3 Different Review
Review 1
newnovelist isn't worth anywhere near fifty dollars. The story types/categories are extremely limiting and don't even come close to portraying the full range of possible genres that a novel can fall into. Once you finish the "wizard" (which is where you title your story and choose a category) the program isn't interactive at all. There are no prompts and the help is vague and doesn't cover more than the most basic principles of how a novel is structured. You learn more about writing a novel by reading good books than you do from newnovelist's help sections. There's no text/grammar editor. There's not even a spellcheck. The one saving grace is that it does allow you to take extremely detailed notes about every possible element of your novel, and to access them conviently while you're writing. However, it doesn't offer any help in creating a timeline or outline for your story, so there's no real way to bring those notes together. All it has is a universal notes section where you can write your own timeline without any help from the program. It's slightly more convienient than keeping your notes in Windows Notepad and having it minimized while you work, but outside of it's organizational properties, it does virtually nothing. Microsoft Office 2000 offers more in depth and useful advice about writing structure and style than newnovelist does. Because I already have it, I'll keep it just because it DOES help me with my notes, but given the choice again, I wouldn't buy it.
EDIT: I would like to add that when I emailed the people at newnovelist to complain, their response was fast and courteous. They actually went to the trouble of calling me on the phone to remind me that newnovelist comes with a money back guarantee. When I told them that I had done too much work on my story with newnovelist to return it, they offered me a free copy of the upgrade, which is coming out later this summer. They also told me that the 30 day guarantee is basically a guideline and that if I still wasn't happy when they send me the upgrade, I could return both for a refund. I've never encountered a company that took the satisfaction of its customers so seriously. Although I haven't gotten the upgrade yet, I've been told that it not only has a spellcheck and editor, but that it also addresses several other concerns that I had directly. I look forward to using the new program, and I'll come back and let everybody know if it's any better.
Review 2
I ordered this a few days ago, the package arrived yesterday and I'm absolutely thrilled with this program. I consider myself to be an experienced writer, but it has taught me many new things and I'm very pleased with it.
It takes you right from the beginning of writing any kind of story, and takes you through each step. It doesn't give you all the answers, and the finished result won't be a clichéd or formulaic story. Don't think that this program will just hand you the skeleton for your story. Rather, it shows you examples of other skeletons and informs you about what pieces you might think about including. At no point does the program restrict your creativity.
The software is divided into sections, where you can design the book's different worlds and locations (including sections with everything from economical history to creatures to the smells of the place), your own characters (with lots of helpful hints to get you started and many different screens to develop your characters in), the storyline and much more.
I'm very glad I bought this product and I think that any future author needs this useful piece of software. It's turned about two hundred documents of scrappy, disorganised notes into one neat file and my writing is storming ahead. I fully recommend this product.
Review 3
This program is really good for organizing your thoughts. If that was all I wanted to use it for I would have given it 5 stars. However, there are some vast deficiencies. The biggest problem in my opinion is with the text editor. There is no spell check, you cant tab to begin new paragraphs, you can't change your font or write anything in bold, italics, or underline, cant set margins, cant indent, etc. Basically the text editor is non existant. Its a shell and thats all.
Aside from that I feel like it doesnt really fit for all kinds of writing. The descriptions in the story creation part are vague. They say that they are like that to give you room for imagination. But the problem is that they are so vague its almost as if it told you nothing at all. They kind of dont make any sense.
It seems to only offer one view point to a story. Their process is stuck on Hero vs. Antagonist. There is no story line for two heroes or two antognists. Plus the antagonist is assumed to be bad when not all books have a bad character in that sense. For example, this doesnt really work for romances.
I found that as I wrote and then moved on to the next stage, that stage turned out to be what I thought I was already writing, or that I wasnt sure what stage what I wrote belonged in. I ended up abandoning that part of the program all together and went back to using MS Word. Now I just use it as a place to store ideas and organize my characters.
