Recent Posts

1326

General Software Discussion / Re: McAfee Online Backup - New Web Service

« Last post by Josh on November 22, 2009, 06:36 AM »

My big problem with online backup solutions is this. What happens if THEY lose your data or it gets corrupted on their systems? I have heard of one particular user, trying to locate the article, where a user went to restore his data only to find out that the company providing the backup services had lost his data. They then proceeded to tell him that they are not responsible and that it is ultimately the end users responsibility to back up said data.

Thoughts?

1327

Living Room / Microsoft decries standards grandstanding

« Last post by Josh on November 20, 2009, 07:15 PM »

Los Angeles – Microsoft will be compliant with industry standards in Internet Explorer 9 such as HTML 5, but Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live division, decried the habit of vendors getting ahead of the process.

Browser that launched an industry turns 15

"We are not trying to market things that are not there for developers to use yet," said Sinofsky during an interview with Network World. "Whether they are in IE or not, saying you are standards based but then saying you are the most HTML 5 compliant browser does not make sense because the standard is not [complete] yet. There is a little bit of a time warp going on."

Sinofsky was making reference to Mozilla who is pushing heavily on HTML 5 in development of its Firefox browser. The browser issue is a hot topic given that Microsoft has lost over the past year about 7% market share, according the thecounter.com, as users gave up on IE 7 to go to alternatives such as Firefox and Safari. Microsoft is hoping IE 8 can attack that trend and have IE 9 squash it.

Sinofsky characterized his stand as responsible engineering. "We understand people's desire for interoperability so HTML 5 is a thing that people talk about a lot but it is not even at the standard recommendation phase yet." Microsoft supports some aspects of the standard that are complete now such as storage and cross-site navigation.

Microsoft, however, is working toward full support on the HTML 5 specification, which was one of three advancements Sinofsky highlighted when he talked about IE 9 during his Wednesday keynote address.

The other two were improvements on the Acid 3 test of standards compatibility, where Microsoft now scores 32 out of 100 with its latest prototype browser, and GPU-based rendering, which takes advantage of hardware for tasks such as animation or rendering type.

"These three things will be in IE 9," he said. But he would not provide any delivery dates for the software.

In terms of Acid 3, a test from the Web Standards Project that checks how well a browser follows certain parts of Web standards, Sinofsky admitted there is work to do and said that Microsoft is doing it.

Source

1328

General Software Discussion / Re: Chrome OS preview looks pretty cool

« Last post by Josh on November 20, 2009, 09:52 AM »

It also does not support printing.

1329

General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Josh on November 20, 2009, 08:36 AM »

Nobody mentioned it but Lastpass has a working extension for Chrome as well. 

-markan (November 20, 2009, 08:26 AM)

So does roboform. Both LP and RF support bookmarklets for every browser as well. Roboform has a customized version of chromium, as mentioned above, built for it and LP appears to have finalized a working extension. I alerted roboform of the chrome extension system going live and one should be out shortly as they already had it developed.

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General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Josh on November 20, 2009, 05:01 AM »

I tried lastpass but do not like the idea of being REQUIRED to store my information online. The fact that the service is free also gives lastpass the right to say "This is a free service, we have no responsibility if your data is compromised". Not to say that would happen as they are very proud of their "Host-proof hosting" solution, but I would prefer this be optional.

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General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Josh on November 19, 2009, 06:31 PM »

Widgets extend the browser to the desktop, not the browser itself.

1332

General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Josh on November 19, 2009, 06:15 PM »

Yes, but I prefer one with the latest enhancements from Google. The one from roboform is not updated.

1333

General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Josh on November 19, 2009, 05:57 PM »

Roboform works for chrome? I know they have the bookmarklet but that is NOT the toolbar and requires online access to work.

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General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Josh on November 19, 2009, 05:36 PM »

Opera is the biggest (read: only) player in the mobile browser market. No other player currently has a browser that runs on MORE THAN ONE platform (Keyword: Platform).

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General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Josh on November 19, 2009, 04:49 PM »

...I will be moving to chrome. Firefox is nice but chrome is just far more responsive, quicker to startup, and feels more fluid. Overall, chrome feels great.

-Josh (November 18, 2009, 08:52 AM)

Based on the nightly Linux builds of Chrome, I'll likely move that direction, too. I do the Google Docs, Calendar, email, and Chrome/Linux also does twitter well, too. Simplify my computing and you simplify my life.

