Recent Posts

7401

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you know a free HTML editor with real time preview in adjacent pane?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 28, 2012, 05:35 PM »

The yearly fee for MyEclipse seems a bit much to me, given that you can purchase other programs just once and be done with paying for them.

-HankFriedman (March 28, 2012, 05:20 PM)

I'd noticed the subscription fee, but thought it was like others that you got upgrades during the year for free.  After perusing the FAQ, I came across this gem:

[Subscriptions] What happens when my subscription expires?

MyEclipse will start reminding you that you are getting close to the expiration date a month in advance. If you decide to let your subscription expire, MyEclipse will disable itself within your Eclipse install. This means any MyEclipse-specific functionality you were making use of will be disabled, however none of the other functionality provided by your Eclipse install will be affected, all the remaining plugins (including Eclipse itself) will continue to function without interruption.

People actually buy rent this POS?

7402

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the good part of 1Password

« Last post by wraith808 on March 28, 2012, 08:15 AM »

Does 1Password have lifetime licensing or do you have to buy upgrades regularly? In which case $12 a year doesn't seem so much.

-Carol Haynes (March 28, 2012, 03:14 AM)

Lifetime.  As I said, this is my pick- and he asked about 1Password.  I like it- I paid once when the windows beta was first commercially available, and I haven't looked back.  It works on all of my machines and devices, everything is synced, and it's also transparent how it's encrypted to me, so I don't personally care that I'm using dropbox, though it does have other methods of syncing if you don't even trust them with encrypted data (though I don't see why that would matter if its encrypted).  It works in my browser, and they have excellent support.  The only thing I don't like is the fact that you have to close the browser to update the desktop client (and they're pretty active on development, and since I have it on my full 5 machines and don't open the client all the time, it seems that every time I open a client I have to update).  Oh... it also has a search extension, i.e. type 1Password: and search for whatever in your address bar which is sometimes useful.

Is it worth it over other alternatives?  From what I've seen, I'd say so.  But as I've been using it for a couple of years, so I haven't really looked at anything else since I haven't seen the need. 

OT, It's cool if you're satisfied with Lastpass... I've not tried it in a while.  I do know that reading the posts from people that had been locked out of their accounts and couldn't access with "the last password they'd ever need" sort of left a bad taste in my mouth, perhaps undeservedly.  But slighting the other software's security when I know its encrypted on my computer with a private key that they don't have seems a bit backhanded... /shrugs

7403

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you know a free HTML editor with real time preview in adjacent pane?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 28, 2012, 08:00 AM »

Alleycode seems to be free.

7404

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 is just a Service/crapware pack for Windows 7

« Last post by wraith808 on March 27, 2012, 09:42 PM »

Actually, "New Math" does work, and does increase my computational time...

-wraith808 (March 27, 2012, 02:55 PM)

I think I'd prefer any "New Math" to reduce my computational time so I can get on and do other things.

-4wd (March 27, 2012, 07:36 PM)

I meant reduce... 

7405

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the good part of 1Password

« Last post by wraith808 on March 27, 2012, 09:38 PM »

Who is to say 1Password is safe - and you use DropBox to sync (!!!!) - my God that makes LastPass look like Fort Knox!

-Carol Haynes (March 27, 2012, 05:07 PM)

Actually, it doesn't.  It uses a key on your computer to encrypt your file.  So Dropbox makes no difference.  Without the key on your computer and on your devices, the files are useless.

On the Lastpass front, they *have* to be able to decrypt them somehow... or how can you access it from the web?  Hmm?

My point is what is the real killer feature in 1Password. Many people say 1Password is the killer mac product. It is worth the money.
Is it about GUI design or is it a hidden feature beyond password management to make 1Password so popurlar?

-rail4you (March 27, 2012, 06:58 PM)

I don't know that there is a real killer feature.  I like it, and I use it.  I use it on all platforms... I don't know if Keepass has that; I haven't tried it.  I paid once, and am done, and their forums and support have been very good on everything I've posted.

LastPass can fill applications - you use the LastPass application desktop client app!

I forgot it's a paid feature. I don't buy lastpass. Anyone compare LastPass application with others? If LastPass application is good enough, $12/y is a killer price.

