Bucket Explore versus Jungledisk

Sorry Jungledisk fans, but I have to say that although it was only $20, it was $20 too much.

Bucket Explorer is a far superior product. Sure it cost twice as much, but it's worth it. I bought Jungledisk first because a friend recommended it, but wish I had tried Bucket Explorer first. Bucket Explorer is just easier to use, and has features I like. Creating and deleting buckets is a breeze. It's just a pain in Jungledisk. Bucket Explorer makes permissions a snap, and even offers easy linking to files. These easy to use public URLs and time-limited signed URLs are a nice touch. Perhaps it's minor, but Jungledisk's long bucket names such as 334HNDX984NXN49F8N-webbucket just aren't as nice as the simplicity of Bucket Explorer letting me create something nice and smple like "webbucket". Bucket Explorer (like Jungledisk) works in Linux. Anyone that has read enough of my past posts may realize I love using Linux, and Bucket Explorer is simply great on my KDE based distro (Mint Linux). It was easy to istall too. I also realy don't like the idea that Jungledisk stores my data in their own format. Good luck accessing files uploaded by Jungledisk with any other client software.

So what do I loose by deciding against Jungledisk? I realize that Jungledisk provided a backup feature. Well, I can use S3Backup if I need it, and it's free. Go ahead and check that link out, and have a look at S3 Webmaster while you're there, it's pretty cool too. Jungledisk does have Jungledisk-USB. With this I could carry around a working copy of Jungledisk on a USB key and access S3 from any USB supported computer. Okay, I can't find an alternative for this, but frankly, I wouldn't miss it. Jungledisk is$20 for life and that apparently includes updates. Sadly these included updates don't include the newly added Jungledisk-Plus features. BucketExplorer will only provide free upgrades for 6 months. I hope they reconsider this.
So what have I learned? I should have done more research before buying any S3 application.

By the way, you might want to skip both Jungledisk and Bucket Explorer and simply rely on the S3Fox addon for Firefox and find that you'll be entirely happy with that. It's pretty damn useful.

Gundata is progressing nicely

Between slowly learning Python and trying to compare parts of it to Suneido, I have had a little time to work on Gundata. I am new to coding, versions, and licensing, but am tempted to offer up an Alpha version to a few testers. I have a few people in mind, but of course would consider more tester of you are willing (crazy or bored enough). There is a long way to go before I would consider this truly useful or problem free. I still need to add certain features, and add more reporting. (Not really selling it here am I?). I am also working on a simple website to provide downloads and get feedback.

Suneido and Python ?

I have run into a wall with Suneido. It's not Suneido's fault, Suneido is a great language, but it doesn't have the wealth of books and documents typically available with languages like Ruby, C#, or Python. My problem was my ignorance of programming. I really have no idea about data types, list, operations, etc. I am a beginner! So on a recommendation, I have decided to dive into Python. This way I can better learn how to program (at least its basics) and better understand Suneido, as it has many similarities to other popular languages. Who knows, once I get through this Python book, I might even go through the Ruby book I purchased a while back.

Yes that may not sound realistic. I am just getting into programming and learning Python and Suneido at once may be a bit much for my tiny brain. Why not throw Ruby in the mix too?