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Ok, so this is my first attempt at creating a background image for my PC. Normally I just browse around deviantArt until I find something that strikes my fancy. The stipled background is from an icon package I downloaded at some point in time called Black Gloss DA. As for the apple logo, I took a black image with a white apple logo in it and then just modified the apple icon part of that image. But for a first try I don't think I did too bad.

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Fun Mac At 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I've been messing with Date/Times here a lot lately and it's behaviour is rather inconsistent to say the least, especially NotesDateTime.LSLocalTime Sometimes it returns 06/18/2009 01:00:00 PM, other times it returns 6/18/2009 1:00:00 PM. I was wanting to use the Date/Time to do a lookup in a view, but due to the inconsistenc of LSLocalTime I've resorted to converting the Date/Time to a double and using that instead. This behaves much more reliably as you get the same number no matter what. What gave me this idea was this post over on Tim Tripcony 's site which is a rather interesting post and a nice shorthand way of handling date adjustments.

But sometimes I just get frustrated with the way Notes handles Date/Times.

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Lotus Notes At 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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I don't recall where I got these from, but they sure are handy. In Mac OSX, you can define a Folder Action script which will run anytime a file is added to that folder. Since I mess with Notes and we all know that it won't accept PNG images, we have to convert them to GIF or JPG. So after starting to make an Automator script to do this (This one is from Apple Inc.), I found an AppleScript that you enter as a folder action that will do your conversion for you and save a copy of the original image, pretty cool. You can find it in the Downloads menu over there on the left.

Another folder script that I created using the Automator scales an image. I guess you could ask what size to scale it to, but I've got it hard coded in the script. But this also works very well.

I hope you find these as useful and that they save you as much time as they save me.

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Mac At 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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The other day while looking for a Mind Manager replacement I stumbled across XMind. This is an Eclipse based application that has all the features I frequently used in Mind Manager. I had tried using Mind Meister but I just couldn't get past the way you modify your mind map, it just took too long.

But the feature set for XMind is great, it includes many features that you only find in the "pay for" apps. Best of all it's Open Source. Some of the features I've found most useful in starting to migrate to XMind are:

• Import of Mindjet Mind Manager maps, among others
• Using the "Summary" connector - This allows you to group entries with a "}" and add some text to it
• Double-Clicking a connection gives you a text box to provide a description of the connection
• The User Interface is great and easy to use
• Maps are defined as work books which you can add multiple sheets to
• Easy to add custom graphics
• Attach any type of file to the workbook
• It's easy to customize the look and feel of your map
• Floating topics with their own style

Now I know you're saying that this isn't anything new really, and you're probably right. But to find something of this calibur that runs natively on Mac OSX thats also Open Source, to me that's a big deal. But I got to looking and there are versions that run on virtually every operating system out there. But my mind wanders and starts to imagine that since this is Eclipse based, could it possibly be included as a Composite app within Lotus Notes? That may be something that is doable, but I just don't have the time at the moment to investigate it, but I think could be something pretty cool.

My overall impression of XMind is a good one, it's Eclipse based, has a great UI, a rich feature set and is Open Source. So check it out, it's a good tool that fits the bill for a Mind Manager.

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Mac OpenSource Mind Mapping Technology At 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I'm currently working on a very large project that involves re-writing a bunch of apps that are part of a suite of applications and this suite is being used at multiple sites. These applications were written in the early 90s I assume, probably version 4.5? But this thing is full of hard coded references to many of the other databases and hardly any of the code is reusable in any way. Also, there are little pieces of code that reach out to these various databases from the various databases. So you may change something in one app and break god knows what in another app. Also, coding practices within these apps are very poor. For example, a variable is set to the value of another variable that got it's value from another variable which got it's value from a field in another database and so on. To say the least, this whole thing has been nothing but a mess, a rather big mess at that.

But the team I'm on developed a brand new version of one of the applications because that would be faster and more cost efficient than fixing all the hard coding. The old app had some of the design elements that are based on the data within the app, so if the data changes the design has to change. But this new app we developed had a more modern user interface, more features and if data changed the design didn't have to change. Nothing was hard coded and it is very configurable to operate the way the customer wants it to operate. We deployed this app and it has been being used for a few months now, which of course has a few months worth of new data in it.

Fast forward to today, the customer now wants to roll back to the app that we didn't remove the hard coding from, change the design elements to match the new data and change the hard coding to still be hard coded but work for the current site. This decision is based on the behaviour of one button and one feature. These are things that can be changed rather easily. I've never experienced a customer wanting to go back to a design that's impossible to maintain, performs poorly and by today's UI standards is butt ugly. They're going to end up paying twice as much as it would cost to just fix the few issues they have with the new version, not to mention the fact that they already paid for the new app which is now being trashed. Also by doing this, the other apps that interact with the new app will now be broken and have to be fixed, it's a rather nuclear reaction that results from this decision.

