How would you respond to this?

[Dusty]

I'm always promoting PTE for online shows because of the image quality, smooth transitions, and simplicity for viewers. However, I recently ran into a couple of people who disagree. I did respond, but I'd like to know how others here would have responded.

"NEVER offer .exe files for download. (unless you are showing off your software programming or something) as they can so easily be viruses very VERY few visitors would (or should) take the risk."

and:

"You must have a lot of very ignorant clients for them to be downloading .EXE's from your website! It's not safe and plain old bad practice. Any literate computer user knows it's stupid, and it's just plain obnoxious! Not only that, but you alienate your Mac users -- a big no-no. "

~Cindy

[alrobin]

I'm always promoting PTE for online shows because of the image quality, smooth transitions, and simplicity for viewers. However, I recently ran into a couple of people who disagree. I did respond, but I'd like to know how others here would have responded.

......................

Cindy,

The problem is only with downloading sequences created by someone you don't know - or else, why would a "friend" purposely try to sabotage your pc? So, if your clients trust you, then there is absolutely no problem, is there?

There is a slight chance of infection from a show made by someone you don't know, but that show would be very quickly identified (if not by someone's virus checker, then by the experience of someone who downloaded it before you did). So, it would be very easy for that person to be found out, and ostracized by the community. So, why would someone take a chance?

Most of the shows on Beechbrook and others' websites are produced by people already familiar to us in the PTE community, so there should be no problem with the sequences we are downloading. Just stay away from shows by some maverick contributor who you think might be suspect, that's all. But chances are that even in this case, someone else would have downloaded and run any problem show and reported it on the Forum. That person would no longer be welcome in the AV world.

PTE exe's are not quite in the same category as widely published and distributed software programs, some of which have caused problems over the years. I have yet to hear of any instance of a PTE 'exe' causing a problem in someone's pc.

[Batman]

If its just a matter of sharing a show to be sharing a show on a forum or website with a general audience then just create a nice high quality video file. I myself will not download and run a PTE EXE or any other EXE from someone I do not know. However, after awhile on any forum you start to learn who you can trust.

However, like Al said, if your making a show for a client/friend/family member then there should be no problems here. You have to use good judgement when downloading and running EXE's.

JE

[Lin Evans]

I'm always promoting PTE for online shows because of the image quality, smooth transitions, and simplicity for viewers. However, I recently ran into a couple of people who disagree. I did respond, but I'd like to know how others here would have responded.

"NEVER offer .exe files for download. (unless you are showing off your software programming or something) as they can so easily be viruses very VERY few visitors would (or should) take the risk."

and:

"You must have a lot of very ignorant clients for them to be downloading .EXE's from your website! It's not safe and plain old bad practice. Any literate computer user knows it's stupid, and it's just plain obnoxious! Not only that, but you alienate your Mac users -- a big no-no. "

~Cindy

Hi Cindy,

Neither of the posts demonstrate a great deal of knowledge on the part of their posters as evidenced by the thousands who download P2E slideshows without a single known incident of virus. The second post shows the bias as well as inexperience of the poster.

All program code for the PC is furnished in executable or command format - that's what they use. The VAST majority of PC users have adequate virus protection software which would quickly detect and delete any virus associated with an executable file.

If you want the high quality, high resolution slideshows for your clients then that's what they need. MacIntosh has more of less three percent of the world market for PC's. The rest are Windows. If you have large percentage (unusual) of MacIntosh clients then furnish the shows in wmv, flash or DVD format for these few. the other 98 percent will be very happy with the superior executable format.

Frankly, the majority of P2E users create slideshows for specific purposes, not for general web distribution. There will always be those few who wrongly "think" that a virus can't be distributed via a DVD, CD, etc. Believe me when I tell you that they absolutely can. I have received virus code from major software distributors on their distribution CD's so there are no guarantees. Visiting a web site which infects one's computer is the primary way virus and trojan codes are transmitted today. It's simply false reasoning to think that eliminating executable code is in any significant way helping to avoid infection. The "best" way to avoid infection is the regular and dedicated use of a very good anti-threat software such as NOD32.

Best regards,

Lin

[Ronniebootwest]

Lin mentions a virus protection program called 'NOD32'. I had never heard of this software so took a peek at the website. The write up looks very impressive and I am now wondering how it compares to Norton Antivirus (which a lot of people in ther UK rely on).

Ron

[Batman]

Hi Cindy,

Neither of the posts demonstrate a great deal of knowledge on the part of their posters as evidenced by the thousands who download P2E slideshows without a single known incident of virus. The second post shows the bias as well as inexperience of the poster.

All program code for the PC is furnished in executable or command format - that's what they use. The VAST majority of PC users have adequate virus protection software which would quickly detect and delete any virus associated with an executable file.

