get the wor(l)d

Hi,

after being quiet for a while I just went through all bug-reports and finished a new version of virtual identity.

bugfixes:

• If Smart-Reply found (for instance) an existing identity, sending works ok and was not tampered by the extension. But Thunderbird doesn’t remove the window, it ‚recycles‘ the window. Next time you compose a message, this one shows the same old identity but uses a different one behind the scenes. So I changed Virtual Identity to remove Window completely if message was sended, Window-Recycling is this way disabled (thanks to Charles, john and Henrik for the report).
• repaired Dialog to choose which Virtual Identity to choose, was completely broken (thanks to Mark for the report).
• Connected (and this way limited) usage of newsgroup Identities to the switch which enables Virtual Identity for newsgroups (thanks to Dave for the report).

You can download the new version at http://absorb.it/hacked/thunderbird/virtual_identity-0.4.2-tb+sm.xpi
and soon from addons.mozilla.org.

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It took longer than I expected, but I think it was worth to include a lot of feature-requests and get rid of some bugs. Many thanks to you all who gave me reports and suggestions and translations and thank-you-mails, without this feedback the extension would have been not even half as nice as it is by now. So as you see, I like the result of the last weeks work, and I hope you will enjoy it too. Don’t like to mention the list of bug-fixes again, just the list of new features compared to version 0.4.0:

• you can now sort the header any way you like, also exclude ‚to‘ or ‚cc‘ as you like it, but you have to tell Virtual Identity that it has to use those headers. So change your settings and add ‚to‘ and ‚cc‘ to the list of headers. A header name now refers to all headers of that name, not like before only the outmost one of you mail. To select a specific header, just use the number of it’s occurrence, so for instance „:3“ and add it to the headername. And if you wish to use only the email address and not the name, then simply add „:@“.
• reading the headers was in version 0.4.0 dependent on installed mnenhy or enigmail. Now it’s independent on other extensions, so you are free to use whatever you like (but to protect the freedom of having secrets the same way as the freedom of choice or the freedom of speach, you might choose to install enigmail anyway)
• added a nice debug-window, which helps you understanding what Virtual Identity really does. using complex filter rules you might get very creative, and this is the place to look if it doesn’t work as expected. This debug information is also helpful for me to understand how and when problems occur if you are sending a bug report.

Ok, here you can find the recent release 0.4.1, and, tadaa, there will be a documentation soon (have a look at the work in progress)

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Than I had to install some additional software to enjoy the Mac, we’ll see if I keep them for my mother.

First, there is Adium, an Instant Messenger which is able to handle ICQ, Jabber and doesn’t bug you with .Mac (like iChat does). Nice one, but till now I don’t have found how to keep the program at the dock after starting – it always shows you the contact window. Continue Reading »

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Nearly as fast as I got the MacBook, I received the printer I bought at eBay. Just told you, I bought an HP Deskjet 995c, cause this one has bluetooth included and I liked to make the system as flexible as possible. First impression, it’s an heavy printer – the weight of around 6,5kg remembered me on some russian technology… Continue Reading »

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A small bug in pre3 caused disabled the whole extension if in the preferences for the place where sended messages should be saved the settings of the default Identity were selected. Thanks to Guy for reporting and helping tracing the bug. New pre-release 0.4.1pre4 fixes this issue.

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network configuration: it wasn’t as easy as I thought to connect the computer to the network. There is an assistent, but as intelligent as assistents are this one didn’t got the idea that I might like to get my internet (by now) out of an ad-hoc WLAN network. The airport was not able to find the network, nor was it able to connect to it if I entered the SSID of our network in the network settings. At some point I found the icon at the upper status-bar, clicked on it and saw not only wireless networks, but also computer-to-computer networks. And there it was, as easy as expected. Continue Reading »

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First overall impression was good, the MacBook came in a huge box but after unwrapping all the air-shock-absorbers it ended as a real nice computer. „Designed by Apple in California“, and surely produced in China, but anyway, all looks very solid and nice.

You instantly notice the small things: the Power adapter has to ways of getting plugged into the power-net: with a long cord or as a wall power supply, as you like it. Trying to put the power-cable into the MacBook it jumps at the right place and a small LED-light shows you that something is the way it should. Nice, fancy.

But now the real test. Pressing the power button the first time it gives you some options to change language and so on, but then it’s tries to register. This combined „register and create user accounts“ is a real mess (the image beneath shows the same dialog, but later). No indicator what the registration is good for, only a nice long text which ensures that they won’t play around with your data and they need it to give you a better service. And no way to go further without entering a name, fullname, address and a telephone number. What’s this? And you can only go forward (implies entering the data) or back (which is not what you want). Aborting might be possible, but maybe you abort the whole initial configuration? Really bad… Continue Reading »

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Future is now, so it was time to help my mother to enjoy the net as I do. And first I thought I’ll suggest her using a Linux, maybe Ubuntu system, but as much as I personally like Ubuntu there are some problems using Linux (have you ever tried to go to a shop and ask if a specific hardware is working with Linux? than you know what I’m talking about)

So I suggested my mother to buy a mac, more precise the cheapest MacBook available (MacBook MA699D/A, 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2, 512 MB RAM, 60GB disc, 13,3“ screen). This way I thought I might have the chance to administrate the machine without going mad and my mother hopefully will get attracted by the fancy computer too. Ok, ordered one at www.cyberport.de (have to mention this, cause it arrived around 30hrs later, wow). Continue Reading »

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… And listen to your customers.“ So Keith had a good point in telling me that version 0.4.1pre2 destroys the HeaderView. Yes, I managed to read all headers without any other extension in 0.4.1pre2, but ignored existent (already showed) mail headers. Cause the extension adds new headers to the HeaderView and hides them, also existent Headers where hidden.

So, repaired this one and the now released pre-version 0.4.1pre3 should solve the problem. Thanks Keith (and all the others) for testing and reporting.

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Few days ago I released the preview of Virtual Identity and thought of finishing the programming on it for a while. But usually if you think thats it you’ll enter the next level. Olav and Patrick, programmers of the enigmail extension, told me that they changed their extension for the new upcoming Thunderbird release. And cause of that I couldn’t rely on their extension for retrieving the headers, so one of the main features of Virtual Identity 0.4x (looking for Identities in additional headers) would not have worked in the future.

But much better, they gave me the hint about how to retrieve all mail headers in Thunderbird, so I was able to implement a much nicer solution than the one Virtual Identity used before. And (if you are running at least Thunderbird 2.0.0.0rc1 or Seamonkey) it’s now completely independent from any other extensions like mnenhy or enigmail. Additionally I cleaned the option to select a specific header out of headers with the same name (now a mentioned header will match all headers with that name, for selecting the first one just add ‚:1‘). Ok, the new version is pre-released now, download Virtual Identity 0.4.1pre2, try it and report any problems.

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