User Profile for mjkphoto

Billings 2.5.5 (Mac OS X)

Template driven feature set very limited.  

If your workflow includes multiple projects per client and you wish to include more than one project on an invoice, Billings is not for you. Billings tracks your work by project and work slips within a project. But what if you have more than one project for a client. You must print a separate invoice for each project/client. Dumb. Want to track start and end dates/times for your work. You can. It is cumbersome and there's no way to include this information on the limited reports offered. You can't customize reports. Billings is a limited, template driven time tracking and invoicing software with poor documentation, limited, cumbersome customization options, and poor implementation. [alert admin]

Post a comment | More Info  |  1 of 2 users found this helpful

Wednesday, February 27 2008 @ 05:10 AM PST

Montage 1.3.2 (Mac OS X)

No compelling reason to switch to Montage.  

Montage doesn't offer a compelling reason for me to abandon MovieMagic Screenwriter. Montage is supposed to import Screenwriter files, but I've yet to get that feature to work during beta testing. Like Screenwriter, I had to alter the default Stage Play template to get the format right. As a long time user of Screenwriter, I upgraded to version 6 for only $99. The only time Montage's price fell below $100 is when it was first introduced and then during the past holiday season, which saw a 40% discount on the price. Montage does what it says it does, but the price is too steep. I'm skeptical that Industry professionals will move to Montage or that producing companies will accept Montage scripts. If that materializes, great. But at the moment, Final Draft and MovieMagic Screenwriter are the standards. [alert admin]

Read Comments (1) | More Info  |  1 of 2 users found this helpful

Friday, January 11 2008 @ 08:18 AM PST

Genuine Fractals 3.5 (Mac OS X)

What compelling reasons are there for upgrading to version 4?  

I've been using Genuine Fractals 3.5 with OS X Tiger and Photoshop CS and CS2 with no apparent problems. So, I wonder what compelling reasons are there for me to upgrade to version 4? I'd rather not spend the $100 for an upgrade if it isn't necessary. onOne Software (did Lizardtech sell Genuine Fractals?—I'm so out of the loop) tells me I must upgrade, but I am not sure why (except to give them more money). [alert admin]

Read Comments (1) | More Info  |  2 of 2 users found this helpful

Wednesday, September 14 2005 @ 08:34 AM PDT

Nisus Writer Express 2.0 (Mac OS X)

Disappointing upgrade.  

With eager anticipation, I downloaded the trial version of Nisus Writer Express 2.0. Compatibility with MS Word and WordPerfect documents sounded very appealing. Unfortunately, Nisus Writer Express 2.0 fails to deliver on document compatibility. While complex MS Word documents did open, the formatting was not correct. One document in particular, a two page invoice with a logo, opened as a three page document. Page margins were not set correctly and the borders one of three tables failed to transfer properly. I was able to make some adjustments, but failed to get the document to format exactly as it was originally intended. WordPerfect documents faired worse. Neither PC or Mac WordPerfect documents would open, even though this is advertised as a new feature in version 2. Another disturbing discovery was that formatting modifications to a document, such as page margins (which were very difficult to find—margins is set in the Sections menu rather than a document formatting menu), were somehow saved to the file, even though I closed the document without saving it first. Apparently, the program saves the file when you close the window without asking if the user wants to save any changes. Perhaps that is why there is an option to open a file as a new document, to avoid saving any unwanted changes to an existing document. I had trouble changing the default page margins. Once I found the menu to make such changes, the margin fields displayed an odd behavior. When I set the top margin to 1 inch, the setting would disappear from the margin field, even though it appeared to be correct on the screen. Also, after working in the program for a while, the margins on all opened documents were changed to 0.17 inch at the top and bottom. What sounded like a promising new release is a disappointing upgrade. The Mac environment desparately needs a viable alternative to MS Word. Unfortunately, from what I've seen, Nisus Writer Express 2.0 still needs work to compete. [alert admin]

Post a comment | More Info  |  1 of 1 users found this helpful

Friday, September 10 2004 @ 05:06 PM PDT

Page Sender 3.2 (Mac OS X)

Stellar support gives Page Sender the edge.  

I'm very pleased with Page Sender. Once I got used to the way the program handles phone numbers, it has worked without a hitch. I don't send faxes from my PowerBook often, but when I do, I need the program to work well. OS X's fax features just didn't work well. Page Sender does. Recently I upgraded to the latest version of Page Sender, and while I thought the program transferred the registration number to the new version. It didn't. Of course, I discovered this when I needed to send a fax. Thankfully, I was able to send the fax without entering the registration number. I then emailed Page Sender Support to ask why the number didn't transfer. Within minutes I got a response that included my registration number and information on how to look it up in the future. Since I was on location (without access to registration records), this response was just what I needed. If technical support is important to you, then you must consider Page Sender. I was pleasantly surprised by such a quick and effective response. Page Sender is the right fax app for me. [alert admin]

Post a comment | More Info

Wednesday, April 21 2004 @ 03:42 PM PDT

What happens when the script is finished?  

The entire industry does not use Final Draft. A good section of the industry uses Movie Magic Screenwriter. Whether the industry will welcome Montage is unknown. If you need to fit in a Final Draft (electronic) work flow, or Screenwriter for that matter, then Montage may not be right for you.

Original feedback item : Read More

Wednesday, August 09 2006 @ 03:58 PM PDT