Other Software > Found Deals and Discounts
PhraseExpress v8, Pro Edition, on BdJ, Tuesday 12 April, 2011
cyberdiva:
^ OT... but do you have a subscription to neat net tricks premium? I was wondering what the differences were, as this seems like a pretty cool site! It's already turned me on to a new program to try.
-wraith808 (April 16, 2011, 10:31 AM)
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Hi, Wraith. Yes, I've had a subscription to NNT Premium for a number of years. When you ask about the differences, do you mean differences between it and the current free version of the newsletter? (I say "current free version" because what is now NNT Premium started out as a free newsletter, IIRC.) I think that, on the whole, the Premium version presents somewhat more interesting software, and it also usually includes one or more interesting short articles or editorials.
cyberdiva:
I read through the review, and I feel that they do have some valid points, but a lot of their negative comments seem excessive and repetitive.-cthorpe (April 16, 2011, 11:04 AM)
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As far as the repetition goes, that may be the down side of having six people each writing an independent review. But I've also often found value in the repetition. If just one person complains about something, I might dismiss his complaint as idiosyncratic, but if four people have the same complaint, I'm likely to take it more seriously.
For example, they harp on the fact that PE autostarts with Windows constantly throughout the review. In addition, they have inserted responses from the developer throughout their review, but did not take his responses into account and edit their review in any way.
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Well, as someone who tries to have as few programs in my startup menu as possible and hates it when a program puts itself there without at least asking me if I want it there, I'm very sympathetic when other people have this complaint.
I've read the NNT software reviews for a number of years and have bought some programs thanks to their recommendations. I applaud NNT's practice of giving the software company the opportunity to comment on the review and having the company's comments included with the review.
Other complaints seem downright silly ("One needs also be aware that while it is only a 3.7MB download, it requires 8.3MB of space on the hard drive").
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I agree with you.
The conclusion reached by most of the members of the NNT panel is that they will not continue using the program as they do not have a use for it. It left me wondering why they would spend so much time and energy reviewing a program and being so "nitpicky" if they aren't the target audience in the first place.
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When I read reviews on the NNT website or in various computer magazines, I assume that the reviewers write reviews of programs that other people might want to know about, not necessarily the programs the reviewers themselves need or want. In the case of the NNT review of Phrase Express, three of the six reviewers simply flat-out said no, they wouldn't continue to use it. And several of the NNT reviewers said they wouldn't continue to use it because they had a program that they thought was better. That's quite different from saying they had no use for PE.
cyberdiva:
Of course you want a program like PE to start with Windows, otherwise it loses its purpose. And unless a progam is badly written and takes up 100s of MB of disk space or RAM, I don't care about those details. Those are Windows 95 debates.
-johnk (April 16, 2011, 01:35 PM)
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I wish it were the case that concern with startup time was no longer an issue, but I'm afraid it's still very much a concern for me. I've tried Phrase Express and have also used several programs similar to PE, and I haven't seen a need for any of them to be in my start-up menu. My computer (which runs WinXP Pro SP3) has very sluggish startup time. I thus try to keep to a minimum the number of programs that start with Windows. Judging from the excitement generated by Soluto last year, I'm not the only one eager to reduce the number of programs that start with Windows.
(FWIW, I didn't find Soluto to be an effective answer to the problem.)
johnk:
I wish it were the case that concern with startup time was no longer an issue, but I'm afraid it's still very much a concern for me. I've tried Phrase Express and have also used several programs similar to PE, and I haven't seen a need for any of them to be in my start-up menu.-cyberdiva (April 16, 2011, 06:40 PM)
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I fully understand that start-up time can still be an issue for some people these days. What I cannot understand is how anyone can want to run a program like PE without having it start with Windows? The whole point of the program is to have it there all the time so you can use text replacement in all programs.
cyberdiva:
I fully understand that start-up time can still be an issue for some people these days. What I cannot understand is how anyone can want to run a program like PE without having it start with Windows? The whole point of the program is to have it there all the time so you can use text replacement in all programs.
-johnk (April 16, 2011, 08:25 PM)
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I usually don't need to do text replacement as soon as Windows starts. Indeed, there are plenty of things that I do on the computer that don't involve text replacement--e.g., reading my RSS feeds, listening to podcasts, working on my websites, writing in other languages, tweaking my sieve scripts, using photo-editing software, watching videos, etc. Even when I write, I often make so many changes that I find it easier not to use text replacement software. And with PE I had the added problem of its trying--and failing--to predict what I wanted to say. That was one reason I eventually stopped using it.
I do find these kinds of programs very useful, but I probably use them in a more limited way than you do.
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