He can just toss the laptop in the trash and I'll have to fly down there to get the data off the DOS machine myself.

Your scenario is why the DOS machine is, under no circumstances, allowed near a UPS van. It is still running a MFM drive (Seagate ST-251 42MB). How a stepper motor actuated hard drive is still functioning after all of these years is a mystery. One good jolt and it's game over.

2016-09-25T11:45:38Z

This stuff used to be so complicated. Connect Bridgeport milling machine with second party computer control (What I used to install for people) to a DOS or Windows PC via serial link and send drawings through it…

Now, you can grab an iPad and a 3D printer and do it in your living room.

2016-09-25T11:37:37Z

Today, my mission is simple.

  • Fetch ancient Gateway laptop from the garage.
  • Somehow make ancient Gateway laptop function.
  • Put Windows 98 on ancient Gateway laptop.
  • Make networking function under Windows 98.
  • Put DOS version of Laplink on Gateway laptop.
  • Find 3.5" floppy that still works.
  • Put DOS version of Laplink on floppy.
  • Find my serial and parallel Laplink cables.
  • Put everything in a box and ship it to Florida.

When it arrives in Florida..

  • Instruct customer to install Laplink on his DOS computer.
  • Connect laptop to computer via cables.
  • Dump all of the data to the laptop.
  • Get laptop on the internet.
  • ZIP the data up.
  • Send me the data via FTP.
  • Send me my laptop and cables back.

Trust me. This is the easiest way.

2016-09-25T11:28:52Z

For someone who hasn't fooled with the stuff since the DOS versions of AutoCAD, seeing Shapr3D is kind of a shock.

2016-09-25T11:22:55Z

Sunrise in 12 minutes. Final day of the weekend. I need longer weekends.

2016-09-25T11:20:33Z

I missed the margarine part. Assumed butter was a typo :P

2016-09-25T11:11:19Z

And then there's people like Dale who do really fun and interesting things.

I'd love to incorporate robotics or maybe drones into business software.

"Do you have route employees who are off gold bricking? Well we have an answer for you! Deploy your own drones! Catch them in the act and let our built-in Vulcan cannon do the rest!"

2016-09-25T11:08:26Z

The sad part is it doesn't have to be that way. If there were just a flat tax everyone's lives would be much simpler. I shouldn't have to sequester myself away for weeks, pouring over thousands of pages of documentation every year.

2016-09-25T11:04:56Z

Getting it wrong is even scarier.

2016-09-25T10:59:44Z

That's my answer to, "Why did you guys write an entire language parser for tax formulas" and, some years ago, "Why did you re-write large chunks of QT 2"

2016-09-25T10:56:38Z