If you want the high quality, high resolution slideshows for your clients then that's what they need. MacIntosh has more of less three percent of the world market for PC's. The rest are Windows. If you have large percentage (unusual) of MacIntosh clients then furnish the shows in wmv, flash or DVD format for these few. the other 98 percent will be very happy with the superior executable format.

Frankly, the majority of P2E users create slideshows for specific purposes, not for general web distribution. There will always be those few who wrongly "think" that a virus can't be distributed via a DVD, CD, etc. Believe me when I tell you that they absolutely can. I have received virus code from major software distributors on their distribution CD's so there are no guarantees. Visiting a web site which infects one's computer is the primary way virus and trojan codes are transmitted today. It's simply false reasoning to think that eliminating executable code is in any significant way helping to avoid infection. The "best" way to avoid infection is the regular and dedicated use of a very good anti-threat software such as NOD32.

Best regards,

Lin

I removed my mistake and gave my apology to Lin

Jason

[Lin Evans]

Mr. Evans

I showed no biased Lin and I am definetly not inexperienced as you suggest. I know you have a problem with me, but please dont judge me because I do not have the same feelings and opinions as you. I was just giving my opinion on this which I would have thought would have been ok but evidentally its not ok. And if you think its safe to download and execute executibles from people you do not know thats fine, but also just your opinion. My reply was just to let this person know it can happen and that they should be cautious in doing so with any EXE file regardless of who/what produces it. Part of being cautious would be having the proper tools in place to prevent this.

And I dont believe anyone here suggested the idea of getting rid of EXE code would lessen the threat. However, one can never be so niave to think that it cant happen. We also stated that if it was for a client or someone she knew that she should feel safe in distributing an executible slideshow.

I'm sorry that your personal opinions of me gets in the way of me being here. I sure hope the others here do not feel the same.

JE

Uhh Jason,

The response wasn't to or about you - it was referring to the two posts referenced by Cindy - I have no idea who made the quotes she references.

Lin

[Batman]

Uhh Jason,

The response wasn't to or about you - it was referring to the two posts referenced by Cindy - I have no idea who made the quotes she references.

Lin

Well, dont I feel like the rear end of a horse. I guess from our past crossing I thought you where taking jabs at me. I'm sorry I assumed that. Please forgive me.

Jason

[alrobin]

Lin,

I, at first glance, had the same reaction as Jason. However, I probably know you better, and knew you would never bad-mouth a forum member in public, so I read your post through more thoroughly. It's so easy to give a wrong impression in a posting, just like it is so difficult to conduct business through emails sometimes. Believe, me, I have been burned several times, but that's a long story!

Probably the ambiguity arose because you referred to 2 posts, and there had been exactly 2 replies to Cindy's question. It always pays to be VERY precise in posting to the Forum. (Again, I have learned this, personally, from the school of "hard-knocks"! )

[Dusty]

Thanks guys. I feel good about my response then. Is the estimate of Macintosh being 3% of the world market documented somewhere? I'd love to link to that in the future. Actually though, PTE is probably the biggest reason I have not switched to Macintosh.

This is how I responded to the first post which I believe to be a kid who recently learned to build basic websites and now thinks he knows everything, and is trying to get business from users of this particular wedding photography forum I frequent:

"Give me a break. I would have expected better advice from you. I've been offering exe shows for years and have had thousands of downloads. As a professional trying to impress potential clients, why would I offer shows with viruses? My current portfolio show, "Where Love Is", has been downloaded 2,774 times in the past 12 months. My show "Dancing Dreams" has been downloaded many times more than that over the past several years. My client shows get downloaded by their friends and families without any worries. Instead of using the rule "never" and closing all doors to the good things the internet has to offer, a person needs to educate themselves and secure their system by installing a firewall, virus and spyware protection, then use them and keep them current. You should be careful with ANYTHING you download. Be sure it's from a source you trust. EXE files are not the only extension that can be infected, there are MANY many more. As I said, flash is good. I personally don't care for the showitfast look, but then I've been spoiled with the quality of an exe show. I don't have the time or inclination to learn Macromedia right now to design my own flash shows. Maybe someday. The majority of my visitors and potential clients are PC users, and many apparently trust me."

I did not respond to the second post, since I would have been repeating myself, not to mention I considered his comments just plain rude.

BTW, less than half the downloads of the portfolio show I mentioned have been from Beechbrook. The rest have been from direct visitors to my site. Same with Dancing Dreams.

~Cindy

[Igor]

We've thought about idea with optional alternate variant - player which will open and play slide show. This player could be downloaded from our WnSoft web site. The only technical problem that player should "understands" all versions of slide show.

[Guest guru]

Lin mentions a virus protection program called 'NOD32'. I had never heard of this software so took a peek at the website. The write up looks very impressive and I am now wondering how it compares to Norton Antivirus (which a lot of people in ther UK rely on).

Hello Ron!

