Aug 8, 2007
CruiseControl.NET is a great open source tool for continuous integration (CI). Yet, the default settings are quite permissive, and unless you’re working on an open source project as well, you might prefer restrict the accesses to your sole team. I have found that securing CruiseControl.Net while keeping a developer-friendly environment is not such an easy task. This post is a summary of the various steps needed to secure your CI server.
Jul 28, 2007
Due to popular demand, I have finally open-sourced my RESX utilities. All the content (source code as well as binaries) is now available at resx.sourceforge.net, released under the GPL open-source license.
The release includes RESX Editor a simple yet efficient RESX file editor. It can be very handy if the translator is not too much familiar either with XML or with Visual Studio.
The release also includes Resx2word a RESX to Microsoft Word converter.
Jul 17, 2007
I have recently migrated all the DNS data of Lokad.com toward DnsMadeEasy.com, a provider specialized with DNS hosting. For a long time, it did not even crossed my mind that such low cost independent service would actually exists.
DNS stands for Domain Name System. In simply words, the DNS converts the domain name address into a IP address.
Why do I need to know anything about DNS? As a webmaster, DNS are most usually completely handled by your hosting provider.
Jul 4, 2007
Anthea has just acquired PeopleWords.com. PeopleWords was my first mISV project. My efforts being invested in a more ambitious project (namely lokad.com), I was not able to push PeopleWords any further. Thus, selling was a natural option.
This post is a modest attempt to gather the few noticeable elements about this experience.
Auction websites do not work There are places (ex: eBay, SitePoint) where you can sell websites through auctions. I tried, and in the end, it was pure waste of time.
Jun 16, 2007
I have just finished to migrate all the web content of Lokad.com into a brand new skinned Screwturn wiki instance. Thanks to the design skills of Sergey Pozhilov, the result does not look bad :-) .
I have been writing about wiki misuses in the past. One of my recommendation of at the time was do not use wikis for public diffusion. I still believe that this recommendation is a good one (even highly popular forums have hard time to get anybody contributing to a wiki).
Jun 12, 2007
I have been proofreading a couple of time C# source code written by former C++ developers. Also C# and C++ have a lot in common at the syntax level, the conceptual framework underlying the two languages is really different. This post is a negligible attempt to point out the most common issues.
C# is garbage collected. You should not need any destructor. If you are using destructors, then it’s probably wrong 99% of the time.
May 31, 2007
Outsourcing parts of your IT developments can be highly cost effective. While running Lokad.com, I have outsourced most of the work for 3rd party connectors (23 of them at the time) and I am considering the outcome as more than satisfying since I would never have achieved the same amount of work without outsourcing, considering comparable delays and financial investments.
This document is a small guide for mISV or ISV that might be willing to go freelance too.
May 24, 2007
Spammers are legions, and unfortunately, most recent systems are just very weak against adversarial behavior. In the last few months, I have just noticed no less than 4 new kinds of spammers.
Spam 2.0 released, buy now!
P2P spam targeting file-sharing applications such as Emule. The basic idea is the following: spread, through the P2P application, a virus that breaks into the P2P application itself. Once the P2P application is infested, all the incoming requests will return the virus wrapped under the name of the incoming query.
May 23, 2007
TCO stands for “Total Cost of Ownership”. The concept has been known for decades, yet when it comes to software, even IT professionals have real difficulties to make correct TCO estimations. It’s true that software TCO is a difficult task: first, it’s really hard to compare products especially if the products involve hundred of features as it is usually the case, second, TCO heavily depends on the way you are actually using the product, MS Excel has an excellent TCO if you want to make some personal budgeting operations, but the TCO would be abysmal if you would try to use MS Excel as an accounting system for your mid-size company.
May 12, 2007
New (and soon to be deprecated) technologies are just flowing in the Software industry. Some people pointed out that you can’t stop improving your product just to keep the pace with the release flow (that’s the fire and motion theory. Yet, being an ISV, your options are quite limited. You have to rely on the latest (yet stable) technologies in order to maintain a highly competitive productivity.
Rewriting from scratch your application to support the latest Foo.