-rail4you (March 27, 2012, 09:33 PM)

$12/year?  So after 4 years you've paid as much as 1Password.  I just don't like subscriptions if I don't have to... on a killer app that's only available that way... yes.  But not for this.  That's just my opinion, of course.

7406

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the good part of 1Password

« Last post by wraith808 on March 27, 2012, 02:57 PM »

With a $12 a year subscription, LastPass is also available on mobile devices (I use it on my Blackberry) and you can use it for storing passwords for apps that require credentials to use them. I haven't tried it but it is almost certainly possible to store serial codes etc. for future installations too. There is also a portable version (with 0 install footprint).

-Carol Haynes (March 27, 2012, 10:53 AM)

I'd rather the one time fee than $12 a year... JMO.  And I just don't want to put my passwords in anyone else's hands, no matter how they say that they can't get to them.  I mean, after all... corporations don't lie...

7407

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 is just a Service/crapware pack for Windows 7

« Last post by wraith808 on March 27, 2012, 02:55 PM »

Actually, "New Math" does work, and does increase my computational time...  if we're talking about the same thing.  /shrugs

7408

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the good part of 1Password

« Last post by wraith808 on March 27, 2012, 09:31 AM »

I use 1Password on Windows, and haven't had any problems with it being recognized by Firefox.  I use Chrome more, but it has worked for Firefox, and saves within the browser.  It also allows saving of other information- notes, other account information, and custom information/fields, so I use it for everything.  

I guess it's a matter of choice, but the big thing for me is that 1Password is also available (and syncs across) multiple platforms in many ways- I have it on my iPhone and iPad in addition to every one of my PCs and it syncs across them.  I paid $49 for 5 computers + $5 for all of my other devices.  

It's been bullet proof so far, and since I have my data on my device rather than on a server, I don't get into the problem detailed with the LastPass problem with the service being hacked; the files are encrypted on my devices with a hash only I have and decrypted on the other side.  

You can use WiFi or Dropbox to sync- i'm using dropbox since the files are hashed in any case, so I'm not concerned about Dropbox's deficiencies in that regard.

7409

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Swift To-Do List 7 Standard FREE today 2012-03-26 Only on BDJ

« Last post by wraith808 on March 26, 2012, 09:11 AM »

because of its agonizingly slow startup and general sluggishness while editing notes (.Net again!)

-tranglos (March 26, 2012, 08:12 AM)

No.  Developer issues.  This is not a general .NET problem.

7410

Found Deals and Discounts / Swift To-Do List 7 Standard FREE today 2012-03-26 Only on BDJ

« Last post by wraith808 on March 26, 2012, 07:18 AM »

http://www.bitsdujou...-do-list-7-standard/

I've seen some pretty good discounts- but never free.  And this is a pretty well-regarded to-do list software.  To upgrade to the more advanced versions is only the difference in prices.

Why he's doing it:

It's an experiment. We also want to have more users and raise awareness of our products. We also hope that many customers will eventually upgrade to Professional edition, as it has much more features and majority of our paying customers prefers it.

The difference in versions (from http://www.dextronet...?product_id=55292310)

What's the difference between Standard and Professional?

The Professional edition has all the features of Standard edition and many extra.

• It allows you to easily email tasks to others or to yourself.
• Set Start Date and Completion Date for your tasks.
• Assign tasks using Assigned To field.
• Track your progress more precisely using Percent Done field and Status field.
• Use Time Estimate and Time Spent fields for easy time tracking.
• Context field helps you to better categorize your tasks.
• You can receive email reminders and recurrence notifications
• Inbuilt time tracker for your tasks (floating window)

The best part is: The Professional edition can automatically hide fields that you don't use - the program is always kept simple and clear. You decide which fields you want to use. (This is a unique feature not found in any other task manager).

7411

Official Announcements / Re: So we gave up the March Ad Experiment Idea - What about a 7day mini fundraiser?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 25, 2012, 06:39 PM »

^ By expenses, I include your time, also.

