philosopherdog's Profile

Member since December 8, 2005

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    philosopherdog

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  1. Review - SpywareBlaster

    3.5.1 (Jan 2, 2006)

    Definitely the best thing I've used. Install it, run it once to enable the protections, and then you don't need to run it again. I haven't had spyware in years running this program. A total must have. I haven't checked out the update, but I'm sure it's solid.

  2. Review - Yahoo! Desktop Search

    1.2 Build 1852je (Dec 8, 2005)

    I've been using YDS for a while now. I think it's far superior to Google. For starters, Google will only include the first 500 words of a document in your search. Also, I hate the fact that it keeps a cached version of deleted documents. It might be really handy for some people, but it bugs me. I've also checked out Copernic, which I think is very good. I like it's small foot print, and it seems really stable. The main reason I don't use Copernic is that they're very conservative with PDF files. If there is any sort of restriction on the file you are not permitted to search its content. This is not the case with YDS. Anyhow, YDS I find is a brilliant piece of software. It might not search Opera mail, or whatever, but whatever. I guess everything can't be supported. My main complaint with it is that they have poor support. Their forum is really poor. There's little information on their main page. Indeed, you can't even tell that they have a new version if you go to their page! Poor support. Anyhow, check it out. Or check out Copernic, also quite good.

  3. Comment - Piracy Hurting Software Industry Growth

    1.2 Build 1852je (Dec 8, 2005 - 6:43 PM)

    I think it's true that these numbers are highly dubious. Perhaps the best thing that will happen to open source software is if the commercial makers make pirating nearly impossible. Let's face it, it's not rocket science to make software very difficult to copy. We all know software makers that do this. Many more people would be using linux or open office if they had to shell out the hundreds and hundreds this software retails for. I'm sure it's a deliberate strategy of many software makers to permit a certain amount of pirating, because many pirates also purchase software, and they tell friends about software.

    Also, not everyone is in a position to afford steep software prices, especially in places like China and Russia. How many month's salary would that software be for these folks? It seems unfair.

    The other main issue is that most software is junk and hardly worth paying for. There's poor service, bugs up the wazoo, but often there is little choice on the market, because of the unfair dominance of a few big players. Pirating is sometimes viewed as a form of protest against grossly rich software makers. Do you really believe that you need to help old Bill out with his bank balance? Did you even have a choice the last time you bought a major brand computer whether or not Bill got his cut? Is that fair? Anyhow, let's not get on the topic of corporate fairness. Who pays to bail these companies out when they go bust? You and me.

    I personally think that piracy is a kind of stealing that is quite dissimilar to other kinds. Firstly, if you copy something, you don't use anything up. Which makes it a lot different than stealing something from a store, like a banana, or whatever. Also, you're not necessarily taking money from the owner of the licence, since it's unlikely you would ever have bought it (at least at that time), indeed, you're likely to have given further power to something like Linux instead.

    So, let's talk about fairness too. We get Microsoft on their big horse, but how many of us have had no choice but to give this company money? My heart doesn't bleed for Microsoft, or Symantec, or Adobe, or...