XY = Non-notable software

[admin]

Hey, down in Portugal (where I've been mountain biking for a couple of days) I found out in some internet cafe that my work of the last 8 years did not result in anything notable, too bad!

XYplorer was kicked out of wikipedia because of being "Non-notable software" -- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... n/XYplorer .

And the kicking-out was done thoroughly: they also removed XY completely from the article "Comparison of file managers" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... e_managers ). Somebody invested quite some time here to remove what others had compiled over months. Completely cleaned off. Like a soft-o-cide.

So one thing's for sure: now XY is less notable than before! Funny thing: All the other file managers (the usual suspects plus some weirdos I never heard of) are still there. Hmm.

Whatever, it is tough luck, because many of my customers refer to wikipedia as their source of inspiration.

Just thought you might like to know that your favorite file manager is not notable.

[j_c_hallgren]

I just the "reasons" for deletion...
One said

There really isn't any real "coverage" on this product in the mainstream. It's relatively unknown, not really notable

...
So just because it's unknown, then how does one become known?
EVERY software product when first created is unknown! Ok, so it's been a while since XY was created but we just haven't had that much publicity...

[jgpaiva]

I think that's just idiotic!

Has anyone ever heard about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RageWork, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Navigator or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZTreeWin?
And since when is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinSCP a file manager?

BTW... Me being from portugal, may i ask as to where exactly are you?

PS: Another problem: the third it for XY in google was for wikipedia, which means it's now a broken link

[admin]

BTW... Me being from portugal, may i ask as to where exactly are you?

That internet cafe was in Lagos, and I also were in Portimao, Faro, Tavira, Altura, Monte Gordo, and Vila Real. I got the best bike in Lagos -- if any of you happens to be there and need a bike, I can recommend the rent-a-bike "Passeios do Sudoeste" (Rua Vasco da Gama).

[jacky]

wow, that's a lot of BS!

Especially since XY has been reviewed by many different people, and those reviews can be found on sources I would call independent, unless Don is also behind The Great Software List, Softpedia, donationcoder, Gizmo's famous list of the 46 best-ever free utility programs...

And really, emelFM2? Turbo Navigator? Let me guess, they are dual pane right?

"google results are almost all of them are links to software directory sites"

This one is funny. I googled "directory opus" and had pretty much the same results : DO sites, wikipedia, and software directories.
Sure, I did not count some sites/blogs reviewing different file managers/explorer alternatives, but only because they also listed XY so I assume those don't count, for some reason....

[j_c_hallgren]

And the part that is really annoying was the removal from the comparison! So do ALL the other products in those tables meet the criteria that these "editors' have defined that XY doesn't? I think NOT!

Had they left even a stub entry for XY so that it would be found, if "they" thought it was too commercial or whatever, then we could have adjusted it to be more neutral...

I think this removal is a total load of @#$% and I'm VERY offended by it!

[j_c_hallgren]

Don't know if will help (or hurt..I hope NOT) but I've made a couple of replies on WP to two users who helped decide on XY's removal...I pointed out the Langa List mention (which wasn't 100% positive but it WAS big time press, in my opinion) and the Tech Support Alert site..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk: ... er_here...
and the other one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk: ... er_here...

I tried to be as professional as possible...

[Gandolf]

... Turbo Navigator? Let me guess, they are dual pane right?

They are a bit out of date if Turbo Navigator is in the list. It stopped development in 2002 (there was a minor update in 2004) and there appears to have been no more work on it. At the time it was one of the most promising file managers. It has a tree and dual pane.

[jgpaiva]

Don't know if will help (or hurt..I hope NOT) but
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk: ... er_here...
and the other one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk: ... er_here...

You might want to edit that second comment, as the link is wrong. (it's http// where should be http://)

[admin]

Don't know if will help (or hurt..I hope NOT) but I've made a couple of replies on WP to two users who helped decide on XY's removal...I pointed out the Langa List mention (which wasn't 100% positive but it WAS big time press, in my opinion) and the Tech Support Alert site...

Thanks for the effort! Not being in the file manager comparison list is indeed a slap in the face for me. I'm almost starting fantasize about being a victim of the DPM (Dual Pane Mafia).

