Newcomer "You Software" Introduces New Mac Apps

January 6th, 2004 at 2:00 PM - Macworld Expo by John F. Braun

Despite the naysayers who keep going on about Appleis declining market share, we continue to see new companies enter the Mac market. While roaming the Macworld show floor, we couldnit help but notice a banner with a big blue smiley face. Upon further inspection, we discovered that this logo belongs to a new company, You Software. This company, launched by the founder of Extensis and Now Software, hopes to meet the needs of Mac users with what appear to be two compelling products.

The first product is called You Synchronize, and is based on the award-winning ExecutiveSync package that we looked at back in 2002. Unlike basic synchronization packages that only look at the time and date stamp of files to detect changes, You Synchronize uses a proprietary Time and State (TAS) technique to detect changed files. What this means is that, in addition to the time and date stamp, You Synchronize also detects changes in the contents of a file by using a checksum. You Synchronize sports improvements over the older product with a speed increase of up to eight times, an improved user interface, and the ability to synchronize to Windows servers.

The second product is You Control, a utility that allows you to access commonly used files and folders, as well as execute commands, from custom menus that can be traditional menus, or access via a hotkey. The package comes with eleven customizable menu modules for your most commonly used Mac applications. There are modules for the File System, iTunes, Address Book, Calendar, Clock, Stocks, US Weather, News Reader, Pasteboard, Process and Recents.

Both products are available immediately, and are priced at US$49.95 each. Special upgrade pricing for You Synchronize is available to previous owners of ExecutiveSync.