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Poll

What categories of software should we review next (each user gets five votes)?

(Hierarchical) Note Taking / Diary Programs
53 (5.1%)
Antivirus Programs
60 (5.8%)
Remote Control Tools
34 (3.3%)
Encryption Tools
20 (1.9%)
Clipboard Extenders
38 (3.6%)
Macro/Scripting Tools
28 (2.7%)
File Explorer Replacements
49 (4.7%)
Application Launchers
20 (1.9%)
Ftp Clients
20 (1.9%)
Newsreaders
18 (1.7%)
Internet Browsers
25 (2.4%)
Task Managers
19 (1.8%)
PIM/Appointment/Reminder Tools
30 (2.9%)
Disk Defragmenters
42 (4%)
Html (Web Page) Editors
30 (2.9%)
Webcam Tools
7 (0.7%)
Diet/Health/Excercise Programs
8 (0.8%)
Flowchart/Diagram Tools
19 (1.8%)
Programs for Kids (painting, writing, etc.)
10 (1%)
Web Log Analysis
9 (0.9%)
System Tray Tools
17 (1.6%)
Disk Catalogers
18 (1.7%)
Label Printers
7 (0.7%)
Sound Editors
13 (1.2%)
CD/DVD Authoring/Burning/Management
30 (2.9%)
Instant Messenger Tools
19 (1.8%)
PC Answering Machine Programs
3 (0.3%)
MP3 Players
16 (1.5%)
Network Analysis/Sniffing Tools
13 (1.2%)
File Renamers
12 (1.2%)
File Search/Replace/Dupe Tools
21 (2%)
Personal Databases (for movies, etc)
23 (2.2%)
Downloader Tools
28 (2.7%)
Blog Tools
10 (1%)
Password Managers
28 (2.7%)
Icon Tools
9 (0.9%)
Font Tools
15 (1.4%)
Screensavers
7 (0.7%)
Dialog Box / Window Extenders
12 (1.2%)
Registry Search/Edit/Clean Tools
33 (3.2%)
Repalcement Windows Shells
24 (2.3%)
Dictionaries
5 (0.5%)
Translators
11 (1.1%)
Partition Management Tools
22 (2.1%)
Undelete/Recovery Tools
19 (1.8%)
Archive Management (zip/rar)
14 (1.3%)
Favorites Manager
15 (1.4%)
RSS Reader
29 (2.8%)
Mp3/Music Organizer/Jukebox
16 (1.5%)
Cell Phone Tools
13 (1.2%)
*NO OPINION*
2 (0.2%)

Total Members Voted: 235

Last post Author Topic: Vote for what Review to do Next  (Read 73598 times)

mouser

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Vote for what Review to do Next
« on: July 04, 2005, 12:55 PM »
Each member can make *FIVE* votes.
Feel free to post a reply to suggest programs not listed.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2005, 03:07 PM by mouser »

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2005, 04:27 AM »
looks pretty clear what we're going to be reviewing next, if the trend continues.
Note taking programs, here we come.

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2005, 10:07 AM »
NOTE:
you can edit and change your votes at any time (cool forum software this smf is, isn't it?)

ADDED CATEGORIES SINCE ORIGINAL POLL WENT UP:
rss reader
mp3/music organizer/jukebox
favorites manager
cell phone tools
« Last Edit: July 10, 2005, 10:13 PM by mouser »

rjbull

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2005, 08:19 AM »
looks pretty clear what we're going to be reviewing next, if the trend continues.
Note taking programs, here we come.

Oh, no.  Do you realise just how many reviews of those there are on the Web already? 

