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You should feel free to challenge me, disagree with me, or tell me I'm completely nuts in the comments section of each blog entry, but I reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason whatsoever. That said, I will most likely only delete abusive, profane, rude, or annonymous comments, so keep it polite, please.

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HOWTO: Windows 2003 DTC

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Comments

Thom said:

You said it. I too sat there listening to Powell spell out what most of us already knew. I can't believe that countries like Germany and France have Saddam so far up their *&%^ that they can't see how snowed they really are. This guy is more of a menace I think than Hitler.

And as for other countries saying they are tired of the US stepping in and acting like we own the world, well, if you look at all of the loans and aid we give to more than half the nations in the world, we do!

See what happens to these small countries if the US were to pull back aid of all kinds. No money, protection, goods and services. They would all be falling flat on their faces. When will people learn that democracy is a good thing and not a dictatorship in a mini-skirt.

# February 6, 2003 1:01 AM

Pascal Leloup said:

Hey guys

A little bit of moderation please ! Where are the proofs ? Powel said that they are too confidential to reveal them. Come on ! And it's not because I am frnech (I am living and working in Ireland), and I am not a pacifist or a war campaigner.
Everybody know that US need the petrol from Irak, so admit that ! It's a fact that in October an american report said that US need to double importation of petrol in the next 5 years.
And for the weapons, whay US (and the others by the way) don't start to look at their own arsenal. Imagine tomorrow if americans vote for a new guy turniing dictator.
He will be happy with all the bombs !
And last thing, stop this idea about what Europe could be without America. that non sense.
Signed: Just an ordinary citizen of this planet so called Earth

# February 6, 2003 1:50 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Wow, people actually read my blog :).

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one Pascal, and here's why:

On American Dependance For Oil:
In Bush's State of the Union speech, Bush pledged something like $5B on fuel-cell research, to all but eliminate our dependance on foreign oil. We're going to take over their oil fields to finance the reconstruction of the country, not to become "imperialistic". Since when has the US EVER occupied a country to take their resources? Name me one instance.

On Fears of an American Dictator
Unfortunately, you fail to understand the concept of Democracy, and further the brilliance of the American Democratic System. The possibility of a disctator as president is impossible in our system of government. Why? Because of a little thing called legislative checks and balances. We have 3 branches of government, 2 legislative bodies, and a little thing called Impeachment. Contrary to popular belief, the people still have SOME power left in this country.

On Where Europe Would Be Without America
Sorry, but you can't deny the facts. We've bailed Europe out of every single major war. And France has TONS of experience understanding this. The French loathe us, until of course they are occupied again. Dennis Miller said: "[The French] have always been far to reluctant to surrender to the will of their friends and far to reticent to surrender to the will of their enemies." This is a true statement. You can't deny it, and any attempt to do so is ignorant. Just open up your history books.

Sorry if this ruffles a few feathers, but I'm a lot liek Donald Rumsfeld... I'm not hesitant to tell the truth, even if it hurts. True strength comes from learning from acknowleging and learning from those truths.

# February 16, 2003 3:50 PM

Pascal Leloup said:

Just that: Man, Peace and Love ;-)

# February 16, 2003 4:02 PM

Pascal Leloup said:

Just that: Man, Peace and Love ;-)

# February 16, 2003 4:09 PM

Fabrice said:

About this post and the previous ones :
Being outside the US, I can tell you that it is sad that the american people are blinded by the (private) medias running this country.
It's impressive to see all the propaganda these companies are doing over and over again. Free your mind...

# February 17, 2003 6:45 AM

Fleh said:

Any guess what percentage of the folks using these instructions will be doing so on legitimately acquired installs of Windows Server 2003 rather than pirated copies?

# February 25, 2003 11:22 AM

Robert McLaws said:

I'm running several systems on Windows Server 2003 RC2 as a legitimate RC2 tester. As for anyone else, I cannot estimate but I'm sure there are a bunch. I know the CPP (Customer Preview Program) for RC2 is huge, and there are tons of testers on the private MS newsgroups.

# February 25, 2003 11:46 AM

TrackBack said:

: ShowUsYour-Blog!

# February 28, 2003 10:40 AM

Don Box said:

# March 2, 2003 4:55 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Yes it is. From what I understand, you have to have a smart card reader to gain access. While I'm not an MVP yet (hint hint) [clears throat], I believe you can talk to your MVP lead about access.

LOL you're B0rg anyway, can't you walk down the hall and take a look at it? Speaking of the B0rg, what does it take to get assimilated?

# March 2, 2003 5:00 PM

Travis said:

"It will be nice working with proper villians again."

Oceans Eleven.

# March 2, 2003 5:50 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Congrats Travis. E-mail me at robert@interscapeusa.com with your e-mail address and I'll send you a license when we launch.

