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nuhi

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Posts posted by nuhi

  1. tain, thx. I hope the new tool matures to be worth it on its own very soon.

    -X-, as it is now sxs is cleaned with every removal, whatever belongs to the removed component. Including all cpanel-features.
    There is also non-dism version cleanup so that sxs contains only latest files.
    In essence sxs should only contain what you already have deployed, so even if you delete winsxs (after the tool is done cleaning it), the actual Windows disk size would be the same - minus some componentization files for which I can easily add a component to clean, but then you lose hotfixing support.
    I know some will reinstall on patch Tuesdays so that option (explicit winsxs removal) could be useful.

    jaclaz, oh, you meant objectively, then I hear ya. That is true, can't expect fairness. I was just debating in case you were feeling like that yourself, to understand why and to see the other side.

    I was willing to risk it - and by risk it I mean my savings and time. Now we'll see how it goes, hopefully we all have fun and things are enjoyable as they once were - just this time I get to stay :)

  2. jaclaz, interesting analysis with a lot of true points in it, however I could use the same logic and simplify that no IT program should charge for a personal license.

    That may be true, but I don't want to give up before trying, as my tools are not so difficult to use, they are not standard script+UI IT

    standard.

    I will aim with the next tool to such protection of features that even a portion of normal users can use it without mine or their concerns what can be removed. It won't be easy, and they have to be discouraged from all-or-nothing approach when removals are in question.

    Let's not forget what we are discussing, upgrades, no one will stop you from using what you bought in the first place.

     

    When you say tweakers will give up over time just because a developer did not work for free after the purchase date, I find that unfair. So I am supposed to support all kinds of Windows, whatever comes my way, just because someone gave $xx 5 years ago?
    That won't work, regardless if users are lost, the tool is lost otherwise. It's not like I run (only) on air.
    Why pay for Windows 8, if you have Windows XP license, same logic (of course muuuch bigger scale, just giving example).
    MS cannot make developers to upgrade, patch, in one word support, ever-changing environment, without resources.
     

    Size-difference is still important to me, SSDs are expensive and Windows size is slowing down updating, virus scanning, backup.
    However the removal is not about size alone, but about security (attack vectors), unwanted features that get in the way, most importantly to me the feeling of control and tidiness, having oversight what is actually on my machine.

     

    But whatever I say, keep on sending your feedback, I appreciate it. I also had similar thoughts for the last few years, and it's why nLite never left freeware waters and I had to find a job, making the tool suffer.
    It's not very complicated. If I keep on giving and get nothing back, arrangement cannot survive.
    Only thing that saves that from the point of view of the customer, are constantly new customers that pay for the next expense. But as I said market is small - so if no one will renew, it won't survive. I will support it, but no new features and will move on to the fart mobile apps.

  3. -X-, you are right about Newsbin, they are the standard in their field, and way back they did all that.

    I did not notice any new features over the recent years, but now looking at their beta changelog, there is some life.
    Even if they do add new features, their area of expertise is very defined and within confines of what a usenet server can do, basically to download and automate decompression/verification of files.
    What Windows editing tools are doing is not defined to the extent we are doing it, area is endless in potential automation (file handling is just part of it), and we are working against the compatibility issues on a monthly basis.

    Now I know I might sound like dishing on the Newsbin team, I bet they are working as much as hard. What I'm saying is it is again not the same area to compare, they basically will not have Usenet V-Next every year, not Usenet (compatibility) Update every month.

  4. -X-, I appreciate your feedback, the end surprised me a little, thanks for that.
    Ok, now let's get back to the point, regardless of your support.

     

    Webcam software hardly sounds like something dynamic, ever-changing like multiple and continuous Windows version support, countless configuration options and constantly new features. I might be wrong and that is some ever-growing peace of software, feel free to correct me, but to me those two software types are not in the same league (talking about purpose, not quality).

     

    XPLite, and it died relatively quickly. And I want to avoid that. Also there is a little surprise in the upcoming tool for the pro version, this reminded me ;)

    XPLite also did not aim at such scale, it was more similar to current control panel - features, than the real deal what we expect these days.

    Newsbin's licensing is great, I also purchased it, but they have what I don't - ever-refreshing pool of new usenet users.

    Also, they do not add new features, I've been following for years.

     

     

    If the upcoming tool reaches such stability, that it doesn't require much maintenance, and I stop adding new features, I'll reconsider lifetime upgrade license, but until then, while it is ever-changing, it is simply not possible, I can't do anything else while maintaining it, it's too demanding.

  5. -X-, I'm genuinely interested how you see that.

    For example, hypothetically, what's wrong with buying v1.x with all the features it has/will have and never upgrade to 2.x?
    I mean how do you see it as a put off to pay for new features of 2.x, it's a different tool than it was a year ago, for example.

    I could name it differently so it's like a different tool each year.

