July 2005 - Posts
This is really a cool project, kind of extending Mono on Mac OS X.
From their developers:
We are a fairly new project, and this website is even newer. The project itself revolves around three core tasks. (1) Build an easily installable binary installation of the Mono core runtime. (2) Build an easily installable and fully usable implementation of the Cocoa development API that can be used from the Mono C# environment. (3) Document and make those tools readily available.
Our current status is that the first core task, that of building a runtime, is largely complete. We have the current Mono Project runtime built and a binary installer prepared, and avaialable directly from the Mono Project website. The second phase, known affectionately as 'Cocoa#' is approaching it's second pre-release revision. 0.2 is a big step forward in functionality and usability. With it in place, we will be in a position to begin active development of Cocoa# based applications running on Mac OS X.
In the footsteps of Google, it seems that Microsoft is doing everything Google have released. After Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth now we have another round with Google's personalized homepage and Start launched by Microsoft.
So what's next? Mmail to compete with Gmail :-)
And by the way Start use Ajax and works well with Firefox.
IBM has compiled in one article everything you need to do to make your web application cross browser, working with Mozilla for example. They review all the differences (DOM, Javascript, CSS, XML, etc...)
Really useful article if you are a web developer
Wow that was fast.
Check MSDN now if you are an MSDN subscriber you can download the Beta 1 of Windows Vista (aka Longhorn)
Be aware: 2.42 Gb !
Paul Thurrott is sure about that:
"
As I first reported two weeks ago, Microsoft has planned for weeks to finalize Windows Vista Beta 1 on July 27 (see URL below). Well, they're about to do it: On Wednesday, Windows Vista build 5112 will be declared as Windows Vista Beta 1. Microsoft still plans to ship Beta 1 to testers and MSDN and TechNet subscribers by August 3, as announced last week. Microsoft is also expected to soon ship the first public beta of Internet Explorer (IE) 7.
As previously reported here in WinInfo, Microsoft planned to ship Beta 1 only after it achieved the "0 active bug" designation for the product. Last Friday, July 22, 2005, the company finally reached that milestone. "We're at 0 active Beta1 bugs older than 24 hours and are looking good to hit 7/27 for Beta1 release," an internal email reads. "We are now in real time triaging mode for the milestone." That triaging continued over the weekend and through early Tuesday. Microsoft internal documentation also notes that the company has switched solely to DVD media for disc-based distribution of Windows Vista builds.
"
So OK I read the article mentioned by Fabrice, I admit not deeply but I am already scared by the number of modifications!
And something funny is coming quite often in the text :
'Note that in the final release of Visual Studio 2005 the conversion wizard will do this automatically for you'.
So tell me what is the point of painfully convert hundred of pages and thousand of lines of code by hand today when I expect the converter will do it for me in few months?
It means also that the article refer wrongly to Visual Studio 2005 but instead should refer to Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2.
Can we have a chance to test the converter before release? At the moment I am really disappointed by the Beta as for using it for toying with real applications.
My advice: wait and see.
We are now in middle of summer and it's usually a quite period for blogging.
So I am nicely surprised that my post about Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 got such attention. This is a proof that Microsoft has a lot of work to do to convince everybody to jump quickly on the new release.
Fabrice is taking the relay in some way by pushing the debate, but most of the comments I received are focus on the Web application part of the tool.
Yes Scott Guthrie has apparently take the PR option and he asked me yesterday what was wrong with the conversion of my project. I am waiting for any answer but some developers are already now requesting a Beta 3 before a final release.
It make sense, because a lot of bugs are reported every week and at this stage a release in November without major bugs seem compromised.
Also as confirmed by scott, some 'missing' features are back again in the tool.
I think it's the duty of every Visual Studio user to call for a better compatibility with their current projects, even if this mean releasing Visual Studio in 2006.
This post contains some positive feedback and also some negative comments. I have the only intention here to express my own opinion.
I spent quite a lot of ‘spare’ time with VS 2005 Beta 2 and I am not overwhelm and convince that this version is good enough for release.
Of course a lot of things seems to be really cool, but if like me you are the only developer in your company (meaning little time to play with new toys) you are going for some major headaches.
The first complaint is the lack of compatibility with the previous version. No I am not talking about the framework, but the tool itself.
One really frustrating example of things MS has removed is the ‘Exclude from this project’ feature so useful in the current version.
When you are not part of a development team, and you have to write some real code, it’s not for me an option, I have to exclude some files from my project but I want to keep them at the same place, like a kind of archive. I have no time to go through all the files in VS 2005 and remove the ones I don’t need anymore.
One another thing very strange happens also is the fact that the conversion has replaced all my web.config by a new one, and I still don’t have a clue where my precious config files are gone.
I still don’t understand why when I compile my project every time I have different error messages. Also some errors I consider minors are now stopping the compilation, like a wrong path for an image.
Sure I can modify the tool settings but as a former computer teacher, I have a lot of doubts that any beginner will start easily with this one.
To conclude I think my tests prove to me that a lot of things are missing regarding the configuration, and the projects conversion is not working at all. After all I am trying to transform nothing more than a VS 2003 project, so why it is so complicated?
Unless you have a lot of time, I don’t recommend to jump quickly on the Beta 2, or only if you start a project from scratch.
The lack of resources and how-to are also problematic, because the new error messages are not so obvious and not reliable.
I keep anyway my hope for the final release and I look forward to see if Microsoft listen their customers.
UPDATE: Scott Guthrie confirmed that Exclude from a project will be back in the release version. Amazing that someone decided to remove it from the Beta! After all this created a huge breach in compatibility between the releases!
UPDATE2: Fabrice is right by saying that Microsoft should go faster but I really think the Beta 2 as it is today will not be clode to the release version so what is the point to go live now if I have to rebuild everything in few months?
As the situation stands up I would not recommend to my user group any serious migration of their projects until November.
"Beta 1, targeted at developers and IT professionals, will be available by August 3rd 2005."
Source: new Microsoft Vista page
Cool I want to be part of the Beta program, anyone with some insider thoughts on the way to do it ;-)
If any of the guys on the Windows Vista Team read this blog, I am more than ready to be a beta tester ;-)
Contact me when you want. I was beta tester for MS for a lot of products. I am not sure if I can make a better chocolate but I know how to cook, so tell me what you prefer: apple pies or Irish stew?
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