For three years I use Nod32 Antivirus with a great satisfaction. During this period, I never got a virus (Ok, I have also a firewall and the excellent Process Guard againt trojans and intrusions). This software, with virus definitions updated two or three times each day, is light, fast and doesn't appreciably slow down the system (as Norton does).

In my opinion, Nod 32, together with Kasperski and BitDefender, is the best antivirus available now.

[alrobin]

Cindy,

Good response! It's too bad that a few hackers and doomsayers spoil life for everyone else.

Re the Mac issue, the numbers usually rule. Also, it is not fair to expect every creator of shareware software such as PTE to have the resources to maintain an application in more than one operating system. And, what about Linux, which is increasing gradually in popularity? Besides, pc's being so reasonably priced these days, a lot of Mac users probably have a pc hidden under the bed, anyway (and vice versa). Nor is it reasonable to expect every purveyor of sequences to maintain two operating systems in order to reach the maximum number of clients - however, this option is available for those producers for whom universal access to the market is essential and affordable. There is also the dvd route which might be suitable for serving those without pc's at all.

[Lin Evans]

Thanks guys. I feel good about my response then. Is the estimate of Macintosh being 3% of the world market documented somewhere? I'd love to link to that in the future. Actually though, PTE is probably the biggest reason I have not switched to Macintosh.

snip

~Cindy

Hi Cindy,

There are a wide variety of tech sales statistics which all put the MacIntosh world market at slightly less than 3 percent. Here are a couple - one from 2004 and one from I believe from the year before. Sales for 2005 have hovered around 3% according to latest stats which I don't have web links to but which come from trade journals:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_...412/ai_n8598904

http://daringfireball.net/2003/07/market_share

The exact numbers are inconsequential, but you can safely quote 3% and not be off by any significant amount. It's not a Mac or PC is better situation, it's more likely cost and sale price issue. Many years ago when the MacIntosh was first released I was an Apple rep. I tried very hard to convince Apple management which I had any influence with to make dual-processor motherboards which would support "both" operating systems, but like many other "better ideas" the Mac faced a huge deficit with the business reputation and marketing clout of IBM and the emergence of Compaq with their "Lunchbox" business computers and the huge cost differences between Motorola based and Intel based processors and associated circuitry. Finally, Apple has come to their senses and are now adapting the Intel processors and making it much easier to have dual operating systems. Had they done this in the early 80's I believe they would be neck and neck with the IBM based PC in market share, but hindsight is always 20/20.

The important thing is that even though absolute numbers of Mac sales are incrementally increasing, the head start and vast worldwide business adaptation of the Intel, etc., based PC have made it the undisputed winner in the market place. We make DVD's and Flash shows for our Mac based clients and otherwise deliver in executable format for the majority. Since we are in the Photography and Fine Art venue, high resolution is more important than to us than for the much larger majority and especially for the home or hobby slideshow market where DVD has been very well accepted. There's nothing wrong with delivering in both formats but I sure wouldn't want to ONLY have low resolution DVD or AVI as the media of choice.

Best regards,

Lin

Well, dont I feel like the rear end of a horse. I guess from our past crossing I thought you where taking jabs at me. I'm sorry I assumed that. Please forgive me.

Jason

Hi Jason,

No need to feel that way, I see where the confusion could easily originate.

Best regards,

Lin

[Batman]

Lin,

I, at first glance, had the same reaction as Jason. However, I probably know you better, and knew you would never bad-mouth a forum member in public, so I read your post through more thoroughly. It's so easy to give a wrong impression in a posting, just like it is so difficult to conduct business through emails sometimes. Believe, me, I have been burned several times, but that's a long story!

Probably the ambiguity arose because you referred to 2 posts, and there had been exactly 2 replies to Cindy's question. It always pays to be VERY precise in posting to the Forum. (Again, I have learned this, personally, from the school of "hard-knocks"! )

Al,

Thats exactly how I read it. 2 post and mine being the 2nd one. It is hard to sometimes interpret a message correctly in a forum. Before I posted my reply I read my original post several times along with Lin's reply and I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong. As it turned out the only thing I did wrong was read too much into it.

Jason

Lin,

Thanks for understanding.

Jason

[Dusty]

Thank you for the links and interesting reading, Lin!

Al, I agree. PC's are so cheap, I'd bet many Mac users have one under the bed!

~Cindy

[Ronniebootwest]

Thank you for the links and interesting reading, Lin!

Al, I agree. PC's are so cheap, I'd bet many Mac users have one under the bed!

~Cindy

Not so cheap, when you consider all of the bits and pieces that you need to add on to a basic machine, e.g. memory, video card, DVD player etc.

Ron

[alrobin]

Not so cheap, when you consider all of the bits and pieces that you need to add on to a basic machine, e.g. memory, video card, DVD player etc.

Ron

All these components are relatively inexpensive these days. Even laptops are coming down in price considerably.