This upgrade is the first major release since January 1993 hence there are a
significant number of enhancements to PowerLock and its associated AddOns.
Details of most the changes are included in the separate file, "What's new
in 3.5".
First up, a very big thank you to all those who've supported me through
registering and/or sending postcards and/or sending me words of encouragement
through the email. It is a real joy to go to the mailbox (electronic or
otherwise) and receive not only the financial rewards, but also the postcards
from those who like PowerLock enough to write. Your comments are what keep me
at it.
Now, my apologies to each and every one of you for the delays in getting a major
update out. There have been several minor updates but I have not released a version
to the Internet since 3.1. There are two reasons for this: it's a bit of a headache
sending to the internet from my bulletin board (some might recall an abortive attempt
at sending 3.1 early 1993). I also have never been confident enough to send an
update out globally. Even now, I know you'll find some bugs. But it's time to
get it out there.
ABOUT POWERLOCK DEVELOPMENT
This next bit is a bit of waffle which you might like to skip. But if you're
interested, read on...
Who am I? I'm 32 years old, married seven years to a beautiful and understanding wife, Diane, (no children yet) and I have a full-time occupation in computing, but unrelated to the Macintosh.
PowerLock is purely a hobby for me. I've developed lots of other things which aren't yet polished enough to release, but I reckon I'll only ever get to release PowerLock plus a few addons. The reason is that both development and support take so much time.
I developed PowerLock on a Macintosh II with 8Mb RAM, 45Mb Internal HD, 45Mb
External HD, System 7.0.0+TuneUp. This machine has served me well for several
years, but the hard disk has had it. I lost about a months work because of major
problems with the HD (which is not an Apple brand disk BTW). Of course, I know
what you're saying - where's your backup? Well, it was a month old! Yep, I
had to learn the hard way again.
As far as software goes, I used THINK Pascal and some THINK C for
the assembly portions of PowerLock. Balloon Help was hand-coded in SARez.
All resources other than help were built with Apples fabulous ResEdit 2.1. I
do my System 6 testing on an old MacPlus that I hook up to the MacII via
System 7 File Sharing (I knew I'd find a use for that one day).
Registrations are handled via a pretty simple HyperCard stack and custom
XCMD. I use Microsoft Word 5.1 for my documentation and mailouts of
registration details. And I use an original HP DeskWriter for the output
(thank you HP for continually releasing driver updates that enhance the quality,
and functionality, of this little beauty).
Some tools I wouldn't be without:
- StuffIt Deluxe, particularly SpaceSaver
- Compact Pro, by Bill Goodman (this still has the best interface of
all the compression programs)
- Norton Utilities (it has saved me on more than one occasion)
- Extensions Manager, by Ricardo Batista
- Programmer's Key, by Paul Mercer
- Programmer's Online Companion, by Steve Capps (but when will this
wonderfully simple tool be updated!)
- MacsBug
- System Errors/Display DA by Bill Steinberg
I've just recently upgraded to a Power Macintosh (it's great!) and have tested PowerLock to make sure it is compatible in emulation mode. I hope to write a native version once THINK Pascal becomes available for the PowerPC (if ever!)
Future Plans
* I hope to release a HyperCard based survey stack to get your feedback
regarding the future directions for PowerLock. This stack will
automatically survey your hardware and software environment to help me
assess the user base more accurately.
* The results of the survey will be used as input to the development of
PowerLock 4.0
* PowerLock Controls is currently in beta testing. This Control Panel will
support both System 6 and 7 and provides the following features:
1. supports a user-defined hot key for launching PowerLock
(this feature is in addition the PowerLock FKEY)
2. automatically launches PowerLock if you leave your Mac unattended
(you can configure the time before PowerLock is launched)
3. provides the features of the PowerLock Extension (replaces it)
4. can only be used by the SuperUser, if you've got more than one
user established in PowerLock
5. launches PowerLock automatically at startup
(replaces the need for an alias in the StartUp items folder,
or using Set Startup in System 6)
6. disables the Shift key at startup, ensuring that PowerLock (and
your other extensions and control panels) cannot be bypassed.
All the above features are working now, but need thorough testing before
release. PowerLock Controls will support only limited functionality for
unregistered users (1-not definable, 3, 4, 5). However, it does not
require separate registration and will work for all currently registered
PowerLock users. Indeed, it automatically registers itself if you have
PowerLock installed.
* Given the level of demand, I will put some more work into PowerMessages
to make it a more effective tool, and probably incorporate SoundMessages features.
* I may try introducing a simple applications menu a la At Ease.
* If THINK Pascal dies, I'll consider learning C++ and rewriting PowerLock
in Symantec C++ and its Visual Architect. But maybe I should get Code Warrior??
SPECIAL THANKS
My Beta Testers, PowerLock On Disk users, etc. And, in no particular order,
Frank Miedreich who identified that PowerLock was letting clicks through
during startup and allowing applications to be launched
before PowerLock. He also hates the color scheme, and
looks forward to an AddOn that will let him set the colors!
Jonathan Schultz who still gives me all sorts of leads on new ways of
improving PowerLock and its security.
Heinz Stosch who suggested the Return key be used for navigation
between username and password field which I adopted, even
though it is against Human Interface guidelines! And this
was from one of his MessyDOS users!
Stephen Swabey A die-hard System 6 beta tester.
Flavio Rizzardi A more recent beta tester who contributed greatly to the
testing of PowerUsers under System 6.
Bill Gundlach who amongst a variety of suggestions was the first to
point out potential security problems caused through
PowerLock allowing double-clicks to open files during Mac
startup
MILROY@...BC.CA who got himself into trouble with the locked disk
feature and after getting some help from me, managed to
convey in text how excited and appreciative he was.
Who needs multimedia!
Gary Williams For pointing out the Override Used message, and associated
(& his boss) problems with a master password facility.
Brenda Whitehead for identifying the LogManager bug
The lovers of PowerPrinting
(incl Peter Boag, Peter Wilding, Gildas Perrot, Richard Stevens, etc.)
How embarrassing! Talk about VapourWare. I mentioned PowerPrinting in the
3.1 Manual and lots of people have asked about it. Unfortunately it has got
nowhere. Given the demand, maybe someone out there will come up with a (cheap)
solution to track printer usage.
The PowerLock Hiders
Sorry to all those people who managed to hide PowerLock, and/or their System
folder. This often had the nasty side effect of preventing access to the hard disk.
BIG THANKYOUS
To the PowerLock PlusPack sites
To all those who registered
To the senders of postcards
To my beta testers
Thank you all for your support.
THUMBS DOWN
To those people who received support, including specially written AddOns, and
promised to register, then failed to even send a postcard. I hope you're
