Topics

1

General Software Discussion / Windows UX overhaul: YOUR input required

« on: June 04, 2008, 09:50 AM »

Hey there.

There's an initiative of Windows UX overhaul and the more people participate, the better. Here's the tool to submit and vote for UI glitches and inconsistencies in Windows Vista. So please, people, go and make your input on the matter.

Thanks!

2

General Software Discussion / Another launcher software - ViStart

« on: July 05, 2007, 08:39 PM »

Recently found on the internet: ViStart.

Personally I LOVE new Vista start menu and I was very happy to find this tool which tries to mimic it on XP. Firstly, no more huge MENU, but normal, scrollable menu tree, like in Vista. As a huge bonus ViStart also offers search through the whole Start menu.

It has some keyboard glitches, but overall I highly recommend this sucker.

3

Word Processor Roundup / Biased

« on: June 16, 2007, 07:08 PM »

Good research, but biased results.

Major Word Processor: StarOffice/OpenOffice, because of its universal file format in ODF, it's roadmap, and the fact that it is Open source.

Sorry, but when I think of productivity software (word processing app is from this category) things I care first are features and productive UI as a way to get these features used. OOo is a good product, but it's definitely not better than MS Office from this point of view.

Source code availability is not a virtue for products like that: I'm not going to spend any time with compiling or modifying Writer for my needs.

ODF is an open format -- so what? I created document, printed it or converted to HTML/PDF -- I don't care about file format. But if you care, MS has opened formats.

In the end, despite its "open" moniker, the Microsoft MS-OOXML format remains strictly proprietary, as Microsoft refuses to disclose the difference between its published file specification and its actual one to other vendors and developers.

This is biased conclusion again. "Proprietary" doesn't mean "they have some other format for themselves". C'mon -- they're pushing their format to standards bodies! They need it to be open standard, because this is the key to govt institutions which are under open source influence now. Don't be open source zealot here!

Below is what a 6039-page spec looks like, and ask yourself if anyone other than Microsoft will ever be able to fully and correctly implement the specification.

Again, opiniated conclusion! First you complain they're not opening file formats, now you complain they have a huge doc for file formats.

4

General Software Discussion / Sticky Alt key on Dell laptop anyone?

« on: April 07, 2007, 12:09 PM »

I have a weird problem on my Dell laptop with Windows XP SP2 system: my Alt key gets sometime "sticky". Say, when I press Alt-F4, my Alt key remains "pressed" and activates close confirmation (if any) box' system menu, or if I use Alt-Tab, then I end up with activated window's menu.

1) It's not a hardware problem: it replicates with laptop's own keyboard and external one.
2) "Sticky keys" are turned off.
3) As I'm heavy keyboard user, this drives me crazy.

Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks!

5

General Software Discussion / Launchy users please stand up

« on: October 23, 2006, 10:36 AM »

I installed this thingy several days ago, but it still didn't index my Start Menu in full (i.e. it can't find Excel when I type it's name). Any suggestions on what to do with it?

6

Post New Requests Here / Forward button on Mouse Explorer to Open Link in a New Window

« on: December 14, 2005, 06:45 AM »

I've got an MS MouseExplorer and came with the following code to make it open links in a new window when I browsing with IE:

XButton2::
If WinActive("ahk_class IEFrame")
{
    Send, {SHIFT down}{LButton}{SHIFT up}
    return
}
else
{
    Send, {XButton2}
    return
}

Now I would like to make it work with all apps that use IE for browsing purposes (Html Help for instance). I need to detect the class of window that is currently under mouse cursor. How to do this?

7

Best Dialog Extender / Hello world!

« on: November 28, 2005, 02:25 PM »

Hi everyone!

My name's Alex and I run ByteGems.com Software which developed QuickFolders software.

I would like to say thank you to donationcoder for such a comprehensive review and would like to announce that we offer a special discount for donationcoder.com users -- stay tuned for muser's message about this for more details.

Such reviews help us to keep a good shape, so it's great despite QuickFolders didn't get "Best in class". I see a lot of space for improvements, so expect a new version with more bells and whistles in a nearest couple months!

Feel free to email me for support questions -- the best tech support for both registered and unregistered users is the thing we proud of.

Thanks again! Good luck!