Better one ... :laugh:

private static void DoSplash()
{
Interaction.Shell(Application.StartupPath + "\\splashscreen.exe", AppWinStyle.MaximizedFocus, true, -1)
}

.. and God help us all ;P

Talks about productivity make me laugh for the following 2 simple reasons ... 1. Productivity in the strictest sense has no relation to accomplishment. It's strictly a number that provides (a fuzzy) relation between the "effort" your put and the "outcome" that is outputted. The fact that the middle factor "Strength/Capacity" is not even considered, makes it a very risky performance indicator to consider alone. 2. All the above mentioned factors have to do with the personality and character. The variety of working conditions, ones preferences, endurance, strength of discipline when it comes to demanding or things that we don't like doing affect what/when/how and how much of it we're doing. People should really learn first about the true meaning of words like productivity, effectiveness and efficiency before they start writing misleading articles about what is usually their personal experience. :|

Me too ... My case is somewhat more serious ... I forget to get up in the morning :D

The word Robot comes from the Czech word 'Robota' which means Labor. Following the actual meaning of the term, a robot is nothing more than a machine specified to do actual physical labor work. An android comes from the Greek word 'Andros' which means 'Man'. Although the word 'Android' focuses in the Human nature and not the particular differences of the male and female gender, it's clear that it doesn't relate to a Robot since nothing in its definition implies that it performs any labor or even moves for that matter. Artists today create androids from scrap metal. In ancient times we could say that statues were androids made out of stone, marble, gold, ... etc.

It's a software that provides features and capabilities that are beyond the clients scope and capacity to utilize !!! :laugh:

PROGRAMMER: It's an Business application that CAN help your Enterprise. SALESMAN: It's an Enterprise level business application that WILL help your Company. BOSS: It's an expensive software FOR the company. IT PERSON: It's an alleged 'business software' which the alleged 'Software Company' claims that if an alleged 'Enterprise' commits enough allegedly 'capable' human resources to operate the alleged 'application' the way it's allegedly supposed to work. It will allegedly 'provide' some alleged 'benefit' !!! There, i hope that clears everything out !! :laugh:

There is really, no golden rule here. To the same goal you can reach from different paths. The only thing that is common in all the cases is that the "student" somehow gets the job done. I don't know if it's because of experience, whits, knowledge or ... charm ;P !!!

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

martin_hughes wrote:

And give it five years and I expect things will have improved no end.

that's a bit contradictory to

martin_hughes wrote:

Still, there are opportunities out there

don't you think? I mean that if the opportunity suddenly pops up in front of you 5 years from now, it doesn't mean that it exists today, does it?

I the college did make such a guarantee in order to get people to enroll, then there is a legal basis for the law suit. Of course things will get a lot more complicated in trial as to what the 'guarantee' word means and if it was written in a binding contract and such ..

I AGREE !!!

Of course, i'm talking about the insulting thing app :laugh: Seriously, Bosses are very prone to smart sale pitches. They get dazzled hearing about the "What that new system can do !!" so very selected few ask the "How it is done?" and none asks the "Who will do it?". As for your question, it's simply a matter of trust. They don't trust you but they trust the company that has more developers, is making a living out of their product, have technical support and finally the "If they sell this software for this long and others buy it, it must be good" mentality. The truth is that successful salesman put to work a mix of both character as well as technical knowledge. IT personnel usually is far behind the company front lines (production) and cannot see the actual problems. It takes a lot of time to realize and understand how inapropriate information handling/storage/flow evolves to real life production problems and difficulties. I'm a programmer in vb.net, web programmer & sort of designer, CAD expert, BIM expert, Electronics & Robotics expert, Automation engineer, CNC proffesional, ... etc. It takes a lot a patience and a bit of acting to get your boss to assign you to such a monumental task of defining how his entire factory will handle information. If you play it right, he'll be the one asking for it and your gonna be the sceptical one (usually it's the other way around). PS: Helper apps are good but applications that simply patch up other problems may very well be the reason why your boss doesn't get the hint. If he has the "if it works don't fix it" way of thinking, putting your finger on the hole doesn't help you or him. It's good to know that a patch in the form of a help application usually adds an extra level of process in the line and that consumes time which is the greatest and the most limited resource of all.:thumbsdown: :(

I'm lucky enough to actually work on this very same project on my construction company. Sometime though, i do feel like it's gonna go for nothing because it requires diciplined people to work it. Building something like that in theory is nice but practical problems kick in immediatelly making it extremmely hard to make it flexible, easy and fast enough to cope in a full blown production (hell) line of a mid class company such the one (and million others) i'm working in.

