Oh man! Missed it! I want this so much!

Jelpy (#80), should I remind you that NOT everybody is going to bend to your whim? No, seriously: Just because you don't understand the terms doesn't mean that people aren't allowed to use them. Some of them you can easily look up in a dictionary - if you don't want to do that, that is your choice, your prerogative, but most importantly your loss.

aa

This program is compiled free VB code. Doylesoft made slight changes and called it their own "software":

Knowledge Base for Help Desk
http://www.freevbcode.com/ShowCode.Asp?ID=4527

Author: Andrew Park
Category: Database
Type: Applications
Difficulty: Intermediate

Version Compatibility: Visual Basic 6

More information: This program uses an access database to store common problems and solutions to be used by helpdesk staff.

This code has been viewed 16179 times.

05/09/07 18:29 ET

This is seriously the worst program I've encounted.. won't even install!

Can't get it to work, runtime error 339. tried it several times!!

Add to #27,


Also, when you DO find something ( “Search By” Problem - “Search” to ). One item found, click on "OK" and the program closes ! ! ! ! ! !

Later,
Frank.

Hello,

This is quite disturbing. More than 200 people have rated today's GAOTD offering and less than half of them have written comments here. Most comments are negative, yet the overall rating is positive (60 to 40 percent presently). Why are not the people that rate it positively addressing the issues raised by many, well educated visitors, like BuBBy, Belgian Dude, BladedThoth and more.

Stephen Cohen, Ph. D., even states in #41 that, I quote:
'I have been told by a reliable source that this program is quite buggy.'. There are several comments challenging the GAOTD people to explain the lack of software testing. I thought that testing by GAOTD was part of the process of getting your software offered here.

In the past, if a problem of this magnitude was apparent, there were always posts by either GAOTD or the developers. Today there are none.

I hope this is not a sign of things to come. There always have been feedback from GAOTD and/or developers addressing installation or run time issues. We always get technical support, if only for one day.

-Mario

PS:
BT's (BladedThoth) reviews are always, among other things, well documented, informative, unbiased and professional. Now there is a link to his reviews right after the initial description of the software. By adding "Read also: 'BT's link'" it makes it look like BT's review is part of the initial description! That is a great move by the GAOTD.

Everyday I decide whether the offering is something I may like to have after I read the obviously biased developers' description, If it is, many times all I do is read BT's review and decide solely on his review. Way To Go!

to #69 Mr. lapin blanc (and possibly some others), should I remind you that NOT everybody's native language here is English?!

So could I ask you from refraining to use meaningless (to me/some of us) terms like Pep Squad, "stuffing the ballot", obsequious sycophants, etc.

As you say yourself: "you would be performing a great service for all involved."

Thank you.

As for today's offering, I think I'll pass.

I don't download every offer; however I come daily to try to find so interesting thing; if not from other contributor's alternate solutions.

I particularly appreciate meaningful comments, most especially BladedToth's awesome, acurate and knowlegeable reviews.

Keep you all the good work, GOTD and the meaningful contributors.

Jelpy

Eyelady:
Optimally, end-users would not be doing beta testing. No, GOTD is not here to do beta testing - neither are we. The company should already have done it (At the very least, alpha testing!). Yes, I know there's been a craze lately of making people beta test hardly-finished products (esp. web-based ones), but that's all it is - a fad. It's very poor form for paid products to do this.

Stuffet:
This isn't an Encarta-replacement product.

uh..... I am still hoping one day that I will find an application here that is any use at all. So far, I come here to be frustrated, and have not been disappointed in that regard. If I want limited crap from the internet, beta or demos, I can sure find these "free" no problems.

This site is crap. Like all of the software ive seen in the last month since Ive been checking it out.

I do love the nasty remarks, though.

from the gist of the majority of the comments the program presents multiple bugs for ordinary things that most softwares should be able to compensate.

It's as if some1 from my Computer science class wrote it up.

How can the author be so lazy as to make it so that you can to manually reconfigure the directory...
or stop the software from sizing and moving forms if it can't do that whilst minimized

==

Amazing! User rating 3:2 positive, in spite of all the obvious bugs that are next to impossible to "work-around"!

