Messages

726

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Timer

« on: May 02, 2008, 07:54 AM »

Nice one.

Is it correct to unzip into the FARR plugins directory, and copy the Timer.dcupdate file over into DcUpdater\Installables directory?

727

General Software Discussion / Office 2007 Search Command add-in

« on: April 28, 2008, 04:19 PM »

Having trouble finding where a command is in the new Office Ribbon? Microsoft Labs has just released a ribbon add-in that lets you type text from a command, and it gives you a list of matching commands.

Search Commands helps you find commands, options, wizards, and galleries in Microsoft Office 2007 Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Just type what you’re looking for in your own words and click the command you need. Search Commands also includes Guided Help, which acts as a tour guide for specific tasks.

http://www.officelab...s/Pages/default.aspx

Update: I probably should have given credit to Lifehacker for this link. http://lifehacker.co...e-office-2007-ribbon

728

General Software Discussion / Re: Drafting/Architectural Software?

« on: April 26, 2008, 10:07 AM »

Sorry I don't have a good answer, but I'd like to echo the same question.

For my purposes, general-purpose CAD programs don't meet the need at all. The thing about 3DHA and its ilk is that it's optimized for houses. It understands how doors work, what walls are really used for, the normal thickness and height of walls, etc. Doing all of that manually as an abstract drawing in a CAD program would be like root canal, at least for a non-pro like me.

It's funny how some genres of software are under-served. I mean, competition for Office apps, database servers, web browsers, etc.; even other graphical apps like photo processing, is absolutely cutthroat. The publishers do everything they can think for usability, new features, etc. (although these aren't always successful).

But some types of applications just languish, and these home improvement programs must be at the top of that list. I hope this doesn't drag the thread off on a tangent, but I note that the most surprising member of this list (because its market is huge) is home finance. Both Quicken and MS Money continue to be revised, but they haven't had a meaningful improvement (IMHO) in over a decade. They just add a pretty facade and online partnerships that only benefit the publisher, not the consumer.

729

General Software Discussion / The Windows Apps You Never Need To Install

« on: April 25, 2008, 03:15 PM »

What software is more trouble than it's worth?

Today I stumbled on a post (http://www.dashes.co...the-windows-app.html) asking this question.

He proposes two things for the "award": WinZip and any codec pack. Other commenters point out the various IE toolbars, and Adobe Acrobat.

Unfortunately the conversation then collapses into debates about various archiving programs and codecs. But the question is still interesting.

So, what programs make you sigh when you sit down at someone else's computer?

730

Find And Run Robot / Re: Feature idea: Don't open second instances

« on: April 24, 2008, 04:37 PM »

Wouldn't farr altab do it for you?

-jgpaiva (April 24, 2008, 04:21 PM)

Well, obviously I've survived this long... 

But no, it's way not the same thing. Using FARRAltTab depends on me knowing that there's a running instance, and my point is that I sometimes miss this. My idea was to have a way to let FARR check for me, so it can make the decision whether to focus an existing process or open a new one.

731

Find And Run Robot / Feature idea: Don't open second instances

« on: April 24, 2008, 04:09 PM »

I keep a lot of apps running on my desktop. Sometimes I don't see that I've already got one open, and accidentally open a second instance. I'd like to avoid that.

So I think it would be cool if I could tell FARR that it should just bring-to-front an existing instance if one exists, and change focus to it. It might do this through a global checkbox, or maybe via a shift-click combination or something.

But how would it know that there's already an instance running? That's the real hurdle here. I don't think there's any completely correct answer, but I can think of a couple of ways to approximate it.

It could remember what processes it has spawned as a result of what choices, and check to see if that process is still running when the user repeats the same request.

You could go a step farther, and after the child process has spawned, look for its window and remember something about that permanently (title, window class, etc.), so it could identify them in the future even if it wasn't the agent that started the instance. Of course, there's a bunch of headaches in this, most significantly that it takes some time for the new process' window to open, and it may show different titles in different circumstances, or have multiple windows.

732

Official Announcements / Re: DC Server Accessibility Problem - April 24th 2008

« on: April 24, 2008, 02:05 PM »

it's a case of everything gets routed through "OpenDNS" ?

-tomos (April 24, 2008, 08:08 AM)

That's not quite how it works.