7412

General Software Discussion / Re: best WYSIWYG html editor

« Last post by wraith808 on March 25, 2012, 06:23 PM »

^ True in most cases, but IME it also depends on what you're planning to develop for.  If this is just an adjunct to what you're doing, then there are a few alternatives.  But if its truly to that level, then its come to the point that developing in that way is more trouble than its worth; you might as well look at a blogging or CMS platform.  So that brings it back to if you're developing, Microsoft Expression or Dreamweaver are the best products out there for WYSIWYG HTML development, though even those leave something to be desired in the code in the background - their code is fragile and very likely to break if you do anything by hand.

A couple of links:

Lifehacker Five Best WYSIWYG Editors

25 Useful WYSIWYG Editors Reviewed

7413

Official Announcements / Re: So we gave up the March Ad Experiment Idea - What about a 7day mini fundraiser?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 25, 2012, 06:11 PM »

Why is a fundraiser every year too much to tolerate?  You have the fundraiser because the donations are not covering the expenses, correct?  It's not to make extra money or any such thing.  So if there is a need, then have it... I'd rather have the fundraiser yearly than to suddenly find out that you keeping the site going on your funds has become untenable. 

I run a site that a lot of other people use for free for their server for pages, wiki, ventrilo, etc.  I know that it costs money to keep it up, and a lot of that end is really obfuscated from the end user.  I'm only able to keep it up without outside help because I host a few commercial sites- enough to keep it going every year.  If not, I'd have to do the same thing- its only fair that if everyone enjoys the site that the burden is shared.

All of this is JMO, but I don't think unreasonable.

7414

Living Room / Re: What are your experiences with payment providers?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 25, 2012, 01:05 PM »

After trying to use PayPal as my initial provider, I would probably say that it is so much work that it isn't even worth it... The issue of not handling EU VAT is a major oversight by PayPal unless it's there and I just haven't found the right settings...

-josant (March 25, 2012, 09:20 AM)

Did you try to contact them?

7415

General Software Discussion / Re: best WYSIWYG html editor

« Last post by wraith808 on March 25, 2012, 12:34 PM »

^ Shadow isn't a WYSIWYG html editor.  It looks cool... but that's a topic for a different discussion.

7416

Developer's Corner / Re: Does anyone actually care about WinRT?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 25, 2012, 12:19 PM »

Assuming that was actually a question... 

WinRT is the new version of .NET that is underlying this whole metro fiasco.

A couple of reading links for the interested:

WinRT on Wikipedia^w

WinRT for coding for Windows 8? Is .NET really such rubbish (via the Guardian)

What Is WinRT, and Is Silverlight Dead? (via ReadWriteHack)

7417

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 is just a Service/crapware pack for Windows 7

« Last post by wraith808 on March 24, 2012, 08:02 PM »

Brad Wardell of Stardock Lays into Microsoft over Windows 8 in Annual Customer Report (via Shacknews)

Wardell also lays into Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 8, claiming that it "will be considered a general failure" if it doesn't fix a few user interface issues: being unable to run entirely as a regular desktop without Metro; having no "realistic" way to organise Metro programs; and relying users to mouse-over elements to find out what they are.

Of course, Stardock will have quite strong opinions in this frield, as it makes a vast array of programs tweaking the Windows interface. Still, Wardell is concerned that Windows 8 might be so offputting that people simply won't switch, and there'll be no market to sell its tools to.

7418

Developer's Corner / Does anyone actually care about WinRT?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 24, 2012, 07:40 PM »

Josh Smith has an article about this topic on his blog.  A pretty big deal as Josh Smith is decently heavyweight in the (Windows) developer world.

This bit is pretty telling:

Even firmly entrenched Microsoft developers, such as many of us in the XAML Disciples (formerly known as the WPF Disciples), have expressed a lack of interest in learning WinRT. See this Disciples thread which veered away from its original topic (an announcement of some WinRT feature) into a series of thought-provoking explanations of why people are not bothering to get into WinRT. The general consensus on that thread is that if you lack confidence in the prospects of Windows 8 and, by extension WinRT, why bother learning it? Why not spend your time and energy learning more successful and in-demand technologies, whose futures look bright and promising?

I am not saying that Windows 8 will fail spectacularly, nor am I saying it won’t. All that I can say with certainty is that the .NET developer community is decidedly not flocking to it, and that should be very concerning for Microsoft.

I know now that I'm back in the Microsoft camp, that the ignominious death of Silverlight has made me not be on the front lines in regards to WinRT.  I see several similarities between the two platforms, and my confidence in it was dead on arrival.

