Messages

26

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 - Pledge: PerceptualDiff GUI

« on: December 27, 2011, 11:27 PM »

I am sorry you took my questions differently, I didn't mean to imply you didn't.  I knew you gave him full credit right up front and that you "only" (as you put it) made a front end GUI for a command line project.  I got from your original statements everything you said (well except the part about whether or not the original was packaged in with your GUI or if they were separate).  I just meant that since you did such a nice job and he has that package already, that DoCo members aren't the only ones who might want it and that Hector might want to host the GUI on his SourceForge site to make his program easier to use. 

27

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 - Pledge: PerceptualDiff GUI

« on: December 26, 2011, 05:30 PM »

JoTo - I admit I haven't downloaded it yet, but does this require I also download pdiff, or is pdiff included in the program download?  Also, any plans to release this back to the project?  I find so many front ends to make sourceforge projects easier are not always released back to the project and are a surprise to the project developers in some cases.  Granted, some just reject it for a variety of reasons, but it is worth at least offering it as an addition if you haven't already.

28

Developer's Corner / Re: Ribbon UI - is it really THAT good?

« on: December 26, 2011, 04:42 PM »

I'm advising my business clients not to buy any app they will use in their business from an app store where the owner of the store can kill apps already purchased. No business in their right mind should want any applications -- especially applications that are or might become "business critical" -- that someone can kill switch at any time. That's like giving someone a kill switch for your business. I really don't think Microsoft has thought a lot of this stuff through given that a lot of their income comes from sales to businesses.

-rssapphire (December 25, 2011, 07:25 PM)

I love this quote because it DEFINES my problem with "cloud computing".  My only caveat is that it should be person instead of business. 

Point is, if Microsoft goes that route, it's far easier for enterprise customers to go along than it is for them to retool over to a new OS and a new set of core applications. Especially since Microsoft has already announced plans to allow big corporate users to run what amounts to their own app store in-house.

-40hz (December 26, 2011, 06:30 AM)

I have to agree here, primarily because of the last statement.  If they are allowed to "own" their own app store and download the bits (not unlike the current licensing scheme they are allowed to implement), then there is no need for them to worry much about it.  IT already is the stop-light for software distribution, this is just another tool to make it easier for IT to do what it already does.

The problem with the argument about custom software is two-fold in my opinion.  First off, custom is expensive.  It costs a lot to develop and orders of magnitude more to maintain.  Moreover the knowledge and experiences gained cannot and will not ever be fully captured.  Documentation only takes you so far.  I work on a mainframe that was developed in-house in the 80's.  Today we have 2nd and in some cases 3rd generation personnel working on these systems.  Many times, they don't even know what it is doing, and even if they do, they don't know all the details.  As often as not, if an obscure or rarely failing piece fails to work, they try restarting it.  If it truly is broke, they apply patches that are essentially error catches that tell it how to function now, because they don't know how to fix the original code or in some cases even where that code resides.

The second problem with the argument is that more often than not (due to time & other cost considerations) the "custom" code is little more than glue-scripts that exchange data between two packages.  It is rare that any software is fully customized, even in large corporations, unless there is no other alternative or it IS the product.  Can it be done?  Of course.  Will it be done?  Only if there is NO other reasonable solution.

29

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge and Early Beta: Christian Prayer Minder

« on: December 24, 2011, 06:44 PM »

I find so many of your programs cool and useful, but I never use many of them because when I want to use them is when I am away from my computer - aka mobile app.  I realize you use .Net so making Android/iPhone/iPad apps would likely not be possible, or at least a ways off, but is it possible to make them so they target Windows Phone at least as well?  I (unfortunately) do not have a windows phone, at least not yet, but I would think it might make these programs more useful to those who do.  And if you do make an iPhone app for them, I would be more than happy to test  .  Just a thought to throw out there for you....

30

General Software Discussion / Re: adding tab support to apps that dont have it

« on: December 24, 2011, 03:52 PM »

If you can structure entire OS's into tabs using virtualization, I can't imagine it being any more difficult (and quite a bit less) to create a generic tabbing window that you can open individual apps within.  It may not be the most efficient or best way to do it, but it would certainly fulfill the need and is exactly what I think Kalos was after. Windows already enforces the one app per window, so you would just need to add a tab-like extention that can be yet another view just like tile, full screen, or cascade.  Not saying it is easy, but certainly not as hard as you seem to make it out to be either.

