As far as speed improvements, I have seen none. I ran a handful of DVD's and Blu-rays in the various modes (Clone, Full Disc copy and Main Movie copy). In some cases, 11 took slightly longer to complete the task. No apparent change in quality (of course the quality was already very good). The options and settings available, are mostly the same as they were in 10. (Still waiting for forced subtitle recognition in Blu-ray Main Movie copy … I know, I know …. developers re working on it). There are some changes from earlier versions of 10 and 11 when using custom menu in the Customize mode. Although 11.0.0.2 brought back some abilities available in older versions, I am still unable to set my own background for a menu. The icon for that appears to be there but it is greyed out. Maybe I am using it wrong. I don't use this mode too often cause it really is not very customizable, thus not making it very usable, for me anyways.
So the only real major changes I have seen in my use, are the GUI changes, which personally, I do not like. Would be nice to have a user option to change the skin to a solid background other than just white. (The skins in 10 were nice, but don't care for the new ones). The splash screen at startup is very "loud" and bright. The splash screen used in 10 was much better in my opinion and a little more "classy". The new one seems a bit "cartoonish". If you don't change it, at least please tone it down. The docked task que manager is ok, but would be nice to have an option to undock it (so it would be a separate windows as in 10) or dock it. User options are always nice. Yes, they involve a bit more coding but probably happier end users.The blurred window while doing the initial load and scan of a disc is really annoying and hard on the eyes. It is natural for the eyes to try to bring objects into focus, thus I find this a strain on my eyes. Do coders keep ergonomics in mind when designing GUI? If you want to remove focus from that window, perhaps just slightly fading it (as is done in many other apps) would be much better on the eyes and something users are used to. Of my many, many apps, this is the first time I have seen this used. Several other users have commented on this too, so I am not alone. Please : No blurred windows!!
There may have been major changes in the other modules, but since I don't use those, I cant comment. Although based on posts I have read, it appears some bugs have surfaced in other modules that were not in 10. Perhaps this still needs to be called a Beta version. (Yes, I know DVD Fab is a continuous work in progress to keep up with changes in protection, etc.).
All that being said, I cannot understand why these changes resulted in a new revision number. Perhaps 10.3 would have been a better version number than 11. I know introducing a new version number is often just a marketing tool (other software companies do this too) and a new GUI gives the user that feel that they are using something newer, but under the hood, I have not really noticed any improvements. One small change I did see that I think is positive in 11.0.0.2 is it no longer installs icons on the quick launch bar (though some users may have liked that, and as previously suggested a user option to have it or not, just as you do for the desktop icon, would have been better. But for me, I don't mind that its gone).
For now, I am keeping 10.2.1.7 installed and will continue to use that, except for newer titles with new protections supported only in 11.
A suggestion for the future : When introducing a new versions, perhaps you could continue to support both versions as far as protection removal so the users can run both in a parallel mode until the new version becomes stable, most bugs worked out, and you respond (if you respond) to changes (such as the GUI) requested by users. I know you can't respond to all requests but if enough people complain about an item (such as the blurred window) perhaps you will make a change. This way a user is not forced to immediately use the new version if new protection removal is needed that is now only available in the new version. This should probably be a one or two month process at the most. It would likely for more work for the coders, I understand that, and is probably not likely to happen, but wanted to suggest it anyways.
A suggestion for the future : When introducing a new versions, perhaps you could continue to support both versions as far as protection removal so the users can run both in a parallel mode until the new version becomes stable, most bugs worked out, and you respond (if you respond) to changes (such as the GUI) requested by users. I know you can't respond to all requests but if enough people complain about an item (such as the blurred window) perhaps you will make a change. This way a user is not forced to immediately use the new version if new protection removal is needed that is now only available in the new version. This should probably be a one or two month process at the most. It would likely for more work for the coders, I understand that, and is probably not likely to happen, but wanted to suggest it anyways.
I apologize if I was too honest here and hope I did not offend, but as a long-time user of DVDFab (almost since the beginning), I felt compelled to give an honest, albeit very subjective, opinion. Overall, even with my dislikes with version 11 GUI, I still think it is a great product. Thank you!
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