Recent Posts

9001

Living Room / Re: Help! Really strange WiFi problem.

« Last post by 40hz on June 23, 2010, 05:01 PM »

You had a JOOTT!

JOOTT

(Pronounced 'Jute') 'Just One Of Those Things'.

Sooner or later every organisation/user will run into problems which are not amenable to logical analysis; technical solutions; or even simple common sense.

JOOTT is used to describe inexplicable computer problems which fix themselves, or are fixed by turning off the machine and restarting, or in more persistent cases, by reinstalling a piece of software.

9002

General Software Discussion / Re: Want to build a new OS today? It's going to cost you $1.4bn (or more)

« Last post by 40hz on June 23, 2010, 04:21 PM »

Admittedly I don't know much about the hardware or software architecture involved in OS design, but your point here describes why I say we could use more innovation:

-Deozaan (June 23, 2010, 02:34 PM)

@Deo - hey guy! Don't sell yourself so short.  

Half the people that are responsible for what we're using didn't know that much about computer technology when they went out and changed the world.

Probably their greatest advantage was they didn't know the "correct" way to do things. And as a result, they weren't hampered by the "fact" that what they wanted to accomplish was "impossible."

The point you made when you said: "I'm not in a position to say what we need or what would be better, but I do believe that we're not going to find anything if we're not even looking anymore." is an absolutely valid argument. One the computer world could benefit from if they remembered that a little better than they have these last 10 years...

So I hope you don't think I was trying to be confrontational, or attempting to put you down in any way, with my previous question. I was genuinely curious as to what you had in mind. That, and maybe a bit of hope you thought of something that had the potential to kickstart a whole new approach to OS design.

There's a story that's told about the early days of atomic energy research. Seems that when ol' Father of the Atomic Bomb Bob Oppenheimer was teaching advanced physics at UCLA Berkeley, he'd sometimes throw a complex problem up on the board towards the end of the class. He'd then invite his students to hang around and try and solve it. Some of the students would usually end up sticking around to try their luck tackling the problem from various angles - but always without success.

As the hours went by, the group would slowly dwindle in number. Eventually only a small cadre of the absolute top students remained. They would continue trying (and dismissing) everything they came up with until finally whoever was the acknowledged "top dog" at the gathering would shake his head and say something like: OK Oppie! We give up. What's the correct answer?

Oppenheimer would beam at them like a proud parent, and then say: "Nobody knows."

When someone would invariably ask what was the point of doing such an exercise if nobody knew the correct answer, he'd reply: Because it's an important problem that needs to be solved. And I'm sure somebody will solve it eventually. It's just that it might have been us here today.

So who knows? Maybe you'll have the breakthrough insight all the "pros" are missing.  

9003

Living Room / Graphic Design Theory Resources - web collection

« Last post by 40hz on June 23, 2010, 01:24 PM »

The folks over at Noupe.com have put together yet another excellent collection of design resources.

Noupe hasn't been mentioned on DC for a little while now, so it's probably a good idea to remind ourselves just how good a site it is from time to time.

For those of you who don't already know, Noupe is operated by Smashing Media GmbH. These are the same people that are responsible for another great design website: Smashing Magazine.

Graphic Design Theory: 50 Resources and Articles

 As designers, we often focus on the practical aspects of design above all else. We focus on what works, with little regard for why it works. And in our day-to-day work, that outlook serves us well. It lets us get our work done in an efficient, professional manner, and generally nets good results.

But spending some time on the theory behind the graphic design principles we use every day can expand our design horizons. It can open up new avenues of creativity and experimentation that can lead our designs from just good, to fantastic. On that note, below are 50 excellent resources and articles that discuss graphic design theory, including layout, color theory, and typography. Feel free to share additional resources and articles in the comments.

Excellent set of links. If you're at all interested in design, don't miss this one. You can read it here.

-----
Be sure to browse around when visiting Noupe. They have tons of interesting things to look at.

Right now there's an amazing exhibit of unrolled roach paper art. If you don't know what that is, just think of it as an extremely... umm...specialized example of 'found media' art...

