| last updated:17 May 2004 18:57 UK time |
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| JOS Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 16 May 2004) | View Other Weeks |
| DNS Query | Sun 16 May | Neumonic |
| I am setting up a Web Server for the first time - the main page of my Web Site as SSL. At the moment I can only access my web page via typing all off - https://www.abc.ca Is it possible to have users who type in http://www.abc.ca come to my page as well? At the moment it does not. Also at the moment if a user just types in www.abc.ca in the address bar of the browser - the page will not load. |
| Sun 16 May | Dennis Forbes | https tells your browser to connect to port 443 with SSL. http tells your browser to connect to port 80 with no SSL. Neither have anything to do with DNS - DNS correlated www.abc.ca with your server's IP based upon the domain, and then your browser chose how it would try to connect based upon the protocol. Your web serving software has likely been configured to only accept secure calls. |
| Sun 16 May | Emperor Norton | To follow up on what Dennis said, you can probably configure your web server to redirect any requests on port 80 to port 443 with SSL The documentation for your web server should provide directions on how to do this. |
| Creating Date Parameter Query | Sun 16 May | Nyler |
| Hi, May I ask how to create a parameter query in ms access where a start date and end date is prompt to the user. There is an existing date field in the table. Thanks. |
| Sun 16 May | no name | Step 1. Attend School. Step 2. Learn. Step 3. ... Step 4. ...... Step 5. ......... Step 6. Miller Genuine Draft Step 7. Read Help File Step 8. ... Step 9. World Peace Step X. Profit. |
| Mantis | Sun 16 May | Walker, Texas Ranger |
| Looks like SourceGear is cooking up their own bug tracking system, Mantis which will integrate into Vault. A little competition for FogBugz? It also appears they are giving away $5k for prettyin up their webpages. (I hope their single user version include Mantis!) |
| Sun 16 May | dir at badblue com | Is this open-source Mantis bug tracker? http://sourceforge.net/projects/mantisbt/ or a code-name for closed-source project? |
| Sun 16 May | Walker, Texas Ranger | http://www.ericsink.com - explains more. |
| Sun 16 May | Walker, Texas Ranger | Yes, Mantis is just a code name I believe. |
| Sun 16 May | Officer Robert Barone | I have an Eric sink in my bathroom, with the Farrah faucet. |
| FidoNet -- why nothing of the kind now? | Sun 16 May | Alex |
| I used to love being on FidoNet. There were tons of conferences and netmail. Everything was in one place. You dialed up to your uplink for a couple of minutes every night and got all the latest stuff in one bundle. All messages addressed specifically to you were always shown first, everything was stored on the hard disk, etc. Id expect the Internet would have made it better, but nowadays its worse. First you need to *find* the right discussion forum. Then you *subscribe*. Then you use a web form to post. Then you get notified by *email*. Why was there no effort to create some sort of discussion client? With bells and whistles like agree/disagree, vote, quoting, ask questions... Wouldnt it be a blast? |
| Sun 16 May | Leauki (Andrew J. Brehm) | May I ask; why don't you use Usenet? |
| Sun 16 May | Brad Wilson | Agreed... the OP has clearly never used NNTP client software. :) |
| Sun 16 May | Ori Berger | By not including NNTP support within Outlook, Microsoft has left many people unaware of the possibility. I can understand that decision - inclusion of NNTP may have competed with the Public Folders feature of the Exchange Server in the past, leaving only 'group calendaring' as an advantage. Be sure to check out http://gmane.org - it's an awesome public mail/news gateway. I've stopped subscribing to public mailing lists since I found it. Also, be sure to get a good client that handles NNTP and email equally well. Outlook doesn't qualify; Outlook Express does in this respect, more or less. Mozilla and Thunderbird rock. |
| Sun 16 May | Alex | Thanks Ori for the link! I know about Usenet. It's impossible to follow a conversation, there is no formatting, and (maybe I can't configure Outlook Express) only the headers are downloaded, so offline viewing is out of the question. Anyway, from a purely aesthetical standpoint, just look at that page: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lang.c++.tips/cutoff=37 (I'm a sensitive person.) |
| Sun 16 May | Alex | Thank YOU Ori for pointing out Thunderbird! YUMMY! |
| Sun 16 May | Robert Jacobson | Also, there's a plugin for Outllook called Newsgator that adds both RSS and newsgroup support. (I haven't tried it.) http://www.newsgator.com/ Does anyone know why regular Outlook doesn't support newsgroups? It seems very odd that Outlook Express supports them, but Outlook doesn't. Did someone in Microsoft decide that newsgroups weren't useful/suitable for corporate settings? |
| Sun 16 May | Li-fan Chen | Hey I would counter Fidonet wasn't all that logical to follow either. It's no fun looking through at a thread through 80x25 ASCII terminal, I am glad we moved beyond that. If you start using Usenet long enough, eventually you'll figure out just how it works. A lot of time the complaint you have can be fixed using Usenet channel archives. They are web pages archiving the entire history of thread of discussion from the very beginning. Sometimes these archives are even searchable, a double bonus. |
| Sun 16 May | mb | Outlook Express can download message bodies, there's a setting somewhere. Outlook probably doesn't support it because the demand isn't high enough. NewsGator does work, though I don't really like it for reading usenet news. I love it for RSS feeds. As for FidoNet, er, it's mostly the small universe issue: in a small world (fidonet), it's easier to find everything. |
| Sun 16 May | Officer Robert Barone | Using Outlook to read Usenet newsgroups is just plain stupid. There are plenty of good newreaders that make Usenet just as easy as Fidonet. Get one and learn how to use it. Speaking of Fidonet, I don't miss it one bit. Every group ('Echo') was 'Moderated' by a humorless, small-minded, dicatator-wannabe. |
| Sun 16 May | The Real Philo | xnews is what I've used since Agent went defunct (before the resurrection) http://xnews.newsguy.com/ Philo |
| Sun 16 May | Alex | Thunderbird works like you wouldn't believe it. It's not funny being the last guy to find out about stuff :P Thanks all for showing me the light... |
| Sun 16 May | R Tate | Riiight, online discussion is a Solved Problem ... ... solved by USENET ... cough http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BuildingCommunitieswithSo.html cough cough http://philip.greenspun.com/panda/community cough The OP's suggestion is actually quite on the mark. Much substantive discussion is moving off Usenet and onto the Web where you can build things like reputation management and its easier to cancel or edit weak messages. Witness perlmonks.org vs comp.lang.perl.misc. |
| Sun 16 May | Li-fan Chen | R Tate thanks for that JOS article on Communities, now JOS Forum makes a lot more sense to me (or at least but to words what I always sorta suspect). |
| Just a thought. | Sun 16 May | Sathyaish Chakravarthy |
| Since I am applying for a housing finance loan, I have to submit a proof of my income tax returns in the form of a certificate called Form 16. Now, the accounts division in our company is on the third floor and we do not have a lift. So I climed all the way up the stairs to the accounts 7 or 8 times in the last 2 days only to be told to come back later. If I didnt get the form on time, and I didnt get my loan approval, I would have missed the opporutnity because the seller wouldve called off the deal. And I was so upset, the accounts people didnt realize it. That day I cussed them inside me. And I realized, this is exactly how our users, for whom we make software, and deliver it, would hate us. They would hate us so much, just this way, when they sent us an email asking for some help with trouble-shooting or when something went wrong and we were tied up with other work. This is exactly how theyd hate us. |
| Sun 16 May | FullNameRequired | very often thats exactly true, and Ive hot the hate mail to prove it. on the whole though its more than balanced out by love mail...for every crank who hates you there tends to be at least one who loves you. still a little disturbing though when I think about it....I personally am responsible for ulcers, stress and hatred in people Ive never met. *shiver* |
| Sun 16 May | Mr. Analogy | Comparison of cold, inhuman buearacracy to cold, inhuman, uncaring software is very apt. Not all software is like that, but a LOT of programmers take that view. 'This is how things work, just learn to deal with it'. I worked very hard to learn principles of Desktop publishing, design, useability, etc. And I'm always trying to improve that. I work with other programmers who have no clue. They don't care, they change text I give them from something clear to something obscure. The problem is that many technical people THINK they can WRITE well. They can write, but not clearly or well. Sigh... |
| Sun 16 May | PhD | > The problem is that many technical people THINK they can WRITE well. They can write, but not clearly or well. This applies to lots of people besides 'technical' people. Lawyers, senior academics and senior managers are all examples of groups convinced they're good writers, yet often appalling. Even some people who work as technical writers are poor. The absolute worst group are 'new media' academics. That's basically dot com goes to university. To prevent outsiders cottoning on to the fact the academics don't know anything, they use convoluted language. |
| sierra gamers site | Sun 16 May | robtwister |
| Remember the old sierra games (Kings Quest, Space Quest, etc.) we used to love? Do you miss those old games? Theres good news... Sierra Online former CEO Ken Williams started a website where he discusses his thoughts on the computer industry and gaming today. Lots of good insights. Check it out. http://www.sierragamers.com |
| Sun 16 May | saberworks | Sounds like a great site but I can't see the content (replies to any of the posts) unless I give over my personal information. Forget it. |
| image | Sat 15 May | Mauron |
| I just found out my boss does not think much of my programming ability. Maybe he was just mad and wanted to hurt my feelings. I had made a mistake which was really not a big deal, especially since I am extremely careful and seldom make mistakes. (And my boss made a much dumber mistake himself the next day.) In his state of anger and exasperation (not at all deserved, in my opinion) he accused me of not having a deep understanding, of being overly careful, and not getting projects done fast enough. Plain English translation: he thinks I am dumb. I told him this was a big shock since so much of my work has been good, I learn very easily, all my evaluations have been good, etc. It was quite overwhelming to me because I have years of experience, am a highly educated and studious person. However, I am female and have habit of not wanting people to think I think I am smart, so I dont seem nearly as intelligent as I am. And I guess you could say I am a little socially phobic and intimidated by authority. My mind goes blank when my boss is glaring at me. Anyway, I asked my boss if he would rather replace me with someone he considers more qualified. He said of course he would always want to replace everyone with someone better, but that is not the way they do things here. So I wound up feeling he thinks hes doing me a favor by letting me stay. Sort of like charity for morons. My boss was promoted recently and is spread too thin and doesnt even know what Im doing most of the time. I hope this was just a stress attack. Even when things are going well, he is a stressed out angry maniac most of the time. I dont know if I should leave as soon as I can find another job. I told him its just the way I act, and I will try to change. I wish I had a way to prove that I am really not dumb. Dont say I can prove it by doing better work. He is out of touch with what I do and how long it should take. |
| Sat 15 May | no name | Bored? or Stupid? |
| Sat 15 May | Aussie Chick | >However, I am female and have habit of not wanting people to think I think I am smart, so I don't seem nearly as intelligent as I am. Do I need to comment on this? Your pretending to be 'dumb' really shows that you are (well in some definite ways). I am not sure where you got it into your pretty little head girls need to act dumb to work well with guys. I will admit as a girl we need to act 'differently' (that is girls are different to guys, and our approachs will most always be different). But not dumb. Stand up for yourself, let the world admire you. |
| Sat 15 May | Mark Hoffman | ' he accused me of....being overly careful' http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120041,00.html And this is what sometimes happens when people aren't 'overly careful'. |
