Blue Onion Software

There were a couple of positive articles on some popular web sites about Desk Drive posted last week. As a result, I've received a ton of email requesting features, fixes, etc. Version 1.1 adds one new feature and removes another.

The new feature let's you exclude any drive by name. Several people reported issues with having to enable "Fixed" drives to see their removable drives. This sounds like a driver issue to me but of course that doesn't fix the problem. Excluding drives is useful in its own right and may help with unusual issues.

I removed the interval timer setting. It defaults to 4 seconds.

I've also released the source code so you can modify it to your hearts content. If you do something really cool, let me know so I can incorporate it into the code.

I've received a number of annoying emails suggesting that the high memory usage was something I should correct as if some how I made a mistake. .NET programs have a higher baseline for memory usage meaning their minimum size is larger than say C++ programs. There's an old saying that you don't get something for nothing and that's the case here. Localization, code security and better system integration come at a cost. It's apparent that some reviewers have no real knowledge of why the .NET platform is just flat out better and instead focus on something they think they understand like memory usage. Frankly, I prefer programs written in .NET because I know they have a much lower chance of doing damage to my computer or have exploitable security holes.

One guy has gone so far as to write a his own version of Desk Drive because he doesn't like to install .NET applications on his computer. Why someone would care about such a thing is beyond my understanding. Wonder if he has Java installed? What ever... In the interest of full disclosure you can read more about it here.

There's also this persistent request to hide the tray icon I don't quite understand. Once the icon is hidden, there would be no UI to get to the settings dialog. I don't know, call me silly, but I think that might make for a usability issue. Besides, Windows already allows you to selectively hide tray icons. Looks like I'll have to post a tip about that one later.

If you think .NET applications are "flat out better" you really have no idea what you are talking about. Saying they are more secure is laughable at best. If you mean they come with a higher overhead and slower execution time I might agree with you.

To be fair that other program also supports NTFS symbolic links, so it includes additional functionality in addition to being better than yours. You don't have to be bitter about your managed code being a memory hog while his is more efficient. Let the big boys program without crying about it because someone wrote a program thats better than yours.

I applaud the other guy's effort, just not his reason for doing it. The rest of your comment is inappropriate and really has no place here.

I agree the point of not getting money is terrible...

but clicking those ads won't help much, I'm thinking of using paypal donation...

It's not the actual amount. I have no intention of making a living blogging. It's more a validation thing. Sort of a hey, thanks for the effort. For my part, when I read a great article or download a freebie, I visit a few sponsors. It's an easy way of rewarding the author and I even on occasion discover new products or services so it's not a complete waste or fraudulent.

Living in the US here, I find I encounter many people who have what I would call an "Entitlement" mindset. I have no illusions that most people come here to get the free software and move on. It just surprises and disappoints me that less than 1% make any effort to say thanks.

Great tool and thanks for releasing the source code. I modified mine to allow me to change the output directory. The drives list is now a stack in my application launcher (ObjectDock). Works real well. Thanks again.

I forgot to mention. Unless I exclude the A:\ floppy drive my drive spins constantly looking for a disk. You might want to exclude by default floppy drives.

That's a great suggestion. I'll add it to the next version.