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10551

Living Room / Re: Flash Tower Game of the Day: Toytown Tower Defense

« Last post by Renegade on September 23, 2007, 11:15 AM »

The multi-screen thing kind of ruins it. Needs to expand to show more of the play surface.

10552

General Software Discussion / Cracked while installing Linux :)

« Last post by Renegade on September 23, 2007, 10:12 AM »

OK - I finally bought a new box to install Linux on. Went for Suse Enterprise Desktop...

In any event, I'm burning the CDs for the new box on my Windows machine and the software I'm using isn't working... Keeps dying. Strange... Worked for the past 4 CDs...

Well, I reboot - same thing - install new version - same thing - fire up Windows Explorer... It chokes.

Pull out blank CD - it's got a 3cm crack from the middle.

Put in new CD. Everyone's happy...

Still installing Suse though... And very much looking forward to giving it a spin.

I decided to go with Suse (cost $50 for the license - whatever) because Novell sponsors the Mono project, and that's what I'm most interested in.

10553

General Software Discussion / Re: 13 Reasons Why Linux Won't Make it to a Desktop Near You

« Last post by Renegade on September 19, 2007, 09:46 PM »

Thing is I'm not out to bash Linux, people that are happy with it then all the more power to them.
I just think there are too many obstacles to keep it from becoming a viable alternative to Windows and I just don't see that changing anytime soon.

-Cpilot (September 19, 2007, 09:22 PM)

I think that one of the major obstacles - the Linux community itself - will be removed once Mono gains favor among developers. That will really open up Linux to more applications.

For corporate concerns, you can have your C# (or whatever .NET language) applications on both platforms, alleviating much of the expenses associated with training.

Yeah - I'm rooting for Mono in a big way! I'd love to develop for OSX & Linux, but I just can't really justify it much unless I'm reusing efforts spent developing for Windows. I see Mono as the answer there. Go Novell!

10554

General Software Discussion / Re: 13 Reasons Why Linux Won't Make it to a Desktop Near You

« Last post by Renegade on September 19, 2007, 06:48 PM »

I'm not so sure that I'd say "Microsoft is anti-open source". They're 'embracing' it in their own MS way. 

They've got new licenses that are for open source (e.g. MSPL).

That MS is anti-GPL - that's a given. The FSF is a radical organization with little in the way of moderation. The LGPL is the only usable license for anyone that makes their living in software. The whole "support" thing is a sham. Redhat makes nothing compared to any of the other players. The business model just doesn't really hold up (comparatively).

The biggest impediment to consumer adoption of Linux, is the Linux community itself. They're too busy making uber-geek stuff and focusing on functionality. Functionality doesn't matter if nobody can use it.

How do you install a Windows app? Double-click on the installer... Click "Next"... It's stupid simple. Anyone can do it.

How do you install a Linux app? Login to CVS. Download. Compile. Get 50 trillion required components. Compile again... Realize that you've got the wrong versions of dependencies... OK - maybe a bit extreme, but not far off.

You should not have to install half a dozen different software packages because of dependencies. That's the killer for Linux.

MS on the other hand "gets it". The most that you'll ever need to do is install .NET once.

These all are impediments to consumer adoption which drive developers to Windows where things are easier for people. That makes Windows more attractive for people because there are more options and more software offerings.

When Linux is finally able to attract developers en masse to develop for Linux, that will make it more attractive for consumers.

At the moment, other than run a server, you can get a sub-standard office suite for Linux and, well, not much more (comparatively).

The best thing to ever happen to Linux is Novell. They sponsor Mono and that's the single best thing going for Linux.

The .NET way is simply far superior to anything else out there for general programming. The language you use is no longer important. You can just write it then run it, and with Mono, you can do that anywhere.

Mono is really maturing very well and is going to be the most important thing to attract developers to write for Linux. When that happens, you'll see more software offerings for Linux and consequently, more consumer adoption.

Inside of that there, I see your regular Windows developers writing applications in the Windows tradition of making things easy for users. No more "install these 6 dependencies first, and make sure you have the right version." .NET killed DLL Hell. Your average commercial Windows developer knows that users won't tolerate any of that BS. (Something generally missed elsewhere.) Their livelihood depends on making things simple. That's what people want. That's what will attract people to Linux.

