Friday, August 29, 2003
More Stupidity
Last night I got through the chapters on Ashton-Tate and Borland. It was interesting to go through the history of dBase and see what happened. It brought back lots of memories, and nightmares, that I had fighting with the beast. FoxPro gets some favorable mention. The author says you can still download Turbo Pascal, but I couldn't find it on the Borland website. I did some Turbo Pascal programming in the old days. That was about the same time I started using dBase II on a dual floppy CP/M machine from Televideo.
Last night I got through the chapters on Ashton-Tate and Borland. It was interesting to go through the history of dBase and see what happened. It brought back lots of memories, and nightmares, that I had fighting with the beast. FoxPro gets some favorable mention. The author says you can still download Turbo Pascal, but I couldn't find it on the Borland website. I did some Turbo Pascal programming in the old days. That was about the same time I started using dBase II on a dual floppy CP/M machine from Televideo.
Thursday, August 28, 2003
In Search of Stupidity
No, this isn't a new TV show starring Leonard Nimoy. It's a book about software marketing. "What's that?" you say. "You're a technical person who generally abhors marketing-types. Why are you reading a marketing book?" In Search of Stupidity documents over 20 years of marketing blunders in the PC world. The author, Merrill R. Chapman, knows this stuff first hand, having been involved with the marketing of WordStar, dBase, OS/2 and other products that no longer exist. The book is a wonderful read, full of humor and wisdom and things you should not do when marketing software. It's also a great review of the history of the Personal Computer. I'm just half-way through, but heartily recommend the book to everyone that works in the computer industry.
No, this isn't a new TV show starring Leonard Nimoy. It's a book about software marketing. "What's that?" you say. "You're a technical person who generally abhors marketing-types. Why are you reading a marketing book?" In Search of Stupidity documents over 20 years of marketing blunders in the PC world. The author, Merrill R. Chapman, knows this stuff first hand, having been involved with the marketing of WordStar, dBase, OS/2 and other products that no longer exist. The book is a wonderful read, full of humor and wisdom and things you should not do when marketing software. It's also a great review of the history of the Personal Computer. I'm just half-way through, but heartily recommend the book to everyone that works in the computer industry.
Friday, August 22, 2003
2002 Winter Olympics End
Huh? What's that? Didn't the Olympics end over 18 months ago? This is August! Yes, it is August, but today, the Olympic Legacy Park opened at the south end of Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah (the stadium was used for the opening and closing ceremonies). The park contains a museum, the Olympic cauldron and the Hoberman Arch, that served as the backdrop at the Olympic Medals Plaza. The cauldron was relit last night and will stay lit through tomorrow night. It will be relit for special occassions. So, why does this mark the end? With the opening of the $12 million dollar park, the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee closed its doors. I was lucky enough to attend ski jumping and speed skating events and walked around the crowds near Olympic Square during the actual events. It was a wonderful experience that I will probably never enjoy again.
Huh? What's that? Didn't the Olympics end over 18 months ago? This is August! Yes, it is August, but today, the Olympic Legacy Park opened at the south end of Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah (the stadium was used for the opening and closing ceremonies). The park contains a museum, the Olympic cauldron and the Hoberman Arch, that served as the backdrop at the Olympic Medals Plaza. The cauldron was relit last night and will stay lit through tomorrow night. It will be relit for special occassions. So, why does this mark the end? With the opening of the $12 million dollar park, the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee closed its doors. I was lucky enough to attend ski jumping and speed skating events and walked around the crowds near Olympic Square during the actual events. It was a wonderful experience that I will probably never enjoy again.
Thursday, August 21, 2003
PowerPoint bad
Yeah, you've seen it linked from other blogs, but I don't want to lose the reference. PowerPoint is Evil.
Yeah, you've seen it linked from other blogs, but I don't want to lose the reference. PowerPoint is Evil.
Insecurities
Lots of nasty computer worms have been in the news lately. It makes many people wonder why their PCs aren't secure. Chris Brumme blogged about some .NET stuff (the article is extremely technical), but also talked about how Microsoft treats security and why it's so difficult to make things totally secure.
Lots of nasty computer worms have been in the news lately. It makes many people wonder why their PCs aren't secure. Chris Brumme blogged about some .NET stuff (the article is extremely technical), but also talked about how Microsoft treats security and why it's so difficult to make things totally secure.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
This is Source Control?
