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tavilach · Nov 30, 2004, 07:36 AM

Today I found that SideTrack (actually, my entire trackpad) wasn't working. I checked my SideTrack preferences, and low and behold, my beta had expired. I checked the SideTrack website, and what do you know...it's $15, now!

...and you know what that means. No Ethiopian food this week.

Randman · Nov 30, 2004, 07:42 AM

Originally posted by tavilach:
..and you know what that means. No Ethiopian food this week.

Hmm, no I actually don't know what no Ethopian food this week means.

If you were trying to be funny (and failed), you might have said that that means you'll be on the Ethiopian diet this week.

Wevah · Nov 30, 2004, 07:51 AM

I figured he just liked Ethiopian food a lot, and paying for SideTrack means he can't afford to eat out this week.

Randman · Nov 30, 2004, 07:52 AM

Originally posted by Wevah:
I figured he just liked Ethiopian food a lot, and paying for SideTrack means he can't afford to eat out this week.

siMac · Nov 30, 2004, 09:14 AM

That's 'lo and behold'...

wataru · Nov 30, 2004, 09:17 AM

Originally posted by Randman:

That was my interpretation, too. Seriously. I don't think it was meant to be a joke about starving Ethiopian children.

Anyway, about SideTrack: It was pretty obvious that was going to happen. Expiring betas? Why would you do that, except to force people to pay for a final version.

paully dub · Nov 30, 2004, 09:22 AM

Ethiopian food's delish, mmmm injera with all those yummy stews. Ethiopia has the best coffee, as well.

Anyway, same thing happened to me, I just went and redownloaded it from macupdate. Haven't restarted yet, but if I have to pay 15 bucks, ah well no couscous tonight.

Randman · Nov 30, 2004, 09:36 AM

$15 isn't a whole lot for a week's worth of Ethiopian fare unless you live in Ethiopia, if that indeed is what he meant. And I'm not sure that is what he meant.

Twilly Spree · Nov 30, 2004, 09:41 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
$15 isn't a whole lot for a week's worth of Ethiopian fare unless you live in Ethiopia, if that indeed is what he meant. And I'm not sure that is what he meant.

Replace Ethiopian with Chinese in the original post.

Don't you ever eat Ethiopian? There's lots of Ethiopian restaurants here in Florida. Even more Italian and Chinese. Hello?

paully dub · Nov 30, 2004, 09:45 AM

I'll let you know how much a weeks worth of Ethiopian food in Ethiopia costs when I'm there next year.

Anyway, any sidetrack alternatives?

threestain · Nov 30, 2004, 09:49 AM

by the way, it still works for free, but has nag reminders. the classic honour way of shareware. nothing is disabled as far as I can see...

jasong · Nov 30, 2004, 08:15 PM

SideTrack is totally worth the $15.00.

-- Jason

Spheric Harlot · Nov 30, 2004, 10:06 PM

Sidetrack is absolutely indispensible for anyone using a trackpad.

Apple should buy it off Alex Harper.

I miss it terribly every single time I use a different laptop - and I often do.

It is *well* worth the $15.

Seriously.

andretan · Nov 30, 2004, 10:16 PM

Buy a USB scroll mouse.

wataru · Nov 30, 2004, 11:06 PM

SideTrack caused many crashes on wake-from-sleep on my machine. I contacted the developer about it, but he was unable to pin it down.

I'll stick with my <$15 mouse.

Stradlater · Nov 30, 2004, 11:19 PM

2: Tavi
<3: Ethiopia

bmhome1 · Dec 1, 2004, 12:23 AM

I've had Sidetrack installed from the first day it came out, way back to 10.2 something. Never a single problem running all the betas and now the full version. No Mac laptop without it again.

videian28 · Dec 1, 2004, 11:35 AM

agreed, well worth the $15

of course if apple would come to it's senses and add another button and a scroll functionality like the rest of the world.......

Spheric Harlot · Dec 1, 2004, 06:22 PM

Originally posted by videian28:
agreed, well worth the $15

of course if apple would come to it's senses and add another button and a scroll functionality like the rest of the world.......

This will NOT be another one-button-mouse discussion. There's good reasons why Apple is sticking to one button, just as there's good reasons for your POV.

From a user perspective, forcing application designers to code for a one-button default is a very good thing, while the OS natively supports multiple buttons for those who need them.

It would be nice to have the option on their laptops, as well, though.

I think that's all that needs to be said on the subject, no?

-s*

threestain · Dec 1, 2004, 07:26 PM

And thanks to the hideous nature of the dollar its now only �7.50! That's a bargain!

Hi I'm Ben · Dec 1, 2004, 10:10 PM

You can't just use uControl?

tavilach · Dec 1, 2004, 10:20 PM

Originally posted by wataru:
That was my interpretation, too. Seriously. I don't think it was meant to be a joke about starving Ethiopian children.

Anyway, about SideTrack: It was pretty obvious that was going to happen. Expiring betas? Why would you do that, except to force people to pay for a final version.

Wow

I had no idea that mentioning Ethiopian food would spark such a controversy. Anyway, your interpretation was correct. After trying Ethiopian food for the first time a few weeks ago, I'm hooked. They give you these huge, fluffy, thick pancakes, and you use them as silverware. You grab the meat with the pancake. You grab the salad with the pancake. It might be weird, but it tastes frickin' amazing...and you get as many pancakes as your heart desires! It's expensive around here, though. $15 for a meal, on average.

