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Hello Friends,
First and foremost let me say thanks to everyone that expressed concern and curiosity about my lack of activity for the past 6-7 days. You see I was out of town for the past 6-7 days (although it was not necessarily a vacation but rather more of a religious obligation). So, secondly, let me apologize for not giving everyone a heads up prior to the fact. In retrospect I should have given everyone sort sort of info before just disappearing.
I am indeed back and in fine health alhumdulilah. I just got home so inshAllah I will continue reviews (GOTD or otherwise) and other postings tomorrow.
Take care,
Ashraf
Geek of dotTech
Nice to hear it was nothing serious.
Welcome back…you were very much missed!!!
@Ozzie:
No, I’m not ignorant, I know Middle Eastern…ish is not a language (or in the dictionary), and I wasn’t saying that.
I just thought it was a bit strange when everything else on this site is in English. Period.
Glad to see you back
WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Welcome back!!!
Welcome back.. you were definitely missed a lot here. :)
great to see u back!!
Welcome Back :)
@Pete: Actually, that’s precisely what you said. Please just bear in mind that comments like that can be construed as being offensive and negatively Western-centric. Although English is the language of this site, English is not the native language of many dotTechies. We speak in all tongues – and a lot of us speak more than one language. So what is strange about that? We live in sensitive times – and such comments can rub the wrong way. If people were saying “ciao” or “gracias”, would the same statement have been made? That’s all I’m saying. Period.
The spread of language is all to the good. And different salutations are of inestimable value in breaking down barriers and ending geographic and cultural isolationism.
My problem as an England-located, English speaker is exactly the same as that which faces a non-English speaker: I just wish, sometimes, there’d be a quick translation of some of the phrases or words occasionally used.
Just as once upon a time, many of us in western Europe still hadn’t a clue what ciao or gracias meant, so too today: there’ve been messages on here from non-Western posters who have worked really, really hard — and succeeded — to communicate, and many’s the time I’ve wanted to reply with a sign-off salutation in keeping with their own.
Except: I’m too dumb to know what to say. So if anyone can help in future, that’d be great!
Meantime, to everyone here, wherever you are in the world, and whatever your home language happens to be, best wishes to you & yours for a healthy and happy 2010.
Your reviews are on point and much appreciated. However, I recognize the burden of the reviews and offer a set of unsolicited ideas/suggestions.
1. all Giveaway of the Day Followers continue their reviews on that main site
2. DotTech provides a ‘written’ review for only those apps that meet a minimum standard i.e. Recommended and higher (your personal reviews and recommendations have been superb and I literally check your review and decide immediately Download or Skip) – I would offer that this should reduce go to press efforts 50%)
3. Option: For those not meeting your review min standard – maybe a one liner is enough like “freeware alternates match or beat features” or “Use Clumsy” or “Does not meet stated features”
4. Always – Always offer your alternates
Thank you, BobK
Isn’t there a problem with “only providing reviews” of GOTD offerings that reach a certain standard. . .?
Because if you don’t first spend time downloading, exhaustively testing, considering and then deciding, any conclusion is pretty much worthless.
Surely, far better would be to ignore the sheer volume of me-too apps on GOTD and simply look out for those of known provenance, from software publishers with a known track record. Or those which appear to have a Unique Selling Point.
GOTD enthusiasts could then, perhaps, learn to think for themselves, because Google is a resource that — to judge from some of the comments on GOTD — is accessed but rarely.
My experience has been that the best software products to be highlighted on here in the past 12 months haven’t been GOTD offerings anyway.
So if dot tech never ran another GOTD review, it wouldn’t matter to me: this will always be one of the most articulate, honest and good-humoured tecchie blogs anywhere in cyberspace.
And I’m sure Ashraf won’t mind me saying that dot.tech isn’t the only such site I have icon’d in my Links Bar for instant access: Gizmo, Windows Secrets, Raymond and Techquest are all there alongside. No reason others can’t do likewise.