BTW: Maybe being Cracked In China (the CIC-index) should count as notability, HAHA. Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said: "Cracking is the sincerest form of flattery"?

[j_c_hallgren]

I've also followed up on the WP help page, with the hope that another admin will provide some input, as one may have...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... er_here... which may not go to the section directly, but you can find it there hopefully...

It really irritates me that we didn't have a chance to comment on this during that 5 day "review" period as we didn't know about it...

[panorama]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portable_software

still shows XY, with a link that takes you to a "page not found".

When I see all the "less notable" stuff kicking around on wikipedia, I can't imagine why they booted XY.

Bizarre, bizarre

[j_c_hallgren]

I've been doing QUITE a bit of typing in last day on the WP site (help area and uesr pages), trying to figure out how we can get XY back in the chart of file managers at the least, without fear of it being deleted.

One thing that I could use to try and help make XY more visible would be a list of maybe 10 features that XY has which the "big names" (DirOpus, X2, etc) don't...but given that I don't have experience with other products, I'm somewhat limited...and I don't have time to research other products...

So can some of y'all who have used the competing products help with this? It could be very helpful to get some better attention in the press/media/web, which would thus help our case to get back in WP, I think.

UPDATE:On the media aspect: There is a syndicated talk show called Computer America that has a podcast (a quite large audience, it seems) which I've listened to a few times...so I found a phone nbr on their website (http://computeramerica.com) so called and talked briefly with Craig Crossman (who answered the phone!) about XY...I didn't mention XY name directly but told of my initial positive experience with XY and then sent an email to the site about XY using some of the text I'd posted to WP yesterday...he sounded interested and I'll followup with this in a few days...maybe Don could even do an interview about XY, if things go well!

[admin]

One thing that I could use to try and help make XY more visible would be a list of maybe 10 features that XY has which the "big names" (DirOpus, X2, etc) don't...

I would think the same -- on impulse -- but I fear it works exactly the other way round: one should compile a list of 10 features that all other file managers have too! And the list should start with these:
- Dual Pane
- Zip Support
- FTP Support
- Find Duplicates
- Dir Synchronization
- Built-in Editor
- Split/Join Files
- Toolbar buttons for drives

I think these are the most popular features in a file manager (apart from being freeware), and 9 out of 10 file managers have all of them. Well, as you know, XYplorer has none of them! ("No popular features and proud!" ) Am I crazy? No! Because this is also true: 9 out of 10 people (sure, I'm guessing here) that actually come to try XYplorer are absolutely thrilled by it and half of them buy it immediately, the rest some days later.

What does this mean for a marketing concept? I don't know. What XY maybe is lacking is a feature with such an irrational/emotional power as Dual Pane has, which is running on Anti-MS-fuel ever since. This is historically singular, I think, and cannot be repeated.

[admin]

XYplorer is mentioned here as one of the 15 most notable file managers of the world (and got the best rating).

http://www.simplehelp.net/2006/10/11/10 ... -reviewed/

I checked each of them for a wiki entry and DualPane:

Code: Select all

Name                      Cost            Trial?        Rating  wiki  DP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A43                       free            n/a           ***½    no    yes
Ac Browser Plus           $21.00          yes           **      no    yes
CubicExplorer             free            n/a           ***     no    no
Directory Opus            AUD $85.00      yes (30 days) ****    yes   yes
ExplorerXP                free            n/a           ***     no    yes
Far Manager               $25.00          yes (40 days) ***½    yes   yes
FileMatrix                ? 24.00         yes           ***     yes   yes?
freeCommander             free            n/a           ***½    no    yes
PowerDesk Pro/Standard    $39.95/free     n/a           **¾     no    yes
Servant Salamander (2.5)  $30             yes (30 days) ****    yes   yes
SpeedCommander            ? 37.95         yes (60 days) ***     no    yes
Total Commander           $34             yes (30 days) ****    yes   yes
XPlorer                   free            n/a           ***½    yes   no
xplorer²                  ? 19.95         yes (21 days) ***     yes   yes
XYplorer                  $29.50          yes (30 days) ****    no    no

As you see there is no clear correlation, so my evil fantasies were just that: fantasies. In the meantime, it appears, some others were also removed from wikipedia. They are cleaning up...