Messages

876

Living Room / Re: Is the new Zune upgrade really an upgrade?

« on: November 15, 2007, 06:33 PM »

Just to be clear: you're talking about the software upgrade?  Not the whole new Zune 2 gadget, right?

-Ralf Maximus (November 15, 2007, 05:53 PM)

Well, I'm talking about it from the perspective of someone upgrading an 1Gen device, but the same things apply, mostly. AFAIK, the only additional benefits to the 2Gen device are

• Nifty controller thing
• Ability to play H.264 video
• No poopy brown color

On the other hand, as I noted, the new device has no equalizer.

So either as an upgrade or a new purchase, I'm having trouble seeing it as an upgrade. More of a sidegrade.

877

Living Room / Is the new Zune upgrade really an upgrade?

« on: November 15, 2007, 03:08 PM »

I don't get why every seems happy about the Zune "upgrade" this week. From my perspective, the tradeoffs achieve parity at best. Here's how I see the score:

Desktop software
I'm really horribly underwhelmed here. Sure, part of this is a bad feeling due to the mangling of my catalog (80% of the content was erased from my device, the collection was mangled, and no matter what I do, I seem to be stuck with a cover image from Megadeth applied to Dan Levinson & His Canary Cottage Dance Orchestra). To me the Genre and Year lists were more important than the Album lists, I'm going to miss them. They destroyed one playlist by deleting its tracks from the device, and I can't build it back up because it was generated from the Year view.

Advances

• Supports WiFi sync (which I don't use anyway)
• Ummm... I really can't think of anything else

Declines

• No more listing by Genre
• No more listing by Year
• Mangle your catalog on upgrade
  
  • Trash cover art
  • Put copies of random tracks into random albums (Ozzy under Johnny Cash? Hmmm)
  • Song ratings are left behind
• Can't see actual sync status, just a percentage

Device software
Device Firmware
The interface is more visually attractive, but it seems like they sacrificed function for form. There's still a huge missed opportunity that must be a marketing decision, that the device's file system will not be available to the desktop. This is terrible, and for what reason?

Advances

• Wifi sync that I don't use
• Slightly loosened restrictions on music sharing (that I don't use)
• Go to artist option (I think that's new), but why not other Goto's?

Declines

• Album view contains less information -- artist isn't shown unless the album is selected.
• For non-upgraders, EQ has been removed

I may have missed something in those brief lists, but if so, it's not something that's important to me.

Judging from these things that I've noticed, it seems far from clear that the situation is an improvement, more like just a ... change.

If they could give me back the desktop Genre and Year lists I would be less dissatisfied, but even so, they can't give back the 3 hours I wasted putting my collection back in order after they mangled it.

878

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: EverNote - Free today at GAOTD

« on: November 15, 2007, 11:23 AM »

The important thing is to run the activate.exe file during the 24 hour period.

-Darwin (November 15, 2007, 08:53 AM)

Actually, I think they also tweak the installer itself to "phone home" to check that the offer is still active.

Regarding the app itself, I dislike the "toilet paper" model.

I have been using Surfulater, but I've been having problems with the files corrupting when syncing with my flash drive (a single database is composed of multiple files, and if I forget to close the app, they don't all copy, so they get out of sync).

Evernote, on the other hand, appears to have its own built-in sync feature.

It built in OCR looks pretty cool (I think that's been mentioned around here before).

Support for Google desktop search is cool, but I use Copernic.

879

Developer's Corner / Re: Serena to offer free apps prototyping tool

« on: November 14, 2007, 04:55 PM »

I think you're jumping to conclusions.

An agile process (at least any sane one) doesn't mean that you shouldn't document the system.

It's true that there are zealots who claim that the code (or, more to the point, the test harnesses) are the documentation; if I ever need to work with any of these people, I will shoot either myself or them. (Sorry, I'm in a grumpy mood right now with a developer arguing that she wants to use DateTime.MaxValue to indicate null)

Even once you're done with coding the whole system, having a document that describes the whole thing is invaluable. Right now I'm working on a project that's replacing a 10-year-old system that's grown like a cancer, and one of the biggest problems we have is trying to figure out exactly what the old system really is.

Anyway, the point of agile development is built things incrementally, constantly correcting course as you go. Why can't the documentation get this same treatment you're giving the code? As your codebase is evolving, keep iterating the documentation as well.

