werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (06/04/88)
ok, here goes: I flamed hard and John took it well; he admitted to "foot in mouth" and I admit to stand ready with my peace-pipe and Vitamin-E cream (carrots and vitamin-E are my principal healing tools when burnt :-) without long quotes .... John points out > MacZap works, but I think it could use some improvement. > I'd think that Les would have seen Apple's bad example and then wanted to > come out with something better ... we couldn't agree more, and I have tried to impress this on Les for years; the reason why ZAP has not been improved faster, is both a reflection on the fact that MicroAnalyst is the tiniest of companies and that Les, when given the choice, works on functionality and postpones user-interface and documentation. And as ZAP is a one-man-project and MicroAnalyst is a one-programmer company .....do I need to say more? Also, when you think who and when people buy ZAP, you quickly realize that there is not really a large market for ZAP and that people are not really buying updates unless they NEED them. plus, there is never a finished program as the Mac has continued to evolve all the time (and gotten more complex in the process). A very tricky marketing situation, wouldn't you say? I think making disk-recovery into a game is, actually, a VERY GOOD idea; people could be motivated to get updates and practice in preparation for the need ... > ... There's no reason that a complex task has to be difficult. tell that to NASA ! (-: Of course, with the right financing and personel, ZAP could be a wonderful product. at what price for the limited market? Apple bought Switcher - why Apple didn't buy ZAP (and/or MicroAnalyst) and make it into a wonderful product, that escapes me. (I don't know if or that they tried). > MacZap's success the second time around made my posting flame-able. you took my flame in admirable style; I, definitely, was wrong calling you a "ninkompoop"; apologies. > Net postings are, for the most part, quite reliable. I agree... (-: > OK, here's the inevitable question: Anyone tried Symantec Utilities yet? only beta-testers have seen it (that I know) and I'd have to ask first what can be said about it. I'm not sure that I'll find the time to do so, however. That settles that, I hope.
sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten) (06/06/88)
In article <2738@utastro.UUCP> werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) writes: >the reason why ZAP has not been improved faster, is both a reflection on the >fact that MicroAnalyst is the tiniest of companies and that Les, when given the >choice, works on functionality and postpones user-interface and documentation. >And as ZAP is a one-man-project and MicroAnalyst is a one-programmer company >.....do I need to say more? Also, when you think who and when people buy ZAP, >you quickly realize that there is not really a large market for ZAP >and that people are not really buying updates unless they NEED them. That's amazing, since MicroAnalyst actually noted my change of address letter, sent me information about an update (to v5.0 -- a must-have for SCSI disk owners), and quickly filled my order (over the phone, with a credit card) when I called to order it. Yes, they actually had my address in a database (!), and they knew who I was and what version of the program I had. This is a hell of a lot more than I can say about certain other software companies (definitely not one-man operations), and I think it reflects very well on MicroAnalyst. I think it should also be noted that with version 5.0 they now have Disk Doctor, which makes some attempt to get you started with the recovery (i.e., it asks you what kind of problem you have and then tells you what program to run and what to do in it). I haven't found it very useful (since I'm a programmer I can understand the manual :-( ), but others might. - Steve
moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer) (06/09/88)
Well, a few comments: while MacZap is fairly intuitive to a person who's
used a Mac to some degree, I've had to deal with poor, frantic business
users who are pulling their hair out trying to read the directions and
figure them out. I think the documentation COULD use some more work, at
least for that segment of MacZap's market.
As to MacZap blowing up, I had it do the same thing, but I have an idea why
it occured -- can anyone verify this (it's HFS Restore 5.0)? I was running
HFS Restore from a floppy with only a little disk space on it (maybe 25K),
and after running over the disk to recover, it would end up with a blank
window of files which could be recovered -- but with a scroll-able scroll
bar. First attempt to scroll the "empty" window would cause a system crash
(ID=02). Talking with an aquaintance who swear by MacZap (I have a LOT of
aquaintances who swear by MacZap), she suggested that perhaps MacZap writes
a temporary file to disk to store the names in. The restricted size on the
floppy might have caused it (rather inelegantly) to crash. A repeat using a
hard disk ran perfectly, and I am now a pretty happy customer of MacZap.
Just don't refer novice users to me to explain how it works!
PS I hear Summatec has bought MacZap up -- anyone know what they're going
to do to the program and/or documentation?
"It's currently a problem of access to gigabits
through punybaud."
-- J. C. R. Licklider
---
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM
Manual UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, microsoft}!fluke!moriarty
CREDO: You gotta be Cruel to be Kind...
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) (06/09/88)
Grump. I have been using Mac Zap 4.52 (and liking it), but the first
I heard of any update was when Werner put up some new patch files for
anonymous ftp retrieval and they didn't match my version. I did
register my copy. I since wrote to MicroAnalyst for info on updating
to the latest version and haven't yet gotten an answer. I guess I
shouldn't hold my breath.
/JBL
UUCP: {backbone}!bbn!levin USPS: BBN Communications Corporation
ARPA: levin@bbn.com 50 Moulton Street
POTS: (617) 873-3463 Cambridge, MA 02238her3@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Benjamin 'Drew' Herman) (06/09/88)
OK forgive me for being a complete idiot BUT....
I could have sworn that there was some form of ?COPY UTILITY?
called MacZap...... And there is also this
File rocovery program called MacZap ...
Am I going nuts .... One seems to have been replaced by something
called SUM.
Come on are they the same program different programs what
Thank from the confused
Ben Herman
Internet: her3@sphinx.uchicago.edu
BITNET: her3@sphinx.uchicago.bitnet
UUCP: {ihnp4!gargoyle,oddjob}!sphinx!her3macak@lakesys.UUCP (Jim Macak) (06/10/88)
In article <1105@aucs.UUCP> peter@aucs.UUCP (Peter Steele) writes: (Two paragraphs deleted.) >On another note, I saw a note in MacToday that a product called SUM will >soon replace MacZap. What's the story on this? Will registered owners of >MacZap be able to upgrade to SUM rather than having to pay the quite >high $80 to $125 proposed price for SUM? I called Symantec (publishers of SUM) about the upgrade policy. Here's the info: MacZap owners can upgrade to SUM for $30. To do this, you need to prove ownership of MacZap by mailing in the first page of your MacZap manual. Include with this a check or charge card info for the $30 fee and a request for the upgrade. You will receive SUM and the SUM manual. The address for the upgrade is: Symantec Corporation 10201 Torre Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 I've not yet sent in my upgrade but will be doing so soon... Jim -- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Jim --> macak@lakesys.UUCP (Jim Macak) {Standard disclaimer, nothin' fancy!} >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<