the case against .NET

I understand that Microsoft’s new WorldWide Telescope is an impressive piece of software.
However, Nick Bradbury has highlighted the horrendous installation procedure, which apparently involves up to 12 steps. Nick has this to say: -
Those of us who believe that desktop software is still relevant in abrowser-based world should be up in arms about how [...]

[Read more →]

OK, I know I’ve gone quiet again. This isn’t particularly due to a shortage of things to blog about - it’s more to do with the hassle of creating blog entries.
In an attempt to counter this, I’m now trying out ScribeFire as a blogging tool - “Post to your blog without ever leaving Firefox”. [...]

[Read more →]

A podcast I listen to regularly is OnTheRun with Tablet PCs, by James Kendrick and Marc Orchant.
I’ve not yet heard the latest edition, number 8, but apparently you can get yourself a free copy of Buzz Bruggeman’s ActiveWords by doing so.
ActiveWords is not a tablet-specific program, though there is a free add-on to make it [...]

[Read more →]

Over time, I’ve found that really good software - I don’t mean software that just does the job, but that does it simply and elegantly and looks gorgeous - is very often written using Borland Delphi.
Nevertheless, I was pretty amazed to find today that the Skype client for Windows is a Delphi application. I [...]

[Read more →]

The MSDN Subscriber Downloads feed just listed something called “Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 v2 (All Languages)”.
Why can’t we just have Update Rollup 2 for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4? How about Windows 2000 Service Pack 5?
On the other hand, perhaps we should be grateful there wasn’t an Update Rollup [...]

[Read more →]

Opera recently made their browser free for a couple of days as part of their 10-year anniversary party. At the time, I said I hoped they could find a way to make it free permanently, so it stood a chance of being taken seriously.
This has now happened! Opera 8.50 is completely free, and [...]

[Read more →]

Microsoft is currently staging its PDC in Los Angeles. To say I’m underwhelmed would be an understatement.
PDC stands for Professional Developers Conference (sic), but most of the news seems to be about a cute new toolbar design for Microsoft Office. If this is a developers’ conference, where’s the information about how to use [...]

[Read more →]

Following the previous post, and in the spirit of full disclosure, a few notes on my own experiences of software activation and DRM.
I’ve never yet had problems with product activation (but I’m grateful to Jeff Duntemann for his advice not to upgrade to the latest Acrobat version - I too remain happy with version 4.0).
I [...]

[Read more →]

Jeff Duntemann has a great post on the foolishness of Product Activation.
Activation is to software as DRM is to the music industry. Both serve more to alienate existing customers than to deter pirates. In fact, both can turn today’s loyal customer into tomorrow’s pirate.
Say you buy Acrobat and find it won’t run because you have [...]

[Read more →]

Opera is giving away free registration codes as part of it’s “10-year online anniversary party”. Get this while you can - Opera 8 is a very good browser.
However, I hope Opera can find a way to make their browser free on a permanent basis. Developers and influencers will only consider Opera as their primary browser [...]

[Read more →]