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Messages - Perry Mowbray [ switch to compact view ]

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1526
I use PhotoImpact which is a PS-like product, but at a much cheaper price. It's one of the best value of these types of apps IMO, though certainly not the best either.

1527
And all this just goes to show: there are too many damn wiki apps out there! :D

Oh but the choice!!  :-\

Excelent find BTW Oshyan!

- Perry

1528
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 09, 2006, 11:17 PM »
These "topic maps" seem interesting, to be sure. But I wonder, how do you create them without tremendous amounts of work? Is it suggested that this would somehow be automated in a file system?

They are, or at least they can be. There is already quite a bit of metadata floating around your computer, it just needs to be pulled into the Topic Map. In some ways there is more opportunity to add metadata than there is data added. For Example: do you add data to all the fields that MSWord allows? Or even what Windows allows? Do you fill out your MP3 tags and all your EXIF and IPTC fields?

I'd think that the software should assume that if the fields are not filled out then the user doesn't want to know.

But there is a lot of fuzzy stuff that can be gained by keeping a look at what's going on:
  • who wrote what when
  • what filetype was used
  • what programmes read/write those filetypes
  • how many times has a file been read or written
  • etc.

If methods were exposed so that software could update their own records then that is an option as well. But that has been noted elsewhere (I think about MS, IFilters and indexing) that that is not the best option.

TinyTim has an example of creating a Topic Map from filesystem information: which would give the base structure component.

Once some sort of structure is in place some sort of Edit functionality could be provided to allow editing of the Topic Map, say by drag and dropping files onto descriptors, etc.

Here is some more interesting bits:

I think I'm at the point that I've got to install something and start playing  ;)

- Perry

1529
I don't think you're going to be able to find something that doesn't need some sort of input.

You can have a look at http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/photomontage/, it's input is quite revolutionary (though I had crash issues on my machine).

- Perry

1530
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 08, 2006, 10:02 AM »
Interesting indeed! But .NET. Not ideal IMO. But maybe worth something...

It's amazing what you find when you start looking (and a bit embarrassing how old some of this stuff is)...

Without realising it what I think I was meaning was Topic Maps. For those who don't know, Topic Maps are an XML standard. There are quite some well matured Java tools for creating and manipulating Topic Maps but not many on Windows (at least that I've found). Of interest:

  • TM4J is an open source topic map engine project in Java.
  • The Omnigator is a free topic map browser that can display any topic map. There's also an online demo.

I also found quite a few posts about Windows FileSystem and Topic Maps and how they'd missed the boat (for example this post) which echo's Oshyan's statement:
It's up to Microsoft to take the lead on this unfortunately and all indications are they dropped the ball with WinFS. :(

So, to my surprise, there has been a lot of thinking across most of the platforms about this topic already and quite a few implementations; unfortunately not a lot on Windows (is that an opportunity or what??).

But I guess the good news is that if an XTM format was to be used there are already lots of source code out there demonstrating the use of that data in various ways (not necessarily Topic Maps either I guess?) and tools around to help.

- Perry

1531
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 08, 2006, 01:43 AM »
Interesting indeed! But .NET. Not ideal IMO. But maybe worth something...

It's a start? Also, SeekAFile doesn't grab all the metadata that I'd like to get

I have money on this if there are any takers. Seriously.

I only dabble, but I'd love to contribute in some way too.

- Perry

1532
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 07, 2006, 11:28 PM »
I only wish I was a decent programmer...

Ditto, so who's putting up their hand???

Interesting site:
http://www.seekafile.org/

- Perry

1533
Living Room / Re: I'm impressed with DonationCoder... Are you?
« on: August 07, 2006, 09:25 AM »
It's the first Software site I've donated to, except it's not just a software site! There is a lot of wisdom here, generally based around things digital... but how many years do you think?? You know, it's funny when you go to a conference and they say "there's xx years of experience on the panel"... DC's forums have a heap of quality years here for the asking.

And that's the thing: they love being asked!! Plus the programmes are great!

- Perry

1534
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 07, 2006, 03:55 AM »
It's up to Microsoft to take the lead on this unfortunately and all indications are they dropped the ball with WinFS. :(

I think this is where there is a real opportunity! All that we have to do is a proof of concept and get a significant ground swell for the idea and MS will buy the idea and incorporate it into the OS  ;)

Borrowing from another thread (bloat)... is it possible to implement the DB part of the file system outside of the filesystem with push and pull functionality. I'm assuming that the best functionality is when it is part of the FS because the data collection is controlled by the FS, but it could be collected by pulling the data (which is how cataloguers do it now I guess)?? So that would mean functionality could be provided for programmes to hook into so that they could push their data into the database, but because initially (and because not all programmes would add that functionality anyway) the same methods could be used to pull data into the database??

