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Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

9to5mac.com

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Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#131

Post by djhn »

jmuguy wrote: post #75
brtkdotse wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve tried switching from Windows to MacOS three times over the past few years and each time I run up against the wall of having to research, choose and purchase small utilities to fix things that I never in a million years would’ve guessed would be an issue. Windows management. File handler. Menu bar organizers. The list goes on.

Well some of this is just getting used to MacOS though - Finder is a pretty huge adjustment (and honestly just not as good as Explorer). I agree that window management was probably the biggest sticking point for me. That being said - beyond being able to drag and snap windows side by side in Windows, I wasn't aware of any built-in management (or at least - thats all I missed when I switched a while back) that was mis…

I’m so used to column view as a metaphor for my files and directories that I don’t understand how non-mac people deal with essentially being forced to memorise their directory structure and hierarchy.

Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#132

Post by eviks »

fifafu wrote: post #19

In case you are already using my BetterTouchTool app: I have created a little tutorial & example preset here on how to use it for status item management: https://community.folivora.ai/t/bartender-controversy-tutori... You can add feature requests there, it should be pretty simple to extend BTT to support the remaining required features. I have also recently been approached by shady companies trying to buy my app (I'd…

Thanks, is BTT capable enough to also track changes and show icons temporarily if an app's icon becomes active?

Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#133

Post by eviks »

hbn wrote: post #14

Apple really needs to just build this functionality into macOS already. You shouldn't need to pay someone else to shove icons into a drawer. And on the new MacBooks with a notch through the center of the menu bar, it always seems like the icons on the right and the menus for the focused app on the left are ever encroaching towards that space.

They won't be able to make as powerful of an app as illustrated by plenty of other advanced customization apps touching on almost every "core" OS features that they've already built in

So instead they should make it easier to achieve this icon management without too invasive permissions

Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#134

Post by eviks »

brtkdotse wrote: post #63
hbn wrote: post #14

Apple really needs to just build this functionality into macOS already. You shouldn't need to pay someone else to shove icons into a drawer. And on the new MacBooks with a notch through the center of the menu bar, it always seems like the icons on the right and the menus for the focused app on the left are ever encroaching towards that space.

I’ve tried switching from Windows to MacOS three times over the past few years and each time I run up against the wall of having to research, choose and purchase small utilities to fix things that I never in a million years would’ve guessed would be an issue. Windows management. File handler. Menu bar organizers. The list goes on.

Windows and file management are just as broken on Windows and require 3rd party apps (though there are often more free alternatives)

(so is the menu bar, but I just don't know of a bartender alternative, you're right that research and testing takes a lot of effort)

None of the OS are power-user capable for most of the "basics"

Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#135

Post by eviks »

djhn wrote: post #131
jmuguy wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well some of this is just getting used to MacOS though - Finder is a pretty huge adjustment (and honestly just not as good as Explorer). I agree that window management was probably the biggest sticking point for me. That being said - beyond being able to drag and snap windows side by side in Windows, I wasn't aware of any built-in management (or at least - thats all I missed when I switched a while back) that was mis…

I’m so used to column view as a metaphor for my files and directories that I don’t understand how non-mac people deal with essentially being forced to memorise their directory structure and hierarchy.

DOpus has a collapsible tree view with a few big issues remaining (don't think it has columns, but I don't find them useful on a Mac either, also use tree view there)

Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#137

Post by eviks »

evv wrote: post #65
michalf6 wrote: post #22

Use Ice instead: https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice

yeah, no reason these days to use proprietary solutions for small problems. I'll check out Ice, it seems much more modern (and maintained) than Dozer: https://github.com/Mortennn/Dozer I just wish somebody would create an open source alternative to Rouge Amoeba's Loopback!

The reason is the same as always - the open source alternatives are not as powerful, like Ice has big issues

Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#138

Post by asachanfbd »

Kovah wrote: post #89
nazgu1 wrote: post #7

What looks odd to me is this silence about acquisition. I've got a lot of emails and read enough blog posts from developers that brags about new owners and new opportunities that goes with it. Bartender is just utility app, but has permissions to e.g screen recording, so new version from new developer without prior explanation just seems shady

Reminds me of the silent takeover of the Stylish browser extension that was sold to some analytics company and then reported your complete browsing history to said company. No information to the users until someone noticed what what going on. Similar things seemed to have happened to the ModHeader extension, newer versions now inject ads.

This seems to be a regular industry practice, better to move away as soon as you get to know about the change.

Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#139

Post by dpedu »

ryandrake wrote: post #108
wlesieutre wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I like that this discourages usage of tray icons, which is a good thing. Your app doesn't need a tray icon, almost all apps don't Well clearly that's not working because every app has a tray icon. It's time to catch up with Windows XP and let users control which ones are important and which ones get hidden. And the hidden ones should still be accessible. Bartender really nailed all that and it's sad that a 3rd part…

Almost 100% of the apps with tray icons don't really need them. They're basically marketing: If you're in charge of brand management for an app company, and there is a way to get your brand on the user's screen at all times for free, you're going to always do it, regardless of whether or not the user needs it there. Just stick some kind of context menu on the icon so you can at least justify it. I'd love to know the…

What's comical about this is that most apps ALREADY have a persistent icon on the screen - the Dock icon. From what I've seen, most mac users don't enable dock hiding, so it's always there. It's just bad design.

Re: Popular Mac app 'Bartender' acquired by new unknown developer

#140

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

RulerOf wrote: post #121
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just really hate how there are some insane defaults that don't have easy ways to change them. Pointer Acceleration being the biggest one. One inch of mouse movement should always be the same number of pixels of pointer movement, whether I move my mouse at a snail's pace or at mach 2. A fast, but incredibly short movement of the mouse should not produce the same pointer movement as a slow, but very wide movement. Se…

> Pointer Acceleration being the biggest one. I love pointer acceleration, and won't use an OS that doesn't feature it. I _like_ being able to perform pixel-precise movement of the cursor on a ~20MP desktop without also having to drag the mouse across the entire desk or modify mouse DPI to get from one corner to the other. The disappearing scrollbars are awful though. I have a feeling Apple made that a default to get…

> I _like_ being able to perform pixel-precise movement of the cursor on a ~20MP desktop without also having to drag the mouse across the entire desk or modify mouse DPI to get from one corner to the other.

shrug

I can do pixel-precise movement without acceleration, I just have to move the mouse a lot slower.

The problem is that in my experience, people conflate DPI with sensitivity, and so say things like "1000 DPI is sensitive enough for me". But of course, with only 1000 DPI, without acceleration, and with moderate sensitivity, you kind of get aliasing in pointer movements. You'll move the mouse as slow as you can, but the pointer will jump in 2-4 pixel increments.

I have a 16,000 DPI gaming mouse and set the DPI in the driver to that maximum, then lower sensitivity to compensate. The result is that I can get pixel-perfect movement if I want to, though I admit that it requires a much steadier hand than if I were to just enable acceleration.

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