That seems to me perfectly consistent with the agile philosophy, and something that this tool ought to be able to handle.

880

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« on: November 12, 2007, 06:19 PM »

File date will be imported into the database (currently only file name and path are imported)

-PPLandry (November 12, 2007, 05:57 PM)

If you want this feature to be really useful, I'd suggest allowing for the import of EXIF/IPTC data from image formats that support tagging. (I'm pretty sure there's code on CodeProject.com for this, to save you some time)

881

Living Room / Re: Technology Myths

« on: November 12, 2007, 08:59 AM »

Zaine: linux is hard to learn, if you want to do more than use the preinstalled stuff. ...

And it's a big fat lie that you never need to defrag on linux

-f0dder (November 12, 2007, 06:30 AM)

I agree with both statements.

Regarding defragging, I was once involved in a discussion with someone who wanted to defrag his flash drive. At either extreme of this debate (flash drives? not unix?) it's clear that people don't actually understand what defragging is.

882

General Software Discussion / Re: Maybe Vista doesn't suck?

« on: November 09, 2007, 01:16 PM »

So, you blame Microsoft for the fact that your stuff doesn't work? This, my friend, is where Microsoft gets screwed over. They are forced to retain backward compatibility with the sacrifice of not being able to move forward in technology. ... You say it is harder for device manufacturers to make these new drivers, I again don't agree here. Microsoft has had API's available since Vista entered beta status. That is well over a years time to make drivers which will operate on Vista. Yes, the model changed, but the time existed and was given for manufacturers to update their code.

-Josh (November 09, 2007, 12:19 PM)

The implications of your response that MS must be free to move forward have profound effects on the rest of the industry. In particular, in order to open this door for Microsoft, you should realize that you're closing it for hardware manufacturers.

In the past, the hardware manufacturers were happily buzzing along creating new hardware and tweaking their unified drivers to handle it. Suddenly Microsoft rewrites the plot of the story. Now the H/W guys must go back to re-write new drivers to ensure backwards compatibility with their own, old products. And since they've only got finite resources, this must mean that they aren't able to invest as much into development of new products, which is the only way they have of making revenue.

So what are you going to do when you're in the H/W manufacturer's shoes? Are you going to pull all of your developers off of new projects so they can go back and build Vista drivers for old products that aren't even on store shelves anymore? Or are you going to acknowledge that some previous customers won't be happy, but if you want to stay in business you've got to continue the revenue stream by selling the products you're currently working on?

I don't see how you can overlook the cost that MS's own decisions are costing the hardware developers, in saying that MS has the right to move forward without looking back.

883

General Software Discussion / Re: Perfect Software?

« on: November 09, 2007, 01:06 PM »

Wow - Lotus 1-2-3.  Used it, and WordPerfect 5.1, for many a year.  And, Oh my I am going to show my age here: I used - and actually trained people - in Visicalc prior to Lotus 1-2-3!!

-J-Mac (November 09, 2007, 12:30 PM)

Interestingly, I think you've got the counterexample there as well. It appears to me that WP completely did itself in by rushing to expand features (and platform, viz Windows and OS/2), yielding an application that was unusable (and I mean literally unusable: there were so many problems that it just wasn't possible to be productive with it). IIRC, that was around version 6.

Actually, I wasn't particularly a Lotus 1-2-3 fan. I very much liked the spreadsheet in Enable's OA suite (bias alert: I worked for the company!)

Anyway, my point was that part of the value of an application is how well it works in the context it's used. This context changes as technology and platform progress, so what seems "just right" today is likely to be less good in a couple of years. And this isn't just because competitors have newer features, but completely on its own, it may be less usable.

Just like my old LP records: I loved them 25 years ago, and they haven't gotten any worse, but I don't listen to them anymore.

884

General Software Discussion / Re: Maybe Vista doesn't suck?

« on: November 09, 2007, 12:01 PM »

Of course the driver problems are Microsoft's fault -- and no one else's. Ten or fifteen years ago, finding drivers was a huge problem. Recently Microsoft took a giant leap in fixing this, primarily through the "unified driver" model, that allowed a manufacturer to deploy drivers to all variants of their hardware in a single package. This made it easier for us to find drivers, and it made it easier for manufacturers to support their hardware.

In Vista, Microsoft made the conscious decision to do away with the unified driver model. In one stroke, all of our old drivers are invalidated, through no fault of the manufacturers. So MS has broken the old drivers, and made it harder for new ones to be produced (or found by us users). Who are you going to blame.

