InstantForum.NET v2.9.0SQLServerCentralhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/notifications@sqlservercentral.comThu, 24 May 2012 12:36:29 GMT20http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspx[quote][b]majorbloodnock (2/5/2010)[/b][hr]I could be missing the point, but it seems to me that a lot of the "toasters" mentioned in this thread aren't toasters so much as wishlist utilities. I thought Steve's point was that a "toaster" is a utility that does what you want well enough to forget about it, but no better or worse than a myriad of other similar products.[/quote]I too may be missing the point, because the above describes exactly my reactions to the posts I've read so far.For example I can't see a browser as a toaster, there is far too much variation between different browsers and I actually find it useful to have three different ones available on my laptop; would you have three toasters in your kitchen?Text editors and word processors are maybe good candidates for being toasters - but if so one has to exclude some of the more bizarre text editors!So are compilers - show me a compiler, and I'll almost certainly see a piece of fairly nice software that turns a source code written in a pretty bad programming language into object code (maybe F# will break the pattern - most earlier compilers for FP languages were either for academic toy languages or for some not at all well worked out compromise between academic "purity" and industrial "usefulness"). Maybe even that is a bit like having several different toasters - maybe one for white moulded bread and one for wholemeal molded bread and one for Pita? (So is even a toaster a toaster?)An Email client is a toaster. Just now I'm using Outlook 2003, but switch me to Thunderbird or Eudora or... well, you get the picture, they all let me compose and send email and recieive and read email and they are all pretty much the same (or at least the features I actually use are common to all of them).There must be many more toasters in IT, but I can't recall what they are. Oh dear, maybe I'm getting old and senile; or is it just that toasters are eminently forgettable (until you want to toast something)?Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:11:14 GMTL' Eomot Inverséhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxWho needs MS Office when you can get OpenOffice? To me, OpenOffice is the ultimate toaster.Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:03:55 GMTsreid08http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxWinzip had me at Hello but v14? wow, I am still using a registered copy of v9.Oh, and of course, I should mention my toaster oven is Windows.Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:12:41 GMTJamie Longstreet-481950http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxOddly enough, one of my toasters also begins with a "T"... T-SQL. My other toaster is my trusty pork chop launcher... heh... I've only had to change the bands on it once it ten years. :-PFri, 05 Feb 2010 19:44:40 GMTJeff Modenhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxBrutal....no toast for you thenFri, 05 Feb 2010 15:32:08 GMTNicholas Cainhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxNope flash drives gets us automatic termination. I've got a test box off network that I get to use...just not as much.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:25:15 GMTgraymerhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxIf you're allowed flash drives you could run it right off that.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:20:41 GMTNicholas Cainhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxTrue. But they do security scans here and they're not the most friendly when they find unauthorized software on the machine.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:17:09 GMTgraymerhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspx[quote][b]gabriel.raymer (2/5/2010)[/b][hr]I'm surprised at how many are saying Notepad++. That's my favorite too. I just wish my current situation would allow me to use it. So it's back to just Notepad for me. :([/quote]You could get the portable version of notepad++ and thus not have to perform an install. That's just the butter on top of the toast right there.Other toast: flash drives, 7-zip, firefox, trillian, keepass, feed demon, screenshot captorFeeling hungry now....Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:47:51 GMTNicholas Cainhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxFor me - The Office Suite (especially Outlook), Notepad, and any keyboard that is not ergo or wireless (same with the mouse - no wireless!):cool:JoeFri, 05 Feb 2010 12:45:08 GMTcrookjhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxMy toaster is the Find and Replace tool for Access by Rick Fisher (http://www.rickworld.com/products.html). We often use Access as the front end to our SQL Server databases and this tool has saved me tons of time when copying objects and reworking applications. It’s simple, fast, easy to use, and very reasonably priced. There is also a free trial version if you want to check it out.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:12:11 GMTLaurie Dunnhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxNotepad++ - default text editor in most cases. Just enough extra bells/whistles to be useful over regular notepad.7zip - I stopped using Winzip after they went back on their lifetime free upgrade promise. I realized it made very little sense to buy a ZIP utility at that point.Flash drives - generally agreed, though I'll tend to shy away from the cheapest of them most timesMice - Left, Right, scroll wheel - preferably optical most times - other than that I don't really care. Anything extra is not likely to be needed.I can't see a laptop being a toaster for me - that's a significant outlay of my money and I'd do a little research to get a decent brand w/ a reliable product.For an anti-toaster I'd nominate IE. I tend to avoid it unless I absolutely need it or it makes my job much easier - some streaming, IE-only sites, Outlook Web Access. I'm glad MS included a browser so we have one in Windows by default, but it always seems to lead to trouble - bad standards, easy malware infection, programming trouble, etc.