Up-vote on OneNote. Plus if you use OneDrive with it you get redundancy and can access your info from web, phone, etc. Link or insert documents, can OCR images, searches on everything, tagging, integration to other Office apps... not sure what else you need. Killer app.

Awesome flashbacks - hilarious.

I think it really depends on personal preferences. I switched to 2x24 about 3-4 years ago and didn't look back. In this past year I updated to 3x32 - main work area (VS/SQL), communication (email/Skype), and task list/miscellaneous. The two side monitors are in portrait mode. I still ALT+TAB, but I don't have to do that as much. A quick glance to side monitors lets me see what I want without needing to play through the multiple ALT+TAB sequences. It's easy to argue I have WAY too many windows open (I likely do), but it's my working style and it works well for me. Given how cheap monitors are now it's not hard to justify the cost vs. productivity savings. Heck, it used to be $2k for a 19" CRT, so getting 3x32" LED for less than that is awesome. Plus I get a nice tan :) Six monitors wouldn't work for me - can't imagine craning my neck upward constantly (I can only imagine the top monitors being useful for monitoring status vs. working desktop space). Six monitors seems overkill to me, but if it actually works for him (vs. him just trying to make his workstation look kick-ass) then who are we to judge?

Without getting into precise details of what you're looking for (list of types of icons, sizes, style, etc) I would suggest taking a look at IconShock. A wide variety of styles and, unlike many others, very reasonable pricing. There are tons of icon providers out there but I haven't seen any that have the selection and variety that IconShock does for the price (no - I am not affiliated with them). Biggest complaint about them would be their small icons - while some providers will actually have a different "version" of an icon below 32 pixels, they do not. The result is barely distinguishable icons - it's a beautiful detailed picture of a printer at 64 and 128, but at 16 it just looks like a blob. For simpler/metro-style you may consider SyncFusion (which I believe I saw someone else mention).

Not sure what to recommend for AV solutions - every one of them has had problems of some sort. Most reviews are not independent, they change over time, and even comparisons done in the same time interval seem to conflict. Ratings of proper detection, false positives, impact on system (memory and cpu cycle footprint), ease of use and configuration, ease of central management, etc. I was originally a Norton/Symantec guy but into the late 90s and early 2000s their software became a big, heavy, expensive brick. Unreliable, difficult to manage, slowed PC's to a crawl, and damn near impossible to cleanly uninstall. I also worked with McAfee during the same period (different clients) - overall better experience than Norton but still not a fan of their central management and detection rates. Since then I've either worked directly with or had clients (and friends/family) who had AVG, Avast, TM, Kaspersky, MSE (and WIndows Defender), etc. For network deployment Kaspersky is ok (I have no idea why you don't like them based on a "Russian sounding name" - please tell me that you don't trust Google, Apple, or MS!). For personal use I've been ok with MSE, but it certainly hasn't been perfect - small footprint but not 100% detection.

As you mentioned, MSE is free. Don't like it? Join the club. But AV software choices are like banks - you will find that every one of them has a hate-club. And it's hardly fair to expect AV companies that are independent of OS companies to give away their software based on your logic. Using that same logic, your home security should be free, right? Because the people that built your home should be 100% responsible for it's security? Even if you leave your doors unlocked? And your car? Is the manufacturer responsible if it's stolen or items are stolen from inside? They took the time to build an electronic key much harder to bypass than the old metal keys, but then you left the doors/windows open or left your keys with a "trusted" valet... is that the manufacturer's fault? Clearly there are instances where the manufacturer has to accept some level of responsibility - like a lock that fails to work, or the case of the Ford van keys that weren't unique allowing van owners to start other people's vans. And OS providers clearly have had bugs that leave us vulnerable. And they fix the ones that are reported (though some faster than others). But I don't see how they can be responsible for every stupid action that someone takes. You open an unknown attachment from an unknown sender, get infected and that's the manufacturer's fault? Is it their fault when you contact that guy in Nigeria to split the millions that he's safely siphoned and trying to move to a US bank? What about when you turn off your firewall? We each have our own responsibilities - the manufacturers have to accept theirs and we have to accept ours. On a similar note - all security comes at the cost of convenience. MS could block you from opening or running your email attachments that it "thinks" are bad, but then you will lose the convenience of opening attachments that are actually safe but detected as being potentially harmful. Some thing with every website you go to (with all of the script that runs on it), every application you launch, and everything you do on your system. Seems to me that MS tried to do that with Vista and the backlash was horrendous. It's a no-win situation - the extra security comes at a cost and convenience/access comes at a cost. Ever hear of the Patriot Act ;) That's my two cents anyway!

