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1376

General Software Discussion / Re: ghacks christmas 2009 giveaways

« Last post by Dormouse on December 01, 2009, 02:01 PM »

Actually it's not a real giveaway, it's a kind of lottery:

We have ten Winzip 14 Pro licenses for you. If you want to win one of the licenses reply to this thread and let us know why you’d like to win the license.

-yksyks (December 01, 2009, 05:09 AM)

It's neither a lottery (everyone in the pot, winner(s) chosen by lot) nor a giveaway (stuff given away for free), it's a competition. There's a requirement to say 'why you'd like to win the license'. Definitely a competition.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AudialsOne on offer

« Last post by Dormouse on November 28, 2009, 07:06 AM »

I think DRM removal is extremely important. I don't have any DRM protected files (always removed it when I inadvertently got them), and have never had many; I won't buy them and have no way of getting them free, so it's never been a big issue. If I was in your situation where I got DRM protected files free, then it would be a big issue for me too.

I agree that the good thing about streaming is hearing music I'd not come across before. It's just that I'm not interested in having any now at a lower rate than 192kbps and few streams are at that level. And, even if they were, there would be no point in me trying to record them because the quality of my connection means that nearly everything I got would be incomplete.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AudialsOne on offer

« Last post by Dormouse on November 27, 2009, 08:25 PM »

I tried this program out and found it completely disabled my sound. Major problem for other people too, and lots of posts on their forums about it. Disappointing to still find it was a problem given that the original reports were quite a few years ago, and disappointing that there never seemed to be any response from the company. I noticed on my system, the mute button on volume control was effectively disabled. Given the reports and the lack of an obvious solution, I didn't waste time trying to solve this (though I did have a look at what the program does and how it does it), I just did a system restore and returned to normal.

I do wonder whether there is a solution to my problem, and I expect that it works fine on most computers.

And I do think it is cheap at the offer price for what it does.

It seems to be able to do a good job searching, recording and tagging from streams. But do I want that? Well, probably not really. There's a lot of streams it covers (30k+) - but most are very poor quality and very few are good quality. OKish to listen to, but I wouldn't want to record from them. And I do have progs that can do it a bit anyway, though not so well, and I've never done it.

It seems to have a reasonable format converter. I have progs that do this anyway, and all I ever want to do is to get stuff into flac format for archiving and mp3 for playing. I do have some progs for video converting, but never use them; I don't collect many video files, though I can see that I might start doing it more in the future with all the tutorials etc around now.

The DRM removal does look a good feature. And I do remember removing DRM at some point in the past (I think I didn't put a tick in the right box when I ripped from a CD), so I must already have a prog that does it. Not so well I'm sure, but it isn't something I ever do. I generally rip from CDs; I never buy DRM protected tracks. Though I can imagine I would do this more if I ever get an ebook reader. Again, it looks good for video, but again it's not something I do; I don't rip from DVDs, though I can quite well enough with software I already have.

Managing the music I already have isn't something I'd use it for.

But, I'm still slightly attracted to the offer price; it seems as if it is something I might use on a different computer if I ever do start collecting videos. But, in the circumstances, I do find it rather odd that I feel slightly attracted rather than totally repelled.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for recommendations of RAW photo processor

« Last post by Dormouse on November 25, 2009, 04:21 PM »

What works best will depend on your camera. It's not a one size fits all situation really. I don't use ACR because it is awful on my cameras.

I've used them all at one time or another. The 'professional' apps are generally better for dealing with large number of images, tweaking, running automatically and workflow generally. I use DxO. Quality good. Default settings usually extremely good on most cameras. Have been fearsome glitches sometimes with new versions (especially when they recoded completely for v5), but they get it sorted in the end. v6 actually seems OK, but I've not had much time with it yet. Would need to check whether it has modules for your camera and lenses (makes automatic adjustments much easier). Quite a lot of complaints from time to time about their install of a system to avoid theft, but it has never bothered me.

That's for the Raw processing. What you choose might also be affected by what other features come included that you want to use. They all vary on that.

I agree that Picasa and Helicon Filter are pretty good for free. As is RawTherapee.

The free progs are good, but they do take time (and you might have to do it on every photo) or there's a limit to how much you can achieve. The 'professional' apps are much better for speed and ease, and if you have a lot of photos to process they might well be worth their high price to you. For free and automatic and easy, you can do a lot worse than Picasa.

