BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - The new Google Groups went into effect today...

X ` Man

On 7/23/12 2:00 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:59:41 -0400, X ` Man
wrote:

On 7/23/12 12:52 PM, wrote:

Once you get Agent configured for your use it is very simple to
operate. The other good thing is the version I use does not really get
"installed" so it can run from a thumb drive on any machine and when
you pull the drive out it is gone without a trace. Everything stays on
the thumb drive. That is handy if you use more than one machine.

Agent is really aimed at binary users tho.

I am not sure what you mean by "dated". Usenet itself is dated and
hasn't changed in a decade or two. Why would the software have to
change?

I don't require software to run from a thumb drive, and when I sell off
my used apple computers to buy new ones, I wipe the drives clean with a
scrubbing program that allegedly provides a wipe sufficient for some
government agencies or other. In any event, good enough. I don't
download binaries. Therefore, my comment stands...Agent is too complex
for the simple task of reading and posting to the couple of usenet
groups I still follow.

Why would the software change? To add ease of use?

If you thought Agent was hard to use, you just did not customize it
for your use.
I have 2 versions running. One is set up for text groups and one for
binary groups. The top line buttons do different things.

As for the portability, I have more than one machine. If I want to
move from this desk top to my laptop, I sync to a thumb drive, plug
the thumb drive in my laptop and go. All of my newsgroup pointers and
saved posts move with it. When I get home, I just sync the thumb to my
hard drive and it is back here. I can also plug that thumb drive into
the hotel lobby machine (or any other machine) and run from there if I
want to. Then when I leave, everything leaves with me.
Nothing gets written on their hard drive, registry or otherwise.

I didn't say it was hard to use. I said it was too complex for the
simple tasks I need a usenet/email client to handle.

I have three "computers" I currently use: a desktop, an iPad and an
iPhone and I have an 8 terabyte server. All my email is synched
automatically for me, as are my calenders, address books, business
files, work product, et cetera.

I have lots of hard drive space and have no problems having whatever I
want written to hard drive...written to hard drives without much
intervention on my part. Even the web pages I design, edit and maintain
for clients back up automatically every night to my server.

So, if what you do works for you, fine. I don't like Agent. Never have,
and I've looked it over every year for more than a decade. I'm amazed it
is still around, actually. Hardly anyone uses it.