Mark Brown

Nota Bene
Mainsoft unites .Net and Java programming

Great product idea. I wish the price tag was a little smaller though.

http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/Mainsoft_unites_.Net_and_Java_programming_.html

Posted: Jun 06 2004, 12:58 AM by markbrown | with 1 comment(s)
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File Checksum Integrity Verifier utility

"The File Checksum Integrity Verifier (FCIV) is a command prompt utility that computes and verifies cryptographic hash values of files. FCIV can compute MD5 or SHA-1 cryptographic hash values. These values can be displayed on the screen or saved in an XML file database for later use and verification." 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;841290

Posted: Jun 04 2004, 04:09 PM by markbrown | with no comments
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First post using VisualBlogger 2004

My first impression is good.

"VisualBlogger 2004 is one of the only Windows blogging clients available to have nearly the full gamut of visual HTML formatting options."

and

"If you're a developer, VisualBlogger 2004 makes it easy to share your .NET code in an easy-to-read format. Just paste it into the Code Highlighter, and VisualBlogger parses it to look just like Visual Studio .NET, complete with line numbers and colored keywords."

The full feature list is here!

UPDATE: Hmm, It looks like the timestamp is 6 hours off. I'll have to look into that.

Proving and Protecting Email Sender Identity

“Email spoofing - the forging of another person's or company's email address to get users to trust and open a message - is one of the biggest challenges facing both the Internet community and anti-spam technologists today. Without sender authentication, verification, and traceability, email providers can never know for certain if a message is legitimate or forged and will therefore have to continually make educated guesses on behalf of their users on what to deliver, what to block, and what to quarantine, in the pursuit of the best possible user experience.“

If you manage mail servers you should follow DomainKey technology.

Posted: May 21 2004, 11:21 AM by markbrown | with no comments
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Running web service test forms on remote web servers

ASP.NET's default mode is not to allow you access to the web service test forms from remote machines. Loading your ASMX page from a remote machine will produce the following text under the Test section: “The test form is only available for requests from the local machine“. I was able to get around this by placing the following in the Web.Config under the System.Web section:

<webServices>
  <protocols>
    <add name="HttpPost" />
    <add name="HttpGet" />
  </protocols>
</webServices>

Flash

macromedia.com

Click on Monday.... Page arrives on Wednesday. Sheesh

Calendar Control

I'm in the market for a great calendar control for the web. I'd like one that provides multiple views (Daily, Weekly and Monthly). I've looked at the offering from Media Chase and it looks good. One of my requirments is for source code. Does anyone have any suggestions?

WIX Source Code Released

I'm a little late on this but “Microsoft published the code for one of its products on an open-source software development Web site late Monday, departing from its hard-line stance against making the underlying components of its technology available to the general public.”

Article can be found here and the code can be found on Source Forge. Also, the author has a blog entry.

Posted: Apr 12 2004, 05:11 AM by markbrown | with no comments
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Visual Studio 2005

Has anyone really had to reformat their hard drive?

“IMPORTANT NOTE: Technology Previews are not “alpha” or “beta” quality. They should only be installed on dedicated machines as no guarantees are made that the hard drive will not require reformatting once the customer’s evaluation is complete. Microsoft will still release alphas and betas of Visual Studio 2005 ("Whidbey"). Developers can look to these releases to provide increasing features, quality, and stability.“

Also, I'm assuming that this is a newer version then the PDC version. Is that correct?

Posted: Apr 10 2004, 02:32 PM by markbrown | with 6 comment(s)
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I Love Penguins

I really do. I started using Linux when I founded a small ISP 9 years ago. I've since moved to other adventures but I still use the Linux OS in my production environment for core services like DNS and Mail. I've never thought one OS was better then the other. I believe each has their strengths. I've always had the opinion that free software is not really free. There are hidden costs. I was reading an interesting article this morning over at Forbes.com. Here are some quotes:

“This is not a religion," Carey says. "I want the most value for the dollars I spend."

I've have many peers that are die hard Linux fans and bash Windows. It drives me nuts. Each OS solves a problem.

“Carey says one reason he embraced Linux was its lower cost. But if Linux becomes almost as expensive as Windows, why not go with Windows, and benefit from the work of thousands of Microsoft engineers and programmers? Carey talks about "the innovation premium"--meaning the price you pay to get the latest and greatest.”

I couldn't agree more.

Posted: Apr 10 2004, 01:41 PM by markbrown | with 1 comment(s)
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