-zridling (November 19, 2009, 04:35 PM)

Remember this day, Zaine and I agree on something! ;-)

1336

General Software Discussion / Re: [rant] Seriously? Software pricing is officially nuts

« Last post by Josh on November 18, 2009, 01:19 PM »

Amen. Many users complain when a company switches from originally providing a product as a lifetime license, back when it wasn't very well known, and switch after it takes off and they have to provide more support than was intended. I truly hate when people complain about that. I also dislike lifetime licenses, in practice, as they rarely pan out and the user who bought one thing gets screwed because the company renames a product and sells it as new. Please note: Cases like AnyDVD HD I do NOT CONSIDER a violation to this because the HD addon was in fact an upgrade to the original DVD/CD ONLY product.

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General Software Discussion / Re: [rant] Seriously? Software pricing is officially nuts

« Last post by Josh on November 18, 2009, 11:28 AM »

That and with lifetime licenses they simply add a pro version or a "premium feature" such as usb portability at an extra charge. There are all sorts of ways to rake money out of existing lifetime license holders. Collectorz.com will likely do this soon and start charging a subscription fee to their "fantastic new method of accessing movie information" (Ask Alwin, he'll verify this). Lifetime rarely is and I think it unfair to judge a company who once offered them and changed their mind (as long as they honor existing lifetime license holder). All developers deserve to be compensated and with a lifetime license, you end up spending more to support these users than what they paid originally.

1338

General Software Discussion / Re: [rant] Seriously? Software pricing is officially nuts

« Last post by Josh on November 18, 2009, 09:52 AM »

And this is why I dislike most commercial software products. However, one has to look at whether or not they NEED a lifetime license or if paying for an upgrade WHEN IT IS NEEDED is justifiable. Most users can purchase one program and be happy with the features it provides in that version. I feel that offering upgrades for a year or a set period is reasonable for most purposes. Lifetime licenses, in the eyes of a developer, are not reasonable to support forever. The additional cost involved is to offset the added costs of supporting that user for "a lifetime". Ad Muncher is another program who has raised the cost of lifetime subscriptions. Originally a lifetime license cost 24.95, then they removed that option and went with the major version policy and now they are offering a lifetime license for approximately $100 USD as well as a subscription model on a per year basis.

And this is why people end up SETTLING for freeware. In my usage, as well as  several people I work with, most settle for freeware while admitting that the payware programs are GENERALLY superior in usability and functionality. Yes, I hate the high prices but I will pay for a program if the usability and functionality of the commercial product far exceed that of the freeware product. That doesn't mean I will buy a lifetime license as I generally don't require every upgrade that comes along. I will buy a lifetime license for a product I feel I will use for a long period of time, if offered.

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General Software Discussion / Re: chrome getting extensions makes even more evident why Opera doesn't get it

« Last post by Josh on November 18, 2009, 08:52 AM »

Once the roboform extension is successfully implimented I will be moving to chrome. Firefox is nice but chrome is just far more responsive, quicker to startup, and feels more fluid. I do wish it had more options available to configure but I really don't require that. It operates well out of the box and only a few things need to get added to it for me to be happy:

• Foxclocks substitute (world time zones)
• Roboform
• Tab clicking options

Overall, chrome feels great. I just wish opera would stop trying to tell the users what they should use and let them decide for themselves. I've heard rumors that Apple is going to open up safari in a similar manner which would leave, for all intents and purposes, Opera alone in the realm of major browsers which do not support extensibility. UserJS is nice but it is limited. Oh well.

1340

Developer's Corner / Re: What's your Programming Language?

« Last post by Josh on November 15, 2009, 08:33 AM »

Tux: I have to ask, you have been quite vocal about your preferences of what is/isn't a programming language and the particulars of each. Do you have any examples of your work? Perhaps a sample application you can show?

1341

Official Announcements / Re: DONE: DonationCoder.com Server Maintenance on Nov 13,2009

« Last post by Josh on November 14, 2009, 09:08 AM »

This wouldn't be related to the email bomb us moderators received would it?