If you aren't using source control on your development projects, you should. There are several products available that will do source control for you, some of them free. I just received some training on Telelogic's CM Synergy, which is a new product I'll be using in my development efforts at 3M. CM Synergy is part of a larger suite that manages requirements, bug reports, source code, and more. The source control piece, CM, is a Java program that is run by the developer to handle source control. I will admit, for a Java app, the program is pretty quick. However, as a product, CM Synergy sucks. The UI only half-way follows Windows standards. It also appears that Telelogic never did any usablity tests. Check-out should require a double-click on the file, not right-click | Check out, then double-click to edit. The View Differences and Merge features are awkward. The general feeling from co-workers is that this product is more difficult to use and has fewer features than our current source control program. If you're looking for a source control package, don't bother with Telelogic.
If you aren't using source control on your development projects, you should. There are several products available that will do source control for you, some of them free. I just received some training on Telelogic's CM Synergy, which is a new product I'll be using in my development efforts at 3M. CM Synergy is part of a larger suite that manages requirements, bug reports, source code, and more. The source control piece, CM, is a Java program that is run by the developer to handle source control. I will admit, for a Java app, the program is pretty quick. However, as a product, CM Synergy sucks. The UI only half-way follows Windows standards. It also appears that Telelogic never did any usablity tests. Check-out should require a double-click on the file, not right-click | Check out, then double-click to edit. The View Differences and Merge features are awkward. The general feeling from co-workers is that this product is more difficult to use and has fewer features than our current source control program. If you're looking for a source control package, don't bother with Telelogic.
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
FoxPro User Group
Here I am at the Fox User Group. We're discussing blogs and how they work. That means, this is a test!
Here I am at the Fox User Group. We're discussing blogs and how they work. That means, this is a test!
Saturday, August 16, 2003
Blogrolls...It's what's for dinner
It's always interesting to see who people link to on their blog olls. Earlier this week I was looking at Garrett's blog roll and clicked the link to John Porcaro. That led me to John's blog where I discovered that he was heading to Salt Lake City. Not only had I never met John before this, but I'd never heard of him. I posted a comment to him, asking him if he would like to do lunch while he was here. So, we met today and now I'm on his blogroll. I currently only have a few people on my blogroll, but I'm sure it will grow over time.
It's always interesting to see who people link to on their blog olls. Earlier this week I was looking at Garrett's blog roll and clicked the link to John Porcaro. That led me to John's blog where I discovered that he was heading to Salt Lake City. Not only had I never met John before this, but I'd never heard of him. I posted a comment to him, asking him if he would like to do lunch while he was here. So, we met today and now I'm on his blogroll. I currently only have a few people on my blogroll, but I'm sure it will grow over time.
Comments and RSS
The comments should now be working. (Yes, Garrett, I know. It's still in Access.) Also, the RSS feed should work for your aggregator.
The comments should now be working. (Yes, Garrett, I know. It's still in Access.) Also, the RSS feed should work for your aggregator.
Friday, August 15, 2003
Lunch
I just had lunch at McGrath's Fish House with John Porcaro. He was in town for the weddings of two of his sisters. One yesterday and the other tomorrow. We discussed Six Sigma, dealing with customers, technology, Blaster, what he's doing in his job, what I'm doing in mine, and lots more. If I can make it to PASS this November, I plan to drop by the Microsoft campus in Redmond and have lunch with him again.
I just had lunch at McGrath's Fish House with John Porcaro. He was in town for the weddings of two of his sisters. One yesterday and the other tomorrow. We discussed Six Sigma, dealing with customers, technology, Blaster, what he's doing in his job, what I'm doing in mine, and lots more. If I can make it to PASS this November, I plan to drop by the Microsoft campus in Redmond and have lunch with him again.
Linux Tainted?
Open Source supports have long shouted the praises of having many hands in the source code. Their claim is that with lots of eyes looking at the code, it will be better. Now comes news that Linux may be tainted. It appears that a hacker worked his way into the GNU Project servers this past March. The GNU Project is the central repository of Linux code. While there is no evidence that malicious code was inserted, that possiblity exists. This could be the first big test of the "many eyes looking at the code" theory to see if the code is good. Either way, checksum numbers have been posted to the GNU website so you can check any Linux code you may have downloaded since March.
Open Source supports have long shouted the praises of having many hands in the source code. Their claim is that with lots of eyes looking at the code, it will be better. Now comes news that Linux may be tainted. It appears that a hacker worked his way into the GNU Project servers this past March. The GNU Project is the central repository of Linux code. While there is no evidence that malicious code was inserted, that possiblity exists. This could be the first big test of the "many eyes looking at the code" theory to see if the code is good. Either way, checksum numbers have been posted to the GNU website so you can check any Linux code you may have downloaded since March.