Link here. Check out the samples below:

 

(click on thumb to expand)


--------

Note: if you're interested in web technology and visual design; looking for inspiration for your own projects; or just admire the people who do this stuff, then some of the best of it can be found at the following websites:

Smashing Magazine

Noupe

Hongkiat

Six Revisions

A List Apart

Most (if not all) have been mentioned on Donation Coder at one time or another. A once a week visit to the above will keep you abreast of some of the best thinking on design that's out there.

 

9004

General Software Discussion / Re: What's a good wardrobe management software?

« Last post by 40hz on June 23, 2010, 08:05 AM »

Fascinating!

I can't imagine myself ever owning an extensive enough collection of clothing where I'd need something like that.

Guess I'm just not that fashionable. "Neat and presentable" is pretty much the limit of what I can manage.

 

 

9005

General Software Discussion / Re: how they create such beautiful graphics?

« Last post by 40hz on June 22, 2010, 10:45 AM »

@steeladept-

Boy did you ever just make me smile with your last comment.

I'm the type of person that likes to believe we create our own opportunites - and make our own luck.

Reading a story like yours reinforces that belief.

Well done!

9006

General Software Discussion / Re: If you think OpenOffice is a competitor to MS Office 2010, think again

« Last post by 40hz on June 22, 2010, 09:37 AM »

Oh, I'd actually love to see OO take over the world.

-urlwolf (June 22, 2010, 07:42 AM)

Not me.  If there's no competition things won't improve. And the price tag will go through the ceiling too. (Look at Photoshop.)

I want to see at least two absolutely killer office suites locked in mortal combat at all times.

 

9007

General Software Discussion / Re: The Odds Are Increasing That Microsoft's Business Will Collapse

« Last post by 40hz on June 22, 2010, 09:21 AM »

@urlwolf - Interesting.  

Nothing there is really all that new as far as I can tell. But it's still worth reading if for no other reason than to be aware of what a lot of other people are reading. And for better or for worse, Mr. Blodget does get read.

Unfortunately, Mr. Blodget is a former financial analyst. He thinks like a financial analyst. And he talks like a financial analyst. His perspective on technology is skewed to primarily see "tech" as a business investment rather than something that gets used by real people with real jobs.

There is nothing Google or Apple are doing that Microsoft couldn't do if it felt the need. To a certain extent, Microsoft is in a unique position to benefit so long as Apple and Google and Adobe and Amazon continue to bicker. With luck, they'll all sue each other out of existence leaving Microsoft as the only player with a piece still on the board.

I dunno. I don't think Microsoft is as much a bumbling elephant as most of the Wall Street crowd seems to believe. Maybe it's just sour grapes because Microsoft no longer affords them the opportunity to make a quick buck on their shares. Or maybe it's because they really don't understand technology despite the fact they can trot out all the current buzzwords or fake a little expertise by rehashing and rewording opinions they've read over at SlashDot.

If the biggest threat to Microsoft is losing the OS and Office suite to a web-based product, they'll simply put more effort into RDP and Office Live (which Blodget seems to be unaware of) than they already have.

But there are also other alternatives which I blathered at length about over on a thread that Zaine started to discuss OpenOffice. Link here if anybody isn't sick of listening to me by now.

9008

General Software Discussion / Re: Meet the new FOG! Same as the old FOG?

« Last post by 40hz on June 22, 2010, 08:10 AM »

(see my signature)

-tomos (June 22, 2010, 07:23 AM)

@tomos - Awesome! Thanks for letting me know about these people. I'm in! 

9009

General Software Discussion / Re: Meet the new FOG! Same as the old FOG?

« Last post by 40hz on June 22, 2010, 07:46 AM »

-thanks, 40hz :-)

Now if somebody would only resurrect Aldus Freehand  

-40hz (June 22, 2010, 06:57 AM)

was that freeware?
or are you telling that you don't like either FreeHand MX or CS Illustrator ?

Edited: No, it's not really the same thing, I realize, now
re-edited#2: I realized nothing, did I. But at least I have now found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldus

-Curt (June 22, 2010, 07:18 AM)

AFAIK, it's currently a semi-orphaned product still being sold by Adobe. They junked it up big time when they acquired it. (Adobe is a feature junky if there ever was one) But it's still a dead product. They aren't doing any updates to it. Nor have they for some years now.  And you can forget about Win7 or 64-bit.

