introducing meta_tree

I finally got some time to implement a small amount of my meta_tree project.
meta_tree (always lowercase) is an NT-only implementation of my own file-meta-data managing-software.
It gives you the possibility to add meta-data ("tags") to your files.
It is aiming for people who are organizing their data heavily on folders and find it difficult to find and reorganize their structure to changing needs.
meta_tree will allow you to use tags on their files and search and reorganize their files depending on this tags.

Computer security in 10 years? dark, very dark!

This is an interesting interview with security-men Bruce Schneier and Marcus Ranum.
See here:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/12/security_in_ten.html

they paint a very dark future:
-there will be at least a real large scale disaster of misused computer security
-security concerns will lead to software-service companies
-these companies will try to lock-in their customers

All in all a very dark, but realistic view into the future..

why subversion really rocks

Subversion leaps giantly forward. Not only some opensource people are using it, now a lot of large companies try to make the switch. And I do not speak of some old fashioned CVS-users how just try new things: There are companies outside which will abandon their commercial version management systems for subversion.
I think the main reason for this is subversions model of representing version control:
At the end users are most comfortable with the most common computer metaphor:
the file(-system)
Nearly all users now how to copy, rename move and delete files. I think all developers know.
Subversion breaks not with this metaphor, it just enhances it with a new dimension: time. This makes the learning curve so shallow. You do not need anything to now about branches, tags or anything else. Just this: a commit saves your versions into the repository and creates a new revision an update will get changes from your coworkers into your workingcopy.
Of course there are voices against this simple model: some people think it is a problem that svn doesn't support native tags or branches but I think as long as you can map this usecases on your filesystem more people will understand what is happening. So if your branches/tags are just plain directories, it is much easier to grasp than an abstract concept for people who do not work day to day with version control.

a small script for searching in subversion repositories..

If you are using subversion for versioncontrol, you might have sometimes the need to search for a string in all files.. here is a small script for doing this without checking the whole repository out.
This script needs only 1 argument: the string to search for.
PLEASE NOTE! change first and second line to match your own Repository.

REPO="svn"
BASEURL="http://svn.collab.net/repos/"
SEARCH=$1
svn ls -R "${BASEURL}${REPO}/trunk/" | while read file;
do
   result=`expr match "$file" '.*/$' | cat`
   if [ $result == 0 ]; then  
     result=`svn cat "${BASEURL}${REPO}/trunk/$file" | grep $SEARCH | cat`
     if [ -n "$result" ]; then
       echo "${BASEURL}${REPO}/trunk/$file"
     fi
   fi
done

Is this usability at its best?

I just got the Microsoft desktop indexing Engine installed via online update. I wanted to configure it, so it will not search and index every file on my computer, but only a few selected datatypes. But the dialog is a mess! You have a miles long list for each file-suffix and you cannot, I repeat: you CAN NOT switch all checkboxes on or off with one click, but you have to click on each checkbox. Please note this small scrollbar which indicates the ridiculous number of entries.
What are this Microsofties doing in their offices?
Maybe they need to click on all this checkboxes..

Filme, die die Welt nicht braucht: Bruce allmächtig

Wie kann ein Filmstar sich zu einem solchen Film hinreissen lassen? Bessere Frage:Wie können sich 3 Stars zu einem solchen Film hinreissen lassen? Wurden die Agenten bestochen?
Morgan Freeman, Jim Carrey und Jennifer Aniston versuchen verzweifelt einem bescheuerten Drehbuch einen Sinn oder wenigstens etwas Komik zu entreissen. Aber vergebens.
Der Film zeigt den Fernsehmoderator Bruce Nolan, der erfolglos für sein Versagerleben Gott verantwortlich macht. Dieser (einziger Lichtblick im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes: M. Freeman) gibt Nolan dann die Chance es besser zu machen:
Er darf Gott spielen und Gott selbst geht in Urlaub.
Aus dieser Ausgangsposition kann man wirklich eine Menge machen, aber der Film kreist einzig und allein um die beiden einzigen Bezugspunkte in Nolans Leben:
Seine Freundin (süß und verständnisvoll: J. Aniston) und sein Job. Das muß man sich mal vorstellen:
Da hat einer die Macht Gottes in den Händen und das einzige das ihm einfällt, ist seinen Hund stubenrein zu bekommen(ein Hoch auf den Fäkalhumor!), seiner Freundin größere Titten zu verpassen und für seinen Job einige Exklusivkatastrophen zu veranstalten, um im Fernsehsender eine News-Show zu moderieren. Das nenne ich eine eingeschränkte wahrnehmung! So reisst Nolan als Gott so alles ziemlich runter, bis er am Ende doch wieder zu seiner Freundin findet und auch seinen Looser-Job beim Fernsehsender wieder innehält.

Fazit:Sollte man sich sparen.

First Move

So, finally I got my blog.. now I have to fill it with content. I think I will start with older achievements .. so here is at first my matrix screensaver from 1999, shortly after the first release of this fabulous movie and luckily long before the W. brothers smashed it so badly in their Matrix II and III.
You will find this piece of gold digitally remastered on
http://www.geocities.com/burning_thornbush/thematrix.zip

Have phun!

New blog -> first problems

So there is this new blog, but many questions arise:

• which language should I choose ? english to reach more people, or deutsch, weil ich es besser kann?
  
• what to write about? I would like to write about movies, books and coding..
• which of these layouts is fitting my extraordinary taste?
• schreibt man in der tagliste hinter jedes komma ein space?

So I will start before answering the basic questions, as always.  A good software developer always develops before he knows his goal.