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:46:51 GMTPeter Schotthttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxFor me, hubs, switches, wireless routers are toasters now. I'm not a network guy.I can't think of many software products I use that are toasters. I use Office 2007, Windows XP or Windows 7 (not vista), TextPad, Adobe graphics apps.FTP GUI's are toasters.I think printers are becoming toasters.Speakers to me are toasters.Smartphones are close to being toasters.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:39:26 GMTaqlhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxDefinately Notepad ++ and Firefox :-)Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:06:09 GMTwislhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxAs a side note...the toaster I'd choose is #6 of course she's beautiful, but interestingly complex. Though the old chrome Cylons were pretty cool too.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:58:59 GMTgraymerhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI bet the model of toaster really matters to some one who makes a lot of toast. It probably takes the toaster chef a few more than 10 seconds to choose the toaster. That chef probably reads all the consumer digest guides on toasters. Maybe even has some trade magazine subscriptions. lol.When you think about it...anything could be a toaster. Sometimes, maybe we dig too deep into what for others is generic.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:53:54 GMTTrey Stakerhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxFor me, DisKeeper. I have been using it since it was a DEC utility.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:51:29 GMTRevenanthttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI'm surprised at how many are saying Notepad++. That's my favorite too. I just wish my current situation would allow me to use it. So it's back to just Notepad for me. :(Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:26:47 GMTgraymerhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI archived out 500 gb worth of notes from sql to text files. I used built in zip that comes with Windows 2003 and it compressed a 11 gb folder to a 4 gb zip file. I treid winrar and it compressed to 1.1 GB. Big diffrence.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:26:34 GMTDerek-2008http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI produce a lot of documentation as part of my job so I'd have to say SnagIt. Also couldn't do without my Notepad ++.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:22:55 GMTD Gillespiehttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxMouseFri, 05 Feb 2010 09:21:53 GMTMattTheDBAhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxSnagit definitely. Codesmith. Textpad.I've only used it for a few weeks but Subversion and TortoiseSVN look like they will be in my "toolbox" for a long time to come.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:01:21 GMTben.randhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxDefinitely Notepad++ for text editor(toaster) - I tried several others for quick code changes, but Notepad++ is the most versatile one that I have found. Favorite feature - bracket matching for opening and closing statements.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:38:20 GMTtony.hayeshttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI totally agree with a Print To PDF being a toaster. It doesn't matter too much which one you chose as they all do about the same quality of job. I use BullZip pretty much because it was the first free Print To PDF program that I tried and it has worked flawlessy for me sinceFri, 05 Feb 2010 08:25:38 GMTmichael.wileshttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI agree that USB drives are toasters, could care less about brand, only cost. Mostly that was on desktops too, care about price far more than brand, and unlikely to spend any time tweaking it besides upgrading memory or drives later in it's life. For mice I don't care as long as it's a wireless laser.Plus, now I'm associated for life with toasters!Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:07:08 GMTAndy Warrenhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxNotepad. But if I want a little jelly with the toast I'll use WordPad.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:58:18 GMTDave Schutzhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI have two "toasters":1. [b]CutePDF [/b]-- it's been years since I worked with a computer that I didn't install this on.2. [b]WordPad [/b]-- it's a step above NotePad, but loads faster and is more useful for down-and-dirty notes than Word.It's the simple things that matter ...Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:54:56 GMTJoseph D. Marshhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxOn the software side I'd have to say it's the office suite. Doesn't matter to me if it's using MS Office at work, OpenOffice at home, or any other office suite product really, they all do the same thing to me for how I use them.On the hardware side, I think printers have come to the point where they are pretty much toasters, unless you're getting some big industrialized model that has sorting and colating and stapling etc, or for special professional printing, they're all just the same to me. I'd have to agree with the people who say thumb drives. I don't really care about the speed of thumb drives, they're all small, easily used, and are tons times faster and more storage than diskettes ever were. ;-)Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:44:59 GMTChris Harshmanhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxAny computer with a recent version of Windows (XP or later) , IE, and an internet connection.Any printer within 50 feet of my desk.Love that way-cool toaster!Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:44:36 GMTdeanroushhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxThere are toasters, then there are better mouse traps.7Zip format is a better mouse trap. I have to compress lots of PDF files and it is amazing compared to zip. Also 7zip includes the command line interface which has mountians of uses. We even use 7zip for backups and remote backups because the file sizes are so small we can move them off site over dsl connections.Great product, I would even pay for it, but I don't have to. ; )MJFri, 05 Feb 2010 07:42:08 GMTSimian336http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxPDF995A great embedded print device that does what it says on the tin - and all for under 10 bucks! Had my copy for years and last updated in 2007! It even works when used programmatically: no mucking about with libraries. Just reset your default print device to it, and you get a nice neat pile of pdf files in your selected folder.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:36:40 GMTsteve.saunders-611242http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxWhen my friend Joe User calls up and says they're in the market for a new laptop/desktop so they can surf and email, they're looking for a toaster. They always ask what brand to get. I usually recommend they spend toward the lower/middle price range and go with whatever else turns them on (screen size, optical drive, etc). Brand doesn't really matter (IMHO).Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:31:24 GMTsljoneshttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxThere definitely are differences in most software. Editors especially, but it depends on whether that matters to you. If it does, it's not a toaster. If it doesn't, it is. I've used Word, Wordpad, OpenOffice, etc. to write. In many ways I prefer Notepad or Edit Plus because when I click the icon it starts. When I click Word, it ramps up, so I tend not to use it to "write" because it's slow. I use it when I need formatting. Otherwise everything is a text editor that works for me. I've even written articles in SSMS because it was handy and I can /* */ around the text while I test code.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:30:29 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspx[quote][b]Joe Johnson-482549 (2/5/2010)[/b][hr][quote][b]Nadrek (2/5/2010)[/b][hr]Flash drives: There is a tremendous difference in speed between them, even before onboard encryption comes into the mix.[/quote]Did you read the article about encrypted drives, that most of them are essentially open?[/quote]No, but when I want hardware encryption, I track down a Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy Edition. Otherwise, I use encyrption software I'm personally familiar with and use on a variety of media, _never_ software encryption that "comes with" a flash drive.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:25:42 GMTNadrekhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspx[quote][b]Nadrek (2/5/2010)[/b][hr]Flash drives: There is a tremendous difference in speed between them, even before onboard encryption comes into the mix.[/quote]Did you read the article about encrypted drives, that most of them are essentially open?Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:18:01 GMTJoe Johnson-482549http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI'll go with flash drives and e-mail clients as my toasters. I don't care which one I use, so long as it gets the job done.Same for online e-mail. I have hotmail accounts and gmail accounts, and the differences are microscopic.I've used multiple laptops for work (I don't own one personally), and haven't found any differences that have mattered to me.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:17:02 GMTGSquaredhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI vote for external storage. hard drives, thumb drives, even cloud drives. They're all the same. You plug 'em in and they (should) work. No voodoo science, shaking chicken bones, or definitely no mount/dismount arcanum.My second choice would be email. I use Outlook on the desktop, web-based email, whatever -- it all just shows me the emails like it should. Some bells and whistles based on what you are using, but quite honestly, I can get by with Gmail, yahoo, or hotmail.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:14:41 GMTJoe Johnson-482549http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxIn addition to utilities already mentioned, I use good ole WinDiff a lot. Just Googled Total Commander.MFri, 05 Feb 2010 07:11:57 GMTmike.styershttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxI would have to concur that thumb drives are my toasters. Oh, and CTRL+Z. Man's best friend and lifesaver.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:09:09 GMTGill Rowleyhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic860143-263-1.aspxAnyone's toaster is that which they have sufficiently relaxed requirements about in comparison with the popular products on the market that the popular products don't have any differentiation that is significant to that person.Flash drives: There is a tremendous difference in speed between them, even before onboard encryption comes into the mix.Editors: Each major editor has one or more things that it does significantly better than the others. Also, definitions of "huge" files vary from tens of megabytes to tens of gigabytes (or tens of thousands of pages to millions of pages).Databases: DB2, MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, and SQL Server are six of one, half dozen of another... until you have certain needs or desires, then one or more can be completely unsuitable.Compression utilities: note that the most modern WinZip has options that create archives incompatible with most other products. Each have benefits over the others, and disadvantages compared to the others.Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:07:05 GMTNadrek