Recently in Other Category
Amazon.co.uk seem to have a small glitch in their "Your Orders" page when it comes to order tracking, nothing world ending, but certainly mildly misleading:
My package is in Wednesbury and out for delivery, to a delivery address between Southampton and Portsmouth? I think not, unless the driver is driving a *very* long way! The Citylink site shows a more accurate view:
My package is in Wednesbury and out for delivery, to a delivery address between Southampton and Portsmouth? I think not, unless the driver is driving a *very* long way! The Citylink site shows a more accurate view:
The review of CryptoLicensing for .NET that Roy Osherove posted recently was very well written and covered a topic that I've long held a mild level of curiosity around. That topic being protecting code/software that's written using a .net language from a licensing perspective.
There's a whole black-market industry surrounding the cracking of software and irrespective of the legality or ethics of it, I'm pretty sure a lot of people have used cracked software at some point (bonus points and the moral high-ground to those who claim they haven't and are actually telling the truth!). Be it cracked/patched software, a serial number generator, a serial number that everyone's using, there are ways and means. By far the simplest is probably with something like WinRAR that pops up a "Please purchase WinRAR license" dialog box and relies on honesty, with more complex and convoluted solutions like Microsoft's OS licensing that can go horribly wrong if their activation servers have a bad day. Not to mention the "what will happen when" scenario for when Microsoft finally get bored of providing activation servers/services for Windows XP.
The thing that particularly sparked my interest was a comment from Frans Bouma, which could be summed up pretty much as saying "whats the point?", which seems to be a very good question. My opinion is that some form of licensing/activation solution at least raises the bar and reminds people using the software isn't actually free for them to use and do with it what they will. Plus, software that has an "n-day trial" that's expired is likely to get paid for if it's expired and then its use is required. I frequently install software for a single/ocassional task that has a "30 day trial" attached, or similar, and then promptly forget about it. When I then come to perform that task again 6 months later, if the price is right I end up buying it. If not, off comes the software and something else is found.
A fantastic example of this is a project I worked on about 2 years ago, I'd played around with a trial version of some .net data access layer generating software (I can't for the life of me remember what it was, one laptop later and it's not installed - but I have the license key somewhere!) a few months before that for a one-time-use tool I needed to write and then had this project thrown at me with a very tight deadline and no other development resource. I remembered the software, loaded it up, "out of trial", bugger! One credit card transaction later the license key was in my inbox and in the product. So, licensing control software worked for the publisher concerned!
Now, I wonder if there's a trial version of CryptoLicensing available that I can have a play with,....?
There's a whole black-market industry surrounding the cracking of software and irrespective of the legality or ethics of it, I'm pretty sure a lot of people have used cracked software at some point (bonus points and the moral high-ground to those who claim they haven't and are actually telling the truth!). Be it cracked/patched software, a serial number generator, a serial number that everyone's using, there are ways and means. By far the simplest is probably with something like WinRAR that pops up a "Please purchase WinRAR license" dialog box and relies on honesty, with more complex and convoluted solutions like Microsoft's OS licensing that can go horribly wrong if their activation servers have a bad day. Not to mention the "what will happen when" scenario for when Microsoft finally get bored of providing activation servers/services for Windows XP.
The thing that particularly sparked my interest was a comment from Frans Bouma, which could be summed up pretty much as saying "whats the point?", which seems to be a very good question. My opinion is that some form of licensing/activation solution at least raises the bar and reminds people using the software isn't actually free for them to use and do with it what they will. Plus, software that has an "n-day trial" that's expired is likely to get paid for if it's expired and then its use is required. I frequently install software for a single/ocassional task that has a "30 day trial" attached, or similar, and then promptly forget about it. When I then come to perform that task again 6 months later, if the price is right I end up buying it. If not, off comes the software and something else is found.
A fantastic example of this is a project I worked on about 2 years ago, I'd played around with a trial version of some .net data access layer generating software (I can't for the life of me remember what it was, one laptop later and it's not installed - but I have the license key somewhere!) a few months before that for a one-time-use tool I needed to write and then had this project thrown at me with a very tight deadline and no other development resource. I remembered the software, loaded it up, "out of trial", bugger! One credit card transaction later the license key was in my inbox and in the product. So, licensing control software worked for the publisher concerned!
Now, I wonder if there's a trial version of CryptoLicensing available that I can have a play with,....?
Yet another link dump of things that I'm probably going to find useful:
Creating a folder inside the ZIP file with System.IO.Packaging
Fire and Forget class for ASP.NET
ASP.NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 Web Development Overview
And a link that's as amusing as it is interesting, "Teach me to smoke", which reminds me of being at University where the example of how to boil a kettle was used as an exercise in exactly the same way.
