RoxxSoft Development Blog
Software
Small Firefox 3.6 Non Review
Jan 27th
Small Firefox 3.6 Non Review
A couple days ago, after installing Firefox 3.6, i noticed it went from bad to worse on resource usage, at least on my test computer it seems to have gone really bad, why? take a look at this pic:
So what’s wrong here? i just had three open tabs, none of them on heavy flash or java sites, just a couple simple forums and one blog, my test machine is not a top model, but this is not what’s wrong, i have a test PC with a 2.8 Ghz processor, 2 GB of ram and a 500 GB SATA II drive, NVIDIA FX5500 video card with 256MB of video memory, Windows XP SP2, this should be more than enough for web browsing, specially when nothing else is open but Firefox, and yet the computer gets so slow that opening something like Windows Live Mail or Messenger took some minutes, and switching between both Firefox and Mail/Messenger took several seconds, there were drawing issues, eventually Firefox took about 94 % of the CPU, and memory usage went up to 1 GB, crashing the computer, i was not able to save a screen shot or do anything but to reset the machine, the thing is, i had an older Firefox version installed on this same hardware with no issues at all, well, not like these at least, and i had Chrome and other software like Visual Studio which still works at top speed, by this i mean, it works very well on this hardware, is usable, given that Firefox is not running of course..
Yesterday i went on the net and noticed a couple of very nice reviews:
Here’s one at ArsTechnica
And another one at TechRadar
I’ll quote from the last link (emphasis mine):
There’s a brand new Firefox in town: Firefox 3.6. It’s not a huge update, but it does offer improved performance and stability
I guess we all do live in different worlds, could it be maybe that what we have here is a classical example of developers forgetting about all of those who do not have/can’t afford top of the line hardware? and that they are developing this software on their high end computers, where they can’t see the end result as seen by people with old hardware, really, who cares about them, let them buy new modern hardware for once right? have we fallen into the ‘hardware is cheap/fast so don’t waste time optimizing and writing small/fast code” trap?
I’m a little saddened by this, since one of the top reasons to use open source used to be that open source software is smaller, faster, light, and a ton of other things, everything but bloated (as in MS software), but lately, seems they have fallen for the same mistakes we’ve been seeing for decades now in those MS-like companies (even them seem to be going small and fast, just look at the VS Express Editions and even Windows 7 against Vista), it could be interesting maybe to go look up who is working on Firefox right now, and see if the people who used to work on it a few years ago are still working on it today, i wonder about that..
(yeah, i know working on a software piece this big is no child play, but Mozilla used to have very good developers)
What happened?
No joy here, just complaining you know :P
xShots 1.3 has been released!
Dec 24th
xShots 1.3 has been released!
Today i have released a new version of xShots, this is release 1.3, there are several things that did not happen as planned, it was a very slow update cycle, i had expected to come out with tons of new stuff by now but due to complications of time and other reasons, this was not possible.
Following is a small list of things that didn’t make it on this release:
- Originally i had planned for this release to include the new XUI skin engine i have been working on, but due to some issues with a partnership and code ownership, i had to drop that and wait for a later release.
- There was a new component in the xshots installer, the ToolBox, which is a small utility that allows to customize the images taken by xShots, and allows batch modifications to those images, but this will also have to be included in a later release, because of dependencies on the same XUI library i can’t release right now.
For this release, there were a couple small changes and some bug fixes, i’ve fallen back to the 1.2 code, enabled FTP support on this release, and have fixed several small bugs that were found on the 1.2 release, this is a small update, but its worth the update trouble just because of the Ftp support.
The new release can be downloaded from the xShots project page.
External sites will probably be updated in a couple days, meanwhile you can also get it directly from this link: xShots-v1.3.zip
Working on xShots 1.3
Oct 13th
Working on xShots 1.3
For the last couple weeks, i have been working on the new release of xShots, this will be version 1.3, for this version i have completed all the skin, so now all dialogs will be sharing the main window design, i also wanted this version to include a new tool i have been working on, but it seems i will have to wait until next version after this for that tool to be released.