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Developer's Corner / Re: Apple's App Store Mistake

« Last post by Dormouse on November 24, 2009, 01:06 PM »

How is control of your own product monopolistic?  I say the same thing about MS and Windows.

-wraith808 (November 24, 2009, 10:17 AM)

A monopoly is when someone has substantial control of a market or a market segment. Control is not simply about market share, it is about market control. Apple has/had substantive control of a number of market segments (eg graphics design).

MS has a number of monopolies including Windows in the general PC market.
Intel has a monopoly of most PC chip markets.

IBM did not have a monopoly of the PC market when it launched the PC (event though it had control of the market for PCs at the time) because there were many alternatives to the PC. It never did develop that monopoly because MS-DOS allowed other manufacturers to compete. It did have a monopoly of the mainframe market.

Google almost has a monopoly of the search market. Probably not quite a monopoly because quite a few competitors are in a position to compete, if only they could develop a better product. Possibly they do have a monopoly on segments of the advertising market (I don't know the way it works well enough to really comment).

Monopolies aren't a bad thing per se. They often arise because someone has a better product or a better business plan. They can be cheaper (at least for a period) because of greater economies of scale. However, there is always the temptation to use their monopolistic control to extract extra profits - and that is the reason most governments have policies and laws to control them (or for a different sort of government to run them themselves). There was certainly a period when Apple was extracting monopolistic profits from their market segments. ATM, they seem mostly to be about extending the area they have control over - the extraction phase comes later.

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Developer's Corner / Re: Apple's App Store Mistake

« Last post by Dormouse on November 23, 2009, 02:33 PM »

Not sure how wonderful Apple is at marketing and trendiness in itself. Their successes have pretty much correlated with Jobs directing things. There's a lot about realising the right moment for a product as well as making it feel desirable.

But neither are they the devil...  Just a company like any other IMO.

-wraith808 (November 23, 2009, 11:12 AM)

Closer to the devil than the average company though. Others may aspire to their level of brutal monopolistic product control and fencing their customers in, but very few get anywhere close.

I've pointed out several times how it's unheard of for a company to have a multi-year head start on a technological innovation and not do anything successful with it.  Then apple came along and stole the market in a matter of months.  Like a german blitzkrieg. 

-superboyac (November 22, 2009, 10:19 PM)

Unheard of? I think not. And its something Apple have done before. Xerox and Mac, anyone?
Alta Vista (et al) and Google.

And its not the iPod that was the big success - it was the iPod/iTunes combination, and iTunes is arguably the more important. The iPod wasn't even theirs: they bought it in originally, though it was probably Jonathan Ives that designed the version (3) that made it a really big success.

The consistent features are snazzy/unique appearance for hardware, software aimed at ease of use and marketing that makes customers feel they are some sort of elite. And ruthless control and limitation of options and freedom for other people to innovate (or use) except in a way that enhances Apple control (the tension in this position probably being the cause of the actions leading to the thread title).

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Office 2010 discount

« Last post by Dormouse on November 23, 2009, 05:20 AM »

You're eligible if you have the free version of 2006!

Academic discount is bigger though.

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General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Dormouse on November 19, 2009, 06:20 PM »

Yes, not updated for a little while (end September). Depends what you want most. I prefer Chromium with Roboform to Chrome with latest enhancements. Would be happy with Lastpass, but that seems constrained by the same limits as Roboform really.

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General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Dormouse on November 19, 2009, 06:14 PM »

Roboform works for chrome? I know they have the bookmarklet but that is NOT the toolbar and requires online access to work.

-Josh (November 19, 2009, 05:57 PM)

Roboform have their own Chromium variant - Roboform Chrome.
Alpha, but seems to work well enough for me (most of the time anyway).

1385

General Software Discussion / Re: Which MP3 tagger do you use?

« Last post by Dormouse on November 19, 2009, 06:10 PM »

I use mp3tag & J River. Also use Replay Music.
Can't say I'm that heavily into tagging though. I listen to a wide range of music, and usually just have the player set to shuffle from the whole collection of whatever gadget I'm on. Or listen to 'radio' streams. If I want to check out a particular artist, I use Spotify.

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General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Dormouse on November 19, 2009, 05:51 PM »

Once the roboform extension is successfully implimented I will be moving to chrome.

-Josh (November 18, 2009, 08:52 AM)

What is it that doesn't work?

