Recent Posts

8426

Living Room / Re: List the crappiest websites you know here. (warning: potentially NSFW)

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2011, 05:58 PM »

How could I not mention the most notoriously crap site of them all- SUPER ©.

-Eóin (August 30, 2010, 08:58 PM)

Couldn't agree more!

eRightSoft.com definitely gets my vote. The only website I ever seriously wished someone would vandalize or slam with a DOS attack after I spent approximately 25 minutes of absolute and utter frustration trying to navigate around it.  Anybody who has ever attempted to find the link that actually downloads SUPER from this website knows exactly what I mean.

If FileHippo didn't carry SUPER, I would have abandoned it a long time ago. Which is a shame, because it's one of the more powerful image tools out there, even if it's really nothing more than a proprietary GUI wrapped around a pile of free open source project code that does all the real work.

8427

General Software Discussion / Re: Word Processor OS

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2011, 02:58 PM »

Just occurred to me you could also try starting with BartPE using PEBuilder to roll a customized Windows live CD containing something like WriteMonkey and little else. Be easier for most people than going the Linux route I outlined earlier. Tons of "how-to" and forum help available for BartPE and PE Builder just a Google search away too. Possibly somebody's already done it?

 
 

8428

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2011, 01:44 PM »

Ethical?  Heck no!  Why, the next thing you know people will be writing software for optional Donations!  Heck, they might even give it away altogether.

oh...   never mind.  

-Rover (January 11, 2011, 01:11 PM)

And some may even let you examine their code...and play with it...and even make new software out of it! For free too!

Man, I'm tellin' ya Rover...these people...they gotta be stopped. 

8429

Living Room / Re: Are You Ready to Switch to GNU/Linux?

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2011, 12:47 PM »

Stallman is a total geek. And a bit curmudgeonly at times.

But two other things he has also been since day one (or zero?) is: impeccably honest; and logically consistent in all his opinions, arguments, and actions.

This is a guy with enough brains and world-class technical skill to have easily made a very large fortune a dozen times over, had he so decided. Instead, he's given his entire life and talents (literally) to the movement he created.

Some people argue for "free as in speech." Stallman lives for it.

Gotta admire integrity like that regardless of which side of the "free" debate you come down on.

8430

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2011, 12:00 PM »

I doubt I'll lose a user due to this offer. I live in a happy delusion that my tool is better than his.  

What annoys me is the word "upgrade". That indicates superiority. And it isn't supported by any facts, not even by a biased comparison chart. It is one thing to believe that your software is better and another thing to offer an "upgrade" in the public.

It seems that the advice so far is "ignore it". I may do that...

-vlastimil (January 11, 2011, 10:58 AM)

I think you are best off ignoring it. Unless it begins to adversely effect your sales. At which time you should be more concerned about your product's quality rather than its price.

Most real studies have shown that something like 85% of all customers who switched to a competitor did so because the were unhappy with the service they were currently receiving; or because the product wasn't performing to their expectations.

Of the remaining 15%, less than half stated price was the sole determing factor for selecting another product.

In my industry, we have a saying. "Clients don't drop you because of the price. They drop you because of the price plus one other thing."

That 'thing' could be service, friendliness, competence, responsiveness, completeness of offering, or any combination of related factors. The point is that it's not just what you charge. (And anytime you do run into the rare customer who is purely motivated by pricing, I'd offer the following advice: RUN! You DO NOT want these people as your customers. They will drive you insane.)

So the real trick is to not provide that 'other thing' that makes people start shopping in the first place.

Note: I also wouldn't get too upset about unfounded claims or announcements of superiority on the part of your competitors. It's just ad-speak. The public is so inundated with that nonsense that they're completely oblivious to it by now. Most peoples' brains don't even 'process' advertising any more. They just filter it out.

Unless they're unhappy - and decide to start shopping because of it.  

Luck!

8431

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2011, 06:48 AM »

I don't see where it's any different than offering your existing customers a substantial discount not to shop around for alternatives; or switch to a competitor's product. It's called an upgrade price - and software companies are routinely criticized for such price reductions not being large enough.

Competitive pricing (sometimes called "side-grade") is no different than any other loyalty incentive. It can be seen as either a reward - or a bribe - depending on your degree of cynicism and where you currently stand in relation to the product in question.

In most cases, a competitive upgrade amounts to nothing more than offering the so-called 'returning customer' price to a qualified 'new buyer.'

I don't think ethics is a factor at all. In capitalist markets, the whole thing is based on a Darwinian model of "last man standing." Think: economic version of the concept of "tough love."

The capitalist free market model also presumes that the eventual outcome of any market, once it reaches full maturity, will be the emergence of a 'natural monopoly' with one remaining supplier. In theory, that made them the proven 'best choice' by virtue of their survival.

If markets truly were 'free' and competitive, that notion would likely be true. But since they're not, it's little more than the topic of an interesting academic debate.  

