Recent Posts

4101

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2007, 05:22 PM »

Thanks for that.

4102

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2007, 10:18 AM »

I haven't used VirtualBox - what are people's experience with it? Is it reasonably mature and stable? Sorry I don't really want to install it unless I know it is in good shape first 

How does networking work in VirtualBox - can you just connect via your normal network connection (as in VMware) ?

4103

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2007, 08:56 AM »

Thanks that's useful - now the biggy - is it worth $99 to upgrade? I think their upgrade policy stinks a bit really - you have to upgrade EACH VERSION to get upgrade price. Version 4 -> 6 is not allowed, it is treated as a new purchase. So as I own version 5 I have to decide is it worth upgrading to version 6 or when version 7 is released do I start again.

Alternatively do I just stick with version 5 which does what I want (I'm not using Vista at all at the moment) or do I move to Virtual CP (which I didn't especially like when I tried it when it was first released as a freebie - it just isn't as slick or easy to use as VMWare IMHO)?

4104

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2007, 07:54 AM »

OS X on VMWare is kind of difficult to do. Firstly it would be illegal as it would break most of the Mac OS X licensing agreemens and also as I understand it you need to have copies of the ROMs from an Apple machine - and I am not sure how you would use those in VMWare.

nontroppo thank you for your long and detailed background and pros and cons of the Mac. That is a really useful summary. It is good to see some genuine advantages that I wasn't aware of and aren't immediately apparent when you use a Mac. Having said that I think a lot of the 'insurmountable' differences are fairly specialised for the average user. I am sure ligatures are important if you are into publishing - but I'd guess the majority of users are pretty much unaware of what ligatures are.

I've sampled everything on PC desperately, but I've yet to find anything of the same quality. Windows abounds with apps with buttons everywhere, 10 different toolbars, scattered feature sets. As a writer, I get more bang for the buck, my writing has even improved, because the tools I have are better for the job.

I agree with you here - I really hate the plethora of unlabelled and cyptic buttons etc. you see littering most windows apps. Having said that I really hate the way the Mac deals with menus. I suppose you get used to it if you use it all the time but I think right clicking in a window for a context menu is a much more intutive and user firendly way of doing things (incidentally MS nicked this idea, along with the Task Bar, from Acorn Risc OS which for me had huge potential - but they were pushed out of the market because they were too small and aimed at a niche market).

And yet I cannot blithely dismiss my current platform as being no better ***IMO*** than what I've used for the previous 12 years. I have less lock-ups, slowdowns, un-reproducible shutdown freezes, less registry tweaking, less spyware battling. I have software which I couldn't find in Windows (and I can run XP in a VM when I need it, intermingling apps as if they were the same OS), while still benefiting from core unique OS X services which I value. More bang for the buck? For me, it clearly is.

In all fairness I don't experience those problems under Windows XP. OK I have had occasional glitches to deal with - but usually it is my fault for installing some crappy bit of software that screws things up! As for malware - that is just a function of scale. The Mac community seem to pretty glib about this but there have been malware issues with MacOS X and they will only grow in time. Having said that it is true that Windows is the prime target but only because it is ubiquitous.

The VMWare point is a good one - but that just goes to show the unfairness of the Apple approach. OK it is up to Apple if they want to spread OS X beyond its own hardware but the nature of what they do with their OS means that they have a MUCH easier time than Linux and Windows developers to ensure compatibility. Apart from the obvious reason I have never understood the protectionist stance with OS X and now it uses Intel architecture I would have thought it was in Apple's interest to release OS X to a wider audience. It is precisely the reaon why Windows is so dominant and is the one fundamentally inspired decision that MS/IBM made all those years ago with MS DOS - love of hate Gates as you like but the decision to license DOS was truly brilliant.

If you get more bang for buck then that is great - I still stand by my argument that the majority of users won't

4105

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2007, 07:34 AM »

Question - if VMware Server and can create and run multiple VMS is free why does anyone now buy VMware Workstation.