Their website says you can get a full refund if you arent satisfied but they offer no phone number or email address to do that and the support people dont write back. I started trying to get my money back over a week before the time ran out and no one contacted me. Now its past the date and I'm stuck with a program that doesnt quite do all it boasts.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
ChemTutor Excalibur Software Review
3 Different Review
Review 1
In the product description and most of the reviews below, this software is presented as an interactive course and the Holy Grail for success in high school or introductory college chemistry. I made the mistake of ordering this software for my high school kids based on the product description and many of the 5-star reviews.
After I received the product from Amazon, I realized I should have paid more attention to a review posted by "marco" on July 4, 2004, who said: "I actually felt like a dupe for buying it". It also raised a question in my mind about the validity of the 5-star reviews, many of which have been posted in quick succession.
As pointed out by the previous review and also by "marco", ChemTutor assumes that you ALREADY know chemistry well. My opinion: ChemTutor is NOT a course, but a collection of multiple choice chemistry test questions with solutions, with the questions presented in random order of difficulty. One can get similar questions/solutions from the usual Chemistry test prep books, and most prep books also cover the basics. "ChemQuiz" might have been a more appropriate title for ChemTutor. I would have returned this product, but with opened software, that's not possible.
Unfortunately, even the ChemTutor software box says "A Complete Interactive Chemistry Course On CD", and has a quote printed on the back which says that with ChemTutor, "I could pretty much throw away my textbook".
This is probably the only instance in a few years of shopping on Amazon, where I felt misled by both the product description and "reviews". For that reason I feel compelled to post this, my first review on Amazon. For the misleading product description, I give this software a rating of 1 star; for the multiple choice questions, I give it 3 stars, resulting in an overall rating of 2 stars.
Review 2
I am a student of Chemistry AP course in high school. I took regular chemistry course during summer two years ago. Honestly, I forgot everything I learned. My memory's not so good. I was very worried when my teacher said we have a first big test coming up. Then, several of my friends recommended me ChemTutor Excalibur. They said it's great, so I tried it, and it was amazing! It explained many confusing stuffs in a very easy way, and "learn" and "explain" sections helped me more than my text book. Everything is organized very well. It was a great opportunity to experience many types of probolems. Also, great solution and explanation for every problem! I felt like I became a master of Chemistry! Indeed, I got 107 and 102 out of 100 in my two big tests that I took this year. I was very happy about that.
It is also very interesting to study with computer! It's not boring~!
I strongly recommend all of you to get this great helper!!!
ps: since it has very concise explanation, it's also very helpful for the international students!
Review 3
I have progressed quickly through loads of material in my Chemistry class, using only ChemTutor Excalibur. The "Learn" function effectively replaces your standard Chemistry textbook, and is all a student needs to learn either basic or advanced chemistry. Many students, including myself, have found the information on ChemTutor easier to grasp than its textbook equivalent.
ChemTutor is also wonderful for test preparation. It's the only tool I need to study! The textbook, the quiz preparation, and the sample term exams are all included in a single CD-ROM!
I wholeheartedly recommend ChemTutor Excalibur for the fastidious chemistry student, and for the teacher who wishes to do away with heavy textbooks. It's a lifesaver!
Review 1
In the product description and most of the reviews below, this software is presented as an interactive course and the Holy Grail for success in high school or introductory college chemistry. I made the mistake of ordering this software for my high school kids based on the product description and many of the 5-star reviews.
After I received the product from Amazon, I realized I should have paid more attention to a review posted by "marco" on July 4, 2004, who said: "I actually felt like a dupe for buying it". It also raised a question in my mind about the validity of the 5-star reviews, many of which have been posted in quick succession.
As pointed out by the previous review and also by "marco", ChemTutor assumes that you ALREADY know chemistry well. My opinion: ChemTutor is NOT a course, but a collection of multiple choice chemistry test questions with solutions, with the questions presented in random order of difficulty. One can get similar questions/solutions from the usual Chemistry test prep books, and most prep books also cover the basics. "ChemQuiz" might have been a more appropriate title for ChemTutor. I would have returned this product, but with opened software, that's not possible.
Unfortunately, even the ChemTutor software box says "A Complete Interactive Chemistry Course On CD", and has a quote printed on the back which says that with ChemTutor, "I could pretty much throw away my textbook".
