Recent Posts

1676

Living Room / Re: Nice website to impress clueless managers

« Last post by zridling on October 03, 2008, 01:05 PM »

Obvious snark: Can you spot the clueless one in the photo? Yea, I thought so.

1677

Living Room / Nice website to impress clueless managers

« Last post by zridling on October 03, 2008, 01:00 PM »

When they come around, load the Talisker Radar which anyone can view.


Emblazoned clearly on the wall behind them is a screen listing the latest tool versions of such open source security perennials as Ethereal, Nessus, Nmap, Cain and Abel, Metasploit, Snort, and Kismet. The name, date of last release, and current version number of each is prominently displayed.

It can come in handy if you want others to think you're actually monitoring something. 

1678

General Software Discussion / Re: A Special Recognition and Present for DC Member Eric Wong (VideoInPicture

« Last post by zridling on October 03, 2008, 12:26 PM »

Chris Hanscom has long distinguished himself with great programs. Nice to see Eric stepping up. What a great find.

Now Eric, about that Linux software you were going to write....   

1679

General Software Discussion / Re: Circle Dock

« Last post by zridling on October 03, 2008, 12:24 PM »

jd65, worked fine for me. Usually when something like that happens you've got a driver hanging up somewhere. Cancel the process and start over. Or re-download for the heck of it.

1680

General Software Discussion / Re: Programs you can use during a financial meltdown!

« Last post by zridling on October 03, 2008, 12:21 PM »

Hey, make sure you get an old copy of Adobe Photoshop 6 if you're needing to print money!    It was the last version that allowed it.

1681

General Software Discussion / Re: Programs you can use during a financial meltdown!

« Last post by zridling on October 03, 2008, 08:14 AM »

[VideoInPicture]: However, for office programs, I would still pay for Microsoft Office 2007 simply because I think the ribbon interface is vastly superior to what's on offer from the open source community.

I can't dispute the elegance of the ribbon, even though I prefer Lotus Symphony's more space-efficient tabs w/toolbars and sidebar. Jensen Harris is a great guy. See http://blogs.msdn.co...y-of-the-ribbon.aspx if others are curious about the history of the ribbon.
______________________
PS: Eric, your Circle Dock software is really cool!

1682

General Software Discussion / Programs you can use during a financial meltdown!

« Last post by zridling on October 02, 2008, 10:52 PM »

[nod to Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols]


What software can you use when you're out of money?

• Microsoft Office: OpenOffice.
  
• Quicken: GnuCash.
  
• SnagIt: Screenshot Captor.
  
• Outlook: Thunderbird.
  
• SharePoint: Alfresco.
  
• Windows: Linux.

_____________________________
Other suggestions?

1683

Living Room / Re: Nice mention of DonationCoder in Windows Secrets Newsletter

« Last post by zridling on October 02, 2008, 10:15 PM »

I think what Carol mentioned about knowledgeable geeks and "remarkably few flamewars given the large user base and an extremely open and warm atmosphere" is a big part of what makes DC worthwhile.

There are some of us who've been in on Windows since it started (3.1 days or before), and we know how to install it, tweak it, or even fix it when something goes wrong. A few of us even remember the history of how far we've come -- Carol being one of them. But if people are running into jerks around various forums when they're asking for help, maybe they need to pick a better forum.

1684

Living Room / Re: Search Google's index as it was in January 2001!

« Last post by zridling on October 01, 2008, 10:58 AM »

Don't you know governments and businesses will hate these archives!

1685

Living Room / Search Google's index as it was in January 2001!

« Last post by zridling on October 01, 2008, 01:28 AM »

In honor of their 10th birthday, search Google's index as it was in January 2001!

http://www.google.com/search2001.html

_________________________
Wow, that takes me back!

1686

Living Room / Re: The Weeklies: 40

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 09:32 PM »

Very nice, Ehtyar. And since your curiosities are interesting, several articles I would have passed over.

1687

Living Room / Re: Hey, here's a cool website...

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 09:29 PM »

Darn, do I have to register to see what it's about?

1688

Living Room / Re: which operating system you like most....

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 09:27 PM »

[TucknDar]: Looks like I'll be getting a tiny Asus EEE one of these days, and I'll probably put Ubuntu on it, but maybe one of the other n distros are actually better for me?

You lucky dog. Also, seriously consider gOS 3. The bugs are all but out and it has a new UI for netbooks. Going to buy one of these for the wife's work next Spring, so I'll be interested if you'd post a follow-up of your experience, whichever one you choose.

1689

General Software Discussion / Re: PlayOnLinux might be what the Linux world needs to succeed

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 09:19 PM »

Oh, and what a great idea that the PlayOnLinux Download pages list the command line installations, ha! Fast and error-free.

1690

General Software Discussion / Re: PlayOnLinux might be what the Linux world needs to succeed

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 09:16 PM »

Wow, thanks Brandon! That even played an old Windows chess game I bought a few years back.  

