web application development

what's the best way to get web application done?

1 on spec
2 on budget
3 on deadline

sure. how to get there?

what are the biggest mistakes?

what are the biggest challenges?

how can they be dealt with?

address them all upfront.

do all the work on paper first - and get all the plans signed.

what kinds of plans are needed to deal with mistakes, challenges and expecations?

0 requirements
1 workflow
2 wireframes
3 schema

windows ftp servers

as i sit here listening to opera old (la traviata) and new (chess) i am fighting with windows ftp servers.

what choices do you have?

- microsoft iis ftp
- filezilla server
- xlight ftp

i hate iis ftp. sure it's better than nt 4 ftp, and it's better than some university ftp server i ran on nt 3.51 - but i still don't like it.

filezilla server is what i like.
- xml config file - not as nice as apache config
- human readable config file
- programmatically modifiable config
- nice alias management
- remote admin
- user interface you are not fighting
- BUT i had issue with mac user not connecting with cyberduck from puerto rico (of course i connect no problem)

so i switched to xlight. which i don't like.
- sucky interface
- confusing interface
- non human readable config
- slow directory listing speeds

i recommend filezilla ftp server.

why the iphone sdk sucks - why apps made with it suck

IPhone Apps: Why We Still Need the iPhone App Black Market

it is just sooo sad

no copy and paste!!!!!

exciting blog about why to LAMP

Master of 500 Hats

especially check out his business model video:

YouTube - 4.1.7 Dave McClure - Startup Metrics for Pirates: AARRR! - I

or the slides themselves:

Startup Metrics 101: a Product & Marketing Workshop

by the way - this is exactly how presentations should be archived - the blog, the video, and the slides

FANTASTIC!

another facebook php framework - this one uses zend

fbframework - Google Code

here's the guy who wrote it:

the official website of brett harris

there are some others - but this one is being featured at the Zend PHP conference - no doubt because it uses the zend framework

no idea if it is actually in production

useful troubleshooting sites to check

Downforeveryoneorjustme.com is handy and so is fifi.org

Ping

distrowatch isn't focussed on appliance distros

distrowatch isn't focussed on appliance distros but its still fun... for me anyway...

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

another NAS distro

this one is freebsd based

FreeNAS: The Free NAS Server - Home

how about a pbx? free voip server

this free distro provides Asterix VOIP server and FreePBX Asterix Web Config system, with all the instructions you need - to keep you busy for a... week or three

PBX in a Flash

ebox - all in 1 server for companiess

Firewall, Transparent proxy, Traffic shaping, VPN’s, Content filter, NTP Server, Users and groups, Mail server, Chat server , Print Server

eBox Platform

ultimate redundant failover open source firewall

a must for every office

pfSense Open Source Firewall Distribution - Home

redundant shared storage provider

the ultimate free file server / NAS / SAN / iSCSI appliance - this is what every office needs!

and it looks good too!

Openfiler — Openfiler Homepage

see an iSCSI demo here:

Openfiler iSCSI Demo

Site focussed on liveCDs

This site has an exciting list of live CD's - also good uses for spare boxes:

LiveDistro | Remaster : LiveCD : LiveDVD : USB Flash Drive : Build Tool Script : ISO : Torrent : Download

untanlge provides interesting suite of networks applications

Chris Aconley of Computer Troubleshooter's Canada recommends Untangle.

We've got lots of spare boxes I would like to place in client locations to assist them with:

Open Source Applications

Open Source & Free
Web Filter Spam Blocker Spyware Blocker Protocol Control Virus Blocking Phish Blocker	Intrusion Prevention Attack Blocker Firewall OpenVPN Untangle Reports Routing & QoS