This is probably the only instance in a few years of shopping on Amazon, where I felt misled by both the product description and "reviews". For that reason I feel compelled to post this, my first review on Amazon. For the misleading product description, I give this software a rating of 1 star; for the multiple choice questions, I give it 3 stars, resulting in an overall rating of 2 stars.
Review 2
I am a student of Chemistry AP course in high school. I took regular chemistry course during summer two years ago. Honestly, I forgot everything I learned. My memory's not so good. I was very worried when my teacher said we have a first big test coming up. Then, several of my friends recommended me ChemTutor Excalibur. They said it's great, so I tried it, and it was amazing! It explained many confusing stuffs in a very easy way, and "learn" and "explain" sections helped me more than my text book. Everything is organized very well. It was a great opportunity to experience many types of probolems. Also, great solution and explanation for every problem! I felt like I became a master of Chemistry! Indeed, I got 107 and 102 out of 100 in my two big tests that I took this year. I was very happy about that.
It is also very interesting to study with computer! It's not boring~!
I strongly recommend all of you to get this great helper!!!
ps: since it has very concise explanation, it's also very helpful for the international students!
Review 3
I have progressed quickly through loads of material in my Chemistry class, using only ChemTutor Excalibur. The "Learn" function effectively replaces your standard Chemistry textbook, and is all a student needs to learn either basic or advanced chemistry. Many students, including myself, have found the information on ChemTutor easier to grasp than its textbook equivalent.
ChemTutor is also wonderful for test preparation. It's the only tool I need to study! The textbook, the quiz preparation, and the sample term exams are all included in a single CD-ROM!
I wholeheartedly recommend ChemTutor Excalibur for the fastidious chemistry student, and for the teacher who wishes to do away with heavy textbooks. It's a lifesaver!
Hallmark Card Studio 2008 (Windows Vista / XP) Review
3 Different Review
Review 1
This is a great piece of software. I have XP and it was load and go right from the start. It is simple to use and does a lot of tasks too. Unlike other cardmakers - you don't even have to put the cd in the drive (once it's loaded of course...). Even my 70 year old father has made great cards using this. You can import you digital pictures for your cards too. Projects are easily saved to be worked on later if you wish. Buy this product - it is worth the money.
Review 2
I bought this to replace my previous hallmark software that would not work with windows xp and no drivers were available. This new software includes cards I have already bought in the hallmark store. what I liked most about my previous software was creating my own cards, but the clipart in this version is terrible. It looks like toddlers drew it. It does have the ability to email cards and add music which is nice, but I mostly bought it to make cards at home since I have trouble getting to the store and I am disappointed compared to my previous hallmark software. If I could get the driver for it, I would go back to it. I could have used that software forever.
Review 3
I am very happy with the wonderful cards I made with this Hallmark card studio 2008. No problem installing. Easy to use. It will pay for its self in no time. But, I misunderstood the discription about repairing photos. I thought I had the ability to fix up old photos. NOT. After reading manual, I learned I needed the Delux version to use the Photo works repair process. Now I am forced to eather buy the Delux version or look elswhere to find a software to repair old photos. I dont see buying another Hallmark card software just for this one thing and then waisting the money I paid for this software. I think they should have placed this in the discription. Then I would have just bought the Delux instead.
Review 1
This is a great piece of software. I have XP and it was load and go right from the start. It is simple to use and does a lot of tasks too. Unlike other cardmakers - you don't even have to put the cd in the drive (once it's loaded of course...). Even my 70 year old father has made great cards using this. You can import you digital pictures for your cards too. Projects are easily saved to be worked on later if you wish. Buy this product - it is worth the money.
Review 2
I bought this to replace my previous hallmark software that would not work with windows xp and no drivers were available. This new software includes cards I have already bought in the hallmark store. what I liked most about my previous software was creating my own cards, but the clipart in this version is terrible. It looks like toddlers drew it. It does have the ability to email cards and add music which is nice, but I mostly bought it to make cards at home since I have trouble getting to the store and I am disappointed compared to my previous hallmark software. If I could get the driver for it, I would go back to it. I could have used that software forever.
