Messages

326

Living Room / Re: Xara X1 Massive discount (expires 28th September)

« on: October 21, 2006, 07:26 AM »

You can send an e-mail to [email protected] with "remove" in the subject line (no quotes) and it should remove you.

Done.   

327

Living Room / Re: Xara X1 Massive discount (expires 28th September)

« on: October 20, 2006, 06:24 AM »

Don't recall seeing one, but I'll look more closely the next time I get an ad from them.

328

Living Room / Re: Xara X1 Massive discount (expires 28th September)

« on: October 20, 2006, 05:31 AM »

I've been getting a steady stream of promotional e-mails from Xara after taking advantage of the XaraX1 discount.  Starting to get annoying.

329

General Software Discussion / Re: Internet Explorer 7.0 Final is out

« on: October 19, 2006, 04:36 PM »

For a person who happily uses Firefox 99% of the time, is there any compelling reason to install IE7? 

330

General Software Discussion / Re: New Winzip will open rar archives

« on: October 19, 2006, 01:29 PM »

I've used v8 for years.  At least through that version, you never had to actually pay if you didn't want to (I did).  An unregistered copy would simply open with a reminder screen.

I like the program, always have.

331

Living Room / Solid Potato Salad

« on: October 19, 2006, 07:16 AM »

Three young women from the forties, giving new meaning to the word "flexible".  Really unbelievable.

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=HSnowOgaFEY

332

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: BootItNG on sale tomorrow at www.bitsdujour.com

« on: October 11, 2006, 12:18 AM »

I use BootItNG for creating images and manipulating partitions in XP.  Over a two-year period, it's been totally reliable.  There are excellent videos on the website to walk you through installation and use.

Support is outstanding, with same-day answers to questions being the norm (TeraByte newsgroup).

333

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« on: September 27, 2006, 08:54 AM »

jv16 PowerTools (registry management)
UltraEdit (long-time favorite text editor, becoming more buggy and bloated)
Classic Clipboard (clipboard extender)
Directory Opus (file manager)
Courier (email)
Foxit Reader (lightweight pdf reader)

334

Living Room / Re: Xara X1 Massive discount (expires 28th September)

« on: September 25, 2006, 05:22 PM »

Thanks a bunch for that one Carol.  I opted for the download version, it's already installed and looks very nice.  If you and allen think that highly of it, I'm sold already.

One of the few programs I've run across that actually wouldn't install until I closed everything else (firewall, anti-virus, etc.)

335

General Software Discussion / Re: Michael Rainey's really cool ME (Machining) Software

« on: September 09, 2006, 06:36 AM »

Whatever you've been smoking - I want some!   

336

Living Room / Re: Morals, free market, and what you can expect when you pay for software

« on: September 08, 2006, 01:25 PM »

I think if you have a reasonable opportunity to evaluate a program, then choose to buy it because it does what you need (or close enough), it's yours and it's fair.  I don't see that it's up to a commercial developer to make sure that he/she duplicates every feature found in a similar free program.  There are plenty of other ways to add value - support, speed, ease of use, documentation.

I think we're all smart enough to know when a program works well, and what it's worth compared to the competition.

337

Living Room / Re: Looking to get a job at Microsoft? This site MIGHT help you get ready.

« on: September 08, 2006, 07:50 AM »

All that brainpower, and they produced Bob, ME, Clippy, and The Ribbon (that one for Zaine)?

338

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Frustrations

« on: September 03, 2006, 11:34 AM »

What's the name of a really good media player?  What makes it so good?

339

Living Room / Re: Is Cybersex Cheating?

« on: September 02, 2006, 01:56 PM »

If it takes the place of regular sex with a loved one (spouse, g/f b/f, significant other, etc), then yes. I've seen this occur and ruin many marriages where the guy gets involved not only in cybersex, but in pornography and no longer tends to the needs of his significant other.

Could you say the same thing about masturbation?

340

General Software Discussion / Re: Michael Rainey's really cool ME (Machining) Software

« on: September 02, 2006, 12:41 PM »

Zaine, you make a man blush.


My path to machining and programming went something like this:

1. Geography grad student in California - finally hits wall "learning more and more about less and less".  Drops out (1975).

2. No geography jobs, desperate, starts Civil Service job as industrial analyst at Navy aircraft overhaul facility.  Main duties are carrying clipboard and trying not to spill coffee.

3. Sees notice for machinist apprentice program.  Signs up - discards clipboard and tie, keeps coffee cup (1976).  Loves it.

