James Steele

Watch the Windows 7 Launch by Steve Ballmer (54 min Video)

2009-10-22T16:52:00Z

Watch the video here

Top 5 ways to get a Google Wave invite.

2009-10-01T13:22:00Z

Here are the top 5 ways to get a Google Wave invite.

Follow me on Twitter. I have already given away a few invites and I am working on securing more. I will also tweet about ways you can go about finding one.
Become part of the developer preview. Google Wave is a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. A "wave" is equal parts conversation and document, where users can almost instantly communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Google Wave is also a platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other web services and to build extensions that work inside waves.
Request an invitation here.
Use Twitter like this.
If all else fails. Ask Scott Hanselman. He can get anything. ;-)

Try Paint.NET 3.5 Beta

2009-09-29T10:58:00Z

You can now download Paint.NET 3.5 Beta.

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

Microsoft hands Commerce Server over to Cactus Commerce

2007-08-09T22:04:00Z

A blockbuster deal worth "tens of millions" of dollars was signed between Microsoft and Cactus Commerce. Microsoft agreed to hand over the lions share of Commerce Server to Cactus.

Read the headlines:

http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/289543152442940.php

http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/News/959ab3ba-a8bc-4992-a01e-e2d3127baaeb.html

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=internet_business&articleId=9029726&taxonomyId=71&intsrc=kc_top

http://reddevnews.com/news/article.aspx?editorialsid=8925

James Steele

.NET 3.0 (formerly WinFX) - Clearing the confusion.

2006-07-12T19:15:00Z

NET Framework 3.0 CTP has been released. Here are some resources to help you get your feet wet.

James

Commerce Server 2006 Partner SDK

2006-06-20T22:37:00Z

I have been trying to track down some documentation for the Commerce Server 2006 Server Partner SDK. Is there any documentation available for this? I am aware of the Commerce Server 2007 product documentation but that does not actually discuss the bits in the SDK.

James Steele

Smart Client - Composite UI Application Block

2006-01-23T11:42:00Z

If you are looking to get up and running quickly with Windows Forms applications, check out the Smart Client - Composite UI Application Block that has recently been released. Here is an overview...

"How can you build complex user interfaces that take advantage of the power of the Microsoft Windows desktop, interact with multiple back-end systems, are easily deployed and configured, provide a rich user experience, use complex data manipulation mechanisms that enhance user interface responsiveness and yet are developed in a predictable and agile way? How can you architect an end-user application so it can be easily updated and maintained or in environments where multiple development teams can collaborate over time in the most effective way?
The Composite UI Application Block is designed to help you build these complex, enterprise-ready Windows Forms–based solutions. It provides a proven architecture and implementation that helps you to build applications using the common patterns found in line-of-business front-end applications."

BB'ing.. Are you guilty of it?

2005-04-20T12:29:00Z

I find it absolutely ludicrous that some people insist on CC'ing emails to half the planet when they find errors/inconsistencies/etc.. that someone else has made. Especially when these items are very insignificant and the people that they are CC'ing have nothing to do with the problem at hand nor would they benefit from being made aware of it.

This practice is a prevalent cancer on numerous projects that I have been a part of. I must admit that on occasion my ego may have gotten in the way of my judgement and perhaps on rare occasions, I was one of "them". However, from this day forward this is a form of politicking that I refuse to be a part of. Why not just take the issue up with the person(s) that are directly implicated with the issue at hand? I understand that on rare occasions it may become necessary to notify a superior of repetitive incompetence of an individual, but there are professional ways of going about this.

This senseless form of "showboating" has resulted in me loosing respect for some close colleagues. A shame to say the least.

I wonder how many people can actually see the "true" nature of these emails. I am going to coin this form of emailing BB'ing (Bullshit Broadcasting). I must give credit to a confident for the term broadcasting in this context, but I will not mention his name. So if you are someone that participates in BB'ing, do us all a favor and give it up!

Life is not a "Big Dick" contest!

James Steele

Is calling "MyDelegate.Invoke" through remoting garanteed?

2005-02-23T15:26:00Z

Is calling "MyDelegate.Invoke" through remoting garanteed? In other words, is it possible that the call fails and no exceptions is thrown to the caller?

Thanks

Running ASP.NET application in a Virtual Machine???

2004-12-08T14:46:00Z

Instead of launching my application in a seperate application domain, are there any potential pitfalls to running an ASP.NET application in a Virtual Machine?

Console Application Problem.. Start minimized??

2004-11-25T17:21:00Z

Any ideas on how (the best way) a Console Application can start ITSELF minimized? I have been trying to track this down for a while now.

Pro ADO.NET with VB.NET 1.1 (From Professional to Expert)

2004-10-24T14:26:00Z

I just finished previewing a portion of Pro ADO.NET with VB.NET 1.1.

I must say that I began my reading with a little bit of scepticism figuring that this was yet another rehash of the MSDN Library. I am happy to report that I was wrong.

If you think that when it comes to ADO.NET you have been there, done that, got the t-shirt, then you really should pick up a copy of this book. The authors of Pro ADO.NET really take the time to teach the real nuts and bolts of using ADO.NET effectively and efficiently using concrete examples. Topics that are covered include ADO.NET architecture, Data Sets, Data Adapters, Data Readers, data relationships, performance optimizations, and much more. If you are looking for something to fill the gap that the MSDN Library or books that are near carbon copies of the MSDN Library have not filled, then look no further. This book is the one. If you ever wanted to take that next step and truly become an ADO.NET guru, I recommend adding this book to your collection.

Independent? Can't find a job? Get of your butt and stop blaming others!

2004-10-22T10:51:00Z

Warning! Rant on whiners follows....

A colleague of mine sent me an article about the current hiring situation in the IT Industry, and it got me thinking. Man am I sick and tired of those who constantly blame others for them not being capable of finding work. I am sure you know a few them... You know the type...

The articled reaffirmed for me that as a consultant you have to be flexible and be able to adapt to market conditions. It’s the whole supply and demand thing. If there are not enough people that want your services, then find something else to do. If I have to become a teacher, construction worker, author, presenter, whatever.. You do what it takes. Hopefully you can find a demand for something that also fits your interests and passions. That is one of the things I DO love about this country (Canada) and I am sure the same can be said for the U.S. and others. I can be whatever I want to be and nobody can do a damn thing to stop me. Watch me!

We have two choices

1) Sit and feel sorry for ourselves and blame the rest of the world for us being out of work

2) Get off our ass and do something about it and take accountability for our situations.

I prefer the second option.

Puzzled? How to re-assign object reference of web control in ASP.NET

2004-10-02T21:22:00Z

1) I have a web server control, lets say TextBox1 (System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox) declared (not dynamically created in code behind) inside a form on my aspx page
2) This control has the runat="server" attribute
2) Inside the PageLoad event I dynamically create another TextBox control (TextBox2) and set its Text property to some text "My New Text"
3) Still inside the PageLoad event I try set TextBox1 = TextBox2
4) Now that TextBox1 points to TextBox2 I look at the value of the Text property on TextBox1 (in the Watch window) and see that it is equal to "My New Text"
5) Great so far... Not so fast. When the page gets rendered TextBox1 does not contain the string "My New Text"
6) HOW COME????

FireFox - A Serious Contender to IE?

2004-09-21T11:26:00Z

I have been using FireFox for a couple of weeks now. The implementation of Tabs and lack of clutter has me hooked. I am going to start testing a few of my ASP.NET apps and see if there are many issues with rendering. So far, things look I'll keep you posted.

So why are you using/not using FireFox? Can FireFox take a signfigant bite out of IE's market share? Its going to be interesting to watch.