Unixification 2003 Bulletin

[Dec 20, 2003] The killer application for TCL Expect is available for Windows too.

Expect is a tool for automating interactive applications such as telnet, ftp, passwd, fsck, rlogin, tip, etc. Expect really makes this stuff trivial. Expect is also useful for testing these same applications. And by adding Tk, you can also wrap interactive applications in X11 GUIs.

Expect can make easy all sorts of tasks that are prohibitively difficult with anything else. You will find that Expect is an absolutely invaluable tool - using it, you will be able to automate tasks that you've never even thought of before - and you'll be able to do this automation quickly and easily.

Ok - enough of the hype. More information on Expect is available in the following documents:

• Download Expect for UNIX or Expect for Windows now!
• Exploring Expect is the book on Expect.
• Expect FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions List)
• Examples that come with Expect.
• Contributed scripts in the public Expect archive
• The Expect README is the same README file that comes with Expect. The README has lots of valuable information that has yet to be incorporated into this home page. It includes a description of the software distribution, where and how to send bug reports, how to get support or classes, and some other background information.
• History about the development of Expect and differences between versions. The current version of Expect is 5.39.0, created Tue Jul 29 18:43:29 EDT 2003.
• Links to related information

The Ethereal Network Analyzer

Ethereal is a free network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. It allows you to examine data from a live network or from a capture file on disk. You can interactively browse the capture data, viewing summary and detail information for each packet. Ethereal has several powerful features, including a rich display filter language and the ability to view the reconstructed stream of a TCP session.

Installing Ethereal under Windows

1. Install WinPcap. There are instructions at the WinPcap web site for installing it under Windows 9X, Windows NT and Windows 2000. These are located at: http://netgroup-serv.polito.it/winpcap/install/Default.htm.
2. Install Ethereal. You may acquire a binary installable of Ethereal at http://www.ethereal.com/download.html#binaries. Download the installer ( after installing WinPcap ) and execute it.

Windows Packet Capture Library port of PCAP.

Other tools

Analyzer	A public domain network analyzer. For Windows 95/98/NT platform.
WinDump	Windows porting of the famous tcpdump tool. For Windows 95/98/NT/2000.
WinPcap	Windows Packet Capture Library; compatible with libpcap for UNIX. For Windows 95/98/NT/2000.
WebLibrary	A simple tool to create web sites starting from HTML text files and PowerPoint slides.
46Bouncer	A simple tool that accept an IPv4/6 incoming connection and it translates it into IPv6/4.
Avican	A videoconferencing system with Active Networks technology.

 

[Nov25, 2003] VBScript or Perl? The Windows Sys Admin's Scripting Dilemma by Robbie Allen, coauthor of Active Directory, 2nd Edition, and author of the recently released Active Directory Cookbook

As I was working on Active Directory Cookbook, I had to make a decision that many Windows system administrators face at one point or another: whether to use VBScript or Perl? I'm a long-time Perl guy, but unfortunately, no matter how much I preach the benefits of Perl, the Windows sysadmin community hasn't embraced Perl the way it has been embraced on the Unix side. Ultimately I decided to use VBScript because it is the least common denominator as far as scripting languages go on the Windows platform (besides batch files, of course). I did, however, include Perl examples on my web site so as not to leave out the Perl coders.

I was able to take the easy way out by using both in this case, but most system admins only need one, but which one? I've already stated my preference towards Perl, but I want to outline the pros and cons of each because both languages have their place. You can accomplish most of the basic system admin tasks with either language. For this reason you'll need to look at the other advantages and disadvantages of each language to determine which works best for you.

Overview of VBScript

VBScript is a subset of the Visual Basic programming language. You can run VBScript code using a Windows Scripting Host interpreter (wscript.exe or cscript.exe) or from within Active Server Pages (ASP).

Advantages of VBScript

• No installation required

  This is the number one reason VBScript is so widely used. Since you can run VBScript code on any Windows 2000 and later computer without needing to install anything, this makes it much easier to support on a lot of computers.
   

• Popular on Windows

  Because VBScript comes out of the box with Windows and was developed by Microsoft, naturally there is better support for it; not only by Microsoft, which documents VBScript extensively on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), but also on other non-Microsoft web sites. Generally, it is much easier to find VBScript examples than Perl examples (for Windows).
   