John Buckman's home page, with links to his pages on outliner (folding editor) / organiser programs
http://john.redmood.com/index.html
(best but getting dated)

Fred's Shack comments on outliners, and how to set up ECCO
http://www.fredshack.com/docs/pim.html
(most comprehensive but terse)

Fog Creek Software's organizing random notes discussion: part of Joel on Software Web site
http://discuss.fogcr...how&ixPost=71582


John Faughnan's Web site on outliners/organisers, including MORE and ThinkTank
http://www.faughnan.com/more/index.html


Mark T.A.W. (TAW) smallware
http://www.marktaw.c...voriteSmallware.html
(big fan of Treepad Lite)

Dan Butler's "PIM's and where we are today" is also relevant but I don't have the URL.


(0h, all right, do a better review, see if I care!)

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2005, 08:33 AM »
nice links rjbull.
there sure are a lot of note taking programs, it's a giant catgory.
but unless there is a giant review that looks at every program and tries to identify the best, there's a need :)

rjbull

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2005, 10:02 AM »
The Fred's Shack listing is the most comprehensive, but his comments are very brief.

Giant category all right, and, therefore, reviews very quickly date.  I wish people would quote version numbers of the programs they review, dates of the program executables if there isn't another obvious date, plus the date when they reviewed it.  Then you have a rough idea of how far behind the times the reivew is...

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #6 on: September 01, 2005, 10:08 AM »
yeah, thats's a good point, especially for such a volatile category.

rjbull

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2005, 03:31 AM »
As it's such a big category, are you going to break it down into sections?  I.e., one or all of one-, two-, or three-pane organizers?  Outliners? Notetakers that sit in your system tray?  Will "sticky notes" programs count?  Umm...  maybe not those, they aren't hierarchical in the sense I think you mean, though Magic Notes has "Groups."

There're so many ways of taking notes - I still haven't found the best solution.  In DOS, Memory Mate came close.

BTW, just read this link; Discussion of outliners for writers mentions Writer's Block, Jot+Notes, SuperNotecard, ndxCards, StoryView, StoryLines, Treepad, Treepad, UltraRecall, AMD:

http://www.outliners...om/discuss/msgReader$3573?mode=topic

Someone remarks the Internet is "littered" (sic) with two-pane organizers.

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2005, 03:35 AM »
ehehehe.

on monday we will have a giant review of archive management tools.
then maybe a small review of open/save dialog box extenders,
then we will try to do note taking apps.

it is a huge category - but i think for good reason - it is an extremely useful tool to have, far too few people realize how useful.
i haven't given too much thought to how to break it down, but i'm open to suggestions.

i myself was a happy user of jot+, for its simple no-nonsense interface, but i bolted when they wanted to charge me to upgrade.

rjbull

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #9 on: September 02, 2005, 03:44 AM »
i myself was a happy user of jot+, for its simple no-nonsense interface, but i bolted when they wanted to charge me to upgrade.

I'm never quite sure about that.  I suppose it depends on the software type.  We had an expensive special-purpose software system for making health & safety data sheets at work once, with minimal support costs.  The company eventually went bust.  The replacement software has much higher ongoing costs - but that company is still in business.

If you quit Jot+, what did you do?  Could you convert your data to a new system without trouble?

Mouser, do you ever sleep?  Or are you permanently nocturnal?

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #10 on: September 02, 2005, 04:04 AM »
i quit jot+ and was not able to migrate my notes but just thought i would start over.. i still use the old jot+ version 2 to read my old notes file when i need it.

believe it or not i have been using a help file making tool to hold my notes - i thought i was being clever as it would enable me to make cool compiled help .chm versions of my notes.  however i overlooked the fact that such a feature is mostly useless for me.

i plan to use Clipboard Help+Spell to keep my notes when i finish the program :)

ps.
i like working at night.

we have some keynote (freeware) fans on this site, and i also like treepad.

rjbull

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #11 on: September 02, 2005, 07:57 AM »
Treepad and Keynote aren't the only free ones.  There's also (at least)

Action Outline Lite  http://www.greenparrots.com

TreeDBNotes Lite  http://www.softviewer.com/treedbnotes/

Treeline  http://www.bellz.org/treeline/index.html
(this one uses XML as its native file format)

My Life Organized (MLO)  www.mylifeorganized.net

I assume EssentialPIM has a hierarchical organizer too, but the free version doesn't have a file import function to ingest pre-existing text files, so I didn't look further.

plus a myriad of payware...

