Comments on: MojoPac – Potentially Great Software with Serious Flaws http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/ Surfulater, the journey continues... Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:22:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: TE http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-14749 TE Sun, 11 Mar 2007 03:15:06 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-14749 So...when you say the virtual drive issue has been resolved you mean that MojoPac cannot be installed on a Corsair even when a virtual drive is created? That would be a step backward; not forward. I tried the SUBST command to create a virtual drive. If there is some other tool(s) please list them here. I have no interest in copying my mojo and sharing it with others, but I do want to run it on my Corsair. So…when you say the virtual drive issue has been resolved you mean that MojoPac cannot be installed on a Corsair even when a virtual drive is created? That would be a step backward; not forward.

I tried the SUBST command to create a virtual drive. If there is some other tool(s) please list them here. I have no interest in copying my mojo and sharing it with others, but I do want to run it on my Corsair.

]]> By: nevf http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-4085 nevf Wed, 01 Nov 2006 05:23:38 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-4085 Pete, unfortunately the real world has a bad habit of getting in our way sometimes. I suggest you post this on the MojoPac Support Forum or e-mail their support folks and see what response you get. Pete, unfortunately the real world has a bad habit of getting in our way sometimes.

I suggest you post this on the MojoPac Support Forum or e-mail their support folks and see what response you get.

]]> By: Pete Maher http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-4075 Pete Maher Tue, 31 Oct 2006 08:22:36 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-4075 ...and one further thing - I've found that what was freezing my PC was sophos AV running at the same time as Mojo. Disabling Sophos results in Mojo running OK - but this is not a possibility in the real world. …and one further thing – I’ve found that what was freezing my PC was sophos AV running at the same time as Mojo. Disabling Sophos results in Mojo running OK – but this is not a possibility in the real world.

]]> By: Pete Maher http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-4059 Pete Maher Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:25:43 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-4059 I am so jealous of all you people who have actually got MojoPac to work at all, even if there are issues. I have tried 3 different PCs with 3 different USB devices and all give the same symptoms - at best after loading MojoPac displays nothing of the new environment - just a blank screen and my host machine grinds to a halt although with CPU hardly being used. At worst it causes my host PC to reboot. Another very worrying observation I have made is that MojoPac doesn't like any attempt to start when the internet is not available - It tries to connect to the internet and keeps trying, apparantly indefinitely although I didn't wait to see :-). I can see why internet access might be required for first usage/registration - but thereafter it ought to run without any need for internet connections. One wonders what it is trying to do / and what kind of information it may be logging. There were comments above that this software was released without a beta programme - it is my opinion that the current release is the beta (at latest) programme - so it is a shame that they are asking people to pay fo it :-) - they certainly haven't won any favours. which is a shame given that conceptually this is a brilliant application. I am so jealous of all you people who have actually got MojoPac to work at all, even if there are issues. I have tried 3 different PCs with 3 different USB devices and all give the same symptoms – at best after loading MojoPac displays nothing of the new environment – just a blank screen and my host machine grinds to a halt although with CPU hardly being used. At worst it causes my host PC to reboot.

Another very worrying observation I have made is that MojoPac doesn’t like any attempt to start when the internet is not available – It tries to connect to the internet and keeps trying, apparantly indefinitely although I didn’t wait to see :-) . I can see why internet access might be required for first usage/registration – but thereafter it ought to run without any need for internet connections. One wonders what it is trying to do / and what kind of information it may be logging.

There were comments above that this software was released without a beta programme – it is my opinion that the current release is the beta (at latest) programme – so it is a shame that they are asking people to pay fo it :-) – they certainly haven’t won any favours. which is a shame given that conceptually this is a brilliant application.

]]> By: nevf http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3953 nevf Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:13:36 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3953 Sramda: The ability to run MojoPac on a virtual drive (TrueCrypt) has been resolved (see my comment above). However there are still problems. Surfulater for example works fine on the PC it is installed and licensed on, but only runs as a free trial when you run MojoPac on any other PC. Windows XP doesn't come up as a genuine version and WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) therefore fails. Applications that use WGA, such as IE7 therefore won't work. There are also problems with IE6 as well as with other applications. Check out the MojoPac forums for more. I'm not inclined to post on their forums any more as they are quite heavy handed and delete posts they don't like. I did have a good conference call with the CEO Shan Appajodu and other folks at RingCube two weeks back and they assured me they were doing their best to address my issues. I e-mailed the CEO with the results of my V1.0.1.0 review on 17 Oct 2006, as requested, and have yet to receive a reply. Life goes on. Sramda: The ability to run MojoPac on a virtual drive (TrueCrypt) has been resolved (see my comment above).

