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Ted's Radio Weblog
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Wednesday, December 31, 2003 |
Cringely, the pseudonomous penname, not the registered trademark, pens a Christmas column, "You Canít Get There From Here: Why No Single Networking Technology Is Adequate" with a mention of good techniques for journalistic research: ask a lot of people.
The content is worthwhile, too, of course, with the thesis that there are a lot of up-and-coming networking technologies, and one-size-fits-all is pretty unlikely.
5:23:03 PM 
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Joi Ito posts: Wikipedia needs money. If you haven't been there yet, check out http://www.wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia written as a wiki. Add an entry, if you like. A very useful place. Some hardware troubles resulted in their need to post a plea for contributions, hoping to meet a proposed budget of $20,000 USD. As of this morning, the total tops $31k. Get your pledge in, while you can still claim it as a tax deduction - today!
10:23:17 AM
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Tuesday, December 30, 2003 |
KBAlertz is a very useful and free service for those who need to keep up with the Microsoft KnowledgeBase. Visit the site and you can sign up for free email notification when KnowledgeBase articles of interest are posted or update on the Microsoft site.
Today, I received notice that "How to Run a dBASE IV Report File in FoxPro" was updated. Most curious. My dealings with dBASE IV were few and decades ago. The article describes how various dBASE IV files can be manipulated by Microsoft FoxPro for DOS and Windows 2.5 and 2.6 as well as Visual FoxPro for Windows 3.0. I'm not convinced the Visual FoxPro reference is correct, as I thought the migration material was only available in the 2.x versions, but I no longer have VFP 3.0 installed to check.
It is curious as to why this article was flagged as updated. Wonder what changed...
9:30:05 AM
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Sunday, December 28, 2003 |
'Tis the season, for year-end wrap-ups and prognostications. Many of the columnists get to enjoy a down week with a column composed over the last month. There's often a good amount of insight to be gained by reading these over. Here's the first I've seen:
Looking Back: Highs and Lows of 2003. (Note: This is also my Sunday column in the Mercury News.) I've always tended to buy the muddle-through scenario. Human... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]
8:53:02 PM
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Saturday, December 27, 2003 |
Andrew Coates posted to the FoxForum Wiki, asking for advice on his new role as Developer Evangelist at Microsoft Australia. Best of luck, Andrew!
Andrew linked to a similar post on the c2 website, revealing that Ward Cunningham, inventor of the wiki and master of many of the software arts, is also heading for Microsoft-Redmond, with a title of "Architect." I hope this bodes well for Microsoft and Ward.
10:25:50 AM
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Friday, December 26, 2003 |
OSNews links to a FastCompany article on Steve Jobs and Apple, maintaining that perhaps innovation doesn't equate with financial success. Perhaps not, but Apple is surely an innovation leader.
5:22:01 PM
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In an article in CIO Insight, Mike Perlowski maintains "The religious wars over open-source softwareóespecially Linuxóare over. What lies ahead is a steely-eyed pragmatism about the software's pros and cons."
5:18:46 PM
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It's not too early to think about decorating for next year. After all, the decorations should be on clearance sale this week. See if you can top this: a cubicle turned into a house. Somebody's got way too much time on their hands!
5:13:15 PM
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Dan Gillmor blogs his favorite gadgets of 2003: the Treo 600 and a new Sony Cybershot not yet available in the U.S. When Laura, Steve and I went to Mom's for Christmas Eve, sister Anne had a Treo 600 to show off. Pretty neat little toy!
5:11:29 PM
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Wednesday, December 24, 2003 |
From http://www.pacificnet.net/~mandel/joke.html. Merry Christmas Eve!
SOME HOLIDAY HUMOR........
The 12 Days of Technology Before
Christmas/Solstice
On the first day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
A database with a broken b-tree (what the hell is a b-tree anyway?)
On the second day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Two transceiver failures (CRC errors? Collisions? What is going on?) And
a database with a broken b-tree (Rebuild WHAT? It's a 10GB database!)