Creating a folder inside the ZIP file with System.IO.Packaging
Fire and Forget class for ASP.NET
ASP.NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 Web Development Overview
And a link that's as amusing as it is interesting, "Teach me to smoke", which reminds me of being at University where the example of how to boil a kettle was used as an exercise in exactly the same way.
Riffing on "dix-huit ans aujoud'hui = 18 pounds!" from Frankarr, an australian blogger.
In the entry he mentions that "One fact about 18 which I really love is that 18, aside from 0, is the only number that equals twice the sum of its decimal digits - cool huh?". Now, being a geek I had to write a scratch program t prove that one way or the other, without further ado here it is:
for (int i = 0; i < int.MaxValue -1; i++)
{
string intValue = i.ToString();
int sumValue = 0;
foreach (char digit in intValue.ToCharArray())
{
sumValue += ((Convert.ToInt32(digit.ToString()))* 2);
}
if (sumValue == i)
{
Console.WriteLine("Value found: {0}", i);
}
int modulus = i % 100000;
if (modulus == 0)
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0}", i));
}
}
The second Console.WriteLine is just so that when running, I can see that the program hasn't frozen/crashed. And it's true, in all the numbers between 0 and int.MaxValue -1, there are no numbers other than 0 and 18 where his fact holds true. Geeky goodnesss!
In the entry he mentions that "One fact about 18 which I really love is that 18, aside from 0, is the only number that equals twice the sum of its decimal digits - cool huh?". Now, being a geek I had to write a scratch program t prove that one way or the other, without further ado here it is:
for (int i = 0; i < int.MaxValue -1; i++)
{
string intValue = i.ToString();
int sumValue = 0;
foreach (char digit in intValue.ToCharArray())
{
sumValue += ((Convert.ToInt32(digit.ToString()))* 2);
}
if (sumValue == i)
{
Console.WriteLine("Value found: {0}", i);
}
int modulus = i % 100000;
if (modulus == 0)
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0}", i));
}
}
The second Console.WriteLine is just so that when running, I can see that the program hasn't frozen/crashed. And it's true, in all the numbers between 0 and int.MaxValue -1, there are no numbers other than 0 and 18 where his fact holds true. Geeky goodnesss!
There's an article on the Guardians website (The BNP represents Britain's workers? They don't even represent basic British craftsmanship) that gives a fantastic summation of the BNP.
Hopefully those bottom-dwellers won't do well in the upcoming elections!
Hopefully those bottom-dwellers won't do well in the upcoming elections!
Or an exercise in uselessness as it may also be known.
Take a look at the "What's new in JScript for IE8" entry on the Internet Explorer blog, then take a look at the corresponding entry on the JScript blog, they're identical. Except that comments are switched off on the JScript blog as they are on the prior two entries, which aren't even directly related to JScript. In fact, there hasn't been "fresh" (or, original) content on the JScript blog since September 2008's entry on the new JScript debugger. Even that got re-published on the IE blog.
If nothing new or original is being published on the JScript blog, is there any point it being there?
Take a look at the "What's new in JScript for IE8" entry on the Internet Explorer blog, then take a look at the corresponding entry on the JScript blog, they're identical. Except that comments are switched off on the JScript blog as they are on the prior two entries, which aren't even directly related to JScript. In fact, there hasn't been "fresh" (or, original) content on the JScript blog since September 2008's entry on the new JScript debugger. Even that got re-published on the IE blog.
If nothing new or original is being published on the JScript blog, is there any point it being there?
BBC News: The curious rise of ros�.
Far too sweet for me, but, it's back and with a vengeance.
weblogs.asp.net: Extract and override factory method.
For those niggling constructors from hell
Far too sweet for me, but, it's back and with a vengeance.
weblogs.asp.net: Extract and override factory method.
For those niggling constructors from hell
The Express wins the race to the bottom.
Paula Murray, the reporter who's got the by-line on this article should be ashamed of herself. Utterly, utterly ashamed. Malevolent witch.
Paula Murray, the reporter who's got the by-line on this article should be ashamed of herself. Utterly, utterly ashamed. Malevolent witch.
Taken from a thread on the Morning Advertiser forums:
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 600 employees and has the following employee statistics .
29 have been accused of spouse abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
9 have been accused of writing bad cheque's
17 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drink driving in the last year
Which organisation is this? It's the 635 members of the House of Commons, the same group that cranks out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us inline.
If true, it's kinda worrying, wouldn't you say?
Riffing on: My name is not Emma.
When writing my name, please refer to me as Robert, when it's in a formal document. When in an email/IM style message, Rob is fine. When speaking, again it's Rob. But please don't call me "Robert" verbally, I get an instant "arrrgh, arrrgh, I'm back at school" feeling going on.
