Recent Posts

5801

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Tip: Keep your Desktop Empty and Put it on your LaunchBa

« Last post by Darwin on April 29, 2007, 08:57 AM »

My problem with toolbars in the taskbar is that I've only a 14.1" notebook screen and I HATE having a task bar that is any more than one row high... so, it quickly runs out of space for current tasks  That and I've TrueLaunchBar and Clipmate 7 running in my taskbar and can't live without either. Clipmate is sort of stupid as I was a very happy using Clipmate's hot keys before 7 came out... Actually, there is nothing really very rational about my setup - I'm wed to ways of doing things that don't necessarily make the best use of my hardware/software. Another example I've made elsewhere is that I have both TrueLaunchBar and VistaStartMenu running. I *know* that I could get by with one or the other but I find that they complement each other so well that I don't want to!

5802

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Xara X1 for $19 (less than £10)

« Last post by Darwin on April 29, 2007, 12:21 AM »

Xara has this to say about XS:

Xara XS is a special edition of Xara Xtreme that has been created exclusively for promotions on magazine covermounted CDs and is not available from Xara direct.

In terms of features it sits somewhere between CorelXARA and Xara Xtreme. There is an upgrade path to Xara Xtreme - if you are an owner of Xara XS click on the Upgrade button on the XS starting splash screen to find out more about the new features in Xara Xtreme and to order an upgrade.

Not having ever used or seen either XS or CorelXara, I can't really say, but I'd say that $19 for X1 would be a worthwhile upgrade from XS...

VUnet has this to say when describing the move up from XS to Xtreme and Xtreme Pro:

Xara Xtreme takes everything you'll find in XS, and adds a whole lot more. Like some major new effects, for instance. A Bevel tool gives any object an apparently raised edge, customisable with different bevel types, size, light angle and elevation. The Shadow tool offers even more control and produces some ultra-realistic effects, while the Feather tool smoothly blends objects together.

Elsewhere you'll find the Picture Editor gets new effects and features. Try the new Live Effects tool. This lets you use Xara and Adobe plugins to produce a wide range of professional visual effects.

If you want to go even further, take a look at the brand new Xara Xtreme Pro, which supports output to Adobe Flash, importing Adobe PSD documents, Pantone colour support and so much more.

Finally, here are a couple of reviews of X1, which should give you an idea of how it compares to XS. The first is here and the second here.

EDIT: fixed links - thanks for making me aware of it AbteriX!

5803

Living Room / Re: For DC Fans: Bring DC Forum to your Desktop for searching/browsing/etc.

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 12:40 PM »

Sweet! I downloaded rar file and had archivarius index it (without extracting it to my harddrive). I wind up with a 78 MB index (in addition to the 73 MB rar file) and then ran a search on "photofiltre". Here's what archivarius returned:



So, you can have your cake and eat it too - all of donationcoder forums at your fingertips, fully searchable for under 200MB. I suspect that X1/YDS and Copernic can do this as well. However, not having any of them loaded up, I can't confirm.

Thanks again, Wordzilla!

EDIT: updated screenshot

5804

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AccelMan - windows explorer replacement for free by GAOTD

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 09:40 AM »

Ha, ha... what got me was how complex it was to do something as simple as preview a file. In every other file manager that I've tried, if you have the preview window open, all you have to do is select a file to preview it. Done. Not with AccelMan - you have to go through several steps (context menu, select view, select add to playlist, etc.) to get the file to appear in the viewer. Life is too short.

Anyway, sri, please keep these kinds of alerts coming! There are always gems out there waiting to be discovered and even with its shortcomings, AccelMan is useful to me because it highlights things that I unconciously look for in GUI and thus makes me conscious of them. This is useful when people ask me to recommend apps to them because I can put into words what I like or don't like about the way in which app x works over app y. If I hadn't used AccelMan for a couple of hours, for example, I wouldn't have really been aware of how important selecting a file and having it immediately open in a viewer is to me (of course, it's so blinking intuitive, why would anyone code something to do it anyother way?!).

5805

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Xara X1 for $19 (less than £10)

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 08:53 AM »

PS X1 is an excellent alternative to Illustrator - picking it up at this price is a must for anyone who feels that they might even be tempted to dabble in vector graphics, as ampa notes.

5806

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Xara X1 for $19 (less than £10)

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 08:51 AM »

Thanks for contacting marketting, Carol. I've been feeling a bit peeved about this as well (though Xara/Magix have been so vague about what exactly is going to happen to XX Pro that perhaps my peevishness is without substance) as by my reckoning they've only released one minor update since Pro was released in December. I'll wait to hear about the response that you get.

5807

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AccelMan - windows explorer replacement for free by GAOTD

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 08:38 AM »

BTW I downloaded and activated this and uninstalled it a few hours later. I'm still trying to regain my sense of balance after trying to use it! What a dizzying number of functions and what a counter-intuitive way of implementing them. To paraphrase Curt: I don't want my file manager to boil my eggs, too. Love that analogy, Curt, thanks!

