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User: craigmarshall

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Comments · 46

  1. Re:Let's look at Inkscape: on First Looks at The Gimp 2.5 · · Score: 1

    >For the record, I can't test whether it's fixed or not because I don't have a Mac anymore. (At least, not one I'm willing to install X11 on.)

    Apparently, it's not fixed yet. I just downloaded Inkscape 0.46 (the current release) on OSX, and File->Open currently sorts capital letters before lower-case.

    Bizarrely, this is not the case with Inkscape 0.46 on Ubuntu 8.04 beta. I would have guessed the opposite given that GNU/Linux is the natural home of GTK+. Ubuntu mixes upper and lower case in the File->Open dialog, which (to me at least) is a much more natural approach.

  2. Re:Will this work off of a car 12V? Some other lin on The World's Tiniest Power Supply Unit · · Score: 4, Informative

    > I'm glad to see there is now a market for these power
    > supplies (although I'm sure this isn't for car applications).
    > I wonder how efficient it is -- and how much heat it gives
    > off. The article was a bit...sparse.

    From the article:

    "The pico-PSU boasts an over 96% efficiency rating"

    and:

    "No enclosure or cooling is needed."

    Craig

  3. Re:Don't believe the hype! on Help crack the Java 1.6 Classfile Verifier · · Score: 1

    > When's the last time you've seen an application written in C that only used the standard C library?

    Every single day for the last 4 years, at a guess. There are a heck of a lot of awfully useful unix utilities that don't use anything other than the standard libraries.

    Craig

  4. Re:Don't believe the hype! on Help crack the Java 1.6 Classfile Verifier · · Score: 3, Interesting

    > C is portable, fast, very complex and since 35+ years the leading standard for professional OS and APP development.

    I agree that C is portable and fast, however I don't it can be called very complex.

    The smallest programming language manual I have ever owned (and I've owned quite a number), has to be "The C Programming Language", often hailed as the One True Reference to the language. How can it be that complex if the manual is less than half the size of most of my other manuals? I think languages (in general) have got more complex since then. The size of the .Net Framework is huge, there's no way that's simpler than the C standard library. Then you've got to think about reflection, inheritance, dozens of things that C just doesn't have.

    If what you mean is that C programs end up looking more complex, that's probably because C is used for systems programming. If you mean that you have to write more code to do it in C, then you may have a point, but I think C is actually one of the simpler languages. The closer to assembly you get, the simpler the language has to be.

    Craig

  5. Re:MS Anti spyware beta on Help crack the Java 1.6 Classfile Verifier · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's almost what I mean except everyone I know uses ad-aware and spybot S&D, so bugs in MS anti-spyware don't really have the same impact. Also - I can't see anywhere on that page inviting people to break the software, and I can't what security systems the software has that can be "broken into". I don't have lots of time at the moment, so I might have missed something.

    The most damaging problems I see and hear about are related to Windows and Internet Explorer. An open beta of those (I know about the IE7 beta) with encouraged breakage and bug-reporting could do some good. I wouldn't be surprised if you're breaking some license agreement or other (nope haven't read it - just guessing) by trying to trick IE7 or Vista into buffer overflows or whatever.

    Craig

  6. Microsoft should take this approach on Help crack the Java 1.6 Classfile Verifier · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not sure how the MS beta process works, but I get the impression that it's not just a straightforward download but you need to sign up or something (passport?).

    I wonder what would happen if they junked the whole exclusive beta thing (which might get some of the more privacy-concerned, tech-savvy people on board? dunno - just a guess), and then actively encourage people to try and break the security? Surely that would produce better results than product x coming out, and then massive security problems follow for days, months and years afterwards.

    I'm not pretending that this would cure the world of buggy ms software, but it can't hurt, can it? They should be doing it with vista right now.

    Craig

  7. Re:what a wimpy database on Oracle To Offer A Free Database · · Score: 1

    How do these limitations stack up against something like PostgreSQL or Mysql or anything else free as in speech? i.e. Can they take advantage of multiple CPU and are there limitations on the database size? Any RAM limits for whatever reason? Just interested.

    Craig

  8. Re:10th? on OpenOffice.org 2.0 Released · · Score: 1

    Are you sure they're not referring to rc3 that was released around the 10th? I think rc3 has now become 2.0, therefore anyone with rc3 doesn't need to do anything?

    Craig

  9. Re:My letter to Eastman Kodak Corporate HQ on Kodak Wins $1 Billion Java Lawsuit · · Score: 1

    Or just use their online contact form, like I just did.

    Craig

  10. Re:Sick of gmail on A GMail-based blog With 1000 MB of entries · · Score: 1



    > if you want a gmail account ask and i'll gladly give you one of my invitations.

    I know you weren't talking to me, but -- could I have an invitation, please?

    If not, has anyone else got any spare invitations?

    Thanks,
    Craig (craig AT craigmarshall.org)

  11. Re:Exxcelent Werk on Distributed Proofreaders Posts 5,000th E-book · · Score: 1

    I think ewe've spelled "Excellent" wrong, idiut.

