Messages - Steven Avery [ switch to compact view ]

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1026
Found Deals and Discounts / Alpha Five and others
« on: January 26, 2008, 05:51 AM »
Hi Folks,

Interesting thread.

There pretty surely is such a niche, starting with people who are more comfortable with a designed database environment, or whose programming skills are more on mini-computer languages rather than the dozens of overlapping PC and web languages.  I know I like the idea of simply designing a few tables and then linking them by keys and having apps flow easily from that foundation.  If that gives me a web app at the same time (more or less) so much the better.

Even some PC-super-savvy programmers might find that helpful, they might like the nicety of a good RAD when they are working with an application with a number of linked tables.  They may not want to invest a lot of time in tweaking their multi-code languages right and left.

Whether you like the Alpha environment (which does give you a lot of hefty integration to word processing, email, mail merge, data browsing and reports and such as a given) or not is really a personal preference, it is true that hiding the environment is not a good option, you don't have a tabula rasa.  However in many cases that is an advantage, you don't reinvent many wheels in every program.  Same with Filemaker.

My struggle the last time I used Alpha was that their Windows programming seemed to be more 'event-driven' where you would be telling what happens when this button or thingy got clicked, and those snippets of code did not seem to be correlated to an ease-of-use-and-see repository.  Perhaps I missed something, that has been one of two reasons I am reluctant to go back to Alpha (although I may) remembering more fondly the Alpha 4 DOS days.   The second was that they didn't always seem to be able to quickly, fully and decisively eliminate niggly annoyances, something mentioned above (or on the ProgHeaven page) vis a vis the browse mode.  Not sure why that is, since it does seem to be a technically quite competent company.  Despite those two concerns, every time they call me to do an upgrade, I am almost ready to say "let's go !".

Meanwhile I am earnestly considering WinDev/WebDev from France at the moment (partly because it interfaces to AS/400-Iseries data, my home base, partly because it seems to be a hefty and very competent and competitive product that has been active in Europe and worldwide yet a sleeper in the USA) although we are talking a higher price tag.  On the even higher end, costlier, Magic Software from Israel, which used to win all the NC database RAD contests, is a very serious competitor and also very web-capable these days. Clarion is lagging in some ways but still is in the mix and has some pluses.  All of these products, to varying degrees give you their environment (Clarion a bit less so, perhaps, it was more able to give you pure .exe files, a direction towards which WinDev is heading.  Clarion was able to eliminate any concern about end-user pricing on an application you developed.  However the product has not grown quickly into the 32-bit and web worlds like the others.)  Another competitor on the high end is CA-Plex, that Computer Associates took over from Synon.  And there are a few more.  And each one will vary as to their ability to generate, integrate with and tweak lower-level code, written in C++ or other PC languages, and that will effect your decision.  For one product it might be a non-issue, for another product this may be standard and a given.

WinDev and Magic allow you to download their actual product in a trial, limited version, so you can really see if it makes sense. 

All of these seem heftier than the Alpha, Filemaker, Access level (amazingly the old-time goodie DataEase is still a viable product I learned the other day, so there are others.. eg Foxpro joined the Empire while Paradox went into a Borland space-time-warp-black-hole) and a person could easily decide to work with one simpler product and a heftier one as complementary, depending on the app complexity and specific needs.  And still do the PhP and C++ and Python learning and training and developing as they move along.

Back on the simpler end, Alpha probably does have Filemaker beat on many rad-relational aspects, yet Filemaker also has its fine aspects and the Filemaker programmers seem to the 'work-around kings' nicely filling in the gaps this way and that.  Access and its utilities probably lagging to those who like a full feature ease-of-use feature set.

Of course I have missed all sorts of other environments and products, folks who work in the Delphi and Visual Basics worlds, or those other products mentioned in the Jolt site, might have other excellent ways to achieve an ease-of-use full set. If others can share from diverse background, muy appreciado.  Perhaps this discussion is well-placed here, maybe a different section, maybe Programmer's Heaven, maybe elsewhere ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

1027
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Automise Lite - 70% off - Bits Du Jour
« on: December 10, 2007, 06:29 PM »
Thanks guys.  Let's say you are not (yet) in that programming, system management, ultra-techie mode.  Can you give some examples of usage. 

e.g. Would I use it like a macro to get a who-is from a firewall ?  (Opening a program or an external web site).  The problem there is I probably have to cut-and-paste the ip# anyway, so the gain is small.

For techie use .. no question, sounds good ... how about some less techie examples, in the next four hours :-).

Thanks for anything you can come up with.

Shalom,
Steven

1028
Found Deals and Discounts / Automise Lite - 70% off - Bits Du Jour
« on: December 10, 2007, 03:46 AM »
Hi Folks,

Automise Lite on sale at 70% off today.

Automise (not Lite) was given some nice references here on a Bits Du Jour discount a year ago.
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=6313.msg44917

The feature matrix is at:
http://www.automise.com/automise-feature-matrix.aspx

At $15 instead of $50, the Lite version may be good for many.
Our users may want to help explain more their current usage and status.

Granted the earlier discount was even more intense however they were trying to break into the marketplace and visibility (there is even a webpage somewhere with hourly sales and discussion of discount startup and impulse buying philosophy !) so that was likely a one-timer.   That does not negate the niceness of the current 70% off.

The current discount is one of the nice "Bits" -

"I can handle that, apparently it's a good niche product,
inexpensive enough to try to fit it into my mix".

Shalom,
Steven Avery

PS.
Oh, I also made a little comment on Bits about "SpyEraser" today.