The OS is immaterial. It doesn't matter. The usability of the software offerings matters.

People use software to solve problems - NOT for the sake of using software. Those problems are solved easier on Windows at the moment. Mono is going to help turn the tide there as it opens up Linux to developers with a different mindset. i.e. "I'm writing software to help users solve problems." and not "I'm writing software to show to my developer friends how great a coder I am."

 

10555

Living Room / Re: MSN messenger update or DIE

« Last post by Renegade on September 18, 2007, 12:10 PM »

Trillian works for me.

10556

General Software Discussion / Re: MS Forced Update

« Last post by Renegade on September 18, 2007, 12:08 PM »

Doh! Missed that... 

10557

General Software Discussion / Re: Appaholic - Another nice freeware review page

« Last post by Renegade on September 18, 2007, 10:30 AM »

One very good thing to see there...

So I'm scrolling down the page and get to this interesing app - WinDirStat. Tells where your disk space is. Nifty. Let's have a closeup of the screen shot...

WICKED! Looks very cool — Has a wxWidgets / Mac feel to it. Ok - Let's hit the product site...

Screen shot... PUKE! Old Win2K screen shots look like crap.

Lesson - he's actually installed the apps there and probably has some skinning or theme software running. In any event - HE'S USED the software. So many sites or people recommend software without ever using it, which I see as pretty irresponsible.  Good to see someone that gets into it rather than reading a feature list and spitting that back out. (That's the really good thing - it's rare.)

10558

General Software Discussion / MS Forced Update

« Last post by Renegade on September 18, 2007, 10:23 AM »

Microsoft Update recently forced an update even if you explicitly did not want them.

The update was for "Microsoft Update" software to ensure forward compatibility.

Now, I'm sure this will tick off a few people, but I don't really care about it. Sure, they could totally abuse their power and disable things or do bad things, but they didn't, and I don't believe they will. I'm not worried.

Any thoughts on the topic? Is it a bad precedent for MS?

10559

General Software Discussion / Re: Userbar Generator: Cool Freeware

« Last post by Renegade on September 18, 2007, 09:34 AM »

Drat... I was all ready to post my own and the program won't do repeating images! I'd already cropped out the nicest little nipple you'd ever see and... Zane would have loved it!

10560

General Software Discussion / Re: Interview with Nick Longo - What do you want to hear about?

« Last post by Renegade on September 18, 2007, 04:10 AM »

Thanks for those mouser! I updated the list with them this morning.

If anyone else has questions - now's the time to ask! Nick's been around long enough to have more than just a couple golden tidbits.

10561

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for Open Source... So...

« Last post by Renegade on September 17, 2007, 06:32 PM »

I'm not sure it's fair to describe CVS and it's kin as a 'hellish interface', they are not really meant to be tools for non-developers. And even with that lot of OS projects do offer a web based way of browsing the source code for the curious.

Other than that though I too find the lack of details frustrating for some projects. For example I generally stay away from Java apps so hate when I download a cool sounding opensource program to find it needs Java. I have similar irrational dislike of programs that are written in python.

I'm not sure that is what you are getting at though? Are you speaking from an end-user view wanting to know if the program will run on your pc or from a developers stand point wanting to know if there is code in there you may be able to reuse?

-Eóin (September 16, 2007, 06:54 AM)

The few times that I've tried CVS/SVN I just couldn't get things to work. I'd wasted far too much time and just abandoned the idea.

But I'm usually looking as a developer. Not always for code reuse, but often just to get my hands dirty and learn a bit or to customize the app for myself. When I can't find out what language it's written in, that's a real pain. I don't code in Python, so I wouldn't download that. I don't run LAMP servers, so I'm not interested in those kinds of server apps except to peek inside at a couple interesting things.

Bascially, I just wish that a lot of projects would have a system requirements page or section. It would really help in deciding if spending more time there finding out if the product is right for what I need.

10562

General Software Discussion / Interview with Nick Longo - What do you want to hear about?

« Last post by Renegade on September 17, 2007, 09:35 AM »

Hello All,

I've scheduled an interview with Nick Longo for the .NET Preacher Show. You might know him as the former CEO of CoffeeCup software. He recently sold CC to Hans Top - the fellow behind a little piece of software that you might just have heard of, WinZip.

