Tag Archives: technology - Page 10

Technology Can Do That, So Let’s Not

Posted by on January 2, 2013 No comments

I wonder what technology is coming to and at the same time, I wonder if I’m just getting old.  I look at things that were normal for me at the peak of my programming days and wonder if older developers thought I was an idiot for doing things that way.  For example, did the old procedural programmers of old see object-oriented design as ridiculous, slow, and inefficient?  Maybe.  But OO programming is pretty much the standard now.

But for some reason, I am confused as to why implicit typecasting is suddenly “awesome".  We had that way back when in VB and Classic ASP and we were hated for it.  Then .NET came along and strong-typing became the thing to do.  Now we’re back to implicit typecasting and scripted languages just like we had with ASP.

But the thing that’s really got me confused is cloud computing, why everyone thinks it great to rely on someone else instead of relying on yourself.  I guess the argument is “they can do it so much better than we can, so why not let them.”  There’s no more building yourself up?  You have to start at the top?  Talk about immediate gratification.  That’s bitter old man talk, there.

At my job, a co-worker (thankfully not me) has an integration project using Amazon Web Services (AWS).  As best I can tell, it’s a web service that sits in front of a message queue system.  To be slightly vague about the project, our client sends us a request with a questionnaire.  We collect the responses to the questions and send each individual answer back to the client as a message via AWS.  This infrastructure was forced on us; not our choice.  So, my old-timey brain is thinking, “why must a unit of work (a completed questionnaire), be transmitted in discrete pieces when it needs to be a single unit on their end?”  The answer to this is “don’t worry about it.”  The reason is a new crazy programming concept: eventual consistency.  Apparently our client is so hip and modern, they are using both “the cloud” and “eventual consistency” in their application design.

Eventual Consistency is nothing new.  Airlines have been using it forever.  Did you lose your luggage?  Is it now five states away?  It will eventually get to you and everything will be fine.  FedEx started using it with SmartPost.  If you ever had something shipped via SmartPost, you could watch the package get shipped all over the country, but eventually it would get to you.  With every real-world application of Eventual Consistency, you are guaranteed to get what you want, but never sure when it will happen.  Why, in any case, this became an acceptable solution is beyond me.

To wrap this up, but to leave it with some final, head-shaking, “why is this acceptable” thoughts, here’s some of the documented guidelines when using Amazon Web Services:

  • When you make a request for new messages, you may only request up to 10 new messages at a time.
  • If you request 10 messages, you may not get 10.  You may get less than 10, even if there are more than 10 messages in the queue.
  • If there are a very small number of messages in the queue, you may get zero.
  • Despite the inability for AWS to deliver the messages you request when you request them, all of the messages are available for viewing through their control panel.
  • When you send a message, you get no acknowledgement that it was sent successfully.  If you did not get an error during sending, you assume it was sent successfully.
  • You have no idea if the message was delivered to the destination queue successfully.  You will only know when the receiver picks up the message, and that is send as an acknowledgement on another queue.  You must query that queue and match up the acknowledgements with your initial sent messages.
  • The acknowledgement queue has all the limitations of the aforementioned message requests.

This is true progress.

Window Pains

Posted by on December 18, 2012 No comments

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was posting about how my computer had frozen during startup and I ended up buying, effectively, a whole new computer.  After returning from a week-long vacation, I found my new computer frozen again at the exact same place.

This time I spent a bit longer trying to get the computer to work, because I had just gotten everything installed and set up the way I wanted it.  I booted to Ubuntu and checked the hard drive – no problems at all.  I did the “automatic repair” multiple times until it told me it couldn’t fix the problem. 

Finally I booted up the Windows 8 media and looked at the repair options.  None were satisfactory.  The closest thing I could find was an option like “Refresh this PC”, which would replace all the Windows files (which I wanted), but would wipe out all installed programs (which I did not want).