BTW, ShadowPlan, the Palm PIM, also uses XML, but its Windows version doesn't seem to be as good.

Renegade

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #12 on: September 16, 2005, 10:26 PM »
Just a question, but here goes...

Do you generally approach software vendors for licenses to do your reviews?

I never got an email or support ticket from you when you did archivers and I would have given you a license for your review. I know that a lot of other software vendors will give you licenses to do reviews with. e.g. If you did FTP clients, I'm guessing that Mark from Rhino Software would give you one for FTP Voyager, and I'd bet that Chris would give you one for ClipMate for a clipboard extender review, etc., etc., etc.

I know that if I were doing reviews, I wouldn't bother with a program if I had to work with a non-registered version - the program just wouldn't make it into the review unless it's pretty much an industry standard program. The only thing that they'll expect is that you don't distribute the license.

It would be very difficult or impossible to do a competent review of Web Log Analyzers without licenses. You'd have to have licenses to do it, especially for analyzers like ClickTracks. The demo is exactly that - a demo and isn't useful for a review of its functionality. Other programs are similar. Then again, there's the time it takes to do a review. If you need to go back and check something, it would be hard if the trial expired.

If you haven't already started asking for review licenses, you should consider it. Most software vendors will be more than willing to give them to you for free.

There are some that won't though. I really doubt that if you did a Sound Editor review that you'd get anything from Avid / DigiDesign for ProTools, and unlikely that you'd get an Access license from MS for a personal database review. However, it would still be worth asking. You might luck out and get someone that's in a good / generous mood.

When asking for a review license, it would also help to tell the software vendor which market segment you're writing the review for. e.g. For Sound Editors, there' no way that you'd ever get a ProTools, Sequoia, or Pyramix license, but you might get a Samplitude V8 master or an Adobe Audition license, and I wouldn't rule out a Sound Forge review license. There are a lot of other ones out there of course, and I'd bet that you'd get a Blaze Audio review license and a lot of others as well.

I know how the licensing works and I've even talked to some of the technology licensors like the guys at Dolby, and they're not opposed to software vendors giving out licenses for product for reviews. (FYI - Vendors have to pay royalites on a lot of things like Dolby Digital, MP3 encoders, etc.)   

It would also help if at the end of each review you posted something like, "Our thanks go out to Mike at SuperSoftware Co. for donating a review license for SuperSoftware HTML Editor." People like that kind of thing.

Anyways, just my 2 cents....

Cheers
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #13 on: September 17, 2005, 02:51 AM »
heheh - i love your avatar veign :)

so far we have not asked for any review licenses; there were only a handful of cases where the shareware versions were limited in functionality and where we did not already own a copy of the software.  our general approach has been to view such limitations in the shareware versions of programs (as opposed to the standard time limits) as a bad thing that deserved criticisim.

we did ask acdsee for a review copy of acdsee8 prior to our review, but they were too disorganized to provide one to use in time, and they didn't want us saying anything about it anyway, for reasons that might drive a competent pr person insane.

however, it seems likely that we are going to run into cases in the future where getting review copies that remove functionality limits would be essential to doing a certain review, and your advice is very welcome - now that we have some serious reviews under our belts i gather that such things may be easier to get (and easier to insist on if they want to be included in the review), and we do try to make sure we thank and acknowledge any such gifts from companies.

as i've remarked before, my impression is that you can really divide companies into 2 categories.

there are those that don't respond to emails in a timely fashion, if at all, don't care to talk about their software, don't care about our site or reviews really, aren't interested in discounts, donating copies, etc. and just have some flunkies handling customer service.

and then there are the companies which have real people you can interact with.  they care about their program, they want to make it better, they care about your opinion, the review, etc.  they are interested in our web site, they like to talk, they are amenable to offering discounts for our members or doing something in the way of working with our members, etc.

it's hard not to really want to support those in the second category, even when their program isn't (yet) as good as the best program from a company in the first category.

