Tag: Software

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EPSON, grumble, grumble, grumble

This weekend I finally had a chance to sit down with the EPSON CX9400 I picked up on Thursday. After hours upon hours of attempting to debug ReceiptWallet and figure out the problem, I finally came up with a workaround. It appears that the EPSON TWAIN data source doesn’t close a few of its resources when the data source is closed. Then when the data source is opened again lots of stuff has taken place since the last scan potentially causing the data source to lose track of its resources (or maybe Carbon doesn’t like trying to open the same resource more than once by the same plugin). In any case, I worked around this by not closing the data source for any EPSON scanner. I really, really dislike this solution, but I went through a lot of my code and tried removing chunks to see if they caused the issue and then eventually discovered that if I started a scan, closed the scan, then showed the thumbnail view (I normally show the list view), it would crash. So all the code I tested to see if it caused the crash really led me no where.

So, this proves to me (beyond a reasonable doubt) that the EPSON scanner driver is a piece of junk and causes lots of problems for ReceiptWallet users.

While I’m beating on EPSON, I decided to grab a screenshot of their latest user interface. This is 2008, not 2000 when I bought my last EPSON scanner. Can we at least get the buttons to be nice OS X buttons and use fonts that don’t look like crap? This UI is completely unacceptable; it’s kind of interesting that the Apple store doesn’t sell any EPSON scanners or all-in-one devices (at least the online Apple store).

I recommend that Mac users stop buying EPSON devices (unfortunately I had to buy one to test) until EPSON decides to spend some money and fix the drivers. They are in such sorry shape, it isn’t even funny.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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Congratulations to my competitor!

I’d like to congratulate my competitor, NeatReceipts, for finally shipping a Mac version! I know that this has been a long time coming. Way back before I started ReceiptWallet, I contacted them about a Mac version. They said it was coming next year. That was more than 1.5 years ago. ReceiptWallet was first released in November 2006 and that has given me lots of time to make a product that I use everyday and have thousands of customers that also use the product.

One of the things I find interesting about their Mac product is they keep stating what it doesn’t do more than what it does do. They also promise features for the version that will be out early 2009. Well, what about the people that want a product now? I’ve decided to offer those users that want ReceiptWallet a competitive upgrade. Information about this offer can be found over at the ReceiptWallet site.

While the NeatReceipts Mac scanner won’t work directly with ReceiptWallet (they chose to use Apple’s Image Capture Architecture), users can scan into Image Capture and then import the scans into ReceiptWallet. I’m looking at supporting ICA, but there are far too many issues with it to make it usable. I am working with an engineer at a major scanner vendor in an effort to help Apple fix the issues with ICA and make it usable. I have ICA support in ReceiptWallet, but it is disabled. I’m not a huge fan of the TWAIN drivers most vendors ship with their scanners, but those drivers work better than ICA at this point in time.

Anyway, I’m hoping that competition in the receipt management space brings me more publicity. I know that I’m the small fry in this space, but my heart is completely into ReceiptWallet. I listen to every piece of feedback that comes in and try very hard to get new features added as quickly as possible and to address any issues that arise. I’m currently releasing new versions at least once a month (sometimes more often) so that I can quickly address issues and provide the most stable product as possible. As a small developer, I have that luxury and users don’t have to sit around waiting 6 months to a year for a bug to get fixed.

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Are software bundle deals just marketing hype?

I’ve commented on the past about MacHeist bundles and eventually decided that the bundles are not a bad thing with the exception of potentially decreasing the value of individual pieces of software. Last week, MacUpdate Promo started a new bundle deal with some interesting apps and Parallels being offered up if certain sales goals are reached. That’s fine. Even though I have Parallels and Hazel, I bit as some of the other pieces looked interested and I like collecting software (odd hobby, I know). Typinator and MenuCalendarClock are already in use daily.

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So now I come to my point on this entry. The MUPromo site indicates that X units have to be purchased to “unlock” Parallels. However, over on several other websites, they’re running the ad that appears to the right. If you saw that ad, you would expect to get Parallels and 9 other apps as indicated. So, unless MacUpdate wants to be accused of false advertising, Parallels and the other 9 apps listed on their site will be included. Why the whole charade over unlocking based on sales numbers? Just hand over the applications and be done with it. So, in actuality, I should have all 10 applications today as indicated in the ad, but I have to wait until MUPromo decides that it is going to “unlock” all the apps.

(No one has asked me to be part of a bundle for ReceiptWallet and after this post, I’m not sure anyone will :-)).

