sending executables

Myranda

What if you turn on the remote desktop feature on her machine and you dial in and just put the exe on her desktop? Then quietly remind her to turn it off again

PolarityMan

I thought a rabid linux zealot like you would distribute in source form any way

Phil_aka_Pip

@PolarityMan He he he my cousin and her archaeology dept are USERs they don't have software building tools
@monquixote you guessed it the machine runs XP (the other one Windoze 2000)

monquixote

Phil why don't you stick Linux on your machine, or buy a new PC?

Myranda

Or, if you're dependent on lots of software in windows at home then put Linux on a bootable usb stick run with the stick in and get your file zipped and emailed.

Then when you done restart and take out the USB stick

Phil_aka_Pip

I'd like a new PC on which I can install Linux. Unfortunately the prospect of moving house forbids that kind of spending. And in this case I don't think it would help me to move those DOS programs (it might but it's a drastic solution).

I don't get off Windoze entirely because

• my spreadsheet and wp software are mickeysoft office 1997 on a Win2000 machine, they're old but they work and I'm not willing to spend money on "upgrades"
• I can browse just about anything I want from the XP machine, but here at work on Linux with IceWeasel there are a lot of things I can't get at. I'm sure that not being able to see video clips from the BBC site is just one instance of something that could be fixed with a little expertise, but I'm not about to mess about with a work PC to achieve it.
  

monquixote

I would think on a home machine a copy of Libre Office and Chromium/Firefox would sort you out. 

Phil_aka_Pip

I've got Libre Office on this work PC. There are some funnies with it, mainly in the making indexes of word documents dept, and in the styles one might choose. If you open an document with word on a windoze machine after you've edited it with Libre Office, the formatting can go funny.

"Everyone is compatible but some are more compatible than others"

PolarityMan

Seriously though if email isn't working why not just stick it up on an ftp server or something? You could even run one from your linux machine and even use something like http://freedns.afraid.org/ to give it a pretty hostname that updates with your dynamic ip.

monquixote

Interoperability can be a bit shady, but then it can be between different versions of Word!

I try and avoid word processing if I possibly can, it's a bit of an outmoded concept IMO.

Myranda

Ubuntu on a USB stick would have all the features of a full Ubuntu install without harming your windows install.

On my HTPC setup in the living room right now my mother is running a Ubuntu install on a usb3 32gb stick with a persistent linux partition so things can be updated as and when. When she's done I can whip the stick out and it works just fine

Phil_aka_Pip

Do you write Requirements Specs, Designs and Interface Specs etc? I still do. Once upon a time I used to put such stuff on the company's intranet but this company doesn't have one, and prefers to hand out hard copy documentation to customers.

PolarityMan

monquixote said:

Interoperability can be a bit shady, but then it can be between different versions of Word!

I try and avoid word processing if I possibly can, it's a bit of an outmoded concept IMO.

Yeah, you only needed to use it to write complaint letters to companies. These days I just condense it into 140 chars and spam their twitter page. 

What gets me is the idiots who send me diagnostic information in such naturally useful formats as .xls files containing screenshots.

We should totally have a geek section btw (and a drum section)

monquixote

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Do you write Requirements Specs, Designs and Interface Specs etc? I still do. Once upon a time I used to put such stuff on the company's intranet but this company doesn't have one, and prefers to hand out hard copy documentation to customers.

Yes. 

I think Word is a very bad choice for such things.

 

Specs and designs should be living documents which change to reflect the current status of the product or they are useless. Word docs are often written and then ignored as the project rolls on so they are only accurate on the day they were created. That's why I prefer wiki style documentation like confluence or tools that generate documentation like Doxygen (though this is a bit different)

For things like manuals where consistency of formatting is important and you potentially want to output different versions then tools like Lyx are really good. 

Phil_aka_Pip

monquixote said:

 

Specs and designs should be living documents which change to reflect the current status of the product or they are useless. Word docs are often written and then ignored as the project rolls on so they are only accurate on the day they were created. That's why I prefer wiki style documentation like confluence or tools that generate documentation like Doxygen (though this is a bit different)

For things like manuals where consistency of formatting is important and you potentially want to output different versions then tools like Lyx are really good. 

Agreed documentation has to be current to be valid. However I get very anxious when people say that documents should be easy to change during a project. It can imply the requirements are shifting or were not properly documented to start with. Or that the design was not adequately stated or reviewed before being signed off for implementation and needs revision part way through the project. 

monquixote

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Agreed documentation has to be current to be valid. However I get very anxious when people say that documents should be easy to change during a project. It can imply the requirements are shifting or were not properly documented to start with. Or that the design was not adequately stated or reviewed before being signed off for implementation and needs revision part way through the project. 

In embedded development that's fair enough, but in most software development outside of that space requirements tend to change on a daily basis. 

Phil_aka_Pip

monquixote said:

In embedded development that's fair enough, but in most software development outside of that space requirements tend to change on a daily basis. 

I couldn't cope with that (probably thats why I do this kind of work). I like to be told what's wanted, then I go away to design and make it. It pisses me right off when people move the goalposts or extra "requirements" pop out of the woodwork just when you're about to deliver.

monquixote

Phil_aka_Pip said:

I couldn't cope with that (probably thats why I do this kind of work). I like to be told what's wanted, then I go away to design and make it. It pisses me right off when people move the goalposts or extra "requirements" pop out of the woodwork just when you're about to deliver.

I don't think anyone copes with it especially well. 

A lot of the point of "Agile" is to mitigate the damage this kind of thing does to your productivity. 

You tend to do things like lots of small incremental code deliveries, but during the intervals between code drops the requirements the coders work to is locked. 

Phil_aka_Pip

monquixote said:

 during the intervals between code drops the requirements the coders work to is locked. 

I'm sure that helps

mike257

Phil_aka_Pip;38369" said:

It pisses me right off when people move the goalposts or extra "requirements" pop out of the woodwork just when you're about to deliver.

Don't ever get married then.