Various Mysteries

[admin]

The old Japanese mystery (cf http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic. ... t=japanese) got explained and also is going away. More and more Japanese customers!

But there is no lack in new mysteries:

1) Why is Total Commander so popular? When you visit their user forum, it becomes obvious that this app is full of problems and can hardly do the most simple things, things that all other top file managers (DO, X2, XY) can do for many years. Who is using this app for serious work???

2) XY seems to have an image problem. Why? For example, I saw this in X2's forum today: http://netez.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=63834#p63834 Is it still the old VB-is-bad myth? Haven't I done enough yet to prove it wrong? Everybody who ever used XY knows that XY runs circles around X2. It's a totally different league. X2 is only widely known because of its freeware version "X2 lite". There is hardly any development there, apart from pricing, anti-piracy attempts, and an "Ultimate" version that's just there to rip off previous "Lifetime" customers. How can anybody seriously compare it to XY???

[klownboy]

From the X2 forum thread you provided above, the not-so-well-informed "new" member states, "whilst technically lesser competitors like XY". I suppose we should take offense at that, but you have to consider the source. Clearly, the X2 user may think since XY is visually more appealing, maybe through looking at the XYplorer web site in comparison to the X2 website - very sad, that it doesn't have the deep power that technically experienced users want. I tried X2 years ago and wasn't impressed.
Yes, it could be to a lesser extent with some people, a "VB" notion, that it's not as fast or capable as other languages. I thought that too many years ago maybe because it's a language that many new to programming started to learn.

So it might be that some potential users don't get the fact that XY is as powerful as it is, and possibly you have to work on getting that message across on the web site (i.e., don't be fooled by it's beauty so-to-speak, it's more powerful than a locomotive or any other file manager in existence).
Ken

[admin]

Yes, but getting that message across is not easy. Do you (all of you) think that the green stuff (the plants) on the homepage somehow give a wrong impression?

That VB-is-bad myth stems from the days of VB3 which was bad indeed (about as bad as .NET is now). But all that changed with VB5, only the myth stayed. Well, you can't beat a myth I guess. It might be the same with TC the other way round: In the 90s it was the best, and that image stayed with it and seems indestructible. Good for them.

[Enternal]

AND YES! More customers from Japan! We must thank nardog for all that. ありがとう!
(hope he reads that).

It's odd because he said that XY displays the images faster and on par with XNView and is bothered by how xp2 handle images yet he's also saying XY is "technically lesser".

But either way, newer members that don't understand anything is a problem for any software developer I would say and nikos has his share of problems as well haha.

It terms of "beautiful and therefore weak in functions", I always HATED that. Is it never not possible for something to be both beautiful and strong in functions? I see this in real life too. "This girl she's beautiful so everyone probably hands everything to her" yet BECAUSE everyone has that same idea, that girl they are talking about actually has been doing everything herself and is actually generally stronger than others since and independent. It's usually the "that girl is weak, we must help her" are the ones to remain... weak. Anyways, sorry for that quick rant but yeah, people just can't get over that idea that beautiful AND functional can go together.

But yes, myths are hard to bust. Sometimes they live up to it and sometimes they don't but those impressions are there to stay for a long time. First impressions are the most horrible human feelings since they don't allow people to fairly judge.

Anyways, at least in my opinion, Directory Opus is one of those really old file managers that still deserve what it deserve today. It's still really good. TC on the other hand... needs work. Quite a lot.

[nerdweed]

With .NET the initial myth was that a language based on .NET cannot be strong. But isn't that wrong. .NET is platform independent just that they haven't made it for obvious reasons.

Until just before Vista released, people said XP crashed and stuck to Win 98 or 2000. XP SP2 was the game changer. But I haven't understood how the mythological creatures got this into their head.

[j_c_hallgren]

Do you (all of you) think that the green stuff (the plants) on the homepage somehow give a wrong impression?

Actually, since you asked: I'd say yes! It has no understanble or relateable connection to a file manager for me...without some tie-in to the product, it just seems odd...now thinking back, you had some blades of grass at one time (i think) and that could go with the old cliche "the grass is always greener on the other side" and use that in conjuction with a visual/slogan that says you should leave the brown grass of WE or other and come on over...