Seems to work well enough for me, though I only use a tiny number of functions.

For me, its only Firefox. The slight speed hit compared to Chrome is nothing compared to the extra features and time saved from all the extensions. Its not just a browser anymore, it needs to be productive.

-MrCrispy (November 19, 2009, 05:24 PM)

I've given Firefox a good go, but slid gradually back to Opera as my main browser. And probably Chrome/ium as No 2. I just find FF too slow to load, too slow to work - and that is with only a few extensions. I'd certainly be happier with Opera if it worked with Roboform or Lastpass, though I'm pretty happy that I have its passwords secure. And I'd also be happier if there were no programs that insisted on using ie to connect to the net.

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General Software Discussion / Re: [rant] Seriously? Software pricing is officially nuts

« Last post by Dormouse on November 18, 2009, 04:13 PM »

But even if I'm not a pro photographer, I'm still a fairly clever person who could benefit from an explanation of how a product like this is different enough to spend this kind of money on.

Somebody like me would be very  interested in understanding just what that something is that separates the "pro" from the "consumer" version. In short, what is the unique sales proposition that differentiates it from lesser or competing products.
...
But I guess if I were a photographer, I wouldn't be asking to begin with.

-40hz (November 18, 2009, 03:09 PM)

There's a crude comparison on their website giving an idea of the features that differentiate the products.
I agree that if you were a pro photographer (or a very keen amateur), you wouldn't be asking the question because you would already know what features you are looking for in the software.

I can't say I've ever considered ACDSee Pro as really being one to consider in that market though.

As for price, this really is all about efficiency whether for Pro or Keen Amateur market. Both have a lot of photos to process and little time to waste on doing it. And the price is not a major issue as it is only a fraction of the price of the equipment being used (and usually only a fraction of the price of the equipment being replaced annually). And part of the need for updated software is the need to keep up with the new bodies.

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General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Dormouse on November 14, 2009, 06:53 AM »

Seems to me that the poll has probably always been out of date.
Each person put in what they used at the moment they were polled - but these polls were at different times, and I'm pretty sure that the majority of us have moved around quite a lot.

I tried WDS for a while, but it was always too intrusive, so off it came.
I liked GDS for quite a long while, but it wasn't just focused on desktop search and gradually felt more intrusive, so off that came too.
I tried Copernic quite often, but its a very long time since I preferred it to anything else.
I mostly use Archivarius now if I want desktop search, but I don't do it that much any more.
I do use Everything, RecentX
I do put stuff I know I will need in Ultra Recall, Evernote
I do use Mailstore (at least when I can't find an email in gmail)
I do use J River & various specialised image databases

One of the first engines was nowadays forgotten AltaVista Discovery, but it's some eleven years ago... I was even a member of the beta testers group.

-yksyks (November 14, 2009, 04:04 AM)

I really loved Alta Vista Discovery when it came out (and there's an example of a company that went badly wrong when the whole world was waiting for it), but there was less stuff to search then, even though it felt like a lot. Now I seem to have moved on to more specialised search engines. Of course, this might just be a stage. I might go back to using Archivarius much more in the future.

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General Software Discussion / Re: 10 things to do after installing Linux

« Last post by Dormouse on November 09, 2009, 11:03 AM »

In the Windows world (and the Mac world as well) a few simple tweaks will get anything you need up and running.

-Innuendo (November 09, 2009, 10:37 AM)

 

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General Software Discussion / Re: Graphics corruption -- Why?

« Last post by Dormouse on November 08, 2009, 11:48 AM »

That's the one bad thing about laptops...with a desktop if a video card ticks you off you can launch it off the roof of your house & buy a new one.

-Innuendo (November 06, 2009, 05:39 PM)

yes, that's it... 

-Armando (November 08, 2009, 11:40 AM)

There's pretty much the same solution available with laptops - you throw the laptop off the roof of your house and buy a new one.

Been tempted to do that at times myself 

1391

Living Room / Re: Jessica Williams track wanted ...

« Last post by Dormouse on November 06, 2009, 10:25 AM »

What you probably can do is to appoint an agent to make the payment for you, but you be the purchaser. Not sure if that would get around your purchasing problem. You would need to be the one doing the downloading and registering as the purchaser.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Bug in latest Linux gives untrusted users root access

« Last post by Dormouse on November 04, 2009, 12:28 PM »

AFAIK, in default settings, it only affects RHEL. It is certainly being written up as a much bigger thing that it is for most users. 

