Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with recommendations and Software

I need to know what I'm doing and when I need to do it.

oceanjesse — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:46:47 -0800

I am looking for a wonderful timer program for Mac (OS X 10.7.4 +). It needs to have a Cocoa GUI (meaning a GUI that isn't ugly, and isn't unnecessarily complicated), the ability to run multiple timers, and the ability to name timers with a decent amount of detail. Sound is an important feature, too. Command line alternatives are also cool, but not ideal. More information inside: I tried the Howler timer just now and found most of what I was looking for, but the fonts aren't beautiful, it has unnecessary features like unit converters, and the upgrade button is always shown unless I shell out some dough ($0.99). The aesthetics and unnecessary features make me unwilling to do that.

I am not opposed to paying for the functionality I want. I haven't looked any further because there are so many options, instead, I am opting to ask the wise MeFi tribe for guidance.

What do you use? What would you recommend?

need floor layout software

germdisco — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:46:25 -0800

Can you help me find floor plan/room layout software that will help my relative run a vendor sales event? I am looking for a piece of software that would help a relative run an event. The event allows vendors to reserve one or more tables and offer items for sale. This might be described as floor plan, room layout, or event management software. The workflow basically needs to be this: easily draw a number of tables (I believe 50 was the example told to me), then as people call or email to sign up to sell at the event, assign them the correct number of tables (perhaps by typing their name on one or more adjacent tables), print, and be able to easily search for a specific vendor while at the event.

Does anyone have experience with such a product that they like and would recommend? Here are my requirements:

- OS: Mac OS X preferred; web app OK; Windows XP/7 as a last resort (they would need to borrow a Windows system)
- Cost: No more than $150 for a single-user system
- Users: one user on one computer only
- Layout: Easily and quickly arrange a layout of tables in roughly a grid (a spreadsheet might work, but is there something better?); single floor; two-dimensional
- Locations: Automatically assign each table a unique identifier (e.g. J1, F3, etc.)
- Adjacent tables: Make it easy to assign a vendor an adjacent set of tables (e.g. C3-C6)
- Search: On the day of the event, have an easy search feature to locate vendors by name
- Printing: Allow the table layout and vendor names to be printed
- Sales: The software does not need any point-of-sale functionality

seatingarrangement.com looked promising, but kept returning an error in both Safari 5.1.1 and Firefox 7.0.1. I also looked at Room Magic, Google SketchUp, floorplanner.com, mapsalive.com, ezblueprint.com, and gliffy.com.

Landscape design software

simplesharps — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 03:28:13 -0800

Software recommendations for a landscape architect? My dad has been using LANDWorksCAD for a little over three years now, but he's thinking of switching to some better software (I've never been a fan of it).

He's been looking at Vectorworks Landmark, but can you suggest any other leading software packages that would be better? He's currently on windows, but would like to move to a mac soon too. And he's based in Australia, if that makes a difference. Thanks!

What are good apps for converting PDFs and other text files to non-PDF files?

GlassHeart — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:34:55 -0800

What are good apps for converting PDFs and other text files to non-PDF text files? I've been wanting to convert PDFs to non-PDF text files to read on a Kindle and on my computer. I know that text format conversion is possible, but since I know little of this, I don't know which apps (both freeware and payware) would be recommendable for the job.

Recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

By the way: I use Windows as my primary OS.

Recommendations for DJ samples/songs ala Fatboy Slim?

heatherfl — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:30:56 -0800

My husband mixes dance music using Fruity Loops. I want to get him some CDs for Christmas for samples -- particularly stuff that sounds like Fatboy Slim. Help? I can buy loops already sampled or I can buy songs for that he can sample himself, it doesn't matter.

This song is a good overview of what FBS sounds like and what I'm looking for:
Mad Flava

There's a lot of retro sounding piano and brass, some funky bass/guitar, syncopated percussion, a bit of synth/electronica, and non-rap but rhythmically interesting vocals. If you're familiar with Fatboy Slim, you know what I mean!

FYI, I already got him "The Ultimate DJ Sample Box" which has actual Fatboy Slim samples. Just looking for supplemental goodies now.

So what should I get for him, music experts?

Thanks so much!

GIF Animation Freeware

ZenMasterThis — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:16:26 -0800

I'm looking for simple GIF animation freeware/cheapware. What are your faves/dogs?

Useful Windows diagnostic and troubleshooting utilities for house calls

mcsweetie — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 20:07:43 -0800

I'm compiling a disc of useful windows diagnostic and troubleshooting utilities for when I have to make house calls for friends and relatives. what are some maybe lesser known tools that you guys have found particularly useful? freeware would be nice, but not necessary.

Sales Cycle Management

lotsofno — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 05:53:41 -0800

Needed: Reliable software that will automatically respond to email sales leads, send those sales leads to our dealers in the customer's particular region, and follow up with an email to the customer a week later to see if the dealer has contacted him or her, or if a sale has been made. [more inside...] I am not sure if this is possible with one software package, so any suggestions that even closely resemble the requirements below. Most of the solutions I've researched seemed to be from companies I've never heard of with generic sites using a bit of Flash here, a bit of stock photography there, with a sprinkle of sales "buzz words," so I'm a bit weary of them. I'd really appreciate if any MeFites who're familiar with this type of software could point me in the right direction.

