I don’t know if this is a fluke…but we ordered three workstations from Dell on Friday morning and they showed up today (Monday). They were pretty vanilla Optiplex workstations, probably in stock, but still, the short delivery time is pretty impressive. How did this happen?
1. We didn’t order over the web, but instead configued an eQuote on the web and then called a salesperson.
2. Maybe because the salesperson needed to make the monthly quota, there was an added incentive to ship quickly.
3. The price was the same, without or without a Dell color laser printer. So it will be interesting to see how that works out.

So, maybe all my complaining has had an effect?

Welecome to Tech for Non-Profits, the unplugged version of Microdesign Consulting. We feel that non-profit corporations and NGOs deserve the same advantages that technology can bring to for-profit business. To that end, we’ve dedicated ourselves to finding cost-effective ways to bring the benefits of wide-area networks, computer databases, IP videoconferencing and Voice over IP to our clients and friends. Check out our (mostly) annotated VoIP resource guide.

For those of us still using OutLook Express, Inside OutLook Express has a great set of tips and technical support.

The Tiobe Community Programming Index, lists the popularity of programming languages. This is an interesting idea when trying to figure out what tools to use to write your next next system in. This month’s winners are:
Java, C, C++, PHP, Basic, Perl, C#, Python, JavaScript, Delphi/Kylix, SAS, PL/SQL, Visual FoxPro, Lisp/Scheme, Coldfusion, VB.NET, Cobol, Ruby, Ada, D.

From their commentary:

It is important to note that this only one of many criteria to be used before taking a decision to adopt a language. Other criteria are suitability for the application domain, reliability of compilers, expression power, performance, and scalability. Hence, Ada can still be used for mission-critical systems although one should consider alternatives. This is what you also see in daily practice, Ada is hardly used for new mission-critical systems anymore. The other way around is also true. Everybody will agree that it is not wise to program missile software in JavaScript.

I think it is interesting that the first 12 languages in the list can be considered cross-platform. (i.e. work on Windows/Linux/Macs/mainframes…) and that the first ranked Windows-only language is Visual FoxPro. Also, Coldfusion actually shows up before VB.NET. I think that suggests that data-centric languages still have their place over general purpose languages as a way to leverage database queries and manipulation. Yet…yet, the three top-ranked languages could be considered third-generation, even low-level, general purpose languages. Fortunately, there are all manner of ways to leverage these with application frameworks and automation tools, which offset their level. Few application programmers write with just an ASCII editor nowadays, and I would suggest that when hiring a programmer for a specific application you examine not only the language that they will use, but also the tools.

The U.S., which has 16.8 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, is ahead of the U.K., which has 15.9 broadband subscribers for every 100 inhabitants, but behind Japan, which has 17.6 broadband subscribers for every 100 inhabitants.

via IPDemocracy

Microsoft bought Onfolio. While this wouldn’t automatically cause me to gag, I do think it unfortunate that their plans include the following changes:

1. Onfolio is free (!) and is incorporated into the Windows Live Toolbar (lame-o)
2. Support for FoxFire is dropped.
3. The reports function in Onfolio Professional is dropped in any new versions.
4. The academic version is dropped.

So, in my case, at least, the program is dumbed down, incorporated in a stupid toolbar accessory, that I don’t use, and crucial enhanced functions are discontinued.

The good news is, version 2.02 still works fine…with FoxFire.
So many good programs bite the dust. Remember Lotus Agenda?

The dumb thing people do is apply to the IRS for their tax refund. The IRS is very uptight over refunding your money. But, any other government agency will gladly refund your tax money. All you have to do is politely ask them in a nice way at the right time.

Don Lancaster – The Incredible Secret Money Machine.

The ISMM is one of my favorite small business books. Its first edition came out in 1978 and an updated edition came our in 1991. I don’t think it is currently in print, or available on Don’s web site. It does, however, appear to be available used from Amazon. (and look at the price!….they are becoming collector’s items.)

Here’s where you ask:
www.grants.gov

Welecome to Tech for Non-Profits, the unplugged version of Microdesign Consulting. We feel that non-profit corporations and NGOs deserve the same advantages that technology can bring to for-profit business. To that end, we’ve dedicated ourselves to finding cost-effective ways to bring the benefits of wide-area networks, computer databases, IP videoconferencing and Voice over IP to our clients and friends. Check out our (mostly) annotated VoIP resource guide.

I have to give the Staples guy credit for the idea of going on eBay to find Rambus memory to upgrade a Dell workstation. I went into our local Staples and he tried to find compatible memory for my machine. If you buy the memory from Dell it is almost double the cost. Instead I used “Buy-It-Now” on eBay to get an additional 256Kb of RAM for an older Dell Dimension 8200.

Here is a nice little memory testing program. An alternative open source program called memtest86 is located here. When you run the downloaded program it creates a bootable image on a floppy disk or CD, which is then used to boot the computer under test.

So far, my eBay memory looks fine. I’m going to upgrade a couple other machines as well. The combination of running Symantec Anti-Virus 10, with the Microsoft Anti-Spam program appears to be putting several older marginal machines (256 of memory) over the edge. The symptoms are either full crashes when several programs are open, or else a lot of extra disk activity as the memory is swapped in and out. A memory upgrade appears to help.

I’ve been spending some time in Excel lately, doing budgets and projections. Excel easily passes the five minute test, but I can’t say that I’ve gone much beyond adding up columns and rows using the SUM() function. I have friends though, that live in Excel, using it to produce all their reports, with graphs and color. A couple of items surfaced recently:

• XLQ. XLQ is an Excel plug-in function that goes and finds stock prices (and a whole lot more) using free on-line stock services like Yahoo Finance. Although you can get a free plugin from Microsoft which does this, it also brings in several extraneous rows of information, including advertising. XLQ, by contrast puts the price in a single cell. For example, to get the current price of Apple stock, you would put =XLQPrice(‘APPL’) as a cell formula, and the current (or 15 minute delayed) price would appear.
• While browsing in B&N the other day, I came across a book by Stephen Few, Information Dashboard Design This seemed like a very elegant book by someone who obviously has spent considerable time figuring out ways to deliver a lot of summary information in effective ways. Think Tufte for the 21st century. However, the book was short on software ideas. But over at ExcelUser, there is a ton of material about using Excel to create dashboards. It looks like a very good place to start.

update: 3/16
Here is a nice set of Excel tutorials from Clemson University.