But what I really don't understand is, from a business point of view, why a decision like this would be made? I assume they've already paid a couple of hundred thousand dollars on this project (salary for a team of 4 developers, 2 project managers, among others for the past 8 months) and are getting ready to dump even more money into it by making the decision to go back. I'm just dumbfounded as to the reasoning behind this. We probably could have re-written the entire suite with this much man power and time for much less money. I may be wrong for posting this rant, but I'm hoping someone can provide me some of the reasoning that I'm obviously missing.

On another note, I'm currently working on a new Open Source project in my spare time, as code starts to come out for it I will post more about it. But for now, I'm going to keep it under wraps at least until I have a workable demo to highlight the initial idea. So, stay tuned for a useful (I hope) freebie in the near (again, I hope) future.

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Lotus Notes Soapbox At 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

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A while back I posted that I had gotten an iMac and how much I liked it. But since getting the iMac how have I adapted to using it? Do I still need Windows? Is there anything I can't do on my Mac that I could do on Windows? Have I become a Mac "Fan boy"? So, I thought I would post my experience now that I've gotten settled in to using the Mac day in and day out.

1. Adaptation - As far as adaptation goes, I've adapted very well. I can do all the things I do on a daily basis, for the most part, within Mac OS X. The ease of use is outstanding and I haven't encountered any hardware issues with my existing hardware (i.e. Printers, Fax Machine, Blackberry Syncing, camera, etc.). I do however miss my dual monitors, I just need to get the proper $30 adapter to get my dual monitors back. Everything else has been smooth sailing, even the family members have adapted well and find things I had no idea about (Photo Booth, among others). I do find myself hitting the "Windows" key combinations still to accomplish some things (i.e. Home/End keys, Ctrl-C/X/V, etc.) but as soon as I do that I remember the Mac equivalent. I get really annoyed with hitting F9 to refresh the Notes client views, but like I said, when I do that I remember it should be Command + F9 and all is well.

2. Do I still need Windows? - Unfortunately, yes. There currently isn't a Mac version of Domino Designer and Domino Administrator. Also, the couple of games I like to play every now and again will only run under Windows and there aren't Mac versions, yet. Other than those 2 reasons... I really wouldn't need Windows any more.

3. Is there anything I can't do on my Mac that I could do on Windows? - Nope, not a thing other than the 2 mentioned above. I've found Freeware that fills every need. You read right, Freeware, meaning free, not a cent, nada. There has been one piece of software that I will be purchasing and that will be Path Finder. I'm using the demo currently, but that's an awesome replacement for Finder with much more functionality yet still keeping with the Finder experience.

4. Have I become a Mac "Fan boy"? - I don't think I have. Would I go back to using Windows and get rid of my Mac hardware? No, not on your life. But am I a "fan boy"? I don't think so. I still work/develop with Windows and Linux, I still have Windows and Linux boxes here in the house being used and I have a Windows 7 Virtual Machine running on my Mac in which I only have Notes 8.5 and Symphony installed. I use it daily. Not to mention my work supplied laptop is running Windows XP and works great. I still say the best home server is Linux and I don't think that opinion will ever change. I suppose I could probably accomplish the same things on the Mac (Apache, PHP, MySQL, Domino, FTP, Bugzilla, Customer Test sites, etc.) but why when Linux fits that bill perfectly?

5. My overall experience - Well, it's been great. There hasn't been much I couldn't figure out. The learning curve for switching is surprisingly small, especially considering my initial worry with making the switch. But all has been well and I think my worries have been quelled. Also, I really like the ease of automating things with the Automator tool. I've even made some Automator scripts to ease my computing burden a little bit and it wasn't that difficult. I would like to mess with Applescript a little bit, but I don't currently have the time to head down that road. Everything has worked flawlessly with the Mac and it's ease of use is great.

If I had it all to do over again I would probably get a Mac Pro as I think that's probably a lot more robust machine and also has the ability to upgrade easier, but is the extra cost worth that much money when the machine will probably be outdated in 5 years? I don't know honestly, maybe it is, especially when running multiple virtual machines. Then again, maybe my positive experience has been that I've never owned a "high-end" machine. Does the iMac count as high-end? If feels like it does, it does so much more than my middle of the road Windows PC, and it seems to do it more efficently, maybe it's just perception that makes me think this. I like to think it isn't just perception though. But all in all it's been a great experience and I would recommend an iMac to any home/small business user who just wants a great machine that works like you think it should work and does it all with style.