With a heavy heart, I made the decision to reformat and reinstall… Windows 7.  In the span of a couple months, I’ve had two Windows 8 installations on two different computers that have been unrecoverable.  The worst part for me is the lack of recovery features, namely, Safe Mode.  If I could only get to a goddamn desktop and look at the event logs to see what happened leading up to the failure, I could troubleshoot it.  Whoever eliminated these diagnostic options out of fear that they would confuse or intimidate novice users is an idiot.

In the previous failure, I had put the blame on hard drive errors, but it was a convenient excuse.  I didn’t really believe it.  I now suspect in both of these cases, it was the Automatic Update process.  I have always had my Windows Update settings where it would download the updates, but I would install and restart the updates when I chose to.  With Windows 8, I decided to let the system do what it felt was best, meaning restart whenever needed.

So I guess I’m going to have to run Windows 8 in a virtual machine, if I even find I have a need for it.

It’s Just Money

Posted by on March 5, 2010 No comments

Why is this conversion to Quicken so goddamn hard?  I think I’m a reasonably smart person, so why does my money keep getting screwed up in Quicken?

Whenever I use Quicken, it’s laborious.  And not because it’s different, I’ve come to learn the differences in the 4 months I’ve been using it.  It’s dumb.  And I pity the people that have been using for years and years, because MS Money had a much better user interface.

My latest fiasco occurred this morning when I got a notice from a bank saying a transfer was cancelled due to insufficient funds.  After confirming that the balance in Quicken differed from the bank web site, and after a short walk to calm the hell down, I discovered that I had six deposit entries in my register that were duplicates of downloaded transactions.  Thankfully, this was a simple transfer between savings accounts and had no effect on any bills.  Of course, it uncertain if I will be whacked with an overdraft fee or not.

The problem is, I can’t trust Quicken worth a shit.  This situation arose even after reconciling the ledger of the funding account.  Should I have been suspicious that I had unmatched transactions in my register?  Yes, but it has happened so often in my short time with Quicken, I’ve taken it to be normal.  And just now when I was downloading transactions, I had a transaction mismatched and I couldn’t find the real transaction it belonged to.  Why?  because the last time I downloaded, I thought I would trust Quicken and chose “Accept All” to auto-match all the downloaded transactions.

As far as laborious, the matching process is the worst.  The downloaded transactions are in a list at the bottom and as you select each one, it highlights the matched transaction in the register above.  So your eyes are constantly scanning up and down.  Payee?  Good.  Date? Good. Amount? Good.  Ok, next.  Three checks for every downloaded transaction.  And as I’ve found, you have to check all three, especially if you frequent a business often.

The bill payment is very confusing.  The idea that you can pay a bill in Quicken, but that it doesn’t really get paid until you update your accounts is dumb.  And I certainly got misled by “One Step Update”, which I thought would make an immediate payment, but instead merges payments and transaction downloads together.  You mean there’s an even dumber way to handle online payments in Quicken?

I haven’t even dared to test out the reporting and projection tools.  I’m actually scared.  Not that anything would get messed up, since you can’t change anything when running a report, but I think I’m scared at how disappointed I will be or at how confused I will get looking at the results.

This has been one problem after another.  I spoke to a co-worker one time about a business application we use and she commented on how stupid she felt after training because none of it made any sense to her.  It was because the program is so un-intuitive, it made her have to think differently about everything she wanted to do.  That is how I feel and I do not think it is my fault.

The Biggest and the Bloatedest

Posted by on December 19, 2009 No comments

My personal domain name is up for renewal.  I’ve been with Network Solutions as my registrar for a very long time, 15 years, maybe.  A whole lot of low-cost registrars have popped up during that time, but I always stuck with the leader.

Now, recent re-evaluation shows I don’t really have a need for any of the services NetSol offers, so why should I be paying a premium price for their services?  Let’s take a look and see what the cost of renewal is with NetSol.  I just want to renew my domain.

This is where NetSol has really shot itself in the foot.  Not only is it a premium-priced registrar, it seems they are so money-hungry, they want to take every attempt to get more out of you.  After clicking renew, I am taken to a series of advertisements about other things I should be buying.

First, a pitch to add additional domains.  These are variations on my existing domain.  No, I don’t see any need to have three more domains with less-recognizable suffixes (or TLD’s for the technical). No thank you; next.