Anyways, Nick is fairly well known and is pretty open, so I'm taking questions and topics from people on what you'd like to hear about. (He used to be quite active in the ASP newsgroups helping people out.)

Please keep in mind that it's a mISV centered show and so questions and topics need to reflect that. I've started to aggregate some of what people are interested in in the .NET Preacher forums here.

You can post here where I'll be checking back or post in the DNP forums at the link above.

So, here's your chance to pick the brain of one of the more successful guys in the software industry!

10563

General Software Discussion / Looking for Open Source... So...

« Last post by Renegade on September 16, 2007, 05:33 AM »

Of course I want to know what platform the software runs on. However, far too often you need to download the code (sometimes through CSV or some other hellish interface) to find out what it's written in and if you can use it.

Now I'm trying to figure out why this is. Why would you post OS software, but neglect to mention what the language and platform is?

Either that or I'm completely blind. Has anyone else run into this? 

Then again, there are projects that wear the platform and language on their sleeve much like they are just trying to evangelize the platform/language.

Any middle ground? 

10564

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommendations for project/schedule management software (besides MS Project)?

« Last post by Renegade on September 16, 2007, 05:29 AM »

Anyone know an open source .NET one?

10565

General Software Discussion / Re: Stay Away From Microsoft VISTA

« Last post by Renegade on September 13, 2007, 11:24 AM »

So is WinME! 

-app103 (September 12, 2007, 07:02 PM)

You're just trolling for trouble there...

10566

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by Renegade on September 13, 2007, 11:22 AM »

JohnFredC,

So what do you recommend as the best choice?

10567

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by Renegade on September 12, 2007, 04:33 AM »

Ok - I'm being a weenie... Still using Windows Explorer...

Years ago I used PowerDesk.

I just haven't had the time to test out different explorer replacements.

A few times I've had to write custom utilities to do things like mass deletions or to find files because Windows Explorer was just too slow for me. Suppose that time would have been better spent trying alternatives...

10568

General Software Discussion / Re: Instant Boss featured on Lifehacker

« Last post by Renegade on September 11, 2007, 06:18 PM »

Excellent! You're going to get a lot of traffic and downloads for it app103! Expect it to last for a while.

A link from Lifehacker is like pure gold!

10569

General Software Discussion / Re: Need a mass email program

« Last post by Renegade on September 10, 2007, 11:15 AM »

KM-L is on offer on Giveawayoftheday today... Might fit the bill...? I've no idea as I've not tried it.

-Darwin (September 09, 2007, 02:42 PM)

Checked it out, but it was only for non-commercial use. Not sure how many people need that kind of software for non-commerical use...

10570

General Software Discussion / Re: Adblock Plus: the nuclear plug-in (nice blog post)

« Last post by Renegade on September 06, 2007, 09:02 AM »

... At the moment there are no reliable way of detecting adblocking software (and really, there never will be) ...

-Dirhael (September 05, 2007, 02:03 PM)

Kind of true and kind of not... It boils down to it all being a game of cat and mouse.

There are ways to defeat adblockers. Especially ones written in script that expose code (trivial at that point).

Just for example with image ads - You request a page - I prioritize how I want to serve it to you - ads first... (this is on a 1 page visit)

You get some content like layout and the like, but no 'real' content until I see that you've asked to have the ad downloaded. When I see there's no request for it, I dump you and serve up a message saying that ads pay for the content of the site. No ads. No site.

Ok - that briefly describes special web server system that's much more than just your average site. However, that kind of thing - the streaming of content - has been done in the past and there's no reason why it can't be done again. But most people can't afford to create that kind of technology as there's a significant amount that you need to know to do it. Knowing how to write a PHP script isn't going to cut it at that level. However, on a more than 1 page visit, this all becomes very easy to do even in script.

Now, you could simply download the content, then display black shapes over the ads to cover them. The system above would think that you're seeing ads. For their CPM ads, they'd still get paid. But they'd never make a dime off of CPC. Soon, the CPM advertisers would drop in favor of CPC. Guess what. The site would never make any money then. They'd drop like flies and your favorite sites would slowly disappear as adblocker software gained popularity.

Be careful what you wish for. If you don't want ads, then you may end up throwing the baby out with the bath water.