# March 2, 2003 5:52 PM

Mike Gunderloy said:

On Windows 2000, ipconfig /flushdns

# March 3, 2003 9:01 PM

Patrick Logan said:

WebSphere and WebLogic are being undermined by JBoss. I wouldn't be surprised if there are reasonable approximations of Lotus Notes as OSS. The days of big, expensive software systems is over. MSFT is just farther down the road. The steamroller's coming, just the same.

What could change that is a significant value added by an order of magnitude leap in functionality. e.g. simplifying the talent pool required to use the product.

# March 4, 2003 6:10 PM

Shawnmor said:

Assuming XP....

Did you try

C:\> ipconfig /flushdns?

# March 5, 2003 1:04 PM

Rogelio Morrell said:

Hey thanks for the information. Anyway, that article is misleading because people will think something else about InfoPath. I really see InfoPath as great tool. And also, I haven't tested the new Office yet, so that was my precaution, didn't want to go deep with something I wasn't sure about it.

Regards,
Rogelio Morrell

# March 6, 2003 1:45 PM

TrackBack said:

More on aggregators... : Loosely Coupled

# March 12, 2003 2:17 AM

TrackBack said:

I'm holding on... : Loosely Coupled

# March 12, 2003 11:17 AM

Fabrice said:

Err... "within two years"?

# March 12, 2003 1:46 PM

Greg said:

Oh No, Brady tatochip man himself is causing some smack to be thrown around..."what the &^%$ ...."tell him I said Hi, and "wazzzzz uppp"

# March 12, 2003 7:47 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I WANT A DATE!!!!! GET SPECIFIC HERE... I'm starting to raise funds already.

# March 12, 2003 8:39 PM

TrackBack said:

80s music... : Loosely Coupled

# March 12, 2003 9:33 PM

Greg said:

38 special baby, Lynyrd Skynrd relived...wow, scary, I know the band memeber's names and have the album..nice cover too!

# March 13, 2003 6:46 AM

Greg said:

Hey, we need to tell them about Molly Hatchet and Lover Boy!

# March 13, 2003 6:47 AM

Addys said:

OOps, sorry about that. Thanks for the correction!

I have updated my post :)

# March 14, 2003 3:17 PM

Royo said:

I Agree. this is not the best way to handle it. simply, i pointed out another way, which i hadn;t thought of - Another direction for implementing these things.

# March 16, 2003 2:01 AM

FnaD said:

What about Infragistics? Pricey, but I've heard nothing but good stuff about them. Unfortunately I haven't come accross a project that warrants (or can afford!) them...

If you are after free, theres the following very tasty looking DHTML offerings
young pup ypXMLTree - http://www.youngpup.net/?request=/components/ypXmlTree.xml
webfx have a couple of varieties of trees, including a load on demand tree - http://webfx.eae.net/

And, finally, something i stumbled accross the other day, http://www.xmlforasp.net/codeSection.aspx?csID=99 - Shaping Relational Data with XSLT and .NET. Not all that special to look at, but the concepts are really cool.

# March 16, 2003 11:04 PM

David Stone said:

I'm using Infragistics UltraWebGrid and their UltraWebTree in a project right now. They're a bit tricky to get used to at first (just like any new object model is), but once you get used to it, there are just sooo many options. It's very nice.

# March 16, 2003 11:11 PM

coacoacoa said:

You have anoter one at WebFX (http://webfx.eae.net/) with a full article that explains it. And there are a lot of stuffs here.

# March 17, 2003 3:19 AM

Jorge said:

There are *still* hookers on Van Buren? Heh. When I was in Phoenix in the 1980's, the city was trying to clean that strip up, around the same time that they were building that below-ground thoroughfare near McDowell road. I guess some institutions are too resistant to progress. Hmm, maybe the Mason Jar is still there, too...

# March 17, 2003 4:47 AM

FnaD said:

I gotta jump a little to Infragistics defense here - the 500 bucks gets you the entire suite of COM, .NET *and* ASP.NET stuff. There's some really nice looking stuff there. I've only had experience with their COM toolbars and Splitters, and I can tell you they were well worth the money we spent on them.

If you just want the tree itself, it can be purchased for a mere 400 bucks. Now *that* is a rip-off. I'm guessing designed to get people to upsize to the whole net advantage suite, it should be more like 50 bucks.

# March 17, 2003 6:59 AM

Robert McLaws said:

There aren't as many hookers there as there were before, but they are still there. The Mason Jar is still there too, and yes it's still a dive.

FnaD, unfortunately any gains they make by selling everything for $500 (which I did not know), they lose by selling one component for the same price. To quote Dustin Hoffman in <i>Hook</i>, "Bad form!"

# March 17, 2003 8:59 AM

Jorge said:

Robert, you missed one "anti". :-) She was marching in an anti-anti-war march.

