Recent Posts

1601

General Software Discussion / Re: Another 'Lifetime' license bites the dust

« Last post by Dormouse on December 12, 2008, 05:04 AM »

Lifetime licenses may provide more income than annual subscriptions. New users tend to need more support than old ones, so most cost is attached to new users. Old users are a good marketing tool and there are many people who will buy a lifetime license who would think twice or thrice about paying for upgrades let alone annual subscriptions. Lifetime licenses depend on a marketing model where there will always be a lot of new users buying the program; annual licenses rely on committed users who have decided they need that product and always up-to-date.

I have to say that there are very,very few programs (current number = nil) where I would consider paying an annual subscription.

Upgrades from time-to-time I will consider, but I don't expect the cycle to be more frequent than every 3 or 4 years and I do expect to see a clear benefit from the new version.

1602

General Software Discussion / Re: Editor for PDFs: recommendations, please?

« Last post by Dormouse on December 03, 2008, 10:41 AM »

Of course, there's a whole range of PagePlus versions available - from SE (free) which won't export PDFs to 9 (which will) and 10, 11 to X3 which is the most recent. 9 is fairly cheap (under £10). All Serif software seems well recommended by its users for functionality and value, but I don't use it myself and so don't know the best value way in. The do use free older versions as a marketing technique and do appear to give discounts on newer versions to people who are upgrading.

1603

General Software Discussion / Re: Is XP really that good?

« Last post by Dormouse on November 29, 2008, 06:43 PM »

Users mess around alot, and linux is more fragile than windows. Users will figure out how to run everything as root, and then they'll go wreck their system.
...
*mumbles something about having to manually edit configuration files as soon as you want to do anything out of the ordinary... like getting a multiple monitor setup working*

-f0dder (November 29, 2008, 06:16 PM)

Actually most users don't do anything of the sort. They keep the system as it is (because they don't have enough interest to do anything different) and occasionally update (more often if automatic updates are switched on) and install new programs. They run everything on default settings and scream 'help' if something stops working. And they can't comprehend why anyone would want two monitors.

In this context, Linux is certainly good enough - and so is XP.
But the ones I know find it far easier to use the repository system than to search the net for Windows software.

1604

General Software Discussion / Re: Is XP really that good?

« Last post by Dormouse on November 29, 2008, 09:38 AM »

For your normal user, there is little reason not to run Windows.

-MrCrispy (November 29, 2008, 02:32 AM)

No activation. Linux runs effectively on less powerful computers.

More apps

-MrCrispy (November 29, 2008, 02:32 AM)

True. But how much difference do the extra apps make to most users?

faster or just as fast (KDE and Gnome are just as fat and bloated as Windows counterparts)

-MrCrispy (November 29, 2008, 02:32 AM)

Well, Windows has never run as fast on any system I've put them on. And Vista is infinitely slower than XP. If KDE and Gnome are just as bloated, then Windows must be inherently much slower.

for most people, Windows will come for free

-MrCrispy (November 29, 2008, 02:32 AM)

No again. Microsoft take their cut from every legitimate version of Windows installed. If people aren't paying directly, it comes in higher prices for the computer. And watch for the bill when the mobo needs changing.

easier to use

-MrCrispy (November 29, 2008, 02:32 AM)

My non-techie kids find Linux easier. Refuse to go back to Windows. When there's a prog only available on Windows, they want dual boot or Windows in a VM - anything but disturbing their Linux.
They find the whole repository system easier than anything for Windows - and it is only really possible for free software.
It's only familiarity that makes most people think it's easier.

1605

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Create a modern version of Lotus Agenda

« Last post by Dormouse on November 28, 2008, 04:04 PM »

I'm trying.

-AgendaRediviva (November 28, 2008, 03:43 PM)

But only for Mac ?

1606

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Create a modern version of Lotus Agenda

« Last post by Dormouse on November 28, 2008, 04:02 PM »

Chandler .... is proceeding 

-IainB (November 22, 2008, 11:32 PM)

1607

General Software Discussion / Re: Is XP really that good?

« Last post by Dormouse on November 28, 2008, 03:59 PM »

with the current setup, I have rarely seen my total free RAM as reported by Task Manager fall below 1GB free

-Darwin (November 28, 2008, 02:57 PM)

I very rarely have that much memory free.
You just don't have enough applications Darwin   

1608

General Software Discussion / Re: Calendar

« Last post by Dormouse on November 28, 2008, 10:29 AM »

I have to say that Outlook is probably the application I most detest and yet have to use every day. Mostly because it doesn't have the functionality I want or because doing what I want takes longer than it should.

It does mean that it might have features I have never found since my investigations into it are always under duress.

With respect to the calendar period "zoom", ie from minutes to years, the Calendar in Microsoft Outlook does have this kind of feature.

-Yahya (November 28, 2008, 09:41 AM)

I'm not aware that it has a year view. I know you can get an ActiveX control to give a year view, but that is still only one year.

