Interarchy 7
Although I was initially a big fan, I think Anarchie sort of lost its way around the time it was renamed Interarchy. Stairways showed more interest in making it skinnable and in re-arranging the menus than in improving its core functionality and interface. Interarchy 7, however, seems to be getting back on track. So far it’s much more reliable than previous versions of Interarchy were for me on OS X. I’m using SFTP more, lately, and Interarchy’s history, tabs, and ability to create new files will save me time. I’m re-discovering the reasons I liked Anarchie in the first place, and the network tools look useful, too. The interface is certainly getting better, though some of it (especially the tabs stuff and URL bar) could use more polish.
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I tried Interarchy 7.0. I won't be upgrading from my paid 5.0.1 copy.
I initially chose it -- back in the Anarchie days -- because it worked like the classic Finder: spawning windows as you drill down.
Version 7 drops this feature, preferring columns and tabs. Ugh.
I also stopped at version 5, because I was at a loss to find value in 6. A quick look this morning at 7 means I will probably buy it.
I fell over the ability to move files on a server, which I never noticed on 5 (probably was there, but who has the time :-). This is nice when you are on dial-up :-(
I like the way it picks out home pages from my address book.
I agree with Michael that the tabs don't look finished, but at least that is a cosmetic thing that will probably be fixed easily. While they are at it, the Icon could be polished up too. It feels old, though I'm not sure why.
I7 can only be good news in the ftp space - hopefully the main players will continue to push their apps to better each other.
I stopped upgrading Anarchie before it became Interarchy, around the time when Peter Lewis handed off development responsibility to Andrew Tomazos. Tomazos's attitude was way off base; he acted like it was a major imposition to review bug reports and was hostile to any user suggestions. Maybe he's better now; but back then I decided not to upgrade for that reason alone.
There seems to be a certain breed of shareware authors that are arrogant and condescending to their end-users. It would be interesting to see how they correlate to those enamored with skinning.
Rob Russell: I was referring to the functionality of the tabs, not their appearance. What Interarchy has works, but I'd like to be able to control whether bookmarks open in new tabs, or the current tab, rather than opening in a new window. I'd also like to see OmniWeb-style dragging of tabs between windows. Overall: I think the existence of the tabs is a great sign, and I expect that they'll improve with time.
Rob Menke: I haven't seen Tomazos lately. Last night, Peter N. Lewis personally answered some questions I had sent, and he was receptive and polite, as always.
If anyone has problems with tabs or anything else in Interarchy please let us know. We will endevor to fix any problems you have.
I updated to Interarchy 7 today. Although I so far don't use tabs in my Web browser, I find them very useful in Interarchy. Also, I really like that its list view has disclosure triangles.
I totally agree with the comments about Andrew Tomazos. When I started to question the horrendous CPU usage for downloading files compared to a number of other programs, his response to me was just total dismissal. Requests for simple features just fell on deaf ears.
Thankfully, version 7 is back on track, with a proper Aqua interface, and it has some nice touches.
Pity Tomazos is as arrogant as ever.
Rob Menke: I apologize if I was communicating with you poorly. If you want to raise the bug reports of which you speak here I will gladly address them.
Alastair Jardine: It was my understanding that the CPU usage issue of which you speak was a known complication to do with how the engine worked that caused some CPU analysis programs to misrepresent the usage levels. ie It wasn't *actually* using extra cycles.
Michael Tsai: You are correct, I stopping working with Peter N Lewis during the 7.0 development cycle - and I would like to say that I wish him and Matthew Drayton all the best. I am spending more time on my hobbies...
<http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/21/1045638485516.html>
But will most likely start consulting freelance again.