Anyhows, thanks, GAOTD - gonna strike out once in a while!
(ps - $79 for 1.64 MB of code? - ought to be real special at that price!)

I was pretty dumb, i didn't even bother to look at the error. But yeah, I don't read errors. lol

But great program, but 20 computers? I think we already surpassed that limit with giveawayoftheday license. :P

If you get this error, you can fix it. look below error

Error: Unable to open database (100)
Error description: ‘C:\Program Files\Doylesoft\KB\Data\kb.mdb

if you installed into D:\Program Files\DoyleSoft\KB
then go to D:\Program Files\DoyleSoft\KB
and run EditPath.exe, that will fix it.

After reading through the comments, then looking at the thumbs up/thumbs down ratio, it becomes abundantly clear that the GOTD Pep Squad has been "stuffing the ballot box" again, thereby rendering the results meaningless. If all you obsequious sycophants would take the time to pry your faces from between the buttocks of those running this site and read what the site is about you would be performing a great service for all involved.

Good thing I read the review. I have Encarta already, and it's way better than this.

And BTW, GOTD is not here to BETE-test anything. YOU are.

Quoute from the About page: http://www.doylesoft.com/about/

"The company has made substantial investments in establishing the finest technical services in the industry, which enables DoyleSoft to develop the highest quality products possible."

So this can't be in Beta and must have been thoroughly tested, right?

Seems like developers with crap, overpriced products turn to GOTD in desperation to get some exposure.

I'll stick to buying quality software and supporting good software companies rather than waste my time here.

Even though nobody will ever get this thing to work, it MUST be fabulous. Just look at all those "thumbs up"! Where are those peoples' comments?

Let's see...
Looks like it was coded in VB, uses an Access database, and has a ridiculous price.

1. Rapidly search through megabytes of information (stored in one or more databases) for the details you need.

Because if it's any more than megabytes, Access croaks.

4. Distribute your information to others within your company or commercially to other organizations who need the same type of information.

Companies are likely to use something many times more sophisticated than this, not to mention that commercially, "distributing" would really be placing on a network share - and Access doesn't support multiple simultaneous users. Yeah, that's useful.

5. Network ready. Integrates well into your existing network.

Hopefully this refers to being able to use other database types. If it was coded in VB, chances are you can use the system's available database engines, so that's not too bad.

6. Open database design. Your data is your data. Period.

Design, perhaps, but not engine. I'd be better off using MySQL... or better yet, SQLite.

7. Flexible licensing. Fully licensed for twenty computers. Only $3.95 per computer.

Flexible after the gargantuan price, perhaps.

8. Work offline. No Internet connection required.

This differs from, say, HEAT how?

9. Print articles with ease.

You'd better hope so.

10. Customizable categories, users, and layout.

Ditto.

11. The world's ONLY "easiest to use" Knowledge Base.

This might be the only thing going for it.

12. Inexpensive. Probably less than the cost of one service call.

Inexpensive? Perhaps as a DB/KB/call software solution... ...but considering you'd have to buy other software to make a complete package, no.
And speaking of service calls, at least their support is free (minus tolls, if you're calling).

13. No risk. Try before you buy + 60 day money-back guarantee.

Let's not go there.

I'd hate to do this, but this is one of the times where I can easily, and honestly, say that I could do better and sell it for less.
You know what? I just might. It's tempting.

to #53
what are you talking about? the program canot say that! i dont even know you!

For a simple computer user like me, the daily GOTD comments and reviews are valuable in my climb up the learning curve. But for the software writer with sufficient smarts and humility to submit her/his work to this anonymous, open forum, these pages should be a literal gold mine.

In some instances, specific, step-by-step instructions are given to turn today's mediocrity into tomorrow's excellence. DoyleSoft Knowledge Base is a prime example. (I tried it-> buh-uh-ugly!)

On a lighter note, has anyone noticed that the Brittny, Barbie, Jennifer, Jiggles segment of the GOTD commenting population gets more, thorough and prompt responses to their inquiries? Yes, the "noobs" do get responses, but nothing like the gals get....

All I can say is, "Keep up the good work ladies!" Each day, your questions and their answers teach me a little more. BTW, some of the best responses also come from gals.

