Windows x: Basic Windows ?Security? Issues
April 14, 2008
Language development computer: Computer-based method for aiding language development seems like an interesting idea, the trick with this would be in getting the computer to take on part of the role of the human in the checking process.
In all computer aided learning applications aimed at the very young, there is a danger that the computer may be seen as a replacement for a human instructor, however computer are notorious for not volunteering information or inability to deal with erratic behaviour. Getting this right would be a real challenge. As it seems now certain that inappropriate language teaching (forms of language teaching which are not in tune with the real as opposed to chronological development age of the child) leads to ‘induced’ (as opposed to real) dyslexia, finding the right targets for such systems will be a challenge in its own right.
With two such competing challenges, this project is really interesting.
Spell checking: The first problem here is the fact that language is an abstract concept mainly built on rules that can be incorporated into logical software, but with some rules which are subjective and cannot be automated so easily.
Computer Based Language Development and Spell-checking
April 13, 2008
Language development computer: Computer-based method for aiding language development seems like an interesting idea, the trick with this would be in getting the computer to take on part of the role of the human in the checking process.
In all computer aided learning applications aimed at the very young, there is a danger that the computer may be seen as a replacement for a human instructor, however computer are notorious for not volunteering information or inability to deal with erratic behaviour. Getting this right would be a real challenge. As it seems now certain that inappropriate language teaching (forms of language teaching which are not in tune with the real as opposed to chronological development age of the child) leads to ‘induced’ (as opposed to real) dyslexia, finding the right targets for such systems will be a challenge in its own right.
With two such competing challenges, this project is really interesting.
Spell checking: The first problem here is the fact that language is an abstract concept mainly built on rules that can be incorporated into logical software, but with some rules which are subjective and cannot be automated so easily.
The Secret of the Layer Styles Dialogue
April 12, 2008
When you double-click a layer in the Layer Palette, you will access the Layer Style dialogue box. Here, you can set many eye-catching layer styles such as Bevel & Emboss, Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, etc.
The lesser known secret of the Layer Style dialogue is that when you move it out of the way so that you can view your canvas, you can actually control the position of your current layer style with your mouse by dragging it!
The above technique works for these layer styles:
Drop Shadow
Let us start by applying Drop Shadow to a layer. After you have checked the Drop Shadow checkbox, drag your Layer Style dialogue out of the way to view your object on the canvas. Now, just position your mouse anywhere outside of the dialogue box and drag!
Notice that as you drag, the drop shadow will follow the mouse as if it were a layer underneath your object! The values for angle and distance will adjust automatically. This holds true for Inner Shadow too!
Satin
eConnect: eCommerce Development for Microsoft Great Plains
April 11, 2008
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has several options to enable web ordering. Traditionally Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise had eOrder ? this is ASP pages based ordering application, enabling you to place or retrieve your Sales Order Processing (SOP) Sales Orders over the web. There were several drawbacks however with eOrder. You should be the customer in Great Plains company database to be able placing the orders. Also if you were planning to customize eOrder ? you could only do cosmetic style changes only ? if you wanted to alter scripts on the ASP pages ? then you would have very serious eOrder upgrade issues. Upgrade simply wipes out your custom scripts and you had to reapply your customization to new version enriched ASP pages. Instead of following the way to move eOrder to ASPX or .Net platform ? MBS introduced eConnect, enabling web designer to "connect" eCommerce site to Great Plains backend. This is very elegant module and solution, however we are hearing a lot of complaints from developers on eConnect restrictions.
Things You Can Do With Windows XP!
April 10, 2008
Did you ever give a thought to the number of things you can do with Windows XP? Take your own time and think… I hope you remember few basic and easy things if you are not new to Windows family. Check it out the following paragraph.
Welcome To Windows XP!
Here you have, once again a new operating system of the Microsoft Windows family. But as usual every new version of software is updated with some specific new features that helps the user in dealing with day to day PC usage.
Lets find out what is Windows XP? Windows XP is an Operating System that you run on a computer.
May be you can have this question. Well! What is Operating System?
Good question! Operating System is an interface software between Man (User) and Machine (Computer ). It is very simple. You might already be familiar with it.
You might ask yourself “What is this software ?” Well! I was expecting this question. Software is nothing but set of instructions or code, which is provided by programmers to computers. So that computer will work according to this code or instructions. Bottom line is computer is nothing but a machine which works on instructions of human beings.