What's the best storage format? XML?

- Perry

1535
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 07, 2006, 01:02 AM »
Actually Oshyan, I think the "real world" examples is what is breaking down in our digital environment. What did we use to catalogue before computers? Card Files and cross references?? Isn't that where GMail has freed people from having to put emails into folders??

I think that the underlying data is the very crux here. What we need is a database that holds the definitions and links between the filesystem objects. how that is used is upto the developers.

Document management systems vary a llittle, but generally what they are doing is adding keywords, tags, labels and indexes to files, and give a way to find things again (hopefully).

I guess what I was originally getting at is that on my computer the method of categorising my files is limited (by the file structure I guess) and I thought that a slightly more fuzzy way of getting at the files (including grouping and actions) would be helpful.

You know I have graphic files in my Photos folder, in my graphics folder, in my HTML folder, etc. Picasa (and others I guess) give me a nifty timeline, but there is a whole lot of other data there in those photos and jpgs that could be used. Other file formats also support information about the file, as does the filesystem. Being able to group or display by author, subject or any of the other metadata would be helpful... wouldn't it??

- Perry

1536
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 03, 2006, 11:32 PM »
The disk does sound amazing!

I agree that one of the real benefits of something like this is being able to "see" a lot further, and depending on what basis the rendering is constructed, get a lot more functionality.

When I was showing my manager the ThinkMap was obvious that that type of system offers a great deal more than standard searching models because you see some of the structure.

I've also installed at various times applications that map your drives and give you a visual display based on filetype. Not bad, very pretty though; seemed to be based around size: somewhat similar to your disk idea.

I like the boxes within boxes thought, especially if the box that is a file contains stuff as well! which is does: size, date stamp, etc. That would enable "grouping" by what the "box" contains. Picasa does that with its Timeline view.

- Perry

1537
General Software Discussion / Re: Photo panorama creation
« on: August 03, 2006, 11:12 PM »
I have been playing a bit with Autopano Pro myself lately, processing lots of photos from a vacation to Iceland. Really neat app.

I'd be interested in what you thought of the HDR stiching. Does it auto-register the images (like it does for other stiching)?

- Perry

1538
General Software Discussion / Re: Photo panorama creation
« on: August 03, 2006, 03:05 AM »

Here is a cool panorama that has been made with Autopano Pro

http://davemelges.co...ilverleafdemoone.htm


Excellent image!

1539
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 02, 2006, 11:03 PM »
Thanks for reminding me about those 3D Desktops (I'd forgotten, but it does explain why the idea seemed familiar): I played with them about a year ago I think. At the time I thought they may have been nifty, but not a lot of use (they seemed to be appearing in films a lot at the time).

I don't think I was actually thinking of 3D like render, but just the creation of a model that displayed links and groups that increased functionality and user experience.

Obviously the more dynamic the link creation is the better. It's just another view of what's already there on the harddrive, I was wondering if it would be a more functional view?

I think the answer is in how the links are created and how they can be used to adjust the display and any possible actions.

Say for example a view was created by the search term 'Work', I guess some of what could be displayed is files/folders that have work in their meta data somewhere, and they could be displayed in a net of files in their directory structure (I'm visualising the http://www.visualthesaurus.com/ example here). Clicking on different nodes creates a different view.

If 'Work' could be defined by subgroups of some sort (apart from the filesystem) by the meta data, maybe 'Work at home', 'Issues at work', etc then those subgroups become the nodes that redefine the search. Once in the subgroup, those files could be "selected" no matter where they are on the filesystem and acted upon in some way.

You're right Rover: the hierarchy and how to generate it, is the crux here.

- Perry

1540
General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 02, 2006, 08:24 AM »
Following VisualThesaurus through I found http://www.thinkmap.com/ which is the engine that drives it: amazing (and cheap at $5K)!

1541
General Software Discussion / IDEA: Visual FileSystem
« on: August 02, 2006, 07:45 AM »
After looking at http://labs.live.com/photosynth/ the other day and thinking about the various applications that are springing up around GoogleMaps, I started thinking of different ways to visualise the filesystem.