On top of that, one of the primary reasons for MS's decision was (AIUI) the complete end-to-end DRM support. These problems are the direct result of the DRM obsession.

I have no reason to believe that DRM doesn't work, other than the reports of it monopolizing the CPU when media is playing. But this is precisely what I'm afraid of. When I'm at my computer I have a task to do, and listening to music or having a little video window in the corner is just a nice-to-have. But MS has implemented a design that transforms my current wastage of a few percent of CPU cycles to something that materially interferes* with the work I'm doing. And that's just not acceptable.

* Or so I've been told; I haven't tried it myself.

885

General Software Discussion / Re: A rant about how I finally ditched iTunes... :D

« on: November 09, 2007, 10:48 AM »

I found a way to finally get rid of the "ipod" service and not have it starting again ever

-Dirhael (November 09, 2007, 10:04 AM)

Kudos to you!

I'm in the same boat. I don't actually use iTunes, but I need it for some DRM tracks. Specifically, I buy audiobooks from Audible.com, but these come with DRM, and can't go onto my MP3 player. The first thing I do is run them through Tunebite (http://tunebite.com/...emove_drm/index.html), which works in concert with iTunes to convert the tracks into MP3 (or ogg or whatever).

So once a month, when I get my monthly Audible fix, I need to fire up iTunes. The other 4 weeks of the month it's just sitting there consuming my computer resources. Remind me again why people love Apple so much?

886

Living Room / Re: Genuinely stupid laws - that still APPLY !!

« on: November 08, 2007, 11:04 AM »

I bumped into this blog posting today:

All Laws are Stupid, But Some Laws are Stupider Than Others
The votes are in. The Top 10 most stupid British laws:

    1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27 percent)

    5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (four percent)

My personal favorites:

    3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (six percent)

    6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants,
    including in a policeman's helmet (four percent)

I'm totally seeking a pregnant clerk in a tropical fish store in Liverpool to date. Are you out there?

http://www.tothepeop...t-some-laws-are.html

887

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« on: November 08, 2007, 10:59 AM »

A day that will live in infamy:
https://www.donation...30.msg84876#msg84876


(I love Snag-It)

888

General Software Discussion / Re: Perfect Software?

« on: November 08, 2007, 10:47 AM »

The sad part is, I believe they could still make their recurring revenue from improving their existing stuff ...

The world would embrace something like XP 2008, where the core product remains the same but additional drivers are included, the Aero interface is an option, and loads of cute new themes (shudder) are thrown in for fun.  Charge $99 for the upgrade and people will pay.

-Ralf Maximus (November 08, 2007, 10:21 AM)

I dunno about that. People have come to believe (probably correctly) that the additional drivers are theirs by right, that they shouldn't be charged for it. Likewise, you can find cute new themes for free out on the Intertubes.

It's funny, though, that when referring to software versions we still generally use the nomenclature "version 3.0" -- but how often is there anything other than a "0" to the right of the decimal -- particularly in major products. Think, for example, of recent discussions around these parts concerning Paint Shop Pro versions X1 and X2 -- there's no thought of revision numbers in there.

The exception to that rule, of course, is open source software, and this is a pet peeve of mine. One way that you can tell something is open source is that it perpetually has a "0" in front: "0.8.7.1". The authors never have the confidence to say "I think this is a good baseline; let's bless that and work from there." Years ago I mentioned this to the guy responsible for POPFile (one of the best spam filters out there), and he assured me that he had a clear roadmap to get to v 1.0. Years later, they're still stuck in the 0.9's. And of course, this leads to either the software languishing, or feature creep as they asymptotically approach their v1.

889

General Software Discussion / Re: Perfect Software?

« on: November 07, 2007, 09:05 AM »

A couple of examples come to mind. I'm not sure if it was a conscious decision on their part, but the fact was that these applications languished, and are now really historical footnotes.

• PKZip - While this did everything it aimed to very well, a "bloated" Windows app (WinZip) eventually cleaned its clock despite using the same underlying algorithms.
• Lotus 1-2-3 - Languished in the version 2 realm for ages, waiting for others (particularly Microsoft Excel) to catch up. Eventually a version 3 was released, but it was too little, too late. At one time "Lotus" was synonymous with spreadsheet, but now that name seems to carry the connotation of "Notes".