5808

Living Room / Re: For DC Fans: Bring DC Forum to your Desktop for searching/browsing/etc.

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 08:33 AM »

Wow! Thanks wordzilla. I don't know how I missed this thread a month or so ago. This is AWESOME. I've posted before about how difficult I find it to find old posts (of course, I can't link to that post because I have no idea how to find it!) so this will come in very very handy. Anyway, am downloading it now to be indexed by Archivarius. When that is complete, I'll let you and our millions of listeners know how they get on together.

5809

Living Room / Re: How AMD plans to take over the market by adding DRM directly to CPU

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 08:30 AM »

This really is getting STUPID - the inmates appear to be running the asylum afterall. What will they think of next? RFID tags in our underwear to make sure that we are not using a business' washroom without being paying customers? Shh... don't give the paranoid freaks any ideas. Wait, am I a paranoid freak? Is this a viscious circle? I think I, we, have every right to be paranoid given the paranoia that is evident in the DRM movement. Paranoia among those with power and influence is very, very scary. Paranoia on the part of those that live under their influence is probably better termed "forewarned".

5810

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: PDF Readers / Viewers (Update +1 and Conclusion)

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 07:55 AM »

Nice find, ampa - thanks for that. I've been using Foxit Reader for a couple of years and never noticed that setting. That's very nice and makes my decision easier - I'll keep Foxit as my default reader and have Adobe hanging around for those times when I need it.

5811

General Software Discussion / Re: More offensive — Resource bloat or Feature bloat?

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 07:49 AM »

It's hard to switch from the Win9x era and RAM mindset to the CPU mindset. I have gig of "slow-ish" RAM and a 1.4 GHz Centrino  (single core) processor. I'm often convinced that the sluggishness of my machine is due to RAM but when I go looking I'll find that the processor is being pegged by WinPatrol, Spysweeper, or Zone Alarm. I'm becoming increasingly tempted to go App's route and stop running my firewall. I spend 99.9% of my time online at home behind a hardware firewall - I could just run ZoneAlarm when I need to... (airports, primiarily).

People have been pointing the finger at Nero for bloat - Sonic/Roxio are the same. Check out RecordNow!, which is supposed to be a fairly lightweight DVD/CD burning app - it's a 625MB download! Compare this to Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 at about 10 MB.

This is an interesting thread and is echoed, in some ways, by a thread over at talkgraphics about Xara Xtreme, which was taken over by Magix recently. There is a lot of worry about bloat creep as an apparently to-be-paid-for upgrade due in May looks like an attempt to attract new users (and current user's money! - XX Pro has only had one point release update since release in December) with expanded features.

EDIT: started this note to give a +1 to the suggestion that simple applications that do their job well and as advertised definitely trump bloated mediocrity!

5812

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

« Last post by Darwin on April 28, 2007, 07:33 AM »

 

Petulant in Courtenay

5813

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: PDF Readers / Viewers (Update +1 and Conclusion)

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 10:55 PM »

Wonderful overview, thank you very much for this! I'll have to give PDF X-change Viewer a look-see, although I am growing quite fond of Adobe Reader 8 (having said that, I can't bring myself to switch from Foxit Reader as my default viewer. The thought of Adobe Reader loading itself up whenever I click on a link to a pdf in Maxthon gives me hives! Still, should give it a go, really...).

5814

General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 12:38 PM »

P.S. That Dvorak review was what hooked me, too!

5815

General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 12:30 PM »

I bought Disk Jockey two or three years ago based on a rabidly positive mention by John Dvorak - it was so buggy the developer agreed to refund my money.  My feelings about the program were later confirmed in a PC Mag review.

-mrainey (April 27, 2007, 10:24 AM)

Heh, heh... hence my no longer having it installed. I didn't find it buggy, but it's ROUGH and largely counter-intuitive. Support isn't great, either. Check out the discussion forum, which is hosted by the developer, and where the developer will go for up to six months without responding to queries. Having said that, when I've e-mailed support it was prompt enough. Still, I wish I'd had the wit to ask for a refund! I at one time thought I'd run it on my wife's machine and DOpus on my own. I wound up springing for a second Dopus licence - DOpus is that much better than DJDE.

On other fronts: it may just be me, but DOpus 9 seems much quicker than 8. Also, and I'm very pleased about this, they've cured an issue that plagued DOpus 8 with more recent releases of the Stellent Viewers. Overall, very pleased with the update. I'm still not sure about the new icon set, but it's incredibly easy to switch to DOpus 8's icons if you're really not happy with them. The new ones are growing on me.

Edit: added link to DJDE discussion forum.

5816

General Review Discussion / Re: Any volunteers for Next Review (7/25 - 8/1) ?