If you call to order it they try very hard to convince you to get Illustrator instead. Can't blame them. Freehand and Illustrator serve the same function so it really doesn't make much sense for them to offer both.

Per Adobe's website:

Adobe and the Future of FreeHand

No updates to FreeHand have been made for over four years, and Adobe has no plans to initiate development to add new features or to support Intel-based Macs and Windows Vista.

To support customer workflows, we will continue to sell FreeHand and offer technical and customer support in accordance with our policies.

While we recognize FreeHand has a loyal customer base, we encourage users to migrate to the new Adobe Illustrator CS4 software which supports both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs and Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Illustrator CS4 offers powerful new features, including functionality designed to appeal to FreeHand users, such as multiple artboards, the Blob Brush tool and transparency in gradients.

FreeHand customers can switch to Illustrator CS4 for US$199 (volume licensing also available), and access complimentary resources to ease the transition. For additional information, please visit www.adobe.com/illustrator

Illustrator is a great app and no doubt about it. But from my perspective, Freehand felt like a sporty Alpha Romeo while Illustrator was more like a Land Rover. Freehand got you where you wanted to go with style and speed. Illustrator can take you anywhere and do just about anything. But it's big, and heavy, and overkill for a lot of things - unless you want to use it in conjunction with the rest of Adobe's suite of products and their concept of workflow. Because that's where Illustrator does shine.

I like applications to be light. Basically only do a few things really well and forget the rest.
For the most part I don't like apps which look like they're on steroids. Purely a personal thing.

 

9010

General Software Discussion / Re: Meet the new FOG! Same as the old FOG?

« Last post by 40hz on June 22, 2010, 06:57 AM »

- Thx Curt! Great find!

Nice to see this old dragon has returned to its roost.

Fontographer definitely was the best publically available tool for font design back in its day. And it probably still is since it's a highly specialized application which never had much serious competition. If the big commercial type foundries were have anything better, they're keeping it to themselves.

But I'm wondering just how updated it really is. I could understand keeping the interface as close to the original as possible in order to leverage its original userbase. And some of the new features (better unicode support, updated encodings) along with those "innumerable bug fixes" are welcome news.

But did they have to retain Multi-master (or Multiple Master if you prefer) font format? It's one of the few really bad ideas Adobe ever came up with. Seeing it on the menu up above makes me wonder how much has been updated - and how much was just bolted onto the original.

Either way, it's still good to see it back. Maybe if for no other reason than to help people better appreciate just how much design talent, aesthetics and patience are required to produce a nice looking font with fully tweaked kerning pair values. (Trust me, it's a lot harder than it looks.)

Now if somebody would only resurrect Aldus Freehand    I'd be one happy camper!

 

9011

General Software Discussion / Re: If you think OpenOffice is a competitor to MS Office 2010, think again

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 06:36 PM »

Try telling your audience that  you don't do PowerPoint because slides have been linked to a certain male 'medical problem' that Viagra can't fix, - and all the penicillin and black coffee in the world won't cure...

That's what I do.

Sometimes they buy it.

(Worth a try either way.)

9012

General Software Discussion / Re: how they create such beautiful graphics?

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 06:09 PM »

Being thrown into the "pressman" position at work a little over a year ago now, I can say 1) very few places even have platemakers anymore because it is all digital presses, and 2) most times, by the time it gets to the press, the pressman is told it was approved, just box it and send it (in the digital press world, the designer sends it directly to the printer without anyone else's intervention.

-steeladept (June 21, 2010, 04:39 PM)

Yeah, that's true. Seems like the industry has gone over to the "Just send us the PDF!" model for prepress.

And they wonder why they get treated as a commodity even though there's little or no value-added to what they're providing any more?

Guess that's the inevitable progression: art becomes craft; craft becomes manufacturing; manufacturing produces product; product becomes commodity.

I think that's what the economists call "efficiency."

The "pressman's" job is to ensure the printer is full of paper and the paper comes off the printer in good shape - not to proof or otherwise judge content).