Our company receives a hundred or so emails a day from customers who've been to our web site and have filled out a form requesting information about our products. We also receive response cards and call reports as well. What we'd like to do is have an auto responder tell the user that their request has been received and that their inquiry will be send to a local dealer. We would also like to be able to enter the emails given to us on our response cards or call reports so that we can send a similar message to them to indicate we're aware of their interest.

Then we'd like to send the information we've received to our dealer in that area so that they contact the customer and try to make a sale. Several days or weeks later, we'd send a follow up email again to the customer to see if they have been contacted or not, or if a sale has been made with the dealer we referred them too (sort of a mini-survey).

Lastly, we'd like to be able to have reports/statistics of the leads we've referred to the dealers based on information we've received: # of leads sent to a dealer versus how much they've sold, # of negative responses on follow ups, etc.. Because we spend about a million dollars or so every year just on lead-generation, so we'd like to know that our dealers are actually doing something with what we're sending them.

Blog for Teaching

answergrape — Sat, 15 May 2004 14:44:07 -0800

I'm looking for new blogware to support a technical writing class I'll be teaching in the fall.

Anybody want to recommend an inexpensive blogware/content manager that I can have installed quickly and learn in a summer? (more inside) I’m looking for a system that will let me have five blogs total with about 40 users total. I’m also looking for robust notifications systems, comment-spam control, and possibly blog-by-email. The users will be college sophomores and above, most of whom don’t do much beyond email.

I’ll be the administrator, and I’m a non-programming non-technoweenie but a pretty high-level user that can do basic HTML, some CSS, and alter a few basic scripts, but that’s about it. I’m going to have bribe someone or pay someone to install whatever I choose, so that is a factor too.

I use MT for my current personal blog and I’m pretty happy with it but I’m looking to use something different in my class because frankly their licensing stuff concerns me and I don’t want to wait for the dust to settle.

I also use PostNuke for one of my blogs and I like that a lot. It is my understanding that it isn’t being actively-developed (is this true?). Other then that, I have no complaints about PostNuke.

In the education community, many folks use Drupal in their writing classes and they seem to be happy with it. I’m not sure Drupal has the features I want though, and I’m also concerned because it looks so unfinished to me.

Anybody want to recommend an inexpensive blogware/content manager that I can have installed and learn in a summer?

WinXP Pro Email Client question

romakimmy — Sat, 24 Apr 2004 07:34:43 -0800

Which WinXP Pro Email Client will play nice with close to 800 megs of emails? [more inside] I realise email clients have been previously discussed here and elsewhere. But I'm finding no info through Google-fu on the most robust email clients for handling this obscene amount of mail.

My collegue has around 800 megs of emails, dating from around 2000, none of which are deletable due to the nature of the business. Up until now he has always used (don't gag) Outlook Express.

Today we are discovering that Outlook Express doesn't like this large amount of data and the "Find" function subsequently refuses to work, no matter how few emails it has to search through. Various attempts to patch, upgrade, roll back, refresh installation etc. did sweet fuck all. (I haven't yet futzed about with uninstalling OE, though, as it looks to be a huge pain in the ass, to be saved as a desparate measure)

Installing Outlook 2000 seemed like our salvation until it too froze in protest (subsequent skimming of Google results enlightened me to the fact that Outlook is vaguely connected to OE?)

So it's back to square one. Ideally we would archive a large portion of emails, which I know Outlook does, but since it's not playing nice at the moment...Thoughts?

Outlook Express

sgt.serenity — Sun, 18 Apr 2004 10:37:45 -0800

Outlook Express must DIE ! As you can tell , i'm not too please with OE at the moment , i downloaded a patch for it which then resulted in me losing my addresses and the complete inability to use it as an outgoing mail program.

I've been told i must reinstall XP pro entirely to fix this.

I'd rather not , i'd rather post here and see if people can suggest an alternative to outlook express that i can install on my computer without a complete bloomin reboot.

honestly , i'll use anything .

Recommendations for trustworthy Adware cleaners

limitedpie — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 07:53:25 -0800

As embarrassing as it is to confess, I am not very sophisticated with computers and technology. Recently my computer has become the eager droid of "purityscan," which (to my never ending frustration and dismay) opens a few hundred pop-ups per hour. I Googled for the best spy/pop up removal software, but I am unable to tell the good guys from the bad guys. I downloaded and ran "adaware" but now that they have identified "368 spyware components" on my computer they want $30.00 to remove them. I have no problem paying to end this problem, but I do not want to pay for dreck or pay evil extortionists who create the problem and then sell the solution. So: Which software is best, from an honest company, to fix this loathsome problem?

3D interactive geometry software

MzB — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 09:33:56 -0800

Do you know of any 3D interactive geometry software? I would like to have the power of Cabri / Geometer's Sketchpad in 3D.