ArchiveJanuary 2005

Thoughts on GMail

Why don’t I like web based email? Speed, or rather lack of it. Why do I like GMail? Speed. Forget the features, space, etc, the reason I will use GMail is because it is super fast. We all know that is why google succeeded, and that is why GMail (in my opinion) will blow away Hotmail in the next few years. So here’s some things I’d like to see: 1. Corporate GMail accounts...

Returning a list of SQL Servers in VFP

Here’s a handy bit of code for returning a list of available SQL Servers. I grabbed it out of the VFP9 Data Sources task pane code. It always works if I’m on a network, but I’ve had mixed results if working standalone. #define SQL_HANDLE_ENV 1 #define SQL_HANDLE_DBC 2 #define SQL_ATTR_ODBC_VERSION 200 #define SQL_OV_ODBC3 3 #define SQL_SUCCESS 0 #define SQL_NEED_DATA 99 #define...

Customers complaining and the future of VFP

I’m feeling sorry for this guy (Stephen) who sent an email to Microsoft with some criticism and copped a bagging in the blog comments. [Note to self: always specify ‘For your eyes only’ on any email I send from now on, or I could end up on a public blog] But it raises the question of supporting customers. We are a software house and get our fair share of customer...

Missing my drums

It is now over a month since I have played my drums (courtesy of our holidaying). I’m getting itchy fingers and feet. I’ve now started doing that annoying tapping on everything that drummers do when they haven’t played for a while. Can’t wait to get back in and play through my old Racer X albums. The thing about drumming is that you can always get your hand speed back up...

Coffee

Glad to be back in Zurich for the great coffee.
I am of the belief it is not physically possible to buy a bad coffee anywhere in Zurich.
The Francis Francis has had a workout this morning after our disappointing coffee experiences in Paris – it is very hit and miss there, mostly miss.

Paris

We’ve just had a week in Paris. Firstly, I couldn’t get the notebook to work with the hotel wireless network, so this is the longest I can remember when I haven’t had internet access. In a way this was a good thing, as Michele reminded me, for once I couldn’t check my emails before going to bed. This stressed me the first two days, but then I got used to it. Call me really...

Media and OzFox

Some of you will have seen the little article on Talman, OzFox and VFP in ComputerWorld. The link is: While ‘all press is good press’, it has been an eye opener for me. I wasn’t actually interviewed (although I’m quoted), and the slant is not how I would have portrayed OzFox (to me it’s more about community and the generous involvement of many parties, most notably...

VFP9 CLEAR CLASSLIB

Here’s welcome news. I was browsing through the new VFP9 features and this one caught my eye: CLEAR CLASSLIB Updated The CLEAR CLASSLIB command now automatically executes a CLEAR CLASS command on each class in the specified class library. Any errors that might occur during release of individual classes (e.g., class in use) are ignored. Why is this good? Well in our systems we often have a...

Nightwish

Stumbled upon this band Nightwish while shopping at Media Markt. Great European Operatic Heavy Metal. Bought the CD without even listening to it. Have been listening to it ever since. They are actually from Finland, but big here ofcourse. Looked up their site to check if they were touring around Switzerland and guess what, they’ll be in Australia in March – I’ll check em out...

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