Review 3
I am very happy with the wonderful cards I made with this Hallmark card studio 2008. No problem installing. Easy to use. It will pay for its self in no time. But, I misunderstood the discription about repairing photos. I thought I had the ability to fix up old photos. NOT. After reading manual, I learned I needed the Delux version to use the Photo works repair process. Now I am forced to eather buy the Delux version or look elswhere to find a software to repair old photos. I dont see buying another Hallmark card software just for this one thing and then waisting the money I paid for this software. I think they should have placed this in the discription. Then I would have just bought the Delux instead.
ScanSoft PaperPort 11 Professional Review
3 Different Review
Review 1
This is the first time I have been so dissatisfied with a product, and a company, that I have taken the time to write a review to warn others away. I bought PaperPort 11 Pro packaged with OminPage Pro 15 on a 15 day "free" trial. The price was for a package of PaperPort Pro 11 with OminiPage Pro 15 packaged with it for "free." I emphasize "free" because Nuance billed my account and collected their money for the PaperPort the day after I placed my order. I suppose I should have been alarmed by the haste with which they grabbed the money. Reminiscent of a snake oil salesman who has just sold you a guaranteed miracle cure, grabs your money, and then gets out of town before you find out that you will be lucky if the cure doesn't kill you. Nonetheless, I soldiered on. After days of constant lockups and crashes (and not on a low end PC run by an idiot) you can well imagine how delighted I was to get an email from Nuance telling me that they were preparing to relieve my bank account of nearly three times the price of the PaperPort for the "free" OmniPage Pro 15. Amazon review Guidelines say I shouldn't mention the specific price. I suppose I can say that you had better watch out on any pricing scheme Nuance my throw out as a lure. Trust me, you are seeing the bait, not the hook. It is not that I didn't read the offer carefully, I'm an attorney. Read the other reviews and ask yourself -- even if the software was the best in the world, do you really want to trust yourself to a company that can enable even the illiterate to understand Caveat Emptor?
Review 2
If you want to manage both scanned and electronic documents, there is really no alternative to PaperPort. And that's too bad, because this flawed product just goes on and on with little or no improvement.
What flaws? The major one is that the program has two completely separate modes of operation, organize or view. The thumbnails are too small to read, so you can't label the document until you switch to the view mode to see what it is. Then, you have to go back to organize mode in order to apply the label, key words, what have you.
The next flaw is really a bug, but one that PaperPort perpetuates release after release. normally, you would want to sort your view of thumbnails by date, with the most recent ones on top. PaperPort pretends it can sort this way, but in fact when it indexes, it destroys the file dates of every file, rendering sort-by-date useless.
And this is emblematic of the company's attitude, which seems to be "too bad." As others have stated here, support is horrible and actually worse than no support at all. It is outsourced to India or the Philippines or somewhere, and those people know less about the product than you or I do. And you pay for it.
But getting back to my title, there really is no alternative. PaperPort is a perfect example of what happens when market forces are not at work. No one else competes in this space, so Nuance (I love that name) has no reason to improve it, other than to bring out meaningless expensive upgrades on some kind of schedule.
So if you have to organize your documents, this is all you have.
Review 3
I have been using Paperport for years. Each upgrade has added nice new features but also bugs. But the bugs were minor and I could live with them.
Recently I received several ads in the mail and an email from Nuance to upgrade from v10 to 11. Ad sounded great and the price $99 was reasonable. So I figured "what the heck." Clicked on the email link to upgrade and takes me to a non-existing website. Typed in the website link from the mail ad, again, no website. Probably should have clued me in, but I went against my best judgement and called Nuance to buy the download.
Installed the product. Registration didn't work smoothly but wasn't a big deal. Then I tried to scan a document. I checked the "Capture Assistant" box and clicked scan. Scanner does its thing then at the end of the first page, I get the famous Windows XP error box to report error to Microsoft. So I rebooted and tried again, without the Capture Assistant. Scanned my document OK this time. Sounds good, right?