    Let's say I could split it per Windows version. So there is Win7, Win8, Win8.1 versions, it would also work for me, and you would not see it as a subscription.

    It is puzzling to me how do you expect me to upgrade it constantly for a flat fee. If there would constantly be new users, maybe it could work, but I doubt there will be - this is too niche.

     

     

    So let's refine the licensing options:

    1. yearly

    2. major version of the tool

    3. new version of windows

     

    Comments?

  6. ricktendo, it will be online activated, locally tied to a machine. License agreement will be only one machine at the time.
    That means when machine changes, or you try to install it on another machine, it asks for reactivation.
    And at that point it depends if key got leaked and there is abnormal number of reactivations. If there are a lot of reactivations it will switch to email-only form, as only original buyer has the right to reactivate.
    In other scenario, if you keep your activated tool's license file, and do not change hardware, you can even reinstall Windows and the tool will stay activated without spending one more activation.
    I will see about how many online activations are permitted. Windows allows for 5 I think, that seems fair enough.
    So in essence you can change your hardware 5 times before getting into annoyance of sending a request for reactivation.
    Let me know if you see a problem with that and we'll discuss some more.

    markstrelecki, Ultimist, yro, price would most probably be $49.99. Year of updates, or major version upgrade price, not decided yet.
    But to allow lifetime of upgrades and support for a single price is not a viable scenario, in a year I would be working for free as the sales will drop after the initial fans are all taken care of.
    Also there won't be a lot of us who can reinstall at a whim and use a tool like this, so a lower price (even down to mobile-app range) would also not make it viable regardless if all enthusiasts bought it. Don't forget taxes and company maintenance, I actually get 50% of it.
    If I see a lot of interest, but the price is constantly reported as too high, of course I will adapt and try lower.
    But at first there is no point of starting too low and locking myself into cheap deal for something that will grow like crazy, especially at the beginning.


    Tool like this requires constant maintenance. Basically on each patch Tuesday or update pack I can expect new issues for some configurations.
    There will also be constant refinement and adding of new components and options, until we have it min-win perfect, reinstalled Windows with all inside a preset that you need.
    Then Windows 9 and so on it goes.

    Feel free to comment on the pricing and licensing, and remember you haven't even seen it yet, also it will grow. And it's not just about the features, but about the stability of modified Windows and support as well.

    I might make a beta pro pre-purchase, but I have to first arrange taxes and other legal stuff, which is one of the biggest pro blockers at this moment.


    Let me ask you about the licensing length opinions, year vs major version upgrades. Meaning if you buy v1.0 for initial price, would you rather:
    1. get all updates during next year, be it v2.0 or whatever, including new Windows support. And then after a year, whenever you want to restart upgrade support, pay 50% of initial price for another year of upgrades.
    or
    2. get all 1.x updates, whenever they are out, but for 2.x with new features and new Windows support pay 50% of initial price for an upgrade to get all 2.x upgrades.
    ?

  7. MerijnB, thanks.
    In regards to features, goal is to make the free version useful, to demonstrate the abilities and to compete with other free tools.
    For more details I need to make a website and see people's feedback.

    jaclaz, a sorry, :unsure: -> "unsure". Got it, I thought it was like "too bad" from the looks of it.
    I hope to make everyone happy, we'll tweak the limitations over time and see what fits where.
    I am currently very sensitive to you "old" folks disappointment. But when you think about it, there was no other way, if we want higher quality that is.

     

    boooggy is the top alpha dog.
    Just as a matter of disclosure, he was there from the beginning testing it.
    I want to thank him publicly. So whatever is wrong, blame him.

     

    -X- and Ffin, thanks. It means a lot to see more encouragement.


    Ok, I'll keep thinking about that public test in a few weeks, can't wait for your feedback to push it in the right direction.

  8. You might need to allow for a few day to let people recover from the SHOCK :w00t: of the announcement. :unsure:

    Hey jaclaz,

    let me get this right, are you saying (with a sad face) you would rather have a free solution of a lesser quality than a full-time dedicated product, which requires compensation on my end?

  9. Project is nearing completion, finally all the big unknowns are solved.

    Still got to add tweaks, fix some bugs, make a website. If I am to guess, max 2 months, goal is until the end of summer.

     

    I know a lot of time has passed.
    Let me explain why, I think this topic is already polluted enough.

    Some of you might be disappointed by the fact it won't be a fully free product.

    That is because I am actually working full time on it for more than a year now, it is not just a hobby any more.

    So I had to work on licensing and protections, can't just release it to the public, especially due to the nature of such tools where once you set up your installation, majority would not need it more than once.

     

    If the tool succeeds at least moderately, you can expect a lot from it over the coming years, if not... well then it goes back to hobby-only mode and I find another job.

