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6751

General Software Discussion / Re: research system where emails w/ inline pics are the base

« Last post by Renegade on October 04, 2011, 12:42 AM »

I'm a tad confused. (I don't use those groups though...)

By inline, do you mean just any image in the email, or a cid multi-part encoded image embedded in the email itself (as opposed to being linked to)? Is this web based? RTF doesn't display in a browser, so I think that's just plain old HTML (being called RTF).

Have you looked into listserv software? There are lots of them out there. They've been in use for time immemorial (internet-wise that is).

A lot only allow text...

MailMan: http://www.gnu.org/s...ailman/features.html or http://www.list.org/

This might help: http://librarysuppor...om/4creategroup.html

Subetha? http://code.google.com/p/subetha/

A PCWorld article on the topic: http://www.pcworld.c...e_mailing_lists.html

Does any of that help?

I'm not sure if any meet what you are looking for.

6752

General Software Discussion / Re: iTunes Password Recovery (advice) Needed

« Last post by Renegade on October 04, 2011, 12:07 AM »

Never heard of it.

For the download, it might just be that it looks for an update, and has the messages wrong, e.g. update file 123.exe, no network, file 123.exe is still there, oh well... success!

The worrisome thing seems to be that passwords can be retrieved from browsers like that.

6753

Living Room / Re: The All New Kindle - ripoff!

« Last post by Renegade on October 03, 2011, 12:31 PM »

Carol's anger is righteous. It's 2011 and the planet, countries, currency, and economies are more connected than ever in history. Virtually every gadget is made in China, so there's no good reason for it to cost more, not even £12 or £25. I order things from the UK all the time and I get the VAT removed at checkout. It's silly.

-zridling (October 03, 2011, 12:21 PM)

+1

I've got a few things to say on the topic coming up soon. I'll post in the Developer's Corner for that though.

6754

Living Room / Re: How many slaves work for you?

« Last post by Renegade on October 03, 2011, 12:29 PM »

Dang. It died at the "What's on your plate" question. (Chrome)

-zridling (October 03, 2011, 12:25 PM)

And that's why I'm such a massive fan of X/HTML/5/JavaScript/CSS wankology... Sigh... NOT!

Hey, let's build sexy CRUD.

Ahem... crud is very much like crap...

But I digress.

I'm not too surprised though.

Still, I did like the sexiness! If it were only reliable, I'd be on board right quick.

So... Is anyone else going to post their scores?

6755

General Software Discussion / Re: Couldn't be more disappointed in Windows 8 :(

« Last post by Renegade on October 03, 2011, 11:18 AM »

Just downloaded it. I'll also see if I can download that Swype clone (unless Swype is now available) and see which I can manage easier. I rather doubt that I'll be able to use Swype though. My thumbs cover half or a third of the keyboard as it is, so I can't see what I'm trying to hit.

-Renegade (September 26, 2011, 08:01 PM)

Use one forefinger with Swype. No thumbs allowed! 

Steve

-steveorg (October 03, 2011, 10:52 AM)

That's the thing... I want to do it with 1 hand... Can't hold it and use a forefinger with 1 hand...

6756

Living Room / Re: Massive Security Vulnerability In HTC Android phones

« Last post by Renegade on October 03, 2011, 10:08 AM »

I have an HTC Desire HD, and so far it's been good. Mind you, I'm on Vodaphone, and they're well known for blowing hard, so I attribute the suckiness in connections to Vodaphone, and not the HTC.

It's not perfect, but so far it's ok.

Mind you, my cheapo Nokia is the best phone for reliability that I've ever had. Awesome battery life. Turned it on after 6 months in storage, and it fired right up.

For the security vulnerability... sigh... I can't say I'm all that surprised.

6757

Living Room / Re: The All New Kindle - ripoff!

« Last post by Renegade on October 03, 2011, 06:57 AM »

VAT=20%
Does that do most of it?

-Dormouse (October 03, 2011, 03:19 AM)

If the price Carol quoted is VAT inclusive, then yes.

Carol? Was that price with VAT?

6758

Living Room / Re: The All New Kindle - ripoff!

« Last post by Renegade on October 03, 2011, 03:03 AM »

If you want the equivalent of the UK version (ie. not ad supported) it is $109. Still $30 cheaper.

-Carol Haynes (October 03, 2011, 02:52 AM)

Still, that's more than 20% more expensive. (22%) It does not cost 22% more on a hundred-dollar product to ship it from the US to the UK, or from wherever to the UK.

I would love to know the W5 on that 20%.

6759

Living Room / Re: How many slaves work for you?

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2011, 11:27 PM »

Finished it in Chrome. Wouldn't work in Opera at #5.

Scored 24.

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Living Room / Re: How many slaves work for you?

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2011, 08:12 PM »

It seemed to work fine in Opera. The postal code thingy didn't work though.

It has some very sexy effects though.

On the content side, well, sigh... can't disagree. Mines in Africa for raw materials for phones need guns just as much as any other tool. What does that say?