-steeladept (June 21, 2010, 04:39 PM)

Dude! What do you guys get paid for?  

Thank goodness it hasn't gotten that bad with the press operations where I live. Or it hasn't yet. At least I don't think it has. (Hope not anyway...)

But please tell me you're (at least) checking for color and QC-ing for things like picking and ghosting? Or if not, then please say you're a part of some in-house print operation  and not out there charging somebody for a schlock copy print job.

Pretty please?

 

---------

P.S.

I know I'm gonna have nightmares about this tonight!

9013

General Software Discussion / Re: how they create such beautiful graphics?

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 05:40 PM »

Someone who paints with a brush is going to be able to pick up a computer-based tool, much less a highly complex 3D modeling and rendering application? I'm sorry, I don't think so. I've seen endless numbers of traditional artists, even those used to computers (both those who use computers in their art work and those who don't) who, despite extensive artistic knowledge and skill, are baffled by 3D modeling programs.

-JavaJones (June 21, 2010, 04:27 PM)

Actually, I've seen several do it so I guess it's who you know and where you're looking.

All the folks I knew were also smart about it. No sitting at home with a book for ten weeks trying to figure out what was what with a cracked copy of 30-day 'trial' software for these guys and gals. They went out and got some professional training directly from AutoCAD and Lightwave. (One mark of a true Pro - they don't try to reinvent the wheel!) They were also smart about getting their employers to pay for it.

Interestingly enough, they told me that the thing that made it relatively easy for them to catch on was their existing knowledge of color theory, lighting, form construction, and perspective. In short, the basic repertoire of skills any visual artist needs to master - no matter what medium they wish to work in.

And they learned all of this while in art school. And well before the advent of affordable PC-based 3D software.

They said once you understood perspective and form, and had a working knowledge of lighting angles, learning out how to do it all with nurbs and splines and polygonal modeling became a relatively straightforward exercise. Most of it involved learning some new vocabulary. That, and where on the program menu some tool or setting could be found.

As far as 3D in general goes, I do agree with much of what you're saying. But 3D is such a different and new art form that I'd be willing to bet that we haven't seen the first truly great artist that this 'medium' is going to produce. I'm sure a digital Rembrandt or Michelangelo will someday come along to teach us all what this new art form is really about. But until then, we'll just have to content ourselves with looking at "pretty pictures" and "cool stuff."

IMHO the current crop of tools has a long way to go before they catch up to what people with the vision want to do with them. (Maybe that's why so many people working with 3D very often talk about nothing but the challenges they encountered getting their software to do what they wanted it to - and that's assuming they could get it to do what they wanted at all?   )

So right now, I'd put 3D more at the 'clever' stage of it's development. The tools are too much in flux and far too difficult to work with.

Don't get me wrong. I love 3D artwork. I even collect it. But from what I've seen, 3D 'art' is more "artsy" than artistic. At least to my eyes.  

I'm sure many people will feel differently about that than I do - but hey! It's a great big beautiful world out there so there's plenty of room for differing opinions.

 

9014

General Software Discussion / Re: This Mac devotee is moving to Linux

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 03:34 PM »

I would use Linux if ...

-Carol Haynes (June 21, 2010, 01:00 PM)

But, would you, really?  You run a PC support business.  Isn't that a de facto Windows support business?

-rjbull (June 21, 2010, 02:57 PM)

I don't think that in itself would be an issue for most PC wonks..

I'm an MS Partner. I run a PC support business. (Which is de facto a 95% Windows/Windows Server business BTW.) But for 50% of what I do, I like Linux better.

And if I weren't supporting Windows as my business, I'd personally be running about 90% on Linux - and that's despite the fact I very much like Windows 7 and Server 2k3/2k8!

It's no knock on Microsoft. They sell a very capable OS. It's just that I much prefer the way a UNIX-like system works.

Maybe it's because UNIX was the first OS I learned well enough that I actually felt like I knew what I was doing. Or maybe it's because it's just so open-ended about how you can up and do things. Or maybe it's just so much more fun than either Windows or OSX.

So I think it all comes down to how open you are to something different; what you want/need to accomplish; and how much time you have to put into it in order to become proficient.