Wrong. I have an automatic document feeder (ADF) which allows me to scan both sides of a document (at least in previous versions of Paperort). Wtih v11, I can only scan both sides automatically if I use Capture Assitant. Except whenever I use it, it crashes. Now I cannot take advantage of my ADF and have to scan 2-sided docuements page by page manually! That would be fine for a couple of pages but a nightmare for a 10-page (20-sides) docuemnt. So I should contact customer support for help, right?
Wrong again. You have to pay for support. That would be fine it I'm don't know how to use the product and need a little guidance. But I should not have to pay to report software crashes. And what if I pay for help and they can't help me? Do I get my money back?
I sincerely hope an update soon will fix my problem. But I doubt it will happen since very few people will pay to let Nuance know about these issues. And if they don't know about the bugs, they are unlikely going to fix them. Soon I will likely attempt to take advantage of my "30-day money back guarantee". Probably have to pay a fee for that too!
Review 1
This is the first time I have been so dissatisfied with a product, and a company, that I have taken the time to write a review to warn others away. I bought PaperPort 11 Pro packaged with OminPage Pro 15 on a 15 day "free" trial. The price was for a package of PaperPort Pro 11 with OminiPage Pro 15 packaged with it for "free." I emphasize "free" because Nuance billed my account and collected their money for the PaperPort the day after I placed my order. I suppose I should have been alarmed by the haste with which they grabbed the money. Reminiscent of a snake oil salesman who has just sold you a guaranteed miracle cure, grabs your money, and then gets out of town before you find out that you will be lucky if the cure doesn't kill you. Nonetheless, I soldiered on. After days of constant lockups and crashes (and not on a low end PC run by an idiot) you can well imagine how delighted I was to get an email from Nuance telling me that they were preparing to relieve my bank account of nearly three times the price of the PaperPort for the "free" OmniPage Pro 15. Amazon review Guidelines say I shouldn't mention the specific price. I suppose I can say that you had better watch out on any pricing scheme Nuance my throw out as a lure. Trust me, you are seeing the bait, not the hook. It is not that I didn't read the offer carefully, I'm an attorney. Read the other reviews and ask yourself -- even if the software was the best in the world, do you really want to trust yourself to a company that can enable even the illiterate to understand Caveat Emptor?
Review 2
If you want to manage both scanned and electronic documents, there is really no alternative to PaperPort. And that's too bad, because this flawed product just goes on and on with little or no improvement.
What flaws? The major one is that the program has two completely separate modes of operation, organize or view. The thumbnails are too small to read, so you can't label the document until you switch to the view mode to see what it is. Then, you have to go back to organize mode in order to apply the label, key words, what have you.
The next flaw is really a bug, but one that PaperPort perpetuates release after release. normally, you would want to sort your view of thumbnails by date, with the most recent ones on top. PaperPort pretends it can sort this way, but in fact when it indexes, it destroys the file dates of every file, rendering sort-by-date useless.
And this is emblematic of the company's attitude, which seems to be "too bad." As others have stated here, support is horrible and actually worse than no support at all. It is outsourced to India or the Philippines or somewhere, and those people know less about the product than you or I do. And you pay for it.
But getting back to my title, there really is no alternative. PaperPort is a perfect example of what happens when market forces are not at work. No one else competes in this space, so Nuance (I love that name) has no reason to improve it, other than to bring out meaningless expensive upgrades on some kind of schedule.
So if you have to organize your documents, this is all you have.
Review 3
I have been using Paperport for years. Each upgrade has added nice new features but also bugs. But the bugs were minor and I could live with them.
Recently I received several ads in the mail and an email from Nuance to upgrade from v10 to 11. Ad sounded great and the price $99 was reasonable. So I figured "what the heck." Clicked on the email link to upgrade and takes me to a non-existing website. Typed in the website link from the mail ad, again, no website. Probably should have clued me in, but I went against my best judgement and called Nuance to buy the download.
Installed the product. Registration didn't work smoothly but wasn't a big deal. Then I tried to scan a document. I checked the "Capture Assistant" box and clicked scan. Scanner does its thing then at the end of the first page, I get the famous Windows XP error box to report error to Microsoft. So I rebooted and tried again, without the Capture Assistant. Scanned my document OK this time. Sounds good, right?
