New Version of the Manifold Toolbar

September 21st, 2006 · 21 Comments · GIS, Manifold

I guess since the previous version just didn’t work, Manifold has released an updated version of their beta toolbar.

There is a new beta release of the Manifold toolbar. See

http://www.manifold.net/toolbar

for the download. Please remember to uninstall the previous version using the Windows Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs applet before installing the new version.

The new version supports the IE 7 beta, automatically detects proxy settings when Virtual Earth modules are used and fixes some miscellaneous bugs. See the URL above for notes.

As I said, I’m not a toolbar users, but to be fair to all those who downloaded the previous version and didn’t get to try it I figured I’d post this update. Manifold users are using words like “fantastic”, “cool” and “fun” to describe the latest version. Personally I just don’t see the need for YAT (yet another toolbar), but I guess some enjoy it.

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21 responses so far ↓

1 Chris C. // Sep 21, 2006 at 5:32 pm

At least they don’t charge for buggy software like some ESRI ArcXXX releases!
2 av8tor // Sep 21, 2006 at 5:59 pm

And I was begining to think Manifold users could post without being critical of ESRI. Guess I was mistaken.
3 Chris C. // Sep 21, 2006 at 6:24 pm

diddums
4 James Fee // Sep 21, 2006 at 8:48 pm

Now, now. The constructive thing would be to tell us how well it works.
5 Chad // Sep 22, 2006 at 4:09 am

Gave it a quick try… does not overwrite existing version, does not remove it.. you have to uninstall both if you forget to remove the orignal version.

Once I got past that.. even worse than the first one.. now it locks up IE every time I try it.

Do they do this same kind of quality control with their paid products? :\
6 Chris C. // Sep 22, 2006 at 5:47 am

I don’t see much use for the toolbar - shock horror a Manifold user not supporting a Manifold product.

I tried out the first version without any problems.

As to my deconstructive comment, I guess it was a bit off, but if you’re going to keep baiting us Manifold users we’ll keep coming back with ESRI criticisms - there are so many examples to choose from.
7 James Fee // Sep 22, 2006 at 6:02 am

Hey I’ve got pleanty of critical ESRI posts so I think I’ve earned the right to be critical of a toolbar. I’ve never been critical of Manifold itself, because I’ve never used it.
8 Dave // Sep 22, 2006 at 6:44 am

I am considering purchasing Manifold because the other major brand (Redlands-base) has just been a bear to keep installed operationally. Any pre-install hints/suggestions for the first install of Manifold?
9 Paul Petersen // Sep 22, 2006 at 8:31 am

Dave,
Manifold takes the “soup nazi” approach to customer support, so don’t screw up the installation and activation. Read through the readme that comes with the Manifold discs and do EVERYTHING it says, right down to activation. If you do not, the Manifold team will insult you and say you are not worthy to use their GIS. “No GIS for you!!”
10 SGD // Sep 22, 2006 at 8:50 am

Manifold, ehh. ESRI, ehh. ORBITGIS IS THE ONLY SOLUTION AND IT’s ONLY $300!!!
11 Chris C. // Sep 22, 2006 at 9:45 am

Soup Nazi - funny I was watching the finale of Seinfeld yesterday.

So if Manifold is a hearty vegetable soup at a good price; what does that make ArcGIS? - a hearty vegetable soup, which has been sitting on the shelf going stale with a few new carrots added at an exhorbitant price.
12 Chad // Sep 22, 2006 at 9:58 am

*sits on the sidelines and laughs*

Don’t use either.. product they are both way overpriced.

Open Source for me Which is a nice hearty chili.
13 Dave // Sep 22, 2006 at 2:29 pm

Yikes… I just got the shipping notice from Manifold. Can this outfit be more snotty/snooty than the Relands bunch? My needs are simple but having been through the mill, I am wanting new red meat to chew on.

What “open source” product is Chad using?
14 Chad // Sep 22, 2006 at 7:09 pm

For the stuff I work on and with .. qGIS has been working out quite well and I have only tapped maybe 30% of it’s features. Also use FWTools a lot.

Manifold and esri are both way out of my financial range.
15 jack // Sep 23, 2006 at 12:39 pm

Manifold and esri are both way out of my financial range.

$245 is way out of your financial range? Good god man, what is it you do? Are you homeless

Hell, if you cut out coffee for a month, and maybe skipped lunch once or twice a week you could afford it. Or, do you eat out of a garbage can so buying lunch isn’t a problem…

speaking of Seinfeld episodes, you can eat some muffin stumps, that will save you some money - LOL!
16 Chad // Sep 23, 2006 at 12:54 pm

Why should I *PAY* for what I can get for *FREE*

and if I actually needed something like that.. I would have a job where they would buy it for me.
17 jack // Sep 23, 2006 at 3:12 pm

I would have a job

as Jerry Seinfeld said to George Costanza:

“well….good luck with all that”

Seriously though, I think you really should give it a try if you can scrape together the money. QuantumGIS is a really nice package, but it is hardly a full GIS: topology overlay, buffering, editing vector data, editing attribute data, merging maps together, computing shortest paths, etc..

But, if most of what you are using it for is display and general query of spatial data, then it is a fine package. But, you might not want to jump so quickly on the “we hate Manifold” bandwagon until you actually got a look at it.
18 Chad // Sep 23, 2006 at 6:40 pm

Never said I was on the “hate manifold bandwagon” .. other than their piss poor development of the toolbar (and that is the developer side of me speaking).

But I am not one to fork out money for something with very little good information about it (looking at their website.. I would NOT buy it going by that) and I have a hard time using word of mouth recomendations for software.

But I think all this has been covered to death already. And I never said I needed a full GIS package.. which is why the OS solutions I have found have been working perfectly for my needs.
19 Ben // Sep 24, 2006 at 11:50 pm

I am not sure what you are talking about, Chad. The toolbar works fine for me. And given that the toolbar is currently in the beta stage, the developer side of yours was probably too quick to dismiss its quality.
20 JDKey // Sep 24, 2006 at 11:56 pm

What, Chad, have you gotten off your high open-source horse and launched IE instead of FF? Where the world is going…
21 Consumer Credit WebLog » Blog Archive » gnome-list 2006-March Archive by Date // Jul 22, 2007 at 1:59 pm

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