On the third day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Three French users (who, of course, think they know everything) Two transceiver
failures (which are now spewing packets all over the net) And a database
with a broken b-tree (Backup? What backup?)
On the fourth day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Four calls for support (playing the same Christmas song over and over)
Three French users (Why do they like to argue so much over trivial things?)
Two transceiver failures (How the hell do I know which ones they are?)
And a database with a broken b-tree (Pointer error? What's a pointer error?)
On the fifth day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Five golden SCSI contacts (Of course they're better than silver!) Four
support calls (Ever notice how time stands still when on hold? Three French
users (No, we don't have foot pedals on PC's. Why do you ask?) Two transceiver
failures (If I knew which ones were bad, I would know which ones to fix!)
And a database with a broken b-tree (Not till next week? Are you nuts?!?!)
On the sixth day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Six games a-playing (On the production network, of course!) Five golden
SCSI contacts (What do you mean "not terminated!") Four support
calls (No, don't transfer me again - do you HEAR? Damn!) Three French
users (No, you cannot scan in by putting the page to the screen...) Two
transceiver failures (I can't look at the LEDs - they're in the ceiling!)
And a database with a broken b-tree (Norway? That's where this was written?)
On the seventh day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Seven license failures (Expired? When?) Six games a-playing (Please stop
tying up the PBX to talk to each other!) Five golden SCSI contacts (What
do you mean I need "wide" SCSI?) Four support calls (At least
the Muzak is different this time...) Three French Users (Well, monsieur,
there really isn't an "any" key, but...) Two transceiver failures
(SQE? What is that? If I knew I would set it myself!) And a database with
a broken b-tree (No, I really need to talk to Lars - NOW!)
On the eighth day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Eight MODEMs dialing (Who bought these? They're a security violation!)
Seven license failures (How many WEEKS to get a license?) Six games a-playing
(What do you mean one pixel per packet on updates?!?) Five golden SCSI
contacts (Fast SCSI? It's supposed to be fast, isn't it?) Four support
calls (I already told them that! Don't transfer me back - DAMN!) Three
French users (No, CTL-ALT-DEL is not the proper way to end a program)
Two transceiver failures (What do you mean "babbling transceiver"?)
And a database with a broken b-tree (Does anyone speak English in Oslo?)
On the ninth day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Nine lady executives with attitude (She said do WHAT with the servers?)
Eight MODEMs dialing (You've been downloading WHAT?) Seven license failures
(We sent the P.O. two months ago!) Six games a-playing (HOW many people
are doing this to the network?) Five golden SCSI contacts (What do you
mean two have the same ID?) Four support calls (No, I am not at the console
- I tried that already.) Three French users (No, only one floppy fits
at a time? Why do you ask?) Two transceiver failures (Spare? What spare?)
And a database with a broken b-tree (No, I am trying to find Lars! L-A-R-S!)
On the tenth day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Ten SNMP alerts flashing (What is that Godawful beeping?) Nine lady executives
with attitude (No, it used to be a mens room? Why?) Eight MODEMs dialing
(What Internet provider? We don't allow Internet here!) Seven license
failures (SPA? Why are they calling us?) Six games a-playing (No, you
don't need a graphics accelerator for Lotus! ) Five golden SCSI contacts
(You mean I need ANOTHER cable?) Four support calls (No, I never needed
an account number before...) Three French users (When the PC sounds like
a cat, it's a head crash!) Two transceiver failures (Power connection?
What power connection?) And a database with a broken b-tree (Restore what
index pointers?)
On the eleventh day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Eleven boards a-frying (What is that terrible smell?) Ten SNMP alerts
flashing (What's a MIB, anyway? What's an extension?) Nine lady executives
with attitude (Mauve? Our computer room tiles in mauve?) Eight MODEMs
dialing (What do you mean you let your roommate dial-in?) Seven license
failures (How many other illegal copies do we have?!?!) Six games a-playing
(I told you - AFTER HOURS!) Five golden SCSI contacts (If I knew what
was wrong, I wouldn't be calling!) Four support calls (Put me on hold
again and I will slash your credit rating!) Three French users (Don't
hang your floppies with a magnet again!) Two transceiver failures (How
should I know if the connector is bad?) And a database with a broken b-tree
(I already did all of that!)