     

    So, I am thinking of releasing a public beta test of the free version before the full pro release option, but at the same time it might disappoint those that expected to see more features, and they would be cut out of the beta test. I can put a popup on start explaining the test phase, where even those limited pro features are hidden.

     

    Maybe I should have come forward a year ago, but I wasn't sure myself how it will turn out. Well, it was a lot of work, more than expected for a first version. And don't forget I have experience with nLite, vLite, and working in a company. This was much more difficult due to the quality goals, native programming, and having myself as a demanding boss constantly hacking my inner voice.

     

    Let me know what you think, are the first impressions more important than a early public test of limited functionality.

  10. Just dropping by to let you know things are going well.
    I am not fond of screenshots before release, it will all be about how many issues there is due to removals, and how easy it is to use.

    There were few major things that got changed recently which make me finally see the end, I'll keep you updated as it gets closer to the release.

    My PR officer advises me not to give any promises.

  11. yro, which tool? Actually either way, no it's not dead. nLite will be updated eventually, and the new tool is progressing nicely.
    If you meant the new one - as I already said, there is no point in releasing something for which I have list of bugs and tasks to do, which are obvious.
    I want feedback, but I don't want to hear what I already know.

    Patience, more time I spend here, later it will come out :)

    trala, oh thanks. This is one of the features that is in todo. I know that big part of assembly is generated, and I wanted to see what can be trimmed pre-install out of it, let me know if there is more in .NET that can be recreated, even if we use runonce post install to ngen it or whatever.

  12. harkaz, ok, I'll contact you through a PM when working on it.

    MrJinje, that would be nice to know for myself as well. Haven't been thinking much about it, constantly waiting for that one golden thought, but the tool is nearing the completion and still no name.

    petrus, ha, good point.

    Regarding the release date, no way it will be ready within 10 days. There were couple of issues which required a partial rewrite of the core so that delayed things. But it now allows more flexibility. Anyway best is not to promise any dates, but I'll keep you updated. I can't wait myself.

    If I was to guess, I would say 2 more months, but I can't wait that long so I might cut some features for the first release.

  13. RicaNeaga, I am kinda swamped with the basics for now, my todo list is too long as it is, I first want to present to the public my vision, then we can adjust it to fit to a broader audience.

    I have no ETA, hopefully a public beta in 2-3 months, then we can open a feedback loop.

    Weed, hey :), long time...

    Legolash2o, yeah, well, it was good. Worked on a different things in a professional environment, but the itch for this "hobby" was too strong, so here I am, broke some ties that were binding me from doing this.

    I saw that now you have a tool of your own, congratulations, looks great.

    Ultimist, hehe thanks, but it's all about different tastes and expectations, there will always be more than one solution to a problem.

  14. hi all, what happened to nuhi, he's gone again for five years? :(

    The last thing he wrote is more than a month ago 07 September 2013 - 2:55 a.m.

    :), I noticed that too and it started bothering me. I've been busy with the new tool and didn't want to stop in the middle of something.

    For nLite I have written down what needs to be done, and will be finished as soon as the current stream of updates for the new one is done.

    That is what most of people wanted in the first place, to put focus on the next tool.

    I'll reply to this topic properly later.

  15. g-force, yeah I saw that nLite doesn't always save a preset, there are some triggers. That could be done better, let me know if you find a repeatable issue.

    RicaNeaga, great report once again, thanks.

    #1 I will check.

    #2 and #3, all that you requested is the default behaviour if Reports are disabled in Hotfix page advanced options. What are you missing in that scenario, or the option is not clearly explained?

    #4 it's in my todo to check MSRT and its GUID extraction if possible, is there another way to integrate it without extracting the GUID (which I haven't yet tried, maybe it's simple)?

    #5 oh wow, that is an important find, will look into it.

    #6 I will check.

    Asrin475, so to replicate the issue I just remove MSN explorer, nothing else checked or selected in nLite?

  16. Ponch, got it, I'll make sure to replicate and fix or ask further if I don't see it, thanks.

    Acheron, that's some good information, thanks. Can't promise all in the next release. Btw you can use addons (entries.ini) to add functionality like that to your custom nLitin'.

    jmbattle, nice, thanks. Ok, I'll add 'Dial Up Networking' and 'Kerberos Authentication' as PPPoE compatibility option then, thank you. Let me know if you find something else needed about it.

    Ultraform, yeah lang removals need fixing, I remember that there was something fishy about it, plus what -X- found lately, that some hotfix is breaking stuff up if langs are not removed properly.

    robertcollier4, thanks, also this points to a big deal, a missing option for GDR/QFE choice in hotfix integration, will do.

    RicaNeaga, I'll take you up on that offer, expect a PM, thanks.

    -X-, you the man, I remember that issue with the cdkey, will do.