• Built-in support for COM Automation and WSH

  To do much of anything with Windows, you need to use a COM-based API, such as ADSI or WMI. For scripting languages, a subset of COM is supported, which is called the COM automation interface. VBScript can use this directly with the GetObject and CreateObject functions. With Perl, you have to use Win32::OLE module to access COM objects. Here is an example that uses the VBScript GetObject function:

  set colUsers = GetObject("LDAP://cn=users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com")

  And here is the same thing using Perl:

  use Win32::OLE;
  $colUsers = Win32::OLE->GetObject("LDAP://cn=users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com")

• Readable

  VBScript code is generally very readable. Here is some sample VBScript code that should be pretty easy for even non-programmers to decipher:

  set colUsers = GetObject("LDAP://cn=users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com")
  for each objUser in colUsers
     WScript.Echo objUser.Name
  next

  Here is the equivalent Perl code, which is slightly less readable:

  use Win32::OLE 'in';
  $colUsers = Win32::OLE->GetObject("LDAP://cn=users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com")
  foreach $objUser (in $colUsers) {
     print $objUser->Name,"\n";
  }

• Easy transition for VB programmers

  VBScript is a derivative of Visual Basic (VB) so if you know a little VB, it is easy to pick up VBScript.

Disadvantages of VBScript

• Limited command-line parsing and GUI support

  The built-in support for parsing command-line options and generating graphical interfaces (such as a password prompt) are pretty limited in VBScript.

• Awkward and wordy language constructs

  I mentioned that VBScript is very readable, but this also makes VBScript wordy in comparison to Perl. Because VBScript treats everything like an object, it often results in awkward language constructs. Perhaps the worst offender is VBScript regular expressions. Here is a simple example that tests if a string contains the letters "www" in it:

  strMatch = "www.rallencorp.com"
  set objRegEx = New RegExp
  with objRegEx
     .Pattern = "www"
     .IgnoreCase = True
     .Global = True
  end with
  if objRegEx.Test(strMatch) then
     WScript.Echo "Matched"
  else
     WScript.Echo "Did not match"
  end if 

  Now here is the same example in Perl:

  $match = "www.rallencorp.com";
  if ($match =~ /www/i) {
     print "Matched\n";
  } else {
     print "Did not match\n";
  }

• Limited third-party module/add-on support

  This is one of the biggest issues with VBScript. Unlike Perl, there is no large VBScript repository where programmers freely contribute and share code in the form of packaged modules or components. There are many repositories that contain sample scripts, but none that I've seen that are on the same scale as CPAN for Perl.

• No command-line code execution support

  Being able to execute and test code from a command-line is an extremely useful feature of a scripting language. With Perl you can use the -e switch and execute code directly. Here is an example that prints the current time:

  C:\> perl -e "print scalar localtime"

  There is no counterpart to this in VBScript.

• Uncertain future

  At this point, it is hard to tell what will become of VBScript. Microsoft did not provide native support for VBScript within the .NET Framework, choosing to support JScript instead. And there are already rumors flying that in the next major release of Windows, codename Longhorn, there will be a new Microsoft Shell (MSH) that will include a new scripting language. If that happens, more than likely VBScript will start to fade away.

Overview of Perl on Windows

Perl has a long history dating back to 1987 when Larry Wall released the first version. Now, an army of dedicated Perl hackers actively maintain Perl, and ports exist for virtually every modern operating system.

Advantages of Perl

• Robust. As far as scripting languages go, Perl ranks at or near the top for being the most robust and full-featured.
• Extensive module support

  If I had to give one reason to choose Perl over VBScript, this would be it. The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) contains an extensive collection of Perl modules that you can use to do just about anything you can think of. As far as Microsoft technologies go, the Win32:: module namespace contains modules for manipulating the registry, generating GUIs, manipulating files, using the Win32 API, and much more. If you've wondered if someone has already written code to do a particular function, odds are it is in a module somewhere in CPAN. Visit http://www.cpan.org/ for more.

• Cross-platform

  If you work in an environment that has a mix of Microsoft and non-Microsoft operating systems, Perl is your best bet. And depending on what you need to do, you can even write Perl code that works cross-platform.

• Actively developed

  A large effort has been underway since 1999 to develop the next major version of Perl, Perl 6, which is a complete rewrite of the language.

Disadvantages of Perl

• Requires installation

  This isn't a big deal, but it is something you have to consider if you want to use Perl across a large number of systems. You can download Perl for free from the ActiveState site. ActiveState provides a number of extras that you can buy if you want to build .NET components, run Perl scripts as services, create executables from Perl scripts, and so on.