On the twelfth day of Christmas, technology
gave to me:
Twelve virtual pipe connections (There's only supposed to be two!) Eleven
boards a-frying (What a surge suppressor supposed to do, anyway?) Ten
SNMP alerts flashing (From a distance, it does kinda look like XMas lights.)
Nine lady executives with attitude (What do you mean aerobics before backups?)
Eight MODEMs dialing (No, we never use them to connect during business
hours.) Seven license failures (We're all going to jail, I just know it.)
Six games a-playing (No, no - my turn, my turn!) Five golden SCSI contacts
(Great, just great! Now it won't even boot!) Four support calls (I don't
have that package! How did I end up with you!) Three French users (I don't
care if it is sexy, no more nude screen backgrounds!) Two transceiver
failures (Maybe we should switch to token ring...) And a database with
a broken b-tree (No, operator - Oslo, Norway. We were just talking and
were cut off...)
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1:32:10 PM
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Tuesday, December 23, 2003 |
'Twas the night before crisis, and all through the house,
Not a program was working, not even a browse.
The programmers were wrung out, too mindless to care,
Knowing chances of shipping hadn't a prayer.
The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of inquiries danced in their heads.
When out in the lobby there arose such a clatter,
That I sprang from my cube to see what was the matter.
And what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a SUPER PROGRAMMER, oblivious to fear.
More rapid than eagles, his programs they came,
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name:
On Update! On Add! On Inquiry! On Delete!
On Batch Jobs! On Closing! On Functions Complete!
His eyes were glazed over, his fingers were lean,
From weekends and nights in front of the screen.
A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
Turning specs into code, then he turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger on the ENTER key,
The system came up, and worked perfectly.
The updates, updated; the deletes, they deleted;
The inquiries, inquired; and the closing completed.
He tested each whistle, he tested each bell,
With nary an abend, and all had gone well.
The system was finished, the tests were concluded,
The client's last changes were even included!
And the client exclaimed with a snarl and a taunt,
"It's just what I asked for, but NOT what I want..."
(attributed variously, my copy came from here)
11:46:22 AM
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Ken Levy, VS Data Manager at Microsoft, posts his monthly December Letter from the Editor. There's some interesting news on new features appearing in "Europa," the next version, and also the announcement of a public beta of the product, in the first half of 2004.
11:19:25 AM
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Monday, December 22, 2003 |
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Sunday, December 21, 2003 |
Slashdot covers the Washington Post Covers Ipod Battery Ruckus with the usual Slashdot disclaimers - reading at a threshold of 4 or 5 improves the discussion and speeds the read. The article, a long one, was in the Concord (NH) Sunday Monitor as well.
Apple's screwed up pretty badly on this one, while taking over the MP3 player field and making a cool tool. I hope they extract themselves gracefully - lowering the replacement battery costs as low as possible, and making future models with a user-replaceable component.
9:51:16 AM
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Saturday, December 20, 2003 |
Download Free December VFUG Newsletter Now. VFUG (the Virtual FoxPro User Group) just sent out the December issue of its monthly newsletter to those who have chosen to receive it via e-mail. Articles in this issue include Setting up SOAP/WSDL by Grady McCue, Data-Aware Controls by Les Pinter, A Basic Introduction to Office Automation using MS Visual FoxPro - Pt 8 by Matt Jarvis, New Series on VFP by Fletcher Johnson and Hugh Winter, Wireless Devices, Part 11: Jumping the Big Pond by Tom O'Hare, User Groups and Their Support of the Developer Community by Margaret Duddy, Help with White Papers and Case Studies by William Sanders, assorted tips that cover Image Storage, VFP 8 and NT4, Autofit in Grids, Character Picker, What's the Name of the Active EXE?, Create a file of a certain size in Windows XP, and even more. As usual, you can view this monthly newsletter online or download its text version or all other back issues free at the VFUG site. Not a member? Join VFUG for free at the site. 42,000 others did. [FoxCentral]
8:24:34 PM
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Joi Ito links to a clever parody with an effective message.
