nice, very simple to use. EXCEPT: my two video avi's went from the original 8.5MB to 1.56GB and 6.3MB to 1.56GB avi,s. to big. maybe just adding the text in a few spots rather than the entire video would help? if thats possible anyway.

#56, Belgian Dude, as with most of your comments, I partly agree, but disagree with much of it. If a business is large enough to need this, they should purchase it, not just because they could easily afford it and because it's the ethical thing to do, but because organizations like the Business Software Alliance are aggressively auditing and massively fining small businesses which cannot produce receipts for every single piece of software found on all of their computers, no matter how old the software is. How do they target businesses? All it takes is a single disgruntled (ex-)employee. You're wrong that this sort of software is impractical for businesses; for businesses with more than a few employees, this sort of thing is essential. Many businesses go under from failing to keep track of their expenses and waste. This is nothing new, it's been a long-standing practice for business copiers. With the conversion to the paperless office, printing has exploded bigger than ever. Humans are creatures of habit, it's difficult to get them to give up the wasteful (not just in terms of expense, but environmental and health damage, and insecure) practice of printing on paper.

As #49, Damian, pointed out, the Microsoft XPS format is a vector format. You can also install a trial version of MS Office (pre-2007), if you can find one, and the Microsoft MDI (raster) virtual printer and viewer will continue to function after the trial. These, along with various PDF virtual printers, have endless options for data formats, resolution, compression, watermarking, etc. I have more virtual printers on my computer than I know what to do with. I find MDI usually produces the smallest files. You can also find freeware DjVu encoders (I haven't noticed any DjVu virtual printers), but the (very expensive) commercial versions are much better. DjVu generally outperforms other formats in all respects.

Eh. I tried installing this thing on my home print server (running XP). Sadly, the installer hangs while adding the printer...

Ah, well. I guess I'll just lose out on knowing what this "printer" does. I'm not certain it's worth fighting with, based on its description...

Hmmm. I wish it had been made clear sooner that installing this offering is allowed for educational, family, or small business needs. I won't be going back to work at 11PM+ to install it. If fitosoft.com had any downloadable manuals/help files, or if I could find anything resembling a competent review anywhere (where the heck is BladedThoth when I need him? 8^), or if anyone posting comments had mentioned whether or not you can monitor stand-alone network printers (#4's cryptic comment notwithstanding)- maybe I would still go in to try it on a PC lab for evaluation and report my findings to others at the college. As it is, I'll wait until next time. ( By the way, Fitosoft only offers a personal license on their website, so I don't know what their target market is.)

Continuation of #29...

Unfortunately, after sending their support team my computer's event log reports around noon (EDT) today, I haven't heard back. I've tried rebooting and reinstalling a few times with the same result. I see a few others have had similar issues, but nothing here in the comments from the developers.

If there is ever a fix for this issue please let us know.

Thanks!

Hi everyone and GOTD, How about Parental Control software that limits usage of a computer at certain times of the day or night. I would find this extremely useful. If anyone knows of any free software it would be appreciated.

Thanks

This wont install on windows 2000 GDI DLL compontent from microsoft has to be put in program directory but installer wont get that far

Well after a reboot the virtual printer still does not work. So it will be uninstalled from my computer. Thanks anyway.

To the Giveaway of the Day Project Team : You state that it is allowed for small business needs.

Care to define what a small business is?

Do you mean a mom and pop operation or do you mean a bit bigger then that? I would hope the latter because if one needs this kind of a software in a company with a only a hand full of employees, most of them related to each other, then the company won't likely last long.

If you do mean larger then how large exactly? 20 Employees? Howabout less then 50, = European standard? Or less then 100,= American standard?

True one could not give a damn and just use it in any business environment but then I have to question the ethics of a company that is so willing to steal. After all, using software illegally is tantamount to theft.

Using this in a business is neither here nor there. Setting a limit on how much people may or can print is ludicrous in a company. What if they have to urgently print a report that happens to be one page longer then what they are allowed to? Will they be hiring a person to keep track of, and adjust where need be, all the several print allotments? I think not.

