With the suprise announcement that the government is going to reduce the VAT rate to 15%, there was much media coverage about how this may or may not help the economy, whether the high street will actually pass on the savings to consumers and as per usual, nothing much about how this affects the IT services that support the ever-increasing amount of small businesses that are moving online.

I’m sure I wasn’t alone in suffering a feeling of dread when I heard that the new rate is going to go into effect on the 1st December 2008, leaving us just 5 days to plan, implement & test any changes that need to be made. For the majotity of the businesses I run sites for, this was a minor thing since I tend to follow these simple rules:

• Store the VAT charged with the payment record - don’t rely on coding to calculate it post-transaction
• Store the VAT amount in a configuration file or database value - never hard code it

In these cases all I need to do is change the VAT amount on the morning of the 1st and everything will be fine. There is one company though that wasn’t so easy to change.

VAT & Services
Our primary client, Medicology, provides services in the form of training courses. People decide to book onto one of their courses, usually well in advance and they receive a 28 day invoice which is then paid. In this companies case, the tax point (the point at which the VAT is calculated and paid) is the point at which the course is run. This has major implications for them:

• If a customer had booked onto a course in September, they would have been invoiced at 17.5%
• However, if the course they are attending runs in January, they should have been invoiced at 15%
• This would therefore require the original invoice to be credit noted at n17.5% and then a new invoice generated at 15%

This was potentially devastating for the company as they may have hundreds of invoices, some paid, some unpaid which need credit noting, re-invoicing and in some cases, refunds issued and new payments taken.

Luckily, due to the short notice, the HMRC has said they will waive this process and let the existing invoices stand. This will save the company hundreds of man-hours and thus thousands of pounds. From a customer point of view, they are not loosing out by paying the extra VAT since the majority of courses are paid for by the NHS Trusts who can claim back the VAT, whatever the amount.

I will be keeping a close eye on the press for what will happen in 13 months time when the rate will increase and my guess is, the government won’t be so kind about letting people off paying additional VAT. In this case, their courses running in 2010 may have to be re-issued so as soon as the new VAT rate is announced, I will be making changes ot the system to calculate the VAT amount based on the tax point as opposed to the current amount.

I just hope they decide the amount sooner rather than later

We use MySQL Databases with PHP front ends for pretty much all our organisations needs but occassionally we need to get something done before I can come up with a system for it. The most recent example was the collection of Contact data which would eventually be integrated into our main Customer database.

We let our Admin staff loose on the collection process and as I didn’t have any input, they used MS Excel to store the info. Now the time has come to add the info to our main MySQL Database and process it for any errors. To minimise the amount of work I’d have to do I wanted to use both Access and PHP to do some processing and data manipulation so I installed WAMP on my laptop and the Mysql ODBC Connector.

After loading up Access, I tried to connect to the MySQL table I’d created but after choosing:

File > Get External Data > Link Tables…

After choosing “ODBC Databases” from the Files of Type, nothing happens.

Turns out it is the “wonderful” Norton Internet Security at work again. You can fix it through the following method:

• In the System Tray, double-click the Norton icon
• Click Norton Internet Security.
• Click Settings.
• Click Additional Options, then Virus and Spyware Protection Options.
• Click Miscellaneous.
• Clear the Turn on scanning for Microsoft Office Documents check box.

Close Access if you had it open and then open your DB again. Should work fine now.

In a previous post I wrote about Outlook, Firefox and “General Failure” messages and a solution to stop these messages from appearing. I’ve just had an update to Firefox and had to go through the same process again because the error messages were coming back. This time it didn’t work though.

A bit of poking around the interweb has given me this little gem though. Basically it has to do with DDE, an old method of allowing applications to communicate with each other. The simplest thing to do is disable it for Firefox:

1. Go to Control Panel -> Folder Options -> File Types.
2. Click on: Extension: {NONE}, filetype: Firefox URL
3. Click on Advanced
4. Click Edit
5. Uncheck the “Use DDE”, and OK twice.
6. Repeat 2-5 for the the following:
   1. “URL: Hypertext Transfer Protocol”
   2. “URL: Hypertext Transfer Protocol with Privacy”

Hopefully this one should fix the problem permenantly

Update There is a new solution at Still getting General Failure messages in Firefox

Original Post

This problem occurs when you click on a link in Outlook and the page opens in Firefox but also creates an error message along the lines of:

General Failure. The URL was:
“http://www.devblog.co.uk”. The system cannot find the file specified.