1342

Living Room / Re: Netflix might delay new release shipping by 1 month

« Last post by Josh on November 13, 2009, 05:21 AM »

My issue isn't so much about the delay, I could care less as I can always buy the movie in good quality over my PS3. My issue is that netflix is entertaining the idea. Consumers use their service when they cannot afford to buy the new movies or they don't watch them enough. Lets face it, it is far more economically sound to rent movies for 18 bucks a month than shelling 18-25 bucks on a single disc. I already buy the movies I feel justify being bought (even after my first viewing). Often times I even opt for the disc set that has a bonus disc costing me $5 more, or in the case of disney the 3 disc set which gives me a digital copy, a dvd copy, and a blu-ray copy.

My issue is that this just appears to be a way for the movie studios to attempt to grab every last dollar out of the customers that make them what they are rather than letting those who are better off renting as opposed to owning.

And yes, my original post made it sound like I don't have patience and typically I don't when it comes to my job I hate waiting on others so that I can do my job, but for this type of stuff I have no problem waiting. It's the principle I disagree with here.

1343

Living Room / Microsoft openly challenges Vmware in new ad campaign

« Last post by Josh on November 13, 2009, 05:15 AM »

Microsoft vs Apple in the consumer segment is a well known battle and Microsoft has taken charge with it’s I’M A PC campaign which has been successful, unfortunately the same cannot be said about the response by Apple. Anyway, in the corporate sector Microsoft has competition from VMware and here Microsoft has the upper hand, after an open war of words between heads of both companies and Microsoft’s new massive New Efficiency campaign, Microsoft is targeting & challenging VMware openly in a new ad, they’re making no bones about it and are directly calling out VMware as an expensive and not as feature rich solution to Server Virtualization. Point blank stating that their solutions are more cost effective than VMware.

The ad surprised me ‘coz the only the other company I’ve seen so blatantly calling out their competitor’s name is Apple, in their Mac vs PC ads. Here’s the ad:

Source

1344

Living Room / Netflix might delay new release shipping by 1 month

« Last post by Josh on November 12, 2009, 05:11 PM »

First, let me say that if this story holds true, I WILL cancel my subscription. I don't buy DVD's anymore, and I own almost 900 of them. I buy blu-rays for movies that are worth owning in the format and most new movies will be purchased in a downloadable format.

Oh yeah....2000 POSTS!!!

Hollywood studios are sick of you renting their DVDs and want you to start buying them again. The way to trick you into this, they figure, is to withhold the discs from rental companies for a month, forcing you to get all antsy and run out and buy them.

What's frightening for customers is Netflix is willing to go along with this thick-headed plan, PaidContent reports, as long as the company gets its DVDs for half off.

If the deal goes through it will no doubt hurt both parties. Trashing the value of its service, Netflix will lose subscribers, and the studios won't see the sales bump they're hoping for since a chunk of otherwise honest would-be renters will either opt for piracy or just sit out the 30 days to rent the movies.

Netflix customers, will you be more likely to buy a DVD or Blu-ray if you're not allowed to rent it until a month after it's released? Will you stick with Netflix even if it stops offering new releases in a timely manner?

Source

1345

General Software Discussion / Re: 10 things to do after installing Linux

« Last post by Josh on November 09, 2009, 04:33 AM »

True but due to Windows security almost 70% of your software is compromised unless you're a power user. :p

-Paul Keith (November 08, 2009, 09:43 PM)

Please tell me this is sarcasm.

1346

Living Room / Re: OPENOFFICEMOUSE

« Last post by Josh on November 08, 2009, 10:35 AM »

I wonder if the source code behind each button will be released and whether the user will be prompted if they want to install MS Office or StarOffice upon plugging it in? I mean, Microsoft has to do it ;-)

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General Software Discussion / Re: 10 things to do after installing Linux

« Last post by Josh on November 08, 2009, 07:33 AM »

That would make....10E^19+1 distros then right?

1348

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows vs. Mac: I'm starting to change.

« Last post by Josh on November 07, 2009, 08:17 PM »

I've never once had to backup my registry, minus individual keys for program settings that I want saved before I format. I too wonder what types of programs you are installing that cause such a hassle upon uninstall.

1349

Best Dialog Extender / Re: Revisiting (XfilesDialog, File-Ex, Direct Folders)

« Last post by Josh on November 07, 2009, 11:32 AM »

Does anyone know of a good program like this for Windows 7?

1350

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Josh on November 06, 2009, 05:42 PM »

Arbitrary 3.xGB limit? It's a limit of 32 bit processors, not windows....