Are there any advantages to the Workstation version?

4106

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2007, 06:54 AM »

No way to move (or rebuild) the entire index on alternate location. It would be useful for some reasons. (CDS can do this.)

In EOD you can put the index where you like (at least in the latest build you can) - I moved it to a separate folder on a completely different drive. You can't 'move' it though it has to be rebuilt.

Some files with accented characters in theirs filename display "no preview available". They are properly found and listed in results and can be opened normally. But only the same file with accented characters removed can be previewed. The strange fact is that this doesn't apply to Outlook mail attachments; they are all properly displayed regardless of theirs filenames.

That explains a lot!

EOD doesn't mark multiple searched term with different colors

Seems to for me - but this seems to have killed exact phrase match.

The index is not updated as it should be. It updates properly on Outlook, but not on the files.

That's what I figured - except I seem to have probl;ems with Outlook updating properly too.


I think on balance I am going to remove Exalead.

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that there is no decent solution (even paid for at a reasonable price) which satisfies my need for Outlook indexing multiple PST files without having them load in my Outlook profile every time I use Outlook.

4107

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2007, 06:38 AM »

Do I understand correctly that a combination of VMware Player and www.easyvmx.com is effectively equivalent to VMware Desktop? If so I can't see any real reason for me to upgrade tot he latest version of Desktop. (Does anyone know how the versions of Player and Desktop compare - I preusume they stay in tandem so that people can generate new VM machines with any version of Desktop).

Can you install the VM tools (which normally you do once you have installed an OS in a VM in the desktop edition) - or is that one of the limitations?

I haven't tried VMware Player - how do things like disk and network configurations work?

By the way if you can create VM machines with WMware Server - isn't that free too these days?

4108

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 21, 2007, 05:10 AM »

I reported a couple of bugs to Exalead - so far only an automated response.

If that is how they respond to a potential customer I don't think it will be staying long ...

The biggest bug is that you can't look for exact phrases. It says put exact phrases in double quotes "like this" but unfortunately it still turns up ALL occurrences of any words in the phrase (in the is case every "like " and "this").

There is an "Advanced Search" option but all it does is take the search details and format it into a search string to use in the normal search box - so exact phrase "like this" entered without quotes just has the quotes added.

The other problem is I don't really believe the indexing is complete or fully updated. I set up a new Outlook profile with all my PST files included and rebuilt the search index based on the new profile - trouble is at least one PST file seems to have been omitted from indexing! I rebuilt the index again and it was indexed that time. Strange but I don't feel confident that indexes are being fully maintained.

If they can get the problems ironed out I quite like the program.

4109

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 20, 2007, 07:55 AM »

Nobody goes rabbit hunting with nuclear missiles.

Love it - that should be quote of the day somewhere!

You are comparing apples with oranges and coming to the conclusion that oranges are more zesty. *I* bought a cheap laptop before my Macbook, an Acer Aspire 1520, and it was plenty fast (same spec as Thinkpad twice its price). But boy, can you tell a difference in build between it and my older IBM Thinkpad or the Macbook (flaky not only in physical build, but hardware reliability). If you need a laptop at a bargain bin price, go for the £300 pound one. But don't claim they are "identical".

I take your point - but for the purposes required the cheap machine will be just as good and functional - and if they want to do more in the future they will have more choices. In fact I would say that the PC version would be better for the target audience - and man in his 70s with eyesight on the wane as a 15" monitor is going to give a larger and clearer image.

Having said that if I spend the same amount of money on a MacBook and a Windows based laptop where will I get 'better bang for buck'. The UK Apple Store uses this phrase and it is simply not true in any sense.

