pineapple news 0.8.5

[Allen Brunson]

i was pretty much forced to release a new version, because the previous one
was about to expire. the only real change is a fixed bug having to do with
the program's local trash folder.

i was just too burned out on pnews to do much work on it last month. maybe i
can get started on filtering stuff this month.

http://www.platinumball.net/pineapple/news/macosx/

[Michael Koenig]

Post by Allen Brunson
i was just too burned out on pnews to do much work on it last month.

I'm sorry that I didn't even start the translation yet, but work almost kills
me at the moment and my motivation to do anything productive when I come home
is very close to zero.

Since the development lead complained that he has too much to do (which is was
really true at that time, because he had several projects, but I think at
least one is running out right now) the boss decided in a "brilliant" move
that my position is changed from assistant firmware programmer to sole
firmware programmer - yeah, basically I'm the firmware development *group*
now...
While the former lead is supposed to support me in the take-over, he's
somewhat pissed and I don't really feel like begging for help either...
It doesn't really help that it's shortly before a new version of the firmware
and the Windows software was to be released, so I have to fix these up and I
find even more bugs or at least glitches along the way...
To top it off we also we just had a change in the hardware design, including a
new processor which has lots and lots of bugs. Why nobody noticed these bugs
before I took over totally escapes me...
Yesterday a decision was made to scrap the new processor until it's bug-free
and continue using the old one instead. But that meant I was spending most of
the time yesterday and today fiddling with one firmware to make it fit into
the more limited older processor...

After two days off (and four days being ill at home) for the 2/3 of the year I
worked there, I feel like I need some rest. But I'm not even sure I can risk
taking a few days off between Christmas and New Year, although I still have
18.5 vacation days left...

Sorry for the rant, maybe I should have spent the time working on the
translation instead...

[Allen Brunson]

Post by Michael Koenig
Since the development lead complained that he has too much to do (which is
was really true at that time, because he had several projects, but I think
at least one is running out right now) the boss decided in a "brilliant"
move [...]

make them hire me to help! heh.

Post by Michael Koenig
Sorry for the rant, maybe I should have spent the time working on the
translation instead...

eh. i didn't do anything on the program this month, either.

i've been putting in time on open-source projects, to get a feel for working
on a team doing something productive. i've never really had that before. in
my telecom days, i was always the sole programmer working in my particular
domain. in theory i should have had such an experience at be, but by the time
i got there, the company's heart was broken, and there wasn't much good work
going on. i think everybody knew the evilla was doomed, they were just afraid
to come out and say it. we were not getting a lot of work done, it was mostly
all politics with sony and stuff.

i suspect the pendulum will swing back the other way eventually. i'll get
sick of looking at other people's crappy code and be happy to return to my
one-man project, where i get to call all the shots.

[Michael Koenig]

Post by Allen Brunson
make them hire me to help! heh.

I'd love to, but I doubt my boss wants to hire another programmer...
Also fast switching between C hacks for PIC and C# is a bit strange,
especially since the documentation is a bit lacking - "It's all in the code",
as the programming lead says...

Post by Allen Brunson
eh. i didn't do anything on the program this month, either.

Good, then I don't have to feel too bad ;-)

Post by Allen Brunson
i've been putting in time on open-source projects, to get a feel for working
on a team doing something productive.

Anything interesting?

Switching topics...
This may be old news, but I just went through my link collection and found out
that two codecs have been updated:

<http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/>
DivX 6 is finally out for Mac and fixes the nasty bug that always left the
mouse pointer on screen in my beloved No One Lives Forever...

<http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/>
The Ogg Vorbis QuickTime component has been updated and found a new home.

[Allen Brunson]

Post by Michael Koenig
I'm sorry that I didn't even start the translation yet, but work almost
kills me at the moment and my motivation to do anything productive when
I come home is very close to zero.

i just got an e-mail from another guy in the doycherland who wants to do a
doych translation. what do you think? have you started, or do you want me to
give the go-ahead to the other guy?

huh. all kinds of activity on the pnews front lately. i guess this means i
should get back to work on the dang thing.

[Alexander G. M. Smith]

Post by Allen Brunson
huh. all kinds of activity on the pnews front lately. i guess this
means i should get back to work on the dang thing.

If the activity picks up, you could have your hope of a full time job.
Demanding users, deadlines, having to wake up in the morning :-)

- Alex

[Michael Koenig]

Post by Alexander G. M. Smith
If the activity picks up, you could have your hope of a full time job.
Demanding users, deadlines, having to wake up in the morning :-)

What a nightmare! ;-)

[Michael Koenig]

Post by Allen Brunson
i just got an e-mail from another guy in the doycherland who wants to do a
doych translation. what do you think? have you started, or do you want me
to give the go-ahead to the other guy?

I didn't have the time/motivation to start the translation yet. And somehow I
doubt it will be better in the next few weeks.
I'm really sorry, but I think it might be better if you give the other guy a
chance. I hope you're not disappointed.

[Allen Brunson]

Post by Michael Koenig
I didn't have the time/motivation to start the translation yet. And somehow
I doubt it will be better in the next few weeks.
I'm really sorry, but I think it might be better if you give the other guy a
chance. I hope you're not disappointed.

no, i don't really care who does it. and it's always nice to draw another
person into my professional sphere, you can never have too many contacts. so
i just now gave the other doychlander the go-ahead to start on the doych
translation.

[Michael Koenig]

Post by Allen Brunson
no, i don't really care who does it. and it's always nice to draw another
person into my professional sphere, you can never have too many contacts.

It's good you see it that way.

Post by Allen Brunson
so i just now gave the other doychlander the go-ahead to start on the doych
translation.

Great. He might be the better option, since I run OSX in English anyway.