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Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

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Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#21

Post by david_allison »

navane wrote: post #15

Does anyone know why it's never possible to just transfer money, but they ask for patreon or paypal? I live in the EU and as far as I know its super cheap to send money into a bank account. At least cheaper than what I suppose is patreon's cut.

(not the author)

Despite getting free transfers (UK), I prefer middlemen.

I've had one transfer via Revolut, it was significantly more effort than I'd expected, but I'd do it again if explicitly asked for.

General security advice is to not share your bank details. I'd rather take the hit from PayPal fees or someone not donating rather than worrying about fraud. [0] for example.

Patreon (etc..) is recurring revenue, which builds confidence that what you're doing is sustainable long-term. When an OSS project opens for donations, it typically has an established userbase. The first "ask" will bring a comparatively large amount of money compared to the next "ask", and it raises the question of whether one-time donations will dwindle to zero. Recurring revenue hedges against that (and also allows more community building).

[0] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#23

Post by mlukaszek »

justusthane wrote: post #17
navane wrote: post #15

Does anyone know why it's never possible to just transfer money, but they ask for patreon or paypal? I live in the EU and as far as I know its super cheap to send money into a bank account. At least cheaper than what I suppose is patreon's cut.

Because in the U.S. we don't really have a standardized way to transfer money to another bank account, at least not without knowing their bank routing number and account number, which isn't really information you want to share :) Silly, I know.

Sorry this may be an obvious thing but I am genuinely curious (and I don't live in the US): why would one be afraid of sharing those? It's not like they're your credit card details or something. What am I missing?

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#25

Post by zamadatix »

whoknowswhat11 wrote: post #22

Sumatra 7mb Adobe Acrobat DC 2.4gb

Not that it justifies 2.4 GB but the products are very different. One is read only while the other is everything you could ever imagine wanting to do with a PDF. e.g. Infranview is expected to be significantly smaller than GIMP too.

For the most part that's perfect though. 99% of the time I just want to read a PDF so I just use the PDF reading tool not the PDF everything tool. That being said signing/form filling does bring me back to other solutions occasionally.

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#26

Post by Falcorian »

mlukaszek wrote: post #23
justusthane wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because in the U.S. we don't really have a standardized way to transfer money to another bank account, at least not without knowing their bank routing number and account number, which isn't really information you want to share :) Silly, I know.

Sorry this may be an obvious thing but I am genuinely curious (and I don't live in the US): why would one be afraid of sharing those? It's not like they're your credit card details or something. What am I missing?

Because the same two numbers (routing and account) are used to deposit money AND debit money.

So if you post your account numbers I can pull all your money out. Now you'll likely get it back if you file a fraud claim, but that's an extra Hassel, and your out finds until they give you a provisional credit.

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#27

Post by nolroz »

approxim8ion wrote: post #13

Sumatra, alongside maybe Everything and IrfanView, is my favorite piece of software on windows. Incredible speed, great customizability and awesome compatibility. I really missed it when I made the switch to Linux, but not enough to consider installing WINE. Still, absolutely wonderful project deserving of the highest praise.

What's wrong with WINE?

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#28

Post by zamadatix »

It's amazing to see the drive of "I know what I want to make and I do it the way I want" carry the project for so long. More than any development ideology just having the passion to continue working on whatever it is you're doing is an extremely powerful force for creating useful software. And SumatraPDF is definitely useful software, has been for a long time.

"ideology doesn't matter as much as doing" being said the syntax valid semantic invalid error at the end of this excerpt in the section on extensive tests being overrated gave me a chuckle:

> Dogma is powerful. Sometimes in my corporate life I felt like writing tests was just going through motion. Maybe we should spend more time writing code instead, I though?

In all seriousness I agree though. In a project where you write the majority of the code it is possible to overdo tests in a way that you are wasting more time than you're saving yourself and in a passion project efficiency isn't always as important as interest anyways.

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#29

Post by npteljes »

krylon wrote: post #18
approxim8ion wrote: post #13

Sumatra, alongside maybe Everything and IrfanView, is my favorite piece of software on windows. Incredible speed, great customizability and awesome compatibility. I really missed it when I made the switch to Linux, but not enough to consider installing WINE. Still, absolutely wonderful project deserving of the highest praise.

Paint.NET is great, too. It's not open source, unfortunately (for valid if regrettable reasons), but it's free as in free beer. The memory of its GUI makes me sigh a little whenever I open GIMP.

Have you tried Pinta? Filled the niche for me after switching to Linux.

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#30

Post by supz_k »

One of the pains of moving from windows to a Mac was not having Sumatra. I've been using it on Windows for so long. I have tried many options on Mac, but they just doesn't feel "right" (too many options in viewers like Acrobat, too less features compared to Sumatra in others). Any plans to create a mac version?
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