# March 17, 2003 9:46 AM

Greg Reinacker said:

Looks to me like you get a lot of stuff for $495.

But more to the point, it's all about supply and demand. Obviously people are buying it for $495, or they would have to drop the price. And if I go to a client, and we need some fancy treeview thing, it's a no-brainer to spend $500 before committing a day of time to trying to build something (and it would likely take a lot longer than a day to build something robust).

And, if I find that the $500 one is more reliable, has less bugs, or has some cool feature I need, versus the $50 one, then again - it depends on who the client is. Most of my paying clients would much rather buy the thing, then have me waste time on a buggier one, or building one from scratch. On the other hand, if I need one for my personal use, then I'm not likely to use the $500 one. (disclaimer - I haven't used any of them, and don't really know anything about which one is better, more reliable, etc., just trying to make a point).

But in the end, I guess I don't understand what you're ranting about. If it's too much, then vote with your pocketbook and don't buy it. That's what capitalism is all about, right?

# March 17, 2003 5:05 PM

anonymous said:

Actually that's from satirewire:
http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/axis.shtml

# March 18, 2003 3:54 PM

TrackBack said:

Warning: Bad Dolphin Humor : Bloated Blog of .NET Blunders

# March 25, 2003 10:26 PM

TrackBack said:

Driving and SmartTags...grrrrr : Greg Robinson's Blog

# March 26, 2003 11:54 AM

Fabrice said:

This shows that you never had to drive in France! Otherwise you would understand that this cannot be a reason for us calling you arrogant :-) (that does not mean we don't have other reasons ;-) )
After a test drive in Paris you would love driving in Arizona...

# March 26, 2003 4:00 PM

G. Andrew Duthie said:

Another thing that rarely gets mentioned is just how minimal the civilian casualties have been, compared to past military conflicts / wars. While any civilian casualties are unfortunate, by comparison with Vietnam or the World Wars, this one is incredibly clean.

No comfort to those who lose loved ones, I know, but it's very clear that the coalition forces are going well out of their way to avoid civilian casualties, and are being very successful at it. They'd be even more successful if Hussein's forces weren't trying so hard to force civilians into the line of fire (or just killing them themselves and trying to blame the coalition forces).

# April 6, 2003 7:34 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Yeah, that is an amazing thing too. Take WWII for example. Berlin was bombed indescriminately, and the whole city was pretty much in ruins when it was all over. We have the cabability of surgically destroying only what we want to (with a relatively small margin of error, usually the Human Factor), while killing as few prople as possible.

And on another note, I wouldn't lend any creedence whatsoever to civillian death estimates by Iraq's DISInformation Minister. The guy said they killed 50 soldiers today, which we know is not accurate. They are exaggerating the numbers to make us look like monsters. I, however, trust our gov't WAY more that I do "Sodamn Insane".

# April 6, 2003 8:09 PM

HAHAHA said:

how much do they pay?

# April 6, 2003 10:29 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Not at liberty to discuss it.

# April 6, 2003 10:30 PM

Ben said:

Can't be done with HTML.

# April 7, 2003 12:10 AM

Dan F said:

yeah, what ben said. assuming by listitems you mean the listbox/combo box (select element in html parlance).

the guys over at webfx have some cool selectable list type stuff that you could probably bend into shape though.

# April 7, 2003 6:43 AM

JimS said:

push the envelope and give people that reason to change!

# April 7, 2003 6:01 PM

Phil Scott said:

Looks like fark.com but with a different table layout.

# April 8, 2003 12:43 PM

Tim Marman said:

Just so you know, and not that it really matters...

If you look at the output of that page, you won't see a <select> node. It's just a DHTML implementation that mimics the dropdown functionality.

So the people who told you it couldn't be done (not that I was one of them) weren't entirely wrong - you can't put an image into an <option>. You can, of course, make something that looks and behaves like a dropdown, which is what FunkeLab did.

# April 8, 2003 11:25 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I know. I never said that it had to be <b>the</b> DropDown server control. What FunkeLab did was provide a solution by thinking outside the box. Now that's my kind of developer.

# April 9, 2003 12:42 AM

TrackBack said:

RowSelectorColumn : ScottW's ASP.NET WebLog

# April 9, 2003 1:46 AM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws' reply to my "DataGrid Columns" post : Samer Ibrahim's Blog

# April 9, 2003 1:46 AM

Richard said:

Hi!

You might check out this DropDown control. http://www.funkelab.com/mydropdown

Costs $30, gives you the full source. Check out the online demo.

# April 9, 2003 8:01 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Ya I know. Tim Kilmer pointed to it earlier, and I posted about it to everyone last night. If you found it from here, it was from one of my posts ;). Thanks tho!

