The Trucking Nerd

I’ve been swamped working on several different fronts and projects with a mix of clients and am running across some pretty exciting thoughts that I intend to post some articles on.  I thought I’d drop a quick line for those of you who are still tuned in wondering what the T-Nerd has been up to. 

Some of the topics I’ve queued up include open source business intelligence, outsourcing collaboration overseas I’ve been involved with and a sweet mobile GPS application I’m in progress of building which will be spun off as yet another side venture!

On a side note, if anyone wants a Trucking Nerd Mug, let me know.  The first batch I ordered were a misprint with the ink which faded so they sent me another batch for free, however they also were a misprint, so now I’ve got mugs coming out the wazoo.  Just drop me a line, you pick up shipping and I’ll gift you a mug!

Popularity: 91% [?]

As I mentioned previously, I am continually scouring for tools to make my life easier.  Every now and then I find one that after a while I wonder how I functioned without it.  Accountants can’t imagine how they’d live without Excel and Carpenters can’t imagine how they would live without their hammers.  Well, IT professionals are no different!  This posting focuses on the tools I use nearly every day (in no particular order).

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Popularity: 98% [?]

While listening to the popular audio show DotNetRocks a couple of years ago, one of the guests mentioned a great up and coming version control system that had the potential to steal some thunder from the ever popular open source version control system CVS.   The system was called SubVersion (SVN) and has several client interfaces that are available to interact with it.  I ended up doing some experimenting with it and was amazed at the simplicity of how it worked and how intuitive the interface was.  We have been using this system internally for over two years now.

I had experimented in the past with CVS and some other commercially available packages at some clients I had worked at, but these systems were all hard to get setup and work with and some of them were very expensive. It just didn’t make logical sense a lot of times.  That’s where SVN is so very different. 

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Popularity: 19% [?]

The statement “You get what you pay for” I have found to be mostly true, with two exceptions, 1) freeware and 2) open source software.  With these, many times the return on zero dollar investment can be huge!

Being a very frugal person, I am always looking for deals.  I don’t like to spend money trying to do something if there is a relatively painless alternative that costs less or even better yet is free.  Being a computer nerd, I find many times, I have very specific needs for a particular technical challenge at hand.  I often think to myself, “Surely, I am not the first person to run into this,” and I quickly start a search for a tool to help me out.  I constantly am on the search for nice to have little utilities and tools, in addition to finding low cost options for family and friends who have home computers and don’t have a lot of funds to spend on software.

I found a great posting a while back over at a site called TechSupportAlert.com.  Here, they have a posting that is invaluable.  The posting is called “Best Free Utilities.”  I stumbled onto this list which they keep up to date often, way after I had already done my fair share of comparisons, and I have to say, their conclusions on many of their comparisons between utilities is spot on. 

If you have never visited this site before, check it out, you will find a few “cool” tools for your virtual toolbox you didn’t even know existed!

Popularity: 18% [?]