| Sat 15 May | The Real Philo | The most important thing you can learn, especially if you want to spend time in online forums, is not to derive your self-worth from what others say about you. That kind of thing works well enough when you can surround yourself with friends, but it's a house of cards when you're forced into the presence of people who don't know or like you - then their hatred/dislike/assholiness flows through the exact same pathways straight into your ego and tear you up. If you are an intelligent person, you know your own value. You know what sets you apart from others, what makes you a person worth knowing. Evaluate yourself objectively instead of in the subjective light of what one person says. You can also do some weighted analysis - if a lot of people generally like you and two or three don't, you might think about the possibility that you aren't the one with the problem. (Conversely, if you keep hearing the same negative stuff from everyone, you may want to do some self-examination; maybe you *are* the asshole. ;-) ) 'In his state of anger and exasperation (not at all deserved, in my opinion) he accused me of not having a deep understanding, of being overly careful, and not getting projects done fast enough.' [shrug] Any full-time manager who says this to a subordinate is projecting - he has problems, not you. A *good* boss would give you constructive criticism, like 'Hey, I was looking at your latest code, and it seems like this part here may have problems with [x]' or 'I understand your desire to run every possible test case, but I don't think you need to validate the West Virginia online driving test application against hebrew fonts...' and so on... As for not getting projects done fast enough - the only developers whose managers don't think that are dead. Hope this helps. BTW, if you want to see what real personal abuse looks like, check out the '(spoilers)' thread just below this one. Philo |
| Sun 16 May | . | 'BTW, if you want to see what real personal abuse looks like, check out the '(spoilers)' thread just below this one.' That thread is absolutely hilarious, and whoever is contributing the pearls has a great sense of wit and parody. I don't think it was derogatory in anything other than a endearing manner. |
| Sun 16 May | anon to protect the guilty | You have a habit of hiding your intelligence? This is almost certainly not the place to say this, but I am going to anyway: *never* pretend to be worse than you are. I have no respect for the handful of women I know who act dumb. I hate it when people pretend to be someone they're not. I understand your position somewhat, but have no sympathy. You can do better than that; you should do so. And your boss is an ass. So is mine. So is most people's. Start looking for another job and deal. |
| Sun 16 May | Eric Debois | Only really stupid guys are intimidated by smart women. I'm scared of stupid women. Especially those who can work them self into emotinal frenzies and think that what they feel constitutes proof of them being right. Scary. I've had bad experiences. |
| Sun 16 May | Simon Lucy | I think the clue is in the lack of space between paragraphs of the OP. Graphically it shows the spillage of all that angst in one stream of connected thoughts that are all mostly about lack of self worth. The brain is one place we make thinking so, being so. Which is not to say that some variation on 'pull your socks up' will do any good. Instead, I might suggest thinking about something other than yourself and work, especially at the weekend. Find some entirely pointless but pleasurable activity. And when Monday comes around remember whatever reason you think you still have a job (and believe me anyone might be replaceable by someone better including your boss), the important fact is that you still have a job and that you can excel in any one of a number of ways in that job on that Monday. So far as your boss is concerned whatever mistake you made, however costly or heinous will be largely forgotten especially when he notices something you did well. We all screw up, I'm good at what I do, because I screw up. |
| Sun 16 May | Mauron | I would not say that I pretend to be stupid. I just have a habit of being more concerned with being liked, and being afraid of envy. Of course anyone who is good at anything will be envied by someone. In conversations, I am more likely to listen and encourage the other person to talk. People are not generally interested in what I am interested in, so I am not in the habit of showing off what I know. I know a lot, but it isn't necessarily detailed technical stuff. I mean, I learn whatever of that stuff I need to know, but it is no longer how I spend my free time. The smart guys in the office can generate impressive streams of technical knowledge that does not stop as long as someone seems to be listening. I can't do that, or at least I never learned how. [space between paragraphs] But I do have to get rid of the idea that men will hate me if I'm smart. I am not putting on a dumb act, I'm just not putting on a smart act. I know how to, having been through graduate school and observed all the upper class superior-acting students and professors. I did not grow up in an upper class highly educated environment and my brains are entirely self-made. I guess you could say my personality is down to earth and unpretentious. [space between paragraphs] I will not try to prove myself by working faster and getting all stressed. If my boss is angry at me for being overly careful imagine how angry he'll get if I become careless. One thing I believe will help is speakiing slowly and leaving spaces between the sentences (as you see I now have spaces between the paragraphs, and that's a start). My habit is to think out loud and thereby generate a certain amount of random nonsense. I have noticed that smart people don't do this. If they talk fast, it's about things they know well so there is not much chance of generating nonsense. They constantly briing the subject back around to things they know well, so as to never look stupid. [space between paragraphs] My personal belief is that all human beings are ignorant of almost everything. The difference between the smartest and the dumbest is not all that great. I don't feel a reason to feel or act superior. But I do work in an environment where there are several guys, includiing my boss, who perceive themselves as geniuses (and I'm not saying they aren't geniuses, in their own ways). Some of them really look down their noses. |
| Sun 16 May | . | Dear Mauron, there are actually different ways by which people address problems. Some people consider all the possible solutions, or a reasonable subset, and then converge towards the best solution. To a certain type of person, this can look like the subject lacks confidence, which is not the case at all. Other approaches are to quickly select one solution and invest all effort in that solution, even to the extent of defending it if later events reveal problems. Smart people tend to use the first approach. |
| Sun 16 May | . | My point is that maybe your way of approaching problems resembles the first, and your boss the second. This will naturally create conflict if your boss is inexperienced. |
| What another awsome day! (spoilers) | Sat 15 May | Philo |
| I made even more progress with InfoPath! InfoPath SP 3.4 (Palladium Edition) will be out in a week. Working with these products my employer sells rocks! You should all go out and buy them right now. Yeah, thousands of computers running them have been crippled because of a few pesky worms (damn you, hackers!), but we got that stuff all fixed. Everythings fine now. Promise ;) Boy, after all that work, I think its time to watch some TV. Ill be back later to summarize and comment on each show I saw. Well, until next time, heres an ellipsis to indicate I have more stuff to say... Philo |
| Sat 15 May | grunt | Drop dead Philo! There's real problems in this world, and no one wants to hear about your stupid day! I hate my job! |
| Sat 15 May | Aussie Girl | Leave Philo alone! Philo is God! He can say whatever he wants because he so much better than everyone else here, including me. Please Philo, go on, tell us moreabout your day. |
| Sat 15 May | Philo | Well, Ok. I had sandwich for lunch, and then had a rather painful bowl movement at around 1 PM. Maybe I sould lay off meatball subs for a while. Philo |
| Sat 15 May | Styleish Chagiashi | Can't we all just get along? Hey, I had a dream last night. In it, my computer was typing on ME instead of the other way around. Weird, huh? |
| Sat 15 May | www.marktaw.com | Hey, stop fighting! If you haven't visited my blog yet, you absolutely MUST! It's www.MarkTAW.com. Again, that's www.MarkTAW.com. http://www.MarkTAW.com See? http://www.MarkTAW.com. I use it as name to remind you to go to htpp://www.MarkTAW.com Mark + TAW + .com |
| Sat 15 May | . | This thread is stupid. Philo, just shut up. |
| Sat 15 May | Steve Jones (UK) | Hey, has anyone else noticed that Joel doesn't quote all of his HTML attribute values? View the source and see for yourself! Joel, you NEED to fix this! If you don't, the world will end! |
| Sat 15 May | Jack | So what was it the bowl did that was so painful? I once dropped one on my foot. That could hurt but only if it's a big mixing bowl. A salad bowl or a cereal bowl wouldn't be so painful. Tell us more, eh? |
| Sat 15 May | Mike | Too funny. A caricature of JOS regulars. |
| Sat 15 May | grunt | Shut up Steve! There are real problems in this world, and no one wants o hear about your stupid unquoted attributes! |
| Sat 15 May | Styleish Chagiashi | Hey, I had another dream just now when I was awake. In it, my software pulled a knife on me, mugged me, beat me up, urinated on me, and then ran away. Strange. |
| Sat 15 May | Dennis Atkins | Styl... Uh, whatever the your name is. I've dealt with this whole beating/mugging/urinating problem before. In fact, I've dealt with *every* software-related problem before. In fact, I wrote the first ever piece of software! (It was an instant messaging app for Major General John Sedgewick back in 1863.) I'm pretty sure there's a patch that was released in October by Microsoft. It should at least take care of the beating and urinating thing. |
| Sat 15 May | Brad Wilson | Stop bashing microsoft, you haters! It's perfect! |
| Sat 15 May | Just me (Sir to you) | I am just to damn good for this place. You all should beg me to stay, and beg for more of my wisdoms. See, 'wisdoms' is plural because I have more than one wisdom. I have MANY. Yeah. |
| Sat 15 May | Bored Bystander | Philo, you've really asked for it now: a repost of a Jerry Pournelle parody from BIX ca. 1993. You may find some inspiration herein. Parody Bit Usees Column by Gerry Pourwelle When we finally got home from the monthly Rambling Writers Conference (this time in Djemaa-el-Fna), we found Fractal Manor's main hall shoulder deep in brand-new state-of-the-art totally free computer hardware and software for me to check out. Drat. I'll never get around to most of it, of course, and probably will end up dumpstering 90% or more. What I really need to properly handle all of the wonderful things companies send me absolutely free to review and enjoy with no obligation whatsoever on my part, is a trash compactor. I thought I'd start by reconfiguring my main computer, the Hyena 986SXDXMCMXCIV. Right now the sectors on the hard disk run clockwise, but I heard a rumor that you can squeeze 0.2% more throughput by running them counterclockwise. It's worth the effort. Recommended. I slid the shrink-wrap off version 7.126 of DiskMember Gold (I know, you thought I'd never upgrade from version 4.79, especially after all my bad-mouthing of versions 5.33 and 6.02, but what can I say? Only a Corinthian drinks kevis in a Veronese cantola.) and fired it up. No joy. I reread the documentation to no avail, then scanned the whole manual in, OCRed it, spell- checked the file and uploaded it to BIX with a question mark appended. While I waited for a response, I tried the software out on the TriskaDeck 1313. This is the machine Bill Gibson uses when we collaborate. It loaded fine and ran fine, but it seems to have automatically moved every hard disk sector to a random location and erased all the File Allocation Tables. Luckily I had backed up the entire hard disk to a CD-ROM with the new BitByter 7000 CD-ROM Mastering Deck (only $40,000 and worth every penny. Recommended.) so in only 6 more hours I was back where I started. While the disk was humming, I checked BIX with the Niebelungen Valkyrie we keep in a corner for when Sandy Solzhenitsyn is here writing. No answers yet. On the chance that he might have some insight, I buzzed Bill Gates. He mumbled something about it probably being a hardware problem before excusing himself. That seemed plausible. I called Jan Toady, president of Hyena, who indicated that a helicopter of ground-assault technical assistants was hovering near Fractal Manor 24 hours a day and that all I had to do was give the word and they'd parachute in. (Based on my own experience, I think Hyena offers the best service in the business, and not just because I mention their products every month in my column which millions of avid computer buyers read either. I bet you'd get the same service I do. Recommended.) I chuckled and said I'd try to puzzle it out a little more myself. He said okay and then talked me into accepting a free laptop with holographic display and telepathic mouse. A nice guy. I also