# April 9, 2003 9:19 AM

TrackBack said:

More on "DataGrid Columns" : Samer Ibrahim's Blog

# April 9, 2003 10:14 AM

Scott Stoecker said:

Nicely put.

# April 9, 2003 11:45 AM

M. Keith Warren said:

Ditto from me pal!

# April 9, 2003 1:08 PM

popol said:

Hey man, you really now burned a fuse !

Fascist ! And only 21 !

# April 9, 2003 2:26 PM

Adam Hill said:

There is a way to hose your system.

1) Install .Net 1.1 FMWrk.

2)Install .NET 1.1 SDK.

3) Make sure 1.0 bits are working make sure 1.0 bits *stll* working. Feel safe.

3) Remove 1.0 (We don't need no steenkin' legacy Framework.)

4. Everything quits working -- Old examples, current apps, VS 2002 (wait a sec... it *doesn't* have a 1.0 only manisfest why didi it break?)

5. Re-install 1.0 everything is back to working.

Anyone got any ideas?

adam hill...

# April 10, 2003 6:22 PM

TrackBack said:

MORE VS.NET 2003 Info : Bob.NET

# April 10, 2003 6:28 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Where you wenrt wrong is taking out 1.0 and still trying to use VS.NET 2002. VS.NET 2002 and 1.0 are like conjoined twins. Separate them, and one will die. Conversely, VS.NET 2003 and 1.1 are the same way.

In other words, LEAVE 2002 ALONE if you still want to compile to 1.0.

# April 10, 2003 6:32 PM

TrackBack said:

The ASPSmith's Blog

# April 10, 2003 7:30 PM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws

# April 10, 2003 7:30 PM

TrackBack said:

MORE VS.NET 2003 Info : ShowUsYour-Blog!

# April 10, 2003 7:30 PM

TrackBack said:

What's the fuss about VS .NET 2003? : Edgar S??nchez's .NET Blog

# April 10, 2003 7:30 PM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws

# April 10, 2003 7:40 PM

blink said:

Sort by "type" at the top left and you'll get a good page-full of T&A.

And, it is a bit like Fark. Fark was the inspiration--there's a very fark-like view, as well as a very text-only view, too.

Glad you were checking us out. Thanks!

# April 10, 2003 11:16 PM

blink said:

RSS feed, you say...

Send me a "howto" guide and I'll do it this weekend.

Fair enough?

# April 10, 2003 11:17 PM

Robert McLaws said:

http://backend.userland.com/rss

That would be awesome!

# April 11, 2003 12:00 AM

blink said:

Thanks--I'll see about working on it this weekend, for certain!

# April 11, 2003 12:31 PM

Tim Marman said:

Maybe they'll get it if you write it in a different language :)

# April 11, 2003 5:30 PM

Robert McLaws said:

# April 11, 2003 5:49 PM

Tim Marman said:

perfect :)

# April 11, 2003 5:54 PM

TrackBack said:

OK here it goes... : Bob.NET

# April 11, 2003 5:56 PM

TrackBack said:

Thoughts concerning "Stop It". : VB Defender

# April 11, 2003 5:56 PM

TrackBack said:

Thoughts concerning "Stop It". : VB Defender

# April 11, 2003 6:30 PM

David Stone said:

Brilliant! :D

# April 11, 2003 6:31 PM

Samer Ibrahim said:

you actually have a bug in that code...
[c#]
Thread stupidlanguagetopic = addressof(veryoldthread)

;)

# April 13, 2003 1:55 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Ugh, you're right. I'm not a C# guy ;) Can't you tell... I also forgot the semicolons. LOL.
It's fixed now.

# April 13, 2003 2:43 PM

M. Keith Warren said:

We support Israel because they are the only light in the darkness of the middle east. A democratic success amongst a dictator dominated region. We support Israel because they are out ally; and unlike certain European countries, we stand by our friends.

Sharon is hardly Hitler. He has been remarkably restrained considering the circumstances. If the West Bank situation where transplanted into this country, constant killing and terrorist attacks caused by a group of known terrorists living amongst us, I would expect our President to respond to the problem with such fierce force and relentless, un-merciless power that like minded people across the world would fear ever using the word jihad and U.S. in the same sentence...And if the president refused to respond; I would promise you that the patriots all across this land would rise up to deal with it.

I truly hope that our President will ignore the voices of the protestors, who are largely angry about the election, disestablishmentarianists who attend protests organized by groups like International Answer whose parent organization is a communist group; ignore those voices and deal with these problems head on. The path to peace in the middle east is bloody and difficult; it leads through Baghdad, into Syria, into Lebanon.

The path to peace in the middle east is on the road to victory in the war on terror. It is time to ignore the sovereignty of borders whose land is controlled by ruthless dictators like Saddam Hussein; WMD or not, these men must be removed. If a country like Iran or Syria, or Lebanon is harboring terrorists; we must; for the sake of our children and the safety of our homeland, cross the borders - eliminate the problem.

