User Profile for donlevy323-225-2228

QRecall 1.0.0.47 (Mac OS X)

Quite amazing  

I've been looking for a long time for something that could replace Retrospect for backup. I've been using Retrospect forever on my own and client's computers, but never comfortably, because the application's interface is so un-Mac-like and downright convoluted and user unfriendly that I never felt secure that not only that the application was rock-solid reliable, but that when disaster struck one could be sure the initial, confusing setup had been correct (and that messages were easy to understand, whether re successful backup or errors). It's so easy to make a mistake, yet one might go months or even years before discovering it. When I became aware about a week ago of QRecall I was skeptical. Very skeptical. I'd tried some others and while none seemed anywhere as confusing as Retrospect, most were too limited in what the could do and how they could do it, which is why I stuck with Retrospect despite my distaste for it. I kept hoping for something that was versatile, intuitive, easy to implement and easy to make recoveries, whether a single file that had never been modified, or a whole host of stuff that had many changes over time. The fact that only one reviewer had commented as of the date I downloaded QRecall and that it was still in beta, made me expect a cumbersome dog of a piece of software. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact it was sheer joy to set up, configure exactly the way I wanted, and to have it back up my primary hard drive incrementally in a way that was immediately transparent to inspection and where restoring a file (or several) was almost as easy as plain old vanilla drag-and-drop. The documentation is highly professional, clear and concise, and presented in a manner that makes it easy to get up to speed immediately. Shame it doesn't work on pre-Tiger OS versions, but perhaps an important enough tool to get many of my clients to justify the cost of upgrading their Macs. I emailed the developer with a couple of suggestions (fairly trivial) and got a fast and positive response. Nirvana. QRecall appears to be a keeper. So far, I've scarcely scratched the surface in utilizing it's full features. Hopefully, I'll keep watching here as the inevitable problems and improvements get published, and others share their experiences, positive and negative. I've rated it an overall four stars only because I want to work with a software a while before rating it any higher. Because it's a free beta now, I've not rated the price, but the projected pricing looks very attractive and I'll certainly buy it when it's out of beta. Don Levy The MacTherapist Los Angeles [alert admin]

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Wednesday, October 17 2007 @ 06:08 PM PDT

NcFTP Client 3.2.0 (Mac OS X)

You'd have to be a wizard to spot that this application is TERMINAL (only)!  

Pretty silly way to post this application. The very first comment should be (in all caps): "RUN FROM TERMINAL ONLY - NOT A STANDARD MAC OS X APPLICATION." I'll bet 90% or more of those who download and attempt to install this miss the terminal only message and waste a lot of time screwing around trying to find the application (thinking it to be a standard Mac GUI application) only to give up in frustration. Argh! Without this warning, this app probably would find a better home with Linux users. [alert admin]

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Friday, January 12 2007 @ 11:01 AM PST

PocketMac for BlackBerry 3.13 (Mac OS X)

Ummm...Promised version 4 anyone?  

This developer was promising version 4 "in a few days" way back in March of this year. Now it's a week from October. Where, oh where, have I heard something that's similar... Oh, yes:

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

The devloper must be a Yale graduate. I'm reasonably sure the two of them are cut from the same cloth (my apologies to all other Yale graduates that really studied). ;-)

This is a great opportunity for a decent, follow-through programmer to put out something that works properly, especially with Entourage, and especially able to properly sync selected categories. I hate the "free" deal for PocketMac. It seems to have been a guarantee that it will get little or no further attention, of both the bug-squashing or promised functionality variety.

I'd gladly pay $50 or even more for something that WORKED. As it is, I don't have my BB synched with my Mac, and I don't have a backup of my BB either, thank you not very much. PocketMac and RIM aren't making it happen and probably won't. Notice how both of them are conspicuously absent in responding here to any of these funtionality complaints, despite it being an open forum.

In fairness I should mention I did (after an inordinate amount of wrangling) get them to send me a beta version of 4, but the instructions were so poorly written - it doesn't even indicate if a new category on the BB (that's not already present on the Mac) will, if selected for synching, back up to the Mac and vice versa, or whether for it to work, an empty category of the same exact name must first be created on the target device. So without a simple, real backup of all the data on my BB - especially the contacts of the 700 entries I've painfully typed into it over the last seven months while waiting for the release of the vaporous version 4.0 - I chickened out and haven't actually tried it.

