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User Name GymW
Member Since 2001-07-18
Total number of Feedback Posts: 25
Total number of comments: 0
Last 10 Feedback Posts by GymW [ Search for All ]
SafariPlus 1.5.1 (Mac OS X)
Does not seem to work with 10.5.5 & Safari 3.2.1 
Great concept but simply not compatible with latest Mac OS and Safari. Tried all the suggestions such as using the 1.6a1 version, placing in the main library and resetting permission, but still did not work. My rating is for MacOS 10.5.5 running Safari 3.2.1 [alert admin]
Monday, December 08 2008 @ 10:37 AM PST
Parallels Desktop 4.0 Build 3540 (Mac OS X)
This is the latest edition of the Parallels installation nightmare. I tried installing this 'update' over the previous Parallels 4.0 release. I had finally gotten that to work after several frustrating days of effort (see previous comments) This 'update' corrupted the working installation. In particular, it blew the previously working Parallels Tools out of the water. My mouse quit working again and Parallels Tools had a different install error after each attempt to get it reinstalled again. After another 2-3 hours of continual work I finally have it working again. Here is what it took to do this: - About 30+ Windows reboots and several Mac reboots - Several removal and reinstallation of the Microsoft PS/2 Mouse Driver - Complete removal of the previous Parallels 4 installation and reinstallation of the update - Reactivation of Microsoft Windows XP. While the release notes state that they fixed the Virtual PC conversion issue, you could not validate that by my experience. Makes you wonder if this company ever heard of Software QA or Beta Testing, much less doing it. [alert admin]
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Saturday, November 22 2008 @ 12:30 PM PST
Parallels Desktop 4.0 Build 3522 (Mac OS X)
My Install and Support Experience with Parallels 4.0
This is a paid upgrade, even for 3.0 users Minimum cost is $40. Understanding a determining what to purchase is very confusing. The download store automatically opt you in for a $7 download privilege that you do not need if you backup the download or burn it to a CD. Unfortunately it is not obvious how to opt out of this and the site provides no information to do this. It took 2 phone calls, several transfers, and an hour of time just to contact Tech Support to find out about this. Installation of the product after download is a very lengthy process and can be very problematic. In my case I lost all cursor control in Windows, and could not get Parallels tools to install properly. It also required me to reactivate Windows. Getting in touch with Tech Support is a nightmare from you know where. They do not want to talk to you unless you are willing to pay for it, even if it is an initial installation. Free support is only via email with no expectation of when they will get back to you. When I protested this policy I was transferred to support where I waited for over a half hour before being hung up by the system which indicated it was too busy to take my call. Given the install made my Windows XP unusable and I could not get any help to resolve it. I called customer service and was finally able to speak to a live person. When I asked for a supervisor I was told that they had all gone home. So I demanded my update licensed be canceled and I be given a refund, which they did with no protest. They did not seem to care whether I remained their customer or bought their competitors product. Unfortunately I thought I could simply delete the product and support files and reload Parallels 3 from Time Machine. Not so as it would not work. So I tried to reinstall Parallels 3 from an update image but it would not let me, complaining that server software was still present but providing no clue as to how to resolve it. A Google search on the subject was of little help. I finally resorted to reinstalling Parallels 4 then immediately uninstalling it with its uninstaller. That trick finally allowed me to reinstall Parallels 3. In any case please, for your own good, do not even think of Upgrading to Parallels 4 unless you are sure you have a complete backup of your Windows installation from Parallels 3. Additionally if you have more than a single license, you have to order each update as a separate order. Since I never got Parallels 4 to work properly I have no idea how it compares to Parallels 3. In summary, upgrading to Parallels 4 can be extremely problematic and turn into your worst nightmare. Installation Tech Support, based in India, is virtually nonexistent if you need it in a timely manner. Recommendations: I would suggest avoiding the current upgrade at all costs unless it absolutely necessary that you need to preform it, unless you want to be a Beta Tester, or a masochist.. If you still want to upgrade, I would suggest waiting for the next update, when hopefully they will have worked out some of the bugs. Right now given its installation performance and Tech Support issues, I do not feel it is ready for 'Prime Time.' It is a costly upgrade, even with the discount, and given its problems and support accessibility, a savings of $20 off the suggest price simply is not worth the pain of being an early implementer. As for my own plans. for now I will continue to use Parallels 3, and given Parallels current level of Tech Support, I am going to take a serious look and VMFusion. I see no reason to pay for or support Parallels products in the future, given the grief they have caused me today unless they improve their support access and and the products stability. [alert admin]
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Thursday, November 13 2008 @ 01:05 PM PST
Mailings 1.9.26 (Mac OS X)
A comment about my previous review.