• Your system knows the IP address of a DNS (perhaps OpenDNS's)
• You enter a host name (e.g., "www.donationcoder.com") into your browser
• Your PC doesn't know the IP address of that server, so it asks the DNS (you can do the same thing manually via the nslookup command)
• The DNS looks it up in its database (maybe asking an upstream provider for help), and returns the IP address (in this case, 208.101.58.90)
• Your browser then sends an HTTP request to the IP address that it just got

So you can see that the DNS is only returning an address, not acting as a go-between for you and the server.

(And there are multiple layers below this, including TCP and UDP, and routing with IP addresses and MAC addresses, but that just clouds this question)

So when Mouser says that OpenDNS is having the problem, he (presumably) means that the route that the network chooses to get from his PC to the DC server has the same problem as the route from his PC to the OpenDNS server. Presumably they both pass through the same router at some point, and that router is illin'.

733

General Software Discussion / Re: EverNote beta 2.2.0.372 has some nice new features

« on: April 21, 2008, 02:48 PM »

1. Ability to make notebooks "local" and not synchronized to their servers.

-dspelley (April 21, 2008, 02:32 PM)

Do you know if they've returned the ability to synchronize locally via a flash drive? That's absolutely necessary for the way I want to use it.

734

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Breakaway Audio Processor for Windows System

« on: April 12, 2008, 07:02 PM »

It certainly looks slick. I haven't tried it, but I looked at the other reviews you referenced. It was characterized as a sort of DFX on steroids, and the kind of processing that commercial radio stations use. But the sort of DRM you describe is about 2.5 strikes against it.

If you feel a similar aversion to the DRM, don't mind sacrificing the slick UI, and only need a WinAMP DSP solution, let me suggest a free alternative that's also light-years ahead of DFX. I've been using "Sound Solution" for a long time, and I'm so enamored of it that I won't listen to anything that doesn't support WinAMP DSP plugins. This doesn't look nearly as slick as what you've reviewed, and in fact is kinda hard to use effectively due to the large number of controls. But I recommend checking it out.

Last free version here: http://www.soundsolu...0.html;msg971#msg971

Manual here: http://www.soundsolu...n_manual-t967.0.html

735

Developer's Corner / Re: Coding Horror Blog Essay On Free Software vs. Commercial Software Trends

« on: April 10, 2008, 03:59 PM »

Mouser, I don't see how this would work. If people put in the money, they'll expect some assurance that a product will come from it. But as far as I can see, there's no accountability. There's nothing to prevent the developers from just losing interesting and moving on, and the investors lose their money.

In fact, I think that this is what will probably happen. Look at the huge portion of open software that has a version number that is mired at a value less than 1.0. The developers tend to have much greater expectations and even plans than they ever deliver.

736

General Software Discussion / Re: Lists Of Microsoft's Fame And Shame - 2008

« on: April 08, 2008, 03:21 PM »

so much of what is wrong with Microsoft is only partly or not at all technical in nature. In fact, a big part of it is that they act as if everyone (or at least everyone who matters) is a developer.

-Jimdoria (April 08, 2008, 01:57 PM)

There's a kernel of truth in that. But paradoxically one can come to the opposite conclusion as well. Microsoft does (generally) treat developers well, and this attracts developers and leads to a profusion of applications and utilities (which is of course how we get so darned many multimedia converters, file renamers, and backup programs  ).

The triumph of Windows over OS/2 owes a lot to the fact that even back in 1993 there were almost innumerable Windows apps, while the OS/2 apps certainly were numerable. And more recently, I've seen claims that the Microsoft's favorable treatment of developers gives them a marked advantage over Apple (who views developers as a lucrative profit center).

So I suppose that real success requires being able to balance developer support with usability investments.

In any case I did appreciate the tone of the article. Most writers say "MS has done good things but...". This one takes it a step farther with that last paragraph, baldly noting that other development communities have their own very real problems as well. So I get out of it a strong implication that there's a lot that we can all be learning from each other.

737

General Software Discussion / Lists Of Microsoft's Fame And Shame - 2008

« on: April 08, 2008, 09:53 AM »

I've had my fill of Microsoft bashing, and probably of MS love-fests as well. But rarer is a good look at where they really have done a good job, and where they are behind. Here's an objective article listing some of Microsoft's greatest accomplishments, and places where technology that they really should have a handle on is sorely lacking.