Leading to the logical thought, "Should I change my nick to the generic 'Ima Hottie' or would 'Ima Hottieforgeeks' bring a more enthusiastic response from my target audience?"

Would that be altogether unethical, immoral, or inappropriate? Or just moderately deceptive? Could I live with moderately deceptive?

For now,
BoRegard

drugs are my anti-drug... hey wait... thats not right!

Well i have three things to say:

1) I am sad because for the past week i failed to check this page, which has become my netaddiction, and now i see how many goodies i missed [sad face smiley] I see they had a nice word processor and start up manager a few days ago...

2) Anyway, about the current "freebie of the day", my first reaction was like "oh really??? $79 dollars for a 1. something mb program????!!! no way??" Usually programs that are expensive come in large file size, unless they are truncated in zip files. I don't think this prog is actually worth $79 unless some miracle especial function is hidden in it. Then i read through the regular comments, which by the way i just love reading them. I don't know what some of you think of the comments? but i would NOT TRUST a program that has so many errors from the beginning. the programmers need to get that together... SORRY BUT THANKS, I AM NOT INTERESTED IN THIS PROGRAM

3) Finally, i just want to say hello to all the members of this page, it sort of feels like a community now. maybe they ought to allow chat in here? [funny face]

until then

HAPPY SURFING
from new york city

explorator

calling myself a writer, i think this looks amazing! (not to mention that it LOOKS like the kind of thing i'd want my boss to purchase)

HOWEVER, neither link to bladedthoth's review is working. (how long has that button to the reviews been on top, by the user ratings?)

I'm sorry that CNET isn't showing anything, because i had HIGH HOPES for this one...

I don't have much use for this program, but it seems like a good idea for some bigger businesses. Good program I guess =)

For someone developing "knowledge" base db (simple access database, flaky as hell!), they cant even use something simple like registry or ini files to configure paths. Its so damn easy to do.
Using EditPath, there is also a limit on the number of characters it uses for the path - how pathetic.
Cant be bothered to evaluate, so for installs/setup, its a thumbs down Im afraid.

As its a Access database, Im not sure what version office its for, but for those with 2007, u might need to open the db manually and upgrade it, that might work for you (remember to keep suffix as .mdb and not .accdb)

To all those who are trying to read my review today; My applogogies. My host decided to die and I can not contact them at this time. It's been a progressing issue throughout the day until now when the entire server is locked up hard and no way to fix it. I will let you all know when my site goes back up. Thanks and sorry.

I like the program. I want to use it on several computers in a home network environment. I installed without a problem on several PC's, but on one I am running into problems. I get the following error message: Run-time error '339' Component 'COMDLG32.OCX' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid.
I rebooted the computer and reinstalled, but same error pops up again. Does anybody have any suggestions?

http://research.spysweeper.com/search.php?serialnumber=ngfdd&lang=en&loc=USA&category=System%20Monitor&rc=1

Basically, we're all beta testing an under-developed piece of software. I installed under a non-standard directory, and got the initial error, used pathedit, (nice that they added that) but then it gave me a "jet engine couldn't open the database" error. So, basically, I'm done trying, other things to do. I'm thinking if I have this much trouble just getting the program opened, using it isn't going to be wonderful.

Can't complain, tho... it's "Free" and they didn't ASK me to download it, they just made it available. I just wish the folks at gaotd would do a bit more testing before putting something up that gives a lot of folks grief.

Also, it would be good to have a

***Vista Ready***

or

XXXX**VISTA WARNING**XXX

on the download page to keep those poor unfortunate folks who have to deal with Vista from any more pain and anguish. ;)



Maybe tomorrow.

This is not a comment on DoyleSoft Knowledge Base: due to the many negative comments, I did not install that one.

It has happened before that I have tried a freeware alternative after reading comments on GOTD, some of which were really good.

Today however I feel the urge to reply to the posting of my fellow compatriot Belgian Dude.

In comment #31 he writes about

- dbdesigner 4: sounds interesting but has another goal than DS Knowledgbase and probably is too difficult to handle for most users.
When I have some spare time I might as well try that one out.

- OTOH: the best thing I can say about Remplap Knowledgebase is that it is freeware (after a couple of uses it begins nagging for a donation, though). Besides that, it is somewhat of a resource hog and by the time it gets started one can easily phone half of all entries in your average Golden Pages volume. :-)

Navigating between documents suffices to call the remaining half...

