CDE Software: From the desk of Lance Rasmussen

That old trusty computer still works.  It has Windows 98, which is simple and seems to do the job.  Not much is really used on the computer, except for checking some emails and running your leagues.  Life is good, right?

Well…  Unfortunately technology is progressing and along with that, many software companies are now faced with decisions on trying to spend resources on keeping the applications workable on older systems or cut them loose and make things easier to develop new features with more freedom.

Microsoft, in 2005, finally phased out all support, security updates and patches and the majority of technical documentation for Windows NT, which was primarily used in the corporate world.  This was long replaced by Windows 2000, which was replaced by Windows XP Pro.   Now, the current major operating system for businesses is Windows Vista Business.

In 2006, Microsoft finally threw out Windows 98 out with the bath water as well as Windows Me (to which many in the support fields nicknamed Multiple Exception fault).  Windows 98 and Me were geared more towards regular individuals and home users.  While Windows 2000 was a choice, Windows XP Home edition became the logical replacement for Windows 98/Me.   Now with Vista out, you have several choices to choose from.

One of the biggest improvements with XP and Vista is the core is built on a very solid foundation that is universal.  Windows 98/Me had a major different core than Windows Windows NT and Windows 2000.  Whats this mean to the average Joe?  Reliability and more applications that are compatible.

Should you go run out and buy Windows Vista?  No.  You don’t need to shirk away from Windows Vista either, but Windows XP should be the bare minimum you are using at this point.

With new viruses coming out and the imfamous loads of security holes found daily in prior Windows versions, Microsoft essentially is now devoting time to patching up XP and the new Vista, to which there are many fewer “holes” (at least so far).

Some of the technology used now by software developers have now phased out Windows 98, Me and NT.  Windows Installer technology, which has become the leading technology used to install software on computers has come out with newer versions, at the expense of incompatability with older systems.  Internet Explorer technology now is at version 7.0, which can only go so far back.  .NET technology programs now are using version 2.0 or 3.0, which can not be installed on older Windows.

Speed of computers have changed so much now that you can easily go out and spend a small amount on a new computer that may have last years technology that is good enough. 

 Hows this relate to CDE Software products?  For the past couple years the tools and code design of our products allowed us to install and operate close enough to the intended design.  While we don’t support the older operating systems, it may work.  As new products roll out, support for Windows installations prior to Windows 2000 will be discontinued.  We’ve finally reached a point where we can no longer hold back features just for the few (less than 1% of our survey base that used Windows 98 or Me).

If you are an individual league secretary, then its time to go shopping.  If you are a bowling center with an automatic scoring system, you should contact your scoring company and research options in obtaining another networked computer with XP Pro or Vista Business on it.  In most situations, if the scoring system computer that the CDE products are on (or other modern Windows applications) can not be upgraded to Windows 2000 or newer, then usually they can stay as they are and you just network a new computer in.

You’re starting to see a lot of advertising campaigns use the buzzword “Web 2.0″.  Technologies are coming out that are “Web 2.0 compliant”.  Just what the heck is this “Web 2.0″ and was there ever a 1.0?  Do I have to upgrade my computer for it?

Web 2.0 is somthing that came about after the Dot-Com bust in 2001.  To one point, its used as a “cool term” for marketing.  In other cases, its used to earmark technology shifts from early generation web development to new generation development.

Using an example from Tim O’Reilly :

• Web 1.0 had Double-Click for advertising, which was primarily banner ads.  Web 2.0 is more like Google’s Adsense.
• Web 1.0 used download technology from Akamai. Web 2.0 uses BitTorrent.
• Web 1.0 referred a lot to Britannica Online.  Web 2.0 uses Wikipedia.
• Web 1.0 focused on everyone having personal websites.  Web 2.0 focuses on individuals having blogs (online “diaries”, such as what your reading here).
• Web 1.0 focused on advertising as being based on the number of pages viewd.  Web 2.0 focuses on the cost per click.
• Web 1.0 had Netscape as the major standard for search engines.  Google is Web 2.0’s answer.

Some of the technologies in browsers have changed.  One is using a term called AJAX.  In the past, when you were going to select an item, such as a car manufacturer, it would reload the page with the list of car models.  When selecting the car model, the page would refresh and show further specifics on the model.  With AJAX technology, you can cleanly (no pun intended) update the information without reloading the page.  The magic behind the scenes allows you as the customer see things seemlessly as if the page was custom programmed for you out of the box.

Some of these technologies require updated browsers, such as Internet Explorer 6 or 7 or Mozilla’s Firefox 1.5.   Depending on your operating system, you may or may not need to upgrade your operating system or computer to use these browsers. 

Web 2.0, however, shouldn’t be confused with Internet2, which will eventually speed things up much further on the Internet as well as change to IPv6 technology.  For those who have no idea what IPv6 is, the concept is simple.  Currently, networking and the Internet uses what is called an IP address.   Think of this as a personal phone number that instead of 206.555.5555 it is in the form of 255.255.255.255  Each group of numbers seperated by the decimal point can be 0 to 255.  Essentially each computer or network device is given a unique number either “permanently” or “temporary”.  There are various rules that dictate groups of these addresses that are set asside for private internal network use and some that are public, so that they can be found, such as a website, such as this. 