4. Wife gets Masters, finds job in North Carolina, husband dutifully follows (1978).  Zaine understands.

5. Spends year building house out in the sticks.

6. No computer experience, but gets job as CNC Programmer in local machine shop run by visionary redneck who already has eight CNC machines (computer numerical control).  Picks it up quickly and becomes pretty damn good (1980).  Happy as a clam with 8" floppies and hundred-pound computer.

7. Buys first computer - Atari ST - and plays around with GFA Basic and Pascal (1985).  Discovers that programming is fun!

8. Gets tired of constantly having to research machining data and make manual calculations, decides to try writing a helper program.  Uses Quick C on an IBM XT.  Program works fine, three people even pay for it (1993).  Whoa!

9. Tries VB6, not happy.  Bumps into IBasic Standard, feels instant connection.  Writes several freeware programs.  Many users, few thanks, no more freeware (2004).

10.  Writes commercial programs using IBasic Professional.  Sells enough to stay motivated.  Life is good (2005).

11.  IBasic sold by developer (Paul Turley - certified genius, always broke).  New owner disappears, language is now user-supported.  Not good.  Paul creates new language - Aurora - something of a C/C++ hybrid. 

12.  Have a look at Aurora - http://www.ionicwind.com

12.  Story proves that somebody with no math background or natural programming talent can produce something useful.

341

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Frustrations

« on: August 31, 2006, 08:35 AM »

don't get me started on apps that toss a hundred or more entries to the Registry!

The last time I uninstalled Symantec (NAV), it left behind more than a thousand entries, plus a number of folders and files.

342

General Software Discussion / Re: Ribbon vs. Toolbar, round 2

« on: August 31, 2006, 06:52 AM »

Keep on doing what you do Zaine, we all benefit from it.

I use UltraEdit for writing, paste into Word 97 for any needed formatting.  Don't need no stinking ribbons!

343

General Software Discussion / Re: Ribbon vs. Toolbar, round 2

« on: August 29, 2006, 07:06 AM »

Funny how working with something can be so different from watching it work.

http://www.thegsblog.com/?p=76

344

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« on: August 22, 2006, 06:28 AM »

Icons and passwords both drive me crazy, especially when I have to recognize or remember yet another one.

The Start Menu (Classic) and a good file manager - who could ask for more?

345

General Software Discussion / Re: The Great Software List Site Gets a Big Update

« on: August 22, 2006, 06:14 AM »

One of my top-ten favorite sites.  Amazing women.  And, oh yeah, software reviews too!

346

General Software Discussion / Re: Scot Finnie finally decides on an antivirus solution...

« on: August 18, 2006, 06:30 AM »

I used the free version of Zone Alarm for years, but finally got tired of the bugs introduced with each new release.  If you still use it, don't install a new version for a month or two after release - give Zone Labs a chance to fix the inevitable bloopers.

Having said that, all the reviews I've read over the past year say that the ZoneAlarm Pro Suite is very solid.

347

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« on: August 17, 2006, 06:26 AM »

(3) Configuration and portability — XYplorer's ability to save and carry its configuration anywhere is extremely handy.

Zaine,

You can export all your Directory Opus settings to a file which can be imported into another installation.  Am I missing something?

348

General Software Discussion / Free Borland IDE's Coming Soon?

« on: August 15, 2006, 01:12 PM »

From a Borland press release:

"The Turbo product set includes Turbo Delphi® for Win32, Turbo Delphi for .NET®, Turbo C++® and Turbo C#®. Each version will be available in two editions: Turbo Explorer, a free downloadable version, and Turbo Professional, a version priced less than $500 which is designed to accept thousands of available third-party tools, components and plug-ins. All Turbo editions enable developers to rapidly build high performance GUI, Database, Web, and Web Services applications for Microsoft Windows. Turbo Delphi for .NET and Turbo C# support the Microsoft .NET and ASP.NET platforms. More information is available at www.turboexplorer.com."

349

Living Room / Re: Steve ballmer sells Windows 1.0

« on: August 13, 2006, 04:00 PM »

From Microsoft vet Larry Osterman:

"One of these days, I'll write about the Steve Ballmer Windows 1.0 demo at the Winter '85 company meeting (that's the one where he did the "how much would you pay for this" fake ad that's on the internet). "

http://blogs.msdn.co...06/07/31/684327.aspx



Fake, but funny.

350

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« on: August 13, 2006, 12:51 PM »

All I have is the recycle bin.

Sorry.