What can I say, I'm complicated ;-)
When writing my name, please refer to me as Robert, when it's in a formal document. When in an email/IM style message, Rob is fine. When speaking, again it's Rob. But please don't call me "Robert" verbally, I get an instant "arrrgh, arrrgh, I'm back at school" feeling going on.
What can I say, I'm complicated ;-)
How To use Icons To Support Content In Web Design.
A point very near and dear to my heart at present, given that the decision has been made recently to add icons to buttons in an application (web-based) I'm currently working on. Needless to say, my personal opinion is that this spoils the look of the app, particularly as the icons being used aren't visually styled in the same way as the menu icons and the other graphical components of the UI. It looks very, umm, Windows 95 with Borland developed apps. Ugh. Le sigh.
The Promise and Peril of Jumbo Frames
I suppose I should try this on my network at home as hoiking huge 350Mb+ files around does tend to be somewhat painfully slow. It's a shame that the curse of backwards-compatibility makes things like Jumbo Frames so difficult to implement easily.
A point very near and dear to my heart at present, given that the decision has been made recently to add icons to buttons in an application (web-based) I'm currently working on. Needless to say, my personal opinion is that this spoils the look of the app, particularly as the icons being used aren't visually styled in the same way as the menu icons and the other graphical components of the UI. It looks very, umm, Windows 95 with Borland developed apps. Ugh. Le sigh.
The Promise and Peril of Jumbo Frames
I suppose I should try this on my network at home as hoiking huge 350Mb+ files around does tend to be somewhat painfully slow. It's a shame that the curse of backwards-compatibility makes things like Jumbo Frames so difficult to implement easily.
ASP.NET MVC Release Candidate 2
It's here, still need to look into it in detail and get my head round it. Lazy me!
The Suggestion Box is for suggestions, that's why it's called a Suggestion Box
"Yuhong Bao" does seem to be the randomest commenter on the planet.
It's here, still need to look into it in detail and get my head round it. Lazy me!
The Suggestion Box is for suggestions, that's why it's called a Suggestion Box
"Yuhong Bao" does seem to be the randomest commenter on the planet.
Ultramaroon rises again
A truly interesting guy. At least he makes himself *sound* interesting. ;-)
The Cottage Smallholder
I found the website last night when looking for a recipe for slow roast belly of pork. I have to say, there are a lot of recipes I'm intending on trying and gven how prolific they are, it's going to take me a while!
A truly interesting guy. At least he makes himself *sound* interesting. ;-)
The Cottage Smallholder
I found the website last night when looking for a recipe for slow roast belly of pork. I have to say, there are a lot of recipes I'm intending on trying and gven how prolific they are, it's going to take me a while!
A New Look for Visual Studio 2010
Now, I don't particularly care what VS2k10 looks like as long as it does the job, but some of the new functionality like multi-monitor support and a better extensibility model do interest me quite a lot. There have been numerous times I've thought "It'd make my life easier if I could just add to VS so it did XYZ" and then I've been put-off by the heinous monster that is its current extensibility model. I'm sure it's very strong, but, yeuck!
"Fix it" - The Next Evolution of KB Articles and WER
I'm sure AOL had something similar, about 10 years ago, within their client software for resolving connectivity and other AOL related issues (oh yes, there were many, many issues!). It's nice to see Microsoft finally implementing something similar as this will take the pain out of solving some computer related problems for a lot of people.
Now, I don't particularly care what VS2k10 looks like as long as it does the job, but some of the new functionality like multi-monitor support and a better extensibility model do interest me quite a lot. There have been numerous times I've thought "It'd make my life easier if I could just add to VS so it did XYZ" and then I've been put-off by the heinous monster that is its current extensibility model. I'm sure it's very strong, but, yeuck!
"Fix it" - The Next Evolution of KB Articles and WER
I'm sure AOL had something similar, about 10 years ago, within their client software for resolving connectivity and other AOL related issues (oh yes, there were many, many issues!). It's nice to see Microsoft finally implementing something similar as this will take the pain out of solving some computer related problems for a lot of people.
After suffering the Ryanair jingles on a flight to Dublin recently (gagh! I'll pay the premium to fly with any other airline if I never have to listen to that jingle - flight price good, jingle evil) and discovering they're going to trial allowing mobile calls on flights, they add insult to injury with this.
Now, the poor manners exhibited by the random Ryanair staffer were bad enough, but the "official response", if that's what their PR people are like, that's not the sort of company I want to fly with. Signed and sealed, I'll be paying the premium all the way to fly with anyone other than Ryanair
Now, the poor manners exhibited by the random Ryanair staffer were bad enough, but the "official response", if that's what their PR people are like, that's not the sort of company I want to fly with. Signed and sealed, I'll be paying the premium all the way to fly with anyone other than Ryanair
