Messages

176

Living Room / Re: Android tablets to rival iPad

« on: February 09, 2011, 11:16 PM »

Both the Motorola Xoom and the Toshiba Tablet run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) according to their web sites.  Since the Xoom has been announced by Verizon for delivery before the end of this month, it would seem that Honeycomb is nearly ready to go.

-xtabber (February 09, 2011, 04:32 PM)

True, but as you note, neither tablet is actually out yet. I'm REALLY curious to see what Dell and Archos and other tablet makers do when Android 3.0 comes out. I expect Dell will provide FW updates to 3.0 to their exiting line; I expect Archos will cap their Gen8 (Current line) tablets at 2.x and release 3.0 on their Gen8 Gen9 devices in the fall. I WISH they'd update the Archos 5IT to Froyo (or even better Android 3.0!) but I doubt it will ever happen. I love mine running 1.6. My A43IT running 2.21 is decent but falls short of expectations/claims...

EDIT: typo  

177

Living Room / Re: Android tablets to rival iPad

« on: February 09, 2011, 04:11 PM »

I've been rather obsessively following tablet development - I wouldn't get too bent out of shape before Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) comes out. The 1.x and 2.x releases are SMARTPHONE OS's, so on tablets they're not optimal.

178

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: February 01, 2011, 09:02 AM »

It has to be re-stated: my position is that Siber Systems are entirely within their rights to change their licensing policy. That said, the way in which they went about it has left a bad taste in my mouth.

FWIW, I wrote a detailed note about why I was dropping Roboform when I uninstalled it (the uninstaller takes you to a webpage and your are prompted to fill out a survey). I left my name and e-mail and have never heard a word from them. Perhaps I should write to them directly, as Josh did...

LastPass works fine for me, but I do find that I miss Roboform occasionally. Mostly this comes down to the GUI - I'm "relearning" the ropes. I've yet to find a site that it won't work with, though.

179

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: January 21, 2011, 01:06 PM »

I hear ya, Superboyac. I feel much the same way. However, I've installed LastPass, downgraded to Roboform 6 to export my data (and note that I uninstalled Roboform 7 first but Robofrom 6 Pro was automatically activated, which I thought rather nice), and imported my data into LastPass. Looks good so far - haven't found any mistakes. I love Roboform and this breaks my heart a bit, but for now I'm trialing lastPass and will switch completely if there are no problems. As I've alredy noted, I paid for the upgrade to Roboform Everywhere and, courtesy of having bought two additional Roboform 6 Pro licenses in their last Bits du Jour offer (a few weeks before 7 was released), upgraded to Roboform 7 Desktop as well. So, with the apparent exception of RoboformPass2Go, I'm good to go for a year with Roboform. Doesn't alter the fact that I'm not going to condone this kind of treatment. Being able to afford (and appreciate the rationale behind) paid upgrades is one thing, but I still want to be treated with a modicum of respect and I don't feel that this is the case with Siber Systems.

180

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: January 21, 2011, 11:12 AM »

The last straw for me is that, having paid the $9.95 for Roboform Everywhere in a numb-nutted, touchy-feely, what the heck moment, I am now no longer able to use RoboformPass2Go on my thumbdrives - the two licenses that I have purchased no longer activate. I'm looking at LastPass now (thank you, Carol, for your comments about it on the Betanews thread).

I'll be expunging my system of both Roboform and GoodSync if LastPass functions as promised.

181

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« on: January 18, 2011, 01:29 AM »

Currently reading Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory series. I'm currently on the second book (first book of the Great War Trilogy) American Front. It's an alternate history series that starts with the Confederacy winning the American Civil War and seceeding from the Union resulting in an ongoing power struggle in North America. I'm about a third of the way through the American Front which sees the USA allied with Germany and the CSA with Britain and France in the First World War...

182

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« on: January 17, 2011, 07:52 AM »

Being fiction, and going off his own memory, I guess it would be hard to recall every single event...

-Stephen66515 (January 15, 2011, 03:51 PM)

Do you mean it's fiction or non-fiction? Or is it a fictionalization of real events? I read Andy McNabb's first couple of books and enjoyed them, but never got the impression that they were factual.

-Darwin (January 15, 2011, 09:09 PM)

Well, according to him, everything in the book actually happened, so i am somewhat inclined to believe him, although some of the stuff in the book makes you wonder whether he would be allowed to publish under the Secrets Act.