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 08:36 AM »

Ampa - the link to your freeware PDF viewers review isn't working as posted above. I don't *think* I was even aware of the review and would be interested in taking a look!

5817

Living Room / Re: Latest Apple Mac vs PC Commercial: PCs suck because of all the software choices

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 08:35 AM »

Thanks for the link, Zaine. While I sympathise with the general annoyance of having to strip out the OEM/trial stuff that comes with a new computer, I recognise this as being my own "thing" - one cannot argue that a newbie couldn't pick up a brand new, out of the box, Vaio notebook and not just use it. What a steaming pile... As for the line about having to grapple with a plethora of new security apps right out of the box, hasn't this guy woken up to the 21st century reality, which is that Apple release numerous patches to shore up security risks in their OS? Why do they do this? Because viruses are increasingly becoming a part of the "Mac experience". I love the way people assume that Microsoft hire inept, bumbling programmers and the really good ones code for Apple... Reminds me of the horsepucky about Chrysler in the 60's having the monopoly on engineering smarts. Hello! The big three were all building monstrous cars powered by monstrous, iron, 90 degree OHV single cam V-8's! And don't bring up the Hemi... Hemispherical combustion chambers were NOT invented in Detroit circa 1953 - they were around in Europe for decades prior to that and in common application... OK auto rant over. Hope the analogy was clear - why on earth would anyone assume that Microsoft are less capable than Apple? In addition, even if Apple has better coders working for them, does this guarantee that their product won't be susceptible to virus and other malicious attacks? I think not...

5818

General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 08:22 AM »

My name is Mike and I am a File Manager Addict... I have licences for DOPus (9 now... the heart is willing but the flesh is weak), XYplorer and DiskJockey FileViewer Deluxe. I ALSO have licences for AccelMan and Frigate 3 courtesy of giveawayoftheday. Of all of them, I only have DOpus and XYplorer installed at the moment as the others are not in the same class, IMNSHO. There is a lot to like in both of them... Unfortunately, I am really familiar with DOpus but have yet to seriously explore XYplorer (no pun intended!).

5819

General Software Discussion / Re: More offensive — Resource bloat or Feature bloat?

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 08:06 AM »

I'm with you, Zaine, resource bloat ticks me off more than feature bloat as long as, as you note, feature bloat doesn't lead to resource bloat.

5820

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: IdeaMason to be featured on Bitsdujour

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 01:24 AM »

Can't warm to it. It's pretty snazzy looking (technical term in GUI circles  ) and very fully featured BUT I'm already running Endnote X, NetSnippets, Evernote 2 Plus, TexNotes Pro... Do I need this? I think not... I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't been able to work up enough enthusiasm to put it through its paces  Not that anything I've seen is negative, just can't see the point of it for me and that's a motivation killer for me. Unless bitsdujour is going to be offering something well north of a 50% discount I can't see myself becoming interested, either, but I'll defer to others who may be more diligent about giving it a spin (nudge superboyac?).

5821

General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9

« Last post by Darwin on April 27, 2007, 01:18 AM »

Yeah - I've downloaded it and busy backing up my system. Of course, it's now getting on for midnight here (west coast of Canada) so I don't know if I'll get it installed before bed or not... OK, I will. Just messing with you...

5822

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use 7-Zip files?

« Last post by Darwin on April 26, 2007, 10:47 PM »

OK - that'll do... Sorry to have been so dim!

5823

General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9

« Last post by Darwin on April 26, 2007, 10:36 PM »

All right. I am a patient man and with a five year old and a three year old, I need to be, but my patience is being tested. By my reckoning, it has been April 27th in Brisbane for at least eleven hours and yet I am still taunted by the flash animation on the DOpus website, coquettishly promising that that wait is just about over. Puhlease! HELLO! It's April 27th already. Do the calendars go backwards in Australia, too? Did I miss the 27th already?

Hysterical in Courtenay.

 

5824

General Software Discussion / Re: A NEW VERSION (v1.9) of ObjectDock just released

« Last post by Darwin on April 26, 2007, 10:29 PM »

Is RocketDock really by Stardock?! I cry foul - last time I checked it was developed by Punk Software.

Anyway, I have a licence for ObjectDock, but haven't had it loaded in AGES. TrueLaunchBar and VistaStartMenu have pretty much made it redundant on my system (snide remarks about them making each other redundant as well will be tolerated with a polite, but pained, smile

5825

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

« Last post by Darwin on April 26, 2007, 10:24 PM »

When did you purchase your licence, Carol? As I mentioned, I purchased in October and am *convinced* that I would get the upgrade to 2.0 Plus for free when I did so. I note that they are now offering the upgrade free to people who purchased in December, taking advantage of an offer that they were running at the time... Also, as noted, I've already paid for the upgrade so this is just vapid curiosity on my part...