Existing users, 
I too am using it in a mixed environment. I created a massive catalog on a Mac that worked beautifully...when viewed from another Mac. PCs could not see the files. The app does not write the directory locations in a manner that PCs can see. My workaround was to connect to the machine from another machine across the network to do the cataloging all over again. This works (PCs can now see the files)...except that the application crashes repeatedly when trying to catalog large numbers of files. It seems that the thing just does not like some sorts of files. This would be okay if there were any rhyme or reason to which ones it did not like. Even worse, there's no feedback on what file it crashed on. How about fixing it so the app IGNORES the files that it does not like instead of crashing. I'm really torqued about this thing. Extensis advertises this as the end-all-be-all of catalog apps, but I can't get it to make a single complete catalog without crashing. I did a bunch of research and made a recommendation to buy 10 copies of this thing for use in my office. After 6 months of trying to make the thing work, all I have is egg on my face. I am ready to give up. Of course, the PC weenies in my IT dept. are all chuckling over this app and the fact that it is running on a Mac.
Oh yeah, and the Extensis support line could not give me a single idea on how to solve my mixed environment problems in two phone calls and more than an hour on the phone.
Extensis Portfolio
Single-user digital asset management.
Version: 8.5.3
Wish the freaking thing worked...
Feedback Type: Review
Contributed by: KBarre Friday, December 19 2003 @ 12:59 PM PST
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Six Months
Recommend Product: NO
Overall Rating:
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Comments
Wish the freaking thing worked... - ewelch
Actually, there is an easy fix for the path problem. Extensis' solution is to turn off SMB and use Windows Mac services with a Windows Server. Not a reasonable requirment by a long shot. Mac a Mac ONLY see the Windows servers and no other shares on the network? What were they thinking!But I have a script that fixes it. If you know Applescript, the solution is right there on your computer. Pull down the script menu. The only script in there will fix the paths, you just have to give it some input. I rewrote the script to do most of it automatically. I just have to choose whether to fix the paths in the current gallery or in the whole catalog.
Some things to know.
On PCs it writes the server name into the path. Mac's using OS X don't, they put the share name at the front of the path. For example, at work, our server's name is CRS-DEV. The Share name is WORK. So the path is CRS-DEV:Work:Image:Diamonds for example. The Macs write Work:Images:Diamonds. So I have to put the CRS-DEV at the front using the script. And in our environment, don't know if this is the case everwhere, but I suspect that it is, you have to put two colons in front of the server name. I guess that's how it identifies it as a server? Anyway, the script has to write the path like this:
::CRS-DEV:Work:Images...
Write the script so it puts the minimal required change on the front of the path. For example:
The default script asks you what the old one is. In my case, I would type:
Work:
Then it asks what to replace it with:
::CRS-DEV:Work:
is what you would replace it with.
Hope that helps.
Email me at work and I can send you the script. (I'll be back Jan 2, 2004.)
Wednesday, December 24 2003 @ 07:51 AM PST
Wish the freaking thing worked... - rmark
I am maintaining an image database with about 30,000 JPG files on both Mac and PC without any insurmountable problems. Sure, there is room for improvement, but it certainly meets most of my needs. I too wish that Extensis were more responsive. But then I wish that Apple and Microsoft were more responsive.Reply to This
Tuesday, December 23 2003 @ 06:59 PM PST