Who knows 

And yeah, I meant non-fiction...always get that the wrong way around (non-fiction being based on actual events)

-Stephen66515 (January 16, 2011, 09:37 AM)

Heh, heh - no worries! I still get "secular" and "non-secular" backwards (but don't often have occasion to use either in any context, mind you).

183

Living Room / Re: Forum / Thread Etiquette

« on: January 17, 2011, 07:51 AM »

If I had a dime for every time I completely re-wrote much of my post, sometimes post- um... post.  

Also, if I had 17 cents for every time I wrote a response and then DIDN'T post because I either (A) figured out halfway through that I wasn't going to come across like I wanted to, (B) what I was writing was not going to further the topic, or (C) my snark gland was particularly over-active that day and I had the good sense to just skip it...  
That said, some days I feel great need to express some righteous 'geek rage' and I'm just grateful that the people and atmosphere here are as resilient as they are convivial.

I think much of the general tone of this place can be traced back to when this site was young; Mouser's presence and tact kind of set a mood to the forum that serendipitiously continued as like-minded and -tempered individuals showed up looking for a place to hang out.

Thanks Mouser, nice place you got here!  

-Edvard (January 16, 2011, 12:26 PM)

Awesome, Edvard - you've summed my feelings/experiences up perfectly  

184

Living Room / Re: Forum / Thread Etiquette

« on: January 15, 2011, 09:17 PM »

BTW, one of my all time favourite smileys:

185

Living Room / Re: Forum / Thread Etiquette

« on: January 15, 2011, 09:14 PM »

Long time members are expected to embrace the calming zen spirit of Cody the Bird.

-mouser (January 15, 2011, 07:27 PM)

So… you're saying, um, what…  give people the bird?

-cranioscopical (January 15, 2011, 08:43 PM)

Overall, I'd say that DC is remarkably civil when you consider the size of the membership here (even if only 1% of all members participate in the forum there would be over 2000 unique personalities and worldviews here). I still say "bravo" to the whole community - fantastic, civil place to hang out 

186

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« on: January 15, 2011, 09:09 PM »

Being fiction, and going off his own memory, I guess it would be hard to recall every single event...

-Stephen66515 (January 15, 2011, 03:51 PM)

Do you mean it's fiction or non-fiction? Or is it a fictionalization of real events? I read Andy McNabb's first couple of books and enjoyed them, but never got the impression that they were factual.

187

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« on: January 13, 2011, 01:48 PM »

Anyway, vvlastimil, curiosity kills the cat and I'm a terminal case: what is your product, or at least the category of product?

Inquiring minds want to know. I want to know!

188

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« on: January 13, 2011, 01:46 PM »

The obligation of a US Corporation is to maximize profit for the shareholder.

Most companies interpret this obligation as do anything you can get away with to make money and WTF are ethics anyway (or the law come to that).

You only have to look at the way the oil companies behave around the world to see how much influence law and ethics have on their behaviour.

-Carol Haynes (January 13, 2011, 01:25 PM)

The ultimate extension of this mind-set is the example of the Ford Pinto debacle in the early 70's. The damned things blew up when they were in a rear-end collision (ie they got rear-ended). Ford knew about the design flaw but the bean counters felt it would be more cost effective to deal with the law suits than it would be to re-call, re-tool, and repair.

189

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« on: January 13, 2011, 11:58 AM »

vlastimil - I wouldn't bother with that kind of offer. On the surface, it shows confidence in your product. In reality it is a move that will simply be abused. If you're detemrined to "do something" (Do-ism isn't necessarily a good route to follow, but I digress), offer an extended money-back guarantee. Some developers offer 90 day no questions asked returns, for example. You might want to avoid "no questions asked" if you are offering the kind of product that could be purchased used extensively for a week and then won't be needed again for months or years as you leave yourself open to abuse... I'm rambling.

Bottom line: my gut tells me that you should NOT follow through with your idea to offer rebates to customers who purchase your product but then decide that someone else offers a similar product with a more attractive feature set/better price, etc.

190

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« on: January 13, 2011, 11:41 AM »

So, ultimately, don't worry about the other guy offering a discount. Counter it with the same kind of offer to his users if you want, but work on making your application the best it can be and service to your customers the best it can be, because in the end, that's what really counts.

-app103 (January 13, 2011, 11:11 AM)

Excellent point, app. This is my view/advice as well.