4:44:43 PM
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LinuxWorld has an amusing "Point-Counterpoint" debate with two editors decrying the same features as bad or good. The complaint that "there's too much stuff" ignores the opposite problem of there being much too little. This debate is an interesting contrast to the
9:48:28 AM
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Friday, December 19, 2003 |
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Thursday, December 18, 2003 |
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Wednesday, December 17, 2003 |
OSNews links to Joel Spolsky's The Cultural Differences of UNIX and Windows on the JoelOnSoftware web site. Joel has a whole series of thoughtful essays on his site. I think there are some good points in the essay, although any argument that claims that all things can be divided into two categories tends to be a bit extreme to demonstrate the black-and-white divide:
This directly led to a schism in user interfaces; nobody has ever quite been able to agree on all the details of how the desktop UI should work, and they think this is OK, because their culture values this diversity, but for Aunt Marge it is very much not OK to have to use a different UI to cut and paste in one program than she uses in another.
Needless to say, Slashdot picked up on this essay and has the predictable discussion here and here.
8:06:21 AM
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Monday, December 15, 2003 |
Finally, after a few weeks of occasional hacking, I've got a Twiki running on the Linux intranet server, running Fedora, Apache 2.0 and Perl 5.8.0. The intranet Twiki at Ted Roche & Associates is for note-taking, internal project tracking and experimentation.
If you haven't worked with a wiki, you owe it to yourself to try it out. A wiki is a simple interface: a web site with an "Edit" button on each page. Any web user (or a secure, limited, logged-in user) can edit the page, and change whatever they are allowed by the webmaster. Voila! Community-maintained web sites! Most wikis I have worked with are set up as knowledgebases, although their use is only limited by your imagination. A superb example (though in FoxPro, not a Twiki) is the FoxForum wiki at http://fox.wikis.com.
Twiki is one of my favorites wikis: it is cross-platform (Windows and most Perl-supported web servers, Linux, OS X, IIS, Apache, etc.); the code is Open Source and fairly readable Perl. I have Twiki deployed on the internet on a W2k IIS configuration (using RedHat's CygWin) for a private client wiki, and also deployed a temporary one on a Linux laptop for a small conference last year in Toledo.
The sticking point in getting this instance running was a name resolution problem and matching configuration. The Twiki web site provides copious documentation (in a Twiki, of course!), but because they support so many configurations (BSD, Linux, RedHat, Mandrake, Windows, IIS, Apache 1.3 and 2.0), that it can be tricky to separate out the current suggestions from other people's troubleshooting issues from older issues. My "solution" was telling the twiki it was running on neresus.tedroche.com and then adding the IP address of the Neresus box to the HOSTS file of the client. This is a kludge, of course, that I should be able to remedy with a DNS in-house. I'll add that project to the list... maybe on the Twiki!
Onward and upward! The next project for the intranet is a CVS configuration, and I'll also be trying to convert the Twiki from interpreted, CGI-driven to a module mod_Perl (faster) configuration.
8:28:36 PM
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Sunday, December 14, 2003 |
Robert X. Cringely has a great suggestion on how to solve all the problems introduced by electronic voting: don't do it. Right on.
2:49:03 PM
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A fascinating story of the discovery of mathematician Archimedes lost manuscript, and the clever solution and translation. Archimedes has been a favorite figure of mine since grade school. Here's an interesting story of coincidences and sleuthing, discovering that Archimedes was toying with the field of "combinatorics," a field never really fleshed out until the dawn of computer science mathematics. In Archimedes' Puzzle, a New Eureka Moment. "A historian of mathematics appears to have solved the mystery of a treatise written 2,200 years ago by Archimedes." By Gina Kolata. in the New York Times: NYT HomePage
10:42:23 AM
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Friday, December 12, 2003 |
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has these two columns ("MS-Linux? It Could happen" and "2004: The Year Linux Grows Up (or Blows Up) ")proposing that Microsoft could ship its own Linux distribution. Microsoft's Services for Unix product is a foot in the door. I just have a hard time seeing them reverse their poisonous FUD diatribes against the "viral," "un-American," anti-Constitutional Open Source.
