ianf@nada.kth.se (Ian Feldman) (03/12/90)
In article <9920@spool.cs.wisc.edu> tonyrich@titanic.cs.wisc.edu (Anthony Rich) writes: > I decided to try to collect all my favorite freeware programs into one > place so that making up a set of "great freeware" disks was easy to do. > Below is the list I have so far. [.......] > If you have a favorite freeware program you think I should add to this > list, send me the name of it. IT HAS TO BE ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY > FREE -- NOT SHAREWARE. No "beerware," "massageware," or other weird- > paymentware. While I find your initiative of trying to assemble a list of great freeware-programs a worthwhile undertaking in its own right, I admit that I find your general attitude towards other forms of NON- COMMERCIAL program distribution a highly disturbing prospect. An unjustifiedly hostile one as well, towards the **hordes** of highly idealistic (right word, that,) shareware authors, ones largely responsible for making what the Mac has become today -- a rare combination of a hacker's dream amchine and a productivity tool for the masses. Where else would we be without the endless nights, put in by the shareware authors, too numerous to mention here? They deserve our ***PIDDLING*** shareware fees and our respect on the same level as those earned by the real creators and implementors of Mac hardware and software (beginning with Jeff Raskin, the original hardware project manager, Bruce Horn, responsible for the Finder [the "Bruce" in the "About Finder" dialog] and the third individual, whose name escapes me now, who came up with the idea of named resources). Steve Jobs? Oh, comme on, don't make me laugh. In deciding to post this lengthy flame-with-a-twist, rather than just reply directly via e-mail, I am hoping that we can get a discussion going on what constitutes a GREAT program, one worthy of being put on a limited-size `Get-Started-With-The-Mac List/ Diskette package', and of whose presence there every freeware-, shareware-, and other you- name-it-ware author could be proud of.... a kind of *WARE HALL OF FAME. I believe, however, that the main governing software-selecting factor should be NOT whether some program (or other) is of the **TOTAL FREEWARE** variety but, rather, how usefull it is; usefullness defined here as some arbitrarily felt _real_ use, as opposed to merely hype, industrial lights and magic. Possibly this discussion could also be of help to all past and future *ware authors among us, trying to decide on "what next to implement". My view is that if you're already decided to forsake TV, love and the barbershop singing classes for a chance at the Mac Software Firmament then you might just as well do it for someone else beyond your own neato-wishes, and, possibly, to fullfill some _real_ need of the Mac. Speaking of which, why, I'd kill for a HyperCard-style `Message-Box for the Finder'(an INIT for general use), complete with regular- expression file-handling utilities, filename completion and command history features, with built-in simple line editor ("cat > file' creates and appends TEXT to a file, `cat file' types it one, or few lines, at a time) ), head, tail, sed and awk. But then of course, I'm special, I never had much use for the MacPuke-type Real-Programming- Feats ;-) All I can further say on the subject is: whoever does it first has my double shareware fee, endless gratitude and the assured use of my hereby copyrighted name for it: "csh-in-a-box"[tm] ;-) Here, then, are my comments as to the appropriateness of Tony's original choices, along with few suggestions for other candidates for inclusion on such a Get-Started-List/ Disk: > GREAT MAC FREEWARE (in alphabetical order) > > BinHex 4.0 Converts files to/from "hex" form for safer file transfer ((alas, not as safe to use, as the more stable BinHex code in the StuffIt proper)) > Boomerang 2.0B9 Lets you quickly return to recently used files & folders ((generally unstable in my 6.0.2 system; sorry, looks neat-o)) > Disinfectant 1.6 Terrific virus detection/removal program ((author: John Norstad & friends -- it's terrific, agreed; but let us not forget the even more useful suite of GateKeeper1.11 and the GateKeeper Aid 1.01, both by Chris Johnson -- because they stop the viri right there at the gates)) > Fast Formatter 2.4 Automatic floppy formatter; great for doing 50 in a row ((who cares? limited use)) > FinderSounds 1.0.2 Associates fun sounds with Finder events (System 6.0.4) ((fun the first few monts of Mac use; then it's more bother than of any real use; this remark, in my view, concerns much of the *fun* add-ons for the Mac in general; an advanced user strips away as much as possible of this, to simplify the already overloaded system as much as possible)) > Layout 1.9 Customizes the layout of files and folders on the desktop ((godd stuff; alas how often does one need it. It'd also be better to have had this functionality in the form of a LAYO-resource template editor for the ResEdit, rather than as a general program)) > MacEnvy 2.0 Provides detailed info about Mac's hardware & software ((oh, yeah? Big deal for mental masturbators and the "mine is bigger, faster, better" crowd; nothing one could really call useful)) > Mac Kermit 98(62) Transfers files to/from nearly every computer ever made ((agreed, fairly stable, alas slow transfer rate; I get twice as fast transfers at the same baud rate with the shareware ZTerm 0.85 -- the shareware fee of US$ 30.