191

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: January 12, 2011, 02:29 PM »

@Carol - sorry, I posted a truncated version of the missive I had intended. I am not particularly tied to GoodSync but was pointing out that SiberSystems is also looking to renege on their (presumed) lifetime licensing for it as well. Anyway, thank you for the pointer to SyncBack - I'll take a look 

192

General Software Discussion / Re: Let's try to create our own suite for internet security.

« on: January 12, 2011, 11:27 AM »

Also, just because a solution is expensive doesn't mean it's bad.  So once again, i'd like to reiterate: don't disregard a product just because it isn't free.

-superboyac (January 12, 2011, 10:54 AM)

Of course, the converse is true as well: just because something is free doesn't mean it's bad!

I'm running MSE 2.0 not because it's free but because it just works and all of the paid alternatives that I have tried bog down my system (caveat: only current paid alternative I've tried in the past year is Vipre). Regarding the firewall, I'm behind a wi-fi router and am running pretty much EXACTLY f0dder's recommendation: MSE 2.x, Windows 7 Firewall, and Ad-Muncher. Haven't had a problem yet.

193

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« on: January 12, 2011, 11:23 AM »

Ah, yes I see. AFAICT, the first option as shown in Timns screenshot should allow you to opt out completely. As noted, I haven't opted out and don't intend to, but I can confirm that the option is present in MSE 2.0.

194

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« on: January 12, 2011, 11:15 AM »

Cut down on the paranoia.

This is Microsoft - if anything dubious was being sent back to them, the whole internet would be in uproar with pitchforks and torches. And the bits and pieces sent back to them helps a lot in discovering new pieces of malware as well as keeping false positives low.

I'm not a fan of sending back data, but this is one of the things I haven't opted out of.

-f0dder (January 12, 2011, 11:06 AM)

That's reasonable.  Still, if it's available, I'll opt out.  I'll try it again, but can someone confirm the opt thing?

-superboyac (January 12, 2011, 11:13 AM)

   Not to be dense, but what sort of confirmation do you need? Are you seeking someone who HAS opted out to verify that doing so REALLY results in no data being sent back to the MS mother ship?

195

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« on: January 12, 2011, 11:13 AM »

Agree with f0dder - I haven't opted out, either. To my mind, security is one of the areas in which sharing information is valid and useful, particularly when dealing with reputable companies.

196

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« on: January 12, 2011, 10:44 AM »

I was going to recommend MSE as well...

Superboyac - in MSE 2.0 you can opt out of SpyNet - your data is not sent to MS if  you select "I do not want to join Spynet" in Settings.

197

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: January 12, 2011, 08:25 AM »

BTW in a fit of magnanimous stupidity, and in the spirit of "supporting development", at some point early in the beta testing cycle I bought a license for Goodsync Professional. Two issues arise from this: first, when I bought the license I was under the impression that I was getting lifetime updates upgrades (whether this was explicitly stated somewhere or whether it was a response to a "we haven't charged for upgrades in years" blog or forum post, I can't recall) and second, are they going to pull the license switching stunt with it as well? Also to note, with the beta a freebie version of Goodsync was included with the install and was sufficient to synchronize Roboform databases between machines/drives/and the cloud, use of Roboform Everywhere now requires a paid installation of Goodsync (though I've just failed to find the reference, so I may be out to lunch).

-Darwin (December 18, 2010, 08:44 AM)

Update: I was just prompted to update my GoodSync installation and noted that there is a beta for GoodSync 9 available. Note this at the bottom of the page:

Pricing
* Ver 9 beta is free for ver 8 users.
* When ver 9 comes out as official release, there will be lower upgrade price for existing users.

198

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« on: January 06, 2011, 10:57 AM »

How many people on DC are ambidextrous, I wonder? Random curiosity...

199

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« on: January 06, 2011, 07:36 AM »

You could always hack your PC to accept input from a Kinect...  

200

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« on: January 04, 2011, 07:38 AM »

I have the MX310 as my main mouse - because it's symmetrical - so can be used left & right.

-tomos (January 04, 2011, 07:08 AM)

I mothballed my MS v6000 wireless mouse in favour of an HP Elite Desktop (wireless) mouse for this reason. It's also a LOT lighter and easier to push around than the MS unit and, finally, the scroll wheel "clicks" properly (ie functions as a middle button) whereas the last two MS mice that I have used have been really flaky. Pity, really, because the v6000 is only a few months old and I really liked the programmable buttons... However, I rarely used them beyond the occasional "gee whiz, neato, I can do this with my mouse" moment.