I was thinking that the comment may have been a little vague, but I figured that most of you guys/gals could figure it out.

bookofjames · Dec 1, 2004, 10:25 PM

i can't live w/o Sidetrack~

time to whip out my credit card...

jasong · Dec 1, 2004, 10:26 PM

You can't just use uControl?

You can, but they aren't the same thing and don't give you the same features.

-- Jason

paully dub · Dec 2, 2004, 08:26 AM

Originally posted by tavilach:
They give you these huge, fluffy, thick pancakes, and you use them as silverware. You grab the meat with the pancake. You grab the salad with the pancake. It might be weird, but it tastes frickin' amazing...and you get as many pancakes as your heart desires! It's expensive around here, though. $15 for a meal, on average.

They're called injera, and if you really want to be authentic you take some injera, some meat and whatever and you feed someone else. A loved one, say. Just be sure to use your right hand. And licking one's fingers is considered rude.

But I did pay for the sidetrack, and it's worth the money, since it's about 11 euros, and that's fine by me.

TETENAL · Dec 2, 2004, 09:04 AM

Originally posted by tavilach:
I was thinking that the comment may have been a little vague, but I figured that most of you guys/gals could figure it out.

I think we understood. You begrudge an Ethopian meal to the author of SideTrack and rather have it yourself plus use his work for free.

Mike Pither · Dec 2, 2004, 06:31 PM

Tremendous product ,I hate using a laptop without it. I resisted 5 minutes before buying after a year of betas.

badtz · Dec 2, 2004, 07:38 PM

are there any documented instabilities w/sidetrack?

that's the only reason i haven't used it [along with progs. like APE] .... ?

siMac · Dec 2, 2004, 08:24 PM

Originally posted by badtz:
are there any documented instabilities w/sidetrack?

that's the only reason i haven't used it [along with progs. like APE] .... ?

If you only used software with no known instabilities you'd have a very empty Applications folder.

And stop badmouthing APE!

tavilach · Dec 2, 2004, 08:39 PM

Originally posted by badtz:
are there any documented instabilities w/sidetrack?

that's the only reason i haven't used it [along with progs. like APE] .... ?

I've used it for months, and have never had a single problem. Alex Harper is an amazing programmer...his applications are impeccable, more so than any other third-party applications that I've used.

tkmd · Dec 2, 2004, 10:03 PM

Just bought it last night... This guy is going to have a sweet xmas...

jasong · Dec 3, 2004, 02:07 AM

I've used it since the original private beta and never had a single problem with it.

-- Jason

badtz · Dec 3, 2004, 05:09 PM

Originally posted by siMac:
If you only used software with no known instabilities you'd have a very empty Applications folder.

And stop badmouthing APE!

a little defensive there i see, about APE?

fortepianissimo · Dec 3, 2004, 10:09 PM

Originally posted by jasong:
You can, but they aren't the same thing and don't give you the same features.

-- Jason

I've been using uControl all the time. I'd be curious about what features the SideTrack users feel compeling in shelling out $15 (not that I'm saying it's too much - just want to learn what I might have been missing).

timmerk · Dec 4, 2004, 02:32 AM

omg, tavilach keeps posting...

Spheric Harlot · Dec 4, 2004, 04:31 AM

Originally posted by siMac:
If you only used software with no known instabilities you'd have a very empty Applications folder.

And stop badmouthing APE!

Very few of those applications will tear down your entire system.

Contrast with APE.

Spheric Harlot · Dec 4, 2004, 04:35 AM

Originally posted by fortepianissimo:
I've been using uControl all the time. I'd be curious about what features the SideTrack users feel compeling in shelling out $15 (not that I'm saying it's too much - just want to learn what I might have been missing).

Scroll-pad along the trackpad edges without having to use a modifier key.

With uControl, you have a choice: remap the "enter" key on a laptop to be the "option" key that it should be, or remap it to the "fn" key to allow trackpad scrolling (since Option-Drag has a different function).

If you want the Enter key to be a second "option" key, you have no choice but to install SideTrack.

-s*

fortepianissimo · Dec 4, 2004, 10:33 PM

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
Scroll-pad along the trackpad edges without having to use a modifier key.

With uControl, you have a choice: remap the "enter" key on a laptop to be the "option" key that it should be, or remap it to the "fn" key to allow trackpad scrolling (since Option-Drag has a different function).

If you want the Enter key to be a second "option" key, you have no choice but to install SideTrack.

-s*

Hm... I'm not sure why using just the edge of the trackpad is better. With uControl, like you said, I use fn + the entire trackpad for scrolling. This way there's no chance for me to miss the "right" spot.

If that's the only gain from SideTrack, I guess uControl is much more useful to me.

Spheric Harlot · Dec 5, 2004, 12:15 AM

Originally posted by fortepianissimo:
Hm... I'm not sure why using just the edge of the trackpad is better. With uControl, like you said, I use fn + the entire trackpad for scrolling. This way there's no chance for me to miss the "right" spot.

If that's the only gain from SideTrack, I guess uControl is much more useful to me.

Read my post again carefully.

I only have one function key at the left. I'm right-handed. I *could* remap the Enter key to be a function key, but I much prefer it to be the missing second Option key.

There is thus no way to scroll using uControl that doesn't involve protracted cramping or two hands.

Being able to use two or all four edges of the trackpad for scrolling is just so damn convenient.

-s*