Thursday, August 14, 2003
I'm wireless!
As I write this, I'm sitting on the sofa in my living room. Seinfeld is on the TV. It's the episode where Kramer writes a coffee table book about coffee tables. What makes this possible, is the new Netgear Cable/DSL 54 Mbps Wireless Router that I got earlier tonight at CompUSA. Setup was extremely easy. I unplugged the cable from the cable modem to the desktop PC and plugged it into the router. Then, ran a new cable from the router to the desktop and plugged in the router. The desktop found the new IP address and went right to the internet. I then went to the router and configured the wireless access point by setting up the encryption. That was it. I'm online and ready to go.
Comments on Comments
Garrett Fitzgerald has blogged about the ability to add comments here, or should I say, the lack of ability. I guess Garrett didn't read far enough to see that I already know about the error. And yes, I am using Access. That was the quickest way to set things up. Once I'm on my own server, I'll use SQL Server. Hopefully, the comments will be working soon.
As I write this, I'm sitting on the sofa in my living room. Seinfeld is on the TV. It's the episode where Kramer writes a coffee table book about coffee tables. What makes this possible, is the new Netgear Cable/DSL 54 Mbps Wireless Router that I got earlier tonight at CompUSA. Setup was extremely easy. I unplugged the cable from the cable modem to the desktop PC and plugged it into the router. Then, ran a new cable from the router to the desktop and plugged in the router. The desktop found the new IP address and went right to the internet. I then went to the router and configured the wireless access point by setting up the encryption. That was it. I'm online and ready to go.
Comments on Comments
Garrett Fitzgerald has blogged about the ability to add comments here, or should I say, the lack of ability. I guess Garrett didn't read far enough to see that I already know about the error. And yes, I am using Access. That was the quickest way to set things up. Once I'm on my own server, I'll use SQL Server. Hopefully, the comments will be working soon.
Statistics, More Statistics, and Damn Statistics
Having spent the past three days in Six Sigma Green Belt training, I've had enough statistics to last a life time. When I took a stats class in college, I was so relieved to get out with a D. Now, I'm back to more stats. Time to buy Statistics for Dummies. I'll be going back next month for the second half of the training and more statistics.
Having spent the past three days in Six Sigma Green Belt training, I've had enough statistics to last a life time. When I took a stats class in college, I was so relieved to get out with a D. Now, I'm back to more stats. Time to buy Statistics for Dummies. I'll be going back next month for the second half of the training and more statistics.
Outlook Express takes the Express Train to Nowhere
Microsoft has killed Outlook Express. While I use Outlook for email, I use Outlook Express as my news reader. If you have any suggestions on a good news group reader that will allow connections to multiple news servers, let me know.
Microsoft has killed Outlook Express. While I use Outlook for email, I use Outlook Express as my news reader. If you have any suggestions on a good news group reader that will allow connections to multiple news servers, let me know.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Comments and RSS Feeds
As you can see, I'm in the process of adding the ability for you to enter comments regarding my blogs. If you've tried it, you may have found you get an error. I am working with my host to correct the error.
Also, many of you (Ted) have been asking for RSS feeds. They are on their way. Once they've been tested and I know they are working, I'll let you know how to get them.
As you can see, I'm in the process of adding the ability for you to enter comments regarding my blogs. If you've tried it, you may have found you get an error. I am working with my host to correct the error.
Also, many of you (Ted) have been asking for RSS feeds. They are on their way. Once they've been tested and I know they are working, I'll let you know how to get them.
Six Sigma
I've spent the past two days in Six Sigma Green Belt training. The first part of the class wraps up tomorrow and three more days of training are scheduled for next month. If you don't know anything about Six Sigma, you should look into it. It is a method to drive up qualityand lower costs using statistical analysis. This makes your business decisions better because you use data instead of gut instinct.
I've spent the past two days in Six Sigma Green Belt training. The first part of the class wraps up tomorrow and three more days of training are scheduled for next month. If you don't know anything about Six Sigma, you should look into it. It is a method to drive up qualityand lower costs using statistical analysis. This makes your business decisions better because you use data instead of gut instinct.
Blaster Worm
The Blaster worm has caused some big problems for Windows PCs the past couple of days. If you got hit, you can get a fix from Symantec. If you run Windows XP, you also need to install a patch from the Windows Update site. Just installing the patch from the Windows update site isn't enough. This worm makes registry entries so the patch thinks it's already installed. Run the Symantec fix first, then install the hotfix.
