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Subject:ANN: Digest subscribers, there is a better way From:The Tech Writer <techwrtr -at- CRL -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 14 May 1999 11:35:26 -0700
If you don't subscribe to TECHWR-L (or any other listserv) via digest,
and don't plan to, then feel free to skip the rest of this email.
However, if you do subscribe by digest or are thinking about it, then
this email is for you.
Over the years that I've been a member of the list, I've seen numerous
requests for people to pare down the emails when they respond to them, to
cut down on the text that digest subscribers have to scroll through to
get to the emails that they are interested in. Someone, one day, said
that there's got to be a better way. I took it as a challenge, and wrote
the Digester's Reader.
Version 1.0 has over 30 users, all from this listserv. I made it
freeware, as a service to the list, in repayment for all that I've gotten
out of it. Funny thing happened, though. Several of the users asked if I
could make it work with other lists...RoboLIST, Framers, Index-L,
Copyediting-L, Acrobat Talk....
So, I realized that there was a wider audience that I hadn't even
realized. I worked on the program, adding features, and retrofitting it
so that it would work with ALL listserv run by LSoft's software (Eric
tells me that many are...according to http://www.lsoft.com, there are
hundreds).
I added:
* a toolbar
* MAPI-support (email)
* the ability to copy from an email and paste directly into the application
* drag and drop support
* the ability to open multiple digests at once (even from different
listservs!)
* and more...
I've kept the core functionality as freeware. You can feel free to use
that without paying me a cent. But, I've priced the "extra cool" stuff at
$20/license (with discounts for more than one license). I spent money on the
components to add the cool stuff, and hired a professional QA person to
test it (okay, okay, so it's the guy I carpool with...I still paid him!
:-), and would like to at least break even. I also offer a 30-day free
trial, which
lets you try out the "extra cool" stuff without obligation to buy it.