• Daunting for newcomers

  I hear this one quite a bit. Often when people see Perl code for the first time, they write it off as being too complicated to learn without a programming background. It is true that Perl can be extremely hard to read if not written well, but that is due more to the flexibility and capabilities of the language. You can write readable Perl code just as easy as you can write unreadable Perl code.

• Limited support by Microsoft

  I debated whether to include this as a disadvantage or not, but after several years of developing large Perl applications on Windows, it is apparent to me that Microsoft doesn't like to deal with problems that arise through the use of Perl. Often when I'd find an apparent bug in a Microsoft API, they wouldn't look at the Perl code, but instead required that the error be duplicated using VBScript or VB. It is unlikely you'll find something you can't workaround, but just be aware that if you do encounter a potential bug, you may want to show it to Microsoft in one of their languages to get quicker resolution.

Summary

If you want to get serious about automation in the Windows environment, I recommend using Perl because of its extensive module support and the overall robustness of the language. If you only want to do something quick and dirty or you don't have any programming experience, VBScript is probably your better bet.

As far as other scripting languages go, a case could be made for using JScript because of its integration with the .NET Framework, but I don't find many people using JScript for system admin tasks. I'll leave that for someone else to argue.

• More considerations
  2003-11-24 14:30:54 brianiac [Reply]
  
  VBScript Strengths
  [Formatting Functions]
  FormatCurrency(), FormatDateTime(), FormatNumber(), and FormatPercent() not only make short work of tedious formatting tasks, but also use locale-specific formatting rules.
  [Data Conversion]
  CBool(), CByte(), CCur(), CDate(), CDbl(), CInt(), CLng(), CSng(), CStr(), CBool() all tend to overreact to unconvertable data, but are nicely complemented by VarType(), IsDate(), IsEmpty(), IsNull(), IsNumeric(), and IsObject(). Hex() and Oct() allow converting numbers to non-decimal strings. DateValue() and TimeValue() allow returning just the parsed date or time values, respectively.
  [Date/Time Support]
  Along with the usual functions for individual date fields, Day(), Hour(), Minute(), Month(), MonthName(), Second(), Timer(), Weekday(), WeekdayName(), Year(), and the more generic DatePart(), there are some more granular functions for current info: Now(), Date(), Time(). The DateSerial() and TimeSerial() functions allow for complex date arithmetic, as do DateAdd(), DateDiff(). Date literals are supported, using # as the delimiter: #datestring#.

  VBScript Weaknesses
  [Unforgivably Bad Array Support]
  While standard functions like Filter(), Join(), and Split() are supplied; no sort, slice, splice, or concatenation functions exist. The stack and queue functions: push, pop, shift, and unshift are also missing.
  [Clumsy Exception Handling]
  Automatic exception handling has two modes: on (all errors and warnings are fatal), and off.
  [Unreasonably Strong Typing]
  Objects are not first-class objects; assignment, for example, is handled completely differently from built-in datatypes. This precludes, among other things, programs from passing functions as arguments. Adding to this difficulty, naught is expressed in many distinct (and confusing) terms: Nothing is an invalid object variable, Null adds the database-style complexity of three-valued logic (not true, not false), and Empty is the value in an uninitialized variable. Numeric values can be interpreted as booleans, as can some string values (but only if they are numeric or boolean strings).

  JScript Strengths
  [Strong Array Support]
  A reasonable complement of expected array functions is supported: sort(), split(), join(), slice(), splice(), concat(), push(), pop(), shift(), unshift(), and reverse(). No grep/filter, search, or membership-test function exist.
  [Native Associative Arrays (hashes)]
  Actually, all JScript arrays are hashes: an array with numeric keys can have string keys added, and all keys can be iterated via the for...in loop. As Perl programmers already know, native hash support allows arbitrarily complex data structures to be built quite easily.
  [Structured Exception Handling]
  Using try...catch, errors can be handled much more readably, maintainably, and conveniently.

  JScript Weaknesses
  [NO Formatting Abilities]
  All languages should have some kind of formatting ability: C's (and Perl's) printf, C++'s iomanip.h library, Python's % operator, etc. JScript does not. Doing something as simple as including exactly two digits after the decimal when converting a number to a string, or commafiying a number, is incredibly tedious.
  [Limited Data Conversion Support]
  Dates and non-decimal numbers are not always converted easily. No native currency type is supported.
  [Date/Time Support]
  No functions exist specifically for date/time arithmetic, and there is an inadequate granularity for parsing control. No date literal is supported.
   

