Werkema.com: Software: SpaceMonger 2.1: Q & A

Frequently-Asked-Questions & Answers

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Release Dates, Pricing, and Policies

When will SpaceMonger 2.1 be released?
When it's done, and not a microsecond before. <laugh> Really, I'm working as hard as I can on it. I'm making a strong effort to have it finished by the end of 2005; but your best way to keep up to date is to regularly read the News section or subscribe to the News RSS feed.

Will it be free like the previous version?
Sorry, but with the amount of work this is taking, I can't afford to just give it away. The expected price will be $20-$25 US, with discounts available for large-volume sales. It's going to be released under the shareware model, though, so that you can try it for 30 days before you buy it.

Well, why not release it as adware then?
Several reasons. First, I hate adware. (Here's an obligatory link to Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, the best tool I've found yet for removing adware and spyware.) Second, inclusion of the advertisements would mean that I would have to bundle other peoples' dubiously-trustworthy code in the program, and right now every line is mine: if anything goes wrong, I want it to be my responsibility to fix it, and no-one else's. I can trust me. Third, the program uses nothing in the Windows directories or registry, and bundling ads would probably mess that up too. Fourth, ads eat up pixels that are better-used for other things; Al Cooper is right when he calls the pixel the most valuable resource on the computer. Fifth, the downloading of ads would add a layer of network overhead that the program has no use for, and make the program unusable for some laptop and corporate users. And last, but not least, if I included adware, it would probably break the system whereby you can install it once and then just copy it for successive installs. Adware, in short, is just a bad idea for SpaceMonger, and I won't do it. (And no, I will not even consider releasing several differently-licensed versions, so don't ask.) Good things don't have to be expensive, but they are rarely free either: if you really want to buy it, I'm sure you can find twenty bucks in the couch cushions if you look hard enough.

Please, please, please, can I be a beta tester?
No. Please, please, please quit asking.

Well... maybe. I'm looking at setting up a limited public beta-test phase for about 20 to 100 people. I will provide an application form when I finalize the beta-testing process; so stay tuned. Do not send me e-mails about beta testing yet. I just delete such e-mails when I receive them.

Will there be versions of SpaceMonger for MacOS or Linux?
Hopefully. The internals of v2.1 are written to be very, very portable, unlike the ungodly mess that was v1.4. After the Windows release, I'm hoping to do a Linux version. That will help iron out any portability problems that may remain (and it's also good because I use Linux, too), and since a lot of the program's current users are system administrators, I know there would be a Unix (Linux) market for it too. There's also a pretty large number of Mac users out there, and I'd really like to do a Mac port at some point, because I like what Apple is doing and want to support that platform. Since MacOS X is internally a Unix, doing a Linux port would actually go a long way toward getting a MacOS X version written. But first comes the Windows version, because without its sales, I can't subsidize the time it will take to port to Linux or the Mac.

Will you start working on v2.2 after v2.1 is done?
Depends on two things: First, v2.1 has to sell reasonably well. I've spent a lot of time and money getting v2.1 ready, and if it doesn't go over well, I doubt I'll have the incentive to work on v2.2. (Hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink.) Second, I need some time off. I've been doing this nonstop for several months in a row now, and I need a break. A weekend would be a good place to start, but I'm thinking more along the lines of a real honest-to-goodness vacation. After that --- and assuming I can afford to --- yes, I'll start work on v2.2.

Will you ever release the source code?
I'm of a mixed mind-set on this. I have no plans to ever release the source of v1.4 because it's awful, awful trash that no-one should ever see. Ever. Most MFC-based software has pretty ugly code in general. But the code of v2.1 is pretty and slick and smart, and does some things that nobody's ever done before (it uses three or four major UI design patterns that have never been seen anywhere, even in academia), so I have no qualms with its quality.