I have given them the courtesy of sitting silent here for over half a year to get their stuff together before my commenting on this application, but it appears it was in vain, and I'm beginning to think there will never BE a full, working version 4 release. Nevertheless, hopefully, they'll address the problem and we can all have backup and symc like real people with real uses for real data do. If there's any other option out there, I'd love to know about it. [alert admin]

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Sunday, September 24 2006 @ 02:48 PM PDT

DEVONthink Personal 1.9.4 (Mac OS X)

Support beyond the norm  

As an independent Mac support pro, myself, I've seen many horror stories from both big and small developers, leaving users high and dry. On more than one occasion, the support from this developer has been outstanding. Most recently, after a power outage that hosed my own DEVONthink database, they helped me recover a recent backup that, without their assistance, I wouldn't likely have accomplished alone. I would have otherwise been forced to go back to the previous backup, which would have resulted in the loss of all the receipts, important references, client notes, etc. that I had added to the database during that period. They were fast, friendly, and answered me within minutes, despite it being late in the evening in Germany (I'm in Los Angeles, eight hours earlier). [alert admin]

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Saturday, August 13 2005 @ 06:51 AM PDT

Firefox 1.0.4 (Mac OS X)

Love-Hate Firefox  

I'm on a G3 with OS X 10.2.8 and 768 MB Ram. I love everything about Firefox except one, but it's a biggie: At some point, after I've been using it for a while, it gets caught in a loop and the spinning beach ball of death becomes nearly perpetual, with an occasional short break. I can't close the page, I can't stop it with the Stop icon in the toolbar, and I can't stop it with Command-period, Escape, or any of the old standbyes. I can't quit it, either (the Dock reports Application Not Responding). Eventually, after being frozen from working, like it or not, I just have to force quit it and re-launch it. This is not only a royal pain and time-waster, but worse, I may have had several pages and tabs open, and I lose the thread of what I was researching or doing. I'd give Firefox five stars for everything else, but this one fault is an incredibly strong offset to otherwise stellar performance and features, as well as ease of use. I had hoped this latest update 1.0.4 would fix it, but alas, it's still got this issue. [alert admin]

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Monday, May 16 2005 @ 01:03 PM PDT

Microsoft Office 2004 11.1.1 (Mac OS X)

There's some disturbing stuff here  

First, of course, is the problems the first unlucky "early adapters" (to report) encountered, shown in this review list.

Secondly, there's no indication in the list of "what's new" here that anything has been done to fix a bug in Entourage that Microsoft acknowledged MONTH and MONTHS ago, specifically, that when one receives an html email and authorizes it to download, it often becomes impossible to add email accounts or open for edit any existing ones. The only workaround is to quit the Entourage and restart it, which "fixes" the problem until the next time, which may be minutes later, as one views another HMTL email.

Thirdly, the inability to globally allow the downloading of HTML elements does not exist (as it did with the original OS X version, I might add). So one has to tediously click to authorize each time, significantly slowing workflow. Microsoft may have put this "feature" in to protect us from viruses and spyware, but - hello! MS! - that's a Windows problem, not a Mac OS X problem. I'm a Mac support pro and I haven't seen a Mac-infecting virus on a Mac in over eight (maybe even ten) years... At least give ME the option to decide if I need MS' "protection".

This is a real killer application, especially the 2004 version that allows organizing by project, but it's grossly hampered by the above flaws. And, if anyone at MS even reads these comments, it's always boggled my mind that there's no easy way (at least that I can discover) to use contextual menus or any other SIMPLE way to add someone's address to an existing email list. One should be able to click on a "from"address in an incoming message to not only created an address book listing (which is now possible), but then similarly easily to add that address to an existing email list from either the card in the address book or even directly from the incoming email itself. Such an obvious and easy to engineer capability would take an enormous amount of hassle out of address book and email list upkeep.

C'mon, MS...let's see you get these issues fixed and see some real increases in efficiency. [alert admin]

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Tuesday, March 08 2005 @ 05:27 PM PST

DEVONthink PE 1.9.1 (Mac OS X)

I was looking for a replacement  

for another info manager that, after almost 3000 entries, was bogging down - slow to the point of impracticality. So I bought DEVONthink (about a year ago), played with it, but just couldn't get comfortable with how it worked. Then an email upgrade notice from the developers suggested that some of my previous concerns about ease of use had been addressed and so I decided to give the new version a whirl. What a difference! I'm finding it far more versatile in storing many more kinds of data, and far more efficient and easy than the older version, and thus much more practical for storing my data, and phenomenal for organizing it, heirarchically and especially on the fly. I am getting the hang of using its ability to automatically classify my data and move it to folders (groups) I've created. In exchange for a bit more input of learning time initially, I've been rewarded with really, really fast retreival. In short, it now does what I needed. One of my original complaints had been the documentation; the current manual is far more helpful in both getting started and learning the fine points, as well as a good reference (still needs page numbers and an index to be rated tops, but head and shoulders over what was available before).