Renegade

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #14 on: September 17, 2005, 07:47 PM »
heheh - i love your avatar veign :)

:) Thanks! Halloween is coming up soon, so I figured it would be appropriate :)

it's hard not to really want to support those in the second category, even when their program isn't (yet) as good as the best program from a company in the first category.

 :D LOL! I know what you mean. It's hard to like someone that won't talk to you and to not like someone who's nice.

I'm a member of the ASP, AISIP, and ESC, so if you want some help getting licenses from members of those software organizations, I can probably help talk to some of them. But honestly, I think most of them would give you a license anyways. Another thing though, before you actually email anyone, let me know and I can post in the private newsgroups which will make your job a lot easier.

Cheers,

Ryan
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #15 on: September 17, 2005, 08:42 PM »
thanks ryan, that is really appreciated and we will be taking you up on that offer for sure.

hamradio

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #16 on: January 29, 2006, 11:38 PM »
Possibly PDF Readers or PDF Writers

XMinus1

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #17 on: February 01, 2006, 10:54 PM »
For a hierchical note-taking app I'd have to rank TexNotes numero uno.  However, they've not developed a portable edition for PDAs,.  Still a great app, but difficult to use for those not tied to their desk (me).

Carol Haynes

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #18 on: February 06, 2006, 09:34 AM »
How about a review of freeware/donationware/cheap application programming environments (including compilers and libraries) and tools.

A review/recommended list of windows programming tutorials would be useful too. I know you can finds lots of stuff via google but it would be useful to have  programmer recommended tutorials categorised by eg. newbie, novice, intermediate, advanced, guru, god etc. for each language that has easily available (free or cheap) compilers and development environments.

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #19 on: February 06, 2006, 09:50 AM »
carol, there is a new section on the board for this, along with it's own poll:
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1555.0

Carol Haynes

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #20 on: February 06, 2006, 10:07 AM »
Oops - I have now voted and copied the comment on tutorials websites ...

housetier

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #21 on: March 01, 2006, 10:28 AM »
EU administration (can't say which party really) decided every citizen is suspicious of being a terrorist so they have to keep track of all their communications. I do not like this; I especially despise our German Minister of Justice for speaking with two tongues, but that's another story.

I now feel the need to protect myself, to make it very very difficult for the authorities to gather coherent/useful/revealing/telltale/thatsortofthing data about me and my friends&family. First thing that comes to mind is strong email encryption. I know there is GPG/PGP; what I am looking for now is an really easy way for the average (windows) PC user to use this.

Another thing I am iterested in for personal reasons are kid's programs. My little brother is growing up so fast and I want him to have a better "PC experience" throuhg programs for kids. So I am really looking forward to see reviews about this too.

K, I cast my votes, I added my two cents. :D

PS: in case someone asks "what's so great about donationcoder.com?" you tell them "housetier said it rocks, so it must be true"

mouser

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #22 on: March 01, 2006, 12:20 PM »
i have some nieces and i'd love to see more reviews of good kids programs.

jgpaiva

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #23 on: March 01, 2006, 12:33 PM »
BTW, some time ago, i found this on shellcity.org. It's a shell replacement for windows, directed at kids. It has got some "protections" to avoid little kids from destroying the computer ;)
Just scroll down to "GDS Child Menu".
(i haven't tried it, but it sure promisses to do a few interesting things)

Conatus

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Re: Vote for what Review to do Next
« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2006, 11:26 AM »
Each member can make *FIVE* votes.
Feel free to post a reply to suggest programs not listed.


Although it is not software, how about reviews of technical help sites?