Where did I go to?

Some of you may have wondered where I have been for the last few days. Emergency rations. I have had a major minor catstrophe of losing myself. I should really lock up my ego and keep ity safe! Anyway I have had to concentrate over the last few days on critical matters and part of that is rebuilding myself. Fortunately, as per my last posting, a recovery plan was in sight. Now largely that recovery is complete. To those of you who I have ignored - my apologies.

Normal service will now resume.

posted by Andy Swarbrick (d)/PopG at 16:53

Finger trouble...

So there I was creating 30 new Groove users on our server & ran into problems on one user. Getting into a bit of a steam about it I clicked delete on some files. Bad move. Very bad move. The files I was incorrectly deleted were my own Groove account files. Oh, woe, thrice woe. And bear in mind that I do not believe in recycle bin.

An emergency email to support@groove.net got me back on track. Because my Groove account is "managed" It was able to download a copy of my account from the Groove management server. I had high-hopes for this. But what it did was surprising. It behaved correctly - but surprisingly and yikes, nevertheless.

Ok so I downloaded my "account". I already had my spaces (system\permanent) safe. So I hoped the two together would combine nicely. Wrong. All the space information was totally dead. Lost account=lost spaces, permanently.

However Groove behaved correctly, really. It re-created the account. I logged on and ended up with a list of spaces "not on this computer". Lots of right-clicks later with "fetch this space" from whoever - and most of my system is up and running. I am impressed.

A couple of wierdos remain. Some spaces will not fetch even though I know the other party is on-line and has the space. Also for some spaces all I get is "get workspace" with no list of users. Why this happens seems random to me. What it implies is not clear. The after effect of this is not obvious - in theory perhaps, in practice definitely not.

And of course all my messages are gone. Oh for a message archive tool.

Spaces of note: "Software that I just can't live without..."

I have to say that "Software that I just can't live without..." is fabulous. Initiated by James Roe-Smith when I joined the space started I wondered "what". What, after all the mega-successful websites that list utility after utility, what could a space like this have to offer.

Well I guess the notions that seem to make this space an increasing success include control, currency and focus. All the information is absolutely focused on the community it serves, all its information includes news breaking uitilties, and right now the focus is being held to its core ideals. What more can one ask of a successful space.

Intrinsic in creating a successful space is naming of the space. If you can create a space with a name that resonates in the community it serves then your are off to a great start. And this space has it. It does not stop contributions from members pushing the boundaries of the spaces intended goals, for example I contributed a thread on domain name management. But it gives a clear focus to return to.

To give you an idea of what is in there I am just about to post an absolutely amazing remote control utiility that I have just come across that simply knocks the spots of anything I have ever come across before - and its totally free under the GNU license.

Contact James for more info...

posted by Andy Swarbrick (d)/PopG at 3:01