I think that this problem only occurs in Outlook 2007 but I could be wrong. Anyway, the problem appears on both XP and Vista and in both cases the same registry fix will cure the problem. Usual advice: back up the registry and important data and if it all goes wrong, moan to someone else!

Go to “Start > Run” and Enter “Regedit”. Or in vista I think you can just type “Regedit” in the box at the bottom (I can’t be more specific, I left my Vista laptop at work). When you’ve got regedit open head to the following path:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxURL\shell\open\ddeexec

Open the key “Default” which should have the value of “”%1″,,0,0,,,,”. Delete the string of crap and save it then exit Regedit. This will stop the warnings from popping up.

A quick warning though - If you tend to switch the Default Browser between Firefox and IE (for banking reasons or website testing such as myself) then when you switch back to FF the problem will come back and you’ll have to edit the registry again.

A few weeks ago I was taking a look at Windows SBS 2003 vs Fedora Core for using in the office as a primary all singing, all dancing server and for my particular needs, Linux won. Since then I have had the chance to spend a few days having a first look at Windows Vista and Fedora Core 8. This was not an intentional thing, I’d downloaded Fedora to install on the box I’d set aside for the new server and instead of going for the minimalist text based installation, I installed it as a usable desktop machine as well. At the same time I was given a couple of laptops running Windows Vista Business to set up for a remote user, plus a spare that I’m hanging on to so I can support Vista. This means I’ve had a chance to play with fresh installs of both, trying them out for the all major things an OS does:

• Setup and configuration
• Intuitivity of UI, usability and increasing productivity
• Software installation and built in functionality

As with the previous article, this isn’t meant to start a massive OS war in the comments section. I like both Windows and Linux and my choice of OS is only determined by the job that particular installation will be performing: I wouldn’t try and use Linux as a home entertainment/gaming machine and I wouldn’t use Windows as a web server. It’s just an evaluation for a particular task: a desktop machine for a Web Developer to use during the day, i.e.

• Browsing the web, checking email and various other standard Internet tasks
• Coding and testing of said code (usually on a separate machine)
• Dealing with other standard document types (.doc, .xls, .pdf etc)
• Listening to the radio online or MP3s when it’s quiet

As far as this goes, it’s a pretty even match. Anyone doing my job can easily install either Windows or Fedora and have it up and running within the office network without any issues. The Fedora installation procedure has come a long way in recent versions and it’s much simpler for the novice than it used to be. Windows is also a breeze and even though this one came pre-installed, looking at the various screenshots and reviews, the most trouble a novice would have would be getting the PC to boot from the right media.

So, UI, usability and productivity. This is again a tie in my book. Both operating systems are based around principles we’ve been working with for nearly 20 years such as Menu (Start or otherwise), Task Bar, Windows etc…. Which ever OS you use, they’re all there in one place or another and the only complication is finding the bit you’re looking for. For users such as myself where getting to know new software interfaces and systems it’s not something I worry about. I’m going to skip productivity at the moment as this is something that is affected by a number of factors:

• The software you’re using to do a particular job
• Dealing with bugs and cliches when or if they crop up
• Intergration with other systems used in your particular environment

The only one I will touch on is the last point. In the SME and in particular within my job role, we tend not to use a whole raft of Windows and Office technologies all interconnected with various Server and Client technologies. From this point of view, the need to be on a Windows platform is minimised and the technologies we employ all have open source equivalents that can be used in a mixed environment (Samba etc).

After a week of testing, I’ve come to a few conclusions:

• Fedora is a very good operating system but unless you have a specific need, there’s not too much to tempt me away from the safety net you get by running everyone on Windows. If you need to upgrade and want to save a bit of cash, take a look though.
• Windows Vista has some good user improvements and a very refreshing UI. Unfortunately after 6 or so years I was hoping for more of a leap from XP than a new paint job. If we get new machines running Vista then that’s fine but otherwise, I’m not forking out for it

If you’ve installed Windows Live Messenger, Live Writer or something else that has installed the “My Sharing Folders” icons and shortcuts every-bloddy-place, have a look at the site below to get rid of them all:

Winhelponline.com

Works a treat.

I’ve just re-installed everything on my laptop and the last thing was to get rid of the built in XP messenger and then install the latest Windows Live Messenger. After downloading the WLinstaller.exe and running it I got the following message from the Windows Live Installer

It looks like you’re offline.

To install Windows Live programs, you must be online.
Please connect to the Internet, and then try again.