In both of these cases, while the app itself may have been well-suited to the platform it targeted, the evolution of platforms (particularly the triumph of Windows over DOS) sealed its fate.

A similar story is in progress for the super-organizer Zoot, but I hope that the sequel comes out before the story ends. This is still a 16-bit app, and has been passed by by the need for rich text and volumes of data beyond what its 16-bit space can handle. It's been tweaked continually, but hasn't had a major revision in several years. Luckily, there is now a public beta for a 32-bit port, so hopefully it will fight its way back (it deserves it).

This all seems to imply that even when an application is "just right", the developer can't just rest on his laurels. The evolution of the platform underneath him will eventually kill his product just as surely as poor quality might.

(edit: fix formatting)

890

Living Room / Re: Technology Myths

« on: November 06, 2007, 06:19 PM »

imho you need some database layer abstraction, at least you certainly don't want to sprinkle your code with SQL strings all over.

-f0dder (November 06, 2007, 05:29 PM)

Of course I want a (one, singular) data abstraction layer. But I don't know why I would want a second one so that I'd have the opportunity (say) rephrase all of my stored proc calls to work through Oracle.

You might not want to switch DB provider once the system has launched, but during development it can be handy to be able to test different providers

-f0dder (November 06, 2007, 05:29 PM)

I don't think so. I know the target is SQL Server, and I have another SQL Server available to me for development; why in the world would I want to develop against something different, and risk getting to production only discover we'd made a mistake?

BTW, I definitely don't want SQL strings all over. In fact, my rule is NO SQL strings anywhere -- everything goes through a stored proc (although I haven't quite figured out how to square this with LINQ, if indeed I decide to use it).

891

General Software Discussion / Re: Paint Shop Pro X2 - installation from hell ...

« on: November 06, 2007, 04:29 PM »

Mmmmm...check out the blonde on the left. 

-Nighted (November 06, 2007, 04:26 PM)

You mean the one that Darwin "fat-ified"? 

892

General Software Discussion / Re: Which MP3 tagger do you use?

« on: November 06, 2007, 12:48 PM »

OK, with MP3tag being so popular... Can you tell me if it understands the AlbumArtist tag? A big part of the reason I use different tools is that support for this tag is still uncommon.

Some of my favorite things to listen to in the car are compilations like "Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box" (http://www.rhino.com...l.lasso?Number=78239) and "Have A Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box" (http://www.rhino.com...l.lasso?Number=72919). If you can't assign an AlbumArtist of "Various" to these, then the content of the disc gets fragmented by the library software so you can't listen to it all as one unit (without creating playlists).

(BTW, that "Have A Nice Decade" set is really cool. Between the tracks it's got several news clips, reporting on 70s events like Watergate, Patty Hearst, "Jesus Freaks", etc. It really gives some cool context to the music.)

893

General Software Discussion / Re: Paint Shop Pro X2 - installation from hell ...

« on: November 06, 2007, 11:09 AM »

For me it's the startup and operational speed.

-Darwin (November 06, 2007, 11:01 AM)

Hmmm. While the operational speed is fine on my system, the startup speed seems interminable.

The HDR merge thing looks cool. Unfortunately, my current camera doesn't do bracketing shots, so I can't really use it.

Are the "makeover" tools worthwhile?

894

Living Room / Re: Technology Myths

« on: November 06, 2007, 11:03 AM »

As a manager of software development, one of my greatest annoyances is the myth that platform independence matters.

To be fair, I'm sure that there are some situations where it does. Companies like Adobe with products that straddle platforms are obvious examples. However, in most cases, and particularly with internal enterprise software, this is completely irrelevant.

I get developers out of college that are all enthusiastic about adding an extra layer to the database access, just in case we decide to change from SQL Server to Oracle. The thing is we will never make that change (and if we did, making the necessary changes to data access would be the smallest of the problems). And by adding this layer, they add unnecessary complexity to the system. And that makes the system both more fragile and harder to maintain all at the same time.

