For Christmas this year from work I got a DELL D820, Intel Core 2 T7400 @ 2.16Ghz, 2 Gigs of RAM and 100 Gig Hard Drive. It is sweet. Any how, I had to move computers which can be a pain. Here is the list of must have software tools I have installed. If you develop web applications, this is a must have list.

1. CrapCleaner – A must have to easily keep your PC running smooothly and not letting crappy temp files cog your memory.
2. HomeSite – My HTML/PHP editor of choice. I only wish Macromedia/Adobe had never bought them. Macromedia/Adobe have basically stopped development of this once fine product, but I haven’t found anything better.
3. UltraEdit – My Text editor of choice. This thing can do almost anything and best of all it handles huge (over 100mb) text files without a problem.
4. Visual Studio 2005 – I do all my .NET work out of here, I also just installed SP 1 and have found it to speed things up.
5. SQL Server & Management Studio 2005 – It took a little bit to get use to it vs Query Anaylizer/Enterprise Manager but I like it now so much better.
6. FireFox 2.0 – My default Web Browser for so many reasons (most of them are extensions listed below)
Extensions for FireFox:
• FasterFox – Speeds up FireFox by changing some default settings
• FireBug – A must have for debugging web applicatons
• iFox – My theme
• ColorZilla – A great tool to get HEX values of colors.
7. Proccess Tamer – This keeps any wild proccess under control
8. Gaim – I have an AOL account but this thing is so much nicer and less resource intense
9. SlickRun – My quick launcher of choice. I blow the font up so this thing is pretty big on my machine
10. FireWorks – I’ve never found Photoshop to be intuitive, I much prefer FireWorks for web work in terms of how things are cut
11. Navicat – A mysql admin tool. I have a lot of issues with Navicat (definitely a future post) but it does have its advantages, like its upload ability and user management set up.
12. SSH Client– A must have for PC users that work on Unix boxes.
13. Surround SCM – Our version control.
14. TestTrack Studio – Our defect tracking and test case management tool.
15. Zune Theme for XP – I have Vista as a dual boot but when I am in XP I prefer for it to look this way.
16. Google Desktop – I’m finding I use this less and less by keeping my mail cleaner on a daily basis. I use it strictly for search, their sidebar stuff is god awful. This tool might be dropping off the list soon.
17. FileZilla – Simple and clean FTP client.
18. VNC – I manage MC OS X machines. OS X makes it easier to manage things thru their GUI sometimes. The same can not be said for any of the Linux builds.

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One thing I love about Navicat is the ability to give me the raw SQL in a backup, something that Microsoft Management Studio lacks big time. I found this great Code Project article/application that does this perfectly.

http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/ScriptDatabase.asp

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There was one thing I was really bad at, negotiation. Point blank I had no idea how to do or what games to play, until I read sometime back Erick Sink’s blog entry about his adventure with negotiating a car deal. Unfortently I hadn’t read this when I bought my new house in the summer. My wife and I walked into that house with the builder and were straight Google Eyed (a little more her then me). It was over, we had no chance to get some real money off of the house. That guy played me like a fiddle. Lesson learned. On December 31st, my wife was in a car accident and totaled our 2001 Honda Accord. Insurance give us more then we owed so off I went looking at cars. Here is are the 5 rules of negotiation I used get a good deal.

Rule 1: Do your homework, Know your price:
I researched what type of cars I wanted, price range, what was available

Rule 2: Define a fallback plan:
I had a rental car for 45 days, plenty of time to find something. If worse came to worse, my wife and I would have to share a car for a bit.

Rule 3: Don’t get emotionally attached.
The worst words I spoke when buying our home was “I Love this house”. I kept a very open mind to all the cars I looked at and made sure I didn’t “fall in love”. When I test drove each car I made sure to say out loud. “I’m not sure I can envision myself in this car”, I did this to reaffirm to the salesman and to myself.

Rule 4: Don’t show all your cards until the right moment:
The day I went to the dealers I had 3 Honda Elements I wanted to look at, at each dealer I only mentioned the one car as a comparative, so that I had the 3rd car to eventually use at the very end of negotiations. This worked out great for me.

Rule 5: The ability to WALK AWAY:
This is the most important rule, if a salesperson thinks you are willing to walk away (meaning no sale for them AND more importantly the time they lost) then they know you have the upper hand and will be a lot more likely to make a deal more towards your numbers then theirs.

My story goes like this. On Saturday midday I go into Honda East knowing they have a 2004 Honda Element EX 4WD with 34k miles on it listed at $19,700. Salesperson approaches, and I ask what they have in stock for a used Element (Rules 1, 4). She shows me this.

It’s very nice and exactly what I am looking for but not for the price. I take it for a test drive and mention the “I’m not sure I can envision myself in this car” line (Rule 3). She gives me more features and I show some enthusiasm for the car. Lets talk price. She gives me the run down of all the options it has on it and I make it known to her about another deal at John Nolan Ford for a 2003 Honda with very similar options but priced well below hers, $16,900 (Rule 1). I shoot an offer of 16k. She comes back with 17,900. 16,900 is my counter. She hits me back at 17k and says that is as low as she can go. That’s $2500, not too bad. But too much then I want to pay. Tell her thanks but I need to go look at the other deal. I walk away (Rule 5).

At John Nolan Ford, I follow the same rules during the test drive and I mention the offer at Honda East. My initial offer is $13,500. He comes back at $14,900. I respond with $14,000 and that I saw a 2003 Honda stickered the same but with only 15k miles in Columbus and I willing to walk to go see this car. He caves, at $14,000. That’s $2,900 off. Deal.

I’m not all of the sudden a great negotiator but by following these 5 rules, I can now at least play the game.

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