Personally, I don't have a problem with businesses that offer incentive pricing.
 

8432

Living Room / Re: Are You Ready to Switch to GNU/Linux?

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 08:58 PM »

Ambrose Bierce summed it up best in his book The Devil's Dictionary, first published in 1911.

FREEDOM, n.

1. Exemption from the stress of authority in a beggarly half dozen of restraint's infinite multitude of methods.
2. A political condition that every nation supposes itself to enjoy in virtual monopoly. (see: liberty).

The distinction between freedom and liberty is not accurately known; naturalists have never been able to find a living specimen of either.

In many respects, not much has changed since then.

8433

Living Room / Re: What happened to the free WSJ articles through Google News?

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 07:25 PM »

I think what happened was Keith Rupert Murdoch.

8434

Living Room / Re: Are You Ready to Switch to GNU/Linux?

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 07:05 PM »

Gratis is an excellent word.

40hz also likes the phrase "For all mankind." and its more ancestral cousin "pro bono publico."

Pro bono publico (usually shortened to pro bono) is a phrase derived from Latin meaning "for the public good". The term is generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms.

8435

General Software Discussion / Re: Word Processor OS

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 06:46 PM »

How about a Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (Core edition)? 

 As far as I know it has only a console and doesn't let you install too much extras in a severely limited graphical shell.

-Shades (January 10, 2011, 04:41 PM)

 

8436

Living Room / Re: Why I love product reviews....written by NON-TECHS

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 02:10 PM »

Warning!

@Bamse - love your new avatar.   Almost as evil as Josh's creepy little gnat thing.  



Have you seen this yet?  

8437

General Software Discussion / Re: Word Processor OS

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 01:54 PM »

@aidan_cage: de nada...I'm waiting for a credential change to percolate through the domain so I can log back into this client's server I'm working on.

Besides, your project is a lot more interesting than what I'm being paid to do right now.

8438

General Software Discussion / Re: Word Processor OS

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 01:30 PM »

Wow. Looks like you're trying to bring back the old days of dedicated WP appliances like the Wang .



Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem!!!

And rightly so IMHO...

----

Ok...looks like I'm not gonna get a chance to rewrite my earlier reply in it's entirety anytime soon. So I'll do my best to recap the highlights.

If you want to create a completely dedicated appliance, it's probably easiest to start with a micro-mini Linux distribution and go from there.



You can basically do it one of two ways:

• Start with a really tiny distro like SliTaz or TinyCore and add your text app to it.
   
• Start with a mini distro like Tiny Me, DamnSmall Linux, or Puppy, and strip out everything but what you do want - and optionally add your choice of text editor to that if it isn't already included.

Root around the those distro websites while you're there. Many have info or utilities that will help you remaster their distro your way. The relevant page from TinyCore can be found here. Puppy Linux provides something called Woof which accomplishes a similar goal.

Once you've built your WP distro, set it to boot to the command prompt and have a  user startup script invoke your editor from there. Use file permissions and ownership to lock this user out of everything else. No that there'll be much.

Be sure you do this on a separate user account since you still need root access from time to time for system maintenance.

Note: a lot of these mini Linux distros  are intended for embedded systems. Do a little research on that if you really want to take it all the way and put it on bootable solid-state media and use a micro PC to run it. That would make it a real dedicated hardware appliance. Alternatively, you could create a bootable USB version and use that on any PC to get the same result.

While none of this is exactly beginner stuff, it's not really guru level either. You'll need to learn a few things about Linux. But it's mostly freshman with a little bit of sophmore year thrown in. And the skills you acquire doing such a project will become valuable assets assuming you're interested and have the time.

Luck!

------

Addendum: FWIW I personally think Eóin's suggestion for setting up an extremely limited user account under Windows is the most expedient and efficient solution for what you want to do. I'd try that first before I started mucking around trying to create a whole separate appliance.

8439

Living Room / Re: Why I love product reviews....written by NON-TECHS

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 11:40 AM »

+1 on AnandTech, followed by Phoronix.com 

8440

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com NEW SERVER ACTIVATED Dec 17, 2010

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 05:52 AM »

Hmmm...  

https://www.donation....msg231057#msg231057

Think I recall reading something like this happened to someone else...


UPDATE

Found it:StoicJoker

Luck.

8441

General Software Discussion / Re: Word Processor OS

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2011, 05:50 AM »

ok...I was just putting the finishing touches on a fairly long response when this popped up:



...and everything just vanished - as in completely and totally gone.

Right now I have to head off to work.

I'll see if I can rewrite and post it later on today.

Sorry.

8442

Living Room / Re: Can we stop with the diagonal screen length thing?

« Last post by 40hz on January 09, 2011, 08:36 PM »

good point. 720 is HD, and also crap. i'm just thankful we've now got something like a standard with 1080p. which should have been the standard right at the beginning - not "ready".

