Recent Posts

35601

Best Archive Tool / Re: Review comments from the ALTools Evangelist :)

« Last post by mouser on September 15, 2005, 03:13 AM »

i agree that any app that downloads ads is going to really cause concern from users (and i include myself) who don't like the idea of programs connecting out to the internet.

jibz and i have also talked about his idea of putting some "unregistered" text in the titlebar or taskbar - it does seem an intriguing possibility in terms of not being too distracting but being enough of a motivator to get people to purchase who really love the software.

35602

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Global Push-To-Talk Hotkey

« Last post by mouser on September 15, 2005, 02:40 AM »

don't forget to donate to your favorite skrommel if you like his work!

35603

Find And Run Robot / Re: Individual configurations for different users (WinXP Pro)

« Last post by mouser on September 15, 2005, 01:01 AM »

astrop, i will add an option for this in the upcoming version - it is something i've been meaning to do for a while (actually all donationcoder.com apps need this ability).

35604

Screenshot Captor / Re: Crosshair colour options request

« Last post by mouser on September 15, 2005, 12:57 AM »

very good idea - i hope to improve the user interface for all the capture options soon - but i may put that fix at the front of the queue.

35605

Best Archive Tool / Re: Review comments from the ALTools Evangelist :)

« Last post by mouser on September 14, 2005, 08:06 PM »

i'm reallly enjoying this thread - it's great to hear developers and users talking like this.
i'd like to express some opinions about adware that i've been chewing over for a while, and i think it relates to the issues faced by donationcoder.com.

i intuitively find myself in the camp that is very bothered by things like ads in programs (adware).
the thing is if i ask myself "does this really have a negative impact on me?" usually the answer is no.

carol has it right i think, animated banners are very distracting and would i think interfere with using a program that required any level of attention.  and the more often you use a program the more minor issues like ads would negatively effect the experience.

but i think its also a psychological isse - like it you put in the about box an ad that no one ever saw unless they opened the about box, i'll bet ya you'd get people who would refuse to use the program just because they were "bothered" by the ad in the about box that they never look at.  or for example if you had a pop up ad that came up once per month - is that really going to inconvenience anyone? probably not in any significant way, but the mere fact of it would bother people.

it's not that i don't understand and empathize with this anti-ad sentiment - like i said i am prone to it myself.  but its very similar in spirit to the approach here to require people to now sign up at forum to download a freeware license every 6 months.  it's an attempt to find an alternative to charging people, whether for business reasons or ethical reasons, or combinations.  the trick is finding a balance that people are comfortable with, and also as jibz said, being upfront with people about what they are installing.

one of the ways we are trying to avoid real problems is to have a kind of opt-out for people who are particularly averse to our approach, saying hey if you take the time to personally email us and tell us that you can't handle it and have considered and rejected donating, then we'll just give you the license.  this at least separates the impulse objections from the hardcore objections.

35606

General Software Discussion / Re: So you want to write a review...

« Last post by mouser on September 14, 2005, 09:51 AM »

here's the review template, for anyone who is interested:

https://www.donation...m_ReviewTemplate.zip

some of the practices of writing any review will surely carry over.  the reall tricky part about our reviews is the fact that we try to identify a "best" tool in an entire class - this is really the source of the difficulty in our reviews and can make it a bit nerve wracking.

if the two part thing is taken advantage of, it can help alot, because it gives a week for people to suggest programs that might have been missed. and as zaine and veign have said, its super helpful to have a running discussion on the tools way ahead of time on the review.

if you decide to do a review of calendar tools we should just pick a date and then we can start a new thread in the ASRT (advance software reconnaisaince team) section where people can make suggestions, etc.

35607

General Software Discussion / Re: So you want to write a review...

« Last post by mouser on September 14, 2005, 08:38 AM »

i do have a template outline to help new reviews get started, but i could use some updating.

35608

Screenshot Captor / Re: Screenshot Captor - License file

« Last post by mouser on September 14, 2005, 07:23 AM »

uwe you are quite right that it is confusing and i should change it somewhat.
as you say, without a license it says "freeware; renewal in 365 days (i think)" (or something like that)
with freeware downloaded license it says "freeware license; renewal needed in 180 days"

which seems quite confusing, like the license made it worse!
but as stefan said the thing that the freeware license does is remove the nag pop up on the bottom right - which i the only annoyance of the program that starts in 10 days if you don't have a license.

it would be more accurate probably for the program to start out saying
"donation reminder license"
and then when you apply freeware license it should say
"freeware license; renewal in 180 days"

i will change this in the new versions or make it something similar.

35609

UrlSnooper / Re: MENU Index out of range

« Last post by mouser on September 14, 2005, 07:17 AM »

when is it hapening?

35610

General Software Discussion / Re: Useful Windows 'inventory' tool

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 04:17 PM »

wow safarp looks great, definitely going to try this - nice find!

35611

Screenshot Captor / Re: v2.00.09 bug - strange problem, I can't fix it

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 12:25 PM »

i will try to fix both this weekend when i get back into town.
sounds like it shouldnt be too hard to track down the problem.

35612

General Software Discussion / Re: So you want to write a review...