This worm came about after Microsoft released a hotfix for Windows to close the hole. This has been the case with most major viruses and worms in the past year. In otherwords, if you've been proactive and installed the patches as they were released by Microsoft, you haven't been hit by the major nasties.
You should set Windows to automatically download and install the patches. You should also be using a good anti-virus software program and have it update automatically. Finally, a good firewall should be installed. The firewall that ships with Windows XP probably isn't enough as it only protects against things getting in. If you are already infected, it won't stop things from getting out. I use Zone Alarm. It's free for personal use and does a great job.
The Blaster worm has caused some big problems for Windows PCs the past couple of days. If you got hit, you can get a fix from Symantec. If you run Windows XP, you also need to install a patch from the Windows Update site. Just installing the patch from the Windows update site isn't enough. This worm makes registry entries so the patch thinks it's already installed. Run the Symantec fix first, then install the hotfix.
This worm came about after Microsoft released a hotfix for Windows to close the hole. This has been the case with most major viruses and worms in the past year. In otherwords, if you've been proactive and installed the patches as they were released by Microsoft, you haven't been hit by the major nasties.
You should set Windows to automatically download and install the patches. You should also be using a good anti-virus software program and have it update automatically. Finally, a good firewall should be installed. The firewall that ships with Windows XP probably isn't enough as it only protects against things getting in. If you are already infected, it won't stop things from getting out. I use Zone Alarm. It's free for personal use and does a great job.
Monday, August 11, 2003
Server Blues
I setup a new sever recently, or I should say I am in the process of setting it up. It will be running Windows 2003 Server and will eventually be used to host my web site. There in lies a tale as good as anything Jerry Pournelle would have written in his Chaos Manor column in the old Byte magazine.
I had some old sticks of RAM laying around and thought I would make use of them in the new server. So, I drove down to a local parts shop and showed him what I had. He only had one motherboard that would support the older RAM, so I took it, a 1.6 Gig Athlon processor, and a case. I could piece together everything else from the carcasses of several older PCs that are stacked up in the corner. Since this new processor is faster than the one I normally use, I figured that I would pull the drives, video controller, etc out of the current desktop and put them in the new case.
Everything went fine with the construction process. I plugged in the cables and turned on the power. That's when things got ugly. Windows reported that one of its required files was missing or corrupt. That's when I started to panic. No backup. But, I thought, the Windows XP setup program should be able to fix this. I located my Windows DVD, put it in the drive and ran setup, selecting the Repair option. I wonder if the option should be Maybe Repair, because it didn't fix anything. That meant I had to reinstall Windows. I was now an entire evening into the process and hadn't even gotten to the new server yet.
Well, the Windows install went better than anything else so far. There were no glitches. The only problem was, Windows was technically a new installation. That means I had to reinstall all my applications. That process took until 2:00 AM and most of the next day, but most everything was back in place. Luckily I hadn't lost any data.
Now, on to the server. I scavenged the parts and put them in the case. I had previously made a setup CD using the the images from my MSDN Universal DVD, but it wouldn't boot, even though it was supposed to be bootable. I got out my Win98 boot disk and booted from that, then started the setup process from the CD. Everything seemed to work. The keyword being "seemed". The server refused to boot from the harddrive.
So, back to the floppy. I reformatted the drive, then started the setup again. Again, everything started out ok, but during the step where setup copies files, it refused to read from the CD. Retry and Ignore did nothing, so back to the DVDs to burn a new CD. Thankfully, this one worked and the server was soon running.
You may know that Windows 2003 Server installs with pretty much everything turned off. I had to install IIS, Application Services, and the Theme service. This last service is what allows the UI to look like Windows XP. And that's where I am now...a week after starting the entire process. I'll actually plug the server into my network in the next couple of days. I'll let you know how that goes once I get done trouble shooting those steps.
I setup a new sever recently, or I should say I am in the process of setting it up. It will be running Windows 2003 Server and will eventually be used to host my web site. There in lies a tale as good as anything Jerry Pournelle would have written in his Chaos Manor column in the old Byte magazine.
I had some old sticks of RAM laying around and thought I would make use of them in the new server. So, I drove down to a local parts shop and showed him what I had. He only had one motherboard that would support the older RAM, so I took it, a 1.6 Gig Athlon processor, and a case. I could piece together everything else from the carcasses of several older PCs that are stacked up in the corner. Since this new processor is faster than the one I normally use, I figured that I would pull the drives, video controller, etc out of the current desktop and put them in the new case.
