1Password for Windows is different than 1Password for Mac

Googles

I have been using 1Passord on my Mac for ages and it's awesome.

I just got a new PC for work (Had to) and decided to buy PC version and damn,

the UI for PC sucks compared to the Mac version.

I'm sure the programmers were constrained by Microsoft OS otherwise why would

they produce such a terrible UI compared to the Mac version?

Cheers

[Deleted User]

Hi Googles,



When 1Password for Windows was first being developed it was around the 1Password 2 for Mac days, and so the interface was based on the, at the time, current interface for 1Password for Mac.



Since then our amazing designer Dan gave you the wonderful 1Password 3 for Mac interface as well as being responsible for our new extensions UI in Chrome and Safari. That doesn't mean our Windows users won't be getting some new UI love though, but our focus at the moment is to bring feature parity to our Windows application and we can then start to look into a great UI for the future.



That said, it would be wrong of us to just port the Mac UI to Windows, it wouldn't feel right, Windows has it's own look and feel and there's nothing worse than an app that just doesn't feel native to the platform it's running on (Yes, Adobe Air apps I'm looking at you).



There are, of course, some limitations in Windows, but I know Stefan (our Windows developer) is working incredibly hard to give you the best experience.



Hope that helps to clear things up.

Googles

Thanks for the explanation <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Maybe i was just spoiled with the Mac version, it's just that the Mac version

is so fluent and easy to use, while the PC version is like working with a stubborn mule..

That's just my humble opinion after using PC version after a day or so.

Cheers

[Deleted User]

You're quite welcome,



It's true that there are some major differences between the Mac and Windows versions, some can't be avoided but some we're working to resolve.



Your opinion and feedback mean a lot to us, so please do let us know if there's anything in particular that you're missing or finding confusing with 1Password for Windows when compared with the Mac version?

Stefan von Dutch

Some people actually believe our Windows version looks too much like our Mac version (too much like a Mac app).

DBrown

Googles, we're sorry to hear you're disappointed with the 1Password for Windows UI. Saying it sucks by comparison to 1Password for Mac seems a little harsh, especially when you say you've used it for a day or so vs. having used 1Password for Mac for ages. It sounds like familiarity might have a lot to do with your reaction. I've used both for ages, and I'm comfortable with both. Each has features that I'd like to see in the other; as Stu says, though, neither is ever going to be a "straight port."



You may find some interesting information in [url="http://help.agilebits.com/1Password_Windows/diff-1Pwin-1Pmac.html"][i]Why doesn't 1Password for Windows look like 1Password 3 on my Mac?[/i][/url] in the [i]FAQ[/i] section of the user's guide.

CurbedEnthusiasm

I wouldn't be so hard on the Windows UI at all. I think it's quite fine for UI. It's the Mac UI that is outstanding, so it's hard to get another UI like that. But Windows? It looks and works just fine and I have no issue with the UI. I'd much rather precious development time make a better feature-partity program and get the kinks ironed out than spend time prettying up the thumbnails on Windows.

brenty

While I like the Mac interface, our Windows counterpart gets the job done, I think so. I agree with Curbed: I look forward to a day when the Mac and Windows versions take the best aspects of each and have an equal featureset. At the end of the day, it is a matter of preference, since there are plenty of people who hate the 1Password Mac UI as well. <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

Fireshot

Being totally new to 1Password for Windows and Mac, I can say that I haven't really noticed anything different from the Mac/Windows applications other then cosmetic differences. I can say however the Windows browser extensions suck compared to the Mac. 1Password in Firefox on the Mac is 1000% better then on the windows version of Firefox.

Stefan von Dutch

[quote name='Fireshot' timestamp='1312775965' post='37610']

the Windows browser extensions suck compared to the Mac. 1Password in Firefox on the Mac is 1000% better then on the windows version of Firefox.

[/quote]



What is the problem? Please be more specific.

julio09

Hi everyone, title says all. App is working perfectly for me on Windows, synced through Dropbox with my Macs and iPhone, but contrary to Mac OS and iOS apps it looks awful. Looks like an amateur copy and paste stock icons work, doesn't fit Windows at all. It's a great app though but seriously needs a redesign, maybe using metro or something similar.