    About the option to not optimize... hm, ok I'll think about it, I know few more people wanted it.

    trala, thanks for the kind words, I also tried all the tools out there before choosing to proceed with the next one, and yeah... But now you are on my blacklist, I am not allowed to listen to people which agree with me, sorry ;).

    vinifera, no need to compare vlite to anything in regards to bugs or Win7 for which it was not made, during these 5 years of my absence, that is hardly a fair fight :)

    Use whatever is working for you, later you won't have a choice ;) (just joking, I hope the new tool will sattisfy)

    Kurt_Aust, yes, some 64-bit hotfixes (those that are NOT directly integrated and ran as /integrate to svcpack) cannot run 64-bit app/hotfix.exe under 32-bit OS. I probably need to implement some popup to warn people.

    Thanks for point that out.

  17. GrofLuigi, yes they can.

    mooms, during testing I did that but I may have missed the dll so it wasn't working for some. Hm it must have worked for me as I have 7zip installed.

    Ok, will replace it.

    DXRW4E, tzchange, I'll look into that by observing the change, thanks for bringing that to my attention.

    nlite.inf entries, the root entries won't delete or overwrite as the whole section is about AddReg, and you are probably remembering .REG's format [-HKEY/PATH] del command.

    But I do agree that it looks better in a sorted way. I will move that in the next version, thanks.

    MRT, can you please rephrase, unfortunatelly I don't understand what you are saying? A ok so basically you suggest that nLite integrates MRT, and for that it would need to read GUID of sorts. I'll think about it, thx.

    Francesco, I lost count and it didn't really matter, if you find any which gives you error popup on direct integration + reporting enabled in the advanced options, let me know.

    aviv00, yeah, too bad they expected nLite itself to support Windows 7+, it is totally different architecture.

    Intel1, ok, noted, thx.

    submix8c, ;-)

  18. Here is the first batch of mainly maintenance fixes.

    Changelog and download

    Let me know if it broke something that worked in 1.4.9.1, I'm new to all this.

    And big thanks to the old pal boooggy for helping me with testing this version.

  19. Ponch, first let me say, just in case it needs to be said, nLite detects components by reading the source, not from presets.

    Seems to me what you are suggesting is to bind preset to a specific source?

    If you select something to remove on source 1, create last session, load source 2, it will be checked there for removal.

    And also you are introducing Service Pack integration into the mix, when that happens it is a question if the preset is saved or not before it, and reloaded after, that is a minor issue regardless as the whole source changed after slipstream.

    If you are suggesting that component selection for same component which was there before slipstream is lost during slipstream, that is a bug report, seems to me it is far from proving that the whole concept is wrong :)

  20. jaclaz, I always had one preset to manage, as far as I have experienced multiple presets happen during the learning process when a person is testing something, unsure what to do.
    Merge option in the preset page would be nice. What I like similar to that is incrementally adding to the last session, maybe asking the user to insert save data into the tagged preset or create a new one.

    Acheron, the setup files as they are by default are a mess, nlite formats it all to be more consistent, the RVM Integrator does similarly as noted in this topic earlier. Now that could be a separate option, true. nLite's options grew faster than people could report multi-session issues, if I was here for the last 5 years, many if not all of those quirks would be gone, so let's not jump to conclusion that nLite as it is, is my final word. But now with future and all :), it might never become what it could have been.

    phaolo, first thing I saw when going to DriverPacks forum was a big no to using nLite with their product. It is either a poor handling of competition or I missed those bug reports. So please explain the steps to me how to reproduce the errors with that combo, or simply link me the existing bug reports. For example am I supposed to support their pack integration, or just to integrate drivers with nLite after their tool was used and what driver do you use for getting the error?

    Ponch, that languages-not-removed bug seems familiar to me, it was something about some langs being actually detected over a text entry which doesn't get removed unless something else happens, can't remember now, but it is an exception, not a rule... no other component should do that, and if it does let me know. I'll check those langs with a fresh perspective.

    Driver integration copies the folder the driver is in, it is mentioned in the UI, and to put it bluntly - people who extract files raw into a folder with other files deserve what they get.

    Now you could say that I should parse the INF and draw only relevant files for those lost souls, but it is a low priority at this point, even though I would like that very much and it is doable. Driver installation during install works on a PnP basis, so all infs and their files that get integrated are relevant, it is not junk data.

    Similar to that I would get reports that ISO is too large, and to my surprise they would put ISO files to a drive root directly. I added routines to warn when selecting a drive root as the source.

    Was I supposed to parse txtsetup/dosnet and recreate windows setup as well... just venting a little.

    Thx for the UI suggestions, I will go over them in detail.

    Home edition admin, interesting, will look at that as well, thanks.

    Maxfutur, preset renaming and description, adding to the list of consideration.


    So the next version will be mainly bug fixes around the direct integration, all of the other suggestions I will look into for the version after the fixes are stabilized.

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