The path to peace in the middle east does not include the UN. It ignores the cries of appeasement countries who are trying to protect their under the table dealings with these terrorist regimes.

The path to peace in the middle

# April 13, 2003 7:31 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Going to disagree with you there. Israel is wrong in occupying the West Bank and Gaza. I don't care what the Palestinians do to them.... it is wrong. Sharon is a warmonger who only wants to finish what he started in the 80's when he was Israel's defense minister battling Arafat. The fact that he wants peace now is outstanding, but there is HARDLY justification to create settlements in Palestinian territory... whether it has anything to do with ancestral land or not. A true friend will point out when you're wrong. We can stand by them and still say that they're wrong for doing what they're doing. But you don't see that happening do ya?

Further, the path to peace has NOTHING to do with ANWR. That is specious reasoning. Removing dependance on foreign oil is great, but not that way. How about through Fuel Cell technology, which NASA has had for 20 years, yet it's never made decent inroads in the private sector. Why? Because Big Oil wants to keep their power. We we don't use oil any more, most major countries and companies lose their income. Oil is Iraq's only resource (besides WMD).

I do agree that we can't do what the Founding Fathers did with slavery and pass it on for another generation to deal with. We have to deal with it now, wherever it may be.

# April 13, 2003 8:17 PM

Robert McLaws said:

By the way, I never said Sharon was Hitler. I said he was the biggest warmonger SINCE Hitler.

# April 13, 2003 8:18 PM

Robert McLaws said:

And the West Bank situation IS here in the US. The American Indians were here first. They are a series of soverign nations within our borders. You don't see us rolling tanks thru their towns, and we wouldn't even if they did have suicide bombers. It's called Posse Comitatus.... look it up.

# April 13, 2003 8:21 PM

M. Keith Warren said:

It is not specious reasoning. There is at least enough oil in ANWR to remove 1/5 of our foreign dependency for 3 decades, certainly long enough to see fossil fuel technologies go the way of the fossils themselves. That 1/5 is an industry estimate which will only likely go up once there is a tap; all this because environmentalists are worried about a caribou who has less than a 1% chance of being affected by such drilling.

I agree that drilling in ANWR has nothing to do with pali-israeli peace; but it certainly could affect OUR peace.

...

Specious reasoning is comparing the pali-israeli conflict to Native Americans. They are not blowing themselves up, trying to kill every american innocent and calling on the gods to destroy us all so they can put in place their own dictatorship.

...if they were; I would hope that you would take up arms with me and destroy them first.

# April 13, 2003 8:55 PM

Robert McLaws said:

It would not affect our peace in the least. And it is specious reasoning because we'vr destroyed enough of our land... it's protected for a reason.

Duh, the Indians aren't blowing themselves up. You missed the point entirely. I don't see the majority of the Palestinian public calling on the gods to destroy us all so they can put their own dictatorship. Back away from the extremes man. A small minority of Palestinians and other Arabs are attacking their occupiers. Go back and read my statements in their entirety. I was hoping you would come back with a valid argument and all I got was hyperbole.

I think you're a little out of whack man. You cannot destroy everyone because a few people go crazy. The Arab world thought we were gonna do this in Iraq. Well we didn't and look what happened. Besides that, you don't destroy the people, you destroy their capability of doing anything. You humiliate them to the point that they go back home in tears with their personal view of their manhood in question.

Finally, I'm done discussing this because it's pointless. I don't like arguing with extremists, and your point of view is a little too extreme for my taste. Now, I hope that doesn't mean you're gonna stop reading my stuff, it's just that I'd rather discuss coding then argue over garbage that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things anyways.

# April 13, 2003 9:12 PM

Dan Bright said:

If you do write anything like this, I would be extremely interested in reading it. I am thinking about colocating a box to offer my web clients hosting services, and while I can get a friend to host it in his office, I will need to do all of the configuration myself.

Please keep me in mind, and good luck.

# April 13, 2003 10:16 PM

James said:

I couldn't agree more - this is best chance at middle eastern peace in 50 years. On the Palestine/Israel issue: Bush is going to stick it to Israel, and he will stick it to the palestinians as well - he has already said there will be no negotiation on the peace plan Powell is working on. Sharon's statement is huge, because the administration is putting so much pressure on him, he has got to capitulate and he did/is starting to. This is good - both sides need to have major pressure applied for any settlement to come about. Bush get's the 'Brass Balls' award in my book - leadership is hard and sometimes unpopular, but he is doing the right thing, and the changes that he has set into motion are going to be incredible and positive over the next 20 years. When people start to realize what he has done (this will take a while), he will have a landslide election in 2004.

# April 13, 2003 10:25 PM

M. Keith Warren said:

Extreme...?
Lose a friend to a terrorist and then talk to me.