Wrong. I have an automatic document feeder (ADF) which allows me to scan both sides of a document (at least in previous versions of Paperort). Wtih v11, I can only scan both sides automatically if I use Capture Assitant. Except whenever I use it, it crashes. Now I cannot take advantage of my ADF and have to scan 2-sided docuements page by page manually! That would be fine for a couple of pages but a nightmare for a 10-page (20-sides) docuemnt. So I should contact customer support for help, right?
Wrong again. You have to pay for support. That would be fine it I'm don't know how to use the product and need a little guidance. But I should not have to pay to report software crashes. And what if I pay for help and they can't help me? Do I get my money back?
I sincerely hope an update soon will fix my problem. But I doubt it will happen since very few people will pay to let Nuance know about these issues. And if they don't know about the bugs, they are unlikely going to fix them. Soon I will likely attempt to take advantage of my "30-day money back guarantee". Probably have to pay a fee for that too!
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Software Review
3 Different Review
Review 1
I'm a windows user. Always have been. But i'll definitely be looking at Macs in the future.
What i don't understand is how this OS only receives an 8.0. Ubuntu doesn't compare with either Vista or this one. Vista has so many versions, its unreal and a crappy security policy when you go to install it.
What's not to like about OS X? You can boot up much quicker, don't have the drivers mess, has more features, and is easier to use. It's much more secure and is just a seamless OS without the bloat Vista has and doesn't suck the resources.
Review 2
First of all, I have OS X 10.5, don't ask how. I've used everything from Windows 3.1 to Vista Ultimate, and I can tell you with all certainty that OS X kills them all. Tiger killed them all. Leopard is just over kill. And you have the balls to give it an 8.0!?
What is this 'Apple Complex' you idiot reviewers have against Apple? You can't give an apple product more than 8.3 NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT IS. NO MATTER HOW IT COMPARES TO VISTA. You're so full of **** it's indescribable.
Either raise the rating to it's well-deserved 9.0 or higher or this site has no reputation anymore. For anything.
Review 3
As a long time PC user, I was excited last year to purchase my first Mac. I went with the Macbook Pro since I frequently need to multitask and I occasionally enjoy a 3d game. After almost a year of use I have had 0 major problems with OSX 10.4 and have never needed to turn it off without shutting down. So I purchased and installed Leopard on its release date of Oct. 26th expecting it to be as stable as its predecessor. But after just few hours of playing with its new features I started to notice MAJOR bugs. First is that if I run on battery for more than 20min the computer immediately powers off. The second problem is that every time I have a problem with a wireless network the computer locks up and informs me to hold down the power button until it shuts off. The final major problem that I have encountered is that after just eight days of use the computer began to lock up every time it started and I eventually needed to reformat the main disk. These problems along with a laundry list of other minor glitches are problems I would expect with Windows, not OSX. But Leopard is not all bad; as a heavy miltitasker I find spaces and the preview feature to be VERY useful, and Time Machine seems like it would work well if you have a large backup hard drive (500GB+). Overall Leopard is a brilliant and an ahead of its time operating system, but I would not recommend it until Apple works out the many bugs.
Review 1
I'm a windows user. Always have been. But i'll definitely be looking at Macs in the future.
What i don't understand is how this OS only receives an 8.0. Ubuntu doesn't compare with either Vista or this one. Vista has so many versions, its unreal and a crappy security policy when you go to install it.
What's not to like about OS X? You can boot up much quicker, don't have the drivers mess, has more features, and is easier to use. It's much more secure and is just a seamless OS without the bloat Vista has and doesn't suck the resources.
Review 2
First of all, I have OS X 10.5, don't ask how. I've used everything from Windows 3.1 to Vista Ultimate, and I can tell you with all certainty that OS X kills them all. Tiger killed them all. Leopard is just over kill. And you have the balls to give it an 8.0!?
