Generic guide to software editions

The last few years we have seen an increased proliferation of software product "editions": the same version aimed at different user segments. A somewhat recent example is the latest version of Microsoft's operating system, Windows Vista, which comes in no less than six different editions.

People often ask me what differentiates editions of particular products. I could direct them to the manufacturer's web site, which invariably offers "comparison matrices" outlining the differences, but there's really no need to do so once you understand the general pattern. The names of editions for specific products may differ, but the following should serve as a useful guide whenever you are faced with a choice of editions:

The Home edition

This relatively affordable edition is for people who have no idea how to use the software and have no intention of ever learning. It's functionally identical to last year's version of the product but features a colorful and horribly user-unfriendly interface with big shiny buttons to push and "wizards" that helps you do the wrong things fairly quickly.

The Professional edition

The Pro edition is for people that will actually use the software. It is expensive enough to make professionals and small businesses think twice before investing in it, but at least it has a semi-usable user interface and includes all features that matter. This is the edition trade magazines will review and the one always meant when a particular product is recommended.

The Standard edition

The edition for people who want to use the software but can't afford the Professional edition. Basically the same as the Home edition except that you can turn off some of the more obnoxious elements of the user interface, which unfortunately only serve to make its severe limitations all the more obvious. The price point is somewhere between Home and Pro.

The Premium edition

This edition is for people who probably should have bought the Home edition but have more money than common sense. It combines the user interface of Standard with the features of Professional and includes five additional "multimedia" applications, none of which have any practical use. This edition costs a bit more than Professional.

The Enterprise edition

This edition has a price tag one or two magnitudes over that of the Pro edition. It is similar to Professional but has a number of nebulous enterprise features, most notably a suite of poorly designed and buggy multi-user programs and support for machines with ridiculous amounts of RAM and CPUs. Presumably for scalability reasons, it's performance while doing common tasks is considerably lower than any other edition so you really need such a machine to run it.

5 May, 2007 | feedback (1)

Copley's Law of Boxes

Today's cute cat moment is brought to you by Padraic Connelly. His parents were taking out some recyclables when a few old cardboard boxes fell off the stack. By the time they got back from the end of the driveway, this is what they saw:

6 September, 2006 | feedback

Safely removing a Safely Remove Hardware notification

I have found a fix for a niggle with the Opteron box I built last year. One of my drives is incorrectly detected as a removable device, causing the Safely Remove Hardware icon to appear in the Windows notification area:

I know for a fact that this particular WD Raptor hard drive is securely fastened inside the chassis with four screws; I installed it myself. I suppose it's removable in the strictest sense of the word, but it's certainly not what you'd normally call a removable storage device.

It looks like the SATA drivers for my nForce4-based motherboard causes Windows to believe that it is some kind of hot-swappable device, and it was by investigating the Nvidia driver files I finally found the solution. If you're experiencing the same problem with your nForce board under Windows XP or 2003 I'd expect one of these registry changes to fix it. To convince Windows to treat my SATA devices as non-removable I located the key

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\nvata64

in the registry and created a DWORD value named DisableRemovable with value 1 under it. For the 32-bit version of the Nvidia drivers, you'd create the same value under

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\nvata

Yes, I know I could have gotten rid of the notification area icon simply by instructing the taskbar to hide it. As far as I'm concerned using this taskbar feature is never a solution, it merely hides the symptoms of a problem. Besides, I still want that notification icon to appear when attaching devices that truly are removable.

5 August, 2006 | feedback (7)

Kitten status

I'm happy to report that the kitten seems to be out of any immediate danger. Thanks to everyone expressing their support during this ordeal. Primary concerns leading to the veterinary's initial pessimism were that the kitten wasn't showing much interest in food and was unusually inactive – bad signs for any cat, but especially problematic for a growing kitten.

Maybe the kitten got as scared as everyone else by the dire news from that vet visit, because pretty soon after that he started eating ferociously. He has been putting on a lot of weight (gaining 300 grams in a week) and is also much more active, playing and fighting with his brother.

The vet was very impressed by this change and couldn't find any major health problems in a recent, more thorough, examination. The kitten is obviously still somewhat behind in development, but if he keeps this pace up the coming weeks he should be fine.

3 May, 2006 | feedback

Kitten pictures!

I've wanted to get a cat for many, many years. I grew up loving the Siamese cat our family had and I was initially planning on getting one of those. Although coming close to it a couple of times, the right opportunity never seemed to appear. Taking in a new family member is not a responsibility I take lightly; it has to feel exactly right.

However, it looks like the moment has finally arrived. A while back I was browsing Swedish cat breeders and stumbled upon S*Junglespots, a small cattery with these irresistible creatures in need of a home:

Originally the serendipitous result of the crossing of an Abyssinian with a Siamese – both prized as unusually intelligent, playful, and affectionate breeds – the Ocicat is a beautiful spotted cat with lots of personality. A breed with plenty of desirable qualities that should make for a great pet for the dedicated family or owner.

How could I resist? This is the kitten I look forward to having as my feline companion in coming years (picture from when he was three weeks old and almost unbearably cute):

He's now about nine weeks old and still with his mother at the cattery, but assuming all goes according to plan he'll get to familiarize himself with the Petersson residence in just a few weeks. Hopefully he will be as happy and excited about this arrangement as I am. Here's a more recent picture of him in his favourite spot, enjoying the warmth in front of the stove:

Update: I have just received the very sad news (on my birthday, no less) that the vet thinks the kitten has a congenital health problem and is highly unlikely to reach adult age. If true, it will be put down. I guess it was too good to be true, after all.

Update 2:The kitten has been showing fairly strong signs of improving lately. There will be a more thorough veterinary examination soon. I don't dare hope for too much at this point, but I'm not giving up either.

19 April, 2006 | feedback (1)