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Comment: Re:Eclipse? (Score 1) 300

by erktrek (#38725118) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Open Source Answer to Dreamweaver?

Thanks for the heads up!!

Will investigate this further - don't want to make a mess of a project even messier. For us wysiwyg is not all that critical. Eclipse seems to have some nice team oriented features and is (possibly) a standardized tool that can be used for django (python), straight python & postgresql dev.

There does appear to be a commercial plugin "MyEclipse" or something but that's not what was asked about I guess.

Otherwise I've used the non-wysiwyg bluefish.. I notice there's also the "Aloha Editor" - http://aloha-editor.org

Comment: Re:From a Biological Perspective We're Probably Fi (Score 4, Interesting) 127

by erktrek (#37709088) Attached to: Scientists Developed Artificial Structures That Can Self-Replicate

I've also heard that the "grey goo" scenario is a bit overstated given that:

Organisms have already evolved optimal survival strategies over the millennia and if nanobots were made of organic material they would be "prey" to some of these.
- and -
The energy requirements for taking on such a task is unlikely to be satisfied in the current environment (especially if made of non organic materials)

Comment: It's just the UI (Score 1) 265

by erktrek (#37106676) Attached to: Hard Truths About HTML5

Having written a (still running) patient flow management system in html3 + hidden frame + javascript - sadly no ajax it is my belief that with proper care a web interface can be used in place of certain local apps. For processes that do not involve complex graphical/video wizardry (i.e. most business apps??) HTML[5] seems adequate enough. This includes many day to day internal business applications where the benefits of management, maintenance & security outweigh most of the drawbacks: bandwidth, hw compatibility, less seamless UI etc.

Separating out the business data and logic/api from the interface also does wonders (ye olde "n-tier" architecture) for the client-side concerns. Everything properly validated through the server-side logic layer.

Migrating an existing local app to the web can be a headache though - then you run into potential usability issues with user expectations and proper program "flow".

Comment: Re:A couple of Classic Brit Sci-Fi's for a reboot. (Score 1) 922

by erktrek (#30733388) Attached to: What SciFi Should Get the Reboot Treatment Next?

I dunno maybe you could have that nuclear waste pile explosion blow open a temporary dimensional wormhole causing the moon to bounce around the universe or something. Then you could pass by a different planet / system each week and still maintain some semblance of scifi cred.

Comment: Very cool I think. (Score 2, Informative) 79

by erktrek (#30401848) Attached to: Red Hat Open Sources SPICE Desktop Virtualization

I currently use NXClient w/Neatx for that kind of remote access/management. It works well with both Linux and Windows backends.

I guess the difference is accessing various os's with a single protocol rather than using NX & RDP (like the NXclient does) + also possibly getting around some of the builtin limitations (available only on certain flavors of Windows, limited # accesses by default etc) of RDP.

Sounds interesting if the performance is decent.

Comment: Re:Stability (Score 1) 891

by erktrek (#29400687) Attached to: Why Users Drop Open Source Apps For Proprietary Alternatives

Uh, maybe no because then you'd be missing the point of the car..to drive it. Maybe instead you'd have to hot-wire the car each time and instead of a steering wheel you had to manually turn the wheels yourself oh and no seats but the thing runs like crazy and is extremely theft resistant.

Comment: Re:This isn't sensationalist, it's the truth (Score 1) 543

by erktrek (#29036889) Attached to: Leaving the GPL Behind

If you have a service using an opensourced app then either license won't make much of a difference unless said competitor decides to distribute their version. At that point the GPL would appear to be the better choice as you would at least get any changes back.

Isn't it true that GPL (up to v2 at least) code that is "inhouse" does not have to be distributed? That seems very business friendly in this age of "application services".

Programming

Project Management For Beginners? 168

Posted by timothy
from the what-one-ought-know dept.
lawpoop writes "At my current workplace, I'm tasked with creating a rather complicated and metastasizing web-database application. I've mostly been the sole 'IT guy' at my workplaces in the past, so I've never had to, nor taken the time, to learn proper project management routines — code comments mostly got me through it. Now for this project, it's getting somewhat hairy and I'm sensing that I need to start doing things in a more organized manner. What resources would you direct me to? Books? (I wouldn't mind buying one good one.) Websites? What do proper 'specs' look like? Must I use UML (seems complicated and unintuitive) or a simpler ER diagram? For this job, I just need to provide better estimates for completing features, but what will I need if/when I would be working with a team?"

Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world. -- Lily Tomlin

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