Blog Splash

KO Approach 0.5 Is Released

by Kerido Saturday, October 2, 2010 5:58 PM

We are happy to announce the release of KO Approach version 0.5. It offers some cool improvements over the previous version.

Better Icon Handling

KO Approach now offers additional options that control icon handling. If you value speed over fancy look when browsing menus, you can now instruct KO Approach to display generic icons. These icons help identify item type (application, folder, or file) and consume the least possible amount of resources.

If you still want to see regular icons, similar to Windows Explorer, KO Approach now offers icon overlay support for shortcuts and items under version control. Plus, we have used sophisticated optimization techniques to speed up the process of retrieving icons.

Better Scrolling

Now you can see how many items are not visible in a menu. Scrolling arrows display a counter of remaining items to scroll in either direction. This also gives you an idea how many files there are in a folder. You can also control scroll arrow positioning. Scroll KO Approach menus faster, the way you want, by choosing one of three modes: both arrows at top, both arrows at bottom, or each arrow located at the respective menu edge.

Better Usability

We have improved the Options window to make it more friendly and more concept-oriented. It now consists of more intuitive categories: Features, Menus & Scrolling, Contents, Maintenance, Registration, and About. Everything is in place, although you may forget KO Approach is running as you get used to its handy features. We have made every visual aspect of the program compatible with scaled DPI modes. Should you choose 125%, 150%, 200% or even a custom DPI scaling ratio, KO Approach displays text and icons clear and sharp.

And, of course, there are other enhancements and bugfixes, so upgrade and have fun using KO Approach!

KO Approach 0.4.5 Is Here

by Kerido Saturday, May 15, 2010 10:22 AM

It's been slightly more than a month since we released KO Approach version 0.4.4. Now we're excited to say that version 0.4.5 is here. We decided to publish updates more frequently in order to keep the users and the contributors in better sync with what we do at KO Software.

We should say that it is mostly a service release. One of the motives for it is that the previous version provides absolutely no support for right-to-left text direction. With this new version, the Hebrew language file is finally available for download. That means, thousands of users from Israel can now access Windows folders and files faster, in their mother tongue! I would like to thank Arik S. Petrov once again for his great work.

Regarding localization, I am hoping that a German language file is coming real soon now.

Another reason for this upgrade is the feedback we've been getting from some of our users who complain that there is no way to tell which plug-in is loaded in the unregistered mode. Well, we've added a new page to the Options dialog box. Hopefully, this should address the issue:

Plugins tab

With this page, unregistered users will have more control over which plug-ins are loaded. For example, if you do not need to preview text files and play back WAV sounds instantly, but do need to quickly preview graphics from KO Approach menus, you can disable InstantTxt.dll and InstantWave.dll so that Scope.dll will be loaded. In other words, you can tell KO Approach to load only those plug-ins that you need.

There are also some security updates in this release that improve the overall stability of the product. We highly encourage everybody to upgrade. Have fun using KO Approach!

Approach Masters Dutch

by Kerido Wednesday, May 5, 2010 8:05 AM

I would like to thank our new contributor, Orjan De Smet, for translating KO Approach to Dutch. Again, the way Approach looks in this new outfit is quite pleasing to the eye:

General tab

Behavior tab

Settings tab

Approach Can Speak Hebrew

by Kerido Monday, April 19, 2010 3:56 PM

I have a relative in Israel who kindly agreed to translate KO Approach into Hebrew. As a matter of fact, I was very suspicious whether Approach will be able to "speak" Hebrew without any code modifications. After all, lack of support for right-to-left text direction was for a long time stated under the Known Issues section of the Help Documentation.

With these thoughts in mind, I warned him that I would be constantly bugging him with various development materials as we would be proceeding. He promised to take it all stoically and provide corrections all the time. So here's the result.

First off, we added a new Metric to the language file. The Metric is responsible for text direction:

<Metric id="IDM_GLOBAL_LANGRTL" factor="1">1</Metric>

Second, I had to implement mirroring for dialogs and message boxes:

General tab

Behavior tab

Settings tab

As you may have noticed, we've removed the question mark from the title bar. The reason is that under the mirrored layout the question mark looked absolutely awkward:

Mirrored question mark

Also, the whole functionality behind the question mark is cumbersome from the usability standpoint. Given that the user is most likely pointing at a control whose meaning is unclear, he or she has to move the mouse away from the control, point at the question mark, click it, then point back at the initial control, and, finally click it again – too many mouse movements for such a simple operation! After all, Approach is about reducing the number of mouse movements and clicks to help you do your day-to-day tasks faster.