In fairness, most Linux users are like green belts in Taekwondo. They know enough to be dangerous - but nowhere near enough to be effective.

But that still doesn't stop them from praising and promoting Taekwondo every chance they get.  

9015

General Software Discussion / Re: This Mac devotee is moving to Linux

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 03:05 PM »

and it isn't designed for print media

-Carol Haynes (June 21, 2010, 02:19 PM)

Bingo. That's it's one downfall as far as I'm concerned. That and how different the interface is. I'm pretty comfortable with Photoshop although I'd hardly call it an intuitive program. The GIMPshop hack makes the GIMP a little less of a jolt to use since it emulates a good bit of the Photoshop look & feel, but it's still not completely identical.

I know you can use standard 'generic' drivers to get something out but over years I have tried with various printers and have yet to find one that produces a decent printout from Linux.

-Carol Haynes (June 21, 2010, 02:19 PM)

I've found the drivers for the more popular HP Laserjets to be very good. Both the HP-PCL and the Postscript drivers produce very high quality results. (But maybe that's because HP is writing NIX drivers while companies like Canon aren't? Makes me wonder if there's some sort of "understanding" they have with Microsoft about that...)

9016

General Software Discussion / Re: how they create such beautiful graphics?

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 02:48 PM »

Sorry, but the first one just looked awkward to me.  

It took me a few seconds to realise it was the serif typeface someone had used to add one of the labels  

-katykaty (June 20, 2010, 01:22 PM)

Good catch!  

Inconsistent text styling. Arggghhhhh!!!!

I wish I had a nickle for the number of times I've seen that mistake slip through multiple stages of proofing.

Any good platemaker should have spotted it even if the designers didn't. And an experienced pressman should have also caught it after he pulled his first few sets of proof sheets.

But I guess it didn't happen this time.  

9017

General Software Discussion / Re: how they create such beautiful graphics?

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 02:29 PM »

At the same time, yes you could take a random person, train them to use e.g. Blender, and then show them that scene and they could reproduce it.

-JavaJones (June 20, 2010, 11:35 PM)

Possibly. I've heard this argument before. But I'd still like to see someone with no graphics background or art training actually do it so well that it would fool someone who knew what she was looking at.

And in the case of a trained artist, picking up a new 'toolkit' isn't going to be that big of a technical challenge for most of them.

Far easier to teach an artist how to use a piece of software than it is to teach a software user how to be an artist.

I see the same thing with music software. I can invariably hear the difference between a piece composed by a musician and a piece by a non-musician. (Hint: At its best, the non-musician stuff seldom rises above the level of being  'clever.') And many non-musicians can hear the difference too.

Just my 2¢  

9018

General Software Discussion / Re: If you think OpenOffice is a competitor to MS Office 2010, think again

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 02:12 PM »

Too bad they couldn't forget about PowerPoint and  every other piece of presentation software while they were in a coma.

 

(Can you guess I'm not a fan of slide presentations?)

9019

General Software Discussion / Re: This Mac devotee is moving to Linux

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 02:06 PM »

I  assume WPA works out of the box, too?

-daddydave (June 21, 2010, 01:39 PM)

Did for me on an older Intel box using a Belkin Wireless G+ MIMO USB which has been sporadically fussy under Windows.

It connected to my low-security home router (which is using WPA-PSK) without a blip. The supplicant monitor reported the signal as 'excellent.' Under Windows it's usually only 'good' or 'very good.' Files seem to download a touch quicker under Ubuntu so I'm guessing what it's reporting is really a better signal. That or possibly better system efficiency (HD access, network overhead, etc.) overall.

Like I said, I almost fainted!  

9020

General Software Discussion / Re: This Mac devotee is moving to Linux

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 01:25 PM »

@Carol - I was pleasently surprised to find Ubu's 10.04 wifi handled anything I own including one oddball USB MIMO adapter which never worked with any other version of NIX I tried it with. 

"Plug&Pray" picked it up on installation. All I had to do was pick the SSID and enter the password. It even correctly identified the protocol and encryption type.

