Amazing.

I’ve only been posting on my blog regularly for a few weeks, and already I find myself in a position where I have to clarify something. It seems that by posting my intentions on trying out some “key launcher”-style apps, I’ve attracted some authors and employees of these companies. The power of Technorati, I guess. Although this is very cool, it really wasn’t my intention, and I feel I now have to make disclosures and disclaimers:

Disclosure

The kind people at Dash Command have allowed me to test an unrestricted copy of their software, after reading my concern about their current trial limitations. They have also expressed that they will be changing their trial policy in the near future, which is great news. I have made it clear to them and others, and will make it clear right here and now, that if I like the product, I will actually purchase a copy, but if I decide not to use it, I will remove it from my system and delete any copies.

Also, the ActiveWords team has been very responsive about feature suggestions that I’ve given based upon my experience with other products, and we also have an ongoing dialog.

It’s quite apparent that the authors and users of these tools are quite passionate about them, which is a great thing. I’m glad to be a small part of helping to shape the future of some of these products, although it was never my primary goal. I’ve also noticed plenty of communication on other forums with these companies, so it’s pretty obvious that they are very open to user input.

Disclaimer

I don’t want any blog posts about my experiences with any of the products I am experimenting with to appear to be partial in any manner. As we are all aware, the illusion of partiality has been a sore spot in the blogosphere these days. People expect objective reviews. My main goal is to discover the product that fits into my style of working. I’ll post my opinions here, but I want to remind everyone that the choice of such a tool is a very personal choice, and what may be good for one person may not be the best for the next. It’s not out of the question that I may decide to use a couple of tools simultaneously, since what I’ve experienced so far includes both overlap and unique features.  Your mileage may vary, so I urge everyone to try these out for themselves.

Quick Summary

So far, I’ve been pretty pleased with the three tools I’m currently experimenting with, and I do have a favorite for now. But that may change over the next couple of weeks, so I don’t want to get into detail just yet. There are a few other tools I still want to try, and some may clash with others, so I will spread out my testing for a bit.