4110

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 19, 2007, 04:17 PM »

To Carol - nontroppo has a point.  When was the last time you priced Macs?  Maybe it is very different in the UK, but worldwide (in general) Mac has realized this point and lowered costs dramatically!  They are no worse than a high end quality machine as far as I have seen.  Still higher than you might want to pay, but hardly three times the price for half the power.  Also, as Mac-centric developers have moved to the Windows platform with their products, MANY Windows products have moved to support Macs due to the significant user base they can quickly and easily tap (compared to developing a new product).  Lastly, they are very upgradeable - easily as upgradeable as any laptop.  Well, maybe not the desktops, I have never worked with them, but the laptops are.

Actually about 10 days ago ... my friend was trying convince me that a Macbook was the only viable solution for her ex-husband's first computer (he wants to use the internet, send emails, do a little word processing and possibly store photos).

I was comparing prices of Macbooks and Windows laptops. In the UK the cheapest Macbook was three times the price of some of the Vista systems  I looked at (£700 for a 13" screen compared to some Vista systems I found for £240 with 15" screens) - and the Vista systems had more memory, larger hard discs and bigger screens . They had similar spec dual core Intel CPUs, and the Vista systems weren't a generic make - IIRC they were Toshiba.

4111

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 19, 2007, 08:49 AM »

There are lots of people out there who like caviar - personally I find it a grotesque and unpleasant food

Know what you mean.  I got talked into trying Marmite once.   

-mrainey (October 19, 2007, 08:14 AM)

LOL - I share a house with someone is passionately in love with Marmite - I have to leave the room just from the smell!

4112

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 19, 2007, 07:39 AM »

Last comments ...

How is it an invalid comment or a xenophobic comment to say "I don't know why people eat caviar?". There are lots of people out there who like caviar - personally I find it a grotesque and unpleasant food and I think pretentious people who like to show off buy eating something that is so disgusting are stupid.

It is exactly the same issue with Macs as far as i am concerned - I am saying "I don't understand why people will pay out premium prices for Mac computers". I did say if they have a need or a good reason to choose a Mac then that is up to them but at least the decision should be made from an informed base.

We all have opinions about all sorts of things - my personal opinion is that anyone who buys a Mac without a very specific reason (such as professional graphic design use) has more money than sense, I would say the same thing about people who buy expensive cars or go on ridiculously expensive holidays! It's not discrimination to think somebody has made a stupid decision - it is an opinion and I am entitled to my opinion. It doesn't mean I won't give my friend with a Mac a hug next time I see her or spend my life telling her she is stupid !!!

By definition anyone who buys a Mac belongs to the set of people who have bought Macs - I can't make a comment about Mac users without referring to that set of people. This thread started with an article about Mac zealots and I think it is reasonable to say what you think about any kind of zealotry - which is usually based on bigotry.

By the way I think you mean "denigration" - not that I wish to denigrate you. 

Now that's me out of this discussion.

4113

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 19, 2007, 06:28 AM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on Today at 09:01:42

Who said 'arrogant' I certainly didn't. ... though I would argue that many make the choice based on outdated knowledge of the effectiveness of alternative operating systems).

So you are inferring they are arrogant as they are unable to realise their decision to use Mac is not based in fact when they think it is.

Did you actually read what I said - I said the opposite. It is true that many professionals (particularly in the design and media world) use Macs because they perceive them best for the job. They are very good at doing the job and I have no problem with professionals making that choice.

From my experience of talking to some of them it is obvious however that they base some of their decision on an outdated view of what Windows is capable of and how it has changed over the years. In the early years (back in the 80s) Windows was truly hopeless at design and media tasks but now Windows will run practically all of the software they require (in identical versions) just as effectively as a Mac - but at a fraction of the hardware cost and with greater flexibility and choice in additional hardware and software. If they don't want cost savings, choice and flexibility that is up to them - I have no gripe whatsoever if they want to stick with Macs at all.

Outside that somewhat esoteric professional environment I can't really see what motivates people to use Macs ????

I am not an apologist for Windows and I do think it has some serious issues (along with Linux) but I think on balance the Windows/Linux platform delivers much more of a bang for your buck than the average Mac setup and Windows offers a hugely greater flexibility in software and hardware choice.

