Archive for Computers/Tech
Leave It On Or Turn It Off?
Over the last twenty years, I have been asked one question more than any other: “Should I leave my computer on all the time, or turn it off at the end of each day?” During that time, my answer has evolved from a long one to a very short one: “Yes.” When a client recovers from my initial response, I provide them with a more detailed answer explaining why I feel there is no single answer that works best for everyone. (more…)
Go Ahead…Think Outside The Box
I know, I know, my next tech post was supposed to be about connecting to FirebirdSQL database tables via an ODBC connection. I promise it is coming, but in the meantime, I had an epiphany the other day and I wanted to share it. (more…)
Visually Create, Edit & Maintain FireBirdSQL Databases
Ok, in the last post, I explained how to install FirebirdSQL with the basic (and perfectly acceptable) default settings. When I first decided to start working with Firebird, I was intimidated because I really didn’t know that much about SQL and working with the included ISQL.exe command prompt seemed a bit cryptic to me. If you’ve been working with SQL commands for a while, maybe you’d feel differently, but I needed a way to visually work with the tables, triggers, and domains like I’ve become used to in FoxPro. (more…)
Installing FireBirdSQL
I described in a previous post some of the work we’ve done with FirebirdSQL and now it is time to get to work. FirebirdSQL is a relational database that runs on Linux, Windows and many different Unix platforms. It was originally developed in 1981 and has existed under various names and incarnations since that time. Before being released as open source, it was a commercial product published by Borland as InterBase. (more…)
My First FireBirdSQL Project
In 2006, I was approached by my client using the AgentTrax Sales Management system that I began working on in 2000, because they wanted a web-based front-end to allow their agents (at the time numbering around 8,000 active agents) to contract online as well as to have a place for active agents to enter their sales production and distribute that workload out to the agents making the sales. Having sold a pre-packaged app using FirebirdSQL as the database, we had a little bit of experience with FirebirdSQL so it was an easy step to decide to use it as our database as well. After all, it was open-source, well supported and documented and it was screaming fast. (more…)
Lingering After Effects of FoxForward 2007
Having just returned from FoxForward 2007, I can say that the recovery process may never be over. I saw more things that I want to implement than I have time to implement, but I’m making a solemn promise to try get them all done. FoxForward 2007 for me was simply one of the best experiences and I highly recommend the conference to anyone wanting to learn more about VFP as well as many other technologies as well. (more…)
Windows XP vs. Vista
Recently at the Microsoft Financial Analyst Day at the Microsoft Redmond Campus in Redmond WA, CEO Steve Ballmer stated that by the end of 2008, Microsoft would have over 1 billion installed users of Windows. Ballmer said that this would mean that there would be more computers using Windows than automobiles in the world. (more…)