Microsoft Great Plains Customization Tools Evolution ? Overview for Consultant
April 9, 2008
When Great Plains Software introduced the first graphical accounting application for Mac and Windows in the beginning of 1990th it had Great Plains Dexterity customization tool, IDE and programming language. Dexterity design was based on several longevity principles: Graphical platform independence and database platform independence and easy switch from one DB to the other among the most important ones. Dexterity was written as a shell in C programming language, which was "platform independent" and at the same time very efficient in compilation (close to assembler). Since then we saw new tools and options:
? Modifier with VBA. This tool allows you place custom buttons and editable fields on the forms and attach VBA scripts to these buttons and fields. Theoretically you can deploy ADO and make a call to the database, but typically this would be given to Dexterity programmer. Also Modifier can deal with ReportWriter report ? which is rarely used option, but you should be aware of it. Another usufull feature - calling Crystal Reports engine from VBA, so you can print custom Crystal Report - Invoice from SOP Entry screen, instead of regular Report Writer SOP Invoice Form.
Cross-Platform Custom Software Development & Integration ? IT Strategy for Large Corporation
April 9, 2008
Microsoft Business Solutions products: Great Plains, MS CRM, Navision, Axapta, MS RMS integration with UNIX/Java based platforms & non-Microsoft applications: Oracle, Lotus Notes/Domino, DBII, PeopleSoft, SAP
The history of software application development indicates that global trends to unification might be reversed in the future. If you take a look at C programming language, intended as cross platform solution (which resolves graphical interface cross platform migration). Later on java was invented to encapsulate the application within java virtual machine, and at the same time we see thin client conception development, which can not be done in C, due to the nature of the internet browser. So, inevitably ? large corporation, where system life cycle should last at least a decade, should consider multiple platform adoption: Unix, Microsoft, Linux, MS SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Lotus Notes/Domino, Microsoft Exchange, etc.
? Microsoft Business Solutions products integration. Project Green will lead to Microsoft suites: Microsoft Financials, Microsoft Distribution/Supply Chain Management, Microsoft Human Resources. The interesting part is ? which product will be the base for the specific suite. At this point we don’t know the answer
Corel WordPerfect 7 Macro Programming Example
April 8, 2008
Case study: A secretary using Corel WordPerfect 7 is often required to carry out calculations and insert the values into invoices or other documents.
She does this by entering calculations into either a real calculator and transcribing the answer, or the Microsoft calculator and copying then pasting the result into the document. Doing this affects her productivity as this process increases the time taken to complete work and wastes time in correcting inevitable errors that occur.
Proposal: A secretary has asked for software to be written which enables her to do calculations and, if required, convert standard numbers to values of currency as a simple operation within Corel WordPerfect 7.
Feasibility study: Having analysed the problem outlined above this operation is ideally suited for automation. A solution based on a macro would be advisable to the existing methods in place. The saving in time and increased productivity makes the proposed system a practical and effective alternative to the current manual system.
User Requirements: The user needs to enter calculations into a new or existing document at different stages throughout the creation of the text. The user also requires that the macro does not change the formatting of the document in any way.
Programming Environments And The Software Production Process
April 7, 2008
Introduction: The creating of a computer program involves a number of stages which can be made easier with several separate software utilities. There are now integrated set of support programs which combine all the necessary utilities to provide a complete program development environment. These are known as programming languages, which include:
BASIC: Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code originally designed for Dartmouth’s experimental timesharing system in the early 1960s, which has since become the leading cause of brain damage in proto-hackers & programmer becouse it encourages bad habits that will make it harder to use more powerful languages well.
PASCAL: A language designed in 1967 and released in 1968 as an instructional tool for elementary programming. This language was designed primarily to keep students from shooting themselves in the foot, became the ancestor of a large family of languages including Modula
FORTRAN: FORmula TRANslator, is the oldest high-level programming language. Designed by John Backus for IBM in the late 1950s, it is still used, particularly for scientific applications that require extensive mathematical computations.
COBOL: COmmon Business Oriented Language, developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, COBOL is the second-oldest high-level programming language. It is particularly popular for business applications that run on large computers.
The Software 2005 Conference - A Review
April 6, 2008
The Software 2005 conference is now a wrap. This conference, presented by M.R. Rangaswami and The Sandhill Group, is now an annual event and attendance increased 35% this year over 2004. It is an ideal opportunity for those in the enterprise software industry to see what’s new and what’s coming, as well as to catch up with old colleagues and make new connections. It is also a perfect forum for startups to gain exposure as well as solicit funding and key partnerships.
According to Sandhill, there were 1500 attendees this year, including 100 press and 100 VCs. Half of those in attendance were CEOs. We spotted a number of them, including entrepeneur/CEO (now a VC) Ken Ross, Indus CEO Greg Dukat, Composite SW and entrepeneur Jim Green, former webMethods CEO Phillip Merrick, and a host of others.
M.R. has a rolodex that anyone would die for, and he put it to good use in attracting the top executives from major enterprise software and services companies such as Oracle, Intuit, McKinsey and others for keynote addresses. There were also a number of breakout tracks on the latest trends in our industry, including SaaS, open source and offshoring.
