Yesterday during my rant against BIG SOFTWARE, I mentioned a small software company called MemCode Software. These guys make a tiny email client called inscribe (among other programs), a $20 shareware program and i.scribe, a free version of the same software that limits you to a single account and five email filters. The download executable for this software is a minuscule 968K and this is a full-featured email program, folks.
The beauty of MemCode's approach is they don't write to the Windows Registry. This means to delete the software, you simply delete the folder (or use the Uninstall link on the Programs menu entry) and, poof, it's gone instantly. This harks back to the days of DOS when you could delete the program directory to get rid of a program and to me it's a breath of fresh air compared to these BIG SOFTWARE programs that take over your computing life.
I also took a look at Poco Email. It's a bit larger 4.12 MB, but it also sports a nice interface and is simple to set up and use. It's not quite as elegant as MemCode's approach. It still uses the Registry, but it does the job without sending out tentacles all over your operating system.
These two programs prove it's possible to create software with a small footprint that still has plenty of features. I wish more software companies took the approach of these two light-weight gems.
God I agree. And what about the programs that don't even come with an unistaller. I've spent my carreer in Windows, but have recently been leaning toward Linux for this very reason. Good-bye .cab, .dll, hive and the rest!
Posted by: RegistryFixReports | June 13, 2009 at 12:26 AM