Recent Posts

34026

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Bug: commas in editbox "Strip trailing stuff"

« Last post by mouser on December 06, 2005, 03:58 AM »

ps. bug reports filed in the BugTracker (see button above) always get priority attention from me - it's just easier for me to keep track of, so if you feel like entering a bug report it would be much appreciated.

34027

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Bug: commas in editbox "Strip trailing stuff"

« Last post by mouser on December 06, 2005, 03:57 AM »

yep, same bug as other thread.
will be fixed asap.

34028

Find And Run Robot / a little progress report

« Last post by mouser on December 06, 2005, 03:14 AM »

thought i'd give a little progress report on f+r 2:

i've been going back and forth in my mind about how substantially to reorganizing the settings of F+R v2.

we discussed a lot the desire to have modifiers that let you select different folders to search etc.
i originally advocated a kind of kludgey solution but someone (forget who) said concisely that it would be nice to be able to easily configure these modifiers by putting the settings for the modifier in one place, which would not be supported with my hack.

so i'm just getting up the guts to do rewrite the options handling of F+R to revolve around the idea of having directories and scoring associated with a modifier/category.  it's a pretty big change to the underlying code.  old config files may no longer be compatible (not sure yet whether i will make an upgrade tool).

anyway, i'm still working on it - it's not so much work that it won't get done, but it's enough that it's going to take me another month.

34029

Activation/License/Language Help / Re: About signing up to download freeware license keys - READ IN PLEASE

« Last post by mouser on December 06, 2005, 02:11 AM »

hehehe -
i appreciate the support everyone but let's be nice - and let's acknowledge that it is a bit of a pain to download the license keys, and people are going to be annoyed by it; that's just natural.  hopefully they will come around eventually and see that we are trying to be fair.

34030

Best Firewall / Re: agnitum outpost v3 - the horror?

« Last post by mouser on December 06, 2005, 12:10 AM »

Ya know, I don't remember having these headaches with my Osborn-1 and it's CP/M operating system.

 

34031

Best Firewall / Re: agnitum outpost v3 - the horror?

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 09:09 PM »

GBark thank you as well for your thoughtful and reasonable comments.

i've softened a bit since that post and i did add that big red warning in the heat of anger.  i think you grasped my motivations for keeping that warning up there, and that's the hope that somehow someone in agnitum will see it and start to take seriously the need to make some changes to their current approach, and start to take stability and bugfixing more seriously.  for a security app it's extremely troubling that they seem to have such a cavalier attitude about fixing bugs.  that troubles me greatly.  if not for that user run forum i wouldn't go near the program.

having said that, i have always been a huge fan of outpost - the user interface and the design approach.  and i've really been a cheerleader for it, which is partly what makes me feel like i have somewhat of a right to be hard on them when i think they are heading down a dangerous path.  i don't want them to go the way of kerio and tiny and keep adding features before the previous ones are stable.

I *DO* still recommend people try outpost - if it works well for you for a week or so, then go for it.  but i don't feel like i can recommend people buy it until i see some progress on their part at devoting some more attention to bugfixing.

if agnitum is listening, and want some advice here's some concrete suggestions:
1) put up a public bugtracker or at least list of known bugs and state clearly an intent to fix them in a timely fashion.
2) have official paid agnitum support personell interact on the forum - task them with collecting problems users have.
3) commit to making a stable and secure program first, and adding extras like spyware and antivirus code second.

34032

Living Room / Re: why is complicated obtain a free license.

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 08:48 PM »

although i don't understand 100% what you are saying, i will try to respond.

first, you can download a license here-> https://www.donation...r.com/Keys/index.php

We know it is annoying to have to sign up at our forum to download a license to use the "freeware" on this site.

We have discussed ways on this site to keep the software free for everyone but still encourage people who can afford to donate to do so.  It is a hard challenge to balance keeping software free but still giving people a reason to donate.  In this current world, almost no one will donate without some encouragement.  So we have tried to find ways to offer some benefits of donating but still make sure that everyone who cannot afford to donate can still use our software forever and without nag screens or limits.

That is all we are trying to do.   Maybe we are going to far and it is too annoying?  I'm not sure, it's a hard question to answer.  We know that some people will just be angry and will refuse to use the programs.  Maybe one day we can get to a place in the world where all software is donation based and no one has to beg for money and people will just donate on their own to support stuff they like.  Until then we are trying to find a good healthy balance.  If we could afford to buy food and pay rent we would not ask for any money.  We would prefer not to have to ask for any money at all. We are only doing this to be able to make enough to pay for a small fraction of the time we spend working on the site and programming.

More discussion about this idea when we were first thinking about it here: https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=770.0

34033

Living Room / Wikipdedia change - only members can create new articles

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 05:18 PM »

http://news.com.com/...81119.html?tag=st_lh

this is particularly relevant given our discussion here a few weeks ago where i lamented the lack of access / content creation control in most wiki implementeations.

To critics of Wikipedia--which, in a spin on the open-source model, lets anyone create and edit entries--the news was further proof that the service has no accountability and no place in the world of serious information gathering.
...

[linked from slashdot]

34034

Living Room / A request to those who have won software in our drawings

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 02:28 PM »

A request -

if you win a program in one of our drawings that you particularly like after you use it for a while, it might be a nice gesture to the company that donated the copies to write a little mini-review in the member mini review section of the forum here: https://www.donation...index.php?board=42.0

note:
this is not to be an advertisement for some program you don't really use - i'm just suggesting that if you really do like it and no one has posted about it yet it might be a nice thing to do.

