Recent Posts

12976

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by mouser on August 24, 2011, 03:54 AM »

A quick note: for those who are reading this and considering emailing cnet to have their software removed -- you might want to think about it for a while and consider the pracitcal ramifications before you do so out of anger.   Cnet/Download.com is a very popular download site, and if you had good reviews on the site, the reviews show high up in google results with google showing the # of stars in the review, etc.  In other words, there may be a high price to be paid for removing your software from cnet/download.com, and for a site like DC where we depend on non-paid sites to let people know about our software. I'm embarrassed to say I'm already feeling pretty upset about the high price of having our software removed and wondering if i did the right thing. 

12977

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by mouser on August 24, 2011, 02:53 AM »

I wonder if this technique that cnet is pioneering is going to catch on.. It seems like just another example of free software increasingly being looked at as a great way for 3rd parties to make a profit off the work of others.

12978

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by mouser on August 24, 2011, 02:33 AM »

Here's the email address where the reply to my request came from:
CNET Upload <[email protected]>

Hopefully if enough authors complain cnet will reverse their policy OR it will become common knowledge that cnet is a bad place to go to look for software.

12979

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by mouser on August 24, 2011, 02:27 AM »

After a few emails they agreed to remove all of my applications from cnet.

It's a shame too since several had editor's reviews and recommendations which are now gone forever, along with the user comments, etc., and their stats showed 100,000 + downloads from cnet.

12980

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by mouser on August 23, 2011, 08:52 PM »

My argument against reviving the idea of CHS as a general note-taking tool is simply that I don't think it performs this function particularly elegantly from a user interface perspective.  It's just too clunky for this, and to schizophrenic in terms of trying to provide both clipboard and note-taking functions.

Although the underlying operations are very similar, the look and feel demanded by the two different tasks seem too much in conflict.

So I'm fairly decided that CHS should not try to be made into a general audience note taking tool.

But I am willing to entertain adding limited specific functions to the program that people thing would serve a real need, and might saddle the two worlds.

12981

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by mouser on August 23, 2011, 08:28 PM »

I don't think you need to add a Tag feature to CHS. The functionality is already there in virtual forlders. You might need to dress it up a bit is all.

You can also already enable the "keywords" column in the grid and add keyword tags to any clip just by typing in the grid.  The quick search filter will scan this field.  Same goes for the "Notes" column.

(To hid or show columns, click on the tiny icon that looks like = on the far left of the column header; note also you can save and load different layouts of panels and this includes the selection of which columns are visible).

12982

Find And Run Robot / Re: Copy text to cliboard

« Last post by mouser on August 23, 2011, 01:17 PM »

Can you elaborate a little more what you are wanting?

It may be that what you want is the HamNotes plugin for FARR:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=18850.0

12983

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by mouser on August 23, 2011, 10:38 AM »

Their blasted installer requires admin permissions! That totally destroys the show for all portable tools

Good point.  all of my original installers are zip-compatible and can simply be unzipped and used portably.  The CNet installer destroys this.

The absolute worst part about this CNet travesty is that users will blame the authors for this bundled crap, assuming that the authors have purposefully wrapped their software in the CNet wrapper in exchange for financial gain.

12984

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by mouser on August 23, 2011, 09:16 AM »

It seems I was overly optimistic in predicting that the outrage over this would force cnet to immediately stop this practice

I'm not sure what we can do to put a top to this other than continuing to express outrage everywhere we can and demand that our software is removed from CNet's services, and cause enough heat that CNet realizes how badly their reputation is going to be damaged if they do not reverse course.

The response to my email to them telling them to remove all donationcoder software was to tell me to purchase their premium service if i wanted to remove their bundled installer crap.  In other words this is one big extortion racket.

12985

Programmer Libs / Re: MwImporter php script - Batch import html site into MediaWiki - v2.0 - 5/26/10

« Last post by mouser on August 23, 2011, 12:23 AM »

Hi nguyen,

Sorry for the delay in responding.  It's been a while since I've used mwimporter, so I'm not going to be able to help too much.  Have you managed to get it working a little bit? Where are you stuck?

12986

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CLIPBOARD HELP+SPELL LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - v2.23.01 - Nov 22, 2013

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 09:16 PM »

That's really stranage.  Did you try with another web browser -- chrome or internet explorer or opera?
If those still don't work, send me a message and i will try to email you a copy.  But it's not a good permanent solution so it would be nice to find the real cause.
Maybe some security software on your pc?

12987

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 04:16 PM »

Absolutely outrageous and unacceptable.

I predict the pushback on this is going to be so severe that it is reversed within days if not hours.

Just wrong on so many levels -- not to mention it's going to result in freeware authors reputations being harmed as users blame them for something cnet is doing.

It's just so far outside of acceptable behavior -- the outrage is going to be withering.  I give cnet 24 hours before they completely abandon this and being an apology tour.