31

Post New Requests Here / Re: Go back to 98 drag-and-drop in Win-Explorer

« on: December 24, 2011, 03:21 PM »

I didn't want to leave 98.  Now I don't want to leave XP.  Windows 7?  You have to be kidding.  How about Linux?

-mraeryceos (December 24, 2011, 01:40 PM)

Then what made you leave?  If you are adamantly against changing to Windows 7 (or even XP for that matter), why do it?  Computing is the epitome of change, and Linux is the most constantly evolving of all the OS's out there.  If you don't like the changes, then Linux is definitely NOT for you.

If you are changing computers and the reason for change is hardware driver support (as I suspect) then get a copy of VMware ESXi or XenServer and install your chosen OS in the virtual machine.  You won't get native access to everything, but pretty close, and you can keep the same VM for as long as you desire independent of the hardware you run on (as long as it supports Virtualization Technologies).  If you wait till Windows 8 - despite what we hear and, perhaps, see - it will come with Microsoft's version of ESXi (called HyperV) where you should be able to install any OS there and pretty much ignore Windows 8 beyond that if that is an option for you (though I do suggest VMware as a more mature option).  And as a bonus, you can have multiple operating systems on the same machine and choose whichever one you want at any time without rebooting (unlike multiboot options where you have to shutdown and restart to change OS's).

32

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge Teaser: Web Link Captor, aka LL Robot

« on: December 04, 2011, 05:45 PM »

Never mind.  Didn't look at the teaser close enough....some sort of research tool though.

33

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: Snap DB

« on: December 04, 2011, 04:59 PM »

I noticed some of the recurring themes on implementation of requests are limited by the ListView control.  I am not much of a programmer, and even less wrt AHK, but perhaps a solution to many of these requests would be a second "read-only" mode that uses a different control for display?  I realize that takes away a lot of the simplicity of "open, enter, close" flat-file databases, but for some users, the tradeoff may be worth it (for a mulitline view, for example).  It may solve some of your other issues regarding the ListView limitations.

Just a thought....

34

General Software Discussion / Re: Easy Remote access to another PC?

« on: November 27, 2011, 05:01 PM »

If you haven't already, TeamViewer and LogMeIn are good options. I've tried both on occasion, and find them pretty good.

-Writer (November 27, 2011, 01:42 PM)

I have tried both of these options- join.me is the free, ad hoc version of logmein.  What's so appealing to me about join.me is the fact that as the viewer you don't have to install anything.  It's totally contained within your browser.  Even as the sharer, you don't have to install anything- you just run an executable.  You *can* install something for faster access, but you don't have to- very useful for using on a computer where you aren't going to use it often.  And add to that the fact that there's no registration, and I don't even know *why* they're offering such a good deal.  But I like it.

-wraith808 (November 27, 2011, 01:58 PM)

Hopefully they stay that way.  Crossloop was the same way, and my choice for a long time for the same reasons, but now they are a pay site, just like LogMeIn.  Still great, but no longer free....

35

Living Room / Re: Need Advice on a TV...

« on: November 20, 2011, 12:13 AM »

Not certain on the answer to that.  Consumer I believe, but that is only a guess.  CNet review calls it a "presentation display", so maybe it is commercial...

They are the SyncMaster 460P and 460px models (I believe the px models were the replacements for the original p models we got - I think).  The 460 means a 46" display, so I guess I was off, but it really doesn't matter to the discussion....

36

Living Room / Re: Need Advice on a TV...

« on: November 19, 2011, 11:11 PM »

Of those two, LED is more common and has no screen "burn in" issues,

-JavaJones (November 19, 2011, 04:58 PM)

Definitely not true, no matter what the industry pundits keep saying.  I am looking at 6 different 42" Samsung LCD monitor/TV's here at work right now and 3 of them have severe burn-in.  They also have a nasty habit of burning out completely after only a year or two...Of course they are on 24/7/365 - so that may have something to do with it.  The only time they are "off" is during the PC reboot.

37

Living Room / Re: What happens after a Cloud changes Types?

« on: October 23, 2011, 06:26 PM »

The funniest part to me about the rant is it is totally pointless.  Yes, mahesh2k is right, they are consolidating all their services under one, G+ account for each person.  You either use G+ or you don't - no independent gmail, Google+, GReader, Google Docs, etc. - just one account access to everything.  They NEVER (well so far) force any of the services on to you, just the single logon that grants access to all services or none.

