September 2005 - Posts
This article hit WAY too close to home for me:
Too many CIOs cut enterprise software deals that look fabulous to the CEO and CFO but commit the people who do the real work to a nightmare of unrealistic expectations.
[http://www.cio.com/archive/091505/schrage.html]
I have lived through several such projects in my career. In most cases, if you actually reach the "end-point" of the project you will find that you spent triple the original budget, and delivered years later than originally projected. The funny/sad part is that these same IT managers and CIO's know how to spin the results by simply moving the bulls-eye to match the end-point of the project. In the end, they often earn huge bonuses for this "successful" project that hundreds of employees and contractors worked to salvage in spite the poor executive decision-making that initiated them.
<rant>
I now understand the reason why U.S.A is losing its competitive edge in IT, and furthermore it explains why so much Offshoring and Outsourcing of IT is going on. When such projects fail, its much easier to point at the vendor and blame it on them.
As a bonus, these same executives get to do it all over again in 5-10 years once this new legacy system has collapsed under its own weight.
</rant>
I have used a combination of Microsoft MSN and Google internet tools and services for years now, and have flipped back and forth a few times on my preferences Here is where I currently stand with my usage of Google tools & services vs. Microsoft MSN tools & services:
- Instant Messaging (IM) - I started using IM in 1997 with ICQ during a huge Ultima Online(UO) binge lasting 3 years until I quit both UO and ICQ and switched to MSN Messenger. I installed Skype back in 2003, and uninstalled it a couple months later, out of boredom. I still have MSN Messenger installed, however I added Google Talk shortly after its launch. It sits idle 99% of the time since most of my friends and family won't switch to it. I never used AIM or Yahoo messging, and nolonger have an ICQ account, so the Jabber support doesnt really help me.
- Desktop Search - I loved Google Desktop Search(GDS) since it was the first to market, and used it since the first beta was posted. However, I uninstalled GDS from my laptop on 09/20/05 and switched to MSN Toolbar/Desktop Search. This was at least partially due to sessions and discussions at PDC05. However, I still have GDS on my home PC.
- IE Toolbars - I tried the original Google Toolbar back in 2003, but didnt really care for it, and uninstalled shortly after. Later, I tried the early MSN toolbar and had the same experience, so its gone now. Next, the Google Sidebar came down in a GDS update, so I tried and loved it for a while. Later I got tired of it and tried to remove the sidebar, but it wouldnt let me. The only option was to switch to the desktop band toolbar search box, or remove GDS entirely. This led to me removing GDS entirely on 09/20/05 when I setup my new laptop. I'm now running the MSN Search Toolbar that is installed with MSN Desktop Search. Luckily I can easily turn off that one, so it may stick.
- Email - I have used Hotmail for years and years now. Probably around when it first went mainstream. I still have that account and use it somewhat. Mostly its used for my passport account so it won't go away anytime soon. I added GMail upon its inital launch. I fell in love with Gmail and use it now as my primary email service. Most of my friends use Gmail too, but almost all of us keep that Hotmail account around just in case something changes there. Based upon what I heard about Hotmail at PDC - the new "FireAnt" driven framework (read Atlas or Ajax) for Hotmail promises to give it some renewed life. They said they were targeting a look and feel much like Outlook Web Access (OWA) which isnt super exciting to me, since I use it alot for work, but its still promising. Stay tuned...
- Blogs - My first blog was on BlogSpot (before Google bought them) but I quickly jumped on the Weblogs.ASP.NET bandwagon when I heard about the early versions of .TEXT. Now, Microsoft has their MSN Spaces blogs (I don't count the ASP.NET blogs since they are really just Telligent's Community Server), and Google now has BlogSpot. I REALLY dislike the MSN Spaces blogs, and havent tried the latest version of Google's Blogger service, so I can't really compare.
So, I guess its more or less a tie at the moment. I definitely have more Microsoft/MSN tools and services installed, but Google's domination with GMail pretty much balances-out the other tools since Email is such a key technology.
It would be nice to see some real research done in these areas to see how they break down nationwide/worldwide. Also, I have little experience with the AOL and Yahoo offerings, so their impact would be good to see too. Can anyone point me at such research anywhere on the web?
I was playing with some of the PDC05 session samples (session PRS404) again this weekend and the sample had a script to extend the default ASP.NET membership and role tables. I could have just used my ASPNETDB instance installed on SQL Server 2005, but I didnt want to impact anything I was working on with my "real projects". Therefore, I needed yet another ASPNETDB instance to apply their sample SQL Scripts on. I toyed with temporarily detaching the current ASPNETDB instance from SQL2005 and creating a new DB as a one-off, but that left me feeling a bit dirty and it wouldnt help me when I needed a 3rd instance to play with. Then, I recalled the power of using file-system attached SQL Express Databases offered in the new version. I had played with this earlier in the beta's when using the SQL Express provider to attach a DB located within the APP_DATA folder of my website, and it seemed to be a perfect solution.