So BD, don't take it personal, but I only wanted to warn others: it's not that installing Remlap Knowledgbase is dangerous; it simply is a bit of a waste of time, space, registry keys and values...

Sadly enough.

Sorry a little thumb down from me cos it's failed with 'runtime error 339: component COMDLG32.OCX or one of its dependencies not correctly registered..a file is missing or invaild' tried reinstalled unsucessfully! Anyway, thank you for giving it away it's worth a try!!

This program is FABULOUS! Absolutely TOP OF THE BILL.
I downloaded it and it installed itself automatically, ending with a popup saying "Anything else I can do?". Now I lost my car keys three days ago so I typed: "where are my car keys???". After ample 5 secs a new popup appeared saying "In the pocket of the thief who stole your car one hour ago".

I reported the theft to the local police.

PS: I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE JOHN PUTTINGHAM !

Joey.

still i love u..do a great job GOTD..love u so much :)

yeahh, that's right, we know is free,so is hard to give a great software, but at least plizz give the good. maybe from 1-10 scale .give 6-10, NOT 1-5, becouse there is your name GOTD.:

This is a great program - no bugs for me. It's funny how some people think they are paying for GAOTD, like the pantload in point 49.

Well, GAOTD, you did it again. Just as I was starting to recover my faith in your offerings, you put out another program that screws up on my computer, wasting my time, which IS worth money, even if the software is free. For a website like this one to offer software without trial running it themselves first to determine its validity just undermines not only the software manufacturer, but the GOATD site itself. How many times do you think people will return to this site if the experience is akin to venturing into a computer minefield? I'd like to hear your excuses for allowing software like this on your site without giving it a thorough test first. What dies that say for the respect you have for GOATD visitors???

Thumbs down for not being able to install on work computer since unable to enter proxy information.

I have been told by a reliable source that this program is quite buggy.

I know GAOTD is going beyond by giving free things everyday and it would be work to set that up every day. Having said that, every program you give away has some glitch, limitation, or is for extreme retards. It seems that they are all second rate programs that should be free from the start because nobody in their right minds would pay for them. I would like to see some giveaways from some reputable companies that have features that are really needed. Everyone has opinions and mine is that I feel like I am wasting my time here. I can go to Major Geeks and look through the database and download things I need more than here. Why should I spend my time foolishly? I will continue to give GAOTD a chance because I like the site. But please put some programs up that are not junk. I hate complainers, but I hate wasting time and memory on crap. Thank you GAOTD for your hard work, now let's step up and take it to the next level. PS. I think some of you idiots will download anything and everything is "Just what you have been looking for". For the rest of you thanks for the honest evaluations.

#36.

If you have access to MS Access, it's a good way to learn about databases -- and probably has the most books written about it to get you started. However, I certainly wouldn't pay the price for it if you already don't own it. You could spend a few dollars and take a DB class at community college.

Act! is kind of expensive, but funtional.

You can download OpenOffice Suite for free which includes a DB: http://www.openoffice.org/product/base.html. :)

I'm glad that the programs are for the mass population that relies on XP & not Vista, I been there done that but did not get the Tshirt.

Maybe in a year after all curent Vista users work out the bugs, I'll try it again.

No porblems running and/or using this program on XP laptop.

I think this will be a very handy program to have.

Wow ... most negative reviews I've ever seen on GAotD. No thanks. DoyleSoft really blew it with this one -- I'll never look at one of their products.

79$ ??? Nobody will buy such app...

What is this app for? Kinda buggy too.

The path seems to be hard coded but I just copied everything to c:\etc and then it started to work. just a noob programming fault

#20 Unfortunately this error occurs because the prorammer forgot to but in a catch all to his form resizing to tell it not to do it if the form is minimised. The form is trying to scrunch things to nothing which won't. I am afriad there is no way round his one except a corrected program.

This smacks of a program written in VB6 methinks!

Good morning everyone! Today's review is up! Check it out!

http://www.bladedthoth.com/reviews/15mrs/doylesoft-knowledge-base-v2-4b74/

Hope you enjoy.