I suspect everyone will jump on board the "call a lawyer" train. In my experience a lawyer is just going to send you on the path of least resistance - ie. "yes you should buy insurance". It's a liability for them to have a legal opinion that tells you not to buy insurance. Consider what happens if you get sued and you have a legal opinion from your lawyer saying that you didn't need insurance? You'd then be in a position to sue them. So you may want to just save on your legal expenses and apply it directly to the insurance. I think the bigger question may be "what type of insurance do you need" and "how much". The problem with asking a lawyer about that is that (for most of them) 1) this isn't their area of expertise and 2) see paragraph number one (they'll likely recommend complete coverage at high amounts). My advice - call around to multiple insurance providers to get their opinions on what you need. Yes, they're going to try to sell you on more insurance than you likely need, but if you call multiple providers you also have the opportunity to compare and contrast. Some will come in with a lower quote because they don't believe you need options that others are insisting on. Get the reasons for the recommendations and then proceed from there. One final tip - if you are the sole developer this obviously puts you at more risk. However, this also likely means that there are bigger fish involved with this project. In the case of lawsuits most companies will go after the biggest fish (at least that's what our insurance provider told us) because they have the bigger policy. If the odds of you being targeted is lower because there is one or more bigger fish then your premiums should be less. Best of luck. I'd personally be interested in a follow-up to see how you made out. Cheers

OriginalGriff has it bang-on for the advantages/disadvantages. And as others have said, routine and discipline are key. I will add that having a clear divide between work and home is also important. Previously your walk/bike/drive to work provided that separation, but when only a few steps separates your work and home then you need to establish other barriers. The family should be able to respect the fact that you're working if you can also respect the fact that this is their home.

To all the VB haters: Everyone always gives "On Error Resume Next" as the example of why VB is so horrible. Yes, using that is horrible coding - absolutely zero argument on that point. But remember that this technique is generations old. Best Practice absolutely encourages Try/Catch - maybe MS should have removed support for the old methods, but if they did then you can imagine the backlash from developers who are trying to migrate older code. Everyone would be complaining that MS has failed to support effective migration! Every language evolves, as has VB. Damn near 100% of the complaints that I see about VB are about the coder and not the framework. I've seen crap code in every language out there. I do agree that there's likely the perception that there is more crap code in VB, but I also believe a lot of that can be attributed to the number of programs that were written in VB historically, many by younger developers learning to code. Who on this forum believes, for one minute, that ALL C# code is being written by experienced developers? I can guarantee that in the years ahead we'll all be looking back at all the green developers that have been thrown into C# projects and seeing a flood of complaints about their crap code as well. No different than PHP or Ruby. Crap code isn't just good error trapping, it's also consistent naming conventions, adequate comments, good class structure, proper OOP, effective use of patterns, etc. VB supports all this just as well as C#. VB will NOT stop someone from writing bad code. Neither will C# - at best it reduces, by a VERY small fraction, the opportunity for writing some bad code. But when you consider all of the things that can make bad code, it doesn't take long to realize that C# can't stop 99.9% of it. Buying a Ferrari doesn't make someone a better driver. /endrant To the OP: If you like VB, great. I will say that, these days (as you are discovering), it is likely becoming harder to find work in that field. And whether you decide to push towards C# or some other platform you have to recognize that, as a developer, you will constantly need to be learning and that (very important) over your lifetime you will have to learn new platforms or risk becoming obsolete and out of work. That has nothing to do with VB... the same fate can befall you in any platform. Be prepared to continue learning - it's the nature of this career path. If you find work in VB, great, but I would still encourage taking the time to continue your C# learning. I don't agree

Not sure about film off-hand. But for TV you should definitely check out "The IT Crowd". "Have you tried turning it off and on again..."