And putting tasks into the Calendar seems to require completion of the d....d form. What I want to do is to drag things on and drag the times to get them precisely. And to be able to do that with color categories, especially useful for a year view. And to have multiple calendars like Holidays (eg mine and family's).

Your user spec sounds like a great idea for an app, tho!   Thinking laterally - have you considered the various task managers around?   Again, have a look at Outlook's Tasks.

-Yahya (November 28, 2008, 09:41 AM)

I have had a look at a huge number of task managers (& have quite a lot installed) and PIMs (ditto) and they are all limited in one way or another. And surely Outlook's tasks must be one of the most limited features of Outlook. Not even any hierarchy.

Another thing about Outlook is you can customise it considerably, creating your own forms etc, but this would mean you were effectively creating an add-on to Outlook. 

-Yahya (November 28, 2008, 09:41 AM)

I didn't know about this. But then getting away from forms completely is one of the main objects.

so users don't need Outlook installed.

-Yahya (November 28, 2008, 09:41 AM)

And that would be very good, though hard to achieve since the one thing it is useful as is as the most pervasive way of moving data from one prog to another.

Thanks for the opportunity to let off a little more steam over Outlook.

1609

General Software Discussion / Re: Similar program to Ps Tray factory that works on Vista 64-bit.

« Last post by Dormouse on November 28, 2008, 09:44 AM »

Back at the time we had a 50% discount I assume. I think I'd be tempted with that, but not otherwise since I do have some level of control over it the system tray already.

Note correction made to improve clarity. Approx 6 hours after original. I would not like a 30 minute cut off for edits.

1610

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: USBSafelyRemove: 1yr free / lifetime discount

« Last post by Dormouse on November 27, 2008, 01:53 PM »

Yes, but the deal I was talking about was the discount for the lifetime license. Again advertised as just for today.

1611

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: USBSafelyRemove: 1yr free / lifetime discount

« Last post by Dormouse on November 27, 2008, 01:01 PM »

The page leads me to believe that the deal is only for today, but you know how those things go.

-CWuestefeld (November 26, 2008, 08:11 AM)

You're quite right. It's still there on the 27th. Doesn't make it any less useful though.

1612

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: USBSafelyRemove: 1yr free / lifetime discount

« Last post by Dormouse on November 27, 2008, 12:55 PM »

I applied for the giveaway. Still waiting for the reg code. Not sure about the emphasis on wanting your real full name.

Started trying prog; looked at Forum. Think I'll probably buy it during the discount. I'm always swapping USBs in and out; sometimes mine and sometimes not. The options look really useful.

1613

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniReview of Linkman URL Organizer and Search Tool

« Last post by Dormouse on November 26, 2008, 02:40 AM »

Linkman Pro on GAOTD today 

1614

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis total dirt OS selector - kills hard drives!

« Last post by Dormouse on November 25, 2008, 05:18 PM »

I've possibly had exactly the same experience as tsaint.

Linux-using daughter needs Dragon Naturally Speaking; no good equivalent that I know of on Linux. Am aware of the reports saying its best for Linux to be put onto a Windows machine rather than the reverse. Never had problems setting up dualbooting with this before. Had working windows machine available; installed Naturally Speaking etc and then put in the latest Ubuntu release. Started it and then left it with daughter to follow instructions, not to overwrite anything and let me know if there's a problem. When I go back there is only one partition on the hard disk - the Ubuntu one and Windows has entirely disappeared. I couldn't understand how she could make such an error as it had always been very obvious when I was watching previously, but it seems that things have changed - sometimes at least.

As an off topic addition, I've still not been able to reinstall Windows. First had problems with it not recognising the usb keyboard. The bios did but windows install did not. Thought it might be because it was wireless, but found a wired one and it was the same. Checked all through the BIOS; everything correct. Only has usb connections. Eventually saw a tip on the net which suggested putting the keyboard on to a usb hub and surprisingly (to me) that worked. Then it said it was an upgrade (solved by finding an old disk of W95) though it was never an upgrade. Then I found that the Windows disk I could find would not go with the key for the windows on the machine. So I now have to go looking for all the Windows disks I have and all the keys I have to try to find the two that go together. (PS I know this does give an indication of a level of disorganisation - but in this case there is a slight excuse since the machine had been lent to someone else and had become detached from its documentation.)

1615

Living Room / Re: What is Donation Coder?

« Last post by Dormouse on November 24, 2008, 03:58 PM »

One of the downsides of all edits being visible is that so many will be very minor. I'll often do an edit to change punctuation or remove a spelling mistake or rewrite to make my meaning clearer. Would be a bit of a pain to see them all in sequence I'd've thought.

1616

Living Room / Re: What is Donation Coder?

« Last post by Dormouse on November 24, 2008, 02:06 AM »

Surely it all depends on the scale of the problem.

The community here has a lot of active protective members who would report spam etc when they saw it, so no need for moderators to be scouring posts themselves. Having moderators update useful links would be extra work too.