How are other developers feeling about WinRT?

7419

Developer's Corner / Re: Invoicing & inventory problem for my business.

« Last post by wraith808 on March 23, 2012, 10:33 PM »

And $1500 is standard charge for a software engineer. If I wasn't so busy, I might do it for $1000. Many don't realize the value of experience and knowledge. It's like a doctor or lawyer, requires extensive experience to have worked in the field, really understand it, and integrate multiple aspects of the field together -- instead knowing everything about one little piece. You can have it done a little cheaper I'm sure, but make sure their code is secure if you outsource to somewhere.

-db90h (March 20, 2012, 05:40 AM)

Very true, though:
(a) most customers don't realize that software is that expensive, and
(b) most seasoned consultants won't give you a flat price, but a hourly rate, and an estimate in man hours.

Why?  It's a service, not a product, no matter what the end product is.  And it's easier to make scope creep transparent with hourly rates.  You want to do X?  It's Y more hours at Z.  It makes the customer a part of the process and lets them see how expensive adding just one more thing really is.

Also make sure to execute a contract.  Seasoned professionals will do this, but it's worth saying.  And make sure that the contract says it's work for hire, and spells out exactly what is to be done, and what definition of done is.  Payment is another sticky thing, as is source code.  And if it's important enough to you (which it would seem like if it's running your business), then a lawyer should be employed when setting up the contract, and for the purposes of vetting the code.  They usually hire outside developers for that these days- they make sure that what is delivered really compiles to the binary that you're receiving.

A lot of these details are usually lost in the wash, to the detriment of the consultant, the client, or both.  The person you get might seem nice and competent enough, but you don't really know someone in that capacity until things go wrong.  That's when their professionalism comes out to play.

7420

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 reportedly set for October debut

« Last post by wraith808 on March 23, 2012, 05:04 PM »

Why is three years too soon? Windows 7 was released two years after Windows Vista. Back before the huge gap between XP and Vista Microsoft adhered to a two-three year release schedule & after Vista was finally released Microsoft announced that it was going to return to that release schedule.

I'll take the opposing side that three years between OS releases is far too long. In the IT world three years is an eternity.

-Innuendo (March 23, 2012, 04:28 PM)

We'll have to agree to disagree.  Upgrades, yes, I can see that.  But the OS is the base of your applications platform.  When you introduce major changes wholesale, especially requiring total rework and upgrade of your system, such upheavals aren't productive, IMO.

7421

Living Room / Re: The Pirate Bay is creating Skynet

« Last post by wraith808 on March 21, 2012, 07:11 PM »

Is this 11 days early?

-rgdot (March 21, 2012, 06:38 PM)

Nope.  They're serious.  Awesome if they pull it off... but... yeah. 

7422

Living Room / Re: Employers asking job seekers for Facebook passwords

« Last post by wraith808 on March 21, 2012, 04:52 PM »

It's easy to say that until its you, and you're the one in a bad spot.

If you're able to back out of such a deal, then great... but don't look down on those who can't afford that type of stance.  Especially when you have a family to support...  Pyrrhic victory and all... 

7423

Living Room / The Pirate Bay is creating Skynet

« Last post by wraith808 on March 21, 2012, 04:50 PM »

Ok... maybe not really.  But if they pull this off, it will be awesome!  And I don't even really support them.

The Pirate Bay Claims It's Going To Host The Site Via Drones Flying Over International Waters

A comic look at the future for your enjoyment

7424

Living Room / Re: Employers asking job seekers for Facebook passwords

« Last post by wraith808 on March 21, 2012, 02:51 PM »

Yeah... I saw that.  Its wrong, but it's also hard to stand up for these things when your livelihood is on the line.  My solution (and it's been my solution before this problem) is the reduction of internet footprint.  My name is in little use on the internet- I live behind my S/N.  So when asked for something like this, I'd say, "I don't have one."

7425

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 reportedly set for October debut

« Last post by wraith808 on March 21, 2012, 02:32 PM »

^ This.  I haven't even put Windows 7 on some of my machines... though this will spur me to upgrade all of them sooner than later.  Windows 8 is probably a bit out for me, even if it's not a skip generation which it might well be.