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 12:23 PM »

the good news is that
the archive review was so comprehensive that it was an exception to our normal two part review system.
generally we like to do reviews in two parts, the first part lays out the skeleton of the review, describes the basic issues, and lists potential candidates to win the award.
then the subsequent week comes the final review.

so as far as deadlines - the real deadline is just that part 2 follow part 1 by one week.
other than that, if someone feels like they would be willing to do a guest review, there is no predefined deadline - though because we know how hard these things are it would probably be good idea to commit to some date and stick with it - otherwise its too tempting to keep putting it off and say "just one more week.." over and over.

the main qualifications or writing a review is seriousness and willingness to do a thorough job, similar to our previous reviews.

i am available to help a lot on any review, and the two-part process also lets people on the forum contribute ideas after part 1 is posted.  reviewer also of course has to be open minded about the potential winner and not have ties to any of the software companies under consideration.  some guest reviewes need more help+collaboration than others, but that's totally ok, i'm happy to help to whatever extent is desired.

a review of calendar/pim apps (or however you wanted to isolate it) is something people have been asking for so i can tell you it would be appreciated..

[email protected]

35613

General Software Discussion / Re: Counterspy any good?

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 12:12 PM »

If I had followed the software advice (which told me I had over 100 things wrong with my computer) it would have completely hosed my system.

i wish your statement was broadcast on speakers to the public once per day -
i have not used a single registry cleaner that didn't flag as should be removed and volunteer to remove entries that were important and needed to run certain apps.  i would just advice people be very careful about accepting recommendations from these tools.

35614

General Software Discussion / Re: Open/Save Dialog Utilities - response to Nudone's Blog from May

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 12:06 PM »

i use a launcher too - but the open/save dialog things are completely different -
what they do is let you quickly jump to your favorite directories from open/save dialogs.

for example lets say you are using your word processor, you click open,
and up pops file open dialog.  tools like Filebox Extender and others discussed by nudone add a button to these file open  dialogs that lets you quickly jump to your favorite folders to choose the file to open.
they also can expand the size of the dialogs and switch them into certain modes, like details mode.

35615

Screenshot Captor / Re: v2.00.09 - suggestion for "On Capture" option

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 12:04 PM »

stefan - i added that feature recently.

35616

UrlSnooper / Re: doesn't work

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 12:03 PM »

it really shouldnt miss any links, only spot additional ones -
if you can find a page with a example link that the old version finds that the new version doesn't i'd be very very interesting to see it and correct it.

35617

Living Room / Re: 50% DISCOUNT CODE FOR OUTPOST FIREWALL NOW POSTED IN MEMBERS ONLY SECTION

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 06:05 AM »

m_s, find the outpost firewall user forum! it's one of the best things about outpost and it has links to some nice user-written guides and tutorials.  its on the agnitum site but a bit out of the way.

35618

Screenshot Captor / Re: Screenshot Captor - License file

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 06:04 AM »

this is exactly how it works now!

the only difference is that after 180 days the user must return for a new license key to make it run for the next 180 days without nags (donation reminder popup).

so is your suggestion just to make it not require getting a new license key after 180 days, or is your program somewhow still giving you the reminder/nags even after you entered the key?

35619

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Bug: Error MSGs on v1.04.16 startup

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 04:15 AM »

strange, and if you delete the database files does the same thing happen again when you restart? i'll check into it when i get back into town.

35620

Screenshot Captor / Re: v2.00.09 - suggestion for "On Capture" option

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 04:14 AM »

sure, i can add that.

35621

General Software Discussion / Re: Open/Save Dialog Utilities - response to Nudone's Blog from May

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 04:13 AM »

just my 2cents since its easy to confound favorite directories w/ the main thing these programs add, imho.
having something let you pick from your favorite directories to go to is nothing to me.
what's key is the ability to go to your favorite programs from within the file open/save dialog of any application, which is what these dialog extenders do.

35622

Best Archive Tool / Re: Review comments from the ALTools Evangelist :)

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 04:10 AM »

btw that little creature on the ALTools website is very cute.

35623

Best Archive Tool / Re: Review comments from the ALTools Evangelist :)

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 04:09 AM »

what a fantastic post!

i have to say from my personal standpoint i find myself very close in position to ALTools, especially regarding the proprietariness of rar, and the bad things that brings, and the decreasing importance of compression ratio.

i think zaine will be along soon to update the review to update the review with some of the points you've made about ALZip.

35624

ProcessTamer / Re: feature request: kill process if...

« Last post by mouser on September 13, 2005, 04:04 AM »

process tamer is long overdue for an update and this sounds like a good feature to add; we've already discussed in this section that i will be adding a place to specify "advanced rules" for processes and this sounds perfect.  what i'd really like to do is put together a kind of consensus of advanced rule type things that need addding, and then add them all.  so more ideas about this kind of stuff would be nice.

35625

Screenshot Captor / Re: bug in v2.00.09: does not remember window size/position

« Last post by mouser on September 12, 2005, 01:27 PM »

always nice to hear where people discovered us.
if you look around the forum you'll see that one of the best things about this forum/site is the interaction between users and coders; it's my favorite part, and i love hearing how i can improve the programs to make them work better for their users.