That would be the end of the story, except we had a split second power failure last week - so short that although most of our several computers went completely down, my own stayed up. But when I went to use DEVONthink, it had locked itself up tighter than a drum. The data was still visible and readable, but nothing could be added and nothing deleted (I later learned this is an automatic DEVONthink security feature that insures not making a corrupted database worse). And after a complete reboot, it was still locked. A rebuild failed. Suspecting a disk problem, I ran DiskWarrior and there was definitely a problem with my hard drive which DiskWarrior was unable to handle (rare, in my experience). Worse, it affected not only the current DEVONthink database, but all my backups. That's when I panicked and contacted the developers. And they came through like champs. Sent me clear, concise step-by-step support and patiently handled my several emails with courtesy, obvious empathy and real-hands on help. Not only did the database get repaired, but so did the backups. I'd definitely rate their after-sales support six stars on a scale of five...

I'm still looking for improvement in this program as it matures. My wish is for some way to more easily name entries on the fly and for more scripts for moving data from other programs (like the one that now exists for moving data from Entourage to DEVONthink), but after my recent experience with the latest upgrade and the developers support, I'm confident such improvements will be forthcoming.

Don Levy
The Mac Therapist
Los Angeles [alert admin]

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Friday, January 14 2005 @ 08:27 AM PST

Print Center Repair 3.0.3 (Mac OS X)

Must admit I was highly skeptical  

and not just a little anxious about using this product. The print center was repeatedly , unexpectedly quitting.

I first tried deleting the printer (successfully), but it would not allow adding the printer back in (quit unexpectedly during each attempt to do so). The computer is a beige G3 233mhz running OS X 10.2.8. I tried most everything first: rebuilt permissions using Disk Utility, which found nothing and made no difference. Then Disk Warrior 2.0 (can't run version 3 on the G3, since it can't boot from the DW 3 disk), which found a very few, trivial and unrelated errors which it corrected, but still Print Center quit. Verified it wasn't something in the printer, itself, a LaserWriter 15/600 PS, by printing with no problem to it from another machine on the network.

I was dreading trying an unrated software, especially since both the developer and other users had indicated potential serious problems. I would have done an archive and re-install of the OS (I spent the better part of the afternoon futzing with this problem), but it happens that the partition the OS X is on is very small (just 3.9 GB) for reasons too long to go into here, and it wasn't feasible, without a HEAP of extra time to do some pretty fancy shoehorning that would have been far from easy or elegant.

Finally, I decided to just bite the bullet. After checking and repairing the Print Center Permissions (step 4), Eureka! Print Center not only worked again, it ran better than it had in months - the paper almost flew out - instead of the previous long delays before printing a page (which I had attributed to the small amount of free space on the disk and a pretty slow processor.

Pretty impressive. Wish I'd had the courage to use it right from the start of the problem. The instructions were clear (once I printed them from a different computer!) and the application's step-by-step approach made it a snap for someone who's never used it to proceed without difficulty or confusion. On top of which, the download is a full working version, and payment is really on the honor system that way. I shall be sending him my money, and recommending the software to clients and other techs.

Thank you!

Don Levy
MacTherapist
Los Angeles

[alert admin]

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Sunday, December 19 2004 @ 01:48 AM PST

()

Way too buggy for too long! And "Support" is an oxymoron at MS.  

This product is deteriorating. While there have been a few important and potentially useful additions (Projects, for one), there have been bugs introduced and it feels like bloat is taking over. I am running on OS 10.2.8 and have installed the Autoupdate 1.1.2 (was hoping it would fix some problems, but no luck).

First, the worst bugs:

1. Entourage unpredictaly loses it's ability to receive even the simplest keyboard commands. The menu may flash momentarily, but nothing happens. One can only operate then by actually using the menu. At the same time, its responsiveness to the page up and page down keys also is lost. The "workaround" is to re-start the program, which then works correctly again - for a while - and then requires another restart. Ouch!

2. It crashes. A lot. Each crash generates a bug report to be sent to Microsoft, but there's no feedback from MS, so one doesn't even know if anyone reads the reports or whether anyone is working on a fix. Compressing the database seems to fix it for a while, but then it starts doing it again after a few days.Arghhh!