Glitching help popups

The previous screenshot illustrates another bug. The HTML Help popups that we were previously using, don't work quite well with the Hebrew language. This is why the whole popup functionality has been replaced by more convenient Tooltips.

Tooltips replacing HTML Help popups

In the meantime, we will publish an update to KO Approach where all these modifications are in effect.

Our View on Fair Licensing

by Kerido Wednesday, April 14, 2010 1:41 AM

We do take money for KO Approach. This is part of our strategy pretty much the same way as it is the strategy of some enthusiasts to deliver their products for free. It's hard to write on such ethically ambiguous things without getting involved into a perpetual controversy – what's better: free or non-free software. On one hand, they say that providing free software is the same as helping your neighbor. On the other, labor must be rewarded.

I don't mind helping my neighbor and I do it quite often. I do donate to charity and non-profit organizations. Not only because I want to believe that I'm a good person, but also because it makes me feel that I make a contribution to the world.

Unless it becomes a duty. When Richard Stallman declares that "proprietary software ... forbids cooperation", I feel that there's a ghetto some place where all non-free software vendors will eventually be sent. I'm serious – this compulsory moral that you may not ask for reward for your wok, is a real threat. Just because I'm free to believe I'm worth something. This is why KO Approach will never be free.

How It All Started

I started working on KO Approach not for money, but for one straightforward goal – access my files quicker. One day I just realized how much time I was wasting on things that didn't have anything to do with real work. Although things have somewhat improved on Windows, opening files is still a surprisingly time consuming task.

What I came up with was a program that displayed a list of files in a Windows folder when I clicked on the folder's icon. This functionality is now known as Folder Menus. Instead of beating my way through stacking windows, I now had a convenient menu-based interface that allowed me to reach even a deeply buried file in seconds. I was happy with this minimalistic approach to opening files. My screen was finally clean and free for real tasks. At first, I wasn't even concerned about distributing my product to somebody else. There were no installers, help files, or websites.

Eventually, I showed the tool to a local community. The feedback was roughly as follows: "You know what, browsing folders through menus is cool, but I won't be using your tool unless you add [feature]." This is where I learned three things:

  1. There is demand for the product
  2. More time and effort need to be invested in order to satisfy potential customers
  3. I should take money for the product

So I'm working hard to implement additional features. But this work is fun as I learn new things all the time. I love software development and I love KO Approach. I always wish I had more time to make an even better product.

Licensing Explained

The licensing scheme I implemented may seem extremely harsh. By default, a copy of KO Approach runs in a limited functionality mode in which the following restrictions apply

  1. Only two out of three program features can be turned on. For example, you can run Folder Menus and Approach Items, or Folder Menus and Titlebar Menus, but not all three together.
  2. A maximum of four menus can be displayed. When the fourth menu appears, folders do not show submenu arrows.
  3. At most, two plug-ins can be loaded. This becomes essential with version 0.4.4 that ships with four handy plug-ins out of the box.

In order to unlock, Approach needs a small Activation Key file. Each Key file contains commands and data that provide missing functionality to the program module. A Key file is only valid for one particular machine. This is achieved by gathering hardware data which uniquely identifies the computer on which Approach is running. A hardware update renders the existing Activation Key unusable. Each License has a fixed number of unique computers on which Approach can be activated. When a purchase is made, the customer receives a Serial Number which he or she must then specify in order to receive an Activation Key.

This may seem even crueler than Windows activation policy. The latter at least permits minor hardware changes without the need to reactivate. However, the goal is not to screw our customers by soaking the last penny out of their pockets, but to prevent Serial Number leakage.

Feel Free to Request Additional Activations

Whenever you make a hardware update and you don't have available activations left, just write us an email with a request for additional activations. By receiving an email, we can identify you as a valid customer and assist you as soon as possible. As a matter of fact, I remember one customer who has already requested about ten additional activations. I don't even mind if he installs KO Approach to his entire family with all these extra Keys.

It's fair to me because this is where mutual trust is established: you know you won't be forced into buying additional Licenses after a tiny RAM update and we know your Serial Number remains in good hands. It's probably the same as giving the keys from your house to your friend. But you still want to protect yourself from intruders and thieves, right?