got Mike Spindler, Lou Gerstner and Ross Perot on a conference call, but except for a few offers on tractor trailers full of new equipment they couldn't help me. My wife Svetlana (whose reading program can teach anyone with a $3000 computer how to read, and which is now available for PC-compatibles, Apples, Macintoshes and the Cray XMP for only $49.95 plus shipping and sales tax where applicable, have your MasterCard or VISA card ready and call 1-800-555-1212, operators standing by 24 hours a day) stuck her head in to say Hi. That gave me the idea to try calling my sons for help. Number one son Bud is now Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but when I called him he was busy in the War Room with the Secretary of Defense and some darn nerve gas missile crisis. It's always something with those civilians. Second son Robbie was in the middle of performing emergency brain surgery on the President, but promised to get back to me when he had a breather. Chip was arguing a landmark civil rights case before the Supreme Court when he answered my beeper message, but he seemed to think it was hardware. That would confirm Bill Gates's idea, if you'll recall. It could be true. On the other hand, it could be false. On the gripping hand, it could be some combination of hardware and non-hardware. A tough call, any way you looked at it. I must have caught youngest son Ernie in an aerobics class in his college dorm room, because he seemed to be having trouble breathing when I called, and I could hear a husky female voice in the background saying, 'Don't stop.' He only said, 'Check the plug, Dad' and hung up. His comment started me thinking. The Hyena has this long black wire sticking out the back that terminates in a plug-like connector. The plug has two parallel flat metal prongs, and a third round prong about half an inch below the midpoint of a line segment joining the two flat metal prongs, if you follow me. A little searching behind the desk where Jack Updike likes to work when he visits revealed an outlet in the wall with a corresponding arrangement of holes. It seemed too good to be true. I tried inserting the plug in the outlet. No joy. A quick call to Steve Hawking suggested that it was a space symmetry problem, and I rotated the plug 180 degrees and tried again. It slid home perfectly. Well, I'm about out of room here now. Next month I hope to get to this big red switch located on the side of the Hyena. Close study of the manuals suggests that it is somehow related to the functioning of the plug in the outlet. I'll have the whole story for you in the next column, along with a report on the Jet- Setting Pen-Wielders Seminar in Montevideo. This month's favorite game is still Checkers. There is something both deceptively simple and enticingly complex about this game that I have yet to master. Highly recommended. The book of the month is Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, on CD-ROM with clips from Hercules Meets Godzilla. It's like being there. Continent of the month is Australia. Give it a look. |
| Sat 15 May | Joel Spolsky | Hey guys, please be nice. |
| Sat 15 May | . | Just be nice, Joel? Oh my God, I am soooooo gonna take what you said out of context and misrepresent it! |
| Sat 15 May | Joel Spolsky | Wow. My feelings have been hurt. Ok, I guess I'm gonna have to close down the Joel on Software forum too. Too bad. |
| Sat 15 May | grunt | Shut up Joel! No one wants to hear about your stupid Joel on Software forum! Stay on-topic! |
| Sat 15 May | Grumpy Old Timer | I'm old and I hate everyone! |
| Sat 15 May | www.marktaw.com | Hey everyone! Just dropped by to tell you all that I updated www.MarkTAW.com! Check it out! Make it your homepage: http://www.MarkTAW.com www.MarkTAW.com Mark, of www.MarkTAW.com (www.MarkTAW.com). |
| Sat 15 May | hoser | Holy crap, whatta blog. What amazes me is that people actually have that much time to say so much - and then write it down. Anyhow Philo, I'm glad you had a good day, even though you're apparently working for the axis of evil. Sorry I haven't mailed you my word doc yet - its on a windows box at work, and mostly I try to stay away from it. My wife is baking a cake right now - for no particular reason, and it smells delicious. But I'm not eating it, 'cause I'm back on the hi-fat diet. Substitute bacon. My bike ride was great this morning - only it was too short. A friend's daughter graduated today, so we hadda go view the corpse. Went grocery shopping afterward. I'll make hamburgers for dinner. Chopped onions & garlic mixed in with the hi-fat ground beef. mmm, mmm... There - that's my stream of conscience for the day. Can I count it as a blog? |
| Sat 15 May | hoser | BTW: what was the spoiler? |
| Sat 15 May | braid_ged | Damn Funny people. Somone (more talented than I) do they typical 'my mean boss doesnt appreciate me and I am a special flower' parody please. Braid_ged |
| Sat 15 May | _ | Bowl Movement LOL |
| Sat 15 May | _ | Where did your bowl end up and why did it hurt? LMAO |
| Sat 15 May | _ | Mark I don't know when you did the site reno but DAMN Looks good! |
| Sat 15 May | Stephen Jones | Don't blame Philo. Blame America. It's all their fault. Everything is their fault. I'd post more enlightening tidbits, but let's be honest. I'm just too damn smart for everyone else here. |
| Sat 15 May | Mike | For a minute there I thoght the really long post might be from up North:) |
| Sun 16 May | Alex | Some idiot is posting with Philo's name. 'bowl movement'. Get a dictionary, jerk. |
| Sun 16 May | robtwister | Top commenting members on JOS: http://www.usabilitymustdie.com/jos/WW_All_Members.html |
| Sun 16 May | Rajesh | I must confess, I find this thread most amusing. I was laughing so hard, I almost soiled my undergarments. Many thanks to the original poster, whoever you are, effendi. |
| Sun 16 May | Brad Wilson | Hey, I was just honored to be spoofed, even if it wasn't really accurate. ;) |
| Sun 16 May | My Name is Legion | Philo, More details on your latest and greatest bowel movement, please. Our inquiring minds want to know! |
| Sun 16 May | Jan Derk | He Joel, that is one hilarious piece you wrote. I'll go visit it when it turns up on Broadway. Pity, I am too boring to feature in it. |
| Sun 16 May | Prakash S. | WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is great Philo!! On the other hand those who are disagreeing are great also. I love you all!!!!!!!! |
| Sun 16 May | Elephant | I really am an elephant: it's you who is the imposter. |
| Sun 16 May | Jack of All | I've had a whole 103 posts... guess I'm going for quality (or lack of) not quantity... Visit www.lifeofthemindless.com oh, that's right, I took it down... Has anyone seen my underpants? |
| Sun 16 May | Elephant | I really am a cum-guzzler; it is you who are the imposter. |
| Thoughts on decent looking UI | Sat 15 May | Mike |
| Ive spent the afternoon pouring over classified ad systems for use on a website Im building. I really want one done in CGI that does not use a database for a few reasons: 1. Easy backup by file copy via rsync over ssh to another server. 2. Small site CGI will scale and server load will not be an issue. 3. Did I mention easy backup? What Im finding is all the best looking an most featurful systems seem to be done in .asp. A few decent one in php too. The perl ones seem like the UI is an after thought. Why do you think that is? |
| Sat 15 May | Almost Anonymous | Have you seen Perl? It's really not surprising that UI is an afterthought. |
| Sat 15 May | Ankur | If you can use ASP, aren't both Access and Sql Server files easy to backup via file copy? (same with MySQL/php/perl)? |
| Sat 15 May | Mike | Yes they are easy enough. I have a spare machine that is gonna be a backup. I just wanted to do a file copy and have everything in sync. Not have to have a db complicating things. Like I said very small site on it's own server so I can do what I want. However I did find some nice programs later. Not sure if I will go the php/mysql route or asp/sql route. Currently the site runs on Linux. I am more versed with sql server than mysql, but with a little reading I can pick up what I need to know if I go the mysql route. Basically I would have mysql do a backup to a file and rsync that file with the rest of the site. In answer to my original question I think most of the perl cgi I looked at today was developed when the web was in it's infancy (97-2000). There was a lot more emphasis on get it done as opposed to now which is get it done and have it look good too. Php/mysql seems to be more alive now than asp. Asp.net certainly is alive too, but alot of the asp programs have not been moved to that yet. For a lot of small sites like mine, asp is probably simpler and better suited than asp.net anyway. |
| Sun 16 May | Clay Whipkey | Mike, you said: 'I just wanted to do a file copy and have everything in sync. Not have to have a db complicating things.' but before that you said: 'What I'm finding is all the best looking an most featurful systems seem to be done in .asp. A few decent one in php too. The perl ones seem like the UI is an after thought.' Sounds to me like insisting on a CGI solution is the thing that is complicating things. An Access db IS a file. With PHP/MySQL you can use a web-based tool called phpMyAdmin that allows you to easily create a SQL script text file back up of your DB. I don't have a lot of msSQL experience, but from what I've heard its got tools that make almost everything easy. Complicated is what you are going to get when you are trying to redesign the UI for some crusty CGI app. phpBB forum script has a module that makes a backup of a MySQL db, and it also restores from a resulting SQL text file. Its probably the same thing phpMyAdmin is doing, but it may be easier to dig into that code for examples of what to do for backup/restore solutions. |
| Sun 16 May | Simon Lucy | Not using some kind of database for this seems overly complicated to me. |
| Sun 16 May | Tom H | 'Complicated is what you are going to get when you are trying to redesign the UI for some crusty CGI app ... phpBB forum script has a module...' Unless things have changed a lot since I last checked, PHP runs via CGI on most web servers (yes, I know it can also be an Apache module). Maybe you meant Perl when you said CGI. But then, Perl can also be an Apache module. But more on topic, phpBB uses templates to help organize things. Templates are usually a good idea to help keep thinks consistent and easier to modify; but you can use templates with pretty much any server side language, even Perl. |
| Sun 16 May | Mike | I guess I wasn't clear. Really I wanted to stay away from using a database, because I didn't want to spend the time to learn how to stop mysql, do a backup and then copy over the files and restart the db. That was what was attractive about a script - perl, php, asp - whatever that just used the file system instead of a db. Although almost no .asp scripts do that, they almost always use access or sql server. At the risk of offending people here, I'm trying to avoid access for the database, if I go the Windows route I will use msde. Actually there are a whole bunch of other consideration I have as well. Current box is RH9 which is no longer supported. I was going to use trustix, however on my backup box trustix was flaky. Other os's didn't seem to be. I do want to get to one Linux/Unix/Windows version on the production and back up boxes eventually. Kind of a pain in the ass trying to find a linux I like that doesn't eol after a year or less. Yes I could go buy rhel, but I already have a copy of Win2003 bought and paid for. I don't want to blow days installing Debian. I even have a friend that will trade even up for his Sunblade. So I could run Solaris, but that would only be on one machine, the other would be some flavor of Linux. I rather like the idea of Solaris because Sun supports a version for a long time. The downside is most of the OSS available for it tends to be older than you get with Linux. I'm not up for the fun of compiling from source. Stepping back and evaluating all the options. Thanks for your replies. |
| Sun 16 May | Data Miner | >spent the afternoon pouring over classified ad systems< What exactly were you pouring over those classified ad systems? Maybe it made the colors run, which would explain why the GUI was a mess. |
| Sun 16 May | Mike | Whoop ass. Want some? |
| Sun 16 May | Ziktar | One more thing about using a DB: The backups most guys were suggesting (using a SQL script) don't require the DB to be stopped to make the backup, but rather just to restore a backup. The more you know... |
| Sun 16 May | Anon-y-mous Cow-ard | Isn't it also possible to "grab" the data file at the same theoretical time it is being updated? Thus, you have the same potential problem as with a database? |
| Sun 16 May | Mike | 'Isn't it also possible to 'grab' the data file at the same theoretical time it is being updated?' certainly. Not very likely - due to the low usage of this website, but even if it did happen, the next rsync would get the file properly. If I lost an ad or a reply in a discussion during a server failure, it would not be the end of the world. |
| Tangent on business: networking groups? | Sat 15 May | Bored Bystander |