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/ does a neat job in doing that with words, but I wondered about visualising the filesystem based on different groupings than files and directories.

First Thought
Start menu could be graphically rendered to show the programmes... linking from the programmes could be the files that that programme reads/writes... hovering on the files could produce links like the windows context menu links (send to, etc).

WHY? FARR does a great job when you know something about the name of the file, Recent Documents does a good job for recent docs, the filesystem does not a bad job depending on how you file your stuff... I thought something like this could produce a web of relations (and maybe what relations that are used could be changed, so that maybe author, dates, etc could be used.

So I'm thinking it's like a dynamic search (based on file properties) in a graphical interface.

Another Thought
Then I wondered if something similar could be done with web pages, which would be like a dynamic link index I guess?

I guess I didn't know if it was just rehashing existing functionality (search, weblinks, etc) in a graphical format or it could be really useful? Sometimes expressing something in a visual framework can be quite intuitive.

Thoughts?

- Perry

1542
General Software Discussion / Re: Photo panorama creation
« on: August 02, 2006, 06:47 AM »
AutopanoPro has also the capability to merge 2 different exposures of a same pic to achieve a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo (havenĀ“t tried it).

I'd be interested in what you thought of this functionality: I've been creating HDR images in PhotoImact quite successfully, but there is no auto-registration which means that the images have to be set up and shot with a tripod (which isn't a huge drama, but does kill the spontaneity)

- Perry

1543
General Software Discussion / Re: Photo panorama creation
« on: August 02, 2006, 06:40 AM »
Thanks for your thoughts on this (as I'm thinking of diving into a more powerful programme: I'm just using the Canon provided stiching software).

This is not really panorama, but has anyone looked at PhotoSynth? It's not released yet, but the videos (sales pitch) look amazing!

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/

- Perry



1544
Personally, I'd go for an intellisense type approach to completing keywords, keeping it all out from the result list... so an auto-complete keypress combo that either displays matching choices or selects the only result if it's one.

I think the idea of adding the highlighted file(s) to the edit box is a great idea too.  :)

1545
I like the term DonationWare... but as App103 said, I don't think donations have to be of a monetary nature. Even when I use FreeWare I like to donate back to the author a "donation" of appreciation and thanks.

Another form of donation can be in the form of time and money, but that does not go directly to the author. For example I could recommend the software, redistribute links, post articles about the software, etc. All of which take time and sometimes more money that what a donation could amount to.

For this reason I like the survey idea. It gives me the opportunity to contribute in some way. It also gives me an opportunity to contribute in an ongoing way (I can complete the survey more than once?). Maybe a survey question could ask what I've done (donated) for the product if it's not money.

Maybe in the future I may decide to donate monetarily (for lots of different reasons... circumstances change). Being able to profile your userbase I'd think would be very interesting and somewhat useful.

A bit of clarification needed: If the DonationWare rules are established and published and people release their products under a DW agreement (which may include rules about nagging people etc)... will there be some avenue for people to report abuse (if it occurs)? Some of the issues talked about here would only be issues if the author did the wrong thing.


1546
General Software Discussion / Re: ShadowSurfer - free now
« on: July 25, 2006, 05:44 AM »
interesting.

anyone else given it a good going over?

Yep: I installed it, but I don't think I'm going to give it a good going over... There are a few too many reboots!

The concept is great, and I originally thought that this would be a great way to stop the kids installing stuff on my computer (without locking them out), but it's not quite like that.

I've since taken the interest this generated and am looking at http://www.sandboxie.com/, which seems to do more of what I want.

This thread may be of interest: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=3176.0

1548
Official Announcements / Re: Any Ideas for August Fundraiser?
« on: July 23, 2006, 10:09 PM »
I was thinking about a topless car wash, but I'm not sure how many contributors would be interested in my man-boobs.

At first I thought you meant "topless car" as in convertible  ;D

1549
I got to say that PortableApps is a boon when you have to deal with StormTrooper IT people (God love them!)
We have that sort of  IT too.   Nice to know that Nvu is still usable  :)

I figure it's something they put in the food at IT school  ;)

The only PortableApp I had trouble with was ThunderBird, the rest work a treat.

1550
Anyone else have a play with InfoMaster (http://www.leersoft.com/infowonder-home.asp)?

Comes with a bit of a pedigree, but it didn't last very long on my computer.

It did have some really nifty ideas:
  • Each note can have a date and/or reminder set, therefore creating calendars
  • User created forms

Both of which I thought I could put to good use.

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