Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors, Software, Internet Tools, Apple
Inquisitor updates, and is doomed?
Inquisitor, a bee-you-tiful Safari plugin that allows you to get instant, Spotlight-esque search results, has updated to 3.0 v43, adding "aesthetic tweaks" (always nice) and slightly better output from Google. The new version is available for free download right now.And unfortunately, it may be the last version-- Dave Watanabe, the creator, writes on his blog that the rumors say Input Manager, which is the construct that Inquisitor uses to work the way it does, may be eliminated in Leopard. And that would leave a lot of plugins, including Inquisitor, out in the cold. It's not guaranteed yet-- some say that while Input Manager may be disabled by default, it'll still be allowed to be enabled when a plugin tries to use them-- but Watanabe says that if Apple ditches it completely, it would mean the end of Inquisitor.
Supposedly Apple claims Input Managers are a security risk, but Watanabe is asking Inquisitor fans to send them feedback asking to keep the construct in Leopard. Then again, Apple isn't really a company that takes advice on how to update its software, but losing plugins like Inquisitor would definitely be a shame.
Thanks, Space Taker!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
meatmcguffin said 6:46PM on 8-26-2007
No Saft, no afloat, no simbl, no safaristand, no chax and no creammonkey? :(
Reply
Jon said 2:55PM on 8-26-2007
I heard that Steve is actually a Firefox user. The biggest reason I can see for using Firefox is extension support so it wouldn't surprise me if we see this in Safari in the future.
Reply
Matthias Schonder said 3:03PM on 8-26-2007
I'm quite "happy" that InputManagers will no longer work (or at least not out-of-the-box) with Leopard. InputManagers are not only a huge security problem but also can manipulate .apps as the original developer not want them to.
So it's ok for me if InputManager will be looked in the same basement as metal-UI.
Reply
John said 4:43PM on 8-26-2007
Apple should buy Inquisitor...
Reply
Mo said 3:22PM on 8-26-2007
InputManagers are not a “huge” security problem. If you want to be nefarious, there are far sneakier (but just as easy, if you know how) methods of accomplishing the same thing.
The problem is, although unsupported—and yes, Apple is within its rights to change it—it's the only way to hook Safari without taking a great big risk with stability (which you wouldn't really care about if your aims were positive). Safari 3 doesn't, as yet, include a plug-in/extensions mechanism, and it's really really irritating.
Reply
Joshua Ochs said 8:23PM on 8-26-2007
They most certainly are a security problem - how on earth can you claim that having bundles that can manipulate running programs with impunity is NOT?
Leaving that aside, they also cause nearly as many stability problems as Unsanity's APE does. I can't count how many problems on WebKit.org have turned out to be incompatible InputManager hacks.
What we SHOULD be clamoring for is a stable extension/plugin mechanism for Safari and other applications in Leopard, not the continued presence of InputManager hacks.
Reply
Gobo said 6:27PM on 8-26-2007
Inquisitor brought me back to Safari. I'd ditch Safari without it and grudgingly head back to Firefox. I agree with other posts: Apple should integrate it into the search bar posthaste.
Reply
OCM said 7:03PM on 8-26-2007
Input managers may look/sound like a good thing but they have so much potential to cause problems.
Even if i wanted to see them stay it wouldn't be for Inquisitor. Watanabe wants our help now but he is never willing to help anyone else.
Reply
Joseph said 7:22PM on 8-26-2007
been using it since the previous version and i love it also one of the reasons i started using Safari again along with some new Safari 3.0 features. Still use Camino and Firefox occasionally!
Reply
Joshua Ochs said 8:27PM on 8-26-2007
Watanabe is a parasite and should not be supported.
Amen, OCM. Inquisitor is great and free (for now), but just look at his long history with XTorrent, Acquisition, and others to get an idea of how he treats his users, uses open source software without proper attribution, and basically abuses anyone and anything to make money.
Reply
Jon said 11:45PM on 8-26-2007
Great, except Watanabe is a code stealer... so I really won't shed too many tears over this.
Reply
Mark S said 12:29AM on 8-27-2007
I'd surely miss Inquisitor. It's an add-on that brings me back to Safari time and time again. I really wish that Apple would buy the rights to it as they did with Coverflow. It just seems like a natural extension of Spotlight.
I really don't care what people say about the developer. Although I may not always agree with his pricing model, he does great work and he actually DOES give credit for any open source technologies he uses in his apps such as the Limewire core in Acquisition and his use of libtransmission in Xtorrent. Honestly, folks. Just open the "about" window in Acquisition or Xtorrent. I've never had problems with any of his products (except when Inquisitor stops working due to changes made by Google, but he is very proactive in getting a fix out).
Reply
Axel said 4:45AM on 8-27-2007
Without saft and inquisitor I wouldn't use safari
Reply
JeffDM said 10:25AM on 8-27-2007
We've known for a couple months or so that Leopard doesn't have InputManager. Handy things like Textpander is out too.
On a default install, I don't think InputManager is a security risk because it isn't enabled, the user has to create the directory. I really don't think that most Mac users have the functionality enabled.
Reply
noza said 11:26AM on 8-27-2007
It's too bad... InputManager is a much cleaner way to inject code than the alternatives, ie, Unsanity's crash-happy crapware.
Reply
Jonathan Badeen said 12:31PM on 8-27-2007
Code stealer or not he makes some really cool apps. I've purchased some of them knowing full well that there are free alternatives but he does a great job in ui and bringing together useful features into a nice pretty package.
Reply
J Brown said 9:42AM on 9-02-2007
Bugger. I love inquisitor. Let's hope that their is a stable work around, or that apple buys inquisitor. As with others, inquisitor is the reason i started using safari again.
Reply
JeremyC said 9:35AM on 10-29-2007
Inquisitor doesn't work for me in Leopard, so I'm assuming that Input Manager is toast in Leopard. It's too bad because it was a great time saver. Can you add another TUAW post to bring attention to this?
Reply