I'm used to ditzing around getting wifi to work. This time out, I needed no drivers or firmware hacks. I booted to my desktop and was politely informed that WAPs were in range to connect to. (I almost fainted!)

Give the live CD a try. You may find some joy with that yet.  

9021

Living Room / Re: Only take a NO from someone who can say YES

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 12:37 PM »

^Don't know if it's that great.

But it tries very hard to operate ethically, as well as in a logical and consistent manner.

And it is my own...so any failings it has are my direct reponsibility. 

Note: It's also not spectacularly profitable. (we have definitely felt the pinch from the recent economic downturn in the market sector we're in.)  But our clients love us. And people seem to like working for us.

So I'd consider it a success.  

Feel free to draw what lessons and conclusions you will from that. 

9022

General Software Discussion / Re: This Mac devotee is moving to Linux

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 12:18 PM »

^ My GF is a Mint user. Does that count? 

9023

General Software Discussion / Re: OpenOffice at the crossroads

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 11:55 AM »

I think his is just one more example of how the FOSS well is getting poisoned by people and companies who are doing their level best to ruin it, either through ignorance or design.

Open means OPEN.

Not half open,
              
     or sorta open,

         or partially open

               or virtually open...

Or BSD licensed for that matter.

And it especially doesn't mean you can create a proprietary product, release it under the guise of being open, but with the intent of someday closing it back up again after you get a few million in saved development costs, coding, and debugging from the community that believed you.

And to the businesses that are still trying to run this play past the open source community, might I suggest that anybody who is smart enough to work on your project is also smart enough to know a scam when they see one?

Fortunately, there's a fairly simple solution: FORK.

Go-oo.org is a step in the right direction. But an even better solution would be a version that wasn't hosted in the backroom of some commercial software company like Novell. Novell was among the most 'closed' of all software developers until Microsoft went and pulled the rug out from under them with their own proprietary product line. It was only once they realized they couldn't compete with Microsoft (and nearly went under) that they were suddenly all for "open" software.

Yeah right...

Same goes for Sun. And Oracle. And especially Microsoft's hokey double-talk and  newspeak about how they're completely in support of open software as long as they get to define what open really means. (And please ignore Steve Ballmer's patent litigation threats. He's just venting. Really! Cross our hearts!)

If you want a product to be "open," then make it open.

If you don't - then don't. End of story.

The open software community can respect your wanting to remain proprietary a lot more than they can accept your being a hypocrite.

That's my tuppence, anyway..

9024

Living Room / Re: Only take a NO from someone who can say YES

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 10:44 AM »

^You raise several excellent points.

One thing we insist on is speaking to the users before we finalize our proposal. We've caught tons of mis-spec'ed details and avoided several hundred headaches this way.

We always tell management that our experience has taught us that end-users make some of the best systems analysts - because they know their jobs cold.

We've only occasionally had a problem with being allowed to do that. And in the three or four cases where we were not granted access, we took a big deep breath and declined to offer a proposal.

The reason we do this is because very early in the history of our company, we made the mistake of letting a company with major labor relation issues dictate to us how we should accomplish our job. That project turned out to be a total nightmare in terms of financial and personal costs. It was the only project failure my company had in over 20 years of business. And we have no intention of repeating such a mistake.

In retrospect, the single most valuable sales "skill" you can acquire is the ability (or permission  - if you work for someone else) to walk away from a bad sale. Like the old song says, you gotta know when to hold, when to fold, and when to just walk away.

Learning to say "no" to a potential customer is much more important than learning how to avoid getting a "no" from them.
 
  

9025

Living Room / Re: (Old) Creativity is not Design - Taking the Andy Rutledge Test

« Last post by 40hz on June 21, 2010, 10:00 AM »

Interesting article. Some of Andy's comments smack a little bit of a member of the trade trying to 'circle the wagons.' But for the most part I think his points are well taken.

I think the biggest problem with design is that most people appreciate it when they see it - but usually won't be willing to pay much more to get it. Good design is viewed as the cherry on top a sundae that some places charge you a buck extra for. (FWIW my GF occasionally goes for it. But I always pass.)

My sister is a graphic artist. The fact people don't care about design as much as she does drives her crazy.