Recent Posts

2376

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review: Sumotori (Sumo Wrestling Game)

« Last post by zridling on April 24, 2007, 10:07 AM »

OMG, that is freakin hilarious — great find cthorpe!

2377

General Software Discussion / Using AutoHotkey to auto-download and update programs

« Last post by zridling on April 24, 2007, 10:02 AM »

noutters over in the XYplorer Forum posted this cool AutoHotkey script. Modify it to suit your own upgrade needs!
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This AutoHotkey script will download the lastest beta of XYplorer and upgrade it on your machine. Enjoy!

;-------------------Start of script-------------------------
#SingleInstance,Force
#Persistent
SetBatchLines,-1

UrlDownloadToFile, http://www.xyplorer....0_beta_noinstall.zip, c:\temp.zip
MsgBox,1,,Kill XYplorer process and upgrade?
IfMsgBox,Cancel
Return
IfWinExist, XYplorer
WinKill

; The following line should be changed according to the program you use to unzip your files
RunWait, E:\_Utilities\7za.exe e -y -o"C:\Program Files\XYplorer\" c:\temp.zip
;Uncomment and change the path of UPX if you want to compress the files in the XYplorer directory
;RunWait, c:\upx.exe -9 -f *.*,C:\Program Files\XYplorer

FileDelete, c:\temp.zip
run, C:\Program Files\XYplorer\XYplorer.exe
ExitApp

Return
;-------------------End of script-------------------------

2378

General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9

« Last post by zridling on April 24, 2007, 09:48 AM »

[DonL]: If DOpus is Godzilla then XYplorer is T. Rex — it always depends what suits you best for your current task.

Oh man, that's the best quote I've seen in a long time. ha!! There are some categories that have a lot of good software choices, and this is definitely one of them. These two programs are distinguished, however. I've got to use that quote in future reviews from now on, thanks Don.

2379

Developer's Corner / What do you do to learning a new programming language?

« Last post by zridling on April 24, 2007, 09:40 AM »

Bob Sutor states in this post on how he set about learning a new programming language:

When I actively coded from around 1973 to 1999, I loved writing text editors. I didn’t write them to toss out any commercial market leader like SlickEdit or CodeWright, I did it to learn new programming languages and to experiment with data structures. I really love text editors and sometimes it takes a lot of personal strength to not start whipping one up in these days of bigger editing systems like Eclipse and much more modest ones like GEdit.... (emphasis mine)
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Is there a project you use to learn a new language, or do you just dive right in? I'm curious.

2380

Developer's Corner / Re: The Best Introductory Language

« Last post by zridling on April 24, 2007, 09:27 AM »

What the hell's wrong with you people? Fortran's not good enough for you? I took the course in 1980 and I've never needed anything since!*



*I haven't used it since either. So stop smirking.

2381

Official Announcements / Re: Power Supply on my PC just exploded: i'll be mostly offline this week crying

« Last post by zridling on April 24, 2007, 07:11 AM »

That's really good advice. I should keep an extra power supply around because THIS SAME CRAP has happened to me twice. I thought my computer had imploded, but it was only the power supply. You'd be surprised how tough motherboards are. Each time I thought the whole system was gone. Like you perhaps, there are so many other broken things around the house that need fixing first that I can't afford — like the plumbing!! Hang in there, man.

2382

General Software Discussion / StarOffice licenses for half price through May 7th

« Last post by zridling on April 23, 2007, 11:49 PM »

As part of Sun's 25th Anniversary Sale, StarOffice suite can be purchased for half price through May 7th for $34.95. All the other special offers can be found here.

(I was wanting to get that UltraSPARC workstation, but I'll need a few more donations!) 

2383

General Software Discussion / Re: RANT: High Software Prices!

« Last post by zridling on April 23, 2007, 02:19 AM »

[app103]: "Can you name 1 program that has been released in the last 5 years that is actually so good that it is worth having at any price (or even worth pirating)?"

Now that depends on how you use your computer. In the last five years? Hmmm. For me, it'd be UltraEdit and XYplorer, although not sure either qualifies for the 5-year limit. So how about VMware Workstation? That's worth more than $189 cost for a lot of people who use it and need it in today's OS environment. (But then VMware has probably been around a long time, too.)

AutoHotkey!

2384

General Software Discussion / Re: To cut or not to cut - The lousy MS Office ribbon

« Last post by zridling on April 23, 2007, 01:57 AM »

MrCrispy I beg to differ. The problem with the ribbon is that it wasn't researched using Microsoft users, only a few Microsoft Office developers. No user called for a big, fat, steaming pile of icons that seem fit for a 1st grader (no insult intended) rather than a computer user. Microsoft Office is the de facto office suite software, and the "problem" they described was that users weren't using enough of Office's features. However, the ribbon isn't the answer. Brian Jones has let it slip a few times that the origin of the ribbon was to lock down Office's interface; to prevent broad customizations by users because it made tech support's job more difficult.