3. MS has added an infuriating "feature" and introduced an infuriating bug along with it: The feature is to no longer display HTML without my having to click on the "To protect your privacy, some pictures in this message were not downloaded. Download Pictures." button. Well, MS, it's nice you're concerned with my privacy, but how about giving me a choice? The only workaround to this newly introduced stumbling block is to put each individual sender in my already bloated address book, after which Entourage will assume I want to see the next message from that sender as sent, rather than Microsoft's version (this appears to be undocumented; you have to talk to a MS Support Supervisor to find it). Either way it takes way too much time to deal with. Where's the choice, MS? Last I looked, I was past 21 and supposedly capable of making my own choices about censorship. I called MS Support (more on this below) and finally got a supervisor who told me there were no plans to allow us any global choice. Sigh

4. Worse, once Entourage has downloaded some HTML with (I presurme) some code in it the program doesn't chew well, one can no longer open an Account or create a new Account. The same manager mentioned in item 3, above, said that MS was "aware of this issue," but that it wasn't "yet identified as a bug," then later phoned me back (a first in Microsoft history? !!) to proudly announce they had just escalated the "issue" and called it a bug, but hadn't published that info yet. Note this was several months ago. I guess they're short of money to make corrections to a really irritating bug. The only workaround appears to be to Quit and then restart Entourage. Sighhhhhhhh!

Which brings us to phone support:

5. MS, in its never ending quest to put more money in the shareholders' (especially a shareholder named Gates) pockets has brilliantly followed the stampede to India. Now mind you, this isn't a rant against foreigners in general, Indians in particular, nor even concern about what effect it has on our balance of trade and our employment/unemployment in the U.S. I leave the first to xenophobes, the second to people who hate people different from themselves, and the latter to the economists and politicians, all of whom are more than adequately available to put in their own spin (and willingly do so). What I hate about support calls to India is that the phone connection (and volume) is often lousy to downright maddening, the Indian-English accent is often difficult to my ear, accustomed as it is to our wierd Western twangs, slang, vocabulary and sentence structure, intonation and syllabic accent, etc., and - most of all - that the poor Indians staffing those lines have virtually nothing they are trusted and permitted to do to veer from the canned responses they are required to make: the official MS position. I frankly doubt seriously they can even see the real program in operation on a computer; instead, they seem to work from previously prepared, "canned" responses. This suggests MS either doesn't trust their own people for good reasons (such as they're not equipped for the job by MS via adequate training, which might then empower them to make diagnoses and judgments outside of the predominant, officially known issues and solutions), or - worse in social implication - that MS has substantial lack of respect and trust for its non-American workers).

If you can't understand the particular agent fate handed you, asking for another person or for a supervisor is difficult to impossible; you must hang up and start all over again (and it's not a simple process). You can demand to speak to a North American-based agent (who then may, if you request it, transfer you to a supervisor (or supervisor will call back in their own good time), but it takes persistence and enormous patienc, self-restraint, and a whole bunch of time to burn.

Of course, MS could train its staff in India so adequately they really understand and themselves are expert at using the software, so that the typical support call would be brief, on target, and useful, but then they'd have to pay people better and spend a lot more on training, and it's probably easier and far cheaper (but only in the short run, of course) to let most customers just get fatigued and give up.

Hey, Microsoft! Pay attention. Your software isn't running well and you're collective head is officially, if not in fact, in the sand.

P.S. I'm recommending Entourage 2004, but only because with all it's bugs and warts it's still worth using if your needs are complex. But try finding a simple way to add a sender to an email group; or try searching "quickly" for a company name (not indexed) in a 7,000 name address book (email addresses, first and last names and nicknames are indexed - those are just two examples of some fist-sized warts.

P.P.S. I waited three or four months to post this, after conveying these concerns to MS, hoping they'd address most or all of them. No luck. Anybody home, Redmond? Bill, are you there? Hello? Hellooooooo?

Don Levy
The Mac Therapist
Los Angeles [alert admin]

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Wednesday, December 15 2004 @ 11:05 AM PST

Adobe InDesign Text update 2.0.2 (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)

Adobe - you've got to be kidding!  

This update is one of the most bizarre I've ever seen from a major Mac OS X developer (or a minor developer, for that matter). I can't believe that Adobe can't design an installer that makes the necessary changes automatically. After all the effort they put into competing with Quark and making great progress, they make cranky old Quark seem positively user-friendly! Come on, Adobe, you can't really think someone with twenty machines is going to want to go through this, do you? Let's hope they're still reading these comments and pay somebody a little overtime to get this right. [alert admin]

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Wednesday, October 06 2004 @ 09:49 AM PDT

No user comments.