____________________________
So true, and thanks for the clarification f0dder. Even Linus himself doesn't think the GPL should apply to everything.

1691

General Software Discussion / Re: PlayOnLinux might be what the Linux world needs to succeed

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 11:33 AM »

Although I don't have any Windows programs I haven't found equal or better alternatives for under Linux, I'll install it, play around, and come back here.
_______________________________________

I am a big fan of Linux - the idea, the operating system itself, the whole "community" system of thought and whatnot... but no one with any power gives a hoot about it. Hardware companies don't support it, Microsoft laughs at it, and the old "Mac OS X is based off UNIX" is getting old. Yet, surprisingly, the OS and community behind it lives on.

Becoming Microsoft-free has been such a relief for me. It's like cleaning out your garage... and car... and basement... and attic... and closets, and finding you have a huge new house. The hardest habit to break was not rebooting out of habit.

"...no one with any power gives a hoot about it"

I presume you mean on the desktop. The Linux Foundation would beg to differ, among many major corporations.

Microsoft laughs at it, and the old "Mac OS X is based off UNIX" is getting old.

Microsoft's biggest competitor in the highly profitable server, web, and SaaS sectors is Linux. Cheaper to buy a service contract than a volume license. And OS X is based on AT&T's proprietary, but free version of Unix, BSD, which under its license allows for proprietary commercial use; that is, for the software released under the license to be incorporated into proprietary commercial products. In case anyone is interested, here's a breakdown of this license and how confusing it can get (and you'll quickly see why Apple chose it!):

http://www.linfo.org/bsdlicense.html

1692

General Software Discussion / Re: FinePrint vs. priPrinter

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 11:11 AM »

Whoa!

1693

Living Room / Re: which operating system you like most....

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 11:10 AM »

[Darwin]: OSX is ridiculously cheap compared to Windows. $129 gets you a DVD with the OS on it. Period. No worrying about multiple different releases (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, etc) at different price points. No "update" releases, etc. Of course, you fork this out every 1 to 3 years for point updates (10.1 => 10.2, etc.), if you want to keep up with the latest and the greatest, but each new release adds features and improves the operating system.

Great point, Darwin, and a great selling point for Apple. I've always said that ANY software sold to consumers should be the "ultimate" version, and then let the user decide which parts not to install.

1694

General Software Discussion / Re: FinePrint vs. priPrinter

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 01:59 AM »

+2 on the discount idea!

1695

Living Room / Re: which operating system you like most....

« Last post by zridling on September 30, 2008, 01:58 AM »

Apple lost 13% of its value with the crash on 9/29. The market for $1000+ computers is shrinking as we speak.

1696

Living Room / [rant]: Internet service at hotels blows chunks!

« Last post by zridling on September 27, 2008, 08:29 PM »

Got to agree with Dave Simmer on this one:



I am 100% against having to pay for internet at hotels. It should be included in the cost of your room. The stupid thing is that most hotels contract out the internet service to third parties, which is probably more expensive than if they had just set it up themselves and offered it for free to their guests. Ironically, most of the time it's the cheaper hotels who offer excellent free internet, whereas the more expensive hotels have shitty paid internet.... This pisses me off but, once I get past my anger, my expectations are running pretty high. If I am paying for the internet, it had better be the best fucking internet access ever, or I'm just going to get enraged.

But, of course, it's not. It never is.

As a result of such horrendously shitty internet service that I'm forced to fucking PAY for, I don't know if I will ever stay at that hotel again. They're potentially losing a good customer because they're too stupid to understand that internet access should be included in the room charge and have free access so guests don't have to put up with technical problems and other bullshit that comes from having a pay-to-use system.... From now on my hotel choices will be made on whether or not they charge for internet.

Maybe if all travelers boycotted hotels with shitty third-party pay-for-use systems, the hotels would eventually see the light and do the right thing for their customers.... And wouldn't that be a pleasant change for once?

1697

Living Room / Re: News Article: Two Arrested For ATM Fraud

« Last post by zridling on September 26, 2008, 08:43 AM »

I did use that page, but the post list is too short on each page. I just jump directly to the boards instead. Wish I had time to do the IRC thing; I'm sure I miss a lot of fun there! 

1698

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by zridling on September 26, 2008, 08:37 AM »

Win7's new taskbar detailed:

http://blogs.msdn.co...g-and-switching.aspx

1699

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by zridling on September 25, 2008, 06:41 AM »

Mary Jo Foley says, "Windows 7's mail, photo-management and movie-maker subsystems applets are all being replaced by optionally installable Windows Live equivalents."

Welcome news in that it removes duplicate apps. (Mary Jo later corrected her "subsystems" word, as many of had no idea that Vista/7 included a movie-maker subsystem!)

Also, I love the detail in this dialog screenshot:

1700

General Software Discussion / WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by zridling on September 25, 2008, 06:29 AM »

This is an ongoing general thread for Windows 7 development discussion. News, rumors, and screenshots are being released daily and it will be fun to get your take on the latest.