My biggest complaint here is the HUGE rant they put out on it being incorporated into the G+ family of services, but NOTHING on the FORCED account creation required to use an Android device.  WTF?  Why should they care if I have an account or not to use my friggin' phone?!?  If I WANT to use the Google Services with my phone, that is one thing, but incorporating it and forcing me to have an account just to get my phone to work?  No outcry there though...just an outcry because it is linking gReader with Google+ et. al.  You already have the stupid account, what's the big deal?  Whatever....

38

Screenshot Captor / Re: Improving Region Select Capture Mode

« on: October 15, 2011, 02:14 AM »

Here is an off the wall idea that I don't even know if it would be used or not, but what about identifying the region then doing transforms on it, such as skew, rotate, etc so you can, for example end up capturing a diamond shape instead of an entire rectangle?  Just a thought....

39

Living Room / Re: The All New Kindle - ripoff!

« on: October 09, 2011, 07:53 AM »

I find it funny all this outrage at U. S. companies doing this (not saying it's not wrong, just read on).  Meanwhile it happens to U. S. companies and people just as frequently, if not moreso.  The key here is the U. S. computer market provides much of the innovation and many of the largest companies are here.  However, in the electronic entertainment industry (consoles, TV's, Stereo's, etc.), Japan is probably the single biggest player with the likes of Sony, Onkyo, et. al.  These are all almost double the price in the U. S. over Europe despite the VAT taxes etc.   Note, that is EUROPE, not Japan!   Likewise, East Asian auto manufacturers trounce American auto manufacturers because they can produce them so much cheaper (for a ton of reasons).  Do they lower the prices in the U. S. because of this?  Well, yes, to just below their American competition.  They don't price it based on a percentage profit, they price it based on what they can get in that area.  I understand the outrage, but lets direct it all all industries and countries practicing this, not just the U. S. computer industry.

40

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« on: October 08, 2011, 10:07 AM »

Personally, I don't get the one or two drive NAS units.  What's the point?  I have a $20 enclosure with a single drive in it (I used one of my old drives) that works fine for basic storage.  I understand some of the software options they add, but really, if it is software you want; buy what you want rather than whatever some company can pawn off as cheaply as possible.  From my understanding, the main purpose of a NAS is to aggregate storage for size and redundancy purposes, neither of which can be done in a single drive solution and only marginally effective for one or the other purpose a dual-drive solution.  I mean is a shared folder solution really that difficult that it is worth the money for the single drive attached to the network?  If it really is, isn't the minimal price difference (not counting the drives) worth the extra expansion room?  Maybe I am just missing something here.  Can someone enlighten me?

41

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« on: October 06, 2011, 05:22 AM »

From what I hear, the Synology offerings are pretty good.  Your requirements seem pretty basic, so most any *should* work for you as long as they are a decent brand.  From personal experience though?  Go elsewhere - never used/setup a NAS myself.

42

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 Secure Boot may lock out Linux

« on: September 23, 2011, 06:20 PM »

Well that makes it simple 

43

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 Secure Boot may lock out Linux

« on: September 23, 2011, 05:37 PM »

Microsoft has no problem with Linux running under Windows

-40hz (September 23, 2011, 04:19 PM)

Except that Hyper-V is not Windows.  It is Microsoft, but it is the hypervisor that Windows runs *on* and could just as easily be XenServer or VMware ESXi (okay, XenClient and VMware doesn't have a client-side equivalent...yet).  Linux can run *on* it too.  In fact, it already does in many, many shops.  Linux is NOT running *on* Windows in this case, just with it.  (Unless you want to stretch the definition of Windows to be *any* OS that Microsoft creates)

44

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 Secure Boot may lock out Linux

« on: September 23, 2011, 01:58 PM »

Um...Did you guys miss that Hyper-V 3.0 is being included?  Sure you may not be able to dual boot traditionally, but you can still install it in it's own virtual machine.  What's more, depending on how they expose Hyper-V, you will be able to switch between the two on the fly and get native or near native performance from the OS.  The only argument I can see here is Carol's about using some sort of rescue CD - but then you should just be able to boot into a different VM anyway.  Indeed, the VM could be your rescue CD.  The only time these wouldn't work is if Hyper-V is borked, but then it isn't a Windows 8 issue anyway at that point.

