Let’s face it – software can be a really annoying thing sometimes.
Things like extraneous dialog boxes, “tips of the day”, ambiguous error messages and clippers ticking on your screen happen daily. But sometimes, sometimes, you get a stupid behaviour from a hugely popular application and you want to smash your head on the screen till it bleeds to death – two times.
While at work, I use Microsoft Outlook 2007 for managing company e-mail. I have to say, in terms of memory hogs, this thing is a winner! I cannot possibly imagine why it hangs every time with a very moderately-sized inbox, 2Gb of RAM and a 3Ghz processor, but it does.
After waiting the full 30-40 seconds for it to load, I decide to create a filter for the e-mails received by the new guy that was recently hired. Oh, and another friend that popped in my mind, a common filter for the two, named “New guys”. I enter their e-mail addresses in the appropriate field…
I create a filter for two custom e-mail addresses
Ok, all fine and dandy so far. Till this:
Outlook asks me to go back and replace the delimiters myself. Hmm…
Uhm, excuse me? Why should I, the almighty (and fairly bored) user, HAVE to go back and replace my commas with semicolons? Why? Because the programmers were too lazy to implement some kind of string replace function to do the dirty work?
Ok, help me, am I missing something with this? Is this done on purpose? I may be exaggerating, but this is one of the stupidest things software ever made me do.
This post is kind of a test, to try out the new (?) Microsoft Live Writer.
I have to admit, it looks really cool and actually useful, eventhough I’ve tried other similar application in the past and I’ve not liked it a bit.
On the positive side of this free app are the fact that you can draftly preview your post, since it auto-detects your theme, you can add maps, tables and formatted images with some clicks and plus, it’s extendable.
Not bad, Microsoft.
microsoft, windows live writer
…Well I’d be damned!
I’ve already propagandised this app to anyone close that showed even the remotest interest in the rantings of an app-loving Sugar (ask anyone: I can be pretty weird when I’ve discovered an interesting new app). 9 times out of 10, this app is a MacOS one, so everyone just keeps on ignoring me. This time, Jono, Aza, Atul and Andrew helped me get my revenge.
These guys started a series of apps that intends to make your Windows life easier. They offer Enso Launcher and Enso Words, two apps based on the same framework that can help you never reach for your mouse again. I can only review Enso Launcher, the trial version of which I’ve already installed both at home and work Windows machines and plan to buy when this trial ends.
Enso Launcher is a Windows application similar to Quicksilver for Mac. It’s intuitive and easy to use and has a less steep learning curve than Quicksilver (I know I’ve not even scratched the surface of this app). It involves typing commands that the computer can understand while holding down the Caps Lock key (or any other command key, it’s configurable). It may seem hard at first but believe me, after some times it’s completely intuitive and straightforward and you’ll wonder how you lived without it.
Looking for an app but tired to look for it in all the cascading menus of the dreaded Start menu button? Try it. Just hold down Caps Lock and write “open firefox”. Boom, your favourite browser is there. You don’t even have to remember the exact name: just type some characters that you think are there and Enso will present you with a list of the apps that fit. Use the arrow keys to select the app that you want, leave the Caps Lock and the application of your choice launches.
Apart from its strong launching abilities, Encho Launcher can also help you quickly calculate a sum, uppercase a string of letters, or google some search terms. What’s more is that since it’s based in Python, it’s extendable, and with some help from the Enso guys we’re bound to see some cool stuff floating around in the next months.
What’s great is that these apps have been created by 4 guys with a passion for simplicity and usability. They’ve put together a nice website and an extremely well done demo video (I strongly recommend it, check it just to know what this is all about, it’s very fun to see and the guys are great. Fav moment: “Soon!” by Jono). With the success of the app, they even decreased the price from $39.95 to $19.95, offering even a money refund to all buyers. Now that’s what I call play-it-nice marketing.
Oh come on, what’s not to love about these guys?All in all, Enso offers an attractive interface, a simple mechanism and a relatively low number of bugs that will be soon squashed. If you’re a Quicksilver fan and you don’t really like Launchy like me, you’ll surely find it interesting.
enso, humanized, enso launcher, enso words
