Posted on September 16th, 2009%
Every now and then I stumble across a feature in an application or web site that is just too good not to mention. Today, it happened when using Balsamiq Mockups.
Like many people, I use lorem ipsum placeholder text. When I want large, random blocks of ‘lorem ipsum’ text, I use the Lipsum Generator; today, I only needed a few words, so I figured I’d just type it.
As soon as I finished typing the word “Lorem,” Balsamiq sprang into action and populated my text box with the following text: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt . . .
→ Read More: Cool feature: Balsamiq’s auto ‘lorem ipsum’ generator
Posted on September 16th, 2009%
You know there’s a shortage of 64-bit software when…
You do a Google search for 64 bit applications.
You go to the first hit: Catalogue of 64-bit Software.
You look at the search results and see this:
Of course, the lack of 64-bit software is not the fault of the proprietors of this web site (which is, of its own admission, a beta, and from the looks of things, not heavily monitored or maintained), but it is telling of the state of native 64-bit software.
Of course, all is not lost: one of the first programs I install on my computer is 7-zip, and it has a native 64-bit version.
. . .
→ Read More: You know there’s a shortage of 64-bit software when…
Posted on September 14th, 2009%
On a newly-rebuild Windows 2003 server, I set out to install TFS 2008. After installing SQL 2005, and SQL Reporting Services, and SQL Analysis Services, and SQL 2005 Service Pack 3, I fired up the TFS installer, only to ultimately get the dreaded “Send Report/Don’t Send Report” dialog box.
Nice! Looking at the install log was so much more revealing.
[09/14/09,13:33:33] Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5: ***ERRORLOG EVENT*** : Error code 1603 for this component means “Fatal error during installation.”
[09/14/09,13:33:33] Setup.exe: AddGlobalCustomProperty
[09/14/09,13:33:33] Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5: ***ERRORLOG EVENT*** : Setup Failed on component Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
Odd, why won’t the .Net Framework 3.5 install? Shouldn’t be hard to fix by downloading the .Net 3.5 installer and installing it manually. Or should it? That didn’t work, either. Again from the install log.
[09/14/09,13:42:31] WIC Installer: [2] Error code 1603 for this component means “Fatal error during installation.”
[09/14/09,13:42:31] WIC Installer: . . .
→ Read More: Can’t install TFS, or the .Net Framework, or almost anything? Check your security policies!
