I agree that it depends on what you're backing up. But instead of using a flash drive to backup my source code of my documents I'd rather use directory synchronization on my other HDD than to sync with a flash drive that I find a lot less reliable. I had 2 memory stick an both broke in less than 3 months. I do not agree with the 5 years duration of a writable cd because I still have readable cds that I made with my 2x burner while I had my 486 in 1994. They still works and it's been 13 years now. Data retention is supposed to be 100years with cds, not five. I know that in reality 100 years is a bit optimistic but if the cd is kept in a box and properly stored, it can last a lot more than 5 years.

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

Flash memory is terribly cheap, and handles easily so why not use that as backup? It is cheap..er than years ago but have you ever tried to backup a 500GB hd full of movies and vids on flash memory!?? It'll cost you like 5000$. Backup is for safety an data retention and cd/dvd are good for 100 years. You'll be very lucky if your flash drive still works after 10 years. So backup on flash drive is, IMHO, a very stupid idea.

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

Men, you must be the problem because I only toasted one DVD in the past 6 or 7 years and is was my fault. If you burn DVD of games you've downloaded via torrent site, it almost sure that you will toast dvds. Try mounting them with Daemon tools first and if they works, burn them... I had 3 dvd burners of 3 different brands and I should have tried almost 15 different brands of media and they are all good. Even bought 50 dvds for 12.99$ and they're still in usable...

That not exactly true because IE is not totally compliant with the latest release of html standards by W3C but Firefox is. So, your optimizations refers mostly on non-standard html tag use which should not exists because it won't be rendered correctly in any browser but IE. Problem which in my opinion is more a hassle than a plus when it comes to webpage design. I think IE oriented pages will tend to disappear in the near future since a lot of people now use other browsers to "surf" than IE. I think of browsers like: Firefox opera konqueror netscape aol safari etc...

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

IE is flaky, is taking forever to close when a page is not rendering correctly. It also has a lot of difficulty with networks that has a weak connection. It is targeted by a lot of hackers and malware vendors. It is not easily expandable like firefox. Finally, IE follows the other browsers in terms of features and ease of use so that making it a poor browser. Do you need any other reason? PS. Indeed, if you can't install firefox because you don't have enough rights on the computer you're working on, IE can do the job. It is not evil, just not as good as firefox.

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

You're f***n dumb to think RIAA and MPAA puts drm to avoid pirating movies and stuff. From the beginning of computing people stole code, programs and data everywhere. That is not new. But manufacturer are always trying to boost their profits because a company that does not grow, is shrinking. So, if you don't find ways for making your customer buying your stuff, you'll be constrained to bankruptcy. Media giants are selling a whole lot of music, movies and other contents, but the offer is always very high and the demand tend to diminish due to all the free media content on the net, so they are trying to sue everybody that is posting media content under copyright to the www and obligate people to buy their stuff instead of sharing it with each other. That a reaction of the industry to boost their sales. For sure, that is not to protect artists and movie makers. They are all very rich and they don't care about people who buy their disc. If they did care, they'll sell them at much lower prices so we'll prefer to buy a real genuine version for 10$ of quality instead of a crappy, poorly compressed version that we download and delete after viewing it. I'm sure that a dvd doesn't cost 30$ to make, I can buy a pack of 50 dvds for 16$... so stop trying to make us pay too much, sell at the real price and we'll buy it. Until then, happy downloading for every one.

Oh my god, you're SO right. It's a chance my company have a good internet provider and they provide fast machines because I tried to load at my parents house (athlon xp 1900+) with a medium speed internet and it took 3 minutes each time the HUGE, massive and completely overkill tree has to load. That was a very frustrating evening!:mad:

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

Winrar support both zip and rar, as well as many other archive type. The shell extension is great and really easy to use. I stopped using zip files when I was unable to unzip after a backup on a cd on which I verified the data written. It's just not rar. And for the one who said that winrar ask for money, they don't use winzip because it do it too!

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

That's exactly what I do, I have like an home-made docking station from which I plug external drives, keyboard mouse and stuff. But I sure miss the raw power that a desktop gives you and I curses the lack of upgrade capability of the laptop. I youre not a gamer and you don't use VS2005, you should be ok with a laptop, but the desktop is sure more versatile. But more static... It's really up to your needs...

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

Try them on then you'll be able to see which one you prefer.

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

Håkan Nilsson wrote:

Montreal sounds very french to me

Montreal is sure "frenchier" than other parts of canada but for your information, I work on the west side of the island and a lot of my coworkers are not even speaking a bit of french, neither does their children. So, it is not true that you must understand french to live in montreal. Many restaurants, store and facilities if not all of them requires bilingual worker. Espescially on the west side of the island. Well, I am a french canadian (by that I mean that I learned english in the regular scholarship classes) and I think my english is not too bad. I'm also only 24 years old so I've time to improve my english skills.

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

There're lots of cities in canada that could fullfill all youre requests. I've read the comments about Vancouver and I've been there myself and I would doubt that it is a good place to stay for a long time because it rains all the time. When I went there, it was the 22nd straight rainy day! Also, the house prices and rental are very high and it's hard to find a place to stay. The trip I did there cost me (for four people) 16 000$ for a 7 days vacation. Ok, I went to a ranch that cost a lot but, it's still pricy. Now Montreal, I live in montreal and english is mandatory in certain parts of the city. Most people can answer a question in english and english people are generally welcome in any store/attraction/school. If you live on the island, rental is acceptable but houses are kinda high. I rent a 4½ for 650$/month heated in a good neighborhood near a park and subway. I go to work by bike easily and it's the hottest city in the province of quebec in term of temperature. In resumé, Montreal can be a good choice. Quebec city is more french than montreal but is not bad too. This city is less populated than montreal (400 000 instead of 1 500 000 for the island of montreal). If you want a place to work, both cities are good but there's more computer oriented companies in montreal than in quebec. For a senior developper, I guess the wages could approach 80 000$/year. Another option could be a city in ontario where people speaks english and the climate is a bit hotter than in quebec and montreal. I heard the rental is very high in big cities but there're lots of smaller cities with good employment possibilities in which the rent prices can be lower. For the middle canada provinces (alberta, saskachewan, manitoba) I know people that went there and they say it was boring and there's no mountains so forget skiing. There're are great skiing mountains in quebec (near montreal as well as near quebec city) and there are lots of outdoor activities to do in the quebec province. Immigration is common in Canada and if you're not a criminal, it would be easy to come to Canada! hope that helps If you have other questions, email me!

Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

My left screen is 1600x1200 (21" crt) and my right screen is also 1600x1200 (20" lcd) I also use the multiple desktop power toys from microsoft to be able to have a lot of opened apps that I use everyday. :cool: Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltee.

I'm trying to open a c++ dialog from the automation model of VS 2003 and VS 2005. It's is really easy to do it from VB or from C# but it seems impossible to do it from a C++ project because everything is stored in the resource file and can't be accessed via the usual Solution.Projects.ProjectItem.open() way. X| Does someone know how to open a resource symbol with the resource editor programmatically? Thanks Jean-Michel Aubin Software Engineer Imaging division Matrox Electronics Ltd.