Think about that. Who's doing tech support for the entire world these days? Not someone in Redmond, but "Susan" or "Mark" in India.

I had a contract in 2006 to introduce Office 2007 by beta-testing it among twelve small businesses, and not a single one of them voted to move to it by the end of the year. They all voted to stay with Office 2003 or migrate to OpenOffice 2.x. On the contrary, new users were perplexed on where to find things. Experienced users even more so, because the new UI is just inefficient — if you can type. If you can't type more than a few words a minute, then keeping one hand on the mouse with the ribbon is a really, really slow way to create documents. It's not change people are afraid of, it's screwing up a good thing (as Vista did with so many UI elements) such as Word 2007's keyboard shortcuts!

2385

Developer's Corner / Re: Online Marketing for Beginners

« Last post by zridling on April 23, 2007, 01:41 AM »

I figure writing software is the hard part. But the really hard part comes with all the documentation, marketing, a decent website presentation, and 9,999 other things it requires. Not understanding the bigger picture handicaps a lot of potentially good software.

2386

General Software Discussion / Re: RANT: High Software Prices!

« Last post by zridling on April 22, 2007, 01:10 AM »

[Nudel]: Open Office is one of the examples of what I mentioned where a free/open program was created and funded by a company with an agenda. (In this case, Sun, wanting to eat into Microsoft's Office market share. Sure, people can now contribute changes but the suite wouldn't exist at all if Sun hadn't paid full-time people to write Star Office.)
________________________________________________
Not sure where you got this. First, Microsoft gave Sun $150 million and then another $1.6 billion just to use Java in Windows, among other patents from 2002-04. Second, StarOffice could never threaten MS Office since its open source replicate, OpenOffice is far more prevalent on desktops than StarOffice. Third, Sun didn't create StarOffice, they bought the company and re-engineered a good bit of the code through most of the 1990s.

Nudel, you seem to have a hostility toward open source software. Is there a reason why? Is it because of open standards (e.g,. OASIS OpenDocument (ODF) format) perhaps? which:

• Promote interoperability among products made by different vendors and software providers.
  
• Drive competition in the marketplace thereby increasing product innovation and quality while lowering prices.
  
• Provide customers with a greater choice of applications and providers.
  
• Level the playing field, giving no clear advantage to any player unless they happen to provide a superior product at a lower cost, regardless of their current marketshare.

Clearly no one would possibly want any of these things!  While I agree many open source apps lack the polish of an Adobe app, but understand that most open source software is targeted to do one (or a few) thing really well and just work. Function takes priority over form. Linux distros like Ubuntu, Freespire, Xandros, and Fedora Core have overcome this for the most part. OpenOffice might not exist without Sun releasing it under the GPL, but StarOffice would. As you suggest, instead of people proudly ripping off big commercial software despite the issue of affordability, it's better instead to [conscientiously] use an open source alternative.

2387

Living Room / Re: Funny small software company names

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 06:31 AM »

Great find, APP!

2388

Living Room / Re: Why Linux is better

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 06:28 AM »

A sound distinction, gjehle! Thanks for the jEdit tip, Armando. I can't get the fonts to render well, but I like the editor. (Even after changing some of the settings in the text area of the Global settings.)

2389

Living Room / Re: 14 Surefire Ways to Annoy Users

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 06:10 AM »

• Require a mega-download* just to update your software from 7.8.5.0 to 7.8.5.1.  (Nero!!)

2390

Living Room / Re: 14 Surefire Ways to Annoy Users

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 06:08 AM »

• Automatically check that stupid "Install Yahoo Toolbar" option/step during installation. (Just having that crap in an installation pisses on my weed.)

2391

Living Room / Re: Latest Apple Mac vs PC Commercial: PCs suck because of all the software choices

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 06:03 AM »

I loaded and used OS X and even used it for a couple of weeks. Apparently I was the only PC person on the planet distinctly NOT impressed. Oh well. My gripe with the commercials is that they lump all PC users in the same box. HELLO! Not everyone buys their PC off the shelf or from Dell/HP/Sony, who do install a buttload of crapware on them. I've either built or had the guy on the corner custom build my PCs since the early 90s.

So by lumping "PCs" all in the same group is like saying, "Conservatives all believe....." Apple is doing nothing more than making a straw man argument.

