Favorite Files

No favorite files added yet

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - Nuntius Leo

   0.2.1 (Nov 17, 2008)

   Yes it is an early version, yes it has a long way to go. But the idea of an open source, cross platform email client other than Thunderbird is attractive.
   
   At least it deserves -constructive- critisism, like: what features are missing, how should they be prioritized, how can they be implemented etc.

2. 
   Review - MediaCoder

   0.6.2.4205 (Nov 3, 2008)

   This program badly needs a makeover! It's GUI is cluttered and untidy. Buttons look like software from the 90's when people just discovered they could contain bitmaps and went crazy.
   
   The en/transcoding is pretty standard. I miss easy combo's of cropping & scaling so that it always fills the 320x240 screen of my Creative ZEN.

3. 
   Review - Paint.NET

   3.08 (Jun 3, 2007)

   Coming soon to Linux (and possibly Mac OS X) thanks to Mono, the open source implementation of .NET.
   
   http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2007/May-15-1.html

4. 
   Review - Ka Log Analyzer

   1.62 Beta (May 29, 2007)

   I agree totally with lazareus.
   While the thing may look good, it might not even scale. What happens if it has to look at large, or huge, log files?

5. 
   Review - Super Flexible File Synchronizer

   3.40 Build 577 RC2 (Apr 18, 2007)

   zriding and ghammer have given suspiciously unreserved, positive comments, so here's a different spin. This thing is pretty, it does have an ok feature list, but it comes short when you need to do truly efficient, high-volume file synchronization.
   
   Why? It doesnt do delta synchronization, that is if a file differs between source and targets, it will copy the entire file. That's a bummer if you have many large files that change.
   
   Contrast this with the free, open source Unison.
   It is -very- fast, since it uses an rsync-like algorithm and only copies CHANGED parts of files.
   
   So you have a 40mb presentation and changed only one slide? Unison will update the target with only the changed bits from the source, not copy the entire file.
   
   When you have many and/or large files, that really matters.
   
   Now admittedly, Unison does not have the slick gui of SFFS. It's GUI can seem a bit spartan compared to other file sync products. However, it has a few advantages up its sleeve:
   
   - cross platform, so runs on Windows, UNIX, Linux, Mac etc
   - FREE
   - secure: can use SSL-encryption
   - ubiquitous: most Linux distros have it available
   - keeps improving
   
   So why do SFFS and other products not support delta synchronization? It beats me. It is a killer feature - and would improve SFFS.
   
   My suspicion is that the stuff that SFFS programmers have written is relatively trivial to do. An advanced algorithm for efficiently comparing source and target directories while sending only a little bit of data across the wire, and copying only changed parts of files...
   ..thats difficult.
   
   It's not that delta sync couldn't BE in SFFS. They could simply use some of the open source code that's available for rsync or unison.
   It would only require a small admission from the SFFS creators: that they release the SFFS code as open source as well (at least for GPLv2 based open source). They could still charge money for SFFS, but the source should be made available..
   
   In summary, my beef with SFFS is mainly about lacking a truly efficient synchronization algorithm and protocol, like rsync or unison.
   SFFS can run as a service (daemon) on the target Windows. That means the SFFS authors could also write their own algorithm, but they dont and havent.
   
   That means SFFS belongs with any of a zillion run-of-the-mill file sync products that dont cut the musterd when it comes to efficiency - all they do is copy files and present a nice gui with lots of options.

6. Comment - How the updated Market in Android 1.6 will change everything

   3.40 Build 577 RC2 (Sep 7, 2009 - 6:25 AM)

   Hey, I'm with you 100%, man! Yeah, I totally think Microsoft will kick trapple and gorgle in the butts! Its like they did with in the MP3 player market man. Sure, Trapple got a head start with them iPods, but then they got totally owned by Microsoft's Zune.
   
   Sure the first Zune's left something to desire, but the new ones are so totally better, man. Microsoft even put 'HD' in the name, so you just KNOW that Microsoft is just months away from world dominance.
   
   And besides, Microsoft is a better.... hello? Hello...?! Hello?! Wait, come back..!

7. Comment - NVidia Enters Computer Business with 'Deskside Supercomputer'

   3.40 Build 577 RC2 (Jun 21, 2007 - 8:50 AM)

   Hmm... I wonder how the vi editor would perform on such a system...

8. Comment - HD DVD: Blu-ray Has Problems

   3.40 Build 577 RC2 (Jan 8, 2006 - 8:31 AM)

   Re the codecs mentioned; I've read somewhere that Blu-Ray will continue to use the same MPEG-2 coding of movie content as today's DVDs. In other words not use more modern MPEG-4 / DivX or Xvid.
   
   Now, HD-DVD with MPEG-4 encoding would be equivalent with Blu-Ray with MPEG-2 encoding, capacity wise.
   
   Anyway, I think most of the comments here are skipping the obvious fact that we consumers are all losers in this war. I want a PS3, and I want DVDs from studios on both sides.
   
   What I hope will happen is that consumers will not buy either HD-DVD nor Blu-Ray,, and that will force both camps to come together and work out a common standard. Its wishful thinking, i know.

9. Comment - Novell Attacks Microsoft Linux Study

   3.40 Build 577 RC2 (Nov 21, 2005 - 7:25 AM)

   Its obvious you have never installed Linux.
   
   Barney's point is when you install Windows off a DVD, you get the OS, some administrative apps and thats it. Everything else is extra.
   
   When you install the enterprise version of SUSE or Red Hat Linux, thousands of applications come bundled, most of them free. Want to set up an email system, fine, several are bundled. Want to set up a PABX with VoIP capabilities? Fine, it comes bundled. Need a relational database server? Several come bundled. For SUSE, there are over 3000 bundled applications, including lots of server apps and full development environments.
   
   When you run the equivalent of Windows update on SUSE or Red Hat Linux, you'll get patched for not only the OS but the bundled applications as well.
   
   That's why the number of patches available is much larger. However, most administrators only install the minimum required applications when they set up a production system, so the real number of patches actually required is less.
   
   The study should have compared the patches for a SUSE distro with all the patches for all MS Backoffice servers (SQL Server, BizTalk, SharePoint etc), Visual Studio, and MS Office applications. Because the equivalent of all those servers come bundled with SUSE Linux.
   
   PS:
   Just to be clear, Novell does not bundle any of its commercial applications like eDirectory, GroupWise or ZENworks with SUSE.

10. Comment - iRiver Adds New H10 Music Players

    3.40 Build 577 RC2 (May 10, 2005 - 9:09 PM)

    Yes, but AFAIK not these ones. They support MP3 and WMA only.