Author Topic: Humanized Enso going free... (Read 24,811 times)

nontroppo · « **on:** January 16, 2008, 03:40 PM »

It seems Freedom is on the march (the Bush doctrine has had an unexpected domino effect?

), as yet another shareware app is going free, and one whose product area is close to many of our hearts:

http://www.humanized.com/enso/

(the web site is currently down, but the direct download link is still working: http://www.humanized.com/installers/EnsoLauncher.exe )

Enso is a launcher, aka ~~expensive~~ FARR clone

You can see some DC discussion on it here:

http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=7197.0

I haven't used it since demoing the first (buggy) release, but fundamentally you will either like it or loathe it, as it uses a a pseudo-modal interface (though you can use a classic trigger key if you want). I actually really like the core UI idea, but it requires too much typing (no shortcuts unless it was added recently). Anyway, it is elegant and interresting to play with.

Lashiec · « **Reply #1 on:** January 16, 2008, 05:25 PM »

Barring my initial reservations about the self-attributed "GUI guru" status of Aza Raskin, I might give a try to this one now that it's free. Bye, bye, FARR

I'm seeing that Enso Words is free as well, this could be more interesting.

Might this be connected with the news about the guys at Mozilla hiring developers from Humanized? </shameless plug>

Darwin · « **Reply #2 on:** January 16, 2008, 05:40 PM »

I take it that that the above is a shameless plug for your post on DC about this, right? Or are you affiliated with the Mozilla development team?

Lashiec · « **Reply #3 on:** January 16, 2008, 05:44 PM »

ROFL. Me affiliated with the Mozilla team, that would be good!

nontroppo · « **Reply #4 on:** January 16, 2008, 07:45 PM »

The beta products (basically plugins) are pretty neat too:

http://www.humanized.com/enso/beta/all

The translator is cool, as is the mapping agent (select an address fragment, [MAP] and a google map is inserted into your document!). The thing that Enso is really great at is capturing a selection, doing something with it and putting it back. So you can be typing in an app, select text and translate it directly without needing to cut-n-paste anywhere in the workflow. I don't know how FARR could handle that kind of task. I remember mouser adding a copy selection ability after discussing about Enso, but putting the results back I don't know; FARR has advanced quite a bit so I may be missing out on the newer plugin abilities...

nontroppo · « **Reply #5 on:** January 16, 2008, 10:58 PM »

Been trying out the TeX system:

http://www.humanized.com/enso/beta/ensotexanywhere

really neat!!! Broken in Opera though...

Dirhael · « **Reply #6 on:** January 16, 2008, 11:15 PM »

Heh, this is the second program that I've bought during the last year that suddenly goes freeware... Oh well, guess it just means there'll be no upgrade fee for the next major version.

I do however *really* dislike the fact that they're going to stop using the offline dictionary for Enso Words completely, as this is the functionality I rely on the most, and in the future this will not work while I'm offline because of this

Darwin · « **Reply #7 on:** January 17, 2008, 12:07 AM »

Mind giving us a list of your purchases from the past year, Dirhael? I'd hate to buy anything and have it go freeware - with your list I'd have a starting point for deciding what to, and what not to, buy

lanux128 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 17, 2008, 12:23 AM »

i wonder why they're dropping the development.. anyway, it's downloads galore!

[attach=#]

Darwin · « **Reply #9 on:** January 17, 2008, 12:50 AM »

In my rush to grab the free loot, I didn't pay attention to the website. Are they dropping development? Right then, off for a read...

mouser · « **Reply #10 on:** January 17, 2008, 12:59 AM »

I don't think they are dropping development.. Developers got hired by mozilla, no longer have to market their software (i guess they did well enough marketing themselves). So now they can make the software free and get paid by mozilla corp.

lanux128 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 17, 2008, 01:03 AM »

my bad.. blinded by the w00t factor, i had assumed the development is coming to a halt.