34035

Official Announcements / Re: DECEMBER SOFTWARE DRAWING - Dialog Tools and more..

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 02:25 PM »

note i've changed the repeat-submissions rule - if you change your mind just resubmit and we'll automatically discard your earlier entry.

34036

Found Deals and Discounts / 40% off Alcohol 120% through December 23rd

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 12:44 PM »

Alcohol 120% enables you to make a duplicate back-up to recordable media of nearly all your expensive Game Software and DVD* Titles, and/or an image that can be mounted and run from any one of Alcohol's 31 Virtual drives.

http://shop.alcohol-...oft.com/purchase.php

Thanks to the person who sent me the info about this discount. Expires December 23rd.

34037

Official Announcements / DECEMBER SOFTWARE DRAWING - Dialog Tools and more..

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 12:38 PM »

It was never our intent to give away so much software - we just thought we would try it a bit in november for the fundraiser.

But since it seems to be something that people like, and because there are some companies nice enough to donate the copies, we are happy to be able to bring them to you.  If people get tired of winning free software let me know 

Just remember that the focus of this site is not on getting discounts and giveaways, that's just a nice side benefit of having a community of serious users here who are interested in supporting good software.


We'd like to express our appreciation to all of the companies whose software was reviewed and recommended in our Dialog Box Extender review - they have all donated some copies for us to give away and offered discounts for our users.

Software available in the december drawing:

• Direct Folders
• Filebox Extender
• XFilesDialog (also XDesk and SysTrayX)
• File-Ex
• Quick Folders
• Copernic Tracker
• Double Killer Pro
• Surfulater

Links:

• Enter the December drawing now.
• View Specials/Spotlight page for more info on discounts.
• Read the Dialog Box Extender review.

You know the drill about the drawing - try the different programs first, then rate them according to how badly you want to win each. If you've won in the past you can still enter again, but you're much less likely to win again if you've already won in the recent past, so beware requesting software you don't really want!  In this way we are trying to make the drawings as fair as possible.

34038

Best Dialog Extender / More discounts; Filebox Extender etc.

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 12:22 PM »

See the members only section for 30% discount on Filebox Extender:
https://www.donation...index.php?board=18.0


this means we now have 25%-50% discounts on all of the programs that tied for best-in-class in our review of dialog box extenders and others.

We recommend you try out these programs while the discounts are still available and see if there isn't one you like.  Many people, myself included, would never go back to not having one of these tools, can make a huge difference in terms of productivity.

We will also be giving out some of these programs in our december drawing this month: https://www.donation.../Specials/index.html

34039

Best Dialog Extender / Re: Review updated: File-Ex added to best-in-class list

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 11:09 AM »

a 25% discount on file-ex is now available in the members-only section.

a big thanks to stan for making this available to our members!

34040

Best Dialog Extender / Re: Review updated: File-Ex added to best-in-class list

« Last post by mouser on December 05, 2005, 08:04 AM »

yes there are, but when you have 3 apps that tie for first place you don't just throw out some in order to keep the list small
the apps that won best-in-class are of comparable quality so they all won.

34041

General Software Discussion / Re: Worst. Interface. Ever.

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 02:43 PM »

hmm.. i like the nice bare look of explorer^2.. might have to give it a try..

34042

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free copy of snapstream beyondtv 3 after 50$ MIR

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 02:06 PM »

i think winter is coming, everyone is getting snippy

34043

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 01:30 PM »

fodder - get yourself a mouse with back+forward buttons asap - makes all the difference in the world; seriously it makes surfing a lot more fun.

34044

Best Dialog Extender / Re: A warm HELLO from XFilesDialog authors to all DonationCoders !

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 01:27 PM »

please let's try to be respectful of each other on this site, and especially to the software developers who take the time to come here and participate in our discussions.

it is very fair to point out upgrade policies - but please be respectful about it.
i tend to agree with the idea that without really good reason updates should be free (we've discussed this a lot on this forum actually).

and i think we should make an effort to describe update policies in our reviews more - i will try to remember that for next time.

34045

Best Dialog Extender / Re: Review updated: File-Ex added to best-in-class list

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 01:20 PM »

i talked to stan about the possibilty of a discount for dc member - he's thinking about it.  if anyone feels like mailing stan and encouraging him to offer it to bring it more inline with the other dialog extender discounts we're making available this month it would be nice.

34046

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Tray utility to mute speaker when you are away from the computer!

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 11:10 AM »

i'd say make it with as many colors as you want and it can always be downsampled.

34047

Older Newsletters / Posts from Week ending 12/9/05

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 11:08 AM »

The GodFather - Audio File Manager with Scripting
https://www.donation...index.php?topic=1492

34048

Finished Programs / Re: DONE - IDEA: Tray utility to mute speaker when you are away from the computer!

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 10:52 AM »

what about making an icon for skrommel - i'm sure he wouldnt mind using a better one if you could make it for him.

34049

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: The GodFather - Audio File Manager with Scripting

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 10:43 AM »

fantastic mini review!!!!!

34050

Found Deals and Discounts / woot - a different online store - one item per day

« Last post by mouser on December 04, 2005, 09:38 AM »

http://www.woot.com/Default.aspx

What is Woot and who's behind it?  Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap.
I see only one item, do you sell anything else? No. We sell one item per day..
I missed yesterday's item, can I still get one? No. Each woot.com product is discontinued at 11:59pm central time.

[linked from boingboing]