| I have tried two different groups for networking: a chamber of commerce business lead exchange meeting (similar to BNI meetings but less formality); and Toastmasters. What has spoiled it for me mildly in both circumstances is the amount of sheer ego and braggadocio that it seems to take to become visible in these kinds of environments. The Toastmaster club I once belonged to had three guys who knew each who were advanced speakers and who seemed to dominate the meetings. The chamber feels the same way. Youre either an Alpha Male or youre an annoying non-entity. Has anyone found networking groups for general business that dont suck, and that dont seem to exist just to prop up the ego of a small clique? Im toying with civic service clubs as a possibility... |
| Sat 15 May | Bored Bystander | "who knew each" --> "who knew each other from work" |
| Sat 15 May | Essex | Try a 2600 meeting: http://www.2600.com/meetings |
| Sat 15 May | Philo | Yeah, no ego whatsoever at 2600 meetings. [grin] You might also check out local users' groups, professional associations, or even 'networking events' at local businesses. If there's a university near you, see if there are any evening classes you'd like to take where you might also get some networking done (this one's less likely to pay off, but if you want to take the class anyway, no harm done) Philo |
| Sat 15 May | Motown (AU) | Kill two birds with one stone and join a sporting club :-) Seriously. |
| Sun 16 May | Simon Lucy | Any group of people you're a member of can provide referrals but as in most things its probably useful to treat it as an exercise in karma, or tithing. Offer before you expect to receive and offer in the quietest way. And by offer I don't mean handout leaflets offering 20% discount on network management to the group. I mean talk to them about your contacts and get them referrals. |
| Sun 16 May | dir at badblue com | BB, you're in Cincy area right? What about the Circuit? That used to get a wide variety of folks interested in technology from a variety of perspectives. If you're on Orkut, that would also be a good question to pose to the Cincinnati community. I'd be interested in hearing what you find out. |
| Sun 16 May | Evgeny Gesin /Javadesk.com/ | I use LinkdIn, it's good place to find contacts. I established Java user group in 2000 (member of Top 25 JUG by Sun) and use it too. |
| Finding small business clients & finding business | Sat 15 May | Bored Bystander |
| Its damn tough. I found a lot of synchronicity in Norricks post on business failure. Even the bit about the worm farm (I dont care how cruelly it came off, the comedic timing of that remark was excellent...) In my own case I had nursed along steady hourly contracting work from some local software product houses from 1993 til this past winter. That last gig ended with a bang from the last dysfunctional, semi psychotic client. Currently I am trying to refactor my business to sell to general business customers instead of dedicated technical product departments. There are many, many more just plain businesses than there are IT departments that want to use an indie. Pass #1 at my refactoring has been as follows: I have marketed low end PC and network support services to general small business. According to many, many people (including the worldnewyork.com guy who posted a blog entry Technical self employment is a fat paycheck to be pocketed) as well as the marketingspeak around Joshua Feinbergs Consulting 101 course, there is a crying need for this kind of service. I figured that I had little to lose and that it would be an easy or at least straightforward nut to crack. After all, with 20+ years in technology, professional polish, and MacGyver like problem solving skills, how could I not succeed? Easy. Yeah, right. What I found was that nobody really identifies with this kind of service. Or else they dont want to identify with my presentation of it. Ive done the chamber of commerce socializing thing regularly for a couple of months. I find myself talking to a professional vacuum: to a bunch of people selling MLM type services, Mary Kay cosmetics, massage, tax recovery, dog sitting, and other inconsequential low tech personal services; who seem to visibly yawn or look angry about the subject when I speak. Ive posted notices on store bulletin boards. Ive shoved business cards in the hands of friends and associates to the point of embarrasment. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Referrals from so called supportive business colleagues have been non existent. Oh, I take that back. One guy at the chamber asked for me to help him with a router configuration issue. I wound up doing nothing but deinstalling spyware boocoox from his system. Took >1 mo. to receive a stinking $225 payment. Asshole. So, I am finding it very hard to break into a business that my instincts tell me is not even that desirable to begin with. Not pursuing it is not a terribly agonizing decision. And it leaves me with the knowledge that I cant trust someone elses blogs, only my own knowledge of the customer and the local market. So, Pass #2 will be to raise my sights and realize that my brains and aptitude probably get in the way of presenting a blue collar leaning service like general PC support. To people Ive approached, my offering generalist services probably comes off like a guy in a tuxedo and spats offering lawn mowing services. So: I intend to start targeting specific business categories in smaller businesses under 100 employees - lines of business such as - name it - trucking companies; independent real estate offices; machine shops; whatever else that the statistics I have access to indicate that there are clusters of business in certain SIC code categories. And if that doesnt work, I will look for another approach. Actually, my one reaction to Norricks current situation is that hes giving up his hard won knowledge way too early. He did find business, not great business, but thats the kind of knowledge that can only be gotten through experience. And he knows what doesnt work too. I found a very brief and informative article on a procedure for targeting and harvesting specific markets, and its not even IT or computer specific: http://www.marketing-magic.biz/archives/archive-marketing/targeted-marketing-how-to-do-it.htm |
| Sat 15 May | Jack | 1> semi psychotic client. 2> Referrals from so called supportive business > colleagues have been non existent. 3> Took >1 mo. to receive a stinking $225 payment. Asshole. 4> So, I am finding it very hard to break into a business I think I see a trend here. In order to break into a business you ought not to consider them all with such derision and if you get no referrals perhaps others detect the same. Maybe an attitude adjustment is in order. |
| Sat 15 May | Bored Bystander | Believe me --- the derision comes after the fact, not before. I'm patient but not infinitely so. The chamber is an example. After suffering through endless 'entertaining' gasbags hyped on their own egos, I find little to use as a mark of distinction. IE, no way to stand out. Besides, I'm being frank about circumstances to which nobody but I am privy to all facts regarding them... I had to fire the last client after 7 years, just to save my sanity and self esteem. |
| Sat 15 May | Mark Hoffman | First off, let me premise my post by saying that don't put too much stock in what anyone, myself included, says. There are so many factors that play into getting clients that it's impossible to speak in absolutes. Now that that's out of the way....I've found that the smaller companies can be a royal pain to deal with. They want the moon, can't afford much and frequently end up sitting in your A/R aging report for a loooong time. But they are much easier to get into than a large company, and they also are great for referrals to get business from larger companies. There's gold in them thar hills, but you gotta really work it and have a lot of perserverance and patience. Good luck! |
| Sat 15 May | Norrick | 'Actually, my one reaction to Norrick's current situation is that he's giving up his hard won knowledge way too early. ' Surprisingly, I agree. But financially, I just can't stick it out any longer. You sound like you are doing the same thing I am - 'competing against non-consumption', as an acquaintance of mine put it. Rather than competing against these Chamber members' current suppliers, you are competing against their lack of any supplier, probably because they are too technically unsophisticated to understand how yu can benefot them. Even if they do come around, their size all but guarantees that they will nickel and dime you. After taking counsel with some smart peers and thinking about it, I am convinced that my problem has not been what I'm selling, but the market I am trying to sell it to. Perhaps your problem is the same? Perhaps your 'tuxedo and spats' marketing style is not to blame, and your target market is. Have you tried going after the attorneys, doctors and accountants with your generalized PC support services? They have at least a slightly higher appreciation for the value of technology than you average MLM rep. |
| Sat 15 May | Mr. Analogy | It's difficult to make a living selling a high quality service to people who are basically poor. And there are many small businesses out there who (I suspect) are just scrapping by. They do it for the independence not the money. When someone is making $13/hr, it's very difficult as computer consultant to do anything for them that will have a reasonable Return On Investment if you're charging $45 to $100/hr. ARE YOU WORTH IT OR NOT? Either you're saving/making your client more than what they are paying you or you are not. If it's the latter case, then you need to figure out how to offer more value. If it's the former case, then you need to figure out how to COMMUNICATE (this is a sales/marketing function fellas') that to the customer. HOBBY BUSINESSES My aunt once tried to talk my uncle into buying her a quilting shop. He looked at the numbers and realized they'd basically spend $500k on inventory to get her a minimum wage job. The money is just very poor in that kind of business. Folks run them because it's basically a hobby. They make minimum wage but control the show. Very small mom & pop outfits are typically people selling thier time. They probably make about what they'd make working for someone else, but they get to be in control. It's a trade off: more headaches for more control. The problem with these people, as clients, is that they do not understand how hard the work THEY do is (they undervalue THIER service to thier clients) and they do the same thing to everyone around them. You do NOT want these people as clients. BIRDS OF A FEATHER Clients will refer similar clients. I.e., if your current clients have unrealistic expectations ('please rewrite MS Word for $1200. By next month') they will REFER the SAME SORT of client to you. So... fire everyone who isn't the kind of client you'd like to have 100 more like. |
| Sat 15 May | Bored Bystander | I think you guys (Norrick and Mr. Analogy) have hit on a good principle. I've been marketing to the poor, to hobby business types, and to ignorant boneheads. I started going to the chamber because I was assured by some people (by a local small business counselor who mans a state extension service for small business, as well as by officials of the chamber) that they had the climate to make the kind of connections I needed to generate some new business. I am simply not seeing it. In two months of regular chamber attendance I've gotten one client I don't want to deal with again and one guy who asked me for a technical tip (the latter guy was actually quite nice about it, he touted me in a subsequent meeting). But very few questions and inquiries. I still think that part of my answer lies in 'going vertical' and doing some calling and prospecting of some specific industry sectors. I think my problem has been that I've been unfocused in terms of approaching businesses in their own terms. I'm trying to play the game that the PC service companies play. I would be much more comfortable selling into business needs and enhancing business process with technology, rather than 'remediating PC problem' needs. The dedicated career PC support type doesn't have a clue about integrating systems or writing code and I do and I need to leverage off my own unique value... not fight it by pandering to numnuts. |
| Sat 15 May | no name | Amen to what Mr Analogy has to say. I helped out some friends of mine 'computerising' their small business when, according to them, their computer supplier turned out to be incompetent. When I spoke with the supplier, I realised they were pretty capable and had done a good job. But my friends were retailers, and couldn't understand why it took all day to fix a computer network, since they could serve a customer in 5 minutes. |
| Sat 15 May | Mitch & Murray (from downtown) | ' ... a blue collar leaning service like general PC support ...' This is the _essence_ of the problem. PC support has an almost zero barrier to entry, and is indeed a blue collar industry of this decade. Got a degree or two? Software engineer and/or experienced project manager? Small business IT consulting and support is not for you - the self-taught kid up the street who flunked the GED is your competition, and the clueless customer can't tell the difference. All they want is cheap and fast, and don't even attempt to tell them that their old copies of Windows 95 might not be the most reliable and secure OS to run their business on. |