45

General Software Discussion / Re: A unified solution for note taking and task management

« on: September 13, 2011, 07:10 PM »

If you add a GOOD Calendaring App to this, I am there looking as well.  The best I could find was Outlook, but I keep getting the Outlook database trashed for one thing or another.  I don't have Exchange services available, so that removes what EVERYONE says should make it easy, and kills Android connections.  Moreover, most other options either don't do all three or don't sync with mobile or both.  I don't want a web based solution either.  Give me a real app to access offline so I don't have to waste bandwidth looking up events, todo's etc., or just to create a new task, event, etc.  Let me know if you find ANYTHING at all that works for you!

46

Developer's Corner / Re: Any wordpress coders here available for hire?

« on: September 13, 2011, 06:58 PM »

I really can't add anything to this discussion from a Wordpress standpoint as I don't really know anything about it, but I would ask you the question:

With all the Wordpress parts you want stripped out, what value do you see in Wordpress that you are actually trying to capture?  Maybe this would be a better way to attack it?

Just food for thought....

47

Living Room / Re: XBOX 360 with Kinect or Wii?

« on: September 13, 2011, 06:50 PM »

I will add my support for the Kinect between the two.  I don't have the Kinect, but I do have a Wii and it does have some good points.  That said, camera tracking it going to help a lot more.

As everyone here has said or eluded to, the Wii only tracks the remote (unless you buy and use the balance board, but that is more money and still not 100% there).  I have a Wii and a many of "fitness" games which are trivially easy to "cheat".  If you are serious, you won't do that though.  Where the Wii really comes up short is in the fact that it can't track actual movement, so it can't tell you when you are doing a movement wrong by accident.  (And sometimes you will do it right and it says you aren't because it can't track it).

Now with that said, the balance board does add quite a bit to the experience for a lot less overall cost.  In particular, it is useful in the balance and other "yoga"-type exercises.  The key to remember is, unless you are a teenage girl who is thin but otherwise strong for your age, then it is going to say you are fat and not very healthy overall (it doesn't track well with age, gender, build, etc.).  That is, of course, based on most of the current exercise programs for it (we have most of them that my wife bought at one time or another).  You can ignore that part and just use it to track your progress, but you do need to know about that caveat.

So in summary, the Wii is okay and it is far cheaper, even with the balance board; but for a better experience, the Kinect system is the way to go (don't know anything about the Playstation system to go on however).

48

General Software Discussion / Re: Fairware: an interesting experiment in getting paid for Open Source

« on: September 10, 2011, 05:05 PM »

I personally don't see why this can't work.  My concerns as a potential user have already been addressed, and I see where you are coming from in your approach.  I also see how it is a perfect fit for the DC community here.  I commend you and am glad you found us. 

I do hope you stick around and join us for all there is to offer here.  In return, I have no doubt you will get a lot back.  If nothing else, you will find a ready and friendly place to announce your software, though I hope you participate more than that.  This is how I found out about your software; and if my personal PC didn't decide to blow a capacitor on the motherboard, I would download some of your wares and check them out (moneyGuru, oddly enough, is the most interesting one to me).  So until I get a new MoBo and can get back up and running, I have to wait.

Again, welcome and enjoy.

49

Living Room / Re: Thoughts in remembrance of 911

« on: September 10, 2011, 03:49 PM »

@40Hz et. al. -

I have VERY strong feelings about this that will lead to no good if I ranted here, so I will stop short of that.  However, I do strongly object to trying to equate this or any other event to car crashes, starving people, etc.  It truly is a tragedy that these events do not get the attention they deserve, but please do not detract from the events that do.  What I feel makes this and other similar events so critical to point out above and beyond car crashes and other events is that this was a purposeful event - something planned and deliberately executed against their fellow humans (assuming you consider someone so deranged as human in anything more than form).  Crashes, starvation, and other more common forms of tragic deaths are mostly unavoidable and unpreventable to one level or another.  Terrorism, assassinations, and other deliberate forms of extermination are, however; and their evilness should be brought to light and preferably to justice.  Regardless of you views on what justice is in this case and whether or not it is being persued in this case is irrelevant to me.  That point is only a red herring regardless of your view on it, and does not change the fact that it needs to be brought to light.

Because of the views and feelings I have on this issue, I am going to ignore this thread from this point forward, I just thought I should point it out before I do.

50

General Software Discussion / Re: automatically watermark and combine pdf files

« on: September 09, 2011, 09:39 PM »

Um, not cheap, but I believe Adobe Standard does that.  I know it will combine PDF's.  Not certain about the watermark, but I believe it will.