After having a couple weeks off, i have noticed someone out there is stil claiming i stole xShots, i wonder how someone can keep lying so much, that ends up believing his own lies, this is a very sad situation, so much to be lost because of him not wanting to accept i have my own ideas and can do my own thing, hey dude, if you wanted to own my ideas, you could always hire me as a software designer and sign an exclusivity agreement, etc, oh yeah, and send a very big fat check every month :)
Because, you know, sometimes ideas are worth a lot :)
But anyway, as days go by, i continue to move on, and at the same time, i can see that site out there where someone is trying to discredit me, wanting to punish me for having my own ideas and following my own ideals and dreams, i guess you can’t make everyone happy…
I had to disable posting of comments on this site, due to someone coming and placing some spam and rather low comments about me and my company, i have noticed some people would like to comment here, sorry about that, i hope soon i will be able to restore comments.
I have completed the first phase of my skin library, XUI, which hopefully will be released with the next version of xShots and will be seen also on a couple other projects i am planning to release this month.
I am thinking about releasing the library as a separate project so that anyone can use it on their own projects, but i realize XUI needs to be polished more before that happens, anyway, time will tell.
If you like xShots and would like to see it improve and live a long life, please help out by promoting this site and getting out the truth about how it came to be, i will be working on a separate site for xShots soon!
Back to work now :) …
xShots version 1.2 released!
Sep 27th
xShots version 1.2 released!
NOTICE: Due to someone claiming i stole his code, because of some similarities between xShots and an application he has that is still can’t be found on the net, and due to me not wanting to deal with this absurd problem, i have removed Ftp support from xShots, however, i will add support for different web storage services in the future.
Changes for version 1.2
- Added tooltips to the UI buttons
- Changed the layout of the xShots Settings, the Shot Settings, and the Default Shot Settings dialogs
- Removed the ssl libraries which were needed to store ftp encrypted data
- Removed Ftp support, files can be saved only on the local drive
- Changed shots and settings file format to reflect the missing ftp support, your settings will be updated automatically
It will take a while for version 1.2 to be available from other sites, so please use the following download link:
Download from RoxxSoft’s server: xShots-v1.2.zip
It is really a shame that i had to cripple the application, but i want this person to stop lying about me and my business, so i have come to this in the hope that he will go away, i will not stop working on this app just because someone how has fallen into corruption as a means to improve his business sends is trying to scare me with a site and hate emails.
I’ve been very angry about this, i have sent several emails insulting him in his professional conduct, his child-like behavior about business competition, and his lack of honesty and maturity to handle this, he has not given up, so here i will continue working on xShots, i will not be afraid, i may not have a lot of money to fund a hate campain as he does and will do, but i will remain true and honest, whatever he does in trying to harm me, i will resits and will not give up.
How xShots Came To Be
Sep 27th
How xShots Came To Be
Where the idea came from
A couple months ago, while working on the help file for a project i was doing, i needed to add a few screen shots of the application dialogs, toolbars and some context menus, while doing this, it occured to me that it was a lot of work having to capture the entire window, then having to edit the image on some image editor, select and cut the required section, then save it as another file, and finally, add it to the help file.
I went on the next searching for some utility that would allow to save only one section of the window, to avoid all that long process of editing the images, i found a project named X-Shot 2002, which is made or was made by Nico S. Beck, a developer in Germany, it can be found on www.nsbnet.de, it worked as i needed, at least partially, it allowed me to draw a rectangle over the area i wanted to save, this was good since i didn’t need to edit the image anymore, only the section i had covered under the rectangle was saved to the image, but it has a very big limitation for me, it only supports to save one section of the screen at any time, if i want to save a different section, i have to go through the process again, draw a rectangle over the new area i want to save, then save the settings and click “Screenshot!” on the main window, and the old settings i had are lost after i save the new rectangle settings, this was not very good since i wanted to have several parts of each windows saved, at the end this only moved the problem from one place to another, i still needed to process each image separately.