Well done. Good luck with the application.

that was going to read "diction", right?

"100% of the management was competent" You're funny. I like you ;)

How are Apple and Google not more invasive? People want tight integration without needing to think about it. These days that means not even having to deal with enabling a single service. When Apple automatically enables a service like this they are praised for being forward thinking and easy-to-use; when Microsoft does it they are the enemy. Frankly getting a little sick of seeing the M$ reference to Microsoft as well. Have people not read about the stock prices and cash coffers of Apple, not to mention the premium they charge (and people continue to pay) for their products? Heck, Apple PRIDES itself on charging a premium and this is how they keep their investors happy - this is not opinion, but well documented fact. I'm not a Microsoft fan-boy, but I will defend anyone when I see ridiculous double-standards at play.

Exactly! 1.2M will get you a 5-10,000 sqft home on the water, with a guest house big enough for me :) There are cheaper and more expensive places in the Maritimes too, but even the most expensive is going to be many times cheaper than any city-house in the UK. For even better deals check out the southern US (though you'll be hard pressed to find local skiing, unless you're ok with water skiing).

Life in the Canadian Maritimes is decent enough. We have a few skiing options within reasonable driving distance (though they're not big hills) - and better options if you don't mind driving a bit further and/or depending where in the Maritimes you are looking. Summer's are warm, but typically not hot. Oil & Gas in the region, good schools (at least in our area), mild cultural madness (all part of living in the maritimes), child friendly, etc. Cost of living is decent - salaries are typically not as high as major centers, but $300-400k will also buy you a really decent house so it all balances out. And in the case of a zombie apocalypse, Nova Scotia was one of the safe-zones mentioned at the end of World War Z :)

I'm far from being a lover of all things Apple (just ask my family or anyone that knows me), but to be fair it always takes some time to adjust to another OS. I similarly had difficulty using Apple/Mac since I've been a Windows user for so long, but that can't all be blamed on the OS. Sheep or not, Apple users similarly have a problem switching to Windows. Now on to my diatribe... My biggest criticism of Apple is that their product would be better if they spent as much time perfecting a functional and intuitive UI/UX as they did: 1. Trying to make something new and unique not because it's better, but because it is unique to them and they can tell people that it is better 2. Suing people over implementing techniques similar to those they created in #1 (even more frustrating knowing how much they've ripped off from others - I love to point out to Apple fanbois the original ipod designs from the British shoe salesman) 3. Marketing it and convincing the sheeple that their is no substitute (in some cases, copying others in the process and acting as if they were the first to bring this idea to the world - "wow, a flat design aesthetic, that's just brilliant") My biggest criticism of Windows on the UI/UX front is their desire to cram new things down people's throats (ribbons, start menus, etc.). I know Apple does it all the time, but that's their market and their users (whether they realize it or not) expect it. Nearly every flaw that can be tied back to the failure of the acceptance of Windows 8 in the marketplace was predictable - and not in a 20/20 hindsight case, it was well known from test groups and pre-launch feedback. But still they pushed ahead. Bold. And stupid. As for Apple the corporation and it's leaders - to my knowledge (and I welcome corrections if I'm wrong), Apple has contributed far less to the community than other market-leading companies. Microsoft and Google both actively pursue research and are more open than Apple - Microsoft has become significantly more open over the last decade and really hasn't received enough credit for it. And as much as I may respect Jobs as a businessman, he was ruthless (even ripping off Wozniak if the rumours are true); I sincerely hope Gates is better remembered in the future (not for his business endeavours, but for his philanthropy). Don't get me wrong - I know Gates/Microsoft, Google/Skynet, and others have some dark facts too. The rest of my dislike for Apple has more to do with the blind hypocritical followers than with Apple itself - but

