Advanced SearchUser Name ashkenaz
Member Since 2004-02-23
Total number of Feedback Posts: 24
Total number of comments: 10
Last 10 Feedback Posts by ashkenaz [ Search for All ]
FoldersSynchronizer 3.6.3 (Mac OS X)
CNET Editor's Review Unhelpful
While I am generally agnostic on the issue of CNET's acquisition of VersionTracker, the intrusion of CNET's short, unsigned, and largely uncritical "reviews" with their own (largely empty) user review section seems little more than a device to drive traffic to download.com. CNET is not evil—I subscribe to a number of their RSS feeds—but VersionTracker subscribers pay NOT to be bothered by hidden ads such as these. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 2 of 2 users found this helpful
Saturday, March 29 2008 @ 02:46 PM PDT
eBaytoiCal 2.0.1 (Mac OS X)
Works flawlessly under 10.5.1 . . .
iff there is already an iCal calendar called "eBaytoiCal" or if one creates it manually. (As documented at http://www.kortenkamps.net/tiki-index.php?page=Mac+OS+X+Software eBaytoiCal lost the ability to create the calendar automatically with the advent of Leopard.) [alert admin]
Read Comments (1) | More Info
Friday, December 21 2007 @ 12:11 PM PST
1Password 2.5.7 (Mac OS X)
Shame on the developers of this excellent application for spamming their support e-mail list with a pitch for 1Password holiday gifts semi-disguised as a season's greetings message. [alert admin]
Read Comments (2) | More Info | 0 of 3 users found this helpful
Saturday, December 15 2007 @ 03:57 PM PST
FontBook 4.5 (Mac OS X)
Ignores actual keyboard selection 
While this application purports to give the key combinations necessary to produce a given glyph, it in fact ignores the actual active keyboard being used and limits the user to chosing from an arbitrary set of keyboard layouts which may or may not even be installed. Worse yet, it knows nothing about many standard Macintosh keyboard layouts, even those which come inside the U.S. Tiger box. How does one generate a letter using the Polish keyboard? the Hebrew-QUERTY keyboard? (to name only two). FontBook doesn't have a clue. [alert admin]
Wednesday, March 14 2007 @ 11:59 PM PDT
Toast Titanium 8.0 (Mac OS X)
I've nothing substantive to add to darrenjc's report other than to add that nothing's been corrected since the initial report and follow-up: Speed Download still fails, there's still no warning on Roxio's site nor any trougleshooting info at Digital River's site. And it's a Roxio problem, since it's Roxio/Sonic Solutions who's selling us the product; Digital River is just doing fulfillment (or, in this case, non-fulfillment) for them. I hope tha a few more one-star reviews might grab Roxio's attention, though I'm not holding my breath. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 0 of 3 users found this helpful
Wednesday, January 10 2007 @ 10:16 PM PST
OmniPage Pro X 11.0 (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)
Works well under OS X 10.4.8 on my Intel iMac
Without in any way making light of those who are experiencing difficulties with OmniPage Pro X 11.0, and while sharing the general exasperation with the publisher for abandoning development, I'd like to report that the app continues to work well for me. In fact, it runs faster under Rosetta in the Intel iMac than it does natively on the ageing G4 where I also run it sometimes. (The app itself is on an external hard drive.) Perhaps I'm living on borrowed time, but for the moment all is well. [alert admin]
Saturday, December 30 2006 @ 12:59 PM PST
CleanApp 2.1.0 (Mac OS X)
The current version is published not by Avis Nocturna in Essenheim but by Synium Software in Mainz. Neither the application, its accompanying ReadMe file, nor the Web site--the sorta-kinda-English part or the German part--gives an e-mail address for the developer. I was going to volunteer to clean up the lamentable English but don't want to phone what for me is overseas or resort to snail mail to do an unrequested and possibly unwelcome favor. How does a user of CleanApp obtain support? Does the purchase of a license get you a super-secret e-mail address? [alert admin]
Read Comments (1) | More Info | 0 of 3 users found this helpful
Tuesday, December 26 2006 @ 08:33 PM PST
iAddressX 3.5.1 (Mac OS X)
The developer of this excellent app has accepted a job with Apple. (I hope the offer was generous; it would take a lot to get me to leave Denmark, were I settled there.) It looks like he's trying to do the right thing and find someone to take over development but, at least for the moment, we users have become orphans. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Sunday, December 24 2006 @ 07:45 AM PST
iSynCal 5.6 (Mac OS X)
I choose my words carefully in this, my first negative review in years of versiontracker membership. The original e-mail receipt (dated November 13, 2003) states that "Once registered, the application will never expire and the MultiSync feature will be unlocked to sync all its items. No upgrade fee will never be asked to you, so any future release can be downloaded and used for free . . . " The no-upgrade-fee-ever policy counterbalanced a relatively high purchase price and seemed a good deal both for the purchaser and the developer. iSynCal 5.6, however, requires an upgrade fee nearly as high as the original purchase price. While it is not unreasonable to charge for upgrades to support continued development, it *is* unreasonable/dishonest/sleazy to charge after explicitly guaranteeing that there never would be such a charge. E-mail to the developer has been ignored. I'd urge potential purchasers to consider the character of the developer before throwing good money after the bad. [alert admin]
Read Comments (5) | More Info | 4 of 5 users found this helpful
Saturday, December 09 2006 @ 11:04 AM PST
Now Up-to-Date & Contact 5.3 (Mac OS X)
Extortionate Serial Number Lookup Policy
I'd been a registered user for many years but finally trashed the application a year or so ago in frustration. I thought to upgrade, however reluctantly, visited the Web site, and learned that Now Software will look up a customer's serial number--for a $10 fee! On most publishers' sites this is an automated function, and never have I been charged for this simple bit of customer service. Whether I'll go downstairs to the basement and open up the cartons containing retired applications, or just take a pass on this and every future version I don't know. But this certainly underscores the customer hostility of Now Software. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 5 of 6 users found this helpful
Wednesday, August 16 2006 @ 10:29 AM PDT
Last 10 Comments by ashkenaz [ Search for All ]
Does VersionTracker have an IN with Yazsoft?