1393

Living Room / Re: Google vs. the rest: Is it fair?

« Last post by Dormouse on October 31, 2009, 12:46 PM »

These companies killed off the PC based map software businesses (like MS' Autoroute) that were there before them; now it looks as if they are under threat themselves from technological developments. When smartphones get to the stage that they can do what their devices do, their hardware business will stop because very few will want to buy 2 devices when 1 will do. And that is whether or not Google get involved.

I understand that a lot of people dislike Google. But at the same time, Google have continued to be innovative (unlike MS) and have stuck to a model of business that is free to the end user.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by Dormouse on October 29, 2009, 05:59 PM »

I'm sure (famous last words) I can sort it out it's just that it is a relatively simple thing and should be straightforward (though come to think of it, Vista wasn't quite as straightforward as XP) and I will get access for an hour or so at a time, so I need to have the right approaches in my locker immediately or there will be another wait. And just have to hope it doesn't need a two stage solution. It's probably just a minor setting or two but it is interesting seeing so many reports of people getting 7 & XP computers on the same network (I certainly don't propose to set up a 7 network and then try to get all the other machines to join that).

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General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by Dormouse on October 29, 2009, 05:36 PM »

Well, I'm very frustrated with it.

Had no real problems with the beta, but I've installed (clean install, dual boot with Ubuntu) the final version on one computer so far and it won't connect to the network (set up as a Windows network on XP, also with Vista & Linux computer). Since it's not my own computer, my access time is limited, so I can't just try things out and then read up on the net for the next thing to try. No problems accessing the internet, which is a good thing, but it seems a lot of people have had frustrations getting 7 to talk to non-7 networks. And like the Office Ribbon, getting past the wizards and buttons to actually set things up directly seems to be a very hidden option, assuming it is there. Apart from that, it installed faster than XP and without problems - though tbh I've never had problems with a Windows installation.

Ubuntu, of course, just installed easily (and faster) and just works - including accessing the network.

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General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by Dormouse on October 27, 2009, 04:33 AM »

SNow I am getting Windows update prompts for '2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service pack 1', Who says I have 2007 Office installed?  And 2007 office is not listed as a requirement for Onenote 2007 but maybe it is? then again Onenote seems to be working, at least the few minutes that I have tried it.
I have a fully patched version of Office 2003, may be I should have downloaded Onenote 2003?

-rgdot (October 26, 2009, 07:14 PM)

By definition,if you have OneNote installed, MS will see that as Office; no idea how integrated the updates have to be, but maybe it is just the way they describe them.

Whereas to many people the 2007 versions of many Office components are worse than 2003, OneNote "007 is much more useful than OneNote 2003. You made the right choice there. And you'd probably be getting similar messages about Office if you had gone 2003 anyway.

Maybe someone who knows will comment on these bits.

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Living Room / Re: Solutions for blogging sketches and diagrams?

« Last post by Dormouse on October 26, 2009, 01:01 PM »

Digital camera would work. Might well be cheapest solution if you already have one (or camera function on your phone).

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General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by Dormouse on October 26, 2009, 12:16 PM »

I looked at Notezilla and it says "Stay Neat: Organize sticky notes inside folders to avoid clutter on your Windows Desktop." Does that mean I can view stickies within the program window instead of on the desktop?

-rgdot (October 26, 2009, 10:11 AM)

You can have hierarchical folders of stickies where each sticky (whatever size you want) is completely visible, or can be on top of each other or moved in whatever arrangement you want. They can easily be moved from one folder to another. Can be on desktop if you prefer.

If you have a lot it is difficult to see them all at the same time even if you have a very big screen.

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General Software Discussion / Re: wanted: simple, stable bittorrent client for windows

« Last post by Dormouse on October 25, 2009, 06:14 PM »

For casual use, and when I'm in Opera already, I find it perfectly OK.
Otherwise, I use µTorrent. Never had a problem with it.

1400

Circle Dock / Re: Circle Dock v0.9.2.7 is now released!

« Last post by Dormouse on October 25, 2009, 01:01 PM »

With the old portable version, it used to be possible to run multiple instances by using multiple folders. Hotkeys needed to be configured differently, of course, but they did work happily enough since all the settings were contained in their own folder.