[fisherKing]

wherefore art thou?

i'm not even talking shapeshifter, i know that, in 10.5, this one's difficult.
but where's fruitmenu (my fave), mightymouse?

anyone know whats up?

[mac1984]

It is almost as if they have closed shop. Too bad as there have been so many good developers go by the wayside through the years.

[Aegis]

Where there's money to be made you can be sure work is being done. I think it's just a matter of time.
I'm sure they've hit more than one brick wall trying to get their haxies working. It would be nice if they were more vocal about their progress (or lack thereof).

[Ishan Bhattacharya]

It's the Apple tradition, don't you know? No updates on their blog or any update whatsoever about any of their haxies. Of course, critical comments about Apple made my Unsanity may have something to do with their (apparent) lack of success so far in getting a beta of any their haxies out (and I've bought all of them and really miss them). Hopefully, rosyna or others will keep their loyal-and increasingly impatient-customers in the loop a bit more in the future.

[@pplejaxkz]

I just don't like being in the dark. I wish they could release some news on what's going on. Even if they were to say that it's delayed a year. I'd just would like to know.

[fisherKing]

Originally Posted by @pplejaxkz 

I just don't like being in the dark. I wish they could release some news on what's going on. Even if they were to say that it's delayed a year. I'd just would like to know.

agreed; the blog is like traveling back in time. no new news...
anyway, miss my haxies...

[DarkStarRed]

I to used to have all Unsanity's haxies like Clear-doc, Xounds, Shapeshifter among others but for my Sounds I just dropped them into User>Library>Sounds. So now I have Hal telling me "There's have a message for You!" Of-course this doesn't get to system sounds has trash but I'm happy.

[Big Mac]

Apple closed the security holes that let them operate. You guys make it sound like Unsanity was doing good things by hacking the OS.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Apple closed the security holes that let them operate. You guys make it sound like Unsanity was doing good things by hacking the OS.

I still say they were doing good things by hacking the OS. Whether you think the tradeoff of closing the holes is worth not being able to do those good things, I don't see how you can argue that theming or windowshade is bad.

[MacosNerd]

I wonder if the theming ship has sailed on.

More often then not APE seemed to cause problems or slow downs. Add on the fact that apple continually modified how things worked, which meant unsanity had to always regroup. and figure out how to get it working.

Personally I've stopped using themes and haxies a long time ago. I do wish apple would see the light and let creative folks customize the look of their machines, instead of clamping down. Heck they could create a whole cottage industry by opening it up.

[fisherKing]

there are a million shareware and freeware apps out there to modify the gui in os x, to give us choices on how to use the os. that (for me, at least) is essential.

unsanity has made some great hacks, and i miss the ones i used.
i never had problems with APE, and look forward to fruitmenu (at the very least).

[Koralatov]

Gah. APE is possibly the worst thing that ever happened to me on the Mac: I had not one, but two issues that were solved by simply removing that particular piece of 'software'. As such, I consider it little better than malware, and I am extremely sceptical of Unsanity as a result.

That said, I'm sure some people find their software genuinely useful, but I wouldn't touch any of it with a barge-pole.

[Chuckit]

I've had issues that were caused by bugs in OS X, but I wouldn't call it "malware." It's not that Unsanity was simply sloppy or intentionally malicious — it's just that the things Unsanity's software does are not easy tasks, and there are bound to be some cases where something doesn't work right. There is simply no better way to accomplish the things they were doing.

[fisherKing]

i have to say, i never had a problem with ape; and i've used haxies for a long time (shapeshifter, fruitmenu, cleardock, mightymouse).

the functions they provide make them, for me, essential (well, fruitmenu at least).

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

It's not that Unsanity was simply sloppy or intentionally malicious — it's just that the things Unsanity's software does are not easy tasks, and there are bound to be some cases where something doesn't work right.

Perhaps 'malware' was a slightly strong term, but my criticism stands, I feel, when you consider that the programs APE borked were iTunes and iChat. Had they been obscure third-party programs, I would have been slightly more forgiving, but seeing as these two come pretty much as a part of OSX, wrecking them is not cool in my book.

What makes me even less charitable toward Unsanity is the fact that all I had to do was delete APE and everything started working just fine instantly. Worse still, I have absolutely no idea how it got onto my Mac (I'm assuming some program I installed somewhere along the line installed it). That said, I'm sure there are people out there who get a lot of useful functionality out of APE and various other Unsanity products. I still think that Unsanity should warn people that using APE might cause undesired problems further down the line...

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Koralatov 

Perhaps 'malware' was a slightly strong term, but my criticism stands, I feel, when you consider that the programs APE borked were iTunes and iChat. Had they been obscure third-party programs, I would have been slightly more forgiving, but seeing as these two come pretty much as a part of OSX, wrecking them is not cool in my book.