Everything went fine with the construction process. I plugged in the cables and turned on the power. That's when things got ugly. Windows reported that one of its required files was missing or corrupt. That's when I started to panic. No backup. But, I thought, the Windows XP setup program should be able to fix this. I located my Windows DVD, put it in the drive and ran setup, selecting the Repair option. I wonder if the option should be Maybe Repair, because it didn't fix anything. That meant I had to reinstall Windows. I was now an entire evening into the process and hadn't even gotten to the new server yet.
Well, the Windows install went better than anything else so far. There were no glitches. The only problem was, Windows was technically a new installation. That means I had to reinstall all my applications. That process took until 2:00 AM and most of the next day, but most everything was back in place. Luckily I hadn't lost any data.
Now, on to the server. I scavenged the parts and put them in the case. I had previously made a setup CD using the the images from my MSDN Universal DVD, but it wouldn't boot, even though it was supposed to be bootable. I got out my Win98 boot disk and booted from that, then started the setup process from the CD. Everything seemed to work. The keyword being "seemed". The server refused to boot from the harddrive.
So, back to the floppy. I reformatted the drive, then started the setup again. Again, everything started out ok, but during the step where setup copies files, it refused to read from the CD. Retry and Ignore did nothing, so back to the DVDs to burn a new CD. Thankfully, this one worked and the server was soon running.
You may know that Windows 2003 Server installs with pretty much everything turned off. I had to install IIS, Application Services, and the Theme service. This last service is what allows the UI to look like Windows XP. And that's where I am now...a week after starting the entire process. I'll actually plug the server into my network in the next couple of days. I'll let you know how that goes once I get done trouble shooting those steps.
Friday, August 08, 2003
Updated VFP 8.0 OLE DB Provider
Microsoft has finally posted an updated OLE DB Provider for Visual FoxPro. This update fixes a few issues that developers were having, particularly with .NET. The great news is that this update is free to everyone, where previous versions required that you have a copy of VFP. You can download the OLE DB Provider here.
Another article mentions Fox
Here's another article that mentions FoxPro. In this article, the SCO lawsuit against IBM is compared to the Ashton-Tate lawsuit against Fox Software several years ago. The author, Robert X. Cringely, says that SCO will lose their case for the same reasons Ashton-Tate lost.
Microsoft has finally posted an updated OLE DB Provider for Visual FoxPro. This update fixes a few issues that developers were having, particularly with .NET. The great news is that this update is free to everyone, where previous versions required that you have a copy of VFP. You can download the OLE DB Provider here.
Another article mentions Fox
Here's another article that mentions FoxPro. In this article, the SCO lawsuit against IBM is compared to the Ashton-Tate lawsuit against Fox Software several years ago. The author, Robert X. Cringely, says that SCO will lose their case for the same reasons Ashton-Tate lost.
Thursday, August 07, 2003
FoxPro mentioned in the press
There have been some interesting articles posted lately that mention FoxPro. The first, Choose the right Microsoft database for your development needs, says some really good things about VFP.
The second, Time To Get Off The Microsoft Treadmill?, is not really about VFP...it's just that the author is a former Fox guy and he laments the directions Microsoft is taking with it's products.
It's interesting where Fox gets mentioned now and then. If you run across some mention of Fox, let me know.
There have been some interesting articles posted lately that mention FoxPro. The first, Choose the right Microsoft database for your development needs, says some really good things about VFP.
The second, Time To Get Off The Microsoft Treadmill?, is not really about VFP...it's just that the author is a former Fox guy and he laments the directions Microsoft is taking with it's products.
It's interesting where Fox gets mentioned now and then. If you run across some mention of Fox, let me know.
VFP Website Updated
The VFP Web site was recently updated to use the standard MSDN style sheets. It looks pretty good. There are some new features, such as a letter from Ken Levy. In it he notes that the updated VFP OLE-DB Provider is done and the Fox team is just waiting for it to get poster. Also, Service Pack 1 for VFP 8.0 is in the works.
The VFP Web site was recently updated to use the standard MSDN style sheets. It looks pretty good. There are some new features, such as a letter from Ken Levy. In it he notes that the updated VFP OLE-DB Provider is done and the Fox team is just waiting for it to get poster. Also, Service Pack 1 for VFP 8.0 is in the works.
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