Enough said - I guess we aren't going to agree on this - which pretty much illustrates the point that peoples' opinions generally divide on this issue and everyone ends up in a particular camp.

4114

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 19, 2007, 03:01 AM »

Because you don't seem to understand about the platform? You have made sweeping generalisations about there only being two types of Mac markets, describing them as ignorant (home users) or arrogant (professionals), then a reductive cost-benefit that encapsulates little of anything substantial. It *does* make sense to lots of people who are neither ignorant or arrogant. Increasing numbers of my department are switching over to Apple hardware because it is more cost efficient to the University (contracts with Dell only other option), and OS X really is an elegant and powerful OS that is more than a repackaged Ubuntu. If it doesn't suit you personally, thats fine, but your reductio ad absurdum generalisation is just that, absurd.

Who said 'arrogant' I certainly didn't. In fact I said the opposite - some professionals do have justification both in terms of finance and workflow to CHOOSE Mac (though I would argue that many make the choice based on outdated knowledge of the effectiveness of alternative operating systems). Home users seem (in my experience) to choose Mac because it looks pretty rather than  because it has any functional advantage.

All I said was that if that is what they want fine, but the choice is very difficult to justify on cost or functionality.

By the way OSX is a repackaged BSD OS - OK they have added a few bits and pieces here and there and changed the look and feel.

If uinversities get a good deal on Apple products that's great - go for it. Unfortunately it doesn't necessarily prepare people for the real world where only about 8% of computers in use are Apple - unless students all plan to do graphic design these days!

4115

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Windows XP too good for Microsoft’s own good?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 19, 2007, 02:54 AM »

And make the explanations in plain English!!  Hey! View> Arrange Icons by..'Show in Groups' means Alphabetize! OK?

Hmmm ... nope ...you are wrong there.

You can show in groups by file type, file size, date etc.

4116

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 18, 2007, 06:38 PM »

Several other posts allude to knowing that "most" mac users are this, can't do that, only like this etc; bringing up anecdotal stories which just so happen to confirm the stereotype.

-nontroppo (October 18, 2007, 04:50 PM)

I presume I am one of the posters referred to by this comment. Oh well it has been my experience of Mac users for many years. I spent 7 years managing networks of PCs and Macs side by side as well as mini-computers and other netorks. I did use one anecdote to illustrate my point but I would say that of the people I have worked with over the years the Mac zealots are definitely religious about their computer. Not all users are zealots but there is a much higher proportion in the Mac camp than Windows, and Linux zealots can be pretty rabid too (try reading any thread on ZDNET, on any topic and I guarantee that before the 10th post someone will say UBUNTU will solve all your problems).

I would say that in providing support I did more than my fair share supporting Macs and it was always harder because when Macs have errors they are incredibly cryptic, there is little or no documentation and you can't ask the user base for help - they either say that can't possibly happen as Macs are so wonderful you never see an error or they just scratch their head and say they don't know (and that includes Apple's own tech guys). Having said that the majority of support was generally very similar to Windows support at the "this is how you turn off the Caps Lock" level.

My biggest confusion is that there are so many Mac users out there. The Mac these days is pretty much aimed at two markets: home users with more money than sense (who think iPhoto is the greatest app in the world 'cos it can play music while it gives a slide show) and the professional market.

The wealthy home market also thinks the iPod is the only MP3 player worth having, iPhones are pretty neat and are generally conned by any company who has the bright idea of putting "i" in front of their product into thinking that it was designed by Apple (like the BBC iPlayer - which doesn't even work on Mac or Linux).

The professional market has a case for paying premium prices for hardware and software (as they do on Windows machines too) because they have very specific tasks in mind. A lot of Mac users still think Windows is in the dark ages because back at Windows 3.1 Font rendering was total crap - they just don't realise that Windows now runs almost all the core apps that Power Mac users actually need.