-nudone (January 09, 2011, 08:06 AM)

720p is Just Fine(TM), unless you've got a ridiculously large TV - but "HD Ready" is definitely a bad label.

-f0dder (January 09, 2011, 03:03 PM)

Got a friend who works for Hitachi. She says the only reason it's called Hi-Def is because whoever came up with the "definition" was completely "high" at the time.  



 

8443

Living Room / Re: DC Demographics

« Last post by 40hz on January 09, 2011, 07:28 PM »

All kidding aside, one question I would very much like to see is: Do you sing or play a musical instrument?  

-40hz (January 09, 2011, 06:56 PM)

Good one. It would not surprise me if quite a few folks on here do. I play the guitar myself, but only as a hobby.

-timns (January 09, 2011, 07:06 PM)

I wouldn't be surprised if it were somewhere around 85% or better. There's a high correlation between musical talent and programming/system skills.

I am desperately hoping that cranioscopical is reading this thread, so we can discover if it's the kazoo or the zither that he plays. It simply has to be one or the other...  

I'm betting on the Keilwerth Straight Alto Sax myself...

With graceful curve bananas grow,
Beelines always wander.
Directly rarely flies the crow,
And rural paths meander.

The goat's horn makes a graceful curve,
All hilltops undulate.
Appealing things in nature swerve,
- Should saxophones be straight?

John Robert Brown

That, or that percussion...er...thing Spike Jones used to play:



 

8444

Living Room / Re: DC Demographics

« Last post by 40hz on January 09, 2011, 06:56 PM »

 
All kidding aside, one question I would very much like to see is: Do you sing or play a musical instrument?  

8445

Living Room / Re: DC Demographics

« Last post by 40hz on January 09, 2011, 06:50 PM »

Don't forget to employ Murdoch's Constant.

Murdoch's Constant (mC) = the number that when:

• added to
• subtracted from
• multiplied by
• divided into

the number you scientifically calculated will give you the number you were looking for.

Note: by default, starting value for mC =  the page number.  

-40hz (January 09, 2011, 06:36 PM)

Bwahahahahaha~!

Love it~!

-Renegade (January 09, 2011, 06:41 PM)

FYI: the U.S. Government has just classified Murdoch's Constant as Top Secret.



(Apparently there's a new round of homeland security spending budgets going before Congress very soon and they don't want to let the cat out of the bag about how they came up with the numbers...) 

8446

Living Room / Re: DC Demographics

« Last post by 40hz on January 09, 2011, 06:36 PM »

Don't forget to employ Murdoch's Constant.

It's one of the most potent formulas in an MBA's toolkit. Especially useful when generating figures for stock prospectuses, annual reports, and financial documents that are distributed to non-financial senior management.

Murdoch's Constant (mC) = the number that when:

• added to
• subtracted from
• multiplied by
• divided into

the number you scientifically calculated will give you the number you were looking for.

Note: by default, starting value for mC =  the page number.  

8447

Living Room / Re: Are You Ready to Switch to GNU/Linux?

« Last post by 40hz on January 09, 2011, 02:00 PM »

We're not in free market, we pay for our stuff be it food, medicine and other stuff. Free market doesn't exist in world where we pay for things. Point is about people who dream about free market shouldn't take down paid products or chase them to release it for free.

-mahesh2k (January 09, 2011, 12:10 AM)

A "free market" in economics has nothing to do with "all products being free."

-rssapphire (January 09, 2011, 10:34 AM)

+1! 

8448

Living Room / Re: Fantastic Rant ...

« Last post by 40hz on January 09, 2011, 09:01 AM »

+1
I am so sick of people who can always find it in their hearts to blame the victim. (Shame!)

Sad to see Snopes seems to be getting a little full of themselves too. I liked it more when they just reported the facts without feeling the need to make self-righteous editorial comments.

8449

Living Room / Re: Fantastic Rant ...

« Last post by 40hz on January 08, 2011, 11:15 PM »

PhD in finance huh? Pretty cool! And look at the bright side. She may someday go on to write one of those marvelous formulas that finally succeeds in crashing the entire banking and finance sector once and for all. (Why should the hedge funds have all the fun?)

-40hz (January 08, 2011, 10:36 PM)

I'll nickname her "John Galt" then.

-Renegade (January 08, 2011, 10:52 PM)

Wow! An objectivist with a PhD in Finance? That will be a first...

8450

Living Room / Re: Fantastic Rant ...

« Last post by 40hz on January 08, 2011, 10:36 PM »

For what it's worth, my wife is doing her PhD in Finance, and we don't agree on any of this stuff either.

-Renegade (January 08, 2011, 09:34 PM)

Hmm...I've got my degree from management school, so I think I can understand why.  

PhD in finance huh? Pretty cool! And look at the bright side. She may someday go on to write one of those marvelous formulas that finally succeeds in crashing the entire banking and finance sector once and for all. (Why should the hedge funds have all the fun?)

Ever to Excel as they would say at my alma mater!