| Sat 15 May | Bored Bystander | Well, admittedly I believed in the following too much. (from the '2 linear miles of HTML page' school of design)... http://www.computerconsulting101professionalkit.com/ |
| Sun 16 May | Albert D. Kallal | >Well, admittedly I believed in the following too much. (from the '2 linear miles of HTML page' school of design)... Gee, sounds like the rest of those folks that go the business shakers to drum up business. Why not start a clothing store..everyone has to wear clothes..and it all wears out…right? Why not get into the coffee shop business…after all everyone drinks coffee and look how well starbucks does? Why not get into the auto repair business…after all everyone drives a car? The fact of the matter is, whatever business endeavor you go into….it is going to be VERY VERY hard to break into a market. And if the market has a bunch of low hanging easy to grab fruit…you can bet it get picked very fast. And, with something that has easy entry..then this makes it all the harder. I mean…most 18 olds can built and setup a VPN network if they play around computers at all. All low hanging fruit is picked out…and what is left is scraps. This is the case for ANY business. Just try and startup a law practice to day in a city…good luck! Further, you got all these false hopes up that your only problem was that you must re-target your market you are going after? Are you sure about this? Fact is…that computer support and repair business for small busses and even home users is really a lucrative market. In fact, when I go to a larger local independent computer store in my City the service department is packed…and waiting times are about 7 or 8 days now. They even started charging a VERY high rate to bump up your priority (it is called the high priority rate..and believe me…a VERY large portion are paying for that rate..since they want their computer fixed ASAP!!!). In fact, most people seem willing to pay the higher rate to reduce the turn-around time. Of course…most people feel the same way when their car beaks down..and pay high rates to get it fixed. In fact, the high rates charged to fix computers is more then what dealers bill you per hour when you get your car fixed. And, talk about a huge opportunity here? Do you see it? You guys just told me that every man and his dog can build and repair computers! Wow..I can get cheap labor and charge high rates…What could not be a better opportunity? The local doctor has to pay REALLY high rates just to get someone to operate his x-ray machine. So, high service rates..with low cost labor is dream business opportunity right now! (once again..everyone seems not see the golden opportunities here!). And, looking at large lineup of people at that computer service deport....a good deal of these ladies in line are no doubt SOHO type business. (Small Office…Home Office). We are not talking real rich people here! So, don’t tell me that there is no market for home, or small business computer repair, or support. Ask your self what happens when a home user’s computer breaks? What heck do they do? What, they just cry..and not get their computer fixed? The amount of computers in homes has likely grown 2 or 3 times the rate at which business bought computers. Business when through a huge consuming and using of computers about 6 or 7 years ago. The home, and SOHO market really took off in the last 4-5 years. So, what do those people do now to get their computers fixed? (if you can’t answer this VERY simple question..then you don’t have a enough smarts or understanding to get into that market). Failing to ask some very simple and basic questions such as a above .....and then have a bunch of people jump in say say..yea…that is the problem…no barriers to entry! Fact is this support and computer repair shop of course is in side a very large and successful retail outfit. So, the real issue here is not that you can’t make money repairing and supporting computers…….the real issues is: How are you going to get those customers? So, the answer to the above question about how do you find customers is: Customers that need a computer fixed are actually found at the point of sale when the computer is sold!....like…duh man….how else did you think this works??? So, 99% of customers tend to go back for service and support to the place where They bought the computer. Do I really have to spell out this obvious stuff to you people? Gee….word of mouth to built a successful computer repair and support business in this day and age? (with the current climate?) Yea…right!!! I suppose with some real good marketing (newspaper adds and a good location perhaps then…yes you can..but you are talking about some serious dollars here to do that right..and EVEN THEN it is going to be a fight for those customers). Futher..white box retail computer sales are under attack by giants like dell..and that means even harder for you to get into that business. On the other hand, I know the folks in my town that have the dell contract for on site service....do you know the folks that do this in your town? (like again...duh!!). If you not asking questins like this..you are again missing the whole picture. I don’t want to make this into a large post……(it is already too long!)….but what about those corporate clients that you think you need to go after? Gee…you think they have been sitting around for the last 5 years without any computer support? The real question: How are you going to steal customers from your competitors? Because if you think those people don’t use someone right now to setup and support their networks, then really..you have a very big serious miss understanding of how business works. I remember a few years ago a few support people I know were talking about getting into the application hosting business. (that is where they host your applications….and thus you don’t need send support people to go on site to fix things. After all, these were people running a support company..and were worried about this trend. Anyway..I simply laughed at their idea since they had no plan on how to get customers! (and, in fact, for what they were trying to do ..there IS a way to get customers..but they had no clue on how to do it…and it was not my job or business to tell them how to do this!! If I had the time…I might have jumped on this!). Anyway…you need a plan on how you will get customers..and 99% of the time that means getting a captive customer..or making one change from their current service they are using. You can start a flower shop..but you are not going to be the only one in town. And likely VERY few of your customer will NEVER have bought a flower somewhere else? (of course they will have..and likely each sale you make is a loss to some competitor). You also need to take advantage of technology changes…or something that changes the way business do things. (like wifi..and the opportunism that will wiFi will get a good list of customers that you can then bill for support and other stuff down the road. So, WiFi is a 'in' to the business but not for very long.....So..…this is one of those foot in the door trends that can be used to break into the computer support business for example. I have not been around these boards much of late..since I am just way too busy these days……I got to run right now…and it is 11:24 pm and I still have to meet someone! Anway..here is discussion we had some time ago on this board about breaking into a business. This one happened to be the software bussines..but really…we are talking about business 101..and this applies to any thing you do from hair cuts…to car repairs.. http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=23949&ixReplies=21 Sorry I have to run…as I could just simply type on for a LONG time on this subject..but I would suggest you go and talk to someone who is already doing well at what you want to do..and ask them what they did…you will again be surprised at the answer....as most give the same one….. And no..I don't support computers..... Albert D. Kallal Edmonton, Alberta Canada Kallal@msn.com |
| Sun 16 May | Bored Bystander | Albert, you're validating everything I suspected. I think the missing link for a high-demand consumer type business like this is familiarity. People have to know about you and be comfortable with entrusting you with their systems or computers. Even though the barrier to entry is low and the demand is high, it's still a trust relationship and the nod will generally go to storefronts, support vans, the stores that sell the crap, and other mainstream vendors. Even though the standard of service is general mediocrity, overcharging and discourtesy. One comment: by 're-targeting' I meant abandoning the low end service market. Stop talking about it in my marketing, stop talking it up. And find specific industries that have needs in common and find ways to use my more unique (and less commonly found) abilities to synthesize, to integrate, to listen, and to create. Yeah, I know, Business 101 says that every profitable niche has been exploited. My intuition is that if a service vendor takes the time to understand certain types of businesses, then rapport can be built that transcends the commodity 'let's look up the application in a catalog and buy it' thinking. One motivation for pursuing the PC support market was that I was being lazy. I didn't want to think through targeting of types of customers, I wanted to generalize, and I thought that my abilities and demeanor would carry me through. In particular I didn't want to talk to a lot of prospects in order to develop a few. I didn't want to think about prospect's businesses in detail. I thought that concentrating on a nuts and bolts business would pay off because, hey, Computerconsulting101 sells those courses for $400 so there *must* be a market. (yeah, there's a market all right ... for courses.) In return, the generalist market offered little to me because I wasn't very dedicated to it. In reality the low end market feels like trying to market and sell my own personalized brand of toothpaste in my neighborhood. Remotely possible, but improbable. IE: why would people pay attention to another commodity service? |
| Sun 16 May | Rich | (from the '2 linear miles of comments' school of design) :) Some good stuff up there, though. There certainly exist clients that have money to spend on your services. A couple of thoughts: I don't think your 'brains and aptitude' get in the way of getting jobs--at least, I don't think so, but I don' t know you. You do, of course, have to present yourself in a fashion that is relavant to the customer. An small insurance brokerage owner may expect a slightly different image than, say, a homebuilder. I'm not saying at all that either one is less professional, just that different areas, of course, have different cultures. Now, you still don't want to try to sell to people without money. It's just not expedient. ;) There are plenty of business owners that are willing to say 'screw it, it's not worth fixing right now.' You of course do not want these customers. You want customers that NEED their stuff to work. Or, you need customers that you can convince them the obvious financial benefits of your services. What this is boiling down to is that you want to have successful businesspeople as clients. This is probably obvious to most. A thought: why not actually seek out businesses that naturally cultivate lots of contacts? I imagine you may have your hands full, period, but one successful client that does, say, investment services would presumably be much better than, say, a software shop on the basis that the resulting word-of-mouth might be better. Good luck! |
| Sun 16 May | Simon Lucy | My first ever business plan was to provide generic support to people with PC's, 0900 kind of dial up support with perhaps support contracts living off the back of that shotgun marketing. It even had a great name, Support pc Ltd, and that was my first trading company. But that business plan never flew, at the time you couldn't vary 0900 rates in the UK and I needed 50p a minute to make any money, at the beginning of the 90's no one saw support as a revenue earner only as a revenue supporter. Now some of those businesses exist, none of them have the ubiquity that I envisaged or the brand name (when you create business plans the Napoleon in you always emerges) and I think none of them are truly support businesses, instead they're a kind of glorified insurance scheme. And of course now its far more complicated than it was twelve years ago and there wasn't quite the same feeling of 'all I have to do is google for this and I'll find an answer'. So I don't think there's this aching void in the market that needs satisfying. |
| Sun 16 May | no name | > feels like trying to market and sell my own personalized brand of toothpaste ... Bored, for what it's worth, I know a very successful owner of a big advertising agency who thought he would get rich doing just that. Having done lots of advertising for things like toothpaste, he thought he could make more money setting up a toothpaste business, especially since he was a genius at advertising. He did all the right things and put money into it, and it's now something you never mention. He still runs the advertising agency. |