What is this 'Apple Complex' you idiot reviewers have against Apple? You can't give an apple product more than 8.3 NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT IS. NO MATTER HOW IT COMPARES TO VISTA. You're so full of **** it's indescribable.
Either raise the rating to it's well-deserved 9.0 or higher or this site has no reputation anymore. For anything.
Review 3
As a long time PC user, I was excited last year to purchase my first Mac. I went with the Macbook Pro since I frequently need to multitask and I occasionally enjoy a 3d game. After almost a year of use I have had 0 major problems with OSX 10.4 and have never needed to turn it off without shutting down. So I purchased and installed Leopard on its release date of Oct. 26th expecting it to be as stable as its predecessor. But after just few hours of playing with its new features I started to notice MAJOR bugs. First is that if I run on battery for more than 20min the computer immediately powers off. The second problem is that every time I have a problem with a wireless network the computer locks up and informs me to hold down the power button until it shuts off. The final major problem that I have encountered is that after just eight days of use the computer began to lock up every time it started and I eventually needed to reformat the main disk. These problems along with a laundry list of other minor glitches are problems I would expect with Windows, not OSX. But Leopard is not all bad; as a heavy miltitasker I find spaces and the preview feature to be VERY useful, and Time Machine seems like it would work well if you have a large backup hard drive (500GB+). Overall Leopard is a brilliant and an ahead of its time operating system, but I would not recommend it until Apple works out the many bugs.
Apple Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Software Review
3 Different Review
Review 1
As far as raw power and professional features go, this is the new gold standard of computing. As a user in the legal profession, I've searched forever for the best way to organize the tens of thousands of Microsoft Word documents on my computer. Spotlight, Apple's new global search feature, has completely solved that problem. I've set up smart folders based on all sorts of criteria and the system automatically updates to find anything.
The same praise should be extended to Automator. Every day, I think of more and more repetitive tasks that can be turned over to the Mac. It's one of those features that you easily could forget you had. But if you think creatively about how it could help your work, you won't know how you lived without it.
The 64-bit architecture makes this an essential upgrade for G5 users.
I have two complaints:
1. Dashboard, though more useful than Sherlock, doesn't seem particularly compelling to me. Others may find it useful, but it doesn't fit into my workflow. That's not a big deal, of course, since there are plenty of other features that do catch my interest.
2. A more significant concern, from my perspective, is that the user interface continues to become less consistent. Safari/iTunes/Finder look one way; Mail looks another; most of the rest of the applications look yet another way. Why Apple's interface designers can't pick up on the consistency of Apple's hardware is beyond me. Still, it's much better than Windows even in this respect (and vastly better in terms the power of its features), so there's really no competition at present.
With those qualifiers, I think this is an outstanding system that is helping me to work more efficiently. Highly recommended.
Review 2
Apple's latest is definately worth the money. Spotlight will, without a doubt, change the way you work, from finding documents, to opening programs, it makes everything truly easier and faster. Dashboard is a great plus. Though nothing necessarily groundbreaking, it is nice to have all that info without having to move in a web browser. The best improvements are going to be the ones that you don't see with improved security, stability, and speed. My only (extremely minor) complaint is Mail's graphical update. While I don't mind it by itself, it does not fit in with the rest of Apple's programs visually. If they all were changed it would be one thing, but Mail now is the 'odd man out' visually.
Review 3
I backed up my Mac laptop and performed an upgrade over my existing install. Spotlight did its thing to index the drive. I've noticed snappier response from my 1.25Ghz G4 PowerBook (15" and lovin' it). Permission checking which was a bit of a dog on Panther, is noticeably faster in Tiger. I've experienced an overall better feel than Panther on my well-worn hard drive.
Spotlight is incredibly fast and with the help of smart folders will make data easier to find.
The new widgets are nice, but having used Konfabulator they are little more than eye candy to me. Yet, some users will find them extremely useful and are there if you like them.
I've only begun to "scratch" the surface of Tiger, but given time, I intend to take a very close look at Automator. This is the one feature that really caught my interest. Scripting for the masses, IOW. How many times I have wanted to have an relatively simple way to do a series of tasks, without learning a script language, but couldn't. Apple heard my cries of anguish and I will accept the challenge.