However there are still problems. Surfulater for example works fine on the PC it is installed and licensed on, but only runs as a free trial when you run MojoPac on any other PC.

Windows XP doesn’t come up as a genuine version and WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) therefore fails. Applications that use WGA, such as IE7 therefore won’t work. There are also problems with IE6 as well as with other applications. Check out the MojoPac forums for more. I’m not inclined to post on their forums any more as they are quite heavy handed and delete posts they don’t like.

I did have a good conference call with the CEO Shan Appajodu and other folks at RingCube two weeks back and they assured me they were doing their best to address my issues.

I e-mailed the CEO with the results of my V1.0.1.0 review on 17 Oct 2006, as requested, and have yet to receive a reply. Life goes on.

]]> By: nevf http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3952 nevf Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:00:26 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3952 jccodez: They use the USB serial number, which is not the same as the drive serial number, which as you say can be changed. In the V1.0.1.0 release they've tightened up the s/n check, so it doesn't work inside a TrueCrypt drive anymore, which from my point of view as someone whose livelihood comes from developing and selling software, is a good thing. jccodez: They use the USB serial number, which is not the same as the drive serial number, which as you say can be changed.

In the V1.0.1.0 release they’ve tightened up the s/n check, so it doesn’t work inside a TrueCrypt drive anymore, which from my point of view as someone whose livelihood comes from developing and selling software, is a good thing.

]]> By: Sramda http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3928 Sramda Fri, 20 Oct 2006 15:34:21 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3928 Have the problems/bugs been solved? WSJ had a favorable article on them yesterday -http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB116113166328095945-lMyQjAxMDE2NjExOTExMzkxWj.html Anybody gave mojopac a try recently? Have the problems/bugs been solved? WSJ had a favorable article on them yesterday -http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB116113166328095945-lMyQjAxMDE2NjExOTExMzkxWj.html
Anybody gave mojopac a try recently?

]]> By: jccodez http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3927 jccodez Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:49:02 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3927 Are you sure this searial number is not a volume id of the drive, which can be changed with shareware. There is a big difference between a serial number and a volume id. If they are using the volumeid , they are morons, anyone can change their volumeid on the drive. Are you sure this searial number is not a volume id of the drive, which can be changed with shareware. There is a big difference between a serial number and a volume id. If they are using the volumeid , they are morons, anyone can change their volumeid on the drive.