| Sun 16 May | Dewd | I found this Non-Consumption is Your Competitor: http://worcester.typepad.com/pc4media/2004/05/nonconsumption_.html After searching for 'non-consumption' on Google. |
| Learning Test Driven Design, DUNIT. WhereToStart? | Sat 15 May | Mr. Analogy |
| Hi, Im new to Delphi and new to TDD. Im trying to learn the basics of TDD and how to use DUNIT. Lots of links out there on the web and a few good books (Ken Beck, et. al.). Any suggestions of where to START? |
| Sat 15 May | Mr. Analogy | Oh, and the best starting points I've found so far are: http://www.testdriven.com/modules/xoopsfaq/ http://www.suigeneris.org/space/dunit |
| Sat 15 May | Giovanni Corriga | Mr. Analogy, you'd better start with the original 'Test Infected' article: http://junit.sourceforge.net/doc/testinfected/testing.htm You may also try asking in the TDD mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/testdrivendevelopment/ |
| Sun 16 May | Dave | For a Delphi guy, a good site to learn a little about TDD would be Julian Bucknall's blog: http://www.boyet.com Links to his TDD articles used to be on the front page, now you can find a couple on his 'Writing Quality Software'. Even better, google his site for 'TDD' and/or 'DUnit'. And if anyone has a copy of Julian's Tomes of Delphi book they'd like to part with, I'd be happy to buy it. |
| What is competitive advantage? | Sat 15 May | Anonx |
| I am working to develop a computer support business plan and I am trying to come up with some competitive advantages. So far I have a few ideas but I’m not sure they are tangible. For example I know I could make a better website to advertise my services, I could provide better service, newsletters; brand some turnkey solutions etc. Are these really enough for an advantage over my competition? I am racking my head about better ways to provide the better service. Most of the time I put myself in the eyes of the customer and I see the basics. “My computer is broken and I need it fixed”. Any thoughts what is really a competitive advantage? Is it something that blows away your competition or doing something just slightly different from your competition? |
| Sat 15 May | Word of Mouth | It seems to me the computer support business is flooded in my area of the US. Look in the local paper there's no less than 3 - 6 ads per week advertising various computer fix it - teach it - code it shops/people. Look in the yellow pages and you will find the same thing. Drive through the smallest town and you will see a computer shop. (I don't buy from these thieves. Their markup is too high. Besides I can build a computer better than anyone I know.) So what the heck is going to give you a competitive advantage over all these other people? Word of mouth. Networking. It's that simple. Most of the people I assist don't give a rat's arse about computers they just want the darn things to work. Install a printer driver = $50. Re-Ghost a hard drive = $120. They think I'm a miracle worker and yet I don't do jack squat. Most of these people don't have a clue about their computer. Set up the computer so that when they turn it on it all they have to do is click internet explorer, automagically connect to the web, set HotMail as the homepage and bam they think you cured cancer or something. These people don't care about your website or your qualifications. They just want their darn computer to work. If you fix their computer, make sure they give your name to a couple of other people. |
| Sat 15 May | Mark Hoffman | My experience with computer shops is that they have utterly horrible customer service. That's not surprising since they are usually run by techies who aren't known for their well polished social skills. Recently, my desktop just beeped and squealed at me when I turned it on. I'm capable of fixing my own machines but it's not something I really enjoy doing so I carted it down to a local computer shop. Given my past experiences with tech shops, I fully expected a bunch of pony-tailed high school punks with scornful arrogance to be behind the counter. I was pleasantly surprised to find a shop full of polite, professionals who not only fixed my machine, but went out of their way to clean up the mess of tangled wires and cables I had left behind from my last upgrade. They performed the kind of service that I expect from anyone else, but rarely see from the technical industry. Good ol' fashioned service with a smile. It won't get you in the door, but once you're in, you might be surprised at how long it keeps you in. |
| Sat 15 May | Bored Bystander | See my later thread. I agree with 'Word of Mouth'. The generalist computer business is very VERY tough to break into. I have tried and I think I am going to subordinate it in favor of some other approaches. Approaching a niche (example: dentists' offices) is 'supposed' to work better for computer consultants. |
| Sat 15 May | blaZ | You could use a formula such as Hooters or when we go behind your computer you will not see our crack. Seriously I think for a small bizz that will enter peoples homes stuff like this could help: 1. Be personal. Not I'm worker nr 45 drone assigned to such and such task. 2. Remember your customers names and their personal stuff like wife's/husbands name, children, their interests. 3. Send a birthday/christmas cards to customers that A. called you more then x times and B. Recomended you to friends and stuff. 4. Garantees: We will fix your problem if not get a replacement computer in the time being. Offer backup solutions (simple secondary HD which will mirror stuff) 5. Have an option to act as their system admin, meaning you manage their security, backups and other stuff that corparate sysadmins do. If using WinXP enable remote admin else install VNC like software. 6. Have a cheaper remote assistance option meaning only telephone support or VNC. Not really different from 5. 7. Act as their computer upgrader. Meaning when time is due they will use you to upgrade the hardware. However at Dell like prices. 8. Notice your customers PC hardware and allow them an option to recieve automatically via mail a CD with updated drivers. Or download the drivers via your website (Dell offers this and it's very nice) 9. Option for unattended Windows installation with correct drivers and settings. User just boots from your CD to reinstall Windows with everything correct. Well thats all that I can think off now. |
| Sat 15 May | blaZ | Another thing novice computer users can be a pain in the behind. If you once fixed something and when 3 months something goes wrong it's your fault. Well anyway that is how my mother is. |
| Sat 15 May | Motown (AU) | In that market, willingness to work on-site, out of hours is a real competitive advantage, especially for busy small businesses where you can offer zero downtime upgrades/service. |
| Sun 16 May | Dennis Atkins | > It seems to me the computer support business is flooded in my area of the US. Just this week I saw a friend driving his car around on the side of which he had painted: 'American Computer Consultants -- Home Visit and Repair for Under $25'. About sums it up. He used to be a well regarded games developer. |
| Sun 16 May | Computer man | Do something extra for every customer something he doesn't expect. He will remember it and talk about it with others. Be sure every customer will leave the shop happy -I mean every customer not just the CEO. Then keep track of all the testimonials and post the best ones on the site. Make sure that if people are not happy they can complain and the complain will go to you not disappear somewhere. It is a easy as this. |
| Sun 16 May | Sam Livingston-Gray | Communication, communication, communication. Spend a few minutes at the beginning of a job paying total attention to your customer. Listen to what they ask you for, do it, and then explain to them in as much detail (or as little, which can be much more difficult) as they want. If appropriate (e.g., not a random hardware failure), show them how to avoid the same problem in the future. 'Word of mouth' above has it right. I'm a good programmer -- I write clean, well-commented code and I do it quickly -- but the only people who give a rat's ass about that are other programmers. The majority of my testimonials (and paychecks!) come from non-programmers, and the major theme is 'Sam explains complicated things so that I can understand them.' It really stands out in this business. |
| HTML forms UI guidelines | Sat 15 May | 555-1234 |
| I am writing a prototype of a web UI for a real world application. It has more than 50 forms (automagically generated) but they look very ugly. Most of the articles I found focus on web sites design and do not cover the specific issues of web forms (alignement of the input fields, button positions, fixed/not fixed width of the form...). So can you please guide me to find resources and articles on good HTML forms UI design? |
| Sat 15 May | blaZ | http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwui/html/iuiguidelines.asp I think you are looking for what MS calls inductive interface and task based/oriented interface |
| Sat 15 May | OffMyMeds | These seem pretty useful: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/accessible-online-forms/1 http://www.sitepoint.com/article/simple-tricks-usable-forms Out of curiousity, what kind of tool is doing the form generation? |
| Sun 16 May | 555-1234 | Thank you for the URLs. OffMyMeds, the forms are generated and processed by a home-made system that uses a XML description file (the concept is similar to XAML or XUL.) |
| Gotta learn Excel. | Sat 15 May | Unix2M$ |
| At the risk of feeling stupid, I would like to ask everyone. I need to learn excel as part of my job, while Im ok at doing the basic data spreadsheeting, I needed to start doing more serious work on excel (risk management, etc). My background is mostly Unix/Java/Script. Is there a book or place I can start learning this stuff? From the project plan, it seems that we are doing an complete application using that ties Excel to our unix numeric processing application. I was thinking to learn VBA to tie our C/Python module. Is this even doable? Thanks |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | If you have some exposure to Functional Programming, Hard Core Excel should not too difficult to pick-up. You will have to get to speed on VBA if you want to expose any of the data outside the sheets. But whatever you do, exploit Excel's abilities to the fullest. No point writing VB functions fro Binomial Distributions. Resources I've used include MS's support forums at MSDN plus Excel's help itself. |
| Sat 15 May | Unix2M$ | Thanks, yes, I don't plan on writing numeric processing part in VB, most of them are done on unix server. I don't think I'll have a problem learning the language. I found VBA and Excel is easy yet very bad programming style. There are several books on amazon, but none of them seems to help you with programming VBA and link up with other modules (C or C++). |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | Compile the C code into DLLs and call them from VBA. |
| Sat 15 May | scruffie | On rewriting functions for binomial distributions: that's actually not a bad idea, as Excel doesn't necessarily do it correctly! http://www.stat.uni-muenchen.de/~knuesel/elv/excelacc.pdf |
| Sat 15 May | Philo | You can automate Excel from any programming language that can call COM objects. You can also get Visual Studio Tools for Office, which lets you automate Excel from .Net and tie the underlying dll to the spreadsheet, making it a 'smart' spreadsheet. That may be overkill for what you need to do - I'm just sharing the info. On the lighter side, you can also point Excel at all kinds of data sources - that may be all you need, if you can get at a data source that's close enough to perfect. Not sure if this helps - hope it does. Philo |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | Scruffle, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=828888&product=xl2003 Seems to have been addressed. |
| Sat 15 May | yet another anon | This is a real handy MSDN page that shows how to automate a lot of common tasks in Excel: http://tinyurl.com/2dl4o Also, since the statistical calculation bugs in Excel were fixed a long time ago, it would be a waste of effort to write your own, IMHO. |
| Sun 16 May | Ged Byrne | You can automate Excel directly from Python using PythonCom http://www.boddie.org.uk/python/COM.html |
| Sun 16 May | Ged Byrne | Heres the course of action I would recommend as a quick start: 1) Install Excel and load it up. Make sure you do a custom install so that you can include the programmers VBA help files. They are invaluable. 2) Do the task manually. 3) Record yourself doing the task using the recorder in Tools/Macros. 4) View the generated VBA. Mess with it, paramaterising it into a general function. 5) Convert the VBA code into Python code using Python COM. 6) Repeat and rinse. |
| Sun 16 May | Ged Byrne | And of course, don't forget to consider OpenOffice.org as an alternative to Excel. |
| Sun 16 May | Sathyaish Chakravarthy | Here are some good weblinks for learning Excel/VBA. http://www.vbforums.com/attachment.php?s=310151b93e1002de54668f75b218c29a&postid=1691068 |