If it's for a one man team (i mean only me) then sorry but i'm not that stupid to accept such a proposal. Finance means you have to give back in return and the more you get the more (quantity OR quality) you have to output. If i can hire a team then sorry again but there is no such thing as a dream project, only dream TEAM. If i can sum the best in the field, i can do whatever ... Not to be offensive cause i really like the hypothesis of your question but the problem is not money. It was never really about money. It's about time. Give me 24h a day without having to work for food/rent/gas/water/power/ccard (not that i have one), ... etc (for me and my family) and i'll work not only on my dream project, which currently i don't know what it is, but i might also take yours as well ... :-p

Music tends to act in 3 different ways, depending on the type of music, surrounding environment and difficulty and complexity of a task. If you are in a noisy office environment with fax, phones or perhaps people traffic like a reception or an information desk or something, music acts more like a relaxing and soothing agent. It's nearly impossible to code there so music tends to make it a bit easier. If you hear a familiar music or some grand 80s hit that you so much like. Chances are you're going to start moving your feet under the desk or play drums with your hands (letting go of the keyboard that is). If that happens, well then it's true what they say ..... "If you're having fun then you're not working !!!". If you need to muster every single brain cell to do the task in hand, then you need to be undistracted and probably isolated from any contact with other people so in that case Phones, Fax, IM, e-mail notifications, Other people, Kids, External noises (cars, public works, ... etc) is a big problem.

Some black ideas ... "Come a little bit CLOSER !!" "Welcome" "Come, lye next to me !!" "Here, shall lye YOU !!" Some humor ... "AHHH, Watch your STEP !!!" "Waiting for Microsoft Tech support !!" "Was Running Vista"

You're right, my apologies, allow me to better rephrase that .. Some programmers who could perform 'Profitably' with their skills have a hard time keeping a job because they try to market their theoretic potential instead of their actual skills. From a Bosses point of view that's just wrong because the JOB of a programmer doesn't lie within the boundaries of experimentation and learning. That's just my point though, nobody has to agree with that ... :|

There is literally tons of misconception regarding the 'Programmer' as a JOB and the 'Programmer' as something OTHER THAN A JOB. The JOB of being a programmer has to do primarily with Results (which translates to Money) and secondarily with skills & knowledge (if you're fortunate to have that kind of boss). The programmer as a hobbyist is primarily about personal development, achievement and self esteem for the sole purpose of either becoming a professional one day or simply to have fun. Nobody says you can't have both but in real life, Work you do in the office (that means, making money for your boss) and Training you do at home and on your own free time (either to get better at your job or if you don't have any social life). The conclusion is that IT in general can be either a tool or a toy. Skills and knowledge by themselves is like having the ability to joggle with shovels. It's very impressive but no matter how many different moves and tricks you can do with them, that just won't cut it if your job is to DIG holes !!! PS: Excellent programmers are out of the job because they try to market their theoretic potential (venture) rather than hard facts (results).

There are more that 1 reasons why people dislike Vista and stick with XP. 1. Vista represent a different era in computer science since many things that were, are no more. 2. Old admins have trouble adjusting to what may look like an extreme categorization of options and functions ( I miss IIS6 !!), which sometimes make them think that they're back in their hacking and learning days but with a much slower learning (dinosaur) brain. 3. The GUI may seem cluttered and sometimes not too 'Obvious' to use. 4. Ok, let's face it. The world has still a lot to learn with Vista. I mean, it's somewhat difficult to not find an article on the net that doesn't explain in detail even the most bizzare and innexplicable behaviour of XP. 5. DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT ... i'm not saying it's bad but the truth is that it forces a lot of people into the legal pipe. Of course there are workarounds (i think) !! 6. XP has Home and Pro (not counting the Embedded and x64) ...... Vista has Home, Extra, Proffesional, Platinum, Buisness, Ultra, Supersonic and who knows what other crazy version variation .... Now seriously, there are 2 kinds of computers ... for users and for developers. Still not sure what the match of XPPro is for Vista. 7. I really hate the START menu, the animations, the bread crumb navigation, the constant indexing of the HDD. I'm a developer and i want to work FAST and without the flashy mambo jumbo crap. I've set my XP machine to the classic windows 2000 theme (you know, the one with the grey windows) to not get distracted. Of course, it's personal preference but it would be nice to have a 'Developer' edition to them. 8. LEAVE THE CPU ALONE .... More CPU/GPU power to spare doesn't mean you have to take it. Jeeezz! 9. The Bermuda triangle is here .... My wife had 'Office' dissapear all of the sudden. A budy of mine had his Media center gone and he couldn't get it back. They didn't have Internet nor they did install any other software. 10. Are they a bit more pricey than XP or is it me? Before you all start flaming me, i'm a pretty good developer (web, .NET) and i know a bit about security so don't go saying you have spyware or something. PS: I'm thinking of getting a x64 CPU machine which i will fit Windows XP Pro x64 (If i can find them that is) !!!

That's a tough one and it really depends on the reason. If you're tired and old (for programming i mean) then the next most logical thing is to step up to management if you can. Management requires both expertise on technology as well as experience on programming. Of course it takes a lot more than that but that's what it is required (mostly) from a technical point of view. If you have other reasons that physically restrict you from such an activity, well .... i really don't know what conditions you're facing (if any i mean) so i can't suggest something. In any case though, dealing with a problem may require actions that might not be as convenient.