In educational fields I can see it happening, even in public accessible situations. E.g. libraries.

Using if for family needs sounds very draconian. How about talking with your family instead of policing them?

Printing to pdf, jpeg, etc... can be done by lots of products. Some have been mentioned here, the rest can easily be googled. I myself prefer the Paperless Printer for some things and pdf995 for other uses.

no matter what they give away on this site there's never a shortage of complainers...they could give away stacks of $100 bills and some idiot
would find a reason to complain..grow up..

Thank you GOTD, for clearing up the "personal usage" issue, though it would have been more helpful if it was done sooner. By the tone of the comments, I think a lot of people passed this up because they thought, with good reason, that they couldn't use it.
Locket(#48): Your main squeeze Phil was wrong, period. As usual.

#34--nobody seems to use that anymore, since several months ago.

#28(german)werwölfchen
Just want to say thank you for the link you gave..

Jeez, I thought for a minute I wouldn't even have to think about downloading this, but after reading the comments, I think I might try it. Thanks again!
I really can't see why #22 wants to pick on #18- senseless conflict!
#18 was brief,to the point and VERY helpful.

It's worth pointing out that this program installs a background service as well as the GUI program. If this is installed on a server, as would be typical in a commercial environment, that's not an issue. However, for those that are using this program primarily for the purpose of the print-to-file functionality (virtual printer), you might want to explore other options. There are many freeware programs that offer print-to-file functionality without using a background service (which just ends up consuming system resources without a significant benefit). i haven't tried it, yet, but it does appear that the virtual printer may function just fine with the background service turned off... for those that know how to do that. The auditing functionality is actually rather robust (requires the background service), and is far more than provided by the OS.

Conclusion: If you are installing this on a corporate/print server, it's a great piece of software, and i'd give it 8.5 out of 10 for what it does. If you are installing it on a computer using a local printer, and nobody connects through your computer to print, don't bother installing it... go for a freeware virtual printer... unless you know how to disable services, and have the desire to fiddle with it rather than using freeware.

-alexander

Print to XPS

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/default.mspx

Print to PDF

http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

http://www.pdf24.org/en/What-is-pdf24.htm

OR

http://www.primopdf.com/

AND already suggested by #28(german)werwölfchen

http://www.rarefind.com/paperlessprinter/

Hope that helps someone!

>Giveaway of the Day Project Team

That explains it. Phil was right, but for the wrong reason.

I have tested this, but thus far it is not working. I was excited about the virtual printer; especially the ability to output to several different formats. I will report back if it starts working after a reboot but for the moment it appears it really does have issues. My first clue came when I got an error during the installation; just one error mind you not the multiple errors mentioned by others. The activation went just fine as always, at least that part usually works if you follow the instructions. Please GAOTD, check into the error on installation. I think it's tied to the installation of the virtual printer driver or the startup of the service. This has great potential if you can work out the bugs. Thanks.

I meant to say I got the same error as #29 from BSOD.

Small note from GAOTD team : you are allowed to use this software for your educational, family, or small business needs.

I got the same error message at the conclusion of the install process even though the virtual printer installed and worked when I tested it. I created a .png image file of a word processor document. Then I printed the document again - this time creating a hard copy with my laser printer.
Does anyone have a clue what the error is about?

#21 and #22 other people are voting also. Duh

have to agree with #3 & #6 that GAOTD may not be the right place for this program, but even if it were I use Faststone Screen Capture when I want or need an image of a page I can't print any other way, plus there are now a number of free PDF programs out there if called for. Now if I still had teenagers wasting ink & paper, I'd be interested, but Windows seems to already do most of the other stuff I'd want, such as Print to File, which is something nobody above mentioned.

come on people its a good offer
love ot leave it

It would seem strange that companies are offering programs here that are only useful for business purposes. It's even stranger that the site is accepting those offers.

This is a hacked up piece of junk that won't even install properly without errors. I ran it as admin on Win2K with latest SP and it reported a bunch of error message. Big waste of time, bandwidth, and diskspace.

Has anyone got the 'Virtual Printer' to work yet.

