Reactionary

MacZOT is for Mac users…

…so anyone using a PC won’t know what it is and can’t use it even if they did. But anyone using a Mac would be wise to go see. MacZOT is a site that generates hype and advertizing for Mac shareware developers in exchange for a group of discounted licenses. Everyone wins. Shareware developers get their products into the hard drives of more people who may not have heard or bought their product otherwise. Mac users get to use software they probably wouldn’t have heard of or thought about if their attention hadn’t been seized by the possibility of getting a deal. Everyone likes to get something on sale. As a Mac user, it’s hard to keep track of all the Mac shareware since most developers are small and oftentimes you don’t know their names, let alone their products. Chances are, someone out there has made a piece of software that would solve some kind of workflow problem you’re having, but since they’re not a big developer like Adobe or Apple, that software exists unbeknownst to you.

I have good stories of finding software thanks to dumb luck like one day reading a blog post that mentions it. Where would I be now without TacoHTML or Transmit? I’d still be buying Dreamweaver and hating the bloat.

This week, I participated in my first MysteryZOT at MacZOT. A MysteryZOT is like a grab bag of shareware. MacZOT gets developers to earmark a batch of licenses at a discount and sells a bundle of shareware to users without the users knowing what they’re getting. There’s risk in that you’ll get something you don’t want/ need/ desire but you might get something awesome at a fraction of the price. This week’s MysteryZOT was $15 and this morning, I found out what I got. This is how it pans out:

1. World of Where: Completely useless. it’s a very primitive map of the world with a country’s capital highlighted on it. Whatever. Why wouldn’t you just Google it if you wanted to know something? Google Earth lets you see satellite pictures of everything and it’s free.
2. Pzizz: It’s an automagical nap generator. From what I can see, it gets some relaxing music and guided relaxation together for you for whatever length of a nap you want. You can export naps to you iPod. I might try it out though I’m not a napper and have never really had a hard time getting to sleep.
3. Matinee: It’s a front end for disparate pieces of software that organizes a way for you to watch movies on your Mac. It uses Mac the Ripper to rip DVDs and Apple DVD Player to play them. It makes the watching movies on your Mac thing a bit better of a process. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support m4p files which is a bit useless, just _TSS files. I’m looking forward to using it, though.
4. iScooper: It’s supposed to be able to take multiple pictures off a web site and present them as a consolitated package. I haven’t tried it and am not too keen to.
5. Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab: A game a bit like Tetris. I’m not a gamer but it’s fun enough for a little while or when stuck trying to update php files.
6. Multimedia Tiler: It lets you fill your Mac’s screen with mutiple movie files all playing at the same time. Umm… Why??? I don’t see the point unless you’re the kind who likes to give yourself seizures. The icon is really disturbing, too. I might open it just to open it and then use my new AppZapper I got from MacZOT for free to get rid of it.
7. CastEasy: As the title says, it’s supposed to make podcasting easy. I’ve never felt the need to podcast but I’m looking forward to trying this out. It’s a good-looking app.

People typically complained about the Mystery ZOT and a moderator said to give suggestions for the apps people would like to see. Oddly, there were multiple requests for an OS appearance tweaker like CandyBar and Pixadex. Why do people like to put all kinds of gaudy icons all over their computer screens? Switchers, probably. Not people who spend time fine-tuning photographs, obviously. Odd. I’d like to see productivity and creative software like a GUI for the Terminal.

It was a fun MysteryZOT though I may not participate again due to the risk of overlapping apps. Good job, MacZOT. Small Mac developers need to be supported and it’s hard to support them when you don’t even know they exist.

Posted on April 8th, 2006 under Tech •  Print •  Email • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed