MIT Blog survey

> I just filled out the blog survey that MIT is running. With millions of blogs out there, I guess someone can become a professional blog analyst. As TLA's (three-letter-acronyms) go, I guess PBA isn't too bad. If you run your own blog, they're interested in your participation.

QVCS-Enteprise 1.1.11 now available, 3.7.17 update too

I just posted the 1.1.11 release of QVCS-Enterprise. This is strictly a bug fix release -- it has only one change: it fixes a problem with server shutdown in the case where the server is running as a Windows service.

I also posted a 3.7.17 release which is a bug fix release for 3.7 users. The fixes are those that I discovered as part of the work for the 3.8 release. If the fix was easy to get into the 3.7 code base, then I bundled it into the 3.7.17 build. There's nothing fancy here, but it does provide improved behavior for the named file filter combo box, and a few other changes. Details are listed on the What's New page -- just scroll down to find the 3.7.17 release.

The 3.7.17 release is a free update to registered 3.7 users. To install it, just unzip the distribution file over top of your existing 3.7 release.

3.8 users will not want to do anything with 3.7.17, since all the changes in 3.7.17 are also present in the 3.8 code base. 3.7.17 is meant strictly as a maintenance release for 3.7 users.

QVCS-Enterprise 1.1.11 Coming Soon

Turns out there is a bug in the 1.1.10 release. It's only an issue if you are running the server as a Windows service. If that's the case, then you should use the admin tool to shutdown the server instead of stopping the service. The 1.1.11 release will fix the problem so that stopping the service will be an acceptable way to shutdown the server.

Batman Begins

Two Thumbs Up. I took the afternoon off yesterday to see Batman Begins, and thoroughly enjoyed it. You can read real reviews elsewhere. The local movie critic at the Baltimore Sun claimed the movie was 'too dark', or something. Well his costume is black, and he is known as the 'Dark Knight'.... what did he expect? Kudos to all involved for making the movie of the summer (so far)... The previews for War of the Worlds looked good...

Marketing/Sales Projection Magic

One of the challenges in running a business (any business) is projecting future sales. The exercise has a tremendous impact on staffing decisions, product decisions, and a whole host of other aspects of the business.

While Quma Software is a one-man-band, I face the same challenge in projecting (guessing?) what QVCS sales will be. So far, the simplest approach has been to look at sales history, and plan that future sales will be around the same, allowing for some variation from month to month. Will the new release goose QVCS sales? That's the hope... that's the plan... but the reality is that I do not have a clue. Whether sales go up or go down is a decision that is in the hands of my customers.

The point of making this observation is not to state the obvious -- though it is perhaps obvious only to those people who are actually responsible for sales, but to point out the huge difference in the level of risk between someone who runs a business versus someone who works for wages. I've been in both roles. In my role as a 'for wage' employee, I never fully appreciated the distinction. Now I do.

QVCS/QVCS-Pro 3.8.19 now available

I just posted the 3.8.19 build. It fixes the two problems mentioned here

QVCS/QVCS-Pro 3.8.18 Bugs

When I publish a new release, there are usually some bugs that survive testing. So far, 2 bugs have surfaced in 3.8.18.

The first apparently occurs if you are using a SAMBA file server for your archive files. If the QVCS archive file has the 'Protect Logfile' QVCS attribute enabled, then checkins fail. The workaround is to disable the 'Protect QVCS archive' QVCS attribute.

The second bug occurs when you use the $Log$ or $LogX$ keyword, and you have a branch off of revision 1.0. The workaround is to disable keyword expansion, or to forego the use of the $Log$ or $LogX$ keywords.

I have fixes for both of these, and will publish a 3.8.19 release as soon as I get confirmation from the users who have reported the bugs that the changes in 3.8.19 actually work.

Many thanks to the users who took the time to report these problems. They are not bugs that I would have found otherwise.