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Protecting the Alpha version

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:28 pm
by Dreamer
<Moderator's note: This topic has been split from another topic>

What about some warning dialog on start "This is only alpha version..."?

XnView 1.82 alpha

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:49 am
by ckv
Dreamer wrote:What about some warning dialog on start "This is only alpha version..."?
Tha is a damn good idea. And it should be in all the beta/RC releases too.

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:57 am
by VuDu
they had "alpha" on the release name, and in the download pages you had several links, to stable and alpha version I think that's clear enaugh.
but yeah, it's ok if u dont want alpha versions to spread around like they were final versions.
Still it's a pretty good review, 5 out of 5 in everything, damn great!
I wouldn't call XnView perfect, but sure it's close!!! ;)

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:55 pm
by Dreamer
ckv wrote:
Dreamer wrote:What about some warning dialog on start "This is only alpha version..."?
Tha is a damn good idea. And it should be in all the beta/RC releases too.
We could use tip.ini file for this purpose, in alpha/beta versions.

Another idea - add password to zip file, show this password only in "Alpha" forum. This forum should be just for registered users (I mean Alpha section only). It could help a bit too.

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:06 pm
by helmut
Dreamer wrote:
ckv wrote:
Dreamer wrote:What about some warning dialog on start "This is only alpha version..."?
Tha is a damn good idea. And it should be in all the beta/RC releases too.
We could use tip.ini file for this purpose, in alpha/beta versions.
Not sure about this one.
Dreamer wrote:Another idea - add password to zip file, show this password only in "Alpha" forum. This forum should be just for registered users (I mean Alpha section only). It could help a bit too.
I like the "ZIP file with password" idea. The password can be simple, e.g. "fortestingonly" for example. Those download portals that still want to provide the alpha have to repack all files, I guess this should prevent them from doing so. Also I think it's not so much the people running the download portals but some keen members/users that feed the download portals with news.

Most likely, password protected ZIP files will not be mailable any longer since spamfilters and virus scanners will reject it, but that should not be too bad.

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:55 pm
by Dreamer
helmut wrote:
Dreamer wrote:
ckv wrote: Tha is a damn good idea. And it should be in all the beta/RC releases too.
We could use tip.ini file for this purpose, in alpha/beta versions.
Not sure about this one.
Not sure about this or this?

When some (e.g. Russian) sites will add Alpha version as stable, not Alpha version, normal user will never know that it is just alpha version for testing, since most users never check "about dialog". They could say "it's not good/stable... I don't like it". This warning dialog could solve this.

Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:24 am
by helmut
Dreamer wrote:
helmut wrote:
Dreamer wrote: We could use tip.ini file for this purpose, in alpha/beta versions.
Not sure about this one.
Not sure about this or this?

When some (e.g. Russian) sites will add Alpha version as stable, not Alpha version, normal user will never know that it is just alpha version for testing, since most users never check "about dialog". They could say "it's not good/stable... I don't like it". This warning dialog could solve this.
I don't like using tip.ini. For Pierre showing/hiding the dialog should be as simple as possible, I'd prefer an extra dialog. Might be a bit annoying for testers, though.

Why not go for the password protected ZIP archive?

Note:
The above said applies for Alphas, Betas and RCs.

Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:56 pm
by Dreamer
helmut wrote:I don't like using tip.ini. For Pierre showing/hiding the dialog should be as simple as possible, I'd prefer an extra dialog. Might be a bit annoying for testers, though.
Therefore I want to use .ini file, in alpha version this ini is missing, but we can place it there. We can create it and Pierre would just add this file to zip. We could just add this warning as first tip or remove all others and use just this "warning tip". Try this - create any txt file with following text and rename it to tip.ini :

Code: Select all

[gb]
100 = warning dialog text - test
helmut wrote:Why not go for the password protected ZIP archive?
I want also this, as prevention, but some people could still extract it, pack it to non-protected zip and place it to some www sites.

And - for most users, password means shareware program, not alpha version of freeware, therefore I think also warning dialog is needed and it's even more important than protected zip archive.

Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 10:08 pm
by VuDu
I agree with the popup option.

The password would be very easy to avoid, a simple re-zipping would bring it all to the begining.
Well, I've seen in other programs the start up pop up alert saying "this is a beta version, bla bla bla".

I "vote" for that one ;)

O_o

Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 10:27 pm
by Guest
IMO ZIP password protection is a joke, if you're serious about protecting your alpha and/or beta releases or whatever, use the free GnuPG program and encrypt it:

http://www.gnupg.org/

SHOUT IT FROM THE HILLTOPS: XNVIEW IS THE BEST!

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 9:35 am
by Aokromes
Why no simply change the title of the app from "XnView" to "XnView ''build #'' Alpha"?

Re: O_o

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 11:45 am
by ckv
Anonymous wrote:IMO ZIP password protection is a joke, if you're serious about protecting your alpha and/or beta releases or whatever, use the free GnuPG program and encrypt it:

http://www.gnupg.org/
Ohh we have a true hax0r. :shock: Since when is 256bit or 128bit encryptions have been baby's job? We are just trying to force the users to understand that they are using unstable release, not to force them to download separate program so they could just get the package open.
Aokromes wrote:Why no simply change the title of the app from "XnView" to "XnView ''build #'' Alpha"?
Wise words... MR. Grim Reaper

Re: O_o

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 7:22 pm
by helmut
ckv wrote:
Anonymous wrote:IMO ZIP password protection is a joke, if you're serious about protecting your alpha and/or beta releases or whatever, use the free GnuPG program and encrypt it:

http://www.gnupg.org/
Ohh we have a true hax0r. :shock: Since when is 256bit or 128bit encryptions have been baby's job? We are just trying to force the users to understand that they are using unstable release, not to force them to download separate program so they could just get the package open.
Strongly agree, we are not talking about a real protection, we just want to make people aware that they have a Alpha version. The manual typing of a more or less official password to decrypt it would be sufficient, I think.
ckv wrote:
Aokromes wrote:Why no simply change the title of the app from "XnView" to "XnView ''build #'' Alpha"?
Wise words... MR. Grim Reaper
I think that is not be sufficient. Most people should know what an Alpha version is, but there's also many people around who still don't know.

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:23 pm
by Dreamer
Right, so I think we should use a warning dialog (and password protected zip).

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:29 pm
by helmut
Dreamer wrote:Right, so I think we should use a warning dialog (and password protected zip).
We agree regarding the password protected ZIP, but I'm not so sure with the dialog. As tester, I don't want to see this dialog at start-up all the time. So there should be a way to disable the dialog.

I think for now, we should go for the password protected ZIP. If this does not help, we still could do more about this.