Creating a new DB in VisualStudio.NET 2005 is as simple as "Select APP_DATA node -> Add New Item -> Sql Database" and wah-lah you have a new aspnet.mdf file located in your APP_DATA folder. However, when you run the tool ASPNET_REGSQL.exe in Wizard Mode (E.g. using the "-W" switch) there is no way to specify a SQLEXPRESS attached database - it only seems to support SQL Server 2005 (and earlier) database servers. So, my next thought was to just export the SQL that is generated by the tool and run it manually. This option works fine:
aspnet_regsql.exe -E -A all -sqlexportonly AspNetPandMscript.sql
It exports a SQL Script as expected. However, when you try to run this script, it fails because it tries to be "smart" and check for the existance of the appropriate DB name and invokes other built-in objects in the MASTER db that are typically available in SQL 2005, yet don't exist by default in SQL Express. I started to try and hack the script, but quickly decided it was too much trouble
So, after several attempts, I finally figured-out the "right" way to do this:
aspnet_regsql -A all -C "Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True" -d "C:\MyProject\APP_DATA\aspnetdb.mdf"
This will connect to the local SQLEXPRESS engine and attach the MDF file passed in the "-d" switch then create the appropriate objects in the DB. I'm sure this is documented somewhere, but hopefuly this will help me, or someone else who needs a quick answer the next time you try this.
Enjoy...
I began tinkering with my CSS again recently and instantly got frustrated with the skins offered on this blog host. The lack of support for more reasonable skins in the ASP.NET Weblogs site is pretty bad, and I'm getting a bit jealous at the extensive skin support on other .TEXT sites such as dotnetjunkies and sqljunkies. I always liked the cache' and feeling of being on the .NET blogs equivilent of Boardwalk/Park Place with my blog being hosted by an official Microsoft site (www.ASP.net) but that is starting to wear thin these days.
Personalization is a big part of the self-expression I see as the core value of Blogs. Without the ability to easily change the appearance of your blog, you can quickly end up with a very homogenized version of your blog rather than one that reflects your personality. This is great for Microsoft employees who want to have a common "branding" of their blogs - much like wearing the same style blue shirts at PDC - but for the hundreds of independent bloggers on weblogs.asp.net its hard to stand-out from the masses.
These days, I don't have much time to spend bugging Scott to do something about it, so its almost easier to just move my blog. I could quickly setup my own .TEXT site using a friend's servers for hosting, or try one of the many other blog-sites available today.
Maybe I'm just being anal about this whole personalization thingy. It should be good enough that I have free blog hosting on a high-traffic site....It should be good enough that I can change any and all text on my blog....It should be good enough....hmmm. Well, maybe its just that I don't like "good enough"...that I'm tired of seeing so much "good enough" at my day job that I want a bit of "awesome", "excellent", or "neato" on my blog!
Sorry, its late, I'm tired and rambling....later...
There were a number of interesting exhibitors at the PDC this year. Beyond the swag, I found a few interesting products here and there. Here are a few that leap to mind:
- AMD - The booth was okay, but was mostly impressed with their gaming machines setup in the game room for playing Far Cry.
- APress - learned that they offer technical eBooks in addition to their traditional paperback books.
- Axosoft - My company currently uses a product called "Remedy" as well as a one or two other low-end bug-tracking apps. This was my first time to see their "OnTime" application. Overall it looked very similar, but definitely full-featured. However, their story was a bit disappointing in the Visual Studio integration arena. Once this area matures it could be a really good tool.
- Computer Associates (CA) - I picked up a copy of their Internet Security Suite which has a nice collection of anti-spyware tools in addition to their standard virus protection. Also, I hadnt realized that they own Erwin data modeling tools, as well as several enterprise management tools.
- Infragistics - Their controls continue to improve and impress. I need to play around with their demo CD a bit, but will definitely consider them in future projects.
- Phidgets - By far the coolest demos were the robot arms and such at the Coding4Fun area. The info on the Phidgets processor boards and servo-kits definitely got my creative juices flowing. Now I just need some time to go play....
I didnt spend any time at the Intel booth, but it seemed to be hoppin most of the time. Overall at the PDC, the swag-to-info ratio was leaning much further towards the swag, but there were moments especially with things like the 3D Plotter machine carving-out cars, the MS Coding4Fun robot, and other attractions that I spent more than a passing glance at the exhibits. Overall not a bad display...although this was my first PDC, so I would be interested to hear some comparisons from years past.
Last night, David and I stumbled into the "Ask the Experts" and enjoyed talking with Anders Heijlsberg and discussing Linq on the whiteboard. There were noticeable "pods" of developers surrounding the marquis MS "Rockstars" like Don Box and Anders. In addition, there was plenty of lively discussions around the Language teams with Brad Abrams, Eric Meijer, as well as many other product teams. Overall it was a fun night...