While treading carefully to try to avoid flaming, I think your list of myths reveals another set of "counter-myths". For example, saying that "Windows operating system is good at provacy than linux or mac" is a myth implies that Windows is worse at protecting our privacy. In fact, I'd say that either OS is about equal in providing a platform in which we can protect our privacy, if it's important to us. The problem isn't so much with the OS as with the users (not personally, but in their willingness to make it a priority)

Also, you state this "myth": "To learn C++,you should learn C first otherwise you dont understand the C++". Actually, C++ is a proper superset of C (with a couple of tiny exceptions), so if you don't understand C, you won't be able to understand C++. That said, though, learning C qua C is not the way to learn C++ because, while the two may share syntax, they absolutely do NOT share the same mode of thought. So this myth may be true, depending on what aspect you're getting at.

895

General Software Discussion / Re: Paint Shop Pro X2 - installation from hell ...

« on: November 06, 2007, 10:51 AM »

I'm a long-time PSP user, and currently at XI version. Can you tell me what's in X2 to make it worth upgrading?

896

General Software Discussion / Re: A rant about how I finally ditched iTunes... :D

« on: November 06, 2007, 07:59 AM »

That's insane!

-Darwin (November 06, 2007, 07:56 AM)

It sure is. 

Note that I love the Zune device itself. It beats the pants off the RCA Lyra that I replaced, or the no-name prior to that. But the PC software seems to focus more on constraining the user from getting into trouble, than from enabling his to work as he likes. (Much like the philosophy of Vista, I'm given to understand).

897

General Software Discussion / Re: A rant about how I finally ditched iTunes... :D

« on: November 06, 2007, 07:43 AM »

Will Zune work with WMP 11

-Darwin (November 05, 2007, 08:43 PM)

Nope. Believe it or not, Microsoft's own device is incompatible with their flagship media player. What's more, it's incompatible with the DRM on stuff that may have been purchased through MSN.

So I use MediaMonkey as my player and music library on the PC, and the Zune software, weighting in at over 600MB RAM, is nothing but an obese synchronization utility.

898

General Software Discussion / Re: A rant about how I finally ditched iTunes... :D

« on: November 05, 2007, 08:29 PM »

As annoying as iTunes may be, it doesn't hold a candle to Zune's awfulness. What's worse, Zune owners can only use the Zune software for managing their devices -- it's a completely closed interface to other software. A week after installing it, and I haven't discovered any way to do the most basic operations like, say, editing ID3 tags info for a track.

899

General Software Discussion / Re: Which MP3 tagger do you use?

« on: November 05, 2007, 08:23 PM »

Wow, Thinking about this, I've got a whole slew of tools I've used, depending on the need.

First, for bulk operations I use Zortam (http://www.zortam.com) or The Godfather (http://mahopa.de/tgf/) or MediaMonkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com).

• Zortam - Good automation for downloading images and lyrics.
• Godfather - Good parsing of tags from filenames.
• MediaMonkey - Only thing I can find that handles bulk files and understand AlbumArtist tag. Also, using sripting, is good for straightening out your Genres.

For a major overhaul, you may find MusicIP (http://www.MusicIP.com) helpful. They've got some kind of magic algorithm that identifies tracks from the audio itself rather than tags or filenames, and then assigns the tags properly. The accuracy is stunning. Also, they're pretty good for generating random but coherent playlists.

Finally, for a repairing a quick error, I use a shell extension called MP3-info (http://www.mutschler.de/mp3ext). This adds a page to the file properties dialog for Windows Explorer, so you don't need to start up a special application. It also gives you different icons for .MP3 files, depending on its bitrate.

900

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« on: October 31, 2007, 04:15 PM »

Sorry to continue to hijack this thread for Outlook purposes.

I've argued with Carol in the past defending certain aspects of Outlook. However, I have to say that in the big picture I'm still quite dissatisfied with the product. I don't have the corruption problems that she has, but I've got others.

I have between 2-3 GB of messages stored from quite a long time period. With all of this data, its response is really getting sluggish.

And the sluggishness really reveals that even after this time, Outlook's threading model sucks. I really don't get why it needs to freeze the entire user interface when it's checking for new mail. When it's downloading new mail, I can't even scroll down a message that I'm reading at the time. And using the "Send to email" menu from other applications causes a message window to pop up that is modal over the Outlook application, so I can't read any other messages until I've finished writing that one.

I'm pretty fed up with Outlook, but the thing is, nothing else fills its shoes. It's shocking that for email and PIM functions, two types of apps that have been around since the dinosaurs, there's still nothing really good.

One project that looked promising to me is Chandler (http://chandlerproject.org/), but this is taking so long to deliver that I fear that we'll have evolved right along with the dinosaurs before it ever gets to a 1.0 release.