[admin]

Some months ago I tried really hard to find something better than the plants (which I personally still like, but well, I see that they might alienate customers, sigh) -- I didn't find anything! I was ready to pay for a good foto or graphic, but they were all crap. The good stuff (where the model does not look like the photographer's wife) starts at about 500 Euros or so, that was too much for me at that point.

[Enternal]

Talking about images, at least I'm glad you took down the one that had the lady model on it. To be honest, that's just... odd. That's much worse than the plants at least to me.

Still better than this other software that I bought for android though. There is this very good developer who makes really awesome system applications for android. His videos however are... I don't know. Not going to mention the software or the developer but it makes me think of an introduction to a naughty video the way the model acts, speaks, and looks.

So... now we must find something that relates back to XYplorer haha. You could just go simple like: http://www.webuilderapp.com/
WeBuilder is a website coding tool and the site just looks elegant and professional just like the software itself. And I think XYplorer definitely is "simple" and elegent.

[binocular222]

Most homepages have a big, easily recognizable brand identification (i.e: logo, big text, major color...).
XY homepage has bad brand identification:
- The word "portable file manager for windows" and "XYplorer" has white color, which blend in with the bright-part of the plants => not stand-out
- 3 big circles with very eye-catching color looks like program's icons (which is wrong) => confuse people. Sadly, these circles are more eye-catching than the XYplorer icon!
- XY icon has black color, which is akin to the bar beneath (Home, News, Product...) => not stand-out

[j_c_hallgren]

- I didn't find anything! I was ready to pay for a good foto or graphic, but they were all crap. The good stuff (where the model does not look like the photographer's wife) starts at about 500 Euros or so, that was too much for me at that point.

Have you ever looked at http://www.shutterstock.com/subscribe.mhtml? It's one of the advertisers on Leo's TWiT network and seems to have a decent pricing scheme if you only need a image or two - haven't signed in via free browse acct to see what's available but might be worth a look-and-see?

[admin]

I know and have used shutterstock, but they are not good enough for me, just so so.

Also, when looking at TC's homepage there can only be one conclusion: it's not that important.

[admin]

Most homepages have a big, easily recognizable brand identification (i.e: logo, big text, major color...).
XY homepage has bad brand identification:
- The word "portable file manager for windows" and "XYplorer" has white color, which blend in with the bright-part of the plants => not stand-out
- 3 big circles with very eye-catching color looks like program's icons (which is wrong) => confuse people. Sadly, these circles are more eye-catching than the XYplorer icon!
- XY icon has black color, which is akin to the bar beneath (Home, News, Product...) => not stand-out

I thought about that, and yes, you are not totally wrong here. I changed the graphics a bit to make the logo and "XYplorer" stand out more, and also added a new slogan.

[binocular222]

cool!, the new slogan is quite rhythmic, succinct and memorable
XYplorer... make you faster
haha

[40k]

This bit by user Kilmatead rings true with me:

Which brings us to XY's main technical limitation (and it's a serious one, as a going commercial product): the lack of x64 support. Four or five years ago shell-based applications such as file-managers could get by being x86 only (as back then the majority of the machines were not running x64 OS's either, and only the hobbyists and gamers were) but today the state of play has changed in many ways. Along with the general trend in the dissolution of the desktop as a development platform full stop, the shrunken eco-system has geared itself (both hardware and software) into the workstation arena, where even the most basic machines sold these days (to people who actually need more than a netbook) are de facto x64 machines with the usual hardware accoutrement-overkill.

We've just recently been over this in another thread and we also know how Don feels about x64 support. Desktops are in a decline. It's only the early years, but the decline is there. The userbase will not expand from this point forward now the world is moving to mobile platforms. There's room for XY in that future. Albeit currently only in the form of notebooks or Windows tablets. Supporting x64 may in the near future not longer be a gimmick but a necessary step for survival.

[admin]

We'll see. I'm totally relaxed about that. Currently all this "bit-picking" sounds to me like: "Okay, XYplorer is the better file manager, but we have 64-bit!" LOL. They don't have anything else anymore, I have beaten them totally, I coded them into the dust, and now they are whining: "Okay, we are shit, but it's 64-bit shit."