One of the important wins listed here to Microsoft's credit is Visual Studio, something most of us have some experience with. The article notes that there may be better IDEs that are tuned to a particular purpose, but VS is the best general-purpose solution available. The author also mentions VistaDB, which is a technology I've been watching: a .Net managed-code database (meaning it's highly portable) that's like 99% SQL Server compatible.

One place the author gets it wrong is holding up Outlook as a win. While it may have features that its major competition lacks, there are just so many things wrong with it that I can't believe anyone could award it any honors.

Since everyone loves to pick on Microsoft, I think we can summarize exactly what has caused such a commotion among technology enthusiasts. The areas where Microsoft has been given most reputational grief have been where the bar was raised higher by a third party, or else where a third party has made people scratch their heads and wonder, "Why am I using Microsoft's technology, anyway?" So I'd like to suggest a list of technologies that shame Microsoft.

http://www.jondavis....nd-Shame---2008.aspx

738

Living Room / Re: Supercharge Your Camera with Open-Source CHDK Firmware

« on: April 04, 2008, 01:13 PM »

That is awesome!

I've got a Canon A710IS. It's a great little camera, takes great pictures. But I've wanted to be able to experiment with RAW data and HDR photography (which requires bracketing), neither of which is supported.

But this provides both of these, and about a thousand more.

739

Developer's Corner / Re: Help with databases in Visual Studio C#

« on: April 02, 2008, 02:00 PM »

Was the array a mis-typing, or do you need to rethink the model a bit?

It's a booking system. Student ID, Date to return and bookS. So there is a for loop to write each into the database.

-mediaguycouk (April 02, 2008, 12:39 PM)

If I understand, then, I think you've got your data model wrong. It sound to me like the itemreference should be a child table with a foreign key pointing back to this table. Then your UI would change from being a big entry field to possibly a listbox.

740

Developer's Corner / Re: Help with databases in Visual Studio C#

« on: April 02, 2008, 10:17 AM »

I've created a form that creates a int Staffnumber, string[] itemreference, datetime ReturnDate.
...
I also have a database that has key ID, number Staffnumber, text itemreference, datetime ReturnDate

-mediaguycouk (March 27, 2008, 07:20 AM)

You seem to have a mismatch between the two representations of itemreference. On the form you're showing it as an array of strings, while the table contains a single text column. Was the array a mis-typing, or do you need to rethink the model a bit?

Also, a word to the wise: the TEXT datatype is deprecated in SQL Server. You should be using VARCHAR(MAX) or NVARCHAR(MAX) instead, as TEXT will be removed in a future version.

741

General Software Discussion / Re: Creative Labs

« on: April 01, 2008, 09:31 AM »

I think that there are two problems going on at the same time, and it's clouding the issue. On the issue of IP rights, I don't think that there's any question that Creative has the law on their side.

As a separate issue, if I understand correctly, Creative has sold to people sound cards that are promised to have certain features. These operate OK in XP, but are locked out when the customers upgrade to Vista. Depending on the nature of the advertising that promised those features, the affected customers may have legitimate complaint about fraud on Creative's part.

The fact that Creative (may have) committed fraud does not invalidate their IP rights.

On the other hand, legalities and ethics are two different things. Creative seems to be within their legal rights, but (again, AIUI) their behavior seems strongly unethical. This is ample reason to refuse to use their products. But it's not going to keep the guy who modded the drivers out of court.

742

Living Room / Re: International fame for DonationCoder?

« on: April 01, 2008, 09:00 AM »

A minor international flap occured

-mouser (April 01, 2008, 01:58 AM)

"Flap"! That's the best part of the whole joke!

743

General Software Discussion / Re: Creative Labs

« on: April 01, 2008, 06:57 AM »

I read through a bunch of it. Is there any reply from Creative beyond the first page? The "me too"s got boring, but I'm interesting in seeing if there's any official response.

744

General Software Discussion / New kind of spreadsheet: Resolver One

« on: March 28, 2008, 09:29 AM »

I've been playing a bit with a new kind of spreadsheet product called Resolver One (http://www.resolvers...cts/resolver-one.php). Since DC people are very software-literate, and are frequently interested in alternative approaches, I thought this might be interesting to all.

