Tetris wars
It looks like The Tetris Company is up to its old tricks again. Two years ago, they made legal threats against Simon Härtel, the developer of Quinn. Now they’ve done the same to Noah Witherspoon’s freeware Tris, a simple version of Tetris for the iPhone. Macworld has the details, but interesting to note is that in some ways Tris is superior to the official $10 Tetris made by Electronic Arts. The bottom line is that Tris has been pulled from the iPhone apps store.
Back in 2006, Härtel was forced to suspend distribution of Quinn for a few months while he sought a way out of his legal predicament. In the end, it seems, all that was needed was a disclaimer — “Neither Quinn nor anything on this site is affiliated with or sponsored by The Tetris Company or part of their Tetris line of products” — at the bottom of his website. Who knows — he may have had to promise his first-born child as well. It would be great if Witherspoon could come up with a similar deal, but judging from his blog it doesn’t look like he’s up any battles.
Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 in Opinion
What a loverly bunch of browsers
I recently expressed some irritation at the way Firefox for the Mac seems to be an afterthought in the development process. Firefox evangelist Asa Dotzler assured us that Firefox developers do indeed have a high regard for the Mac. But he also took pains to point out that Mac developers have not exactly been stepping up to the plate in droves to ensure that their platform is well represented in Firefox efforts.
I jokingly replied that it might be because they are too busy creating their own browsers. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered why so many people seem to find it necessary to download WebKit and create their own “light” or “speedy” browser. With a few exceptions, what this really means is that these efforts are so lacking in features that they are pretty much useless.
Macworld recently reviewed the current crop of 10 top Mac browsers. Half of them are based on WebKit: iCab, Safari, DevonAgent, OmniWeb and Shiira. Four of them are based on Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine: Firefox, Camino, SeaMonkey and Flock — although Flock is not actually produced by the Mozilla Foundation. And of course there is Opera, which uses the proprietary Presto engine.
And that just scratches the surface. A search on web browser at MacUpdate turns up a huge list. Among them are such obscure entities as Sunrise, Radon, the moribund Netscape Navigator, Nova, Lightbrowser, Dreams, DeskBrowse, LanderBrowse, Scourge and surfDude.
So getting back to the orginal question of development for Firefox, the question is this: Would the time spent developing surfDude, for example, have been better spent working on spiffing up Firefox? Just look at John Gruber’s list of gripes about the latest Firefox beta. There is still hope that they will be fixed in time for the final release, but the loving attention of Mac developers currently devoted to the Novas or Radons of this world would surely help. And what the hay — do we really need Shiira? I know it has a lot of fans, but imagine if some its cool features were in Firefox instead.
Of course, we shouldn’t let Mozilla off the hook either. Why, for example, is Camino a separate project? Camino is everything Firefox should be in terms of behaving like a true Mac app. Isn’t there some way these efforts can be combined? And as for SeaMonkey, let’s face it — this is little more than an attempt to keep the old all-in-one Netscape alive under a different name. Maybe it’s time to let it go.
In the end, only the people working on all these alternative browsers can answer the question of why they decided to go off on their own path. Do they really think they can do something better by themselves? Even if their efforts wouldn’t have made any difference to Firefox, it makes ya wonder.
Posted Saturday, April 5, 2008 in Opinion
Fundraising for LabTick
If you ever thought you might like to control the brightness of the backlight on your laptop keyboard, LabTick is the way to go. Developer Alexander Repty continues to make improvements to this nifty little utility, but he’s run into a bit of a roadblock: His PowerBook G4 is getting old and slow. LabTick remains freeware, but he is making a special plea for donations to buy a new Mac. So far, he’s raised $219, which leaves him with a long way to go. If LabTick has made keyboard backlighting more tolerable for you, be sure to pitch in so the developer can have a computer at least as good as yours.
Posted Friday, April 4, 2008 in Opinion
Recommended reading
When thriftmac started up a couple of years ago there were no lofty ideas or grand designs associated with it — just a desire to get all the best Mac freeware in one spot where it is easy to find.
But every now and then, we realize that there are many people who take the concept of free software very seriously indeed. One of those is the Free Software Foundation. This group actively promotes the idea of freely sharing, studying and modifying software for the greater good. And they’ve been doing it since 1985.