I have received a very courteous replay back from the developer, after posting my review, indicating he was indisposed for a period of time and indicting that he intends to improve the support of the product in the future. I would welcome any comments in regards to the support experiences of the product from other users for review. If the developed does what he says and the evidence appears here, I would be happy to rewrite my review or provide an update which would reflect the improved support. In regards to functionality: I look forward to re-reviewing the product should the functionality significantly change. [alert admin]
Monday, December 10 2007 @ 04:25 PM PST
Mailings 1.9.26 (Mac OS X)
Good concept but finicky with poor support
Unfortunately, while the product has some unique and useful features, support for the product (e-mail only) has generally been abysmal. Here is why: After researching a number of products for someone to whom I provide free support to for their organization, I suggest this product as a bulk mailer for simple text messages and attachments. We paid our shareware fee and started using the product. Unfortunately the documentation leaves much to be desired, so getting it to work involved a lot of trial and error. In the process we ran into a number of bugs, which eventually got fixed. Support for the product seems to be a mixed bag at best. Sometimes we get a helpful response, sometimes we don't. Our most recent experience is that we initially got a acceptable response but then when the initial suggestions failed to work we were abandoned. Finally after several frustrating days of continual failures to get the product to work properly, we finally figured out what was wrong and got it to work - without any help from the developer as a continual stream of emails were never responded to or acknowledged. Troubleshooting this product requires sophisticated experience as errors messages are encoded as cryptic codes that have no reference. Again, the developer ignored a request as to what the error codes mean. Only by going through the Mac console log were we able to get a clue as to what the problem was and figure out a solution on our own. When the product works, it works well, but it can be very finicky, In my opinion, especially given its level of support and limited documentation, it is not a product suitable for the inexperienced user. For these reasons, I cannot recommend this product for a general audience. If you are looking for a bulk mailer, I would research its alternatives and only choose this one if you can't find a better one that meets your requirements. This product has promise, but right now, I do not believe it is ready for 'Prime Time." [alert admin]
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Friday, December 07 2007 @ 03:01 PM PST
Mars24 5.2.3 (Mac OS X)
They may not be charging a fee for this software but it is not free - not unless they did it on their own time as a hobby. Otherwise it is your tax dollars at work - probably at premium rates. Frankly it would not surprise me if this little goodie, when you add in administrative, overhead, and support costs goes into the 4, 5 or possible 6 figure range. This is who we are talking about: "The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), at Columbia University in New York City, is a division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Sciences Directorate and a unit of the Columbia University Earth Institute." These people do not come cheap! These are probably your tax dollars at work and I hope you feel that a sunclock for the planet Mars is worthy of the expenditure. And for those of you that do, and also believe that Steve Jobs is a miracle worker I suggest you do the following: Email Steve and suggest that he have Edgar Rice Burroughs arise from his grave, contact John Carter of Mars and establish an Apple Dealership on Barsoom(Mars) perhaps in Gathol. That way there will be a distribution channel for Mac's on Mars in a major city that may create a demand and use for this product. [alert admin]
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Sunday, November 14 2004 @ 10:29 AM PST
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Guess I have been watching too much TV :-)
Finally, a cheap alternative to AOL Kidsafe and Paxware. [alert admin]
Sunday, November 14 2004 @ 09:40 AM PST
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i tried this and figured out how to use it sort of. However it constantly crashes and could not get a single satisfactory scan so I only recommend it for masochists. Here are some additional instructions for such: First of all, don't try the automatic full page recognize. The instructions already state that it does not work. Use the text selection recognize mode only. Next you have to train it first. Create a jpg doc of some text and use the learn button. Highlight some of the text in small portions and experiment. I used the recognize all check box. in the prefs after clicking "Learn." I am not sure here what triggers the learning process here after selecting the text. In any case I was left with some files in a folder in my "Documents" folder in a subfolder named "DigitEyeOCR." According to the instructions, that is what is important. To do OCR, do NOT choose open first, but click on "Recognize." This will allow you to open jpg files or perhaps other scan files (not PDF's). It then go through an alignment procedure and waits for text selection. After you select the text (recommend small segments), it goes through recognition and then crashes as it creates an output file on your desktop. This output file will have 0 bytes. If you are lucky enough to actually create a file with something in it, then you can open it with the program, edit it, and save it to a more common format. If it crashes, it only crashes a portion of it, so you must quit the main part which is still open, then relaunch to begin again. However if your experience is like mine, I recommend you quit it and drag it to the trash. [alert admin]
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Sunday, August 08 2004 @ 12:54 PM PDT
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There is plenty of documentation on their website - if you can read French [alert admin]
Sunday, August 08 2004 @ 11:37 AM PDT
Car Companion 1.0.0 (Mac OS X)
After I installed this app I noticed all my privileges were damaged. I had to use Disk Utility to repair them. [alert admin]
Sunday, January 25 2004 @ 06:54 PM PST
Last 10 Comments by GymW [ Search for All ]
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