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Living Room / Re: The All New Kindle - ripoff!

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2011, 08:08 PM »

$220? $400? Oh my god...

6762

General Software Discussion / Re: list of urls to mht

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2011, 08:07 PM »

It has a trial, so you should be able to get a feel for it before you buy.

As it is a console application, you could use a console application to download pages (wget?), then run that through with a batch script.

6763

Living Room / Re: The All New Kindle - ripoff!

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2011, 12:11 PM »

"market segmentation" = "rape your customers as fast/hard as possible"

It's nothing new.

I could barely believe the mass-rape here in Australia. It's nutty.

6764

General Software Discussion / Re: list of urls to mht

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2011, 10:43 AM »

Shareware $15:
http://www.xuebrothe...et/console/htm2x.htm

But everything else I saw looking around was a software component or just code to do it. (CDO.SYS based mostly)

Not sure if that's helpful... srry

6765

General Software Discussion / Re: Blogger has a new Dynamic View

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2011, 06:12 AM »

I liked the music.

Some of the views look useful, but some just looked "nifty" and difficult to navigate. The Sidebar one looked useful.

It seems like all of the themes revolve around people posting a lot of pictures though. They were really thumbnail heavy. Not really all that useful for me, but I can see it being spot on for a lot of people.

Still, got to hand it to them - they've done something nifty there. I wonder how it will work/break with themes though.

Have you tried it?

6766

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Share your mouse and keyboard with multiple Mac or Windows computers

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2011, 04:34 AM »

Renegade, I believe it would be more efficient to just...

1. Unzip the 1MB ShareMouse Portable files on your desktop

2. Double-Click the ShareMouse runtime .exe

...than writing multiple posts indicating that you consider to try it out. I doubt that you would trust 2nd hand information more than your own.

;-)

-BartelsMedia (October 02, 2011, 02:18 AM)

Actually, I value the opinions of a lot of people here, so that's why I asked.

I really really really hate installing new software if I can avoid it, so I like to "dip my toes in the waters" if possible, and get opinions first.

Still... seeing that there's a portable version... very tempting...

But I'm still at least 2 weeks out from needing it (or being in a position to really give it a decent try), so I don't want to waste the trial period when I won't be able to properly evaluate it.

I've done that before where I downloaded and installed some software, but never had time to properly evaluate it. I've learned to be a bit more patient.

6767

General Software Discussion / Re: Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2011, 09:57 PM »

I'd rather they hosted their files with more respectable services... (Rapidshare or Hotfile.) 

-nosh (September 27, 2011, 01:13 AM)

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!

6768

General Software Discussion / Re: Pricing Software - Some Considerations and Techniques

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2011, 07:24 PM »

“Higher prices don’t just talk,” Beckwith insists. “They tempt.” My 25+ years of marketing experience in the software industry confirms this belief. In the software industry, most developers will tell you that their Pro version outsells their Standard version.

-Renegade (October 01, 2011, 11:33 AM)

Isn't that because the Pro version usually has some crucial feature desired by 100% and bought by ~60% of all users

-Ath (October 01, 2011, 11:59 AM)

I think that in part it's gear-lust at work, and part ego at work. Not sure exactly why, but for whatever reason, it seems to work.

6769

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Share your mouse and keyboard with multiple Mac or Windows computers

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2011, 07:23 PM »

Renegade was hoping to find a beta-tester

-Ath (October 01, 2011, 12:19 PM)

Kind of. 

Just looking to see if anyone has given it a run through before I try it out. It could be very useful to me as I'm planning on starting some Mac development soon, but it's easier to work on a PC. So... getting between them easily would be nice and could significantly speed me up.

6770

General Software Discussion / Re: Pricing Software - Some Considerations and Techniques

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2011, 11:33 AM »

I just got my copy of ASPects today, and there's an article in it on software pricing by Al Harberg.

...software developers should base their prices by figuring out the value of the product to their customers.

It seemed obvious to me...

“Higher prices don’t just talk,” Beckwith insists. “They tempt.” My 25+ years of marketing experience in the software industry confirms this belief. In the software industry, most developers will tell you that their Pro version outsells their Standard version.

I've heard that elsewhere as well. From my own experience, I can say that it works.

There's a lot more good stuff in there, but... You must be an ASP member to get a copy of ASPects.

6771

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Share your mouse and keyboard with multiple Mac or Windows computers

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2011, 09:59 AM »

Has anyone here tried it yet?

6772

General Software Discussion / Re: Pricing Software - Some Considerations and Techniques

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2011, 03:05 AM »

I will research and study your methods, if this is true it is a paradigm shift for shareware authors still selling their software.

-db90h (October 01, 2011, 02:17 AM)

I wouldn't say that it's a paradigm shift. The general strategy has been used for a long time in retail, and also in software, though not so much in software.

I haven't backed up what I posted with a lot of empirical evidence because I simply don't have the time to collate it all, and even if I did, I don't post numbers for GDT (which is where I get a lot of the information). Other information I have I cannot post because it doesn't belong to me.