The problem is with the fact that I'm selling it. You see, I like the notion of open source, that the code is there so that people can learn from it. I've learned things from open source myself, and even from quasi-open source like the classic Beagle Bros software. That's the up-side. The down-side of open source is that anybody can and will copy it. If I open up the source, lots of people would learn amazing tricks of the trade from it, but there'd be a black-market version of SpaceMonger v2.1 only a few days later, and no doubt there would even be companies who would appropriate it or parts of it for their own needs and attempt to resell it. It's happened in the past, unfortunately, even by very large well-known companies that ought to know better, even when the code isn't open source. For every one honest person who just wants to learn from it, there's at least as many dishonest people who wouldn't care if I went out of business as long as they made a buck. If I weren't trying to make a living off my work, it wouldn't be that big a deal; but since these years of hard work are supposed to be putting food on my table, it is a big deal.

So, in short, no, the source won't be open right now. But there's no guarantee that fact won't change in the future if I can figure out a way to have my cake and eat it too.

Features

If I right-click on a folder or disk in the Windows Explorer, can I have the popup menu say "Open in SpaceMonger"?
Not in version 1.4. But this is enabled by default in version 2.1. You can also open disks and folders in v2.1 from the command prompt (or even the bash shell, if you have that installed: SpaceMonger knows how to convert forward slashes into backslashes and vice versa).

Will v2.1 let me select multiple files at once?
Yes. You can select as many files or folders as you want, even up to the entire disk. SpaceMonger will warn you if you attempt to do destructive things to many files at once (open 12,000 files at once, for example, or delete half of your disk at once). But you can manipulate as many files as you can keep track of.

Can I make SpaceMonger only open a specific folder and the stuff inside it, instead of a whole disk?
Yes, in v2.1. You can type a pathname, or select a folder from a standard tree-view, or open via the command prompt, or open by right-clicking on a folder in the Windows Explorer.

What about drag-and-drop?
Dropping support is provided in v2.1; you can drag a folder or a disk or a shortcut to a folder or a disk from the Windows Explorer and drop it into SpaceMonger's window to make SpaceMonger scan the folder/disk. Generalized drag-and-drop (where you can drag files to/from SpaceMonger's window as though it were just another folder window) will not be included until a later version (v2.2, perhaps).

What about opening folders and disks from the command-line?
That is implemented in v2.1; internally, v2.1 actually uses a command-line to communicate to itself, so handling input from the Windows command-prompt is just a matter of taking the arguments after the command and dispatching them to the internal command-line. Many of the basic operations of the program can be performed off the Windows command-line, including, of course, the most-frequently-requested, the ability to open any arbitrary folder in the program (both directly and via right-clicking on the folder in the Explorer).

Will I be able to make SpaceMonger hide files/folders that take up a lot of space so I can see the others easier?
Already implemented in v2.1.

Will I be allowed to change the color scheme, and assign colors to specific files or kinds of files?
Already implemented in v2.1. You can assign the standard rotating colors (the ones based on depth) for both files and folders. You can also assign patterns to specific colors (called "special coloring"); for example, if you want all your images to be, say, green, then you might specify "*.jpg;*.jpeg;*.gif;*.bmp" as the pattern and green as the color. You can have up to sixteen different "special colors."

Does SpaceMonger have any Easter Eggs or hidden goodies in it?
Um, what's an Easter Egg?

Performance and Compatibility

What operating systems will SpaceMonger 2.1 be compatible with?
Most flavors of Windows: I do the primary development on Windows 2000, and semi-regularly test on Windows 98 SE and Windows XP to ensure compatibility. Here's what I expect it will run on:
- Windows 95. I test on OSR/1 and OSR/2.
- Windows 98. Although I test on Win98 SE, SpaceMonger should run reliably on classic Win98 also --- well --- as well as anything runs on classic Win98.
- Windows ME. I do not test on Windows ME, because not enough people actually use this OS. However, SpaceMonger should run fine on it anyway, since it will be tested on both Win98 and Win2000.
- Windows NT 4.0. I test on SP4, so if it works with that, it should also work with SP5 and SP6.
- Windows 2000. This is the primary testing platform. I test primarily on Win2000 SP4, but it should run fine on the older service packs as well.
- Windows XP. I test on SP1, but it should run on XP classic as well. I test on both Home and Pro.
- Windows Server 2003. Minimal testing, but everything works here every time I've tested it.
SpaceMonger 2.1 will not run on MacOS or Linux. Sorry, but I have to draw the line somewhere for v2.1.

(Note that SM 2.1 may run under Linux using Wine. Some features appear to be somewhat broken, but with proper configuration, it may be semi-usable. Your mileage may vary.)

