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jakecarey
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 11:02

I am the VP of a new company that is beta testing a product that will make the lives of IT directors in schools more livable. We are searching for product beta testers.

For testing, we will give you 5 free licenses of the software to use for yourself or we will donate them to the school of your choice.

If you would be interested please go to Core Pro Inc and read about the product, then point your browser to Beta Tester Registration and register there. You will recieve a welcome letter with your username and passsord that will give you access to the download location.

Thank you in advance.

Jake Carey
VP of Sales and Marketing
Core Pro Inc.

Those links again

Core Pro Inc
Beta Tester Registration
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2005-03-25, 11:26

Not to be a PITA, but:

Is this the first time you've offered this product to the public? If it is, and you haven't run through a beta cycle yet, how can you make the claims that you do? If it's not the first time, why does the Reviews link on your site not go anywhere?

What problems exactly do you solve with this software, particularly where institutions are concerned? Does it correct corrupted software installations (say someone accidentally deletes an application support file or something similar)? Or does it miraculously stop crashing due to other developers' applications?

"80% of all problems" is a big claim, even for a stable system like OS X, so in the interest of demonstrating this isn't a scam (like a set of UNIX scripts that run in the background, performing functions already freely available to users of OS X), I'd respectfully ask that you elaborate for us. We're generally a pretty savvy bunch so feel free to be specific.

Even the description of how it works doesn't make a lot of sense. Users make changes during a session, which are stored in a separate drive space, then when you reboot the changes are gone? Like what kind of changes... System Preferences? Does this app let you set a default combination of System Preferences and then always ensures they are active for each new boot session?

The whole thing is a little peculiar if you ask me, but then I may just be paranoid.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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Wraven
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Texas
 
2005-03-25, 11:26

*snip*

Last edited by Wraven : 2005-03-25 at 12:14. Reason: Ehh - This is not THAT blatant, so I will reel in my response a bit...
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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2005-03-25, 11:29

I actually googled the snot out of this company and the only references I could find were to basically this same post plastered across various Mac rumor boards dating back almost a year. I'm going to want to see some more detail here or this gets locked up.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2005-03-25, 11:31

I doubt if the guy will even respond....
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jakecarey
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Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 11:34

Thanks for checking us out. You are right, we have been in our alpha testing for almost a year. We thought several times during that process that we were ready for beta testers and so we started our search and kept running into issues. We actually have the beta version available to accepted beta testers and all is going very well.

We are a very small company and do not have the funds to solicite big beta testing companies so we are hoping to find enough people in the Mac community that would be willing to help us out.

Please tell me what more you need and I will be more then happy to help you out. We are in need of approximately 15 more beta testers.

Jake
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Ebby
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2005-03-25, 11:37

You got one more, but not until monday. (This week is Yosemite week )
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jakecarey
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Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 11:39

Would you be interested in beta testing?
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jakecarey
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Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 11:42

To get a little more specific, and I appologize that I was not before. A user can do anything, and I do mean anything, and when you reboot all the changes are gone and the system is taken back to the state that it was in prior to the changes being made. It can be system settings, background images, spam, anything.

If you think of a classroom situation the teacher knows that every morning her computers are exactly the same all the time. She knows that if a student changes something then all she has to do is restart and the computer is back to normal. On the same token, the student can use the computer just like it was there own because there is no fear of anything getting messed up.

I hope this helps. Again, we are a very small company so we are hoping to get help from the apple community. If you can help it would be greatly appriciated.

Jake
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jakecarey
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 11:53

I hope this helps, here is a description for our developer about the product. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

When you reboot any changes to the OS installed apps, etc. are gone. To do that with something like Apple Software Restore would require reinstalling the software (OS and user), re-configuring all of your personalized settings, and hopefully having a backup of any important documents that you want to restore. That takes a lot more time than it does to reboot your computer (which is how long IronGate takes to restore), and the process is fraught with the potential for human error or limiting in terms of your options for restoring the settings and applications for the systems. IronGate restores the state of the system when you reboot. For example in a school situation, the computers would all be initially set up the way the administrator wants them. Typically in these environments, students will litter the drives with documents and downloads, possibly install software or change settings, and potentially install hostile software. With IronGate, the administrator can schedule the machines to automatically restart at the end of the day, and all of that will be gone in less than a minute as the machine reboots.

IronGate is not designed to provide an emergency boot option, or a protective backup for an emergency recovery at a later date. That’s not the purpose of the software. IronGate restores a “captured state” of the system across boots— all system files, installed apps, user files, settings—everything. Whatever is deleted, added or changed is undone when you reboot. It is designed specifically for environments where computers must be maintained in a known configuration, and it does this in the time that it takes to reboot the computer. It requires no extra time to copy files back, remove old files, etc., no network access to a backup and no restore image as do other restore methods.

Once it’s configured, the only administrative effort required is to occasionally disable protection on your boot drive, run software update or install other upgrades, and then reenable protection and reboot. From then on, the “captured state” of the drive will include those changes, and every night (or however often you want to revert the drives), the system will restore itself when it reboots. The latter can be set up to run automatically so that no administrative effort required. When you come in in the morning, everything will be as it was the morning before.