I am intelligent enough to realize that it is the fringe who has these attitudes; but the unfortunate problem is that in far too many of these cases, the fringe has the loudest microphone, the sit in the halls of leadership and rally their people to their radical and extreme beliefs.

...'Besides that, you don't destroy the people, you destroy their capability of doing anything...'

I agree totally; but you cannot take away the ability for Hamas to tell their followers to commit suicide. You cannot humiliate UBL to the point he would just go away. These extreme leaders must be taken out.

My problem is not with palis or arabs in general; my quam is with the radical islamic cleric who tries to manipulate the minds of the average muslim. It is with the pawns like Yasser Arafat who is a willing puppet of the terror groups.

..."it's protected for a reason":
What reason is that? The Caribou? It's pretty? Hey, I am all about saving the environment too pal but have you seen the plans? We are not exactly sticking a pole in the ground and letting crude pour into the pristince lakes. ANWR is almost 20 million acres and only about 2000 would be directly affected. That area is virtually uninhabitable, it is dark more than half of the year and reaches more than 50 below.

About 30 years ago there were similar cries regarding Prudhoe Bay. That area which according to environmentalists would only yield a few months of supply was the largest deposit in North America…and the threat to the Caribou – the population grew by almost 10 times over since that point.

Dont quit talking about this; I enjoy civil debate...it helps me to learn things.

# April 14, 2003 12:08 AM

Robert McLaws said:

E-mail me at robert@interscapeusa.com... we'll talk about my hosting plans that can help you out :).

# April 14, 2003 12:30 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Keith,

I apologize if I was a little harsh in our exchange. I value and respect your opinion, even if it differs from mine. You can at least explain your opinion without resorting to name calling.

The fringe will always have the loudest microphone. Why? Because they are so insignificant that they will do whatever it takes to be heard, no matter the cost. It is no coincidence that these people are usually the biggest fools.

# April 14, 2003 11:06 AM

Jesse Ezell said:

Do you have this code sample in C# also? ;-)

# April 14, 2003 12:18 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Meave it to Jesse to make me laugh. I needed that man thanks.

# April 14, 2003 12:21 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Meave it to Jesse to make me laugh. I needed that man thanks.

# April 14, 2003 12:21 PM

Robert McLaws said:

It posted 2x... hmmm. I meant to say "leave"

# April 14, 2003 12:26 PM

Phil Weber said:

Robert: A spammer could make the same argument: "If people don't like what I send them, why can't they just delete it?"

I subscribe to the DotNetWebLogs feed to keep up on the latest technical info. Because it's an aggregated feed, I can't simply unsubscribe from individual blogs; it's all-or-nothing. Off-topic posts waste my time, just like spam does.

# April 14, 2003 12:51 PM

Daniel Nolan said:

I've no objection to off-topic posts. As for people ignoring what they don't agree with, surely if you're entitled to post something, they have as much right to reply?

Also (ok, i should shuttup now) but surely "WonderWhyPeopleCantIgnoreWhatTheyDontAgreeWith" means america should ignore Iraq too? ;-)

# April 14, 2003 12:58 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I'm not gonna side with spammers here, but if it's a waste of time, then why do people waste EVEN MORE time responding? If you see it's not about .NET, have the self control to skip it and move on. You (read: everyone) read it because you want to know what other people have the guts to say. It's not my fault if you waste your time responding to it. if you truly believed that it wasn't worth reading, wouldn't you then have to agree by implication that it's not worth responding to?

# April 14, 2003 1:02 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Good point Daniel, but let me expound on your first statement to say that they gave the right to respond WITH RESPECT.

On #2, there is a difference between ignoring an opinion and ignoring what's right and wrong.

# April 14, 2003 1:04 PM

Daniel Nolan said:

Noted, and I apologise that how I replied may have been a little harsh, but I was trying to make a point. I think I'll call this one a day and we'll agree to disagree.

Never read your site before today but for some reason I've gone and subscribed to the rss feed :p

/me mutters about tiny comment boxes in mozilla (already prodded scott)

# April 14, 2003 2:12 PM

Phil Weber said:

"If you truly believed that it wasn't worth reading, wouldn't you then have to agree by implication that it's not worth responding to?"

Robert: I *do* agree that it's a waste of time to respond, which is why I haven't responded, other than to post these comments to try to help you understand why I (and others) object to political posts in a .NET feed.

# April 14, 2003 2:13 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Daniel you were not harsh at all. I was talking about everyone else.

Phil, that comment was more directed at everyone else than you. kind of tongue-in-cheek if you get my drift.

# April 14, 2003 2:18 PM

Tim Marman said:

On one hand, I say a blog should a place to truly express your opinions, censoring and filtering is a bad thing.