• VBScript
  2003-11-24 01:52:44 anonymous [Reply]
  
  I find VBScript daunting because of its wordy syntax. But all in all I always like to choose a cross-platform scripting solution.
   
• Ah Perl...that IS the answer
  2003-11-21 14:16:08 anonymous [Reply]
  
  "The very fact that it's possible to write messy programs in Perl is also what makes it possible to write programs that are cleaner in Perl than they could ever be in a language that attempts to enforce cleanliness. The potential for greater good goes right along with the potential for greater evil." -- Larry Wall
   
• Great article
  2003-11-19 08:30:13 wjgilmore [Reply]
  
  During a recent migration to an MS-driven collaboration environment, we faced the same language dilemma. Longtime Perl programmers, we were (and remain) appalled by the thought of having to use vbscript to automate various system-oriented tasks. In terms of power and flexibility, there really can be no comparison between the two (ih our humble opinions, of course). We found Perl (specifically ActiveState's ActivePerl) to be quite adept for the job, particularly the Win32/Directory Services features, and have used it extensively over the past few months.

  We did however find that VBScript was better able to perform certain very specific tasks, particularly those specific to managing certain aspects of Active Directory.

  My advice if you require Windows-based automation? Learn both. Even better, learn JScript and Perl. It isn't about the language; it's about getting the job done. Knowing both will help you do that.

  Best,
  Jason

  http://www.wjgilmore.com/

[Nov 5, 2003] Re Pros, Priests and Zealots The Three Faces of Linux

 Re: Pros, Priests and Zealots: The Three Faces of Linux
Posted by: MHCBigs 2003-10-21 07:19:46 In reply to: Rob Enderle

Mr. Enderle,
I could not agree more with your analysis of the Linux community, especially those that post on Slashdot. I work in a hospital systems running under a wide variety of OS. Yes, we do have Linux servers, but we do not and never will have a Linux desktop environment. It is a matter of application availability and support. We have over 260 applications. of these, the majority are specialized systems for Healthcare. None of these systems run under Linux.
As for the Slashdot people, I see a distinct hatred for anything none Unix/Linux. Weather they like it or not, Microsoft is and will continue to be the worlds leading desktop environment. They know little of IT and offer nothing of value.
These Zealots berate, slander, and insult anyone that dare support MS. All you have to do is look at the image they use to depict Mr Gates. Actually the Linux Zealots are the ones screaming "Resistance is futile....."
Well it is not. They do not understand that in the world of IT that the bottom line is more than cost, it is availability, flexibility, support, and functionality. For every one of their "look who is leaving MS" articles, there are many more organizations adding or upgrading MS products.
They are one sided and to be totally honest, infantile in attitude.

 Re: Pros, Priests and Zealots: The Three Faces of Linux
Posted by: clasmc 2003-10-21 07:22:28 In reply to: Rob Enderle

Actually, Linux is no different than any other technology with respect to your Pros/Priest/Zealot analogy. I did vb6 contract programming for 3 years and I can assure you that their are Microsoft Pros, Priests, and Zealots. In fact, most of the people I met were Priests/Zealots with very few pros. That has remained unchanged in the years that have followed. I have also met Cisco and HP Pros/Priests/Zealots. This is hardly an insightful observation.
In your article, in the zealot section, you said "These Zealots have been the primary reason that I've come to believe SCO will likely win its lawsuit -- because if the Zealots are lying about facts I know to be true, they must be lying about facts I don't know about."
The trouble with that statement is that not only are the zealots saying sco is lying, so are the pros and the priests. I hope you don't base any real life decisions on the kind of logic.
I would say the purpose of this article was more about getting a reaction from the linux crowd than trying to right an information piece.
As a software developer, I don't appreciate this kind of article.

 Re: Pros, Priests and Zealots: The Three Faces of Linux
Posted by: MHCBigs 2003-10-22 07:02:41 In reply to: quadelirus

I have been watching Slashdot for 3 years now. It is absolutely anti MS, anti govt, and worshipers at the feet of Linux. It also seems to have a large population of extremely undesirable types. Most have no problem with violation of Copyright laws, computer trespass laws, or anything else that gets in there way.
It is also a place of free speech only if you hate MS, IBM, Large companies, the Govt, Property and intellectual property rights, and the concepts of capitalism and profit motive. Dissent is met with flames, name calling, and threats of attacks on the computer and or person making the dissent.
As for any system /OS/application lasting forever, it is true that most come and go, look at OS/2.
I do not see any OS replacing Windows in the near future, say 10 years. When you have a 80+ percent market share company ups and downs are less relevant than many might think.
I have been in IT for 27 years, I remember the efforts by the Govt and the competitors of IBM to kill that company. Guess what, they are still an industry leader. I speak from a voice of experience. I work with or have worked with 15 different OS on systems ranging from Palm devices to mainframes.
I have watched and been part of the move from mainframes to PC's and all the rest. IMHO the entire PC industry owes Mr. Gates and Microsoft a great deal of praise and respect. It is an absolute fact that without MS the PC world would still be populated by a handful of Apple computers and a few small computer companies.
MS and the bundling of their products on PC's formed the market place for just about every mass used application in the market today.
When you have 27 years in the IT world and have seen the changes in the world of Computers you understand how it works.
Oh, btw, I have a Linux, redhat 5, file server as the file server in my home. I consider Linux to be a poor desktop environment

 Re: Pros, Priests and Zealots: The Three Faces of Linux
Posted by: joeldg 2003-10-21 07:02:42 In reply to: Rob Enderle

Well, as a linux programmer (who came in from working as an MS programmer) I can say thank you for the article.
If you read through posts on slashdot very often you will note that there is an entire slough of posts that are modded down because they are racist or trolls or {insert insult to someone}.. With mod points you end up spending all of them just to get rid of the junk and so it becomes hard to actually see decent posts because everyone is just doing damage control.
If you look at the stats on slashdot something like 93% come there using windows.. another 5% on Mac and 2% on linux (roughly, don't quote me on that).. So the majority of the guys who are so "pro" linux are usually guys who have an idea about it and are still not using it, know just a little about it or have just started using it.
Seldom do true linux guys post there because it is usually a waste of time (similar to usenet and why not many linux guys post there anymore either) additionally you end up setting people straight more often than not and this usually starts some sort of random flame war..
I am thinking is mostly script-kids and nouveau-tech children.
So, don't let them get you down..
good article..

[Oct 30, 2003] Microsoft Action Pack Subscription

Includes the professional version of Office 2003 (10 activations), Frontpage, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, SQL Server, Exchange, and several other tools for $300. The promotion code CHQ68332, might help to get $30 off, if still valid.

How to get the free Microsoft VC7 compiler

Microsoft offers a set of free command-line development tools on their developers' web site. For those of you who may want to to some Windows development (such as developing Perl modules that include c/c++ code) and don't have (or prefer not to spend mega-bucks to obtain) a suitable compiler and tools, this HOWTO is for you.

The documentation at MSDN states you need at least Windows 2000 to use these tools.

The CPU you have is not too important; if it can run Windows 2000+, it should work fine for the packages installed in this HOWTO series. Disk space, however, is another story. The following table gives very approximate disk space requirements for VC7 (.net) tools.

 Component                         Download size   Installed size
 
 Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (VC7)     109 Mb         ---
 Microsoft SDK                           24 Mb         ---
 
 Total                                  133 Mb         245 Mb

Allowing a 50% margin (expansion, temporary files while downloading/installing):

 Total Space required        (133 Mb + 245 Mb) * 1.5 = 567 Mb

After the tools are successfully installed, you may backup and delete the download images. I hope you have broadband access to the Internet; these downloads are very large. Microsoft is offering these tools free-for-the-download to promote development of it's grand '.net' scheme. Please be aware that the compiler you get for free has these limitations:

You get the VC7 'Standard Edition' compiler; it does not optimize. You will take a performance hit using this compiler. Although not an extensive benchmark, I compiled Perl (source from ActiveState) and ran the

nmake test' benchmark for both VC6 (optimized) and VC7. The results:

 Test      VC6        VC7
 ------------------------
  1        435        516
  2        436        522
  3        432        526
  4        425        517
 ------------------------
 average   432        520
 ------------------------
 % diff   100%        120%
 ------------------------

This 20% speed penalty should not hurt you for normal operations. You should not notice it unless your code is really crunching numbers.

VC7 complains about the depreciated compiler option -Gf (string pooling); it has been changed to -GF (read-only string pooling). You can edit your Makefiles to change -Gf to -GF, or ignore the warning. VC7 puts a ``no optimization support in the standard edition...'' warning whenever you try to optimize. Again, edit or ignore.

Use with ActiveState Perl
According to the rules, you are suppose to use the same compiler/version for building modules that was used to compile Perl itself (look at perl -V). ActiveState uses MS VC6. However, I have found that this VC7 works fine when building modules because the actual module c language implementation is via dlls, and the dll interface is well defined and does not change from release to release To download, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com, navigate to the MSDN library. Expand '.NET Development' then '.NET Framework SDK' in the left hand panel. Click 'Downloads'.

 Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 Redistributable 
 Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Software Development Kit

Open (double click) each downloaded file to install. Take all of the install default options. As far as I can determine, there is no way to install the packages on a drive other than your system drive. If anyone knows how, please let me know.

Copy C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v1.1\Bin\sdkvars.bat to a directory on your path. If you are using Perl, C:\Perl\bin is a good choice. Each time before you use the VC7 components (nmake, cl, link, etc.) run this batch file to setup necessary environment variables:

 C:\> sdkvars

To 'compile' a Perl module, the sequence is:

 sdkvars
 perl Makefile.PL
 nmake
 nmake test
 nmake install

Beau E. Cox <[email protected]> <http://howtos.beaucox.com> <http://beaucox.com>.

©Copyright 2003 Beaucox.com. You are free to use and distribute this document and the contents within under the various GNU General Public Licenses ( http://www.gnu.org ).

Nmake from Microsoft

See also http://makeashorterlink.com/?S12961445

[Apr 14, 2003] Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities

Here are some ports of common GNU utilities to native Win32. In this context, native means the executables do only depend on the Microsoft C-runtime (msvcrt.dll) and not an emulation layer like that provided by Cygwin tools.

Installing Perl Modules on MS Windows Servers (the Easy Way)

CWordPad 1.0 -- nice free replacement for wordpad.

CWordPad is a replacement for the Windows 95 accessory WordPad. CWordPad is written to the same specification as WordPad except a spell checker has been added and there is a more extensive help file than the original. I'm using CWordPad routinely now for creation of small documents like this review and email. I didn't use the version of WordPad shipped with Win 95 much. For me, the spell checker is a big deal for two reasons. First, I can't spell and second I can't type.

The functions included are the functions I use most for document creation. I'm able to manage fonts including bold, italics and underscore. There also buttons to justify text left, right or center and to insert bullets. The standard file functions, new, open, save, and save as are provided as are print functions. The editor provides cut, copy, paste, find, find next, replace and undo. I rarely need other file, print and edit functions for the simple minded things I do.

CWordPad is based on WordPad source code distributed by Microsoft to users of Microsoft's Visual C++ development system and the Microsoft Foundation Classes product. Output formats can be in ASCII (.txt), Word (.doc), Write (.wri) or Rich Text (.rft) format.

CWordPad, like WordPad, is a limited function word processor. Some the functions of industrial strength word processors, like Word, Word Pro or Word Perfect missing from CWordPad include full justification and hyphenation, tables, outlines, foot notes and end notes, and grammar checking to name a few.

If you have a need to create small documents from time to time CWordPad fits the requirement nicely and because CWordPad supports .txt files you can use it to create and maintain a web page.

Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities 

Here are some ports of common GNU utilities to native Win32. In this context, native means the executables only depend on the Microsoft C-runtime (msvcrt.dll) and not on the emulation layer (like provided by Cygwin).

The Joel on Software Forum - Remote Access to W2K boxes ...

For historical reasons, we were using VNC at Fog Creek to remote admin the NT machines, but it had a lot of annoying repaint bugs, was pretty slow, and usually failed to repaint the screen correctly. Certain things like scrolling were intolerable due to the repaint bugs.

We switched to the free, built-in terminal services feature. Wow, what a difference. It's fast. It's UNBELIEVABLY fast. It's hard to believe this, but over a 28.8 modem it feels positively SNAPPY. Over DSL lines it's almost indistinguishable from sitting at the machine. Terminal services (built using the Citrix stuff) actually copies the GDI calls from one machine to the other. So when an application on the server says TextOut (... "foo" ...) that's what gets sent over the wire, basically -- rather than all kinds of bitmaps being sent over the wire as VNC does it.

That said -- you almost never need to use it if you know about the "native" NT ways to remote admin a machine. Almost all of the computer administration applications can control another machine as easily as they control the local machine. For example when you run Computer Management you can right click and say "connect to another computer."
 

In addition to the wonderful Admin-mode Terminal Services:

Check out the iisreset.exe command-line tool. It'll restart IIS (unsurprisingly) both locally and remotely as well as reboot the server.

Still in a command-line stylee... I like the PSExec tool from the wonderful SysInternals. Gives you telnet type access to any NT/2000/XP/.NET box without needing to install/enable anything on the remote machine (it uses RPC to actually transmit and install a little service on the remote machine):
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/psexec.shtml

Slashdot Why Port To PC Shareware Still alive!

Shareware is FAR from dead! (Score:5, Informative)
by linuxbaby (124641) on Sunday March 23, @08:15PM (#5580568)
(http://www.cdbaby.com/) Shareware DEAD? WHAT?!? Some of us are using it more and more.

I know after years of not having any money, and using shareware for free, I LOVE that I can afford to pay people who make shareware, and support independent software.

Recent shareware fees paid:

• 10 licenses of the Opera [opera.com] web browser
• A ton of Chank's fonts [chank.com]
• Limewire [limewire.com]
• UltraEdit [ultraedit.com]

Plus PayPal tip-jars to the great Quanta [sourceforge.net], MusicBrainz [musicbrainz.org], and even websites like Ryze [ryze.com].

Whenever I need a program/tool, the first places I look are TinyApps [tinyapps.org] (very small software for Windows), and Tucows [tucows.com].

I sure HOPE it's not just me that's out there doing what I can to support the independent shareware programmers!

Re:Shareware is FAR from dead! (Score:5, Interesting)
by sfe_software (220870) on Monday March 24, @09:32AM (#5582989)
(http://jm4n.com/) Agreed, despite the best efforts of software crackers to try and kill it.

I'm a shareware author myself, and I gave up on crackers years ago. You come to a point where you realize, no matter what you do, you'll get cracked one way or another. You also come to the realisation that crackers are *never* going to pay for software.

Getting too crazy with registration schemes just makes it harder for the paying customers, and only marginally more difficult for crackers; once someone cracks it, none of that matters any more, yet you're still inconveniencing the paying customers.

So I try to encourage others to stick to simple registration schemes (no "phoning home" or hardware locking) and worry about satisfying their paying customers.

And shareware is not dead. As long as you're not the "I will never pay for software" type, Shareware offers less expensive choices to commercial offerings, with the ability to fully try it out before making a decision. Many times a shareware app will cost 20x less than a similar commercial product, while offering 90% of the features, (usually) faster/more personal support, faster response to feature requests, etc.

Obviously I'm baised, but the last couple months (except for the last 4 days -- very slow right now) have shown me that the Shareware model still works, and quite well.

Definitely... (Score:4, Interesting)
by sheldon (2322) on Sunday March 23, @09:35PM (#5580881)
(http://www.sodablue.org/) Most software that I buy today is really in effect Shareware, as I first obtain the trial copy to see what it does. If it does what I need done, I then go out and purchase it.

There are two programs which I have found absolutely invaluable over the years, and paid the Shareware fees.

One is Ultraedit, as mentioned.
The other is filesync [fileware.co.uk]

Shareware still a useful paradigm... (Score:5, Interesting)
by Zergwyn (514693) on Sunday March 23, @09:07PM (#5580747)

Shareware is far from dead, and I doubt it ever truly will be so long as there are independent developers. A quick look at a site like Version Tracker (www.versiontracker.com) shows that there is a ton of shareware in active development. This isn't so much in games, like many people think, but with utilities. The virtual desktop software I have come to depend on is an example of very good, high quality shareware.

Shareware as a model has the advantage of being able to use viral marketing. If there is a program I really enjoy, I can tell my friends about it and give them a copy. They can do the same if they like it, ad infinitum. This, like many other free formats, cuts the cost of advertising tremendously, very important for a small developer. And depending on the market one can also make a bit of money off of the work, which seems to be harder to do with other formats. The best shareware often is a full version, but then offers additional incentives or bonuses to register.

I think that shareware, at least on the Mac platform where there are less commercial developers, has a long and distinguished history and will continue to play a part on the software scene.

