What's it all about, Alfie?

Over the past several weeks I've been mulling over the MySQL/PostgreSQL and PHP trifecta in my head. Wondering if I needed to just give in and switch to MySQL as it was/is supported by the PHP Apache plugin from Apple. It would certainly make good sense. Then this morning I read this article and I'm glad I didn't.

In the article, MySQL creator Michael Widenius is quoted from his personal blog:

"We still have 20 known and tagged crashing and wrong result bugs in 5.1 [and] 35 more if we add the known crashing bugs from 5.0 that are likely to also be present in 5.1," he wrote. "It's of course impossible to get all issues fixed, but we should at least have tried to ensure that all issues important to a lot of MySQL developers and MySQL users should have been discussed, fixed and/or addressed in a public manner! We should also never have a single serious crashing/wrong data bug in a GA release."

This sounds like a serious quality control issue until you read later that it's systemic to the MySQL group at Sun. Again, from the article:

Despite the alleged friction between prominent MySQL developers and Sun management, Widenius contends that Sun was not responsible for the failures behind the 5.1 release. He blames Mårten Mickos, the senior vice president of Sun's database group and former CEO of MySQL AB. According to Widenius, Mickos no longer treats quality as a priority and unilaterally chose a premature GA release date because "he needs something he can sell."

While I can understand the need to sell a product in Sun's corporate environment, it seems more reasonable to have smaller, more stable releases, as opposed to adding in all the amazing new features in 5.1 just to have something that's feature-rich for the selling. It's certainly not where PostgreSQL is right now, and given this, I think it was the right thing to do, and continues to be the right thing to stick with.

I was hoping that Sun would take MySQL to a new level... but maybe it was a new low. Sigh.

This morning I was reading the feeds, like I always do, and came across a reference to a piece of code done right. The author was talking about how the best software gets out of your way and does everything that's needed without you having to think about it. In this case, it was shared, remote filespace. The app/service was Dropbox.

What made this so useful to me was the fact that I had gone through the headache of setting up a WebDAV server at home for just this reason - a place to throw things that I could get at form other machines. The problem is, I was still limited by my home bandwidth, I wasn't being intelligent about sending diffs, and the clients for other operating systems were web browsers or FTP-like clients. It worked, but it wasn't what I wanted.

Dropbox is exactly what I wanted. It's a smart, version controlled, remote file repository. It's got clients for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Once you register for it, you simply have a directory that "hot syncs" to the repository in "the cloud", and sends the updates to your other registered machines.

I have a laptop and two desktops. I register them all. I see on each machine an identical set of files. Make a change in one, and it'll be mirrored to the others in a very efficient manner. Drag a new file into the folder on my laptop, and it'll automatically be sent to my two desktops. Simple.

I still have the file on my laptop - which makes this a ton better than WebDAV, and the syncing is done automatically, but clearly visible so that I know when something's happening. There are default folders for public content, photos, an easy way to make URLs for accessing the files... the list goes on and on.

Certainly one of the nicest features of this is the fact that it's really a file repository so you can go to the Dropbox web site and see the files you've deleted. And get them back! You can't beat that. It's like Time Machine built-in.

The first 2GB of storage is free, and for $9.99/mo or $99/yr you get 50GB. I'm sold. The version on the app is 0.6.402, and I'm guessing they do an automatic update, but we'll see. I feel so much better with the idea of installing this on my machines and then being able to really share files on the 'net. Incredible app.

This morning the Flying Meat guys released VoodooPad Pro 4.0.1 with lots of little crashing bugs fixed and with the tag line: the inevitable .1 release. I believe there must be people hitting this a lot harder than I am, but then again, that's probably not that hard. In any case, it's out there, and get it. I like what he's done with the UI changes, and the scripting support is nice as well.

Gotta support the indie Mac developer group.

This evening, I took the time to update my NetGear WNR3500 GigaBit Router to the latest firmware 1.0.29NA. I'm not sure if there are a lot of significant updates - they had no release notes, but given that this the the portal to the internet for all the machines in my house, it's a good thing to keep it up to date and make sure it's not been compromised.

It's odd, but when I upgrade the router, it always seems like I have to power-cycle it to get things working again. I'm not worried about it. I know the upgrade worked, and I only do this every few months, so it's no big deal, but you'd think they had that put into the restart properly after the upgrade. Odd...

Today I was looking at a weblog and saw a pointer to Base 1.0.2 by a single indie Mac developer for dealing with SQLite3 databases. These are the databases of CoreData, and in that sense, very interesting to work with - when I get into the CoreData game more. Right now, I'm thinking that I need to get into it (CoreData) a little more. However, it's got a lot going for it and I want to support the indie Mac developers. They have a hard enough time, and they deserve the support when they make something good.

The cats at Rogue Amoeba have fixed two "nasty bugs", as they called them, in Fission and released version 1.6.1 for general consumption. I'm a little surprised that they didn't elaborate, but maybe they were something they'd rather not hear about again and again in the indie Mac developer community (You did What?).

I hadn't hit anything major with Fission, but then again, I'm not making/editing podcasts with it either.

UPDATE: they did say what the problems were:

• Fixed a rare crash that could occur after intensive editing
• Fixed a drawing-related crash on Tiger when using the I and O keys to create a selection

I've been using Flying Meat's VoodooPad (Pro) for a while now, taking the time to put in the things I want quick access to and might not put in this web log. I like the Wiki format, and the auto-creation of links, but I have to admit that I haven't used the imbedded drawing like I might have, it's just not something I've thought to use a lot. But I'm going to try harder in the future.

In any case, they have released version 4.0 of VoodooPad (Pro) and it's got a ton of new features. I like the updated look and feel of the app, including the single window for all options - very much like Acorn, their image editor.

I haven't played with a lot of the other features, but I'm sure I'll get around to them soon enough. I always seem to have the need of some other little tidbit to place into VoodooPad, so I'll be using it more in the weeks to come.

I just checked and DrawIt 3.7.3 is out with some pretty serious bugs fixed. I didn't notice any because I haven't hit it with anything recently, but it's nice to know they stay on top of things. Probably the funniest bug was he missing images... that just sounds like a "duh" moment for the developer. I know I've had my share.

Anyway, get it and have fun.

A while back, there was a flourish of new image editing apps based on CoreImage - I picked Acorn from FlyingMeat but another was Pixelmator. I didn't get it as Acorn did all I needed, but it was interesting to see all the apps come out about the same time (there were a few others of lesser note), with basically the same capabilities just a different spin on the UI.

Well, I have to say, Pixelmator is making me think twice about that. It's more like a Photoshop app with the toolbars, but it's based on the same capabilities as Acorn... it's just a matter of which you prefer.

I'll probably still stick with Acorn, but I'm going to keep an eye on Pixelmator as it's moving in the right direction and may have to give it a good once-over to see if it's a better fit for me.

I was blown away this morning to see that Coda 1.6 was released with a new plug-in system as well as a smart spell checker (it checks the code, not your words), and a few other new things, as well as a ton of bug fixes. It's all in the release notes.

Again, they stun me. I've always liked Coda, but it's the fact that they are really moving forward with it so consistently that impresses me. It'll take me a few days to get out from under what I'm doing and give it a good spin, but I'm really impressed. Nice job!