On the other, this is .NET weblogs, a community that Scott has been generous enough to provide us for free. Our primary focus should be .NET and technology in general, and we all need to keep in mind that this is a global community.

Let's not allow national, political, or religious interests to interfere with the real reason we're here, technology. It's easy to ignore an "off-topic" post; it's harder to ignore an "offensive" post.

Just remember - no matter how elegantly put, hatred is still hatred. The recent anti-French rhetoric isn't a far cry from racist or anti-Semitic commentary.

I would hate to lose someone from the community who has something to say about technology because of something stupid like this....

Can't we all get along? :)

# April 14, 2003 3:33 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Tim, as always, well said. I would disagree about your stance on the anti-French rhetoric. Also, I would gently remind you that anger and hatred are two different things. I don't post hatred. Period. I may post disgust, shame, sorrow, gratitude, or anger, but never hatred.

# April 14, 2003 3:39 PM

Phil Weber said:

"It's easy to ignore an 'off-topic' post; it's harder to ignore an 'offensive' post."

Thanks, Tim. I would add that it's easy to ignore a single off-topic post, but it's difficult to ignore several. I didn't say anything about Robert's first or second or third patriotic post, but it eventually reached a point at which I felt the need to object.

I think Robert himself said it best (http://dotnetweblogs.com/RMcLaws/posts/5452.aspx): "Do something other than waste everyone's time filtering through garbage posts." ;-)

# April 14, 2003 4:12 PM

Phil Weber said:

"I'm going to post things of a political nature in my 'Stories' section, and then link to them in blog entries."

Sounds good, Robert, thank you!

# April 14, 2003 4:14 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Maybe the fact that I was a LtCol. in the AFJROTC program (awarded a scholarhip to the AFROTC program as a CS major) might help explain my feelings towards the situation.

# April 14, 2003 4:20 PM

G. Andrew Duthie said:

I'll say the exact same thing to you as I'm saying to Paschal...could you PLEASE both take this discussion off-line? I don't care who started it, or who said what, but you're both wasting people's time with this.

# April 14, 2003 7:10 PM

G. Andrew Duthie said:

I'll say the exact same thing to you as I'm saying to Paschal...could you PLEASE both take this discussion off-line? I don't care who started it, or who said what, but you're both wasting people's time with this.

# April 14, 2003 7:10 PM

Robert McLaws said:

NP G-Dogg.

# April 14, 2003 7:22 PM

Jeff Julian said:

SqlCE is very very slow. I would suggest an Xml store myself. If you need any assistance, feel free to buzz me offline. I actually wanted to work on the exact same thing last night, but instead I went to sleep. You know how it is.

# April 14, 2003 8:29 PM

TrackBack said:

Yet Another PocketPC RSS Aggregator in plans : CLaueR's Blog

# April 14, 2003 8:35 PM

Nino Benvenuti said:

Firstly, I will disagree with Jeff about SQL CE performance, in a general sense. I'm curious as to what Jeff was doing with SQL CE. I have used SQL CE(2.0) in several solutions (.NET CF) and achieved _very_ good performance (< 1 or < 2 seconds depending on what is happening). I have also seen SQL CE perform very poorly inserting data from flat files.

Since you already have XML in hand, I would suggest keeping with that as the data store (although there is nothing wrong with using SQL CE, IMO), and avoiding the need to interface with ActiveSync, although I'm not sure what you are thinking along the lines of pulling the feed and aggregating it. Depending on how you handle it, the XML -> SQL CE conversion may be CPU intensive.

How many posts to keep prior to "recycling"? That's a good question, and one that I think is somewhat subjective as posts are different sizes. Being sensitive to memory restrictions on the device, you wish to either adjust this number based on device memory, set a fixed number, or let the user select the number(my choice).

I'd be more than happy to provide assistance on/offline.

-Nino

# April 14, 2003 9:22 PM

brady gaster said:

now THAT...

is SO money.

# April 15, 2003 1:42 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Ladies and gentlemen, the irreverent, the incomparable, BRADY GASTER!

# April 15, 2003 1:49 AM

Dan F said:

XML for sure, it seems like a whole lot of extra effort to put it into a database. XML also opens it up for other people to work with a little easier. Granted, not that much easier, but still easier.

