George said:
A couple of points:
1. MPC is a perfectly legitimate program and an excellent one at that.
Hi, George. I agree that it's a great contribution to have. I think that
the reason why I'm frustrated with it is that it's so good that I want
it to be truly great. And it's still got a few bugs (at least my version
does), but as I said, I'm not using the latest rendition of it. I'll
upgrade soon.
2. It has nothing to do with RA, QA or any other shady A.
I know. Did I say otherwise?
My principle use of it is in conjunction with RA (see below).
3. It is hosted here: <
http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/ >
4. It seems to be OSS under the GPL.
Please spell these out. What's "OSS under the GPL?" I couldn't find
these on that page.
5. From that page you can get to email contacts, forums, trackers etc.
6. Look at this page for an example that resembles yours:
Calm down!
OK.
It's easier now that I followed your link and actually discovered how to
get ahold of Gabest -- and found an actual post from him. I've been
wanting to chat with him for some time, so it's good to see how to do it
(I hope).
I doubt you mean SourceForge. You are under the delusion that someone
is hiding, which is far from the truth.
Yes. I meant SourceForge, and the hiding issue is now moot.
I had already followed the home page link on the program's Help menu --
the one that has said it's been "under construction" for over a year. A
method of reaching the programmer has not exactly been transparent for
an end user. I didn't mean that he was literally hiding, but that he
hadn't put attention toward how users could get in touch with him.
This can be important. One of my all-time favorite software tools,
PC-Write, was one of the three original shareware programs -- it was
always distributed in full versions as freeware (maybe not always
freeware for foreign markets). The programmer encouraged users to submit
requests for features and changes; people made their desires known. In
that way, the program was developed into a true writer's tool that
delivered lightning speed on an 8088 processor -- with facility that
still puts major writing packages to shame.
My point is that being open to user feedback helps create excellent
software.
Of course, on the other hand, perhaps Gabest has other things to do in
his (her?) life. Maybe there is illness, crying babies, etc.
Impose?? Maddening?? Buggy?? Frustrating?? You do understand that
you are talking about a freeware product, that a group of people offer
to make your life easier. Take it easy.
The program's behavior can be as I mentioned. Seizing the .wav mixing
slider is not good behavior! It is, indeed, maddening to use when this
happens -- at the beginning of every Real stream. According to another
poster, this action actually became worse in a later version. My
experience has been that really great software is pretty rare, both for
money and for free. There are a handful of programs that I have been
devoted to, and excellent software can be a joy to use. MPC is much of
the way there. But I tend to tell-it-like-it-is, even when writing about
a donated effort.
I've worked on the usability side of software design, and it runs in my
head. Unlike many programmers, I am extremely attentive to how a program
is experienced by the end user. That's a different orientation than most
programmers have -- their attention is, as it should be -- on how all
the bits and pieces of code work together so that all functions execute
and end as intended. Writing good code can be a tremendous amount of
work. Unfortunately, usability is often sacrificed.
Freeware is great to have, as always, and we take the good and the bad
and everything in between. Some freeware handles very well: for example,
I'm fond of Calendar Magic.
One of the fun things about getting involved with freeware is to sift
though it and discover the real gems. Of course, this takes time, and we
don't always have what it takes to slog through all the offerings. And
then, there's the risk factor.
The issues that surround Real's technology can get pretty crazy, and MPC
is one of only two players out there that I know of that are able to
deliver the streams without imposing the horror of Real Player onto the
user's computer. Because Real technology is the de-facto streaming
standard that's been adopted by most of the non-commercial broadcasters
that I know of, there's hardly a day that goes by during which I don't
use MPC.
I should underscore what you wrote above, though: MPC is a nice piece of
work that fills a definite need. And it's cool to see it evolve.
I'll try the newest version soon, and see where things are at now. My
frustrations aside, it's great to have MPC.
You see, George, my frustration with MPC not a put-down: it's due to the
fact that I appreciate what Gabest has done so much!
Richard
