Why not just do what he pays you to do. If he doesn't pay you enough, it's a different issue entirely. Sure, it might not be fun to rewrite code over and over again because of his whims, but if you're being paid for it, so what? Apparently he thinks he is paying you to follow his orders and just write code -- not to actually work with him to develop software. He wants to develop; he wants you to code. I have been in the same place before. I am now, actually. The bottom line is, its not your problem if the software sucks, and it's not your fault, either. You've done your duty by voicing your concerns, and he's dismissed them. As long as this software isn't used in a critical application where it would be unethical to accept these kind of flaws, it's not a big deal. I know that's not what you want to hear, but this guy is a jack-off who wants to play developer, but doesn't know how. You've gotten suckered into playing along with him. But he's got the cash, so you either play, or you tell him to screw himself and move on. It's really up to you. If the money is good, just do whatever he asks and STOP CARING about the software. It's clear that he's the developer here, not you. He's just paying you to write some code. Of course, depending on the situation you might be able to get some small concessions by exaggeration the limitations you're working with. Answers like, "that's not possible" or even "I don't know how to work like this"

CleaKO wrote:

Well I know for a fact that my employer will not allow 64-bit VPN software to be installed on a 64-bit system so that is a good reason not to go there.

Fair enough. Why not install the 32-bit VPN software on a 64-bit system, then?

Interestingly enough, USB is becoming something of a standard among devices. I see it on most phones these days, as well as MP3 players. It would be interesting to see it branch out to things not involved in computing. Seems like it would be a lot cheaper to develop around than building a proprietary charging interface.

I have been trying to get a rewrite of a horrible Access app we have here for 2 years. Good luck with that. Access is downright painful to develop for.

You have all these wonderful tools to make webpages look beautiful, all these neat controls, and lots of neat ways to display data. You have CSS and HTML, you have image editing programs. I'll even throw flash in there. That's coupled that with languages as powerful as anything on the desktop for creating user apps. In the world of native applications, we're stuck with the same old controls we've always had, just spruced up a little bit. WPF gives the designers the power to create beautiful applications, and programmers the familiarity and power of the VS environment. It's about bringing the elegance of a well designed web application to the desktop, with all the benefits a native app has that a web app can never have.

I'm under 30 and prefer my old Trinitron tubed CRTs, thank you very much!

It's not, if you ask me. It was used for Stargate movie, then for the series based on that movie: Stargate SG1, and then again for the spinoff series off Stargate SG1, which was Stargate Atlantis. Atlantis and SG1 and all happen in the same storyline as the Stargate movie, so it makes sense that the headquarters of the operation would stay in Cheyenne Mountain. As for the other series you mentioned -- I think they're probably just copycatting the idea from Stargate.

The Abrahamic religions are generally alone in that they believe there is some final end to things. Most religions believe in a cycle -- Birth -> Life -> Death -- that repeats endlessly. This is also a fairly scientific view to have as well, as all things ultimately started and will ultimately end (and begin again) with the Big Bang. If searching for a particular term steeped in common mysticism, one could say the end of the world (and consequently its new beginning) is Ragnarok. You might want to look into Eschatology. The wikipedia article for "End Time" is a pretty good spring board. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_time[^]

Yeah, but depending on how you're using it, they're a lifesaver. I end up having to test things that will probably break my machine quite frequently. Either that I am always asked, "Hey, test this on a clean machine." (e.g. one that has never had the software installed on it before.) The only sane way I know to do to that is to grab a snapshot, install the software, then toss the state. Or substitute snapshot with a linked clone. I haven't had any problems with snapshots in VMWare (yet.) But I have heard horror stories about them in VirtualBox. What really confuses me about VBox's snapshot manager is that it appears to be a tree, like VMWare, but it's actually just a linear nest.

Last time I checked, VirtualBox's snapshot management system sucked. What keeps me on VMWare is the ability to make snapshot trees, and the ability to make a linked clone. I can't really waste 10 minutes copying a 5GB image every time I need to create a new machine for something.

Any Office programming or automation has to be done in VBA, which is essentially VB6.

The only way that really works is to use a client-server approach. Think about how online games work. I don't know of any way to take a copy of World of Warcraft and make it work on their servers without actually buying it and getting an account key. You could also try and make your app web-based, if that's appropriate. Then each user has to have a username and password to use it. Then you never even give the code -- compiled or otherwise -- to your clients. I've seen all different kinds of copy protection, and I've seen them all cracked. EXCEPT for a client-server approach. You can't crack code that's running on someone else's machine. As other posters have said, it's really an issue of how high-profile your application is. It takes a lot of real skill to be able to crack something -- usually by disassembling it and modifying the assembler code. Not every script kiddie can do something like that, so you'd have to attract the attention of some very skilled people who have motivation to crack your software.

Realize it's just a job, and you're just there to get some work done in exchange for pay. Don't take anything personally. Make sure everyone knows that's your MO.

Rocky Moore wrote:

like the desktop is really starting to fade!

Does this have anything to do with year of the Linux desktop? xD

System Event Viewer!

There's almost a third option, and that's to stay, but only play the game on your terms. It might get you fired, but if you're planning to leave anyway, that's no big deal. I've played hardball before, and I got what I wanted. I think once you accept that something has to change, or you're going to leave a company, you can take on riskier attitudes or options. Depending on the market though, there may be nothing you can do. If you know it's going to be a PITA for your employer to replace you, play that card. Whether or not you know you'll be okay after you leave, present it to the employer as if you are in charge of the situation, and it's not going to hurt you one bit if you go -- you can get another job easily. Unless you're under a contract, or local law prohibits, you're in a mutual agreement with your employer, and you can walk out at any time. I think some of the other posters here are right about management just pushing because they can. For various reasons, management-types do that sometimes. Sometimes it's for the bottom lines, sometimes it's for a power trip. If you let them know you're not in for that, they'll either respect that about you, or find someone willing to take their shit. If it's the latter, you probably don't want to be working for them anyway. I guess the bottom line is, if you're taken advantage of, it's your own fault.

I vote the VM idea is the best. I wouldn't call it a significant issue, especially not equating it to a thermonuclear bomb. VM's are becoming so common that I think they'll eventually be considered "trivial". I run all sorts of things in VM's, server and workstation, and I love the technology. It's even to the point now that I won't run anything natively on a machine until I've first tested it in a virtual environment. Whether you have a dedicated, physical machine, or you're using a virtual one, you could setup a scheduled task of "shutdown -r" or what have you to make it restart at a convenient interval.

Maybe tell them you were a man of leisure for a few years? Extended vacation? Oh, oh, I got it! You were living off your investments for five years. None of those are false, but they don't go into the specifics of what your illness was. If you don't want to talk about it, I wouldn't even mention a medical reason.

I second this completely.

Get tinnitus. (I suggest a local metal concert -- stand right next to the speaker.) You will appreciate the white noise.