Do you think Agilebits is working on it, and what approach do you think would fit better?

DBrown

[quote name='julio09' timestamp='1312805472' post='37698']

Do you think Agilebits is working on it, and what approach do you think would fit better?

[/quote]

Hi, Julio.



We never stop working on 1Password for Windows or any of our other products. That's one of many reasons (including the fact that Windows, Mac OS, and iOS are completely different environments) why there will always be differences among the 1Password products.



I invite you to read [url="http://help.agilebits.com/1Password_Windows/diff-1Pwin-1Pmac.html"][i]Why doesn't 1Password for Windows look like 1Password 3 on my Mac?[/i][/url] in the [i]FAQ[/i] section of the user's guide for details.

julio09

Ok, thanks! I'm sure you'll come up with a really nice looking app for Windows, just don't take too long! <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':P' />

jwhite518

As someone who has never used 1P for Mac, but always for Win, I fail to see the problem. The program works, the UI is perfectly acceptable. <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':confused:' />

julio09

I join the conversation, actually I created a post this evening mentioning the same...



I think you definitely shouldn't feel comfortable with your Windows app UI as it's now, especially considering the level of design and usability you've given to Mac OS and iOS version at least. It gets the job done, but come on, as an IT freelancer I'm pretty tired of that premise, - this app gets the job done, - ok, yes, but it looks awful, why can't you have both things?



I think you should opt for something different, iTunes, or Safari on Windows for instance, doesn't feel right, you just can't use the same design for both OS because it feels alien. I think something like latest Kaspersky antivirus could be a great inspiration, or something using metro ui like Metrotweet.



Also, change the icon!

DBrown

Julio, I doubt we'll be copying anyone else's design. There's no need: we already have an awesome designer. If we could clone him, we'd redesign 1Password for Windows. Of course, we'd also have to clone the developer, because a design is useless until it's actually built into the program and tested and released.



I also strongly doubt that we'll change the icon (if you mean the 1Password logo that is the program's icon in Windows). Companies seldom have multiple logos—that would rather defeat the purpose of a logo, which is to represent the company's (or product's) identity in all contexts.



Thanks so much, though, for letting us know in this thread, too, that you'd like to see 1Password look different. I hope you won't mind my referring you here, too, to [url="http://help.agile.ws/1Password_Windows/diff-1Pwin-1Pmac.html"][i]Why doesn't 1Password for Windows look like 1Password 3 on my Mac?[/i][/url] in the [i]FAQ[/i] section of the user's guide.

brenty

Haha -- no pressure! We will see what we can do. It is a delicate balancing act. Some people don't want it to be too Mac-like and others think it should be more like our Mac version. You can't please everyone, I guess.[img]http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif[/img]

julio09

Hi DBrown, sorry if you felt offended by my comment, I wasn't trolling, nor I wasn't suggesting to copy anyone's design, of course I don't think you need to.



I was just giving my opinion on two apps that I think are a good approach to what a nice Windows UI should be, I'm one of those who think that the app for Mac looks great for a Mac app, but for Windows it should look different. And for the icon, actually your Mac and iOS icons are pretty different, in my opinion a so realistic icon doesn't feel completely right on Windows, but hey, it's just an opinion. And of course I don't feel right to tell you how to do things, just was trying to help, giving feedback and suggestions. And I had read the FAQ already <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />



Greetings.

Stefan von Dutch

[quote name='julio09' timestamp='1312844416' post='37871']

I think you should opt for something different, iTunes, or Safari on Windows for instance, doesn't feel right, you just can't use the same design for both OS because it feels alien.

[/quote]



Isn't the fact we're NOT using the same UI in our Windows version (compared to our Mac version) the "problem" being reported here?

Matt1

I think googles hit the nail on the head, this sucks! I spend more time figuring out how to get it unlocked, why it locks, and doesn't unlock. There are so many things wrong with this it is sick. More time is spent trying to understand what changed since I last used it then getting to my programs. What a piece of $%^& you guys created. Really, this program takes more time in figuring out how to use it, then using it. I am sure you are all slapping your selfs on the back talking about what a great product you have. wake up.