| C++: conversion from derived to base | Sat 15 May | Alex |
| My apologies if this is a silly subject. Im reading about the slicing of derived objects to their base classes. The book says: Such sliced objects *are* base class objects ..... and **when virtual functions are called on them, they resolve to virtual functions of the base class**. I wrote this to see what happens: class Base { protected: int x; public: Base(int xx=0): x(xx) {} virtual void print() { cout << Base.x = << x << endl; } }; class Derived: public Base { public: Derived(int xx=0): Base(xx) {} void print() { cout << Derived.x = << x << endl; } }; And sure enough, when I pass a Derived object to a function that expects a Base, the Base::print() is called. Conceptually, this is right. But down at byte level, it isnt all that straight: both Base and Derived are 8 bytes long (the vfptr pointer and the int). So its not like you just take the first N bytes from a Derived object and youve got yourself a Base object (which the word slicing suggests). This isnt slicing as much as it is fiddling: the compiler sees youre passing a Derived to a function that expects a Base, and mucks with the binary representation to construct a Base argument. So with this function: void do_it(Base b) { b.print(); } When you call it: Derived d; do_it(d); Does the compiler do a cast, or what? So, casting from a derived to a base means fiddling around with the binary representation? |
| Sat 15 May | Frederik Slijkerman | 'So it's not like you just take the first N bytes from a Derived object and you've got yourself a Base object (which the word 'slicing' suggests).' Yes, it is like that (with single inheritance anyway) but in this case N is equal to 8 since Derived doesn't introduce any new fields. |
| Sat 15 May | Doug | 'Does the compiler do a cast, or what?' Since you're passing by value, the compiler makes a copy of just the base part of the derived object and passes that to the function expecting a base. They are no longer the same instance. |
| Sat 15 May | Weee | I don't believe C# behaves in this manner, does it? |
| Sat 15 May | Brad Wilson | No, C# doesn't behave in the same manner, because you can't pass a class type object by value, only by reference (or by reference to the reference). |
| Sat 15 May | Alex | >> the compiler makes a copy of just the base part Structure of Base: vfptr: 4 bytes int: 4 bytes Structure of Derived: vfptr: 4 bytes <---- a *different* one int: 4 bytes what exactly is 'just the base part'? |
| Sat 15 May | think about it | Instances of Derived must have access to *two* tables of functions: one to methods of Base, one to methods of Derived. This is because the implementation of Derived must be able to call methods of Base. The 'slice' operation forgets about the Derived function table. |
| Sat 15 May | B | Are you sure you want to pass that class by value? If you had passed a reference or ptr, you'd be ok. |
| Sat 15 May | Christopher Wells | > This is because the implementation of Derived must be able to call methods of Base. When a Derived method calls a Base method it does this using static linking (not by using the vtbl of the Base class). > Does the compiler do a cast, or what? It creates a copy: something like 'Base temp(d); do_it(temp);' |
| Sat 15 May | Antonio Rossellino | Just to make it clear, to avoid the slicing problem, you should pass a a Base object reference to do_it(): void do_it(Base& b) { b.print(); } Now when do_it() is given a Derived object, it will now call Derived's print() member function. If you want to guarantee to callers of do_it() that you won't mess with 'b,' make sure you constify the reference passed in: void do_it(const Base& b) // Behaves must like call-by-value { b.print(); } |
| Sun 16 May | Alex | Christopher: >> Base temp(d); An implicit 'copy constructor'? Base(const Derived&); Now that's weird. What's weirder, I overloaded it, and it gets called! The fun... |
| Sun 16 May | Christopher Wells | > An implicit 'copy constructor'? Yes. > Base(const Derived&); No: if you haven't defined a copy constructor in the Base class, then the compiler will generate one whose signature is 'Base(const Base&);' ... this is the copy constructor that 'Base temp(d);' is using ... it's allowed to use it because d isa Base (it's a down-cast). > What's weirder, I overloaded it, and it gets called! When you defined a 'Base(const Derived&);' constructor, then your constructor was called instead of the compiler-generated 'Base(const Base&);' copy-constructor being called (because, following the usual rules for overloaded methods, your constructor's signature is a better fit than the copy-constructor's, for a parameter of a type Derived). |
| Sun 16 May | Alex | Curiously, I defined it so: void Base(const Derived&) { cout << 'my special copy constructor\n'; } i.e. copies no data members, returns nothing. It does get called, but still, the Base object gets constructed correctly. It's not really important. I'm mucking around too much. |
| Sun 16 May | Roose | I think most people have cleared it up for you, but: It not idiomatic C++ to rely on slicing, or to even use it. It only happens when you try to squeeze an instance of Derived into a instance of type Base. Pretty much that happens when you're passing a Derived into a function which accepts a Base (not Base& or Base*). It is not common to ever want to do that. It is more idiomatic to pass a reference, as people said, which avoids the problem altogether. Slicing is pretty much the only thing a compiler could do in that instance... you could argue that it shouldn't be part of the language. |
| What to download? | Sat 15 May | KayJay |
| Ok. It is the 15th. As usual, Im |
| Sat 15 May | Regular Poster | Jeez...download some porn. |
| Sat 15 May | Alex | Tough life... :) |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | LOL! No thank you! I'd rather stick to having sex than watch it. |
| Sat 15 May | Tom H | Some poeple think this is the best firewall OS: http://www.Openbsd.org ANd some people think this is the best server: http://www.Freebsd.org |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | Got that as well. FreeBSD. Plus 2 "firewalls-in-a-floppy" Linux ditros plus one I built, following instructions verbatim, of course, from LFS. |
| Sat 15 May | Tom H | Do you have a source of obsolete PCs? Lots of places practically give them away, you could make your own supercomputer: http://openmosix.sourceforge.net/ Something like this should keep you busy for a while: http://www.llnl.gov/linux/thunder/ |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | Interesting. Will try them out. While I don't have a dozen PCs to play around with I've got 2 with decent sized hard disks plus comfortable RAM and twoOStwo as the VM framework. I may get Bochs as well. Plus I've got my production machines 2nd and 3rd partitions to use. Anyone remember the Grid Computing Project's name that made headlines a few months ago? The one where the framework was released to the public? I really would love to see Software use 4 processors and 512 + 128 +64 + 32 + 96 MBs of RAM across a network. |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | Ah! Globus http://www.platform.com/products/Globus/ |
| Sat 15 May | Tom H | I set up one last fall with some old PPro200's I got from work. It had four processor nodes and a controller. I convinced myself it was running everything in parallel; but then I didn't have anything useful to do with it. Especially since one modern machine was faster than the four old ones :^( |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | That is true Tom, very true. But still...! Anyways, this time, I'm downloading SkyOS. |
| Sat 15 May | GinG | What about some emulators for Amiga, ATARI ST... |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | Emulators for Amiga, I do have as well :-) WinUAE. But since I've *never* been exposed to an Amiga, I was not too comfortable in using it. Plus, my gaming preference is limited to the pack of 52 and perhaps, maybe, if at all, I still dabble with Prince of Persia. But I do spend a lot of time on my floppy based Mig-29 simulator. |
| Sat 15 May | Stephen Jones | ----'No thank you! I'd rather stick to having sex than watch it. '---- Can't you use the bandiwidth for uploading? Webcams are cheap and there's nothing on TV here. |
| Sat 15 May | Almost Anonymous | ----'No thank you! I'd rather stick to having sex than watch it. '---- Are these really mutally exclusive activities? |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | LOL! Not likely! And yes, they are mutually exclusive. I am not going to give her the chance to compare me with anyone! |
| Sun 16 May | Martin | I've developed the habit of downloading videos, having a flatrate myself. While I still haven't found a site that hosts independent movies (or even short movies) there are lots of interesting alternatives. My current favorites: http://www.redvsblue.com/ -- red vs. blue, machinima animation using the halo engine. very funny dialogues. http://www.fenslerfilm.com/?sec=video -- 'public service announcement', GI Joe animations with new voiceovers. nice. search for: machinima, video download. oh, and start downloading movie trailers. Or: find radio stations with audio streams, there are some really interesting ones around the globe. e.g. http://freefm.lauschangriff.org/ -- a small German independent radio station. Or: start exploring the bbc website -- http://www.bbc.co.uk/ lots of video and audio streams and interesting information on all sorts of topics; one of the rare cases of mainstream media with good and thorough journalism on even subcultural topics, e.g. experimental/electronic music: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/experimental/ |
| FileMaker Pro 7 | Sat 15 May | RP |
| I fell in love. Before discovering FileMaker Pro I used to have thousands of PDFs on a folder, with each sub-folder holding pdfs pertaining a certain area: one for C++ books, one for Java books, one for MFC books, etc. Now, I have one single file. One FileMaker database, where its all there. I havent figured out how to do some tricks with FileMaker, but Im getting close, and what I already know kicks ass. Now Im going to create another one for all the pictures I have in my drive. |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | A desktop database apllication? |
| Sat 15 May | RP | Yep. Like Access, but less confusing. |
| Sat 15 May | FullNameRequired | 'Now, I have one single file. One FileMaker database, where it's all there.' thats much more efficient :) ...you can lose the lot now with a single mistake... Filemaker is pretty good though, I agree. I haven't used 7 yet though, how does it compare to fm5? |
| Sat 15 May | Sam Livingston-Gray | Does it finally have anything more powerful than a cheap-ass scripting language? (Having found Access first, I basically have no use for FM...) |
| Sat 15 May | FullNameRequired | 'Having found Access first, I basically have no use for FM' heh. I regularly use various databases with both c++ and realbasic and I _still_ have use for FM. its _good_ at what it does. please, no 'real programmers use xxx' snobbery here... |
| Sun 16 May | Bored Bystander | There are vertical market applications written in FileMaker (I observed one that my optometrist was using for handling in-office consultations). What I want to know is - snobbery aside - why use Filemaker in preference to (say) Access? |
| Sun 16 May | FullNameRequired | personally I cant stand Access :)
Filemaker is _easy_ and _fast_ to use.
Its reporting facilities are superb.
Its web and xml stuff is very powerful indeed.
They are the main strengths of Filemaker IMO.
|
| Sun 16 May | Sam Livingston-Gray | Okay, perhaps I was being a bit snobbish... but I've become quite used to being able to whip out some code anytime the prepackaged features didn't do exactly what I want. It's been so long since I haven't been able to do something in Access that the only reason I consider another platform these days is if I have to use a non-Windows OS (or non-desktop app). It's clearly a case of 'the best/most productive environment is the one you know well,' though; I often caution people against just jumping into Access because of its complexity. The last time I looked at FM was admittedly 2-3 years ago, and I didn't get much further than, 'dear $DEITY, there's no programming language!' before recoiling in geekish horror. It's interesting to know that it speaks XML, though I still haven't had incentive to bend my brain around XSLT. As for its web stuff... care to elaborate? I've been doing some ASP this week and have been reminded of how truly appalling the ASP/PHP coding model is. If there's a better way to do web apps (and for as many nice things as I've heard about ASP.NET, I'm just not ready to wrap my head around the immensity of the .NET libraries at this point), I'd love to hear about it. |
| Sun 16 May | FullNameRequired | 'but I've become quite used to being able to whip out some code anytime the prepackaged features didn't do exactly what I want'
heh, yeah me too. I do as little as possible in filemaker these days, not because it cant do what I need (in most cases at least) but because I miss the....control(?)...flexibility(?) I get from code + backend database as opposed to filemaker.