Dirhael · « **Reply #12 on:** January 17, 2008, 01:28 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on January 17, 2008, 12:07 AM

Mind giving us a list of your purchases from the past year, Dirhael? I'd hate to buy anything and have it go freeware - with your list I'd have a starting point for deciding what to, and what not to, buy

Hehe, sure why not

Here's some of the programs I purchased during the last 12 months or so (there's some missing though as I don't have the complete list at hand):

a-squared Anti-Malware
Ad Muncher
Ashampoo Office 2006/2008 (2008 was released before my first year was over...but it was dirt cheap anyway so it didn't matter)
Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium (3 year contract)
CoreAVC
Dash Command
DefenseWall HIPS
Direct Access
Directory Opus 9
DriverCleaner.net
Duplicate Email Remover for Outlook
E-TextEditor
Enso Launcher (now freeware...grrr! v1)
Enso Words (now freeware...grrr! v2)
FeedDemon (now freeware...grrr! v3)
Getright
Helium Music Manager 2007
JV16 PowerTools 2007
MediaMonkey 3
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (Upgrade from XP)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (Anytime upgrade from Home Premium...yeah, lack domain support in Home PE kinda forced this one on me)
MyTunesRSS
Net Transport
NOD32 (1 year contract)
Objectdock Plus
Paragon Total Defrag 2007
RegExBuddy 3
Rollback Rx Pro v8
Sony Media Manager for PSP 2.5
SpeedCommander 12 (don't really use it much, but the nag screen drove me mad in the trial so one day I ignored common sense and made the purchase anyway...)
SUPERAntiSpyware Professional (Lifetime license)
Terabyte Unlimited Products (All products incl. BootIt NG, Image for Windows, Image for DOS, Image for Linux)
Total Commander (additional license)
True Launch Bar 4
Twistpad
Window Clippings
Windowblinds
XYplorer (Lifetime license)
ZiePod+
Zoom Player WMV Pro

VSiAQ · « **Reply #13 on:** January 17, 2008, 02:39 AM »

When I heard that Enso's free now, I decided to give it a try. Not impressive, though.

It's more beautiful and cooler than FARR, no doubt

However, having to type 4 extra keys (o p e n) just to open an application is a major drawback for me. Also, I'm unable to open any directories of my choices without having to write the directory name down, select it, hold down capslock, type open with xyplorer, release capslock - wow, what a process!

Time for bed, I'd inspect this RAM consuming launcher more thoroughly tomorrow.

Dirhael · « **Reply #14 on:** January 17, 2008, 02:42 AM »

Quote from: VSiAQ on January 17, 2008, 02:39 AM

When I heard that Enso's free now, I decided to give it a try. Not impressive, though.

It's more beautiful and cooler than FARR, no doubt

However, having to type 4 extra keys (o p e n) just to open an application is a major drawback for me. Also, I'm unable to open any directories of my choices without having to write the directory name down, select it, hold down capslock, type open with xyplorer, release capslock - wow, what a process!

Time for bed, I'd inspect this RAM consuming launcher more thoroughly tomorrow.

The [TAB] key is your friend

Darwin · « **Reply #15 on:** January 17, 2008, 06:03 AM »

Thanks, Dirhael! Looks like we've got similar taste in software - I've purchased a LOT of the same applications as you!

I'm looking at Enso Humanized and wishing that they'd give me more options for triggering it. I resent HAVING to give over one of my keyboard keys to it. I c'mon - I actually use the caps lock key and would like to be able to use it while Enso is running. Ditto the left win key (don't have a right one) and all of the the other options. Disappointed, but will persevere.

Darwin · « **Reply #16 on:** January 17, 2008, 06:38 AM »

OK. Further to my last post - IF I set Enso to "sticky" mode, will that enable me to get double duty out of whatever one of the limited number of choices I have a for a trigger key? I just can't see any of them being palatable as being given over entirely to Enso. Right - here goes: hold down CAPS Lock, type Pref, hit enter and we're off. I'll report back. But I'm not optimisitic.

Darwin · « **Reply #17 on:** January 17, 2008, 06:49 AM »

Nope. But I discovered that the right CTRL key isn't a bad choice in conjunction with quasi-modal triggering. It can still be used in CTRL-ALT-DEL and other shortcuts as long as you hit another of the combo keys first. Two things - in this short time I've realised that I never use the key anyway and my right pinky hates holding down the right CTRL key and trying to type. Sadly, setting the left CTRL key doesn't work as CTRL-A, for example, yields an attempt to run a calculate command (presumably internal to Enso) and returns a message saying no text selected - even though I DID select text to copy... So, I've settled on the right CTRL key for now and will try to learn to use it.

tide · « **Reply #18 on:** January 17, 2008, 07:33 AM »

Good grief! Yet another application I paid for and now it goes free.

Actually, I stopped using the program because it simply sucks up way too much memory - over 50 Megs on my machine. I'll try the free version to see whether they have made any improvements in memory management.

Dirhael · « **Reply #19 on:** January 17, 2008, 10:34 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on January 17, 2008, 06:03 AM

Thanks, Dirhael! Looks like we've got similar taste in software - I've purchased a LOT of the same applications as you!

