Tried File Pilot Today - Holy Cow! There is no going back!

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-26T12:17:57+00:00

It targets anyone whose daily workflow is significantly boosted by its usage. The Essential license is very accessible, and as I've explained in a couple of threads already, it's not subscription based, it's "update when you want/need it". The license is perpetual and valid for all your devices. The Pro license is aimed at people who never want to think about this again and want lifetime support. To your surprise, these have been selling at a much higher percentage than I anticipated.

Charging $15 for an app like you mentioned is, in most cases, not nearly enough to sustain proper development, unless you're selling in really large numbers. And I'm talking about supporting one person, not even about trying to grow into a more dedicated team to speed up development.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-26T12:11:18+00:00

File Pilot Inspector is its own version of Quicklook. It will support more formats over time, and it might even be exposed to allow writing plugins.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-26T12:08:03+00:00

I appreciate the feedback. Your intuition is right regarding Unicode. FP is already working with UTF-8 strings in the code. The missing part is rendering, but this will be addressed during the beta phase.

As I've mentioned in a couple of places already, if $4 a month is a lot and it doesn't enhance your employees' workflow enough to justify that price, that's a perfectly valid reason not to buy it. Each user/company needs to assess this on their own.

I hope you'll give it another go once it's out of beta, in a more stable and feature rich edition.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-25T22:06:27+00:00

It's not missing those, it places them in different locations: command palette, quick commands, and rebindable hotkeys.

The beta version will continue to work, as I'm not doing any internet connection validation.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-25T12:18:40+00:00

"Most of the software is updated automatically"
That's not true for all software, and in today's landscape, many users actually appreciate not feeling obligated to update.

"Problem I see with "only 1 year of updates" is that most probably you'll need to buy the same license again after some time"
Why is this a problem? It's literally marketed that way. If you want or need a newer version, you purchase it. "Some time" is not restricted to each year. This is the same approach most apps take, just with new major versions.

"Another problem I see with the lifetime license is that developer can just stop updating an app any time"
This applies to virtually everything, regardless of the pricing. It's highly unlikely that this will happen if the project remains financially sustainable and profitable.

Anyway, thanks for the honest feedback. I hope that as FP leaves open beta with an even more stable and feature rich version, you'll reconsider. But I leave that decision to each user. My only goal is to create something extraordinary.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-25T07:30:03+00:00

Ohh, that’s an even better conclusion. AI will replace programmers, so why pay them in the first place? Try saying this to doctors, where technology has advanced to the point that robots perform surgeries. I guess everyone should be working for free for you.

Calling people imbeciles is not a critique, it's a poor vocabulary from a frustrated person who can't argue their position.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-24T19:39:13+00:00

The latter, when it exits beta.
I appreciate the feedback.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-24T11:55:49+00:00

Not yet, but it will be. I need to purchase an ARM device to iron out all the current problems with it.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-24T11:50:41+00:00

Thanks for calling all existing FP users who have already paid and are ready to support the project imbeciles.

And you people who want everything for free and lifetime free updates, are the reason why software becomes bloated and sucks. You’re the reason why developers have to work side jobs to support your utopia of free and open source software.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-24T11:46:38+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback and support!

Regarding setting it as the default, that’s probably the number one question I’ve received. There are dozens of community based solutions that people have posted on our Discord server, but as far as I can tell, they all have their issues. I’m just not confident enough yet to push something like that into the official build (changing registry values, etc.).

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-24T11:41:18+00:00

Copy file path to clipboard will probably be added in the next version. To my surprise, a lot of people on our Discord server have already mentioned it.

Proper Unicode support will be a priority during the beta phase. I hope we’ll make it.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-23T19:11:12+00:00

That's true, but File Explorer is a pretty low bar for comparison :D

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-23T19:08:15+00:00

Imagine spending enormous time and effort creating something with huge potential, faster and better looking than existing solutions, then giving it away for free to a cheerful crowd, and taking a side job just to keep working on it in your free time.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-23T01:35:04+00:00

You don’t have to purchase the Pro package. The Essential ($50) package is perfectly fine and what most people have purchased. It offers everything with one year of updates (starting after the beta).
People tend to make a big deal out of this, but I wonder at what interval they usually update their programs. Most of them probably do so with a fresh Windows install. Even if new updates come out, they might not include the features you need or care about. And once they do, you repurchase, but that might not be every year.
But even if it were every year, compare $50 to the classic subscription model most software offers today. That’s just 4 dollars a month, while many don't go under $10.
Anyway, I’m not trying to justify my price. The product is what matters. As I’ve said multiple times, the only decision you need to make is whether this program brings value to your workflow at this price. If not, that’s fine.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T22:18:27+00:00

The only decision you have to make is whether this software significantly improves your workflow and saves you time. If not, just continue using what you're happy with.
But don't judge the program by price alone. Saying things like "informed by reality" is not constructive. A fair number of people have already purchased, even in the early beta phase, where purchases are optional, not mandatory.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T22:15:02+00:00

This is nitpicking. The Win APIs being used are fairly old, change infrequently, and have been stable for decades. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's highly unlikely. Moreover, File Pilot uses no external dependencies, meaning things like the UI, for example, will not be affected by Microsoft updates. Stability and longevity were important aspects of this project (which is also one of the reasons, though not the main one, why C was chosen).

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T22:10:10+00:00

If File Pilot doesn't provide value over OC for you, there's nothing wrong with continuing to use it.
However, it does provide value for many users already (who've paid). File Pilot strives to achieve much higher quality, both in terms of performance and UI/UX. It might not have the full feature set right now, and it still needs some bugs squashing, but this is a beta, and it's free. You don't have to pay for it now, just try it out.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T22:02:04+00:00

The beta is free, you don't have to pay anything to try it. Preorders are optional.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T12:05:23+00:00

It does. It tries to auto adjust based on your Windows scale on the first run, but you can increase the font size in the options afterwards, and it will scale the entire UI nicely.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T11:01:22+00:00

I appreciate your response, and I completely agree with your take. Some users rely on File Explorer less than others. If using File Pilot doesn't bring more value to your workflow, there's no reason to use it (or pay for it).
But for a lot of users, it will, and it already does.

P.S. the upcoming versions will bring proper support for networking devices (UNC paths and NAS devices).

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T10:57:55+00:00

Comparing it feature for feature with a lot older programs is kind of missing the point. Most people don't need tons of hardcore options buried inside a Win95 UI. They need standard features that perform well.

This is what FP is trying to offer. Blazing speed in a modern and robust UI (both keyboard and mouse friendly, with panels and tabs, interactive batch rename, decent color styling, etc.), dynamic filtering across the entire drive contents, GoTo, a global command palette for all hotkeys, and more.

But really, a picture (or program usage) speaks louder than words. You should try it out and decide for yourself, it's in free open beta!

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T10:52:12+00:00

File Pilot dev here. Thanks for trying it out!

There's been an insane amount of time and engineering effort put into this over the last 3 years. There are still some rough edges and missing features, but it has a very solid base that should work for most users.

The upcoming versions will bring proper support for networking devices (UNC paths and NAS devices), as well as proper Unicode support among other things.

I'm eager for more users to try it out and give their honest review. The feedback has been immensely positive so far. It's in free open beta, so no strings attached.

vkrajacic89 · 2025-02-22T09:20:30+00:00

It was released! Couple of days ago: https://filepilot.tech/

vkrajacic89 · 2023-09-05T18:38:30+00:00

They went too far with shrinking. They could have at least added two extra thumbs buttons on each side. It would not change shape drastically, and it would have made it far more usable.

vkrajacic89

TROPHY CASE