14 DAY TRIAL // While Macs have a very well known and documented shortage of games available, in terms of software there isn't really a lack of choice. Every kind of program out there has either a Mac version of Mac or Mac equivalent.
However, there are certain types of programs that simply have poor Mac versions. One example of this is the official client for the Direct Connect file sharing protocol. DC has been around for a long time now, and while other protocols have begun gaining popularity over it, it is still going strong.
Unfortunately, the Mac version of the client has always been very poor. While it may have looked and behaved pretty much like a OS X program, the fact that it never received any upgrade over the years, combined with the fact that the PC version saw several upgrades and several different versions of the program served to render it pretty much useless.
As usual in such situations, several third party solutions popped up, but they were mostly dubious ports, that looked and behaved strangely and more often than not crashed and worked poorly. Fortunately, for those still keen on the DC protocol, there are a few decent clients available today, and ShakesPeer is one of the best.
What it does
ShakesPeer is a DC client, a program that allows you to connect to DC hubs, where users come together. Besides giving access to hubs, it also handles downloads searches, private messaging and everything else you need on a peer-to-peer network.
User interface
The ShakesPeer interface is very Mac like and familiar at a first glance, however, once you actually start working with it, it starts to get a little crowded and confusing.
This is mostly because of the effort spend in trying to contain everything within one single window, but also because there are elements that change from 'tab' to tab, while others are constant across them all.
There is only one window, that is split up into several 'tabs', which are not really tabs at all, but items in the side drawer. Apart from the main items, such as the Hubs list, bookmarks and transfers, every other new window appears as a entry in the drawer, grouped under the appropriate category.
Overall the system works quite nicely, although the lack of tool tips can be annoying, especially since there is no documentation to go through, so you are pretty much left to figure things out by yourself through trial and error.
Reliability One of the biggest problems with the official DC client was how many of the PC hubs would kick you out because your client was not transmitting all kinds of information they wanted. Also, the connection was often prone to dropping or stalling, and you would often have to try many times to get through to a hub.
Fortunately, with ShakesPeer there are no such issues, although you still have to abide by each hub's own rules about naming conventions, sharing standards, slots and all the such, but that is not really something the program can automatically handle for you.
Download integrity has also been vastly improved, and every download got through in one piece, despite multiple pauses and resumes and relaunching the application several times. Also, the program is light-years ahead of the official client in terms of options and features. You can search for different sources for the same file, and you have better interaction with both the files and the users themselves.
Easy to use
Unlike some of the other clients out there, this one is as easy to use as the official client, and behaves like you would expect it to. The preferences are nice and clean and there are no advanced options to set up that most people don't have a clue about. Despite not everything being crystal clear from the get go, as you work with it and get used to everything, the positioning of the interface elements makes a lot more sense.
All the base commands and options are readily available directly in the main window, with everything else being neatly tucked away in contextual menus.
The Good
Far more stable and serviceable than most of the other alternatives out there. It looks and behaves like an OS X program, and although it is a little crowded at first glance, everything fits nicely into its place.
The Bad Although the 'one window does it all' approach is nice, sometimes you want to be able to have more than just one of those drawer elements on the screen at any given time, such as the transfers which I would like on screen at all times.
The Truth
One of the best DC clients out there, and something that should really be given a look over if you are interested in the Direct Connect peer to peer network.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