That does give a more clear picture of things. To be fair, it's easy to fall behind in tech - especially these days. Having the original owner still involved and either insistent that the old stuff still works or that the redev is not worth it is harmful as newbies trying to insist that a complete redev is necessary every time a new language/framework/etc comes out. Still, running a DOS app would certainly put the company in the minority of successful companies in today's world. Finding a good way to bridge between the old and new "gracefully" is certainly one of the bigger challenges so there's no doubt that you have your work cut out for you. I can't believe (no matter how talented you may be) that they're putting the fate of the company in a single developers hands. That's a lot of pressure on you. We have a local company here that I believe was getting into the tradeshow market as well - I even talked to them at one time about mutual opportunities since we have done a lot of work with Kiosks, which have become quite popular at trade shows. Keep your head down and good luck!

There is definitely some things to be concerned about here, but the biggest in my books is that this company was already a minimum of decade behind before you even mention mobile/tablets. You're not trying to catch up on the last couple of years of doing nothing - you're trying to catch up on over a decade of not upgrading the product. DOS-based? Flat-files? Can you create a tablet solution to show off at a trade show in the next few months? Sure. Can you create a working tablet solution that is connected to a "turn-of-the-century" POS solution in that time frame? Hard to say because I don't know how complex the system is, how many people have been working on it, and how much work has already been done. But I don't think it matters how many resources you have to throw at it at this point if you're not already very close to being there. The core concern though is the approach taken to this - is the system being updated or is the approach to make the absolute minimum changes necessary to "look updated". The phrase "lipstick on a pig" comes to mind if its the latter. My two cents for the company - if the situation is truly as you have depicted it and they are this far behind, there is simply no way that the product will be brought up-to-speed with the competitor you mentioned in that short a time frame unless the POS is very simple or there's been a really good team working on it for the past year+. Otherwise trying to do it and push it to market has a high likelihood of failure - customers that may have been willing to wait for a decent solution will jump ship sooner once word spreads that the first attempt at entering the 21st century is a horribly designed, bug-ridden failure that lacks half the features of your competitors and your legacy system. Not that the company can afford a "take the time to do it right" approach given where they are! If they are this far behind in product innovation there is likely little you can do about many of the customers you're going to lose in the next 6-12 months, but that doesn't mean the business will close its doors either (though there are many factors we don't have here like the qty of existing customers, sales force activities, whether revenues streams are sales based or service based, the specific market this POS is targeted at, does the competition's product have the same features, product stability, and price, etc.). Get a good team together to work on a solid solution to bring to market in the next year and consider short-term plugs to satisfy exist

If you google "*any-voip-solution* + problems" you're going to get results. First, because everything has problems at some point, second because anyone with problems now posts it, and third because too many voip users have no clue that using their magic jack on a 56k dial-up connection while watching lolcats on youtube may not work well. Since you're on CP I know that you know the quality of your internet (my inlaws had Magic Jack and couldn't understand why it wasn't working on a public internet connection at a campground - any ideas?). I've been researching phone solutions recently as well and my two cents would be to go with something like Skype for your needs. Messing around with Magic Jack and others is likely just a waste of time - you're not likely going to find something that costs you less than $3/month that is any good and (even if you can) do you want to be spending hours searching for this solution versus spending that whopping $3? Skype (and others) offer you a really low risk trial - shell out a few bucks and try it for a month. If you don't like it, then move on to the next option. Some of the key advantages of Skype are pay-by-minute credits and unlimited options, no additional hardware requirements, recognized name (you won't likely get any raised eyebrows by asking someone to call you on Skype vs. MyCheapVOIPLine123), and used by millions (though I will admit number of users does not necessarily make something great). Good luck. Let us know which way you choose to go and how it works out for you.