If you read my other posts you will know I don't bow down to Windows or Linux with religious zeal either.

I'm not so much prejudiced when it comes to Mac users but more genuinely confused why anyone would pay twice as much for a machine that is half the spec, can't be easily upgraded, has little user base and doesn't have an extensive catalogue of software. I can only assume it is a victory of style over common sense. If they don't want to use Windows I don't really understand why they don't go for Linux - which at least has the virtues of being free, flexibilty and it runs on cheap hardware. MacOS is pretty much Linux (OK BSD) anyway!

I don't begrudge my friend her ageing Mac - it gives her a great deal of pleasure to see something in her lounge that looks like it came straight of the 1960s film of "War of the Worlds". It does display her photo album very nicely on a 15" screen with a Bach accompaniment and she has iTunes so it is easy to user her iPod! Apart from email she does very little else - she now wants a Macbook so she can also do this in bed. C'est la vie ...

4117

Living Room / Re: Versioning of files

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 18, 2007, 08:14 AM »

I have posted this request on their "Wish List" forum - be interesting  to see if there are any takers.

4118

Living Room / Re: Versioning of files

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 18, 2007, 06:56 AM »

Just tried FileHamster - I love it!

I have been using Adobe VersionCue but I like FH better. It is simple to use, easy to find things, ZIPs stuff up (though presumably you could equally well apply NTFS compression to the backup folder and get the same effect transparently).

WRT proprietary software - it isn't an issue all the previous versions are simply available in a simple directory structure and each version is clearly dated/timed in the revision filename.

WRT Zip plugin - just right click on the library at the top level and there is a link to the Zip Wizard and also details are listed in options.

How have I not seen this before?

I have one wish though ... rather than making an initial snapshot of all watched files/folders it would be really good if FH made a baseline backup of the file the first time it is opened - that way it would avoid duplicating hundreds of files needlessly. I know you can select what to watch and how to create the initial snapshot - but an automated 'as you go' method would be excellent.

4119

Living Room / Re: ASUS bring out motherboard with built in Linux and Firefox - 15s boot time!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 17, 2007, 10:56 AM »

That's right - there are no security issues at all with Firefox in context (and which browsers don't have security issues anyway).

There are no security issues simply because the whole thing is confined to RAM - there is no access to hard discs at all from the BIOS Linux.

I'd guess Firefox is the browser of choice because it is open source, easy to recompile in a suitable version for this version of Linux as it has no GUI dependencies and everyone has heard of Firefox now so it is easier to sell to the public.

4120

Living Room / Companies Facing Information Overload ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 17, 2007, 09:25 AM »

Interesting article I just read on VNUNET ... anyone any ideas.

It's getting bad enough on home systems!

See http://www.vnunet.co...s-facing-information

4121

General Software Discussion / Re: Does your Vista installation run out of memory when copying files?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 17, 2007, 06:03 AM »

LOL - not so much bashing MS ... Ijust thought it was a funny bug for a 'next generation' OS !

4122

General Software Discussion / Re: Does your Vista installation run out of memory when copying files?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 17, 2007, 05:53 AM »

That's hilarious - Vista can't copy at 33Kb file!! Just shows how many resources the Aero interface uses

4123

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 16, 2007, 03:42 AM »

Thanks Carol for all the screenshots and comments !

Does it index outlook tasks and calendar events ?

I wonder if what Curt said about uninstallation is a common problem...

Also :

KNOWN LIMITATIONS
- Only the first 100 pages of big office files are indexed.

-Exalead ReadMe

-Curt (October 15, 2007, 11:49 AM)

A limitation of the free version, I assume... That means that for a few users, only the paid version ($50) would be interesting.

Lashiec : as you probably know, there are some “industrial strength”  solutions, (like dtSearch — tried it and didn’t like it), but most are not affordable or not that great for everyday use (large indexes, poor GUI designs, rigid features, expensive updates…).