If you are going down the route of limiting how long posts are open for edit for, one option is for supporting members etc to have a longer period to edit than participants. I assume that this might be possible, though again no recent experience running a SMF forum.

Having all edits appear to moderators (if they automatically see all new posts already) makes sense. Lots of extra work if they don't already read all new posts.

1617

Circle Dock / Re: Using Easy Unicode Paster

« Last post by Dormouse on November 22, 2008, 07:15 PM »

You just click on the character and it is sent to the application you are in.

1618

Circle Dock / Re: Problem with creating the shortcuts on Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 8.2

« Last post by Dormouse on November 22, 2008, 01:40 PM »

Anyway do u know any site which provide more circle .. background

-crusader002 (November 22, 2008, 06:40 AM)

There's lots here - http://www.dundjinni...rum_topics.asp?FID=8

Do a search for ball, orb, circ etc

Not intended for use as CD backgrounds, but work perfectly well.

1619

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: To Do Tree

« Last post by Dormouse on November 21, 2008, 09:51 AM »

I think a checkbox is an essential part of any todo list, however simple.

Apart from that a really minimal approach has a lot of uses.

1620

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting DRM protected music files: software recommendations

« Last post by Dormouse on November 20, 2008, 04:30 PM »

I've had a quick look at this and can't see that the $3 or $9 upgrade is so worthwhile.
All that adds is the Conversion ability and the number of formats it converts to is pretty limited.
Many free options convert to/from more formats.

I don't have any DRM protected files, so don't know if the unupgraded version does what it says.

1621

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting DRM protected music files: software recommendations

« Last post by Dormouse on November 20, 2008, 03:08 PM »

That's why I stopped watching that site. Worse is that you can't reinstall the app or use it elsewhere except "on the day".

-BigJim (November 20, 2008, 02:26 PM)

Well, you may have missed some programs that you would want. GAOTD's terms are constant, but not all vendors want to enforce them. Liquid Story Binder was explicitly made available upgrades and all. Many programs are gvien codes that can be used to install the programs any time. Some vendors explicitly say they can be used for commercial purposes. The actual situation varies from program to program and vendor to vendor and, if you are interested, you have to look at the individual details.

1622

General Software Discussion / Re: MailStore Home 2.5.1 released with lots of improvements

« Last post by Dormouse on November 19, 2008, 03:00 AM »

I would find it hard to trust a vendor with an incoherent (and very expensive!) pricing strategy with info I really want to be secure for the long-term.

1623

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYPlorer ($15) Nov 24 at BDJ

« Last post by Dormouse on November 19, 2008, 02:49 AM »

Addendum to explain my rage: Indeed the offensive "serial punishment" comments have been removed from FileForum yesterday. Leaving XYplorer with 206 votes and an average rating of 4.1/5 points. This morning, exactly 10 hours later, I see 220 votes and 3.9/5 points (just enough to change the color of the ratings graphic from silver to bronce). Do the math and you see: Somebody (whether one or more cannot be safely said) has given XYplorer 14 times a 1/5 rating. Since you cannot vote two times with the same account, he must have created 14 accounts just to achieve this. So, how would you feel if you were me?

-DonL (November 19, 2008, 02:25 AM)

I can understand why you are suspicious, and factually you may or may not be right - I don't know - though Josh denies it.

However, that is an issue you should be raising in/with FileForum and not here. Josh's tone in his comments here was much more moderate than yours, and I do not believe that a more aggressive tone should be imported into this forum. What I'd also say is that aggression and insults from a vendor, however justified the feelings behind them may be, are likely to be very offputting to potential customers.

Even more so when out of context and with no immediately visible back story.

1624

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYPlorer ($15) Nov 24 at BDJ

« Last post by Dormouse on November 18, 2008, 07:24 PM »

I appreciate that might be the case (but have no wish to check), but I think it is important not to import the antagonism and bitterness that might be expressed in other forums here. I don't think Josh's post did, but can see that can have happened with Don's.

Equally, I don't think it is for us while we are here to express views on what is acceptable on other forums, some of which are very fiery or crude. OTT posts in other places need to be dealt with there and not here.

1625

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYPlorer ($15) Nov 24 at BDJ

« Last post by Dormouse on November 18, 2008, 07:05 PM »

Honestly, I don't think there's need for Don to offend Josh, and I don't think it's right for Josh to attack Don's work so fiercely.
....
Anyway, Josh: if you feel so strongly about XYplorer not being a good file manager, you could just not use it and go on with your bussiness

-jgpaiva (November 18, 2008, 03:02 PM)

I read and re-read Josh's 1st post in this thread and don't see that as a fierce attack. Dislikes many little nuances, says its not for him, says Dopus is nearly as bad and thanks superboyac for the find. It may be that he has attacked it more strongly in another place - but I don't see it in his first post in this thread. CWuestefeld is more critical. And Don's post is undoubtedly insulting to both. I don't want to add fuel to the apparent flames, but I think that trying to calm things by inaccurately suggesting that the tone in the posts is equivalent is not the way to go.