Topics

1

Found Deals and Discounts / VSO-Software 50% discount on all products

« on: December 26, 2005, 12:07 PM »

Including the famous BlindWrite and CopyToDVD.  More information here as well as a rather interesting post on the French bill to potentially legalise P2P file sharing: -

http://www.vso-software.fr/

Offer ends on the 28th of December.  Oh, and I believe that puts me on my 100th post.  I feel like a fully grown adult now!   

2

Unfinished Requests / IDEA: Large file generator

« on: September 27, 2005, 08:51 AM »

I would like a simple little utility for creating large test files rather like 'bigfile' under UNIX.

Basically all that should be required is to give the path/filename of the file to create, the file size in bytes/kb/mb etc and the byte to fill the file with from 0-255 (or 00-FF hex).

I have an old DOS utility which does a similar thing but DOS has a few size limitations so a native Windows utility would be great.

3

Found Deals and Discounts / Opera goes FREE!

« on: September 20, 2005, 05:59 AM »

Today Opera Software have released version 8.5 of their Opera browser.

The good news is it is finally advert and registration free!  The press release is here: -

http://www.opera.com...eases/en/2005/09/20/

Edit: Oops, JeffK beat me to it here: https://www.donation...hp?topic=790.new#new although this topic thread may be a little more apt for the situation.

4

General Software Discussion / Interfaces we love

« on: September 04, 2005, 02:51 PM »

To follow on from Zaine's thread here: -

https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=820.0

I think it would be a good idea to consider what we think is a good interface and a model for software interface design.

I think anything based on the standard Windows GUI API's are perfectly acceptable, but as mentioned in the thread above I also think WinAmp is both beautifully crafted and functional.  Everything is where it should be and it is simple for a first time novice user whilst being powerful for the weathered power user.

I personally think the key to interface design is having something which looks and feels simple on the surface that also meets the most demanding complexities of any given software.

To me, one of the most perfect interfaces I have ever used was 3D Studio 4 in DOS (and I still occassionally use it to this day).  If I can sort out a DOS boot to capture some screen images I'll post them here.  Unfortunately I feel they lost the plot somewhat with the complex and confusing interface with later Windows versions.

5

Found Deals and Discounts / Free O&O DriveLED 2.0 License (read for catch)

« on: July 22, 2005, 01:43 PM »

O&O Software are offering a free license of their O&O DriveLED 2.0 drive activity and SMART monitor to anyone who registers a previously purchased O&O product or anyone who buys and registers a product before the 21st of September.

Update: I'm pleased to say I've just received my free license and it is a rather nice util.

Here is the blurb from the press release: -

Dear O&O user,

the new Summer Offer for all O&O Customers is our way of saying thank you to all our valued users for their loyalty to O&O. If it were not for our worldwide family of users putting their faith in products from O&O, we could never have been so successful with our "Tools for Windows". Through our network of partners spanning the globe from Japan to the USA, O&O Software is now available in a myriad of counties.

Our Summer Offer: A Free O&O DriveLED V2.0 for you!* - Simply register any previously purchased O&O product with O&O and receive a free license for O&O DriveLED by e-mail; a $19.95 value! With O&O DriveLED monitor your drives effectively and be ready when disaster strikes. Because the lifespan of even your hard disk is limited! Register you O&O product here! (http://www.oo-softwa.../register/index.html)


The control center of O&O DriveLED provides
a complete and concise overview of all disks

Don't already own a license for an O&O product? No problem! It is possible to purchase an O&O product and still take advantage of our Summer Offer. Our products may be found in the O&O Online Shop and at your local software retailer. More information on a selection of our quality products may be found below. The choice is yours!

Best regards,

Frank Alperstaedt
Managing Director, O&O Software GmbH

*Note: The license will be sent by e-mail after a valid registration has been processed. This Summer Offer is valid for all software registrations of products with O&O until 09/21/2005. This offer is limited to one (1) per O&O software license or software bundle.

6

Best Text Editor / UltraEdit 11 - Best text editor?

« on: April 24, 2005, 07:52 AM »

Another excellent Saturday review.  I've been a user of UltraEdit for many years and find it indispensible for day to day text editing use, such as logs, ini files, reg exports, config files, generic text and program dumps.  From my viewpoint the main strengths in its favour is its small size, fast handling of files of all sizes, unicode support, ability to run self-contained from a USB memory stick and cheap(ish) price.  I almost forgot to mention, the support is fantastic and IDM are always willing to listen (and often implement) new suggestions.  It also has a lively support forum with expert users who are always willing to help with any aspect of the program.

For developing I find the compiler integration and flexibility of MultiEdit a much better choice.  Almost the entire product is based on compilable macros with the source included.  It is expensive though, so unless you are going to spend a lot of time using it or your company is paying, it can be rather tough to justify the price.  Unfortunately it *still* doesn't support unicode format files despite myself and others requesting it over many years.

We'll see how well IDM competes with the upcoming version of UltraEdit for Programmers, UltraStudio.

Another interesting point regarding UltraEdit is IDM also offer an unlimited upgrades version for around the same cost of a single upgrade to MultiEdit ($100 approx).  I don't think you'll ever regret paying that much for a lifetime of support and updates.

Thanks for letting me express my viewpoint on such a great site!