Instructions are VERY poor.

#41 Yes. As the owner of a company, I am allowed perqs no other employee has. Such as using an application for personal use. As this is a typical application, I see nothing restricting me.

The object printer shows up as "ObjectPrinter" in your list of printers. Selecting it and printing to file does indeed produce a very nice JPG or other graphic format picture of what the printout would have looked like -- which could be useful in creating web pages ("Here's a picture of the book report our little Sarah wrote on MOBY DICK -- she got an A!"), or making non-searchable / non-cut-and-pasteable versions of documents, which might be useful to some. Resolutions up to 600 dpi are supported, selectable from a drop-down list.

I'm going to download ObjectPrint to try out its virtual printing and Paperless Printer recommended above looks pretty good.

I've found loads of very useful free software based on the daily recommendations in the comments section, but (as was pointed out a couple of days ago) there is a designated place for these recommendations:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/723

@21 and 22: I observe that when one votes yes or no, the entire page does not reload. This is an indication that some form of AJAX is in use.
To your point - it is quite possible that, while you are reading the comments, other people are voting and you don't get the updated tally until you initiate an update by clicking yes or no.

@19:
If any business owner follows Phil's legal interpretation and uses this application for their business, I wonder if Phil will volunteer to add his name as a defendant in any potential law suits.

This does touch on the central theme today:
With phrases like STRICTLY PERSONAL USAGE and NON-COMMERCIAL ONLY on this site, why offer an application that clearly states what it is for in its description and curiously omits personal usage? I would like someone from either GotD or Fitosoft to address this issue in today's comment section.
Are we to view these limits to usage the way people generally view speed limits. That is, as guidelines that we may cross as long as our violation wouldn't appear to be excessive to a reasonable person?

#20 As a business there is nothing to stop you from trying out any of the offers here. Practically all offers have a web page where you can download a demo or shareware. Or simply download fro gotd and don't register it. I really doubt few business let the commercial restriction get in their way anyway.

#21 don't get too worked up over the "voting". There is a real possibility others voted in the time you first opened the page and you voted. The browser refresh after your voting action may reflect all accumulated votes in that time period just not yours.

I personally like this sort of software, even for home use. Suppose you keep running out of ink really fast and no one admits to using the printer, with this, you can find that the computer is your childs room is printing heaps of cartoons or whatever out. What gets measured gets managed... :)

Thanks GOTD!

I installed it for use as a virtual printer but no virtual printer shows up. How do you get it to work?

Receiving an error directly after the install:

ObjectPrint Service has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

szAppName : ObjPrnSvc.exe szAppVer : 2.0.0.0 szModName : ObjPrnSvc.exe
szModVer : 2.0.0.0 offset : 0003b744
----
System: Windows XP Pro SP2

The ObjectView printer was installed into Printers, but when trying to go to properties for it I get:
---------------------------
ObjectPrint Service does not run
---------------------------
ObjectPrint Service does not run. Try to run ObjectPrint Service?
---------------------------
Yes No
---------------------------

I'm not clicking yes...;) Apparently my system is choking on the service. Anyone from Fitosoft know what's up with this? I'm also going to ask via their contact page, so we'll see if we can get an answer today in case anyone else runs into this.

Thanks!

To all, who just appreciate the "virtual printing" abilities:
"Paperless Printer" ( http://www.rarefind.com/paperlessprinter/ ) is great, is free for personal use, and offers output to PDF, HTML, BMP, DOC(RTF) and XLS; - really a nice package: very useful and easy to handle!
___________________
(german)werwölfchen

#21 and #22 - Other peoples votes are being counted too. Until your vote registers and refreshes the count, nothing wil change. When you vote, the update includes others done in the meantime.

My dad could have used this a few years ago when he owned a small company and had to deal with people printing personal stuff all the time.

Agree here -- personal use means noncommercial use regardless of who "owns" the company or how many employees it has. Even if you are a one-man shop you are technically prevented from using this for business purposes. It is absolutely stupid to have this restriction on workgroup software like this though.