I'm looking at Enso Humanized and wishing that they'd give me more options for triggering it. I resent HAVING to give over one of my keyboard keys to it. I c'mon - I actually use the caps lock key and would like to be able to use it while Enso is running. Ditto the left win key (don't have a right one) and all of the the other options. Disappointed, but will persevere.

Let's just hope that they don't release all of them as freeware soon

As for your troubles with finding the right key, I had the same issue in the beginning (and still do sometimes). What I found was that out of "all" the alternatives, the CAPS key did indeed function best, mostly because I so rarely use it. Those times you actually do need it, there's an internal command for turning it on/off. Just press your trigger key, type "cap" (no need to type more) and your only two alternatives of commands should be "capslook off/on." It's not a perfect solution, but I much prefer it to loosing one of the CTRL or SHIFT keys

Curt · « **Reply #20 on:** January 17, 2008, 12:18 PM »

Quote from: nontroppo on January 16, 2008, 10:58 PM

Been trying out the TeX system: http://www.humanized.com/enso/beta/ensotexanywhere

Will Enso T_EX Anywhere work inside Ashampoo / SoftMaker Office 2008 or StarOffice 8 ?

Can I disable (most of) Enso in order to only take advantage of T_EX Anywhere ?

nontroppo · « **Reply #21 on:** January 17, 2008, 02:32 PM »

Quote

Will Enso TEX Anywhere work...

It works in Apps that have a HTML input mode, so Word and Firefox 3 nightly is what I tried it in.

Quote

Actually, I stopped using the program because it simply sucks up way too much memory - over 50 Megs on my machine.

It does use the Firefox/Mozilla core, so not surprising!

On my XP VM I see no more than 30MB working set, 25MB private bytes with all plugins installed. And surprisingly, it triggers faster than FARR (FARR configured to use more memory without more than the default locations indexed). FARR consumes about 10MB of working set, but I'd gladly trade more memory to get it triggering faster.

Quote

However, having to type 4 extra keys (o p e n) just to open an application is a major drawback for me.

[TAB] to complete...

Still having to type [o][tab][fil] for filehamster is slower than [fil] in FARR...The idea is to train the user to think in natural language terms rather than cryptic letter fragments, but I have to say fragments works better for me and probably many others...

Darwin · « **Reply #22 on:** January 17, 2008, 02:44 PM »

Quote from: Dirhael on January 17, 2008, 10:34 AM

As for your troubles with finding the right key, I had the same issue in the beginning (and still do sometimes). What I found was that out of "all" the alternatives, the CAPS key did indeed function best, mostly because I so rarely use it. Those times you actually do need it, there's an internal command for turning it on/off. Just press your trigger key, type "cap" (no need to type more) and your only two alternatives of commands should be "capslook off/on." It's not a perfect solution, but I much prefer it to loosing one of the CTRL or SHIFT keys

Thank you

I've been "trying" to get used to the right CTRL key but it's almost impossible to type while holding it down (easier with the left one - must have something to do with the keyboard layout and the frequency of letters typed?). Anyway, it's a relief to know that I can use the caps key if necessary. You're right - it is the most convenient key from a usage perspective

Dirhael · « **Reply #23 on:** January 17, 2008, 03:03 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on January 17, 2008, 02:44 PM

Thank you I've been "trying" to get used to the right CTRL key but it's almost impossible to type while holding it down (easier with the left one - must have something to do with the keyboard layout and the frequency of letters typed?). Anyway, it's a relief to know that I can use the caps key if necessary. You're right - it is the most convenient key from a usage perspective

Yeah, I've even tried remapping buttons with AHK to see if there was any other usable keys comfortable enough to use and oddly enough, there isn't really any. Or perhaps I should say that the SPACE key would have been perfect, if not for the fact that not having that key available leaves the keyboard unusable

By the way, if you type "co" you should get up a command called "command list", which will take you to a page with an explanation for all the available Enso commands for your installation. It's helpful at times. Also, if you intend to actually use Enso to launch programs, it's not a bad idea to remove all start-menu shortcuts to uninstallers etc., because if you don't you risk ending up with something like my attached screenshot...and let's face it, gambling on what program to uninstall isn't usually such a good idea

justice · « **Reply #24 on:** January 17, 2008, 03:20 PM »

just change the key to the right windows key then and use AHK to only send it when the capslock is touched 2x in rapid succession. the script for such a thing is floating around this forum. you can still use capslock that way.