Although i found the X-Shot 2002′s approach good, it was not enough for me, so i gave it a little thought for a week and then came with the idea for xShots, which main feature, basically, is to be able to save each shot settings under a name and reuse them as much as i want, any time i need them, X-Shot 2002 has a timer feature that allows to save a screen capture at regular intervals, it allows to set hour, minute and second for the shot, it allows the timer to loop, so a set of images will be saved until the timer is stopped, it also has a few default time options to select from, i wanted to have something similar, but for now, since i needed the app really soon, i just added a simple option to set the time in seconds, so that each time the seconds interval i set has elapsed, a new shot is taken, eventually i plan to follow the same approach as X-Shot 2002, but for now it was enough to me.
After quickly writing down my specs, i started to write the app by the end of August 2009, about three and a half weeks later, by September 14, i had a first beta ready, fully functional, and i uploaded it to several sites as well as my home page and blog, a couple days later, it was being noticed by a few bloggers here and there, nothing really to get too optimistic about, but i didn’t really care since it was a personal project with no other purpose but to help me do my work, i just thought that maybe someone else would find it useful, and so it seems a few people have found it interesting, i hope it of some use to them.
I have always thought of sofware as a piece of art, which is built by a developer as if he was adding a piece of his soul to each application he makes, good software must be unique, must provide a different, new, approach to an existing problem, or simply a good and correct approach to solve a new problem, that’s why good software will always remain in the memory of those who used it, and nobody will remember those who just copied somebody else’s work, just like a painting, nobody will remember those who just copy the mona lista, but everyone knows who came up with it first…
xShots public beta 2 available
Sep 14th
xShots public beta 2 available
I have updated the xShots beta to version 0.2, which means this is the second release of the public beta, features include:
- Small UI enhancements
- Enable/Disable shot with a very accessible check box in the shots list.
- Updated the New Shot translucent window with icons instead of simple text for the control buttons
- Several fixes in the core code.
Beta can be downloaded here: xShot-Beta-v0.2.zip
And don’t forget to visit the main project page at: xShots Project Page
Apple plugs loopholes in iPhone OS 3.1… old iPod/iPhone users? who cares!
Sep 11th
Apple plugs loopholes in iPhone OS 3.1… old iPod/iPhone users? who cares!
“Policy Requirement – The account… requires encryption which is not supported on this iPhone/iPod”
Well isn’t that nice? all iPhone before 3GS will stop working with this update, if the Exchange server they were connecting has encryption enabled, they will get that error message, and that’s it, buy a new iPhone please, or ask your admin to disable encryption, and yeah, of course, he will not, and other thing, new 3GS devices won’t be able to connect unless encryption is enabled on the Exchange server, bad luck, anyway.. you can always buy a new iPhone right?
Apple has, me thinks, a very bad “don’t fix it, buy a new one” issue, and not only in this case, i don’t know if they will ever release a patch for old iPod and iPhone user’s, but i think they should have done it at the same time that they released this update, but, the thing is, i think they simply don’t care, they have enough rich customers to care about that obsolete bunch who refuses to buy new just because some little change in the OS will result in their devices being unable to do something they were supposed to do, out of the box..
Yeah, there was a bug, and how Apple fixes that bug? well of course by making obsolete who knows how many iPods and iPhones out there, granted, not everybody uses that feature, but i can bet tons of people do, and i just find it ridiculous that i need to buy a new iPhone or iPod just because Apple thinks so, or ask for the admin to turn off encryption on the Exchange server, just because i want to (which will never happen)
This “buy a new one do not fix the old one” thing really has become part of Apple’s identity over the years, consumerism at its best.
Fortunately, i don’t need that feature, but i feel sorry for those who do use it, i really hate it when i am locked out of something i use daily just because someone didn’t even care, and i mean it, they simply didn’t care, this is software, there has to be a way to update old devices, they just don’t care.
More info at Apple Insider
xShots first public beta released!
Sep 9th
xShots first public beta released!
Today i have released the first public beta for xShots!