The problem now, is that with the boom of the Internet… we’re starting to run out of these “phone numbers”, to which there can be a maximum of about 4.3 billion.  There has been different technology improvements to help with this, but we’re getting close to having to make a change.  IPv6 is simply a change in how the phone number is.  Instead of only numbers, it also adds the letters A through F (this is called Hexadecimal, by the way).  Instead of decimal numbers, it uses a colon.  Instead of 4 groups, it has 8.  Instead of 4.3 billion as the max, you have about 340 billion billion billion billion combinations.   To put it in perspective, there are approximately 6.5 billion people alive today.

What would this look like in your web browser?  For the most part, browsers always use the pretty name to represent this “phone number”.   When you go to www.google.com, there is a lookup process (think of looking in a big big phone book off in never land) that says Google is currently at this phone number.  This process is called DNS lookup.  The whole idea is that people can easily remember names, versus phone numbers. 

If I knew what Google’s phone number was, I could go to my browser and go http://127.0.0.1  (this will go to your computer, but if it was Google’s number, it would go to it).    With Internet2 and IPv6, you would go to http://[2001:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a2e:0370:7344]/      Thankfully, though, we as simple folks who use the Internet, will never have to take memory pills to have to remember such a long thing because of DNS.

It’s quite amazing watching the Internet technologies continue to grow.  While my examples do leave out a lot of detail, I wanted to try and convey the jist of things.

Usually once or twice a month, I get asked if a league secretary can bring their league to the center so that you can send the rosters to the lanes.  The answer, generally is yes, but I thought I would explain a bit more on how to let league secretaries help make your job as center league processor easier.

First off, its important that both you as the center and the secretaries are using the most recent major version of BLS.  Each year, around August, we release a new major version of BLS that integrates various new features, improvements and support for that season’s USBC, CTF and TNBA rules, membership applications, certification application and award detection and printing.  Whenever possible, make sure that the program has been updated to the most recent minor version (update) available as well, so that you program has any issues or changes resolved since the program was released.

The center will normally have the A/S Edition (automatic scoring) of the software, whereas secretaries will have either the Standard or Pro editions.  The data from the same major version of BLS can go between these three editions very easily and there is no need for secretaries to purchase the A/S edition to interact with the center.

To exchange data from one location, to the other involves a simple process.  From the origin computer (secretary) use the backup league feature.  Save the backup onto removable media, such as a floppy disk or USB memory device.  On the destination computer (center), do the opposite and use the restore league feature.

This whole process can be done in reverse if the center has a league and you want to give it to the secretary.

A couple things to keep in mind.  If you are just making this a “one way” trip, then generally, thats all there is to it.  But if you plan on making a round trip, such as importing scores from the scoring system and then bringing that back to the secretary, then you need to “play ball”.  What do I mean by that?  When you hand the ball off, which in this case is the center, then the secretary should not make any further changes to the league, or they will become lost when the league is restored back from the center.  Normally this isn’t a problem, but if you have some last minute financials to enter, then you need to hold off until the league comes back.

Microsoft Office, face it, is one of the top tools needed for most day to day business when using the computer.  While Office provides a great set of tools (depending on the particular edition of Office you purchase), what if your pocketbook has some other plans?

Sun Microsystems, who is the main company behind the Java computer language, has backed a product called Open Office, which is… FREE.   It is very robust and continues to get code contributions from Sun and others. 

Visit OpenOffice.org and download the software.

While I’m not an avid sports nut, I do enjoy watching pro football or baseball on television.  They’re good sports and ESPN does a nice job with coverage.  Once in a while, I enjoy watching some of the more lower profile sports as well, which, unfortunately, bowling has become. 

I’m like many who miss the old days of turning on ABC in the afternoon to watch greats, such as Earl Anthony to Wayne Webb.  I remember watching the astonishing match, to which forever created the monicker “the Ballard board”. 

One of the things I’ve been noticing, when flipping channels and checking out ESPN or ESPN2 is the amount of attention and coverage to this big sport…..   Poker???  I even noticed that ESPN dedicates a category link to the “sport” of poker as well in the “other sports” category.

I can appreciate a good game of cards.  I can recognize the skill in bluffing and the mastery of knowing when and how to use it.  I can pretty much apreciate everything it has…. except the fact of it being called a sport.  Theres a good article on USA Today that discusses this.  Read it and see what you think.  If poker is a sport and brings that much attenction to ESPN, why not Go Fish?

Well.  What’s my beef?  Well…  considering that bowling is the sport that is what ESPN is supporting through its being the home of televised bowling, where is the category link to bowling?  I certainly do not expect it to be front page category, but certainly it merits listing as a category, don’t you think? 

While your at it, what about curling?