So realize what your users are saying, and fix this piece of junk. It stores my passwords great, and that is the only thing good about it, any spreadsheet will do that. To bad it doesn't work from day to day.

DBrown

Matt, I'm not saying there's no room for improvement, but your post doesn't help anyone, including the thousands of people who have absolutely the opposite opinion of 1Password for Windows.



If you have a specific question, start a new thread, and we'll do everything in our power to help, as I think we've demonstrated in tens of thousands of responses here and through our e-mail support channel.



If you're too unhappy with 1Password to continue using it, please contact at [i]support@agilebits.com[/i], and we'll try to process a refund of the license fee.



If you just feel like grousing, though, I ask that you consider its effect on folks who come to the forum looking for useful information.



Please let us know how we can help.

Googles

OK, i thought i should come back and say that after using 1Pass Win for a while i'm now used to the UI.

So i will retract my "it sucks" comment, but i still stand by my opinion that it is not up to par with the Mac version.

Cheers

DBrown

Thanks, Googles.



I hope folks will keep their posts constructive; otherwise, the forums lose value as a source of useful information.

Dan M

Reading the thread I think the frustration is the lack of listening happening on the agilebits side. We are your users and are telling you the Windows product is not up to the same standard as your Mac product. Spend less time telling us we hurt your feelings and are wrong and listen to your customers. I for one have moved in in adopting splashid as a windows pc and phone solution. I still completely dislike the ui as it feels very windows 95 ish but at least I can sync between the two. Something I can't say for your product unless I leverage dropbox, a service I do not trust.

Dan M

Stop and think about it for a few minutes. As a company you should want your Mac and Windows users to feel comfortable switching back and forth between the two environments. Same for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. People adopt Microsoft Office on Mac for that very reason. Try moving from Word to Pages and tell me you are not hindered by a learning curve. When people say design for the OS I agree to an extent. I would not expect you to bring the Mac minimize and close icons over to Windows. But that's not the point, design a great product with a great ui then leverage it across all platforms. After all that's what people are asking for in the many posts within your forum. In fact if you do this right you can charge a premium as the best cross platform solution in any market. If your Windows population is simply to small to invest in then say so and move on.

khad

Personally, I found Pages more intuitive to use even after years of using Word because it follows the conventions of the operating system it is running on. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />



That said, we're certainly looking to bring a bit more unity to the apps across platforms (while still respecting each platforms' conventions).



Is there something specific I can help with? We're listening (and responding) as you can tell by this reply and my other 11,000 posts here. The only thing you mentioned specifically was Dropbox syncing which has been covered in several threads already, but I'm happy to address it more fully.



We are enthusiastically investigating iCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, and whether they can be the fantastic solutions 1Password customers deserve. If they turn out to be a good fit for syncing 1Password data between multiple devices, we will definitely announce it as soon as possible. Subscribe to our blog, follow us on Twitter, and like our Facebook page to be the first to find out if they are a good fit for your 1Password data!



Why Dropbox? Dropbox does two things that are very important for syncing 1Password data.



1. It provides the necessary programming tools (APIs) for all of the platforms that we support: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7.

2. It provides syncing to truly native filesystems for Mac and Windows.



The short answer to “Have you considered X as an alternative sync solution” is “Yes” for every value of X that people have asked about. We have considered them, and have had to reject them for various technical reasons.



Each item in your 1Password data is stored in its own, separate, file. This is great for syncing in that it means that only the changes need to sync and this can be done by file and folder syncing. This not only makes syncing faster and cheaper, it also makes it much more reliable and robust against potential data corruption. But this also means that 1Password needs to read lots of different files quickly as it runs. Dropbox does fast syncing while storing the local files on the native local file systems, allowing it to function properly.



As an illustration, an alternative such as WebDAV (which we worked on extensively but had to abandon before we moved to Dropbox) provides a file system abstraction layer that is just too slow for 1Password. It can hang when we try to access some file that it hasn’t cached properly. Also WebDAV isn’t designed for updating many files is quick succession. It’s not that WebDAV is bad, but it isn’t suitable for how we would use it.