I prefer the parody http://www.mslinux.org site. Check it out for a good laugh.
8:27:01 AM
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Thursday, December 11, 2003 |
This is a particularly nasty patch, as it can affect web servers with hardly anything running other than IIS and Front Page Extensions. The update fails to show up in Microsoft Update - it still hadn't appeared on my web server, so I hunted down the patch myself (hint: start at http://www.microsoft.com/security - that's the home page for IE on my web servers!) and installed it. Delayed patch ends Microsoft's patch-free month early. "A glitch in Microsoft's Windows Update automated patching service caused a security fix that was released last month to be delivered to computer users on Tuesday, the same day Microsoft proclaimed December would be a patch-free month." [InfoWorld: Top News]
2:35:51 PM
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Wednesday, December 10, 2003 |
Mary Jo Foley and Daryl Taft follow up on Microsoft backpedalling on removing a bunch of products that included Java. Some are given a one week reprieve (oh, I'll run out to buy them!), others will be patched with an updated Java. Details at http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,4248,1407759,00.asp
3:21:17 PM
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 The guys who brought you "The Pragmatic Programmer," Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt, are publishing a series called the Pragmatic Starter Kit, under the imprint of The Pragmatic Bookshelf. Right now, the books can only be ordered from their web site. They claim to be avoiding distributors in order to maintain control of sales. I'm afraid that can really cut into the market they're likely to reach, so I'll help out a little with a plug here. Right now, I'm interested in "Pragmatic Source Control with CVS," to replace a challenging SourceSafe-and-SourceOffSite configuration. Wish they had a discount for those of us who want to order the book AND the PDF. Check them out at http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/index.html
2:09:17 PM
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Wow, here's a shocker! Now, are there no Microsoft patches because there's nothing left to patch, or because we all took a long weekend over Thanksgiving? The SEVEN new IE exploits mentioned in the article are a clue... Microsoft: No patches this month. "The software giant announces that no security patches will be forthcoming this month." [CNET News.com - Front Door]
10:53:31 AM
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Tuesday, December 9, 2003 |
eWeek links to this piece on NewsForge by OSDN (think SlashDot) leader Robin "Roblimo" Miller
5:45:12 PM
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It sounds like a feeble attempt to force customers into upgrading. Perhaps if Microsoft spent a few minutes to remove the offending code from the older products, or even better, worked out a deal with Sun to ship a modern version of Java, Microsoft might obtain a bit of customer loyalty. Microsoft to stop offering host of older products. "Microsoft will stop distributing several older products next week as a result of a legal settlement with Sun Microsystems in a dispute over Java, Microsoft said." [InfoWorld: Top News]
6:05:59 AM
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Monday, December 8, 2003 |
Craig Berntson over at FoxBlog points to Scoble pointng to Journal: Microsoft EMEA Architect's Journal (nowhere do they explain what EMEA is, although I suspect "European" might be in there somewhere, as that seems to be the origin of their authors and they use some British English spellings). One of the articles is "DasBlog: Notes from Building a Distributed .NET Collaboration System," by Clemens Vasters, that talks about the importance of blogs. The magazine is free for the download in PDF format, although you'll find you can't copy text from it, you can print it. (Generated on a Mac in Quark Express, for those keeping score). An intriguing quote:
So why is this topic being discussed in a magazine for software architects and information technology managers? There are two main reasons: First, there are a lot of architectural lessions that can be learned from the Weblog phenomenon and from the technologies that make the Weblog universe tick. In fact, the Weblog space as a whole has already grown to be the largest distributed XML and Web services application in existence. Second, Weblogs are becoming a strategic tool to improve communication and collaboration in the enterprise that may eventually turn out to be just as important as email.
Emphasis mine
Interesting reading, and the price is right.
