that was posted in 2007... Get more up to date info to share before yelling fire.

APE is still a huge problem. Call Apple and ask them what they think.

Don

APE was and still is an unsupported system hack; the date of those links is irrelevant.

Here's another explanation of why APE is a dangerous hack.

I personally would not trust any developer who's product silently installed APE on my system. It's a step away from malware.

Do you have an example of this? I both wrote ICeCoffEE and use MacSpeech Dictate, and haven't noticed any problems. If I can fix the problem, or help Unsanity to fix the problem, please let me know.

You can tell APE not to run in specific applications, have you tried that?

Yes I have, but APE can still be an issue according to MacSpeech. My testing of the former version indicates that they may be correct on this. However I find Dictate to be unstable, even without APE at times. It seems to function more like a Beta then a Final Release. My feeling from their support is that it is very sensitive to anything that does not follow Mac Programming Guidelines 110% - which even Apple sometimes does not do. I may test APE again with ICeCoffEE again when time permits, but while I miss ICeCoffEE, I consider Dictate the more important of the 2 choices right now. Hopefully Dictate will get some of its bugs worked out eventually and I will be able to run both without issue.

As far as I can understand it, any process that performed the function that this does would have to somehow insert itself into other applications, which is what APE already does. It's true that APE can cause conflicts (and also true you can exclude applications) but I'd much rather rely on APE from a solid entity and run so many people than encourage lots of separate developers to duplicate what it already does and cause lots more potential instability.

I agree. Unfortunately MacSpeech seems to have tunnel vision on this subject reflected by their position that they will only support their products stability and performance in a pristine Mac, environment - something that more often than is not reality. Given that it is the only viable text to speech solution for the Mac platform, I hesitate to argue with them about this too much, or strongly discourage users from its purchase, Should MacSpeech cease to exist, so will speech to text conversion for the Mac. Sometime you just have to choose battles worth winning and consider the consequences that might be produced by such a battle. Hopefully over a period of time with enough 'gentle prodding' MacSpeech will realize the error of its ways, and concentrate of making their software solid and reliable rather than adding bloat and accessories. That should only come after the have a solid reliable foundation with their basic product, so that users can rely and depend on its basic functionality. Such a paradigm my not result in quick profits, but should encourage solid consistent growth. If such a paradigm will not support their cash flow, then they are probably undercapitalized or need to balance their expenses better. Building a successful ship is very difficult to do if try to do it in the middle of the ocean. If you want to build a great ship, you need good facilities in a safe harbor. Otherwise the ship is likely to flounder.

Even if this didn't use APE it would still have to use some kind of code injection, and MacSpeech would still object to it. If you have problems with MacSpeech software that seem related to it, then disable it for that program and if that fixes the problem just uninstall it before sending them any *other* trouble reports. If that doesn't fix the problem, then removing it won't either, so either way as long as you remove it before you send them any trouble reports you should be fine.

Thanks for the tips. I will use them when I get the time and the nerve to try APE again with Dictate. One of the things that I fear is corrupting my speech profile as the program crashes. I have added a number of customized commands to it and MacSpeech, after over 6 months since release has yet to provide a way of exporting or saving them to prevent loss. But then again they have also failed so far to provide and word training or spelling correction as promised last January. Actually I rarely submit bugs to them, given their attitude which reminds me of the following quip:

A proud mother and her friend was watching a parade in which her son was in the marching band. As the band passed by she waved to her son and remarked to her friend - Look! Everybody in the band is out of step except my Johnny.

Besides, give the issues with the program, I would be spending a significant amount of time reporting bugs instead of using the product. Being a professional tester myself, I get paid to do this as opposed to paying for the privilege to do it. However I would be amenable to doing this if they they embraced such reports instead of continually trying to blame the problem on my system, Apple, or another product. That said their support has improved a bit as it is now much easier to actually reach someone to discuss the issue with, as opposed to submitting a 'ticket' and hopefully receiving a useful reply.

"Now if only we could delete unwanted services provided by Apple's apps!"

You can:

http://www.macupdate.com/search.php?arch=all&keywords=service+scrubber&os=macosx

Thanks, but Service Scrubber no longer does:

[quote]Service Scrubber no longer edits services that belong to signed applications in Mac OS X 10.5.[/quote]