12988

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 11:33 AM »

And featured today on another great site, ILoveFreeSoftware:
http://www.ilovefree...s-activehotkeys.html

12989

Find And Run Robot / Re: Using FARR to Issue a Control F Command

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 10:49 AM »

I will add this feature.  I already have a SendKeys system for this in place in my other program Clipboard Help and Spell that allows you to send arbitrary keypresses, and i will just use that code.

12990

General Software Discussion / Re: Thank you for offering such wonderful software

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 10:36 AM »

Thank you for the kind words Richard, and welcome to our little family here -- you are among friends

This site was built on the idea that we would ask people to do something they normally do not do: To consider seriously the idea of financially supporting authors of software they like with an amount of their choosing.

In this time of economic struggle, no one should feel bad for not being able to afford to donate (you might even view this humorous chart we made showing suggested donation amount based on income).

Anyone who can't afford to donate should email us for a free lifetime license key, and not be shy about joining in our discussions.  And remember the quote from Plato: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

12991

Developer's Corner / Re: Codecademy: Interactive website to learn programming.

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 10:14 AM »

Looks pretty neat.

They should say a little more clearly that though the concepts are very general, the language you will be using to learn is javascript.

12992

Living Room / Re: Undervolting -- my hands are thanking me

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 09:51 AM »

Cool stuff.. Didn't even realize this was possible.

12993

DonationCoder.com Newsletters / Re: --> Newsletter for August 21st, 2011 - "What's New With You?!"

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 09:47 AM »

Didn't see the name of the author in the email, I had to click through here to find out it was you Stephen!

oops, i didn't even think about that.. well i suppose it added unintented incentive to click to visit the web version to find out who was writing to you.. it seems  a new marketing strategy is born!! 

12994

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 09:44 AM »

I like the two feature requests, and they seem definitely doable without too much trouble.

The first request seems like a very sensible idea.. maybe what is wanted is a both a way to add custom hotkeys to clip and file into a specific folder, and a way to quickly switch the folder where normal clips get filed.  Another related option might be a way to quickly set "tags" to be applied to new clips, so that one could set those tags based on the current task you were working on.. which would let you search and make virtual folders out of clips with those tags.

So for the second request, perhaps the easiest way to do it is to have a special paste mode you can engage/disengage where it will do some work to any clip before pasting it (such as to paste extra info like date, url, etc. and optionally run it through a modifier formatter)?  does that make sense?


IainB's points are the ones that haunt me.. You see for a while I actually planned CHS to be both a clipboard tool and a note taking tool.. that's why there are some features in CHS that might otherwise seem a bit odd like the ability to customize panel layouts on the main window, and hide/show columns for item modification date, etc.

But CHS never really blossomed into a full note taking application, for a variety of reasons..

It's one of those cases where functionally, it seems like a note taking app and clipboard app share 95% of the same functionality, so it's hard to resist trying to make the program do both things.  But the feel of the two tasks is very different, and i'm just not sure it's worth it trying to make CHS into a real note-taking application anymore.  My inclination is to say no, and focus on clipboard functionality.

I think we should say that for now CHS should stick to doing clipboard related stuff, and consider features that would improve that.

But that doesn't mean that CHS can't be made to be a better helper for note taking, exactly as Iain was suggesting.
I'd like to hear more thoughts on how CHS can help and work with other proper note taking tools with a nice export feature.

12995

General Software Discussion / Re: Implement features that are known to be loved in other programs, on your own

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 03:36 AM »

NinJA999,

Your analogy to an Architect designing a building is a really interesting one.

Although there are many differences when talking about a piece of software, where many features can be disabled or set in options, I think many of the points you are making can be seen at work in some of the most elegant software applications -- where authors really do consider themselves like architects -- trying to keep everything consistent and elegant and striving to create something with an artistic vision.

12996

DonationCoder.com Newsletters / Re: --> Newsletter for August 21st, 2011 - "What's New With You?!"

« Last post by mouser on August 22, 2011, 01:11 AM »

I'm not sure if this is something mouser is supposed to do or not, but in the header (the rotating messages) it still says that the latest newsletter is June's "Summer Server".

Thanks for the heads up -- fixed.

12997

Screenshot Captor / Re: BUG: Save location remains in use

« Last post by mouser on August 21, 2011, 06:47 PM »

thanks for that info f0dder, that helps.

12998

Screenshot Captor / Re: BUG: Save location remains in use

« Last post by mouser on August 21, 2011, 05:47 PM »

strange.  ill try to fix.

12999

Site/Forum Features / Re: DC Forum Mods Thread

« Last post by mouser on August 21, 2011, 03:11 PM »

Just put in place some minor changes to better highlight the New Topic button and put it on more pages.

13000

Coding Snack Guidelines / Re: READ THIS FIRST: Welcome to Coding Snacks - Instructions

« Last post by mouser on August 21, 2011, 01:35 PM »

I have modified it now to show bold and to show on not just forum section pages but on all threads.