9:12:19 PM
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Sunday, December 7, 2003 |
Snow finally stopped drifting down around 3 PM, and I even saw a bit of blue sky and sunshine just before the sun settled below the pines. Two feet of snow, plus or minus, was the final tally. Man, am I sore from shovelling!
3:55:21 PM
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Saturday, December 6, 2003 |
The question of whether a computer can think
is no more interesting than the question
of whether a submarine can swim.
-- Edsger W. Dijkstra
2:34:15 PM
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Friday, December 5, 2003 |
A recent article that the firmware in the LinkSys WRT54G wireless cable router was causing problems at DynDNS prompted me to update the firmware on mine, which was woefully out of date. Firmware flashing is not something to be done lightly, as it could corrupt the machine, the new firmware could have "unanticipated side-effects" - bugs to us users - or not be fully tested. However, this one seemed severe enough to update.
If you own one, I'd suggest you grab all of your existing settings before flashing the unit. A few screens in the web-based configuration allow you to save off files to disk. A neat way to save all of the others is to print out each page - I save all of mine to PDF for reference, but paper might be less volatile. While many settings seem to have been preserved, my WEP 128-bit encryption key is gone, as is the list of MAC addresses.
UPDATE: No, the settings were saved, but WEP and MAC filtering were disabled. RE-enabling the settings brought back the display of the WEP key and the MAC addresses. Nothing to type back in - whew!
11:13:44 AM
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Thursday, December 4, 2003 |
I didn't know that Borders workers were trying to unionize. They are not having a good time of it. From their website:
"Workers at the Borders Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Mich., went on strike Saturday, November 8, to protest the companyís unfair labor practices. Also at issue are low wages and poor health benefits for employees. The Ann Arbor bookstore is the original Borders, which has grown into one of the largest bookstore chains in the country with more than 400 shops."
"In December 2002, the Ann Arbor workers voted 51 to 4 in favor of forming a union, which has been organized within the AFL-CIO-affiliated United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). Negotiations over the past 11 months between the union and management have failed to yield a contract. In early October, union members voted to reject a minimal offer by management, and later in the month authorized the union to strike."
7:26:05 PM
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Steven Black responds to my earlier posting on "White Papers as PDF" with this pointer to Jakob Nielsen's site: "Thumbs down, Ted. Here's why: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030714.html"
I agree with Neilsen's thesis that PDF is not a legitimate format for web pages, and that they are awkward to manipulate. As an experienced PDF author and reader, I have become accustomed to some of the idiosyncracies and appreciate some of the features. For the general public, they are a frustration.
I was looking at a painless and quick way of getting white papers up on the web, suitable for download. They print prettier that way, but they are not web pages. Perhaps I should offer both choices for those who want to read online, and for the search engines to pick up.
10:09:44 AM
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Computerworld News reports that Yahoo Instant Messenger contains security flaw. "The buffer overrun vulnerability was found in a file named "yauto.dll," an ActiveX component of Yahoo Messenger software in versions up to 5.6.0.1347."
The article includes suggestions on what to do to avoid the problems, as well as advice on disabling ActiveX controls in your browser and Active Scripting, an IE only feature. Better yet, don't use IE.
8:04:27 AM
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Wednesday, December 3, 2003 |
Dave Winer of [Scripting News] thinks that "Rogers Cadenhead is interviewed about Radio UserLand." I think it's more of an interview about his recently-released book "Radio Userland Kickstart," which, by the way, friends and relatives can find on my Amazon wish list. A couple of interesting insights. One which struck a chord with me, as a fellow book author, was:
...it happened primarily because I forgot that I wasn't 100 percent confident in my qualifications for the job. Sixteen-odd books later, I'm convinced that a lack of self-awareness regarding your own limitations is the biggest contributor to personal success.
12:15:47 PM
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Tuesday, December 2, 2003 |
If you haven't got a news aggregator yet (or even if you have), take a few minutes to try out FeedDemon at http://www.bradsoft.com/feeddemon/beta/. This slick tool is one of many bringing RSS from a geek toy to a well-accepted standard.
6:59:26 AM
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