I feel so dirty

I decided to purchase an EPSON scanner to maybe workaround issues with their drivers and ReceiptWallet. I have an old Perfection 1250, but the drivers aren't universal binaries and I wanted to give EPSON a fighting chance to make it back on my list of acceptable scanners. So I saw that Fry's had a few on sale and purchased the EPSON CX9400. I feel so dirty purchasing the scanner as I've said so many bad things about EPSON. I unpacked the scanner and said "oh, this is a pretty scanner". My wife laughed at me as I described a printer as "pretty". It looks well made and it might replace my old HP OfficeJet 6110xi for faxing and copying.

I installed the drivers from EPSON's site (I chose this model as it is current and has Intel native drivers) and away I went (the download was only about 20 MB vs HP's 100+ MB). I started up Image Capture and was pleased to see that Apple's TWAIN Bridge let me use the ICA scanning dialog instead of the EPSON dialog. Next I tried ReceiptWallet. It scanned on the first try, but crashed on the second try. Wow, that's what people have been telling me. The crash clearly looks like it is in the driver, but I'll take a stab at working around it as it will help many ReceiptWallet users. In addition, if ICA works acceptably, I might turn that back on as an option in ReceiptWallet. The TWAIN UI for the EPSON scanner still looks like crap, but if it works, then ReceiptWallet users may be happy.

Taxing those that can't do math

The latest attempt at getting out of California's budget problems is to increase marketing of the lottery. Someone once told me that the lottery is for those that can't do math as the odds of winning a substantial payout are astronomical. So the state is hoping that those that can't afford to spend money on the lottery buy more lottery tickets. I'm not saying that those that can afford it don't play, but my gut tells me that many of those that do play can't really afford it, but hope that just the next ticket will be the big one (it never is). What a brilliant plan; I'm once again impressed my our government.

My partial solution (not just to the state's money problem, but all government money problems) is to tax each person that has served an elected office for each year that he served. Some amount, like $10,000, would be a start. Those in office currently or in the past got us into the mess that we're in now. I'm sure that this will go over real well with the politicians. This won't solve everything, but it may make politicians think twice before wasting our tax dollars.

Collecting scanners

Yesterday I placed an order for my competitor's scanner. Why did I do this? I have no interest in looking at their software; I want to try out their scanner driver and make ReceiptWallet work with the scanner so that users can switch to ReceiptWallet. That got me thinking about my collection of scanners and what I need to add to it.

• Fujitsu ScanSnap 5110 EOXM
• DocketPORT 465
• Pentax DSMobile 600 (currently at Apple)
• IRISScan Express (sitting in the original box)
• EPSON Perfection 1250
• HP OfficeJet 6110xi

So when I add my competitor's scanner, that will total 7 scanners. I need to get a newer EPSON (one that has Intel native drivers) as well as a newer HP. While I still don't recommend EPSON or HP scanners, I can at least try to make them work better.

Do I really want all these scanners? No, but in order to make ReceiptWallet more compatible with a wide variety of scanners (many with broken drivers), I have to add to my collection.

Where is ReceiptWallet going?

The other day I was chatting with someone that I work with and he mentioned that he and his brother would like to develop a software product. As part of the conversation, he asked if I'd sell ReceiptWallet? That's a good question. I started ReceiptWallet out of my own frustration really with no idea how well it would do. Now, it is a decent portion of my business and I still feel very passionately about it. That still doesn't answer the question, would I sell? If there are enough zeros on the check and the terms are right (I'd want ReceiptWallet to continue on and be developed), I'd say yes! Some "indie" developers would never sell out and just like going at it alone. For me, unless I grow my company to have other people handle support and sales, ReceiptWallet will continue to consume me. Someday I'd like to not have to worry about ReceiptWallet. Is that day coming any time soon? No. Am I giving up on ReceiptWallet? Absolutely not. I work on ReceiptWallet almost everyday.

Having my own software product is nice in some ways, but it also eats up a lot of time due to my desire to create a product that I love.

Don't worry about ReceiptWallet going away; I have some cool ideas for the future. Of course, I can't guarantee what or when will be in there (until a product ships, no one can know what a product will contain despite reassurance from developers).