In Safari, top-notch RSS handling and faster performance for browsing the web. Not to mention a new 'private browsing' feature. This isn't anything like Anonymizer disguising your IP, it's an as you browse "cover your tracks" of normally stored browser data.
A few programs didn't play well with Tiger, but that's normal. Check the web site of the program for Tiger-ized updates, if an update is necessary. Be extra careful about using utility programs made for Panther in Tiger, such as backup and hard disk utilities. Tiger is different under the hood and older programs won't back up all of your data properly.
There are other things I don't have the time or space to touch on. Suffice to say I'm pleased with Tiger thus far and glad I made the upgrade.
Review 1
As far as raw power and professional features go, this is the new gold standard of computing. As a user in the legal profession, I've searched forever for the best way to organize the tens of thousands of Microsoft Word documents on my computer. Spotlight, Apple's new global search feature, has completely solved that problem. I've set up smart folders based on all sorts of criteria and the system automatically updates to find anything.
The same praise should be extended to Automator. Every day, I think of more and more repetitive tasks that can be turned over to the Mac. It's one of those features that you easily could forget you had. But if you think creatively about how it could help your work, you won't know how you lived without it.
The 64-bit architecture makes this an essential upgrade for G5 users.
I have two complaints:
1. Dashboard, though more useful than Sherlock, doesn't seem particularly compelling to me. Others may find it useful, but it doesn't fit into my workflow. That's not a big deal, of course, since there are plenty of other features that do catch my interest.
2. A more significant concern, from my perspective, is that the user interface continues to become less consistent. Safari/iTunes/Finder look one way; Mail looks another; most of the rest of the applications look yet another way. Why Apple's interface designers can't pick up on the consistency of Apple's hardware is beyond me. Still, it's much better than Windows even in this respect (and vastly better in terms the power of its features), so there's really no competition at present.
With those qualifiers, I think this is an outstanding system that is helping me to work more efficiently. Highly recommended.
Review 2
Apple's latest is definately worth the money. Spotlight will, without a doubt, change the way you work, from finding documents, to opening programs, it makes everything truly easier and faster. Dashboard is a great plus. Though nothing necessarily groundbreaking, it is nice to have all that info without having to move in a web browser. The best improvements are going to be the ones that you don't see with improved security, stability, and speed. My only (extremely minor) complaint is Mail's graphical update. While I don't mind it by itself, it does not fit in with the rest of Apple's programs visually. If they all were changed it would be one thing, but Mail now is the 'odd man out' visually.
Review 3
I backed up my Mac laptop and performed an upgrade over my existing install. Spotlight did its thing to index the drive. I've noticed snappier response from my 1.25Ghz G4 PowerBook (15" and lovin' it). Permission checking which was a bit of a dog on Panther, is noticeably faster in Tiger. I've experienced an overall better feel than Panther on my well-worn hard drive.
Spotlight is incredibly fast and with the help of smart folders will make data easier to find.
The new widgets are nice, but having used Konfabulator they are little more than eye candy to me. Yet, some users will find them extremely useful and are there if you like them.
I've only begun to "scratch" the surface of Tiger, but given time, I intend to take a very close look at Automator. This is the one feature that really caught my interest. Scripting for the masses, IOW. How many times I have wanted to have an relatively simple way to do a series of tasks, without learning a script language, but couldn't. Apple heard my cries of anguish and I will accept the challenge.
In Safari, top-notch RSS handling and faster performance for browsing the web. Not to mention a new 'private browsing' feature. This isn't anything like Anonymizer disguising your IP, it's an as you browse "cover your tracks" of normally stored browser data.
A few programs didn't play well with Tiger, but that's normal. Check the web site of the program for Tiger-ized updates, if an update is necessary. Be extra careful about using utility programs made for Panther in Tiger, such as backup and hard disk utilities. Tiger is different under the hood and older programs won't back up all of your data properly.
There are other things I don't have the time or space to touch on. Suffice to say I'm pleased with Tiger thus far and glad I made the upgrade.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)