MacHeist is giving away my Mac app ShoveBox and $154 of other apps

http://www.macheist.com/nano

by dangrover • 17 years ago

93 51 17 years ago

Sign up system is pretty awful. Tried 4 different user names, they were all taken. Had to unhide the hidden reg form every time. Had to re-enter my password twice, every time.

9turningmirrors• 17 years ago

i think it's fixed now. I couldn't signup it yesterday, but no probs earlier today

crux• 17 years ago

Dangrover, I just wanted to let you know that I think ShoveBox is a great application. I have been on the verge of buying it for a year now because I enjoy its use and find it so elegant, but I never have done because I haven't been able to find a superior placement for it in my workflow. I don't think this giveaway will change that state of affairs, but even as I don't find it personally necessary I think Shovebox is just very well designed indeed.

dangrover6• 17 years ago

Thanks so much!

I'm hoping to return the app a little to its roots and make it something more hackers will want to use in version 2.0, while keeping the existing functionality/marketing approach.

For instance, there's a feature called Targets that replaces Rules and makes it so you can define targets in addition to the existing ways to get info into the app (e.g. add your own menu items, bookmarklets, floating blob/tab thingies). And I really want to have bindings for everything in the app in some language -- I'm thinking Lua. AppleScript is kind of a pain.

Shooter• 17 years ago

Dan,

Captain Kangaroo was a very nice man. He (Bob Keeshan) and Hugh Brannum used to come into a restaurant where my Mom worked and make me origami. They also gave me a stuffed toy frog once. He shouldn't be on your list. On a more serious note, Shovebox looks really cool...can you also organize files with tags?

jamesbressi10• 17 years ago

I take it from this response by you that a big reason you participated in giving away your software with this MacHeist was to increase your user base to garner more feedback for your upcoming version?

That is a great idea friend and not one many are willing to consider because they would feel defeated by giving something away that they work so hard on.

Cheers and the best of luck. If you want any feedback directly from me as a first time user of your software with high hopes, let me know.

ynniv• 17 years ago

Might I suggest JavaScript bindings? That way, when you make the web app version the plugin API will be the same language. There's even a JavaScript interpreter with Objective-C interop written by Apple.

kacy• 17 years ago

Wow, great job on ShoveBox. I've been searching for something like this for a while. I'm going to use it for a week or so, and I'll probably end up purchasing it anyway to support you. Thanks for creating it!

melito• 17 years ago

Downloaded it earlier this evening. WriteRoom and Shovebox are the only two apps I was really looking forward to getting. Can't wait to try it out over the next few days

dangrover6• 17 years ago

I played Hordes of Orcs while waiting for Slicehost to resize my slice due to the brutal pounding from MacHeist users. :)

JMiao2• 17 years ago

just installed. registration code doesn't work. also, there's no way to close the registration window once you run the app. any ideas?

ComputerGuru• 17 years ago

I love the stupid simplicity of ShoveBox (that's a complement, btw). If I wasn't already hooked on Yojimbo, I'd probably switch. Sometimes Yojimbo feels just a tad too complicated for my needs and I find myself just saving a link as a (temporary) bookmark in Safari instead of creating a Yojimbo note, but by and large, Yojimbo does the trick for me.

As the only things I write are technical papers, I don't have much use for either Mariner or WriteRoom (this is where LaTeX and Microsoft Word with its automated bibliography and table of contents shine).. But 'Hordes of Orcs' seems pretty cool. I previously trialed Twitterific but didn't like it much - TweetDeck is so much better.

I don't know whether or not TinyGrab will come in handy; I think it's one of those apps you've got to live to truly appreciate it.

At any rate, nice bundle. Thanks :)

alabut• 17 years ago

I was thinking the same thing, except with Evernote - I started using it a few weeks ago and have already built up a sizable switching cost. Maybe it'd help to hear more about import options as well as competitive differences?

BearOfNH• 17 years ago

Just reading the headline I couldn't tell if the poster was proud of having been included, or annoyed at piracy of his app. The name MacHeist actually suggests the latter, and their website only says they supply licenses -- not saying what they are doing is legal.

Now that the comments indicate everything is above board, I wonder if MacHeist plans on having an "Android Annex", or will leave that to another company...

jamesbressi10• 17 years ago

It's not piracy, lol. MacHeist has been around for quite a few years now and developers opt-in to the program. Although, I don't remember a year that they offered the bundle free, or am I forgetting?

oscardelben3• 17 years ago

No it's the first (and probably last) time they are giving away for free.