1029
Hi Folks,

(This post did not fare well on my own review, so it is enhanced the next day, going over the full thread ! - Just offering some thoughts from a light notes user, planning a bit more organizing and writing.)

Good thread.

I am always looking for a good note software, with some color and RTF, ala Keynote,
which I use on one machine, in a simple note and tab and search and print manner.  The speed and simplicity has always been great and I probably haven't used tons of features, like the virtual links mentioned in the thread.

On freebies, reading above and a little elsewhere, on the second puter I have decided to try Neomem and TreeDBNotes .  The discussions were very helpful, and they probably can give me the basic functionality quite nicely.

Usually I avoid the free version of paid products (too crippled) but apparently TreeDB is an exception, lacking mainly the contact manager (which I have in Time & Chaos anyway and not in Keynote) and lacking advanced features, which is fine.  Hmm.. there is an ebook feature in the paid version that might be helpful.  And since the paid version price is reasonable it is definitely worth the effort.

Apparently Evernote is also ok then as a potential freebie, that could expand to paid. I have used Powermarks (bookmark manager) as a pseudo-Pim and pseudo-Reference master, since its keyword metaphor is so strong.  Perhaps, from the thread, this is an EverNote-type strength as well ?

On paid products my interest in most piqued in trying MyBase - and returning for more of Surfulater (which I had not considered in this genre, I would like to find its niche, I do have a reggie) .   Also the Zoot possibility (despite the priceyness) should be considered now that they have 32-bit and .rtf.  MyInfo might deserve honorable mention if I really have time to play.

I have some moderate writing-organizing planned, and Zoot may work the best for that.  Gathering text from places, augmenting with my thoughts and writings, interrelating, and then putting it together for articles of a couple of pages (Bible themes, mainly, especially the "Johannine Comma" is planned).  A lot of the source material comes from Google books and similars and web pages.

Other products that had their own cachet or niche potential are AceText and the Wiki-ish products.  I also found the NoteCase Open Source / NoteCase Pro products and  NotesBrowser to be of some note, in my second or third tier of consideration.  (There are about seven tiers  :) ).

=============================================

Here are four that have been little mentioned on DonationCoder, some of which may deserve space in Roundup #2, with the emphasis pretty much purely on notetakers. 

Perhaps an inclusion, at least on the side, of the page :

Notetaking Software Roundup #1
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=post;topic=2362.625;num_replies=630

My Notes Center (2006)
http://www.mynotescenter.com/

My Notes Keeper (2007) - (mentioned on p. 15)
http://www.mynoteskeeper.com/

Treepad Pro (referenced, but not in the review, the original Keynote alternative)
http://www.treepad.com/treepadplus/

Whizfolders (has been a good program, with solid support from Sanjay in India)
http://whizfolders.com/

However none of these are freeware.

The top two are recent entries and seem sensible so could be sleepers, or could be pablum. Since they are newish it is hard to find a good review or even discussion by snapfiles or fileforum or Cnet users.  Whizfolders has lacked a tab methodology, leaving windows open a bit freely, and Treepad should be included in consideration at least for longevity :-) . 

Sanjay of Whizfolders very nicely once sent me my lost-in-space registration number after a gap of some years of non-contact.  I always consider giving them a better go-try.

=================================================

Shalom,
Steven Avery
Queens, NY

1030
Hi Folks,

World-class thread, thanks.
Newbie poster here, couple of limited thoughts.

rtf:   (especially re: Zoot)
Please keep in mind that .rtf is a lot more than pictures, which some need, some don't.  For myself, I use color and bold especially (and other .rtf features) as simple emphasis for my own benefit, or in writing I send out.  I have really appreciated that Zoot may be the leader of the pack in many ways but till Dave comes up with the basics there I will have to pass, looking forward later to the .rtf implementation and then a trial.  I am glad to hear he is making headway !  As soon as he has color and bold and underlining and italics, even if nothing else, it will be worth a real spin and the $99 would be fine if the program is as good as some say.  If I copy in my own text, or something from a forum or a web page, that has basic .rtf I really don't want to lose that info.

Keyword:
It is amazing how powerful and significant good tagging is.  Simply my Powermarks bookmarks, with a little subject-line tweaking, makes it possible to keep a library of web-pages on 100's of subjects easily available. Powermarks became my pseudo-Pim while using Time&Chaos and Keynote and this and that.  The keyword search of Powermarks is the starting point (along with scanning certain mailboxes in my own email) for any research project.

The note-pim-surfing etc software that I will like is the one that really has the tagging metaphor for pulling out related data snippets at a high level. 

So if folks want to indicate how Evernote and NoteCasePro and Zoot and X1 & Achivarus and UltraRecall and Surfulater and the others are on the keyword issue, please share away.  (I will assume it is only Zoot that lacks basic .rtf unless there is indications of another.)  Keyword tagging is only one feature out of dozens but I do not want to spend hours, or even a download, on any software that is not strong in this manner.  The right metaphor with less detail is better than the lesser philosophy implemented with lots of extras. At this point a heirarchal and scan approach only is not sufficient for my style for any project.

So those are my preliminary thoughts. I have a little project of a few articles planned (probably from 2-20 pages) on some research on some Bible issues so I am looking for a good tool or two to start working with.  Yes that also starts to lean over to the writing and outlining areas but really I am more concerned with having the snippets of data correlated and connected easily, as done with Powermarks for webpages, as a start.  The hardest part of the writing is having the source data manageable.

Shalom,
Steven Avery
Queens, NY

PS.
Hmm.. is the html implemented in this forum ? 
Usually I "take" a color if it is.


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