- going a long way towards ultimately smaller phone bills)) > STeVIe 3.10 Clone of the Unix "vi" text editor; handy for Unix users ((agreed, a stable, possibly (don't quite remember) Script-Manager- compliant port by Earle R. Horton; there is also a previous, much smaller version of the `stevie' -- around 40KB's worth)) > UnStuffit 1.40 Decompresses Stuffit files downloaded from other systems ((agreed, not nearly as useful as the UnStuffIt DA though, from the same distribution package -- eat your cake without MultiFinder & have it, too!)) > Any additions? It can be ANY kind of free program (INITs, DAs, games, etc). Let's say, any NON-COMMERCIALLY distributed program, some of them of the freeware type, along with my motivation for the nomination: 1 MicroEmacs 3.9e for the Mac; the fastest editor that I've seen, also _very_stable_, opens unlimited?number of unlimited-size files at once, some macro language (on the level of McSink and beyond), recordable keyboard-macro capabilities, ported, also that, to the Mac by Earle R. Horton; at sumex-aim mistakenly put in the /source directory. A newer port, the MicroEmacs 3.10 also exists but, being a different-source program allthogether, is still far slower and not yet as perfect as the previous version. 2 MacCompress 3.2 by Lloyd L. Chambers; a free LZIV compressor, that works nicely with `compress' under UNIX; very stable, and easy to use and customize, within reason. A real and clearly unknown gem. 3 ZTerm 0.85 by Dave P. Alverson; terminal access with XYZmodem protocols. How I formerly got along without it is now utterly beyond my comprehension. Also, too numerous to describe in detail, but not less worthy candidates for the *WARE HALL OF FAME. I apologize for not including more of the commendable efforts, but had to draw the line somewhere -- this is what I generally use, if at all.... a general check-list: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- System 6.0.2 folder: A = application D = document I Name Type Creator ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D A ScrapSaver INIT Paul by J Paul; restores clipboard after reboot D Corner INIT Corn screen-coordinates, by Guenter Blaschek D FKEYpad 1.0 INIT REFj use Mac+/SE num-keypad for FKEYs D FlashWrite cdev fwrt great little editor by Andrew Welch D GateKeeper1.11 cdev Gate also requires the GateKeeper Aid 1.01 D P Key INIT ADBb by Paul Mercer, use SE:s useless key D PopChar cdev cPop by Guenter Blaschek; find any character D RearWindow1.1 INIT rwMF by Dean Yu; cmd-tab-click in other window D SFScrollInit INIT Andy makes thumb stick in place in SFGet/Put D SFVol INIT 1.5 INIT SFVl makes folders painlessly in SFPut/GetD:s ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- applications: A append.1 APPL CTLZ by Mark Zimmerman, author of FreeText A Browser 0.2beta APPL NeXT by Rick Searle; a NeXT demo emulator A Dir-Acta-ry 1.0 APPL ACTD makes indexed disk catalogs in Acta format A pSort APPL JMG0 by Jerzy Giergiel; fast TEXT sort utility A United v2.2 APPL Xutd by Bill Stackhouse; combines .hqx files A WhereSIT 1.4 APPL WSIT repl for FindFile; also looks inside SIT! A XForm1.1b APPL ???? by Eran Resheef; general char-converter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Desk Accessories: D ArtBrowser10b6 DFIL DMOV opens, prints EPSF files (PICT-forks) D BaseToBase DFIL DMOV multi-base calculator D FontMaster v1.1 DFIL DMOV this and one below by Ken Winograd of BCS D FontWizard v1.0 DFIL DMOV control of fonts D Hex Dump DA DFIL DMOV reads/ dumps hex code D McSink 7.0 DFIL DMOV by Dave McWherter; unique (also Vantage) D System Errors 2.5 DFIL DMOV by Bill Steinberg; too bad it is needed D VirusDetective 3.11 DFIL DMOV by Jeff Schulman; too bad it is needed ;-( ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- other.sit: D Free Help v.0.8.sit SIT! SIT! possibly-great free-text indexing program D Free Text v.0.8.sit SIT! SIT! possibly-great free-text browsing program D Lifelab.sit SIT! SIT! fun beyond belief; by Andrew Trevorrow D reg_exp.sit SIT! SIT! grep & s///g utilities for HyperCard D ClipboardMag.0.62.sit SIT! SIT! general clipboard processor, by Ed Lai D sesame.c.sit SIT! SIT! shareware C compiler, with 68000 assembler D SuperClock3.8.sit SIT! SIT! by Steve Christensen D Terminal DA 1.5.sit SIT! SIT! multilingual terminal program in 32KB D TextOnlyPrint125.sit SIT! SIT! possibly-great multi-column TEXT processor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brought to you by: --Ian Feldman / ianf@nada.kth.se || uunet!nada.kth.se!ianf / The "I had the bug narrowed down to a subrutine and then I lost all interest" hacker