I don't want to use an installer to install SpaceMonger: I liked the copy-to-a-folder installation of version 1.4. Can I get SpaceMonger without an installer?
No, not really. V2.1 no longer has any dependencies on the Windows Registry, and doesn't install anything into any shared folders. The standard distribution of v2.1 will have an installer just to make it easier for end-users and sysadmins who want an installer. But once it's installed on any machine, you can simply copy the SpaceMonger folder to any other computer, or share it across a network share, or even burn it to a CD and run it off of that. In addition, special features --- emergency mode and roving mode --- have been added for those of you who are sysadmins and want to be able to carry it around on a disk/CD/flash card/USB key or access it via a network. So no, you do have to use the installer, but you may only have to use it once.

Is the scan faster in v2.1?
No. The scan runs at about the same speed it always did, and is primarily limited by the speed of the disk and the operating system: it's much faster on Windows NT/2000/XP, for example, than on Windows 95/98/ME, and it's much faster on a 7200 RPM hard disk than an old 1.44 MB floppy disk. SpaceMonger 2.1 includes some new features that let it skip successive scans when the disk changes, though, and you can tell it to only rescan a folder instead of a whole disk. There are latent plans for memory-scanning, where SpaceMonger can skip much of the scanning between invocations after it's scanned your disk once by remembering what it scanned before, but those algorithms won't be implemented in v2.1 (maybe v2.2).

Will v2.1 correctly handle soft-links, hard-links, and mount points?
Yes and no. Version 2.1 correctly (and invisibly) handles soft-links and mount points, assuming that the operating system correctly reports information about them (some network drivers unfortunately misreport this information). However, hard-links are a sticking point. If the OS were Unix, these would be pretty easy, since every file is managed by unique inode numbers; however, given that this is Windows, I have a problem. NTFS supports hard-linking Unix-style, but it doesn't use inode-like information to manage them; it's very difficult (in some cases, near impossible) to get a uniquely-identifying code for each file on the disk, which means that it's very difficult to figure out if two filenames refer to the same file. In future versions, I may consider the tremendous effort to add code to try to recognize these cross links on versions of Windows that correctly report such information (a.k.a, 2000, XP, and Server 2003), but right now there is no code to handle it: you'll simply get duplicate entries in the treemap if you use hard links on the disk.

Will v2.1 display compressed files as their "size on disk"?
Depends on what you mean by "compressed". Files like .zip files and .gz files are just plain files, so their size gets computed like any other; they're not treated specially by the OS, and they're not treated specially by SpaceMonger. SpaceMonger will not be able to read or display their contents (in v2.1; latent plans linger for possibly adding that in v2.2). As for files that use the NTFS built-in compression/sparse storage/encryption features, it's hard to really say. I've implemented code that seems to do it right, but I don't have any system that uses the "weird" NTFS features heavily enough to be able to tell for certain if the numbers are really correct. So yes, I think it will work, but I'm not sure. Note that use of the "weird" NTFS features will slow down the scan noticeably; given the trade-off between accuracy and speed, I chose accuracy whenever possible.

Will v2.1 display remote network volumes with correct sizes?
It should. I've put a lot of effort into getting this right, since so many of the users of the previous version asked for it. All tests indicate that network volumes will be displayed correctly when SpaceMonger 2.1 scans them --- however, since the data must be transferred and analyzed over a network, network volumes will also be scanned slowly. If you need the scan to be fast, scan on the host computer itself; if not, SpaceMonger will still give you accurate numbers, but it'll be awhile before you'll see them.

Languages and Translations

Will you support language x in the final release?
If I have a translator for it, yes. See the languages page for details.

I would like to translate for my language, but I'm concerned about how difficult it might be. How much work is involved, and do I have to know how to program to do it?
It's not very difficult. I've added a new section at the bottom of the languages page describing the basics. Also, a complete translator's manual has already been written and will be included with every copy of the program, including the early release provided to the translators.

The French translation in v1.4 was terrible!
I know. A real French person is doing the translation for v2.1. Well, actually, he's Swiss, but he speaks French natively, so the translation for v2.1 should be a lot better.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Three cord. Duh.