I suppose not all is lost, though, if this thing will monitor toner and paper levels in all of my various printers around the office from a single console I would happily pay a hell of a lot more than $60 for it.

Restricting access for over-quota users or something though really only makes sense for public-use printers such as dorm printers offered by some universities, and even so print quota is built into Active Directory. I can see no place for this feature in a third party app for home or business environment.

Printing? Oh yes, I remember that, it was when people used paper. Nowadays, with email, business-related items arrive per email, get paid per electronic banking, often automatic, letters and other personal contacts go by email, phones, and text-messages, who uses paper at home anymore, except for the junkmail that just keeps coming.

Personal use doesn't mean that if you are the owner of the company that therefor you are legally permitted to use it. Believing it does just proves that some people don't have the first clue what they are talking about.

Personal use means no commercial usage which means that if you use it for anything that might bring you, your company, your employees or your collegues any profit or aides the company in any way,may it be directly or indirectly, then it is not considered personal use.

It's a sad thing when a non-native speaker has to explain that to someone that has such a grasp of the English language that they even write poetry, isn't Phil.

If you have a business then the only time it could be considered personal use if when you used it outside the company for non company reasons on non company equipment.

Conclusion :

You are only permitted to use it at home for strictly personal reasons . If you want to test it out in a business enviroment then you are only allowed to do so for the trial period before buying the application.

same thing as #21 just happened to me aswell
i also voted no for comment #18 and nothing changed!
It still stayed as 5+ and didn't drop to 4+

Has anyone besides me noticed that the voting on this site is rather strange? Today, for instance, as I proceeded to read all comments, I began to be awarded 2 votes rather than one. Then on three comments, I voted "No", the comment was not useful, and the vote registered as a "Yes" vote, just the opposite of my intent. This happened on Comment #18 where my negative vote turned a +2 reading into a +4 reading. Today is not the only day this has happened. I know it is a minor point, but it tends to make you distrust the readings. I think the site management should address this issue.

Hi all, just remember this is a giveaway for ONE DAY, but remember this site delivers 365 (non leap year:) giveaways a year. tell me off any other site having the foresight to put this site together and to keep in running. thanks GAOTD for the work you put in sourcing the software for the one day free license, and ok i might only get 10 items per year but thats still more than i would have had. and yes i own a small business, and appreciate the software to try out.
Keep up the good work

To those who worry about the "Personal Use" restrictions of this or any other program offered, understand if you own the business then it's considered personal use. Running it as the administrator over your network to keep costs down by stopping employees from printing useless pictures and documents is a wise move. I have no personal use for this program, but can appreciate its concept.

Comments Numbers 12 and 15 sold me. I print to PDF almost every day. On a few occassions, I then converted to images or used print screen utilities. If this utility gives me the choice of vector or raster images then it might be good for my toolkit.

Time to download now and check it out.

GAOTD should have a BGAOTD (Business Giveaway of the Day). Products aimed more at small business without the "Strictly personal usage" clause. Maybe with a restriction of one or two copies per company, or limited to small companies only.

Just because a program does not fit you precisely, why do you have to trash GAOTD? I have a small organization and I see others that do. If you don't like it fan it on and check out the nexts days. Beggers can't be choosers.

"ObjectPrint Virtual Printer saves your printout without wasting paper. ObjectPrinter works like a system printer driver that you can view, store and print with other applications. ObjectPrinter supports vector (EMF, WMF) and raster (JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF) graphic formats"
...........................................
Now THAT IS useful. Just imagine, for example, printing to a T shirt. Most t-shirt printing is done from Jpegs so this will allow converting of text to Jpeg. No doubt there is freeware available but if ANY of the other options with this prog COULD be useful that would be a bonus.
Thanks to all at GAOTD anyhow.

Iknow I'm a bit L8!
But have a gr8 2008!:)

#9: I don't think that this is ok due to the terms of usage. You can use it to restrict printing for your family members if you prefer control, surveillance and dictatorship for your family life, but you can't use it as an individual company.

However in some countries it is more than questionable if a software license can be restricted to any special purpose or if some kind of usage can be excluded.