Shots is a screen capture application, it allows you to save any number of shots of the screen, but you are not limited to saving screen captures of the entire screen, instead, xShots allows you to select which parts of the screen you want to save, and it allows you to save the images locally, and to upload them to an ftp server in the background.
xShots is currently on beta, but it already supports all the features i have planned for the first release, with one exception, the upload manager dialog, which i am still implementing at this time. xShots supports saving images as bmp, gif, tiff, jpg and png files, supports multiple threads and has very little memory and CPU usage, it will also try to be very nice with your network bandwidth.
Also included with xShots, is my own UI library which is still on the works, so you may find a few quirks here and there, but nothing to get sad about :)
xShots is a completely free application, there are no restrictions in how you can distribute it as long as you don’t charge for it, for more information check the License and Distribution page on the help file.
If you would like to try xShots head over to the project page and download the beta: xShots Project Page, feedback is more than welcome and don’t forget to post your comments!
A pic here:
xShots
A wrong approach to outsourcing and how corruption can earn a good place in business. Part #1
Sep 3rd
A wrong approach to outsourcing and how corruption can earn a good place in business. Part #1
The last company i worked on, had a very wrong approach to outsourcing, apparently someone thought a good idea to send the project leaders on site, sometimes at the other side of the globe, in different time zones, while the developers and testers remained on our offices, this caused so many communication and trust issues that projects started to die all over the place.
A case i remember very vividly happened like this, we had to build a new installer our project, since we had just recently added a few components that required a windows restart and several modifications to the system, so i assigned a task to one of our guys, he started working on the installer, and while he was testing, he had to restart his own system each time he made big changes to the installer code, just because, you know, we didn’t have a testing machine, we only had our workstations for testing (yes, management was that cheap), so as it happens, our project leader goes online and sees our guy is offline, he immediately contacts me through IM and asks what’s going on, why isn’t he online? i explain the situation, he says, well OK, let me know when he will be back online as i need to know the status of that task.
After ending our chat, he goes and starts asking several team members about our guy, he goes even as far as saying that this guy hasn’t been on the office for two days or more, and that we are hiding his absence and helping in cheating our project leader, this was so comical, that we asked our guy to come online and end this situation, but of course that wasn’t enough, project leader simply said “you just got to the office didn’t you? you are going to get fired, you are lazy and have been missing because i have tried to contact you today and you didn’t show up”.
In a team where what the project leaders stated had to be taken as final, what chance we had to explain this was a mistake? the project leader was so disconnected from our team, that he didn’t even knew most of the new guys, and only through phone calls and chats we could get organized and have status meetings, which by the way, were awful, long and prone to mistakes and misunderstandings.
After a while, it became obvious this approach was terrible, so a few developers were tasked with local management issues and as bridges between the ‘real management’ on site and the developers, this caused even more trouble, since we talked directly to our local ‘leaders’, which most of the time, could not actually understand the issues and in turn they delivered wrong status reports to the on site leaders, this caused trouble and people started to fight each other for any reason at all, projects started to fall behind, the client didn’t knew what was going on, as management had a policy of silence and what happens on our offices stays on our offices, at the end, management had another idea, instead of sending the project leader to the client site, they created a new position on our side, a project leader that was going to handle all development and testing activities, as well as talking to the developers for any personal issues, meanwhile, the ‘fake’ project leader on site was supposed to continue working with the client as if he actually was the project leader, this caused still more disconnection and lack of trust from the developers, as we felt we didn’t have a voice since there were many layers between the client and ourselves, and we “knew too much” so we weren’t allowed to talk directly to the client, less we would bring the truth out by mistake..
It has been almost a full year since i left, and from what i have heard from friends and coworkers, things are still the same, and the company is still being listed among the best places to work, and receiving awards and creating a very good name for itself, while on the dungeons someone does the dirty work, someone up there receives an award for an excellent leadership..
That goes to show that on this industry, eye candy will always be valued more than actual content or features, and so it goes the same for software than for PR and the clients.
Site Updates
Sep 3rd
Site Updates
I have added a Downloads page where a few of my current projects or demos can be found and downloaded for free.
Also i have added a Projects menu and a couple pages for some of my current projects, i will be updating these pages as the projects grow and more releases are made, as of now, i have released two demos of the projects i am working on, nothing extraodinary but things are starting to move on :)
Kai
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