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What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

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Ralf Maximus:
In terms of misleading the person downloading the software, there is no difference.  It's a lie, plain and simple.  Not the truth.  Trying to sucker someone into installing your software under false pretenses.  That's why I wouldn't use such software.

If Archivarius really is "more precise results and will be lighter on resources", surely the software authors would like me to check this on all my files?  The limitation seems to me just a way of avoiding a true comparison with other software - until you've parted with your cash, when it's too late.
-jamesthebod (October 28, 2007, 05:15 AM)
--- End quote ---

Ouch. 

Having used Archivarious for a time now, I'm convinced it *is* lighter on resources and all that.  As I described above, I compared it to X1 and found X1 wanting.  So the product itself appears to be pretty solid.  I "parted with" $39 for Archivarius and am very pleased with it. 

In this case I'd prefer to think the author is basically honest, and simply chose a poor method for crippling the trial version.  Compounded by the lack of up-front information about HOW the trial is impaired, I can easily see how you'd get the impression he's a sneaky bastard.  But in this case, the product clearly works well and he has nothing to hide.

So how did this happen?

There's a war out there.  If you think it's hard being a software consumer, consider the developer: from their standpoint the WHOLE WORLD is out there trying to rip them off, either by sharing licenses or cracks.  I can easily imagine a bunker mentality setting in, the result being a collection of poor decisions about how to protect their baby from being pirated.

Ultimately you can't.  If you put copy protection on something, and somebody else wants it, people WILL find a way around it.  There's a sub-culture in crackers who focus on 0-day cracks, where the cracking tool is published before the commercial app is even shipped!  I recognize there is a big difference between TrialWare and stuff like SecuRom but the overall goals are the same: stop the software from being used unless it's paid for.

So everyone loses.  The author gets a bad reputation (because even honest users are annoyed) and potential customers are turned off before they can evaluate anything.  That almost happened to me with Archivarius, but I re-read all the positive reviews of it here, took a deep breath, and gambled my money.  I am VERY happy I did.

You are very right to be cautious, james, but in this case I believe Archivarius' author is one of the good guys -- he just made some crap decisions, and it'll keep hurting him until they are rectified.  And YOU lose because you'll never get to see Archivarius run free on your harddrive, happy clever puppy that it is.

BTW... This is a prime example of why I think DonationWare is one real solution to the problem.  Honest people who find value in software don't mind paying for it.  And developers don't WANT the other kinds of customer.  :-)

Dormouse:
potential customers are turned off before they can evaluate anything.  -Ralf Maximus (October 28, 2007, 02:00 PM)
--- End quote ---

True. I've certainly been put off. I would not have downloaded it if I had known it would be limited to 10,000 files.

As suggested, I emailed the author about a week ago about the problem. No reply (yet); that doesn't impress me either.

Darwin:
Yes - sadly, Archivarius' developer seems to be incommunicado at the moment. He's usually very quick to reply to e-mail but has not answered any of my messages over the past two or three weeks. Perhaps he's on holiday? I know that Archivarius is a one man show...

Dormouse:
I do have sympathy with one man shows, and accept that they cannot be available all of the time. Of course, that is also a real-world disadvantage and means that future development is entirely dependent on that person's motivation and availability.

Dormouse:
I must say that I am a bit surprised at the lack of users of GDS in the survey.

I first started with Desktop search progs with Alta Vista (can't remember what they called it), tried an early version Blinkx (which started to cause problems after a while), Copernic (early, then moved away), then GDS & Yahoo. Moved away from GDS (I suspected it of disk-thrashing) and on to Copernic. I still have Copernic installed but don't use it much because it does not seem to find all my files. I keep it installed because so many people are positive about it and I think I may be missing a trick. I re-installed GDS (no disk thrashing now) which also has the advantage of searching Evernote and seems to work more effectively than Copernic.

Archivarius would be good for searching The Bat, but I use a number of email progs (Courier, Thunderbird & Opera too) after experiencing database problems with one a long time ago. Makes me feel I have some insurance to have more than one; all bar one are set up to leave the email on the server and one is set to clear it as it downloads.

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