But it's not as though APE normally interacts badly with these programs. Most people use APE without messing these programs up at all. APE + iTunes = fine. So there is obviously some extra factor in your particular case that makes it APE + [something] + iTunes = BOOM.

I understand why you wouldn't want to use it, and I think that's a perfectly valid choice. I'm just saying, I really don't think it's bad software per se.

[boy8cookie]

Originally Posted by Koralatov 

Perhaps 'malware' was a slightly strong term, but my criticism stands, I feel, when you consider that the programs APE borked were iTunes and iChat. Had they been obscure third-party programs, I would have been slightly more forgiving, but seeing as these two come pretty much as a part of OSX, wrecking them is not cool in my book.

What makes me even less charitable toward Unsanity is the fact that all I had to do was delete APE and everything started working just fine instantly. Worse still, I have absolutely no idea how it got onto my Mac (I'm assuming some program I installed somewhere along the line installed it). That said, I'm sure there are people out there who get a lot of useful functionality out of APE and various other Unsanity products. I still think that Unsanity should warn people that using APE might cause undesired problems further down the line...

Excuse me, but if there's software on your computer that you don't know about, and it didn't come with your machine, that is your fault. Don't blame Unsanity, or anyone else for that fact that you clicked too quickly through your install processes, and don't know what's being installed on your computer. I can tell you it's not Unsanity's goal to render your machine inoperable. How would that benefit them? (it wouldn't).

I'm not even sure what to make of your last line. Are there computer problems that are desirable? Didn't think so.

Using APE will not cause problems, users of APE may, though.

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

But it's not as though APE normally interacts badly with these programs. Most people use APE without messing these programs up at all. APE + iTunes = fine. So there is obviously some extra factor in your particular case that makes it APE + [something] + iTunes = BOOM.

Well, I have absolutely no idea what caused the issue. The only programs I really use that don't come as standard on my iMac are Adium and VLC. So, it's quite possibly one of them, in that case; which is worrying, considering that they're both very common programs.

I understand why you wouldn't want to use it, and I think that's a perfectly valid choice. I'm just saying, I really don't think it's bad software per se.

With the exception of genuine malware, spyware and viruses, there is no 'bad' software, per se. But I've read a lot about APE causing people problems, which leads me to believe it's not a 'good' piece of software either. That said, to each his own; if people get some use out of it, then bully for them, but I felt it prudent to bring up the subject of APE's undesirable side-effects.

Originally Posted by boy8cookie 

Excuse me, but if there's software on your computer that you don't know about, and it didn't come with your machine, that is your fault. Don't blame Unsanity, or anyone else for that fact that you clicked too quickly through your install processes, and don't know what's being installed on your computer. I can tell you it's not Unsanity's goal to render your machine inoperable. How would that benefit them? (it wouldn't).

You're absolutely right. I should have known it was on there, and I'm not blaming them for installing it surreptitiously. That said, I've come across a few apps that need APE installed, and I suspect one of them did it. Again, you're absolutely right--I should have paid more attention during the install(s). Thank you so much for bringing this gross oversight on my part to my attention.

I'm not even sure what to make of your last line. Are there computer problems that are desirable? Didn't think so.

My apologies. I should have been more precise with my choice of words. What I had intended to type was "undesirable operation", not "undesirable problems". Thanks for picking up on my error; much appreciated.

Using APE will not cause problems, users of APE may, though.

That's a trifle rash. To take that statement at face value, you're saying that using APE is guaranteed to cause absolutely no undesirable operation whatsoever? I find that incredibly hard to believe. As I said, I was definitely somewhat at fault for not paying attention as to how it got there, but I still think my point stands about it causing unnecessary issues with totally standard software.

[@pplejaxkz]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

I still say they were doing good things by hacking the OS. Whether you think the tradeoff of closing the holes is worth not being able to do those good things, I don't see how you can argue that theming or windowshade is bad.

I also agree, you make it seem like Unsanity was hacking the OS maliciously. If anything it was giving people more freedom and making some feel more at home in an already good OS.

I wonder if the theming ship has sailed on.

There will always be people tinkering around with themes as long as a way can be found. Sometimes it just takes a while. I wouldn't say the ship has sailed yet. I could see maybe if you said the ship of hacking the OS to theme it. Hopefully in Macs future they can just incorporate theming into their OS. As a proud Mac user, I still don't understand their reasons for not doing so.

[Aegis]

Originally Posted by Koralatov 

You're absolutely right. I should have known it was on there

Don't feel too bad. I believe some Logitech drivers use APE without informing the user. Audio Hijack also uses APE but I don't know if it's made clear.