2392

Living Room / Re: Funny small software company names

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 05:30 AM »

Holy crap, do you know how many copies you can sell on that name alone?!

2393

Living Room / Re: Funny small software company names

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 04:07 AM »

Also, I forgot that one of our DC members created Shitware.net, a great site for railing away at various programs.

2394

Living Room / Re: Funny small software company names

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 04:05 AM »

There you go! Probably garner a Boing-Boing or LifeHacker post if you did.

2395

General Software Discussion / Re: RANT: High Software Prices!

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 04:01 AM »

QUICK TANGENT: By the way, Carol, I love your link to Richard Dawkins' awesome site. He's made a few videos (available on YouTube). He's also an active partner at Edge.org.

2396

General Software Discussion / Re: RANT: High Software Prices!

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 03:51 AM »

Ah, that is hilarious, and there's already a great website to aid such a license!
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As for Microsoft's $3 OS/Office offer, the goal is to kill off open source at its roots. Microsoft is seeing that the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative is taking off, and soon, millions of kids will be using a computer for the first time, and their first computer is going to be running Sugar, a very attractive software UI built on top of a Red Hat Fedora-based Linux variant. Asia, Russia, South America, and Africa aren't as addicted to Windows as we are (Western Europe and the US). And in all these countries — especially their governments — there's a real desire not to get locked-in and tied down by Microsoft's software and file formats.

Linux is inexpensive and it works. The last time I checked, Linux, OpenOffice, Opera/Firefox, and Thunderbird were all still cheaper than what Microsoft is dumping [er, selling] for $3! Ubuntu has twice as many users as OS X, but many people are awakening to the realization that they don't need Windows for their computing anymore, and thus you'll continue to see Microsoft pull out every stop to get as many people as possible to keep using it, especially Office (which implies you'll use a Windows OS).

2397

Living Room / Re: Funny small software company names

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 02:55 AM »

Here's another way to create a website:
http://www.noonebelo...heremorethanyou.com/

2398

Living Room / Funny small software company names

« Last post by zridling on April 21, 2007, 02:37 AM »

One of the greatest names for a software business I've ever seen, and one which mouser can appreciate!

One Man and a Cat Software
http://www.onecatweb...tatic/ocfilemgr2.htm

2399

General Software Discussion / Re: RANT: High Software Prices!

« Last post by zridling on April 18, 2007, 11:31 PM »

[cranioscopical]: I don't enjoy paying that but nobody makes me. If I want it, that's what it costs.

Ah yes, and that's the problem. We say that about medical care, drugs, gasoline, electricity, macaroni & cheese, and just about every necessary commodity these days. I don't have to have those items, but my lifestyle would be radically different. By purchasing their [overpriced] software, I've earned the right to gripe about it! If they don't like hearing it, then sell it cheaper. No one makes them sell Photoshop for $1800, but if they want to, they invite global piracy. It's a karma thing. It makes a very good argument in favor of open source software — use it, support it, evangelize it, pay it forward. Then let the Adobes and the Microsofts spend their time suing each other in court over the patent-infringement-of-the-day.
________________________________________________
[JeffK]: "How do forum members cope when software is dearer than they want to pay but has some features they really like, and a whole heap of functionality and power which is superfluous? Might be a subject for a new thread but what eg are the substitutes for eg Photoshop."

This exactly describes my love/hate relationship with the CorelDRAW suite. Been using it since version 3 (mid-90s/1994?) and have a crapload of files over the years in CDR format that are difficult to convert without losing masks, filters, etc. I now use other software, but whatever I use, it's always missing that one feature I used all the time. The answer is you work like heck to discover workarounds, even if it means using two or more graphics programs to accomplish the same tasks. So between Inkscape, GIMP, and Photofiltre Studio I get just about everything I need done, and in better, more universal formats, which has been a real boon.

2400

General Software Discussion / Re: opera 9.2 is out

« Last post by zridling on April 18, 2007, 10:58 PM »

db90h, do you have JavaScript disabled by any chance? Gmail, Google Docs, etc. doesn't work without them. Check:

(CTRL+F12) Preferences > Advanced Tab > Content > Enable JavaScript checkbox > JavaScript Options button.

It should work then. Josh you make the point well — that browsers are very personal, i.e., you have to make them work with you and not fight you. For Firefox users, extensions let them do as much as they want or need to customize it. LOVED Maxthon and used it for years. But with IE7, they removed the one keyboard shortcut I used all the time — ALT+X — to lock the tab. Really wish Opera had that. You can lock the tab, but it's not the same behavior. Once they went to 2.0 beta, I moved on despite the elegance of its UI and options.