let x=x

I had cause to use ‘Adobe Digital Editions’ today because of an epub file that would not be added into iTunes (DRM? who knows?). So I open up the Adobe Epub reader which is somehow installed on my Mac to read it. But, it won’t run. It insists I have to install the “latest version” or my other option is to quit. Talk about harassing your customers into upgrades. So I click the “install” button it gives me. Unlike 99% of every other bit of Mac software I use instead of an in-app upgrade it launches the Adobe website. Ok, download the .dmg or .pkg file? Nope. I have to click through Flash Block on that page to get to the installer program (really Adobe – a Flash-based installer?). Eventually it seems to install and launch a new version of the software.

So I right click back on the original file and choose to open it with ‘Adobe Digital Editions’. And the old version of the software opened right up with the insistence to upgrade. With the upgraded version running right along side the original version … facepalm, headdesk. Its like they don’t want me to use their software. It’s ugly and horrible to use.

And these companies wonder why people pirate stuff. Because, Adobe, if I pirated DRM content it would easier for me to read it in any manner I want to read it you f–king morons, even when I try to use your idiotic software with with labyrinthine installation and upgrade bullish-t.

Let me put it this way. I will gladly pay a fair price for content, if it’s good content. I will also gladly pay for software, if I like the software (for example, I’m writing this blog entry in a fully-licenced version of the blog editing software Mars Edit). But don’t foist your insistently sh-tty, demanding-to-be-upgraded-right-now, eye-gougingly ugly, platform standard-breaking installation procedure using, old version littering montrosity on me even if it’s free.

Uninstall. Please go broke Adobe.

Yesterday I wrote about Postbox 3 as a Mail.app replacement. I’m still using it, and liking it, but I’m starting to develop a good sense of where it still has rough edges;

Alert sounds.

Sometimes it plays the alert sound for no discernible reason (I think because new mail has arrived in a sub-label/sub-folder, but actually I can’t be sure this), yet at other times, a new mail will arrive in the Inbox (I can see it) and no sound will play. Also it seems to update the Growl notification app at odd points (no discernible reason why it does or doesn’t). Consistent behaviour is critical here. Please guys, play the alert sound when, if and only if, a new email arrives in the Inbox of any account. Worry about configuring this behaviour only (maybe through filters?).

Image attachments.

If someone attaches an image to their message (e.g. a photo), when you select the message you see the image scrolling off the page, i.e. at 100%. However if you resize the window, even by the tiniest margin, the images snaps to the window size.

PDF attachments.

PDF attachments should be viewable in-line.

Gmail ‘important’ feature.

I can mark an email with Gmail’s ‘important’ tag in the message view pane, but not to a message or messages in the message list. Actually it’s because the ‘Assign label’ context menu is available for a message in the message view, but not in the list view. ‘Assign topic’ is on both – and it also has by default, a topic called ‘important’ but it’s not the same things as the ‘important’ tag in Gmail. That’s confusing.

Gmail ‘star’ feature.

‘Starring’ an email in Gmail is called marking the email as ‘To do’ in Postbox. In other mailers this is usually regarded as ‘flagging’ the message. Does not support the new Gmail multi-stars.

Message colours.

I’m really missing the ability to colour message text/background with the filters. It’s the only Mail.app feature I miss currently.