Shareware Author's Perspective (Score:5, Informative)
by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 23, @10:00PM (#5580980) As a shareware author, I can definitely say that shareware's not dead, although the term "shareware" is getting old. You can read about the history of shareware at the Association of Shareware Professionals website -
History of Shareware [asp-shareware.org]

Shareware is really just software that is marketed as 'try before you buy'. I don't refer to shareware on my website - I just refer to a free trial.

There are many Independent Software Developers working on games, utility type programs, and small niche software.

Total Commander (Score:2)
by rela (531062) on Tuesday March 25, @01:23AM (#5589293)
(Last Journal: Saturday March 15, @10:05PM) Total Commander [ghisler.com], formerly Windows Commander, is the first program I install on any windows machine. File manager, archive manager, FTP client, network client, command lines built in, and more and more, all in a very cofigurable, plugin ready dual-pane interface.

It's shareware. I bought personal license #41662.

Slashdot: OSS Officially On Microsoft's Financial Radar Screen

Re:Prices??? (Score:5, Informative)
by AsbestosRush (111196) on Tuesday February 04, @08:39AM (#5222259)
(http://slaquer.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday November 19, @01:34AM) Pricing for tech support depends on the product.

IIRC (I used to work for MS tech support. Don't flame me) rates are as follows:

Office gets 2 free application support incidents, with each incident thereafter costing $35, with no timed charges. Installation support is always free.

Most of the home products (Works, the games, etc) only get free support for installation. $35 for each incident for anything else. Even if it's a 30 second "Sorry, your data's hosed.".

Now here's where it gets tricky... Professional support for stuff like "I have this massive spread sheet in XL that isn't working, but all of my 900 lines of macro code appear to be right", "Access forms aren't working like I think they should", or "Exchange is acting funny" start at $245 per incident.

An incident is defined as follows:

An assisted support incident is defined as a single support issue and the reasonable effort needed to resolve it. A single support issue is a problem that cannot be broken down into subordinate problems. If a problem consists of subordinate problems, each shall be considered a separate incident.

Before Microsoft provides support for an assisted submission, the customer and Microsoft's designated Support Professional must agree on what the problem is and the parameters for an acceptable solution.

An assisted support incident may require multiple phone calls and off-line research to resolve it. Support Professionals are responsible for determining what a single support issue is and communicating this to customers.

I could be wrong thou. It has been over 6 months since I left tech support hell to do something else for a while. I worked my way out of support twice before, just to get shafted by the company that I was working for, so I'm kind of shying away from the IT industry.

This has happened before (Score:5, Insightful) by kahei (466208) on Tuesday February 04, @07:53AM (#5222028) (http://www.jbrowse.com/)

This is really quite analogous with what happened when MS's cheaper solutions began to eat the Unix market from the workstation up. At first, MS's main advantage was price, but gradually they innovated(*) and re-engineered so that their product was always high enough quality to attack the next layer up -- from word processing platform up through file/print server to heavy-duty servers and workstations. Now MS are being eaten from below by a new generation of even cheaper systems. Like early MS systems, these open source offerings are both derivative and weak except for their price advantage. However, a price advantage is enough to secure a foothold, and over time open source systems will be strengthened and will begin to innovate and will be able to take over better and better MS-held markets. In about 10-15 years, the cycle will probably start again, taking us another step further from the days of monolithic systems and proprietry hardware/os/support lock-in (which is where we were at before the Attack of the Killer Micros, young'uns). It's all good. (*)Rather than freaking out and writing posts about 'M$' and so on, why not go outside and get some fresh air?

The real problem isn't OSS... (Score:5, Insightful) by dinotrac (18304) on Tuesday February 04, @08:37AM (#5222236) (Last Journal: Friday January 31, @05:04PM)

Sure, OSS is a competitive force to reckon with, but the big problem for MS was a little further down in the story: Microsoft also alienated many of its largest customers with its controversial new Licensing 6 and Software Assurance program, which took effect last year. Businesses are willing to pay for value delivered. They are not, however, willing to be raked over the coals, especially by someone who is making the profit margins that Microsoft makes in an economy that has everyone else scrambling to make a buck. Add in the costs of continual upgrades -- required by Software Assurance, BTW -- and the hardware to support them, and the lost productivity due to bugs and security flaws, and we have some unhappy campers out there. OSS alternatives mean that Microsoft will have to lower prices, probably to a level lower than pre Software Assurance days. Customer anger and memories mean that it may not be enough to keep some of those customers from going away for good.

Chapter 2 UNIX and Windows Compared -- a very nice comparison of Windows and Unix from Microsoft.

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