However, it's not all that difficult to try it out for yourself. I've posted other information about how I'm integrating ILS, IPN.NET, PayPal, and TrialPay into some software that I'm about to release very soon. While the details might not be relevant to you, the general principles are in line with what I wrote in the other post, and can serve to help get a system that works for you up and running.

The flow chart that I posted might help some. Most of the logic is in the first decision process. I've not posted on that too much, but once I've released, I hope to get back to that and post some results along with a longer explanation of that first decision process.

6773

General Software Discussion / Re: Pricing Software - Some Considerations and Techniques

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2011, 02:11 AM »

You can do all the studies in the world and you'll eventually arrive at the conclusion that consumers willing to pay for a good or service will pay what they consider a reasonable price, while those who will not pay, will not pay any price, no matter how low. I've never increased volume by lowering my prices either. I wish I could say I did ;o. Then we could really lower the cost of software.

-db90h (October 01, 2011, 12:31 AM)

I can absolutely say that lowering prices works... if you do it right... which in the software world, a lot of guys don't...

The problem is one of setting a proper base-line. Once you have that, you're set. If you don't have a base-line, you're hosed and lowering prices will only hurt you, in general.

I posted a little bit on that topic here:

http://cynic.me/2011...on-licensing-system/

I'll post more in the future, but that's the general idea on how to lower your prices properly. (There are other ways, but that's one that works.)

6774

General Software Discussion / Re: Pricing Software - Some Considerations and Techniques

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2011, 10:54 PM »

@barney - Can you give some examples of what you mean?

I'm a bit surprised though. As you're doing in-house development, you probably have seen how some tiny feature that should take a day can stretch out into a major deal that takes forever. Efficiency can sometimes suffer in larger organizations. (Ok, maybe that's an understatement, but whatever.)

One of the problems with software is that it simply costs a lot to sell it. Getting the word out is extremely difficult. AdWords is a primary advertising channel for a lot of people, and Google is very good at extracting every single penny that they can from advertisers. With marketing costs so high, how else can you price software? The development costs are generally fixed, but your marketing costs, or rather advertising costs, are pretty much on a per sale basis.

So if you're spending say $0.50 per click, with a 2% conversion ratio, you've spent $25 to sell 1 copy. Unless you're charging $26 or more, you're guaranteed to lose money. And that doesn't factor anything else in - just advertising. Ouch!

On top of that, advertising inventory is limited, so it's not like you can just say, "Oh, let's sell our software for $27 so that we make $2, and do that a million times so that we make 2 million dollars." You can very quickly max out the available advertising inventory that Google has, and then you still need to pursue other advertising channels. But all of that requires effort, and at the end of the day, you may spend all your available marketing time on Google with little left over to invest properly in other channels. That makes other efforts less productive, and drives you back to Google in a vicious circle. I've seen that time and time again in developer forums -- people focus on Google to the point of self-destruction.

I suppose that a lot of software is overpriced, but I really don't know what can be done about it given the environment we live/work in.

Regarding the 2 sides of "value" - I think it's unfortunate, but "value" has been so bastardized by marketing, that I don't see any salvation for it. I mean that the value of something in terms of its utility is a dead concept. Marketing has become about propagandizing and evoking emotional responses, and rationality has largely departed from the game. Apple ads are a great example. Apple itself is a great example. It has become a religion, and anyone that questions the dogma is a heretic.

The same principles apply to other "religions", like climate change. If you dare question the holy litanies of climate change, you're a heretic.

In less extreme examples you can see this in academia in pretty much every discipline. If you come up with something that questions accepted dogma or puts forth an alternative explanation, you're drummed out as a kook.

Rationality simply has very little place in the world. I think software prices would be lower if that weren't true.

6775

Developer's Corner / Re: Cross-platform mobile apps development: MonoTouch/MonoDroid, Marmalade, etc.

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2011, 10:00 PM »

For C~ish, I'd include C#. You can port between C# and C++ relatively easily compared to something like VB.NET or Delphi to C++.

If you already know Java and VB, then C# is a very easy transition.

For Objective-C, it allows you to use pure C, which allows inline assembler, and regular C++, so you can still side with those more standardized languages there and shy away from the Objective-C somewhat.

I'm also a beginner and I need to make choices without loosing touch with the "big picture" (i.e.: other contracts and future jobs which might not be linked to mobile development).

I think that's the key. For me, as a small developer, getting caught up in the details is a death trap. Focusing on the big picture is the only way to survive. There are simply too many details to worry about.

If you're thinking about this as something going forward and possibly non-mobile, if I were in your shoes, I'd definitely go with the C~ish route. It simply opens more doors. While I'm partial to C#, I think that the future is only getting brighter for C++. If I were to switch to another language for most of my development, I would 100% jump over to C++.

I'm not sure how parallel my situation is to yours though. My clients and my software put food on the table, so I'm risk-averse for a lot of things.