Everything else we’ve looked at (and we have looked at many things) suffers not only from the same problems we saw with WebDAV, but they also lack usable APIs for all the platforms we need to support. It may be possible, for example, to sync data to an Android or iOS device using SugarSync, Wuala, SpiderOak, etc., but it isn’t possible to sync that data in a way that would make it available to 1Password on those devices.



Both Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive appear to meet a very important technical requirement we have of a syncing system (native file system access), but we need to make sure they satisfy other requirements as well.



iCloud also offers a tremendous amount of potential and could be a great alternative to Dropbox, our current preferred solution for syncing 1Password across your devices.



One iCloud feature you can take advantage of right now with 1Password on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is automatic wireless backup. As long as you have enabled iCloud Backup on your device your 1Password data will be wirelessly backed up to iCloud when you charge your device along with all the other iOS data you configure. (Please see Apple's support article on iCloud backup and restore for more information.)



We're just as excited as you are about iCloud, Google Drive, and Microsoft SkyDrive. We're checking out these cloud file storage and sync services to see if they can be an option for syncing your 1Password data file. Although we don't have anything to announce just yet, you can be sure that this is a topic near and dear to our hearts.



I won't bore you with all the details of the AES-encrypted, PBKDF2-strengthened Agile Keychain Format which uses a combination of the OpenSSL library, CommonCrypto, or Windows cryptography libraries depending on platform and version for all of its encryption and key generation needs. You can read about that in our Agile Keychain Design document:



[url="http://help.agilebits.com/1Password3/agile_keychain_design.html"]http://help.agilebit...ain_design.html[/url]



One of the best ways to show just how strongly 1Password protects your data is by pitting it against the pre-eminent password cracking tool John the Ripper. We've did just that not too long ago:



[url="http://blog.agilebits.com/2012/07/31/1password-is-ready-for-john-the-ripper/"]http://blog.agilebit...ohn-the-ripper/[/url]



So is it safe to store 1Password data in the cloud? Your secrets in your 1Password data are safe wherever they are stored. Although we don’t recommend making your 1Password database publicly available to the world, we have designed it so that your username and password data (along with other secret data stored within it) is protected no matter whose hands they fall into. For this and other reasons we are very confident when we recommend cloud syncing of 1Password data with Dropbox. Our "Security of storing 1Password data in the Cloud" document goes into increasing detail about the security measures in place and issues surrounding them:



[url="http://help.agilebits.com/1Password3/cloud_storage_security.html"]http://help.agilebit...e_security.html[/url]



Some of the key points from the document:



1. Your master password is never transmitted from your computer or device.

2. All 1Password decryption and encryption is performed on your computer or device.

3. The 1Password data format was designed to withstand sophisticated attacks if it fell into the wrong hands (cf. John the Ripper blog post above).

4. Dropbox provides an additional layer of encryption.



So, as long as you use a secure master password that you don't use elsewhere, your 1Password data is incredibly safe even when stored on a service like Dropbox. If you're not sure about the strength of your master password, please do take a look at our blog post "Toward Better Master Passwords":



[url="http://blog.agilebits.com/2011/06/toward-better-master-passwords/"]http://blog.agilebit...ster-passwords/[/url]



If we can be of further assistance, please let us know. We are always here to help!

Dan M

One question, are you developing for you or your customers? You may love the current windows version but many of your customers are telling you the Mac version is awesome and the windows version is anything but.

khad

We love our customers and really do appreciate feedback. We listen to it all and it factors in heavily to what we do, but of course there are other factors as well.



"Many of your customers are telling you the Mac version is awesome and the windows version is anything but" isn't actionable.



I think this thread you revived which was dead for over a year has run its course. I'd love to make sure your questions, concerns, and comments get the specific attention they deserve, and I don't think this old unfocused thread is conducive to that.



What about the app do you yourself find problematic? What do you like? What should be improved? Is there a feature you'd like to see? Please let us know in a new thread if you have any [i][b]specific[/b][/i] questions, concerns, or comments.