Today we started off at the Architecture Symposium looking at the architecture and application modeling tools for improving cross-team communication. Now, I'm about to head off to the Advances in Agile Software Development down the hall.
Well, we are nearing the end of PDC05 and it has been a blast - I have most of the new bits installed now, and look forward to poking-around at the new changes over the coming months. The future is definitely fully of exciting new avenues to explore and embrace.
Well, my plan to blog my way through PDC05 didnt work out as planned. I have been so absorbed with the constant train of sessions, and followup discussions that I have been busy from 6:00am to midnight every single day. I'll try to do a brain dump after I get back home, but for now, here are some quick impressions:
Killer new technology announcements:
- Linq/DLinq/XLinq language extensions (C# 3.0 & VB 9.0) - this is a paradigm change - it will change fundamentally the way we think about do software development. Don't let anyone make you think this is simply Microsofts Object Relational Mapper (ORM) tool. Its much much more!
- Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) - finally a standardized state-machine framework with full gui-driven design and 100% extensibility!! Add MS Office 12 Server, InfoPath, and Sharepoint to the mix and you have a kick-ass foundation for huge productivity and rapid application development!
- Windows Presentation Foundation:(WPF) - XAML, and "Avalon" have been in the news for a while, but the Keynote showing the coupling with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) (formerly "Indigo") puts the entire architecture in perspective. Then add on the Microsoft Essentials and you have a seriously compelling platform for the future! Now we just have to wait for Windows Vista to launch in 2006.
- IIS 7.0 - David and I have frequently talked about the need for a managed way to do ISAPI without the overhead of the ASP.NET core. This is it! Plus, it fully leverages the existing web.config and HttpModule approach originally definied within ASP.NET. I look forward to seeing the perf, but overall am impressed with the direction. I tossed some pointed questions about the future of ASP.NET Membership API's and possible integration with IIS 7.0, but the MS guys at the IIS booth were equal parts unclear and uncertain about any future integration. Keep tuned here...they invited me to attend a Redmond gathering in October about future IIS 7.0 architecture directions.
- Windows Server 2003 R2 - I hesitated to include this, but v2.0 .NET Framework is shipping with it, which will be a huge key piece of the puzzle for adoption of all these new technologies . The rest of the R2 features havent excited me yet, but they seem promising.
Hopefully I'll have time to delve into these topics further in the future. ...I'm exchausted, but thrilled at meeting the product teams, great peer developers in the community, and getting access to all the new beta and alpha bits. Maybe in a month I will start to grok everything I have heard.....
Yesterday I attended the Pre-Con session "Framework Design Guidelines: The Art of Building a Reusable Class Library" presented by Brad Abrams and Krzysztof Cwalina.
It definitely met my expectations built-up from following their blogs over the years and provided clear insight into the underlying goals and guiding thoughts behind many of their guidelines. Also, they gave out complimentary copies of their new book of the same name as this session. The book looks incredible and has both the MS guidelines and a sprinkling of differing thoughts by other industry experts.
Well, I'm off to Day 0 of the PDC, so I'll blog ya later.
While walking back to today's Pre-con session, the power went out on PDC05. It turns out that it wasnt the hundreds of PC's, network equipment and technology, but was a larger power outage across all of downtown LA (reuters).
The good news is it gave us time to get some one-on-one time with Brad Abrams and Krzysztof Cwalina and get our complimentary copy of the Framework Design Guidelines book signed.
Anyways, obviously we are back online now, so back to the fun...
One last post before I find a pillow....
Here is a list of some of the many incredible things going on after PDC's "official" sessions end. Some are sponsored by Microsoft, but many are organized by individual developers, MS Regional Directors, MVPs, technology evangelists, exhibitors, and even open-source developers:
09/12 - 6:00pm - 7:00pm: .NET Rocks! At the PDC - Trivia & Prizes
09/12 - 7:00pm - 10:30pm: Birds Of a Feather(BOF) at PDC2005
09/13 - 6:00pm - 9:30pm: Mono users meeting at the Microsoft PDC
09/13 - 6:00pm - 9:00pm: PDC Underground GROK Talks
09/13 - 6:00pm - 9:00pm: Expo Hall Reception at PDC2005
09/13 - 7:00pm - 10:30pm: Birds Of a Feather(BOF) at PDC2005
09/14 - 7:00pm - 12:00am: Universal Studios Hollywood - Attendee Party
09/15 - 7:00pm - 10:30pm: Birds Of a Feather(BOF) at PDC2005
09/15 - 6:30pm - 9:00pm: Ask the Experts at PDC2005\
On a side note, I just noticed that they posted all the PDC Session slide-decks for PDC05 on the official website. This is definitely a helpful resource for anyone trying to carve a path through the dense forest of new MS offerings. Hopefully this will at least help me solve some of my session-scheduling conflicts.
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