But really, getting around ad blockers isn't that hard to do. There are a trillion tricks you can do. But it will always be a game of cat and mouse.

Ok - here's another off the top of my head...

You request a page. I've got ads on it. Instead of directly serving the ad to you, I subsitute in all my own URLs and serve the content from there. Now you can't tell whether or not it's from an ad server. When you click on one of the ads, I simply redirect to the URL from the real ad.

I'm sure others can come up with more cat & mouse games for defeating adblockers.

As for my sites - I don't have any ads on them at all. None. I might change in the future, but I don't need to serve ads. (I really should though as I've got a lot of highly targetted traffic that would be valuable.)


For the whole ad blocking thing, I'm going to have to side with the 'let the ads display' side. I think I've got some pretty good reasons for it - content - GOOD content is expensive to produce. Somebody needs to get paid for that.

For me just to quickly look at a short 400 word article and make minor corrections costs $16.00 to start. That's just for a quick proof & edit and only takes me a few minutes. Now, what will it cost to write and create the content for a major web site? A lot. Graphic designers cost money. Flash animators cost money. Programmers cost money.

When you block their source of income, you're effectively freeloading in a purposefully mischevious way.

Now, some people give out content for free. That's fine and that's their choice. I give a lot of things away for free because I can. Those things I do give away don't contribute to my income. Others give things away for 'free with ads'. I don't think that it's necessarily always honest to take that source of income away.

Then again, there are a lot of sites that I wouldn't have a problem stealing their income source away from them. Warez sites. MFA sites. etc. They're just bottom feeders and I have less than zero respect for them.

I would not want to block ads at a site like http://www.codeproject.com though. I love that site and want it to prosper. It's a truly fantastic site that I get a lot of value from. For me to take away ads there not only hurts them, but hurts me as well.

Well, I suppose I've blathered enough.

10571

General Software Discussion / Re: Stay Away From Microsoft VISTA

« Last post by Renegade on September 06, 2007, 08:05 AM »

I too think that sometimes you have to cut the past loose. I myself always write my programs for unicode which limits me to Win 2k and better. But I think the advantages of unicode and support for multiple languages far out weighs the negatives.

-Eóin (September 06, 2007, 07:59 AM)

Agreed, but in the case you describe, ditching 98/ME only means ditching an audience that would never buy anyways.

Not much in the way of real negatives for ditching 98/ME.

As for "far out weighs the negatives"... I think you meant to write:

far out weighs the negatives...

10572

General Software Discussion / Re: Stay Away From Microsoft VISTA

« Last post by Renegade on September 06, 2007, 07:07 AM »

There is nothing to prevent them from doing so, but in .NET you're not supposed to use the registry for app settings - there is a whole different system for that.

Perfectly illustrates my point about bad programmer habits

-MrCrispy (September 06, 2007, 12:51 AM)

Couldn't agree more.

I went over some of this in a podcast about application settings. Well, part of it was about application settings.

The real kicker is that in .NET it's MUCH MUCH harder to use the registry than to do things properly. That anyone would bother using the registry in .NET is simply amazing to me.

Here's the .NET way (bascially):

SomeSetting = SomeValue;
Settings.Save();

Done.

Edit: Corrected Typo.

10573

General Software Discussion / Re: Data recovery software suggestions?

« Last post by Renegade on August 31, 2007, 04:34 AM »

SpinRite comes highly recommended. I only use it for maintenance... Hoping that I never need to do any data recovery.

10574

General Software Discussion / Re: Need a mass email program

« Last post by Renegade on August 29, 2007, 05:16 PM »

Have a look at www.infacta.com - GroupMail is quite good.

10575

General Software Discussion / Re: Licensing add-on, copy protection software, and one specific question.

« Last post by Renegade on August 27, 2007, 08:01 PM »

Ok - looks like this thread is a bit derailed... so...

It's a serious problem. You're calmly having a few too many, hit a thread that fires you up, and all of a sudden you're posting ludicrous non-sense, but with the aid of careful typing, staring at the screen a bit too long, and a spell checker built into the forum, you've got a coherent mess of insanity that just makes you look like a complete jackass!

I wonder if you could make any money attaching those breathalyzer machines that they use on cars to your computer to stop you from becoming a complete idiot in front of the entire world...