]]> By: Larry http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3793 Larry Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:23:45 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3793 How about cutting Ringcube some slack and updating your blogs with the latest information? It seems that that making a sincere effort. Oct 8, 2006 SUBJECT: Update on MojoPac version 1.0.1, MojoPac Store and MojoPac Forums Dear MojoPac'ers, Since we were officially launched two weeks ago, the response to MojoPac has been incredible - we really appreciate all your support. As a new company with a new product, we are working around the clock to enhance the product and your experience as a user, and we do our best to incorporate suggestions made in your feedback regarding features and improvements. We want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for having been such a great user community. We thought we’d take the time to update you on a few things: MojoPac 1.0.1: A patch for MojoPac, version 1.0.1, is scheduled to release on October 12, 2006. This patch includes the following improvements: Increase the number of boots during Trial. This patch will grant you an additional 100 boots of MojoPac so that you can try the product more extensively for free. Expand the types of devices you can use to install MojoPac. MojoPac 1.0 was designed to support installation on all USB 2.0 compliant storage devices. We added this feature to improve reliability and software security (making it harder to copy MojoPac and any installed applications from your device). Even though the majority of USB Storage Devices are standards compliant (all iPods work great, as well as majority of USB hard drives and Flash devices), we realized that some devices that use the USB 2.0 sticker (including a few USB external cases for hard drives) are not fully compliant with the USB 2.0 standard, and as such, MojoPac would not install on those devices (hence the errors some of you encountered with respect to lack of valid serial number, which is an essential part of the USB 2.0 standard). We have been working directly with hard drive manufacturers to see if we can find a way around this issue, and the great news is that MojoPac Version 1.0.1 will allow you to install on all USB hard drives with external cases, which we believe is the ideal setting to use MojoPac– USB external hard drives provide performance and storage capacity that you need. We changed the logic in our code between MojoPac Beta-4 and MojoPac 1.0; the change resulted in some previously working devices to no longer work. We apologize for this inconvenience. MojoPac 1.0.1 will allow your USB hard drives to work again. We’ve taken care to ensure that as many USB 2.0 storage devices are supported as we can. However there are some non-USB 2.0 compliant flash devices that will not be MojoPac compatible - MojoPac cannot be used on these devices. Further, we know of at least 2 USB external hard drives (neither ones are popular brands) that show a very strange behavior (they show different serial IDs when connected to different PCs). We are working with the manufacturers to see if they have a solution for this behavior. Some users have communicated to us that MojoPac works on non-USB storage devices like FireWire and SD/Flash cards. Please note that these are NOT currently supported configurations and might not work in MojoPac Version 1.0.1 and our future versions. A fix for a majority of the RS1 errors some of you have been seeing. As it turns out, most of the RS1 errors are caused by the same root cause, and we believe the fix we’ve implemented should resolve most of them. Improved error reporting. We have also included more diagnostic information in error reports that are sent to help us help you more. As always, you can review the report before sending. Automatic Update. Please note that Trial versions of MojoPac will automatically self update to the latest version when connected to a host machine with an active Internet connection. Automatic-update preferences are configurable in the purchased (full) version of MojoPac, so you can disable automatic updates in your purchased version if you like. We’d also like to clarify that we are still working on a fix for another bug – namely that MojoPac won’t work on machines where Windows is not installed under the standard directory of C:\WINDOWS (for example, machines where Windows is installed under D:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT). The fix for this is not part of MojoPac 1.0.1, but we will keep you posted on the status of the fix. MojoPac Store: We really appreciate your enthusiasm and interest to purchase MojoPac! Due to unforeseen circumstances, the opening of our store has been delayed. The issues have been resolved, and our store is currently going through extensive QA and testing. The store is scheduled to open on October 16, 2006. The deadline to receive our special promotional price of $29.99 will be extended to November 16, 2006, and the extra boots we are providing should allow you to use your MojoPac extensively in the interim. MojoPac Forums: We have taken a lot of effort to organize and design our Support Forums based on your feedback. Many of you asked us to have a Forum that addresses the top questions you have about using MojoPac quickly and efficiently, and to constantly update the list of these top questions to reflect the latest status of MojoPac, and also provide the flexibility to allow user-generated comments. We believe our new forum format will provide our users with a great place to share their thoughts on our product, obtain beneficial information from other users, and get quick help from our forum staff. To this end, we have taken several steps to revamp our forums. We have implemented a frequently updated FAQ system inside our forum software to provide easy to access answers to common questions. One of the shortcomings of our previous forum structure, which was more unstructured and free form, was that there was no way to easily get questions answered. The same questions were being asked repeatedly in different threads, with varying answers from other users and forum staff. We feel that our new system will answer many of the repeated questions in a standard place, with responses from MojoPac team clearly marked and easy to find. We continue to increase our forum staff, to help get answers to you in a timely fashion. We reorganized the thread groups in the forums to align with the types of questions users were posing. Our previous forum had many groups that were underutilized and many groups that quickly filled with not so relevant threads. Similar to all top Forums on the web, our main forum page will contain a link to a list of guidelines that all forum participants are expected to adhere to. For example, everyone is encouraged to report bugs and point out shortcomings in the product, but no one is allowed to resort to any flame baits or post personally hurtful comments about other MojoPac users. These guidelines will be enforced by the forum staff. Our restructured forum is scheduled to open on October 12, 2006. Thank you for all your support and we believe you will have a great experience using the updated MojoPac. Sincerely MojoPac Team How about cutting Ringcube some slack and updating your blogs with the latest information? It seems that that making a sincere effort.

Oct 8, 2006
SUBJECT: Update on MojoPac version 1.0.1, MojoPac Store and MojoPac Forums

Dear MojoPac’ers,

Since we were officially launched two weeks ago, the response to MojoPac has been incredible – we really appreciate all your support. As a new company with a new product, we are working around the clock to enhance the product and your experience as a user, and we do our best to incorporate suggestions made in your feedback regarding features and improvements. We want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for having been such a great user community.

We thought we’d take the time to update you on a few things:

MojoPac 1.0.1: A patch for MojoPac, version 1.0.1, is scheduled to release on October 12, 2006. This patch includes the following improvements:
Increase the number of boots during Trial. This patch will grant you an additional 100 boots of MojoPac so that you can try the product more extensively for free.
Expand the types of devices you can use to install MojoPac. MojoPac 1.0 was designed to support installation on all USB 2.0 compliant storage devices. We added this feature to improve reliability and software security (making it harder to copy MojoPac and any installed applications from your device). Even though the majority of USB Storage Devices are standards compliant (all iPods work great, as well as majority of USB hard drives and Flash devices), we realized that some devices that use the USB 2.0 sticker (including a few USB external cases for hard drives) are not fully compliant with the USB 2.0 standard, and as such, MojoPac would not install on those devices (hence the errors some of you encountered with respect to lack of valid serial number, which is an essential part of the USB 2.0 standard).