I posted a similar query on the Yazsoft forum moments ago requesting a clarification. See http://www.yazsoft.com/f/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=92
Original feedback item : Read More
Friday, March 28 2008 @ 11:04 PM PDT
Wooden Brain is actually performing a service by *weakening* the branding of the Omni- prefix and thereby *strengthening* the possibilities of the English language. Apple was unsuccessful in asserting exclusive claim to the lower-case i prefix and "i" doesn't even have a lexical meaning. We should welcome the Omni-presence of Omni-prefixed applications, if only to preempt the branding of a piece of our shared lexical heritage.
Original feedback item : Read More
Tuesday, March 11 2008 @ 01:22 PM PDT
Works flawlessly under 10.5.1 . . .
In the US at least. Sorry for my americanocenricity.
Original feedback item : Read More
Friday, December 21 2007 @ 12:16 PM PST
While it is always good to have an accessible and responsive developer, it is not the customer's responsibility to help the vendor repair a defective product: the responsibility is strictly unidirectional--from the service provider to the purchaser of that service, from the producer to the consumer. After all, the purchaser doesn't get (or deserve) credit for buying a superior product; neither does he or she deserve blame for having failed to rescue an inferior one.
Original feedback item : Read More
Wednesday, December 13 2006 @ 05:00 PM PST
It is true that Readerware is more functional than Delicious Library for larger collections but it is also true that Booxter is more functional than Readerware (save only for the lack of a Palm version). It is also more Mac-like, nearly as attractive as Delicious Library (which I also own and like for its more limited capabilities) and *much* less expensive. There is no need to leave the Macintosh fold for two excellent applications.
Original feedback item : Read More
Sunday, December 03 2006 @ 02:15 PM PST
The best, but no go on Virtual PC 7
Registry Mechanic and Spyware Doctor, excellent applications both, run do run effectively in a BootCamp partition and on a Parallels Desktop virtual machine.
Original feedback item : Read More
Saturday, August 05 2006 @ 08:26 AM PDT
Are you altruistically concerned with Unicode support or selfishly concerned with Chinese/Japanese/Korean support? What about Arabic? Hebrew? other RTL languages? languages with other glyphs? Unicode support is important but not trivial: just look at MS Word (ugh), which still does not support RTL languages properly. The developer has already told you--politely and repeatedly--that Unicode support would be forthcoming as time permits. Check back occasionally. In the meantime, repeated carping adds no value to the VersionTracker…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Saturday, September 10 2005 @ 12:45 PM PDT
I admire your disposable income. As per the Dantz Support Packages page at their Web site <http://www.dantz.com/en/support/support_options.dtml#PM>, "Single Incident [support] is $69.95 per incident." There's NO fee-free way to communicate with customer support. See, too, the cries for help at the support fora. I'm not disagreeing with you. Quite the contrary. This once-rock-solid product has deteriorated badly.
Original feedback item : Read More
Tuesday, July 19 2005 @ 07:08 AM PDT
sjk's reasoned and literate critique and response--and Magic Mouse's hostile reply--have persuaded me NOT to try Discus. I've subsequently read and have benefitted from the reviewer's other postings, for which I'm grateful.
Original feedback item : Read More
Friday, September 03 2004 @ 10:42 AM PDT
With respect, VT reports are for the benefit of fellow subscribers, not developers--who would, however, do well to distinguish between legitimate criticism and putative "abuse."
Original feedback item : Read More
Sunday, August 01 2004 @ 10:10 AM PDT