The thing about Resolver is that it's really a spreadsheet framework with a built-in code generator. You don't need to know this; it's perfectly usable as a regular old spreadsheet. But as you interact with it, it generates Python code that implements the spreadsheet and all its calculations.

This is a little bit like using the form designers in Visual Studio.Net, for example. You can see the code that creates the sheets, sets the cell values and functions, etc. And you can edit that code and the spreadsheet "view" changes dynamically.

Since all of this is Python code, it means that you can have much more sophisticated cell calculations. But it goes much farther than that.

The logic you can implement isn't limited to the calculations that go on in the cell; anything that's happening in the whole spreadsheet is under your control. Old "macros", or the stuff that Excel might allow in VBA code, can all be accomplished through Python. In fact, since it's part of the code implementing the sheet rather than an adjunct to it, you can do much more powerful stuff.

Also, this is all written in .Net -- IronPython to be specific. So you have access to the whole .Net framework. You can use its classes, call their methods. You can also write your own .Net code in C# (or whatever), expose it into the spreadsheet's code, and use your own classes and methods.

Free for non-commercial use, a little bit expensive otherwise.

745

General Software Discussion / Re: Stellent viewers.. what exactly are they?

« on: March 27, 2008, 08:19 PM »

unless the viewers are based on all-new-code, they could still be affected by security flaws associated with the filetypes

-f0dder (March 27, 2008, 07:01 PM)

I think it's a pretty safe guess that they ARE based on a separate code base. It's pretty unlikely, I think, that MS would have given them the Office file loading code (as one example).

746

General Software Discussion / Re: Monster Cables- The World should know!

« on: March 25, 2008, 08:27 PM »

At the risk of going off on a snake-oil tangent...

If you have a hard read error on a hard disk, there's one free, easy remedy that I've seen work on several occasions: take the drive out and put it in the freezer for an hour or two. Then take it out and copy whatever you can before it warms up.

I've heard various explanations: electronics work better cooled, or physical tolerances of moving parts match better at low temperatures, etc. Whatever, I have personally witnessed drives that were physically unreadable give one last effort, enabling desperate workers the chance to get their dying data.

747

Living Room / Re: So how long IS too long for a thread.

« on: March 25, 2008, 02:58 PM »

A thread is too long when people can't be bothered reading the whole thing before jumping in. And the evidence of this is multiple posts making the same point. You can see this all the time on slashdot, or the comment stream of articles at the Volokh Conspiracy.

Is there a need to keep a thread alive and interesting when it's getting long? Why not let it die a respectable death, and let whatever aspects of it remained interesting get fresh life as new threads?

748

Living Room / Re: Restating Godwin's Law

« on: March 24, 2008, 08:16 PM »

Hopefully I didn't present my view too strongly (that's a trait of mine  ).

First, it's not like every thread has been intentionally subverted. It's only in the last few days that I've noticed this.

Second, don't change your habits based solely on my views. I'll never claim that I am representative of a normal human. But maybe other people share this peeve.

Third, if SQLNotes is as powerful and flexible as many of you believe, then certainly a mention of it where it could be useful is appropriate.

My personal view is that when such things enter the discussion, the poster ought to keep in mind how it relates to the thread itself. Of course, I've certainly been guilty of thread hijacking in the past. And really, these discussions would probably be much less interesting if we were regimented about thread topicality. So it's really just a loose rule of thumb, I guess.

749

Living Room / Restating Godwin's Law

« on: March 24, 2008, 03:49 PM »

You may have heard of Godwin's Law http://en.wikipedia....ki/Godwin's_law

As a Usenet discussion grows longer,
the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

Lately on DC I'm thinking that we should reformulate that:

As a DC discussion grows longer,
the probability of a suggestion involving SQL Notes approaches one.

I'm sure it's a great program. And for questions where it may actually be a good application, then by all means make the recommendation. But please, let's avoid hijacking the real discussion into a list of the merits of SQL Notes itself, or worse, into a how-to of finding and installing that software.

There is already an miles-long discussion about SQLNotes. Is there any reason that interested people can't be directed to that thread, or to a particular post therein?

(Not that this is my forum, or that I have any decision-making authority about what goes on here. But I personally think that the trend is interfering with the broader course of discussion on DC)

750

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph

« on: March 24, 2008, 03:08 PM »

How is it that SQLNotes manages to hijack every freakin' thread lately?