs (preferably all digital!), you don't need a KVM switch any longer. Teleport will get you there better and faster, with clipboard switching and file transfer. And it takes all of two minutes (1 minute per Mac to configure - don't forget to have a quick look at the read me on the way) Unbelievably and very generously, Teleport is donationware. After the onslaught of crappy and overpriced shareware the Mac has had to put up with in the last couple of years (enough to make one think of switching to Linux), it's nice to see a developer creating high quality donationware. I sent in $20. I hope others are doing the same. If Teleport is still running as smoothly in a year, I'll send Julien another donation. (Version 1.0.1)		+1
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Voluminous	May 1 2008	UNCOY Hey Nick, You know what Voluminous needed to do to enable people to enjoy Project Gutenberg on their computers? Put up this list of links: Top 100 Ebooks Recent books Offline Catalogue Bookshelf by Category If Voluminous were freeware with donations going to Project Gutenberg, it would be a nice contribution. Right now, it's straight parasiteware. For those of us who had to put up with Nick and I this far, here's a bonus: The University of Adelaide's Collection of Ebooks, even better presented than Project Gutenberg. If you've got extra cash to spare, donate to either Gutenberg or the University of Adelaide. Those are the guys bringing the books to you, not these crooks. (Version 1.0.2)		0
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Voluminous	May 1 2008	UNCOY No, but the marketing for Voluminous is deceptive (they don't tell you very clearly where the books are coming from). Frankly, I don't see the value added in Voluminous. Project Gutenberg has perfectly decent search and perfectly decent display options (.txt, .doc, .pdf). Voluminous more like someone coming along and trying to charge you for the right to breathe. Can you say no value added? (Version 1.0.2)		0
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Voluminous	Apr 28 2008	UNCOY Unbelievable direct ripoff of Project Gutenberg. All these books are easily available in text, doc and pdf format here: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page It's clowns like this who give Mac shareware a bad name. Turning freeware volunteer labour into payware for the naive. (Version 1.0)		+1
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Replies:

Apr 30 2008

NICK LO I partly follow Project Gutenberg's recently updated RSS feed. I rarely use it though as if I go to any of the pages I get a whole load of info that is overkill to my needs and a series of mirror links to get varying formats of the book. These links, at least in my experience, often fail. The point I'm making is that it's not as simple as you suggest and the point of this software (from my reading on its site) is to help you MANAGE your books.

Your argument against it is a bit like saying that our local public library provides books for free, therefore no-one should profit from selling the backpacks or bookshelves that are used to manage those books. In other words you are comparing apples and oranges.

Another example: There are millions of people who earn a living developing web applications using open-source software developed by volunteers. Is that wrong too?

Ironically, I've never used this software, but even a quick look over its website shows how unnecessary and poorly considered your point was.
(Version 1.0.2)

May 1 2008

UNCOY No, but the marketing for Voluminous is deceptive (they don't tell you very clearly where the books are coming from).

Frankly, I don't see the value added in Voluminous. Project Gutenberg has perfectly decent search and perfectly decent display options (.txt, .doc, .pdf).

Voluminous more like someone coming along and trying to charge you for the right to breathe.

Can you say no value added?
(Version 1.0.2)

May 1 2008

NICK LO >they don't tell you very clearly where the books are coming from).

Now I'm confused. Surely the following descriptions on this site make it quite clear that the books are "public domain":

"Find/download free public-domain books online."

"Voluminous finds free, public-domain books on the Internet, downloads them, formats them for easier reading, and manages the collection."

...not to mention the FAQ on their own site. Even the product by-line "Internet Librarian for Mac OS X 10.5" makes it clear that this isn't selling you the books themselves.

> Voluminous more like someone coming along and trying to charge you for the right to breathe.

Clearly you're just beginning to troll now. If that logic applies to this product, then does it apply to a product like OmniWeb which dares to charge for browsing the "public domain"?

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/

> Frankly, I don't see the value added in Voluminous.

I think that was all you needed to say in the first place.
(Version 1.0.2)

-1

May 1 2008

UNCOY Hey Nick,

You know what Voluminous needed to do to enable people to enjoy Project Gutenberg on their computers?

Put up this list of links:

Top 100 Ebooks

Recent books

Offline Catalogue

Bookshelf by Category

If Voluminous were freeware with donations going to Project Gutenberg, it would be a nice contribution.

Right now, it's straight parasiteware.

For those of us who had to put up with Nick and I this far, here's a bonus:

The University of Adelaide's Collection of Ebooks, even better presented than Project Gutenberg. If you've got extra cash to spare, donate to either Gutenberg or the University of Adelaide. Those are the guys bringing the books to you, not these crooks.
(Version 1.0.2)

May 1 2008

NICK LO > For those of us who had to put up with Nick and I this far

Ha ha, yes I can see we could be at this for a while so I'll sign off reiterating that I don't think this developer is doing anything wrong providing a service that makes accessing public domain content easier. There are many many cases of people making a living in similar ways.

That said, I think it's time for the developer(s) to defend themselves as I'm not even a user!
(Version 1.0.2)

-1