Interesting day or so

I have just spent an interesting day or so rewriting a utility to back up my files correctly.  I have purchased back up software but this proved to be disappointing.  Whether it was me or the software I just don't know but I was certain that the software had backed up the files I wanted.   As a result of this I decided to update an old piece of software that had been running on several of my other computers for a number of years.   It was quite enjoyable to use a different part of my brain than that I use to make photographs.

However, as I was doing this work it struck me that the version of Visual Basic I use is 12 years old.  I know that there are much more modern versions out there but this does fine for me.  I find I know how to use the software to write those little utilities that no commercial software can achieve.  They are as much about your own peculiarities as anything else.  The three main utilities I have created are to do with Metadata generation, Image backup and the one I have just completed.   I really would be lost without them.

This got me thinking about how modern software is developed and actually how useful they are.  This is particularly relevant to Photoshop CS4 and other megaliths of the modern world, such as the office suites.  How much of these programs do we use?  I suspect the answer is not a great deal.  I for one have my own way of working in CS4 that doesn't vary that much.  It certainly doesn't involve 3D modeling etc yet this comes with the software.  I know these are jack of all trade software bundles but there is also a point where you have to ask why?   We all know why because if didn't buy the latest version of the software then very quickly companies like Adobe would be in trouble.  Of course it is not just Adobe who does this.   The great?? Microsoft are devils for this.  I still maintain that the best version of Word was version 2.  I am still using Word 2000 and this is more than adequate for my needs.

I know this is not earth shattering stuff and has been commented on by many other people but I am happy with my twelve year old programing language and would probably be happy with a cut down version of Photoshop CS4 - not elements which is neither here nor there in my view.  Anyway, that's got that off my chest!

Something new

I thought I would try something new today. I am writing this from the Library at the DMU. This is a first as I have never written an entry from outside my home. The first impression about this is that it is not that exciting. After all, a computer is a computer and its location is irrelevant. However, when think about it a bit more it is really more profound than that. It means that you can comment/publish from where you are in the world so long as you have a link to the cloud (I think this is a better word than the intelligent Internet - which has too many geeky connotations). I know I am not the first one to realise this, in fact I am coming very late to this particularly party but for me it is still very profound - probably says more about me than anything else.

Anyway, it did get me think about my Internet career, such as it is. I started using the interent in 1995 with the launch of windows 95. I subcribed to Microsoft Network (MSN) very quickly realised that Microsoft just didn't get the web, infact the early MSN was based on the then market leader of AOL. Boy how things have changed. I launched my originaal website in 1996 - it is still out there in the cloud - click here to see it. This has been slowly developed and is now just the local history I reaserached and wrote at that time - is it really 13 years since I did this???

So what is the purpose of this rambling nonsense? I guess it point is this. Over the last 14 years the cloud has had a profound impact on my life and my family's than anything else that has happened in those years.