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Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

fman.io

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Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#71

Post by Razengan »

bastijn wrote: post #61

I just did a blind purchase. Partly because I hate osx finder that much, partly because I want to support people who ask the right price for their products, and partly because it was the right time;I like to get up early tomorrow and install something new. And who knows, it might even replace my xplorer2 ( http://zabkat.com/ ) on Windows..

Can people even explain why they hate Finder, or is it just a fashionable bandwagon to jump on?

While I do prefer Path Finder [1] for file-heavy workflows, Finder is perfectly usable with a few tweaks here and there:

- Get TinkerTool [2] to show hidden and system files, pathname in the window title etc.

- Tweak and create your own keyboard shortcuts for Finder in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> App Shortcuts.

- Trim the Finder Sidebar and Toolbar to only show you the most relevant items, or hide them outright.

- Tags are your friends! Use them freely. They can be used to effectively store a file in multiple "folders", and are very handy in combination with Spotlight and even Siri.

- Show the Comments column and use them too if you need to! (Comments are applied from the Get Info panel.)

- You can customize icons for files and folders by Get Info -> Drag an .icns file to the icon in the Info panel. To delete a custom icon, click the icon in the Info panel and press Backspace.

[1] http://cocoatech.com/pathfinder/

[2] http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html

Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#72

Post by zerr »

mherrmann wrote: post #63
zerr wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it electron based?

If you mean fman then no: I thought about this long and hard but startup speed is crucial and Electron just doesn't cut it. It's based on PyQt. I wrote a blog post about this: https://fman.io/blog/picking-technologies-for-a-desktop-app-...

Good to hear that... It would have been even better if it was C++ Qt based.

Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#73

Post by rasmusei »

huhtenberg wrote: post #33

It's an interesting project, clearly stemming from scratching one's personal itch. Congrats on the Show HN, always an exciting experience :) A bit of a reality check though if you don't mind - I think you will have very hard time selling this. Windows chunk of your target audience will undoubtedly be already using Far and its many plugins, and thus have very little reason for switching. Conversely, those not familiar…

> Linux - I am frankly not familiar with a single Linux user, developer or not, who ever bought anything except for games.

I beg to differ. Grew up with Windows, but nowadays full-time Linux user. I paid some $40 for Sublime Text and it was worth every cent. Also donated to various services and projects, but maybe that does not count...

And now I also just paid $13 for fman, not because I'm sure about it, but because it's cheap, looks promising, and I sometimes miss Total Commander rather badly.

Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#74

Post by mherrmann »

Razengan wrote: post #71
bastijn wrote: post #61

I just did a blind purchase. Partly because I hate osx finder that much, partly because I want to support people who ask the right price for their products, and partly because it was the right time;I like to get up early tomorrow and install something new. And who knows, it might even replace my xplorer2 ( http://zabkat.com/ ) on Windows..

Can people even explain why they hate Finder, or is it just a fashionable bandwagon to jump on? While I do prefer Path Finder [1] for file-heavy workflows, Finder is perfectly usable with a few tweaks here and there: - Get TinkerTool [2] to show hidden and system files, pathname in the window title etc. - Tweak and create your own keyboard shortcuts for Finder in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> App Sho…

What I don't like about Finder is that it can't be used efficiently with the keyboard. It's the same with Windows Explorer.

Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#75

Post by jmcdiesel »

mherrmann wrote: post #39
huhtenberg wrote: post #33

It's an interesting project, clearly stemming from scratching one's personal itch. Congrats on the Show HN, always an exciting experience :) A bit of a reality check though if you don't mind - I think you will have very hard time selling this. Windows chunk of your target audience will undoubtedly be already using Far and its many plugins, and thus have very little reason for switching. Conversely, those not familiar…

I'm nearly sold out [1] so I don't see a problem selling this. Far manager is command-line only. 24% of my visitors are on Mac, Windows is 34% - hardly 1/10. [1]: https://fman.io/buy

How are you "sold out" of a digital license?

Sounds like a very Nintendo-esque intential shortage to drive demand. Not saying its true, but it was my first thought, as well as 5 of the people in the slack room i shared the link in... all of which went from "ok, lets give this guy money" to "... nah... this doesnt feel right, now..."

Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#76

Post by jmcdiesel »

mherrmann wrote: post #48
bootlooped wrote: post #34

I like it at first glance, it is a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the other alternatives others have mentioned. I will try it out for a while and buy it if I like it enough. Why is there a limited number of licenses available?

I want to see "who's in". As a commercial project [1], fman needs to first and foremost appeal to its paying users. Limiting the license sale in both time and quantity lets me select for these people. [1]: https://fman.io/blog/fmans-business-strategy/

"fman needs to first and foremost appeal to its paying users"

I can speak, as a paid user of many software products, that actually being able to PAY for something, makes it far more appealing to me...

Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#78

Post by lotsofcows »

mherrmann wrote: post #74
Razengan wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can people even explain why they hate Finder, or is it just a fashionable bandwagon to jump on? While I do prefer Path Finder [1] for file-heavy workflows, Finder is perfectly usable with a few tweaks here and there: - Get TinkerTool [2] to show hidden and system files, pathname in the window title etc. - Tweak and create your own keyboard shortcuts for Finder in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> App Sho…

What I don't like about Finder is that it can't be used efficiently with the keyboard. It's the same with Windows Explorer.

Navigate, open, close, cut, copy, paste, rename, delete - what's missing?

Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#79

Post by mcgrath_sh »

I think your business model is interesting. However, I'd be careful in letting users decide the direction of the project. It might be okay-ish now if the userbase is small, but when you hit a not unreasonably large number of people (500? 1k?), that can quickly deteriorate.

What if the most upvoted suggestion is something that you have no use for? Or if it is something that no future customer would want? Are you going to sink development hours into it due to the promises you made? What if the top features are continually fluctuating? I saw you are the only one who can add cards, and that is a deterrent for now.

This is a project I will be keeping my eye on, but I didn't buy a license today because "making paying users happy" gives me a bit of pause. Good luck going forward and I hope to want to buy this within the next year! The idea of a Sublime-like file manager is intriguing.

Re: Show HN: fman – file manager for programmers

#80

Post by mherrmann »

jmcdiesel wrote: post #75
mherrmann wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm nearly sold out [1] so I don't see a problem selling this. Far manager is command-line only. 24% of my visitors are on Mac, Windows is 34% - hardly 1/10. [1]: https://fman.io/buy

How are you "sold out" of a digital license? Sounds like a very Nintendo-esque intential shortage to drive demand. Not saying its true, but it was my first thought, as well as 5 of the people in the slack room i shared the link in... all of which went from "ok, lets give this guy money" to "... nah... this doesnt feel right, now..."

It's a good question - I already explained this here in a comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13777696
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