  12. Tin-foil hat on Transparent Aluminum Is Here · · Score: 2, Funny

    Woohoo! This means I can build myself a covert tinfoil hat!

  13. Blender on Alias Releases Maya PLE 6 · · Score: 3, Informative

    For those of us that can't afford to buy Maya (and no time to try), what does Maya do that Blender doesn't?

  14. Re:Not to sure about this ... on AOL-Yahoo-MSN Messaging Unified... in the Workplace Only · · Score: 1

    If I were AOL or Yahoo, and 99% of my customers had a Microsoft Operating system and of those, probably 80% had MSN installed, I'd do as much as I could to *increase* interoperability, to stop me being locked out! I too wouldn't "want" Microsoft providing this intermediary software, but I wouldn't have a great deal of choice.

    Craig

  15. Re:Wow.. on New Google Groups in Beta · · Score: 1

    I bet someone is regretting the HTTP-REFERRER they are seeing in the logs

    Ahem. I think you mean "HTTP_REFERER"

    *takes a bow*

    Craig

  16. Re:Dreamed-of feature on Favorite Programming Language Features? · · Score: 1

    I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but the .Net CLR does exactly this for you. C# and VB.Net (and J# and Nemerle and all those other .Net languages), all compile to the same byte code, so in theory, couldn't they all be translated into each other? If not 100%, then very nearly...

    I have a feeling Java and Jython could be too. It would be a heck of a lot of work for the translator, but it might be possible.

    Craig

  17. Re:Where's Money's roll today? on Show Me The Money - Microsoft Money Vs. Quicken · · Score: 1

    a decade ago there was a demand because people wanted to keep track of their finances between bank statements. Today you just click online and your bank shows you exactly where your finances are.

    Tracking expenditure is not the whole story though. Online banking generally only provides a snapshot of your finances as of "today".

    I have a custom budget app that has much more detailed tracking, it doesn't just show "9.99 spent at the supermarket", like my online bank does, it shows a due date (for entering future transactions), a paid date and a cleared date. It is multiuser (me and my wife), and I can categorise things. I can say "give me all transactions in the past two months spend on 'food shopping'", or "any changes my wife has made in the last 24 hours", or "what will my finances look like at X-date in the future, assuming I stick to my budget", "when will I be debt free?", etc.

    It's written in PHP and MySQL at the moment, but I'm planning on rewriting is as an offline app soon (GTK + SQLite, or similar), and releasing it under the GPL. So many people say "I like money, but it trys to do too much", or "money is bloated and slow". I'd like to provide an alternative.

    Craig

  18. Re:WTF? on Microsoft Offers A Peek At New Search Engine · · Score: 1
  19. WTF? on Microsoft Offers A Peek At New Search Engine · · Score: 1

    Bwaaahaaaaahaaaa! I'm laughing all the way back to google, check this screenshot out (Don't want them getting slashdotted, do we?):

    http://www.craigmarshall.org/screenshot.jpg

  20. Re:Looks pretty slick... on New Walkman-Branded Hard Disk Player · · Score: 1

    1. The jog wheel, looks AWFULLY small. Look at the guy's thumb on that!

    I disagree, I have a Canon Powershot A40 camera with a similar sized wheel (for modes, etc.) on the back. It's fine, not too small at all.

    Craig

  21. Loss of quality? on New Walkman-Branded Hard Disk Player · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From The Register:

    The NW-HD1's primary format is Sony's own ATRAC 3 Plus - other formats are converted to that mode when they're transferred over to the player.

    So... If I transfer parts of my existing collection (MP3 and OGG Vorbis), it'll get "re-encoded" into the ATRAC format? Will this lead to a loss of sound quality?

    Craig

  22. Re:Compatibility? on Red Hat announces GFS · · Score: 1

    What about Fedora? AFAIK, it's basically Redhat 9 rebranded at the moment. Can we expect to see GFS bundled with Fedora, and therefore (I guess), making Fedora more of a "competitor" with RHEL?

    Craig

  23. Re:Just one thing on Microsoft Planning on Opening Up More Source · · Score: 1

    The code they open source ...

    It's not really "open source", though, is it? At least the Open Source Initiative doesn't seem to think so...

    http://www.opensource.org/advocacy/shared_source .p hp

    Yeah, you can see the source code, but what can you do with it? It's nothing like the GPL or the BSD license. Those are the "classic" open source licenses in my eyes.

    Craig

  24. Re:Good ol' google on Google Plans to Reveal Some of its Code · · Score: 1

    $10 dollars for 1000 (or 10,000 or whatever) searches? I think that could work.

    Craig

  25. Re:VS.NET on Windows Compatability on the Linux Desktop · · Score: 1

    VS.Net is the fattest, most bloated piece of shiteware I have EVER seen. It is painfully slow! It uses a ridiculous amount of RAM! I hate it! It takes the best part of a DAY to install for God's sake!

    Let me use my Linux notebook and SciTE anyday.

    For reference, I'm using VS.Net 2003, on a 3.0Ghz P4, and 1 tasty gig of RAM.

    Craig