Next, a pitch to make my registration details private ($9/yr).  Other people have complained about this before.  Why should I have to pay extra for privacy?  And had I bought extra domains, multiply that $9 per domain.  Next!

Next, a pitch for web hosting.  New domains, hmmm. ok.  Existing domains, you probably already have hosting.  If you were transferring a domain, that would be another valid opportunity.  But, no.  I’m fine where I’m at.

Next, a pitch for forwarding web requests, mail hosting, custom website design (even if you selected no web hosting), and an SSL certificate.  Jesus, isn’t this simple renewal request ever going to end?  This is four full pages of advertising! 

Then, finally, you get to see the price of renewal: $35/yr.  4x the amount of other registrars?  For what?  4 pages of ads when you renew?  Now, you can see that NetSol has been overtaken by salespeople and scammers.  Granted, there are discounts for multi-year renewals, which is how I’ve stayed with NetSol as long as I have.

The way I see it, when you click renew, you should be taken straight to the shopping cart where a line item shows the domain(s) for renewal.  Under the line items, a line with a checkbox for each of these offered services should be shown.  Clicking the checkbox would expand the section to let you choose which renewing domains will get the service.  Obviously a “Learn more about service” link would be provided.

That’s quick, simple and to the point.  One page, all options available.  Instead, NetSol is afraid that if they don’t shout the features and prices at you in a full page ad, you might not take them up on their overpriced services.  In the virtual world as well as the real world, overselling, overhyping, and shouting drives me out the door.

Farewell, Network Solutions.

The Quickening

Posted by on December 17, 2009 No comments

So I’m at the 7th and final stage of grieving: acceptance.  I have accepted that Microsoft Money is gone and will not be coming back, so I must move to Quicken.  It’s not without trepidation that I purchase Quicken and try to recapture the enjoyment of tracking my finances with a new program.  I had used Quicken a long time ago and was not as pleased as I was with MS Money, which is probably why I’ve used Money for over 10 years.

So I’ve gotten Quicken Deluxe 2010 installed and the first thing that pisses me off is that it has put icons on my desktop.  Not just one icon, which is tolerable, but 4.  One for the application and three sales pitches.  This is a terrible first impression.  One shortcut is to a co-branded version of FreeCreditReport dot COM – one of the biggest scams out there.  One is for their BillPay service, at $10/mo.  Even Wachovia, a premier bank, only charges $6/mo for integrated BillPay.  Unless Quicken doesn’t have 2-way integration with Wachovia, which is practically a dealbreaker for me.  MS Money had it. (Turns out, yes, Quicken does support online payments through Wachovia)  The final offer is for a typical rewards credit card provided by Chase.

First Launch: I am prompted to “Get Started”.  I have to enter my banks and their login info so Quicken can download transactions and whatnot.  I’m mildly impressed.  In MS Money, this was a separate step after setting up accounts.  It picks up my Wachovia account without a problem.  Then I do my Chase account.  Oops, there was a problem.  It says to try again later.  So I think, “Maybe it should be entered as a WaMu account, since that’s where it was originally opened.”  Nope.  Not found there.  It’s later now, so I try again under Chase.  Quicken crashes.  Ok, my impression of this program is sinking fast.

Second Launch: I get all of my accounts set up.  And I am quite impressed with how well it handled ALL of my accounts.  If I had a login for it, Quicken handled it.  I got my loans entered and the wizard was pretty easy to work through.  I browse through the preferences and set a few things to my liking, like two-line registers.  Now, I am downloading transactions for an account that doesn’t have real-time transaction updates.  And it’s frozen.  However, I was able to close the window (X) and it seemed to be a successful update.  We’ll see how that turns out on the others… ok, three of the four I had to close the window, but they seem current.  Not sure of this is going to be an annoyance or it’s just a fluke.

I’m going to give it an honest try, since I have no other choice, really.  I’ve tried GnuCash and that was definitely a step down.  So we’ll see how quick things get.

What Is This? A New Post?