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Mac At 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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I was working a little bit last night on an application for work which I developed. I was testing to ensure the content on a layer was correct. But I noticed that the layer didn't display properly, it shows up behind the fields. I tried it on a different form and got the same experience. So, is this a bug?

Here is a screenshot from Lotus Notes 8.5 on Mac OSX 10.5.7:


Here is a screenshot from Lotus Notes 8.5 on Windows 7:

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Lotus Notes Mac At 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Recently Microsoft has started airing commercials about connecting people and connections with people. I've only been able to find these on the Microsoft website. With all the talk lately about Lotus/IBM marketing, this is a prime example of where IBM dropped the ball. How is it that IBM/Lotus has a product named Connections and it's Microsoft doing the connections commercials? Of course, there is no official response from IBM on this, at least that I know of. That's not to say that something hasn't been said, but surely I'm not the only person in the Lotus Blogosphere that's seen these commercials and thought this?

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Lotus Software Microsoft At 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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I am one of the Board Officers for a local club and I've made an observation that kind of distresses me a little bit. This club has roughly 200 members, most of which participate in the main activity of the club in some form or fashion. These members don't really want to be or get involved in the club politics, which is understandable as I really don't want to be involved with those politics either. I mainly volunteered for the board position to take care of the club's website. The land that the club operates on is County provided land that is quickly being encroached on by civilization, other parks, etc and we need to be fairly diligent about following the County "rules" and not cause too much boat rocking so we don't loose our land. But we have a handful of members (less than 10) which seem intent on causing us to loose our land. Now these members don't ever participate at the club, they don't even show up and just hang out with friends. The only time you see them is at club meetings where they only gripe and complain (very loudly), cause grief and strife within the club and they fight every decision the board makes and ensure that these complaints are heard by our governing national club and the county administrators which makes the club look like a bunch of bickering little girls who can't get along.

A little background on this, we're starting to move all of our decision making processes that require a club wide vote to our club website. This has caused a much greater majority of the club to participate in club decisions, last election we had 3 times more people vote than has ever voted in the club's long history. In the past these decisions were made at a club meeting at which only 10 or 12 people would show up to. These 10 or 12 were the people contacted by someone to come out and vote a certain way, in other words they would stack the meeting to ensure the decision to be voted on went their way or contacted by the person up for election to ensure they voted for that person. Since most of the members didn't our couldn't participate at the meeting of course you had 10 people deciding for 200 what was best for the club, whether it was best for the club or not. They ensured that nothing ever changed or that people were voted into office for some kind of kick back, privledge or whatever. In my eyes this is just people being selfish/greedy/whatever trying to manipulate the club to their benefit, whether that benefit is monetary or just reputation.

But the object of this post is really just to vent, in the hopes that writing this will enlighten me as to the goal these folks wish to accomplish by being involved in a club that they really have no interest with participating in, at least in a positive manner. So, just what could be their goal? Surely it's not something honorable? Maybe as folks reach the fall/winter years of their life they feel they have to participate in a local club in some form or fashion and feel that if they can't do what they want at the club that no one should be allowed to participate? I really don't know and I just don't get it. If I'm not interested in something I could care less what that club decides is best for itself, as long as it's not affecting my personal assets or personal life. I just want to tell these old men to get a life and if you aren't interested in participating then don't participate.

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Soapbox At 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

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When Windows XP came out a long time ago I purchased a copy, of which I wonderously still have the CD and case. So, I was installing boot camp on my Mac (I liked my wife's so much we went and got one for me )so I could still play the couple of games I like to play. Boot Camp requires a Windows XP SP2 version of the installation media so that it will find the appropriate partition to install to, so, I used a Windows XP Pro SP2 installation disk that came with one of my other name brand computers just for the installation. I then tried to activate my version of windows using the original activation key from the version I purchased. So, I type in the activation key and am informed it's not a valid activation key. OK, so let's try an activation key from some other computer, it too is listed as being invalid. Now, I'm getting rather frustrated and I try the Telephone option, enter the code presented in the Telephone activation dialog and am informed that I don't have an authentic version of Windows XP and to hold on the line to speak with a tech, so I hold on the line which is promptly hung up with just a busy signal

So now I'm stuck with what to do next, I have no idea I guess I'm going to retry installation and hopefully we'll get past it this time, if not guess I'll just do without.

Posted by Keith Strickland in Category Soapbox Windows At 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)