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Hacked Serial Numbers

In the past, I’ve written about software piracy, registration codes and catching users with pirated serial numbers. As part of the latest update to ReceiptWallet, I added some additional checks for invalid registration codes (read, pirated or hacked). One of the simplest ways to deal with this would be to have ReceiptWallet check in with my server to validate the code, but I don’t like that idea. What happens if my server goes down or my company goes away? Users can no longer use the software, so I avoid that method. This morning, after I released a new version of ReceiptWallet, one of the first messages I received was a user saying that there was an error with his serial number. This meant one of two things; the user was given a refund and is no longer eligible to use the software or he used a hacked serial number. After a little probing, he admitted that he didn’t remember purchasing the software and wanted to know how to buy it. I didn’t outright accuse him of using a hacked serial number, but I suspect he figured it out pretty quickly.

As with most serial number schemes, there is going to be no way to stop those that are serious about pirating. I have no plans on spending a ton of time on thwarting pirates, but an enhancement here and there doesn’t hurt.

I wonder how many other email messages I’ll get about invalid serial numbers.

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Knowledgebase Overload

In my effort to have my ReceiptWallet users get faster answers to questions, I have developed an extensive knowledge base of articles. While I’ve done my best to write easy to understand articles, the hardest part is getting people to find the articles. I know my knowledge base, so I know what keywords to enter to get results. Yesterday my mom had a problem with printing a receipt from Amazon to ReceiptWallet, so I pointed my dad to “droplet” and then directly to the article about droplets. My dad read the article and easily fixed the problem. Would my parents (or other users) been able to find the article? That depends on what keywords they entered in the search. I’ve been searching for answers for years on the Internet (I still haven’t found what I’m looking for probably because I’m not sure what I’m looking for :-)), so I have a good idea on what words to use in searching.

Is there a better way to help people search in knowledge bases? I’m not sure the knowledge base software makes a difference. I have about 60 articles in my database covering a wide range of topics. They are categorized, but finding an answer could take time and many people don’t want to spend the time to search for an answer; I can’t blame them.

Any ideas on how to improve self help resources for ReceiptWallet?

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Caught with his pants down

I had a user send me email the other day indicating that his copy of ReceiptWallet was already registered and he couldn’t enter his newly purchased registration code. He sent me a screenshot of the about box which shows the registration code and I ran the code through my database to discover a) it was never issued and b) it is in the wrong format to be a valid code. Hmmm. When I was at Macworld, I spoke to an engineer at eSellerate who indicated that their serial number library was updated to be more secure as there have been some cracks out there of it; I still use the library as some of my users purchased way back when I used eSellerate to process my sales. So, it would appear that there is a cracked serial number for DocumentWallet (and now ReceiptWallet) floating out there.

Should I be concerned? Not really. I know that software is pirated and just take that as a given. If I spent huge amounts of time building in super-duper code to handle piracy, I couldn’t spend time on the stuff people care about. I worked for a company way back when that spent so much time on anti-piracy, that they neglected to fix issues in the product and had few customers to show for it. I have blocked the serial number from use in future versions, but I’m sure it will get cracked again.

(Yes, I know I could do server side validation of registration codes and block them, but this gets people a bit paranoid if I go out of business, their software stops working. So, I’ll live with piracy.)

Back to the user; I’m not sure if I’ll hear from him again. While I didn’t accuse him of piracy, I did ask him questions about how long he’s been using the product as his original email indicated he had problems upgrading from DocumentWallet. Since he purchased ReceiptWallet last week, he either wasn’t using the product for the last 3 weeks (since ReceiptWallet 2.0 came out) or he was using DocumentWallet with a hacked code.

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Tech support via Screen Sharing

One of the features that I really like about Leopard is iChat’s ability to do Screen Sharing. There have been different implementations of screen sharing including Apple Remote Desktop and VNC, but none is as easy to use through home routers as this. In the last week, I helped my dad with email (he just upgraded to Leopard) and helped a ReceiptWallet user with an issue. Sometimes it is much faster and easier for me to poke around than to talk on the phone or exchange email. While there are some problems with the feature dealing with different screen resolutions, for most people it works quite well. This feature, alone, is a reason to get anyone that you support to upgrade to Leopard; if you’ve ever spent hours on the phone trying to talk someone through a problem, then this is for you!

(Of course, certain firewalls and routers can cause this to fail. I got rid of my Linux server awhile ago that was my router and now things like Screen Sharing work quite seamlessly. If you have problems, stop kidding yourself and buy an Apple TimeCapsule or Airport Extreme and be much happier. It costs more than other routers, but the time and hassle it saves is well worth it.)