We have been working directly with hard drive manufacturers to see if we can find a way around this issue, and the great news is that MojoPac Version 1.0.1 will allow you to install on all USB hard drives with external cases, which we believe is the ideal setting to use MojoPac– USB external hard drives provide performance and storage capacity that you need.

We changed the logic in our code between MojoPac Beta-4 and MojoPac 1.0; the change resulted in some previously working devices to no longer work. We apologize for this inconvenience. MojoPac 1.0.1 will allow your USB hard drives to work again.

We’ve taken care to ensure that as many USB 2.0 storage devices are supported as we can. However there are some non-USB 2.0 compliant flash devices that will not be MojoPac compatible – MojoPac cannot be used on these devices. Further, we know of at least 2 USB external hard drives (neither ones are popular brands) that show a very strange behavior (they show different serial IDs when connected to different PCs). We are working with the manufacturers to see if they have a solution for this behavior.

Some users have communicated to us that MojoPac works on non-USB storage devices like FireWire and SD/Flash cards. Please note that these are NOT currently supported configurations and might not work in MojoPac Version 1.0.1 and our future versions.
A fix for a majority of the RS1 errors some of you have been seeing. As it turns out, most of the RS1 errors are caused by the same root cause, and we believe the fix we’ve implemented should resolve most of them.
Improved error reporting. We have also included more diagnostic information in error reports that are sent to help us help you more. As always, you can review the report before sending.
Automatic Update. Please note that Trial versions of MojoPac will automatically self update to the latest version when connected to a host machine with an active Internet connection. Automatic-update preferences are configurable in the purchased (full) version of MojoPac, so you can disable automatic updates in your purchased version if you like.
We’d also like to clarify that we are still working on a fix for another bug – namely that MojoPac won’t work on machines where Windows is not installed under the standard directory of C:\WINDOWS (for example, machines where Windows is installed under D:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT). The fix for this is not part of MojoPac 1.0.1, but we will keep you posted on the status of the fix. MojoPac Store: We really appreciate your enthusiasm and interest to purchase MojoPac! Due to unforeseen circumstances, the opening of our store has been delayed. The issues have been resolved, and our store is currently going through extensive QA and testing. The store is scheduled to open on October 16, 2006. The deadline to receive our special promotional price of $29.99 will be extended to November 16, 2006, and the extra boots we are providing should allow you to use your MojoPac extensively in the interim.

MojoPac Forums: We have taken a lot of effort to organize and design our Support Forums based on your feedback. Many of you asked us to have a Forum that addresses the top questions you have about using MojoPac quickly and efficiently, and to constantly update the list of these top questions to reflect the latest status of MojoPac, and also provide the flexibility to allow user-generated comments. We believe our new forum format will provide our users with a great place to share their thoughts on our product, obtain beneficial information from other users, and get quick help from our forum staff. To this end, we have taken several steps to revamp our forums.
We have implemented a frequently updated FAQ system inside our forum software to provide easy to access answers to common questions. One of the shortcomings of our previous forum structure, which was more unstructured and free form, was that there was no way to easily get questions answered. The same questions were being asked repeatedly in different threads, with varying answers from other users and forum staff. We feel that our new system will answer many of the repeated questions in a standard place, with responses from MojoPac team clearly marked and easy to find.
We continue to increase our forum staff, to help get answers to you in a timely fashion.
We reorganized the thread groups in the forums to align with the types of questions users were posing. Our previous forum had many groups that were underutilized and many groups that quickly filled with not so relevant threads.
Similar to all top Forums on the web, our main forum page will contain a link to a list of guidelines that all forum participants are expected to adhere to. For example, everyone is encouraged to report bugs and point out shortcomings in the product, but no one is allowed to resort to any flame baits or post personally hurtful comments about other MojoPac users. These guidelines will be enforced by the forum staff.

Our restructured forum is scheduled to open on October 12, 2006.

Thank you for all your support and we believe you will have a great experience using the updated MojoPac.

Sincerely
MojoPac Team

]]> By: My Cantina » Surfulater V1.99, Build 1.0 out now http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3761 My Cantina » Surfulater V1.99, Build 1.0 out now Mon, 09 Oct 2006 11:17:02 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/10/04/mojopac-potentially-great-software-with-serious-flaws/#comment-3761 [...] PS. Please excuse the MojoPac distractions. [...] [...] PS. Please excuse the MojoPac distractions. [...]

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