# Opinion On Paying



## Trip (Mar 10, 2002)

How much money would you spend on an application like this for Mac OS X?

Portai X 1.0
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*File Converter:* Convert any file, any time, any place at the speed of light! Now with Portai you can convert any Windows document into a Macintosh document! Convert an un-finished download into a completed download file and enjoy! Converts files 78% faster than ANY other leading file conversion programs out there today!

*Features:* Now with Portai you can personalize your conversion range! With UNLIMITED support for over 800,000 file types! You can even edit the file types to fit your needs! Edit descriptions, types, and version numbers!

Coming Soon!
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It's hard to explain...basicly it's an application that can convert any file, to any other file. When they say unlimited support they mean it! So...just tell me how much money you would generate for this handy little application.


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## ksuther (Mar 11, 2002)

I wouldn't need it, but that would be worth about 15 bucks for anybody who would use it, and if it worked the way you says it does


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## bighairydog (Mar 11, 2002)

I'm a bit skeptical about that 'Convert an un-finished download into a completed download file and enjoy' claim.

It depends what it can convert. Are we talking merely one text format to another and one image format to another, or is it more complex like converting a Word document to jpeg, or a Filemaker pro database table to Excel spreadsheet? No app can convert _any_ file to any other.

Depending on what it does, it sounds like it could fill an important gap.

How do you know about this BTW? Is there a URI?

Bernie     )


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## Trip (Mar 11, 2002)

I've tried it and it's worked great for me! I'll just give an example:

On carracho I always like to download movies...infact, I would have never known about Monsters Inc without carracho! But with my 56k modem downloading movies takes 2 days or more in a row! Now, usually when you download a movie you CANNOT view the movie until it's download is completed but with Portai you can convert the un-finished download to a comnpleted mpeg or mov file and view it!

And yes, it can convert a text file to a jpeg, a toast file to a application, a carracho file to a movie, anything!

Also: I know about this because I'm a beta tester.


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## ksuther (Mar 11, 2002)

Sounds like something called ResEdit


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## Trip (Mar 11, 2002)

ksuther: I guess you could say that. But then again ResEdit doesn't work under OSX ResEdit doesn't convert a file with the click on one button, and ResEdit doesn't kick as much ass.


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## bighairydog (Mar 11, 2002)

I've had no problems veiwing half downloaded movie's with quicktime.

It sounds like one of those apps that does nothing that I couldn't do with all my graphics and other apps, but the benefit is that it does so faster and easier. I'd pay the same that I did for a similar  app: WindowShade X - $7. $7 is the kind of price that people will pay for under the assumption that it isn't 'real money', so is essentially free. If however, there was a task that I'd use it for, that no other app could do, then I'd pay $20.

Also, a lot would depend on the interface. An app like this relies on ease of use as it's selling point, so it needs a really intuative interface.

Bernie     )


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## Trip (Mar 12, 2002)

Here's a screenshot of the entire userinterface:

One window to select the file to convert
One window to select what the file should be converted to
One window to show the status of conversion


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## Krevinek (Mar 16, 2002)

Here is a tip, you can very quickly move all that into 1 window that doesn't hinder the UI at all. I like being able to minimize iGetter's 1 window. This app is similar in UI concepts to iGetter: form a queue with info on each item in the queue, and show status on that queue.

It can easily be done in 1 window instead of 3.
Splitting windows just makes it more time-consuming for a user to get certain tasks done, which is not the way to go.


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