Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This scanner is okay as far as the quality of images goes; nothing fabulous, but not bad for the price, either. However, the software that comes with the scanner is absolutely terrible. (I am using the software for Mac OS X, so maybe it's different for Windows users.) Some of the many glaring flaws: - There is an arbitrary limit of 20 characters for filenames when saving a scan. This might not seem like a big deal, but 20 characters is often not enough for a descriptive filename of any kind, especially when scanning multiple versions of a photo, for example, with different scan settings. - There is no preview mode, or any way to select a region of an image to scan. The user can only choose from a pre-set paper size, or type a custom paper size. Neither option lets you select something in the middle of the page, for example. - Application windows are filled with poorly-designed buttons of various sizes, strewn every which way, and with cryptic names. For example, in one window that comes up when the user chooses the "confirm scanned image" option, there is a button labeled "forward." What does this mean? Well, the button does the same thing you would expect from an "OK" or "continue" button. - When scanning, the status window (showing the progress of the scan) always stays on top of all other application windows. It can't be minimized, and doesn't move to the background with the rest of the program's windows when another application or window is selected. It can be moved, but the next time it pops up, it will be right in the middle of the screen again. This means that, when scanning multiple pages, it's impossible to use the computer for anything else, because the scan progress window will keep popping up every 10 seconds and getting in the way of whatever else you are trying to view/type. - Unlike many other scanner models, this one has no ruler markings on the scanner itself. So if you need to know the dimensions of the item you are scanning--to set a custom paper size in the scanning software, for example--you'll have to have a ruler handy. Bottom line: the terrible software interface makes this scanner almost unusable for me. (The included PhotoStudio software is no better.) It is unnecessarily complex, and some screens seem like they were translated from Japanese by someone not too familiar with English. The scanning software supplied for OS X looks and feels like a 1990s-era Mac Classic application. Incredibly, incredibly bad software. I wish I could post screenshots of some of the windows, so you'd see what I mean. UPDATE: Some minor flaws with Leopard have surfaced. The software often fails to scan, popping up an error message "failed to load driver." It usually goes away after several re-tries. Just more annoying behavior...