One of the features that CDE has had for a few years now, is remote technical support.  This feature allows us to view and control your desktop to see what you see and help assist you.  This requires that the computer with the CDE product be connected to the Internet.  Due to slow speeds, we prefer that your connection be broadband or faster.

cnet recently posted a great article talking about the importance of remote support at http://tinyurl.com/2qc8a8

We have found this tool to be really usefull when sometimes things can not be duplicated or hammered out over the phone.

Over the years, I’ve tried many different products.  Norton’s suite of products, MacAffee, Panda, Kapirsky, AVG and others.   I’ve often been asked “whats the best”?

 After the past few years, I’ve gravitated to simple, effective and focused tools.  I don’t need or want to install a suite of 5-10 products that does stuff I don’t need or want to understand.  I simply want something that will keep my inbox clean from viruses and protect my desktop in case I somehow run a product that is infected.

NOD32, from http://www.eset.com has become my favorite of late.  It’s simple.   It’s not the most prettiest interface on the block, but I don’t need pretty.  The application sometimes will update the virus definitions several times a day, which tells me that is something is “hot of the virus press” that I’ve got a great shot at not being compromised.

The email scanner works well with Outlook / Windows Mail, which I only use for newsgroup reading.   I used Mozilla’s Thunderbird 2.0 for email and NOD32 works like a champ, optionally tagging my incoming emails letting me know its been scanned.

Is it free?   No.  But it is very reasonable in price.  I find you get what you “pay” for with free products.  I don’t want spyware on my system to be used as the price, nor do I want to be staring at advertising, which helps fund the free versions to the software authors. 

Does this have several utilities?  No.  It’s virus protection done well and is focused on just that.  I would rather use a tool that ranks as one of the top tools for spyware protection to deal with that part of the suite from a company focused only on making that type of product be the best.  I don’t need a company doing a LOT of things… mediocre.

Most, if not all autoscoring manufacturers prohibit the connection of their scoring system network to the Internet.  Why, you may ask, are they that picky?

 Well…  really it’s a simple reason.  Viruses.  Can you really blame the manufacturers?  Do you really expect them to fix the problems (on their dime, not yours) because you or an employee checked their personal email at the center and clicked on a file attachment called “Ha Ha Ha”?

For the most part, there is little reason why a scoring system network needs to have access to the Internet.  However, there are some things beneficial to having the Internet, such as remote technical support or uploading league standings to LeagueSecretary.com (for free and sanctioned/unsanctioned leagues) or Bowl.com.  Also getting program updates is handy as well.

To upload leagues, we have an alternate solution available in the form of a special licensed copy of BLS.  As always, each computer a CDE product is installed on must have a unique license and serial number (and for the most part, most other programs from other companies do too).  This special license can be used to install BLS on a computer that is outside of the computer scoring network, but still in the bowling center.  A league is simply backed up from the scoring network version of our product and transported via USB Memory or other removable media and then restored on the Internet computer.  From there… upload the league.

This does give you an advantage of having another computer with a backup of your league in case of a hardware failure. 

Also, the Internet enabled computer can download updates to the CDE (or other) products and saved to USB Memory or other removable media and installed on the scoring network computer.

 Some centers who are savvy enough and have invested in technology and anti-virus protection have connected their systems directly to the Internet.  Should you do the same?  I would strongly encourage you to contact your scoring system and find out the ins and outs of warranty and other things that could be effected by that decision.  These centers understand the risk and have taken the appropriate precautions to justify paying for a support incidence related to viruses.  In the mean time, this workaround generally will make the scoring manufacture happy and still allows you to connect your center to the information super highway.

One of the changes coming up for the next bowling season, looks to be quite dissappointing.  298 and 299 awards now will no longer qualify to receive a ring… unless you choose to pay for it.  In past practice, those that wanted a gold ring would simply pay the costs associated with the upgrade.

What happens now?  Those particular awards are now downgraded to being an 11-in-a-row award, which has been a plaque in the past. 

Is this a good thing or bad thing?  Thats up to interpretation.  Are you seeing the best value for your annual membership dues?

One personal thought is to offer a ring for first time earners, lifetime.  Or if a person shoots a certified 300 lifetime, then they would not qualify for a ring for the lower 299/298.   As a fellow “crying club” member who shot a 299 game years ago, I would have been upset and getting another 11-in-a-row plaque (and no… I don’t have 8-10 300’s a year either.  I’ve never shot 300).

Did you know you can make a copy of your league to begin preperation for next season, while keeping the previous league for reference and history purposes?

This can be done two ways.

• From inside of the league, select menu K10 (Mid-Season, End-Season > Make Copy of League For Next Season), select the options that apply for your league and click OK.  Enter a file name for the copy of the league and give it a different name than the original. 
• From outside of the league, select menu B11 (League and File Maintenance > Copy BLS-2007 League To Somewhere Else), select the league and click Copy A League.  Enter a file name for the copy of the league and give it a different name than the original. 

Generally I recommend naming league files something logical.  So if if the league is for the Sunday Mixed, I would call it SUNMX08 for the 2008 season.