_pius• 17 years ago

I don't think this is the main bundle.

kellishaver• 17 years ago

This isn't the main bundle, and they've been known to give away small collections of apps before, e.g. the Giving Tree at Christmas time. They also give away a ton of free apps for participating in missions during the actual Macheist events, so free software from Macheist is certainly nothing new. They had a small event a week ago on Halloween as well, so I'd say they're just gearing up for some new big event (MH4?) or some holiday special and are using these apps to draw attention, stir up press, and get people coming back around to the site.

jamesbressi10• 17 years ago

I wish MacHeist provided a box to explain why you would pay the amount you specified.

When they are collecting this data, how are they going to know why someone would be willing to put out $20, $25 and so on for the bundle?

Just an observation. For me, I really need to give this ShoveBox a try. Wish I knew it was out there a long time ago. I've constantly complained about my Safari bookmark management and that there has to be a better way. Is ShoveBox it?

Tichy6• 17 years ago

That is what I don't like (see my other comment). It is just the same marketing trick every other vendor in the world uses. You know when you shop for clothes and you peel off the "reduced price: 50$" sticker, and underneath you see that the original price was in fact just 40$...

Looking at MacHeist, if you haven't bought those apps before, then they have not been worth 20$ for you - so you don't save a thing. Instead, you spend money on stuff you wouldn't have bought otherwise. Yet many users fall for it, somehow.

JohnsBeharry4• 17 years ago

Dam I love it! Finally I can get rid of that clutter Evernote... Love the drag function too awesome app guys!

Edit: I'd love to have a web interface with this but.. can't have everything right? lol Definitely getting the iPhone version to sync up

Edit 2: If you guys could add uploading as well to share on twitter for eg. Well gosh darn that would be something special right there ;)

jamesbressi10• 17 years ago

Obviously I'm the only one who can't get the serial numbers generated? How long did it take for serial numbers to generate for you? I'm using Firefox 3.5.4 on Mac OS 10.6

JohnsBeharry4• 17 years ago

I haven't gotten mine as yet though :( I'm pretty sure they'll come in at some point

jamesbressi10• 17 years ago

Ha, I'm going on almost a half hour now, you?

oscardelben3• 17 years ago

It took 2 hours for me. You need to wait a bit, don't worry.

Tichy6• 17 years ago

Isn't MacHeist just a clever way to make Apple fans buy stuff? Nothing against the apps in question, but I hate to see this marketing scheme on HN.

unalone3• 17 years ago

Yeah? And Paul Graham made Hacker News as a clever way of sucking people into YCombinator, and lots of people here comment as a clever way of getting their product name out. There is nothing inherently wrong with marketing whatsoever.

In this case, a supposed $150 value is being offered for free. That's news worth posting.

Tichy6• 17 years ago

"There is nothing inherently wrong with marketing whatsoever."

So can I sell your email address to all the spammers?

jamesbressi10• 17 years ago

I would say it was the only "clever way to make Apple fans buy stuff" that is a huge benefit to software developers, end-users and the community -- it gets developers (who many are on here) exposure, saves end-users a good deal of money (and in this case costs no money at all), which in turn becomes a great benefit to the community (for those involved, as well as the added benefit of these apps, especially in the past, being time savers for productivity and utility.)

It should be promoted on Hacker News because it does relate and benefit many in this community.

But I think your concern is appreciated and it is always great to have those watching out for the community's best interest.

st3fan• 17 years ago

The nano bundle was disappointing. Only TinyGrab seems like a nice app. The rest is poorly written or just low grade. Not the usual MacHeist quality.

jamesbressi10• 17 years ago

That seems to be my impression of this years offering. But still willing to give it a shot and I really want to try ShoveBox.

Maybe the big values (like in MacHeist past) will come in later?

oscardelben3• 17 years ago

Also, writeroom is a very popular app among bloggers

marknutter• 17 years ago

Not sure about the apps, but that is one beautifully designed site.

MikeCapone• 17 years ago

Thank you for posting this. I think I'll use Shovebox and maybe Writeroom.

MacHeist is giving away my Mac app ShoveBox and $154 of other apps

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