If you need anymore information we would be happy to provide it.

Jake
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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2005-03-25, 12:04

Why can't I find a single post or review about your product from a 3rd party? I'd be more tempted to try it out if I knew someone else had give the beta a thorough run through.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
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Random Hero
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-03-25, 12:06

Quote:
Originally Posted by jakecarey
When you reboot any changes to the OS installed apps, etc. are gone.
So... it's basically Deep Freeze for the Mac?
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jakecarey
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 12:06

Well, thats kinda where we are at. If you want to go to our beta tester forum and read the post that are there then you are more then welcome too. Like I stated we are just now getting our beta version so we have few posts.

www.coreproinc.com/betapost

Jake
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jakecarey
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 12:07

Well, Deep Freeze would be a compeditor. Keep in mind, we are simply asking for help in releasing our version of a product. Competition is good in the marketplace.

Jake
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curiousuburb
Antimatter Man
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: that interweb thing
 
2005-03-25, 12:49

And a school would use this rather than a NetBoot volume because... ??
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Moogs
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2005-03-25, 12:50

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I understand a little better what the purpose of this application is. So now the big question: let's say the workers or students are in an environment where they use the same machine every day. And lets say there's a big project that takes more than a day to complete and mobile storage isn't an option.

What happens to the files that are saved / changed from one day to the next? Does every working file have to be saved to a non-system drive?

Is this basically a temporary clone of an entire system and its contents that people are working from, [or are you just sort of cloning the contents (including local preferences) of the Home folder each time, and then resetting it at boot]?

...into the light of a dark black night.
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jakecarey
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Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 13:22

Keep in mind that this product was developed because a need was heard. We heard from a lot of IT directors that they had big problems with there computers getting bogged down with needless files and junk. So the product was developed to remove that problem.

To answer your question, you would need to save to a CD/RW or to a network drive. In that situation the students would most likely be required to save to an external source anyway. In future version of this product we will develope a "Safe Zone" that people can save to. Also, if you want to partician the drive you can choose which volume is protected. that would give you the option of having a local storage place.

Did that answer your questions?

Jake
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jakecarey
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Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 13:29

As far as netboot is concerned. this is a local solution that requires no configuration. The human factor is removed so you don't have to worry about configuration settings or mistakes. Hopefully we will have a version soon that will allow you to control your computers from a network location. This is simply quicker also. The computer is restored upon reboot, its just that fast.

Jake

This is a great forum by the way. You guys talk alot!
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2005-03-25, 13:37

Old habits die hard.
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jakecarey
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Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-25, 13:38

So do you think you might be willing to beta test for us?

Jake
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curiousuburb
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: that interweb thing
 
2005-03-25, 22:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by jakecarey
As far as netboot is concerned. this is a local solution that requires no configuration. The human factor is removed so you don't have to worry about configuration settings or mistakes. Hopefully we will have a version soon that will allow you to control your computers from a network location. This is simply quicker also. The computer is restored upon reboot, its just that fast.

Jake

This is a great forum by the way. You guys talk alot!
There used to be an OS 9 app called Assimilator which cleaned the lab machines daily (resistance is futile). Unwanted files and downloaded junk purged. Files left in proper student folder left untouched. (Teaches good file management as a side benefit).

Sounds like an evolution of the concept.
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2005-03-25, 22:18

Quote:
Originally Posted by jakecarey
So do you think you might be willing to beta test for us?

Jake
I personally am unable to right now, but depending on how long your beta cycle lasts, I would consider it once I have more time freed up.
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chucker
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2005-03-26, 06:21

I can't seem to access your website.

As an IT administrator at a school myself, I fail to see how this solution is any better than, say, Mac OS X Server with NetBoot.
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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2005-03-26, 07:52

it probably isn't, but is a good solution for those who don't have an OSX server or the bandwidth to use NetBoot.
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Random Hero
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-03-26, 12:08

It does sound like an interesting application. Deep Freeze is teh sex for me at work. What is the process to (since I am used to referring to Deep Freeze) 'thawing' the machine so that I could, say, install a new application? Is it as simple as entering a password and rebooting, or is it more involved?

No awkward goodbyes. No 'still friends' bullshit. Just a couple of bruised titties and a failed relationship. I rule.
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ast3r3x
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2005-03-26, 12:31

How much freedom does the person have over the computer while it is in use? Could I have an administrative account, delete other accounts, or the kernel and still have to work on reboot?
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jakecarey
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-26, 17:29

I appologize for not getting back on to address your questions and comments. Our webserver and e-mail servers have been down for maintenance and upgrades and will be be back up around 7:00 PM Central Time.

To attempt to answer the questions, the "Thawing process" process is simple putting in a password and rebooting. The machine then comes up disabeled and you can what ever you want. Once your done making your changes you simply put in your password to re-enable the protection and reboot. Thats it.

As far as the freedom to use the machine? You have all the freedom in the world. Do what ever you want and when you reboot all the changes are gone and the machine is perfect again.

Does that answer the questions?

Jake
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jakecarey
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Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-27, 22:22

The website and beta registration pages are back online. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Thank you

Jake Carey
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