The thing is though that its often fine for a particular job, |
| Norrick Throws In the Towel; Goes Out of Business | Fri 14 May | Norrick |
| The last 15 months have been the most humiliating and painful of my life. It all started when I lost my job on Valentines Day 2003. I had just bought a new house and a new car. The two big purchases left me totally wiped out, but my income at the time was high enough that I anticipated being able to recoup in a couple of months. I had recently been assured that I had a future at that company; I didnt see the layoff coming at all. It was a tremendous blow, both financially and emotionally. I immediately started hustling my ass to find work, any work. I scored maybe $10,000 of work in that first 6 months; understand that I had grown accustomed to earning almost $50,000 in that same period. I cashed out my retirement account to keep things going. By the time I found a poorly-paying subcontracting gig in September, my savings were gone. Since September, anchored by that subcontracting gig, Ive been getting a steadier stream of work. But its been extremely frustrating and low-paying work. Im tired of working with clients who have no budget. Im tired of killing myself to find projects and not even managing enough billables to match my old salary. Im tired of being treated disrespectfully by clients who do not understand the value of technology in their businesses. Im tired of being nickel-and-dimed at every turn. I used to work with big companies, Fortune 500 companies. I used to work with smart clients and smart co-workers. I used to make good money and enjoy kick-ass benefits. I used to lead interesting projects that impacted thousands of people. I developed a damn good skillset for myself, combining development abilites with project management skills. Now? My little consulting business is stable, sure. But it is stable at a level that is personally insulting and professionally unsatisfying to me. I had entertained the idea of developing a product I could release, so I would not have to rely so completely on uber-volatile custom software development work. But in truth, I just dont care anymore. This is an absolutely miserable existence. Money and respect; thats what I wanted most out of my career. I used to have both. Right now I have neither. I used to enjoy the work itself. Now I dont. So thats it. Im done. Finitio. I do not want to do this anymore. Im closing my consulting business as soon as I can find a suitable job. I dont even care if it is a job in the software development world, or the world of tech at all, for that matter. I feel ashamed of myself for failing to make self-employment work out better. I feel - dare I say it - like a loser. This is failed business #5 for me. I dont think Im going to attempt a 6th. |
| Fri 14 May | Harry & Lloyd | Ever think of starting a worm farm? |
| Fri 14 May | Prakash S | Damn! That really sucks. Hang in there man, things will get better. Don't feed of your apathy. What kind of work are you looking at? What are you going to do in the near future? |
| Fri 14 May | hoser | You're going to have to grab the finances by the horns, here. You know that right? Cash out of the house while you still have equity, because if you get forclosed on, you'll be at the mercy of the bank. I'd sell the car too and buy a $500 beater to get around in. Doing something active to get ahead of the curve is your best and only option. Being free of high monthly expenses (do as I say, not as I do) will immediately help you gain perspective. You won't be dependent on the whims of your employer. If you're married, you need to get a plan together with your spouse and quickly get on the same page, or you're writing a plan for disaster... |
| Fri 14 May | Jilles Oldenbeuving | > Ever think of starting a worm farm? This is either some bad joke or the worst reply on a pretty serious topic I saw since months. (I'm sorry Norrick, I'm not really into the US market so I can't give you much advice myself) |
| Fri 14 May | I'm in the middle of trying this... | Norrick.... The Road to Success is Paved with Failure. Try something else! How about looking into affiliate programs online & building a few sites to promote the products or services or even build your own storefront using merchant's xml feeds for prod info/ordering. Keep failing, eventually you will succeed - the odds of failing 100% of the time are low! 'You can do it!' - from The Waterboy http://www.moviesoundscentral.com/sounds/waterboy/do_it.wav |
| Fri 14 May | yet another anon | If it's any consolation, I've got a lot of respect for anyone who's started 5 businesses - even if they didn't pan out. It would be worthwhile for you to take a look at your business plan and identify where it failed. Identify the reasons that were within your control and those outside of your control. Also, identify the things you learned in the process. That way, you'll be ready to discuss it logically in a job interview if you're asked (and if I were the interviewer, I would ask). Good luck. |
| Fri 14 May | Edward | Thank you for your post Norrick. I've been in a similar position, and for me the hardest loss was the pride. It's a tough thing to swallow. I found it almost unbearable when being told I was 'overqualified', when looking for any job that would pay the car bills. Good luck, friend. |
| Fri 14 May | Crimson | If you don't mind me asking, Norrick, where do you work? Also, I'm sorry to hear about this. However, there's something I don't understand. Did you immediately decide to go into consulting after being laid off or did you fall back on it after not finding a 'regular' job at another company? |
| Fri 14 May | Crimson | Also, don't busy yourself with trying to get respect from other people. |
| Fri 14 May | ronk! | Norrick, I know exactly how you feel. I don't know what kind of person is right for running a business, but I've learned from experience that I'm not one. I tried to start a company years ago, and it is an exercise in frustration. The longer I did it, the more I found myself getting futher away from what I really like to do. Don't be ashamed that your not that type of person. I myself have come to the conclusion that I need to be insulated from business realities for maximum happiness. All I want to do is be an engineer, and I'll be happy to make someone else rich if they can pay me well and let me concetrate on my strengths. |
| Fri 14 May | Norrick | 'However, there's something I don't understand. Did you immediately decide to go into consulting after being laid off or did you fall back on it after not finding a 'regular' job at another company?' I fell back on it after not being able to find a regular job. I had to do something to get dollars in the door. |
| Fri 14 May | sedwo | Firstly, I don't view it as a failed business. It has sustained you through these many months of disaster. Your innovation and adaption to perservere through such moments is incredible enough; and often attribute to building character. Now while this may sound all good and noble, in truth when the cash dries up, the shit hits the fan, and people either wallow and self-destruct; or kick their own ass to take control and trudge on. The lay-off experience (and I've been there too) sucks no matter how you look at it. But it is your attitude after this fact that makes you or breaks you. I salute you (no I'm not an officer or shit, but who cares) to basically 'not giving up'. Whether you continue on a similar path or not, it sounds like you're smart enough to have a plan and not just become some E.I. bum. You have a lot you worked for. These moments make you wonder what are truly the *important* things in life. Make your choices, take advice with a grain of salt, fuck pride, and continue to build and live your life. It sucks sometimes. Sometimes really, really bad. 'But if you're not living; you're dieing'. (or something like that. Go watch Shawshank Redemption.) |
| Fri 14 May | Steve Burke | ''' But in truth, I just don't care anymore. This is an absolutely miserable existence''' Wish I knew what to tell you, but I feel the same way. Making too much money to quit though. |
| Fri 14 May | Norrick | 'Wish I knew what to tell you, but I feel the same way. Making too much money to quit though. ' And I am making too little to justify the misery. Arrgh, I say. |
| Fri 14 May | Clay Whipkey | Novick, that's a bummer. Hope things work out for you. If I have any advice, it would be to change your lifestyle first. You might be surprised as to how little material possessions it actually takes to be happy. When you scale down the house and the car, it will give you the financial flexibility to take a lower paying job that might compensate in other more fulfilling ways, like respect, feeling of importance and actual usefulness, and possitive co-worker experiences. Stuff like that is worth a lot of salary to me. Anyway, for whatever thats worth. BTW, the line from Shawshank: 'Either get busy living, or get busy dying.' |
| Fri 14 May | Clay Whipkey | Sorry, .... Norrick. (not Novick) |
| Fri 14 May | Code Monkey | Norrick I understand your pain...but from experience everyone has to get over the 'Nickel and Dime' hump. To get your foot in the door you have to do it...but if your skills are as good as you say they are...over time your clients *will* understand your value and pay you for that...do not be disheartened. The product idea is good...you can develop something in your spare time...something you would love to develop and use...but a good brain is a terrible thing to waste. Don't give up so easily...downgrade your car and house and maybe you can survive well till you earn enough to upgrade Good luck |
| Fri 14 May | Joe Blandy | Hey Norrick, sorry to hear that. FWIW, I've always valued the input you've had on this forum. Where are you based out of? I hope things work out. |
| Fri 14 May | Norrick | 'Hey Norrick, sorry to hear that. FWIW, I've always valued the input you've had on this forum. Where are you based out of?' Thanks, Joe. I'm based out of Visalia, CA. Ah...I see Joel has bold-ified this topic. Now nobody will miss out on my humiliating tale of frustration and failure. Nice. Thanks, Joel! ;) |
| Fri 14 May | Alyosha` | 'The Road to Success is Paved with Failure' The road to failure is also paved with failure. 'I've failed five times! I *MUST* be succeeding!' |
| Fri 14 May | RP | Hey, your posts have been boldified since you began bitching a couple of posts back. Ok, I've been there too. The job market here in Europe is picking up again, I just had an offer to go on a 1 year contrat to another country, but I sure damn know how you feel. I was fired from a blue-chip on the most lame ass excuse I've ever seen. Keep your chin up Norrick. Your pride is all you got. |
| Fri 14 May | Stuart Smalley | Norrick, Just remember: you're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you! |
| Fri 14 May | Must be a manager | Norrick, you should make your experience known to your political representatives. You're not the only one in this situation and it is clearly wrong. It's not you that's at fault. With the tenacity you've shown, you might enjoy adifferent line of work such as working as a political staffer or something like that. Those are jobs with the same grief but you don't have to actually deliver any work product as you when running a software business. Much easier. Also, I second the advice about taking the bold steps to keep your finances steady. When income falls, there's a trap where people eat out all their savings and have no cushions at all. Good luck Norrick. We all wish you well. |
| Fri 14 May | Aaron F Stanton | Dude, that just sucks. I hate when people give up, especially people whose opinion I respect. Go read the most recent article on http://www.dexterity.com/articles/ and maybe it will help. Maybe not. Good luck in your future endeavors. May you find happiness in whatever you finally decide to do. |
| Fri 14 May | Norrick | One thing I want to make cleat, lest anybody get the idea that I'm wallowing in negativity and/or self pity - I am, as always, committed to excellence in whatever I happen to be doing. I'm optimistic that I will find some arena in which to be a high acheiver again, even if it's not in the arena of self-employment. Posting this topic was a nice way for me to feel some closure on something that's been difficult for a long time. I really appreciate all the feedback, both here on the forum and via eMail. The JoS crew is awesome, and I'm really pleased to be amongst you. That said, I spoke to an acquaintance who does business development, and he had some fascinating things to say about 'competing against non-consumption' - that is, attempting to service businesses that do not understand how consulting services can benefit their company, and therefore do not consume such services. As a double whammy, most of the small-to-medium businesses I've been targeting simply do not want very large project; that makes my costs relative to my average project that much larger, and therefore leaves me with no leverage. Boy...I should have talked to that guy BEFORE I threw my hat into the market! You live, you learn, you move on. I'll be kicking ass and taking names soon enough. Now, which industry will I do this in? At the moment the answer to that question is wide open... |
| Sat 15 May | Must be a manager | If you got a little consulting business running, then you were successful in gaining some customers and learned a lot about interacting for business delivery. The fact that your business 'failed' doesn't mean anything. It's very hard to get business from nothing and to also develop software. You might be good at sales and business development. In whatever field you have background expertise in. Obviously software of some sort would be a candidate for that. You would know more than lots of the bus dev guys that get a lot of money. |
| Sat 15 May | crusty admin | When you are not doing well at something you've put your all into there is no shame in cutting your losses. I'll bet you feel like you've unloaded the world from your shoulders. Congrats and good luck. |
| Sat 15 May | KayJay | That makes two of us, Norrick! I'm planning to get back to a full time job, 'cause I am also at my wits end. I am sick of people saying 'Well done! It's a great idea. I would sure use it in my company. How did you do it? You are brilliant! Sorry, you want money? No can do!', despite my products having a proven track record of 2 years in the market. But, do not give up. Maybe you are pitching to the wrong people, just as I am. Give it another shot. And another. There _are_ good people in this world. |
| Sat 15 May | no name | Norrick, Statistically speaking your business was destined to fail. The problem with trying to start a custom software development consulting business nowadays is: - Most individuals don't have a chance in hell of landing even one project with a big fish type of client (i.e. medium-to-large size corporation). - Most small businesses don't need your services and those that do can't/won't pay you what you need to make a profit. Question: What are you going to do now? |
| Sat 15 May | Li-fan Chen | Norrick, are you in the position to organize your small business assets and sell it? What are some things you are thinking of doing to clean things up after? On a more future note, will you be going back to school? Are you thinking of getting a somewhat unrelated degree? Or maybe find a non-computer business (but be accidentally really great at solving computer problems in that venture) to own and run? Are you going to temp doing administrative jobs? What are some other trades you know? |
| Sat 15 May | JT | Norrick, Failure is a word that doesn't exist in my vocabulary. A missile has a guidance mechanism that allows it to change course slightly in flight to remain on target. A missile may correct course a hundred times to stay on target. Is each correction a 'failure'? Of course not, business is the same way. You have to want to be in business to succeed in business. The price of admission is steep. I'm finally beginning to hit paydirt in business, but this is after 3 years and changing my business plan about five or so times midstream. In fact, the current iteration of my business is far removed from the original concept, and was conceived and implemented in about a weeks time. The previous 2 years of business development were just dropped, although the shell company and the skills, and the relationships were salvaged. I also was miserable at one point. I determined that long, extended onsite projects made me miserable and testy with clients, and that travelling via airplane on a frequent basis was a bummer. So those elements have been removed, and now I have almost unlimited growth opportunities in my local area, and have reps in other cities for muliplier growth there. Point is this, business is evolution, take what works, throw away what doesn't, don't be afraid to completely change what you're doing as long as you're moving in a direction that is sensible and profitable. |
| Sat 15 May | Mr. Analogy | I think JT is suggesting that you refactor your business. Good advice. |
| Sat 15 May | tim | If you're at all interested in VR you might want to email me. My employer is trying to increase the software side of our business as well as just increase in size. Not sure how good a fit you would be/how well we would fit you but you never know. tim |
| Sat 15 May | Sathyaish Chakravarthy | Dear Norrick, |