At first I tried the usual things:

• Disable the firewall (temporarily…)
• Switch from FireFox back to IE and check that “Work Offline” is disabled
• Check I was actually still online…

None of which worked. Finally I found the following work-around:

1. Download an older version of MSN Messenger (File Hippo has archives)
2. Install the older version
3. When you start it up, it’ll inform you that a newer version is available
4. Install this one and everything will run fine

Ta da!

OK, this annoys me all the time because someone will borrow my laptop to watch a DVD in WMP, close the “Now Playing” playlist pane and I can never find how to get it back again. Here’s how you do it:

Click on the drop down arrow under the “Now Playing” tab at the top.
Click on “Show List Pane” and it will come back.

Now I know where to find out how to do it when I forget next time

Before I start this is not intended to be the usual argument between the Microsoft and Linux camps but more a desription of my findings when I had to evaluate the two products for use within our office as the main server. Our office network is currently of the usual standard you’d find in a small 5-10 person company that doesn’t have an in-house IT person:

• All internet traffic is routed through the ADSL router with no management and for the large part, static IP addresses
• Printers shared on which ever PC they were configured from first
• PCs with no password on the user account
• A random mixture of different versions of Windows and Office

I know this shouldn’t be the case with me being the in-house IT “professional”, but my main job is to develop and maintain several enterprise quality websites. This leaves me with very little time to devote to my additional role as IT Manager and Sys Admin so up until now as long as everyone good do their job on that particular day and as long as none of the office IT equiptment had smoke and flames billowing out of it then I considered that part of my job a success.

Unfortunately the MD has thrown a spanner in the works by setting us all a set of goals that will allow our company to function at it’s best and also to grow over the next year or so. This is normally fine by me as it’s the kind of mission critical memo that I lovingly file away in the “Deleted Items” folder before getting on with some serious Ajax coding. This time is a little different though as he’s made our bonuses dependant on the goals being acheived. There’s a few bits and bobs in here that I’m not going to include here but for the most part they boil down to:

• Reliable uptime of printers, file storage and internet connection for all office PCs
• Backup of all files and email that can be recovered with 1 working hour
• Document collaboration for both onsite and offsite staff

Now my initial reaction was to head off to Dell and spec up a shinny new server running Windows Small Business Server 2003 to take advantage of the combination of Exchange and SharePoint but after taking into account some of the PCs are running old versions of Office (there may even be an odd Works and Outlook Express installation) and a few Windows XP Home, by the time everything was upgraded to XP Pro and Office 2003/2007 plus the server it was a bill upwards of £2000!

For a small business of 6 employess that is a bit steep by anyones standard so I did the obvious and headed off into the Linux world. I’m not a die hard linux fan by any means. I like it a lot - where it’s appropriate, but I don’t use it on my desktop - I’m on XP Pro. Neither will I use windows all the time - I don’t have a single IIS or SQL installation (L.A.M.P all the way!) but Linux is cheaper if you can do it yourself. That’s where businesses of our size have to find the trade off: you don’t want to be paying a consultant or your IT staff more than it would have cost to get a Windows server up and running.

In the end I weighed up the pros and cons and made the following decision: Linux this time based on the following:

• Fedora Core 8 running on a P4 1Gb box
• Leave the email running on our Web Hosts SMTP/POP3 servers
• Configure all the usual DNS, DHCP, Samba, Firewall and routing servers so that they worke just as though we’d forked out £2000 on Windows SBS
• Install OpenOffice and O3Spaces (or similar) on every machine

So thats the plan. The moral of this (as usual) long winded rambling and unnecessary story? Find the solution that fits your needs and budget. Time to implement it and then report back!

I’m just about to get started on a new project for a client and it’s going to be my first multi-lingual site. The site is Visit Pyrenees and it’s a holiday home and hotel advertising site based around three villages in the Eastern Pyrenees. As far as a brand new project goes, it shouldn’t be too complicated and the only technically difficult bit will be the French and English versions.

As the site is aimed at UK tourists wanting to visit the area, the default language will be English, but I also want a French version for a number of reasons:

• It adds to the USP of the site by attracting visitors speaking both languages
• There will be a slight SEO benefit from the dual language site
• Some of the advertisers will only speak French and will be editing their advert which will then need translating

There are basically two section to the site: the adverts for the various places of accommodation and the static information pages. Since I don’t speak much French, I’d like the static areas of the site to be editable by a none technical but French speaking person (such as the site owner). It therefore makes sense that the easiest way of implementing the site using a wysiwyg editor that lets the user select their language and then enter the text and any other HTML entities into the editor before saving it. The PHP script will then take the text and then create a version in the other language.

When I find something suitable that works, I’ll post a link or a zip file for download if I have to modify it.