Posted by on July 19, 2009 No comments

You’ve got to be kidding me.  What’s the occasion for this?  Which freaking song are you still working on?

Well, the impetus for the post is the simplicity of Windows Live Writer.  Having a nice WYSIWYG editor makes for less resistance to creating a new entry.  But there’s other minor things that happened in the last year and a half that might be mentionable as well.

Currently the recording system is running Vista x64.  This was a trial run on 64-bit to see if I could still get by, which I certainly can.  Well, except that the CME UF6 doesn’t have a USB driver for Vista (except through a user patch), and no 64-bit driver at all.  So, although I never used the USB functions of the controller, it seems I never will, either.

I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of Windows 7, at which time I’ll rebuild the system for recording again.  The system has no music software on it yet.  I’ll also invest in a nice hard drive or two for performance and volume, although I don’t expect to do much physical recording, instead sticking to MIDI and VST, having the HD space is never a bad thing.

So, you know I have been working on this song…  as the joke goes, “When’s your album coming out?” I’ve been playing the same songs for over a year.  They haven’t been completed, but I expect when I get the new recording setup, I’ll be ready to put some tracks down and get some momentum.  The plan is still the same, to do another CDD-type release – that is, non-sequence-based, more live-oriented.

Otherwise, musically, there’s not much to say.  Well, my Mackie mixer has been powered on and running 24×7 for at least 5 years and my Event monitors have been doing the same for at least 2.  That makes these devices a great testament to longevity , durability, and ecological irresponsibility.

Yellow Pages Are Anything But Green

Posted by on February 14, 2009 No comments

It’s a new year and part of the new years ritual is receiving multiple 10-pound books dropped off at the house for telephone listings.  Growing up in a small town, I remember the white pages and yellow pages being a book about a quarter-inch think.  Now living in a larger city, the yellow pages alone is…2 inches thick (I had to check).  Then on top of that, you get a second book from a competing directory.  and this one has a “smaller, convenient” version, so you can take it with you.

Ok.  Here’s the problem.  There’s something called the Internet, which is available in our house.  This Internet thing allows us to search for information, including phone numbers.  Usually, it’s faster to type in the name of what you want instead of the traditional alternative: trying to figure out what category it’s listed in, flipping through pages, and scanning the tiny type while being distracted by large ads.  Then there is issue of storage.  The directories take up…4.5 inches of vertical space (I had to check again).  That’s valuable real estate on counters or drawers.

So, in summary, the Internet is far superior to a printed list.  This is probably universally accepted.  So, I thought it was time to stop the waste of time and space… and paper.  This year is also the year I discontinued all paper statements for bills.  But back to the point, I called the directory’s service number.

The first person I spoke to was pleasant and upon hearing my request, wasted no time collecting my information and completing the request.  After I hung up, I thought, “That wasn’t so bad.  She was really nice.  Too bad I’m putting her out of a job.”  after all, these directory services are contracted by the phone company or are completely independent.

The second person I spoke to handled my request promptly also, but then asked an odd question: “Do you travel much?”  Hmmm.  I responded that I don’t travel too much.  Then the pitch came.  They also print atlases.  They had a new atlas of the United States that she could sell me for a great price.

Ok.  Here’s the problem.  There’s something called a GPS, which has recently become available in our cars.  A few years ago, I might have bought it.  I used to have a very large collection of maps from the areas I’d visited.  I was pretty proud of the collection also.  But now, my 25-pound pile of maps (I had to estimate, since they’re now disposed) has been replaced by a tiny touchscreen device.

So in summary, GPS devices have replaced atlases in much the same way as the Internet has replaced phone books.  Now, if these directory services were smart, they would partner with a GPS vendor and preload POI’s (Points of Interest) into a GPS based on their directory.  Then they would sell the GPS device.  Or they could sell a flash card with the POIs on it.

If I was cancelling my phone book delivery and the agent asked me “Do you have a GPS?” that would be a totally different conversation.  If I didn’t, I might be intrigued at buying a GPS preloaded with millions of POIs (if the price was reasonable).  If I did own one and they offered a POI card or subscription service compatible with my GPS brand, it might be attractive.