A few days ago we linked to an article written by a developer who insisted that there must be some cost associated with software — otherwise it would wither on the vine. The Free Software Foundation takes a completely opposite view, arguing that software flourishes with freedom. The site provides much food for thought for anyone who has ever wondered how it is that so many apps are freely available.
Posted Tuesday, April 1, 2008 in Opinion
What it means to be free
Daniel Jalkut, developer of the acclaimed MarsEdit and other apps, has posted an excellent article about the ins and outs of offering free software. He argues that since developers need to make a living, many of the great programs we enjoy wouldn’t exist if they didn’t charge for them. Jalkut makes some good points, but there are also some good rebuttals in the comments.
Posted Thursday, March 27, 2008 in Opinion
The search for a good, free journal continues
In November of 2006, we wrote about how MacJournal was no longer freeware, and how there weren’t any really great replacements. We figured Journler might fit the bill, especially since the developer promised that it would always be free.
But with many regrets, and a perfectly plausible explanation, he has decided to start charging $34.95. There doesn’t seem to be any wiggle room — you have to pay.
It’s interesting to note the contrast between Journler’s transition to payware versus that of MacJournal. The comments on Journler developer Phil Dow’s blog are universally positive. On the other hand, I still shudder when I think of the vitriol aimed at Dan Schimpf when he took MacJournal commercial with Mariner Software.
So the search continues. The closest thing to a solid freeware journal we’ve been able to find is viJournal Lite. It has significantly fewer features than the full version, including what may be a showstopper for many — the inability to post entries to a blog. Still, the features it does have may be more than enough for some.
If you have a suggestion on a good freeware journaling app, please add it to the comments.
Posted Friday, February 22, 2008 in Opinion
He may be right
Liam Tung at ZDNet Australia asks the question that many of us have been afraid to say out loud: Are PC users diluting the IQ of the Mac community?
I have to say that it’s crossed my mind that this may be a downside of having a lot of people switching from PC to Mac. And he’s not being snarky — there could be implications for the security of the platform.
Posted Friday, January 25, 2008 in Opinion
NetNewsWire freeware fallout
Developers Paul Kafasis of Rogue Amoeba and Rory Prior of ThinkMac have voiced their displeasure with the announcement that NetNewsWire is now freeware.
Kafasis fears it will lead to a devaluation of software as an increasing number of people clamour for more, or even all, software to be free. Large companies like NewsGator might be able to use this type of business model, but small independents would quickly go out of business.
Prior admits to being bitter, because the switch to freeware is going to make it all that much harder to sell his 12-euro RSS shareware NewsLife. He goes so far as to call the move anti-competitive.
For my part, I’ve always believed in supporting software developers if at all possible. For example, when freeware developers ask for a donation, even a couple of dollars can be a big boost for their morale. It’s more than just money — it’s a sign of appreciation.
But when it comes to RSS readers, specifically, we appear to be entering an era where they have become like web browsers and e-mail apps. There are plenty of good ones available for free. RSS feeds have become so ubiquitous that you can integrate them into Safari and Mail. Developers can charge, but they’d better have some pretty darn good features to entice us.
The other thing worth mentioning is that having a separate app for RSS feeds is not the way most people go. Statistics for thriftmac show that most people prefer Google’s web-based reader. I’ve seen similar stats for other websites.
Many people, myself included, prefer the experience of a separate app. I liked NetNewsWire enough that I was willing to pay for it. But for others, including a high percentage of thriftmac readers, the open source Vienna is just fine.
Prediction: RSS will become as free as the air.
Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008 in Opinion
Surviving with Leopard
Zaphu is at it again, this time with a list of Mac freeware that remains necessary even after Apple’s latest OS release. When last we looked, Zaphu had listed freeware apps made redundant by Leopard.
The list of freeware we still need has some interesting picks. I especially agree with the choices of media player VLC and FTP client Cyberduck. Quicktime can play just about anything VLC can, but you often have to download the codecs and these sometimes have strings attached to them. As for FTP, you can still use the Go menu to connect to a server, but it remains read only. It really is surprising that something as basic as FTP isn’t built into the system.
See for yourself what else Zaphu considers necessary.
Posted Saturday, December 22, 2007 in Opinion
Hear, hear
Apple Mac HQ is calling on readers to catch the spirit of giving this Christmas and make a point of donating to freeware developers. Great idea. Even a buck or two, if it’s all you can afford, would be encouraging.
Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 in Opinion
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