-Armando (October 16, 2007, 12:01 AM)

Hmmm ...

I did post a follow up to this but I must have forgotten to press POST ...

Answers to questions:

1) Yes it does index Tasks and Calendar (useful)

2) By setting up an alternative Outlook profile (Start > Control Panel > Mail) it does index all my PST files and I seem to be able to preview things. I have noticed some odd effects though but they may have been because I was too impatient and tried to preview things before the index was complete.

3) Uninstall worked fine for me ... I also installed the trial version of the Pro edition and uninstalled that without issue.

4) It seems to limit the number of pages even in the pro edition. I have just emailed their support to see if there is any way round this. One of the really useful functions of this kind of software is to be able to find info from PDF manuals - and given that most apps have large manuals (I have some that are in excess of 1000 pages) limiting searches to the first n pages seems pointless in the extreme. [Edit ... actually the Pro version does seem to go beyond 100 pages - there is no readme file with the Pro version, which is strange. What I have found though is that exact phrase searching doesn't seem to work. For example I have the Band-in-a-box manual - about 600 pages of PDF - if I search for Vocal Wizard it finds all occurrences of Vocal and Wizard but even using advanced search and specifying exact phrase still doesn't limit the results to "Vocal Wizard". I presume this must be a bug that has somehow crept in!]

5) The Pro version seems to have better support for previewing - PDFs appear as PDFs whereas in the Free version I found PDFs appeared as text files - not sure if this was supposed to happen though. [Edit - the PDF preview is actually an image snapshot of the pages - not the original document]

Anyway for now I have removed it [Edit - and reinstalled the Pro version again to carry on experimenting] - if the limited page scanning can be addressed [see edit above] I may well have another bash with this - but having said that the Pro version is quite expensive at $60 and it is locked to a single Windows installation.

It does say on the website external drive and network drive indexing is limited to the Pro version - but I found my external USB drive indexed fine in the Free version.

I have to say I liked the program a lot - it was up there with X1 in features and is very easy to use. I suppose my biggest puzzle is the lack of configuration options.

4124

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 16, 2007, 02:39 AM »

I too use Fineprint all the time (it is set as my default printer). I find it really useful - esp. for web printing to get a proper preview of what is actually going to be churned out and it is simplicity to delete the bits you really don't need. But that only scratches the surface of what you can do. Definitely worth checking out (I paid full price before there was any discount and I am very happy).

By comparison ClickBook is (IMHO) ClunkBook

4125

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 15, 2007, 07:11 PM »

Here are a few screenshots to wet the appetite:

The indexing setup details:

First the config with the usual tree setup and some specialised options (like Outlook):



Note that unlike X1 it includes removable drives - including USB hard discs, CD/DVD drives and compact-flash etc. (I have it indexing a USB drive but I haven't looked to see what happens with CDs etc)

The index monitoring screen - to show youwhat is happening and various options:



Here is the options page showing the advanced search function:



Here are search results on my partially indexed emails and files:

The results are all based on the search term "solar"

First restricted to PDF files on my hard disc - note that in the results lists filetypes are displayed with the file details and clicking on a file type restricts the search to that filetype only (quite neat and pretty quick). Note also the preview is a text version of the PDF file. Internet Explorer is used to for the preview pane (bottom right) but I presum ActiveX is disabled because it doesn't seem to use the PDF viewer plugin. Also clicking on the underlined file name (in the top right section) opens the file in its default viewer app.



This one shows a combined search of my documents and also web results. Web results appear to be generated from the Exalead search engine but you can configure any search engine you like.



Clicking on the white space of a web result gives a browser preview - clicking on the result title opens the page in your default browser.



Finally and email result (from MS Outlook 2003) - again there is a preview mode or you can open the message in Outlook.




One oddity I have noticed so far is that it claims some of my emails are in Lithuanian - I think this is probably a function of local place names where I live (many have Norse origin) but why Lithuanian?