Only having ever used a pocketpc to do a couple of months worth of development (in eVB, *shudder*) you may want to take the following suggestions with a grain of salt
* I'm assuming there'll be a desktop component where you can do the bulk of the "setup" work, subscribe to feeds, follow up on links, purge the feeds, etc. The little experience I had with the pocketpc made me hug my keyboard and monitor with glee
* the ability to mark a post as follow-up-when-theres-more-pixels would be good. I can see myself leaving the PocketPC docked during the day/night, uncradling it and reading the feeds on the train, then following up on links at work/at home. That way I could filter the "errata" out and be left with the "good stuff" to follow up on
* on a similair vein, a links basket would be cool. links to visit when back in desktopland
* being able to annotate posts would be cool. None of the aggregators I've used yet let you do it, I think it'd be cool.
* a few different ideas for deleting the posts:
- immediately. sometimes theres stuff that just doesn't warrant carrying around
- global ageing rules, where they "fall off" the bottom after X days, or X kb used
- per feed ageing rules.
- some kind of "weighting" for each post as to how usefull it'll be in the future. eg: this post, i could bump up to an 11 (out of 10), coz I know its going to be history making. but other posts may only be 2 or 3 and can be culled at will. This idea isn't fully baked, feel free to laugh at me!
- per post "never delete". some things you just want to keep for ever. I'm not sure if an aggregator is the best spot to keep them, but I'm a messy guy :)

Ah, I

# April 15, 2003 6:45 AM

Dan F said:

Ah, I...

wow, I ran out of room! Anyways, as I was saying...

Ah, I think thats about it.

# April 15, 2003 6:46 AM

Nino Benvenuti said:

I'll concur with Dan's first item. Do the heavy lifting on the desktop; Pocket PC wasn't designed to do CPU intensive tasks. This is one of the reasons Microsoft left out XSLT from .NET CF; too CPU intensive.

# April 15, 2003 9:39 AM

TrackBack said:

Scobelization : Jesse Ezell Blog

# April 15, 2003 5:38 PM

Boris Gupp said:

Being European it strikes me as odd that self criticism is something Americans find difficult to express. We are a lot more modest (even realistic, I would say) here in Europe.
We know that we are only a small part of the world and we have no right to force our ideas on others. Don't get me wrong I am not saying the US just does the opposite, but I have a feeling that Americans have difficulties with anyone who says that not everything in the USA is 100% perfect.
The world greatest democracy? The world biggest democracy for sure. The 2000 elections is still something that keeps us wondering how such a modern society can be stumbling with very old, defective (or not) voting machines.

To wrap up: I think that the war in Iraq is in a way the right thing, but maybe not at the right moment or for the right reason. It is still hard to defend with no WMD found.
I think the US (the coalition) now have a difficult job to get Iraq up from the floor. Even they can pull that trick off, with almost the same ease as they took over Iraq, that would be a real achievement and it might make the world a better place in the end.

# April 16, 2003 6:20 AM

Boris Gupp said:

Hear hear!

Blinded by the light they shine in their own eyes.

# April 16, 2003 6:28 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Well said Boris.

# April 16, 2003 11:39 AM

TrackBack said:

Object Mappers : Jesse Ezell Blog

# April 16, 2003 1:36 PM

TrackBack said:

Opinions about persistence, object-relational mapping, data-access layer generation tools : Fabrice'

# April 16, 2003 1:36 PM

TrackBack said:

Yet Another PocketPC RSS Aggregator in plans : CLaueR's Blog

# April 16, 2003 1:36 PM

TrackBack said:

OlyMars == Confusion : David Stone's Blog

# April 16, 2003 1:36 PM

TrackBack said:

OlyMars == Confusion : Eric J. Smith's Weblog

# April 16, 2003 1:36 PM

Chad Osgood said:

LLBLGen is really that simple: choose your database, select the tables/views you want, and click generate. It will create the TSQL for all the sprocs, and the DAL classes.

# April 16, 2003 2:12 PM

Christophe Lauer said:

> If the instructions for using a condom were as
> complicated as the ones for using OlyMars, AIDS would
> have killed us all by now.

OlyMars is not only an object/relational mapping layer, nor a DAL generator. OlyMars is a generic (multi-purposes) code generator, which can provide services for generating a DAL, database aware controls, or whatever you want if you write your own templates. Hence the complicated instructions for use.

My $0.02,
Christophe Lauer

Btw, isn't "French Letters" another word for Condoms ? ;-))

# April 16, 2003 4:47 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I'm not touching the French joke. That's gotten me in trouble too much this week.

I don't care how complicated the system is, if the instructions are difficult to understand, it's a waste of time.

# April 16, 2003 4:52 PM

Chad Osgood said:

I think completely disregarding something simply because the instructions are difficult to understand is a bit dismissive.

These tools aren't targeted towards end-users; they're not always going to be user-friendly. Sometimes (read: most of the time) we have to dig further to derive the most value.

# April 16, 2003 10:27 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I do not buy that at all. In fact, that is the one things that buge me more than anything. In this case, we ARE the end users.

A solution, by definition, solves a problem, it does not supplant the problem with a different one. If I have to waste time trying to figure out how to implement the solution, it ceases to be a solution and becomes ANOTHER problem.

# April 16, 2003 11:17 PM

TrackBack said:

True to my word : Bob.NET

# April 17, 2003 3:29 AM

Peter Marshall said:

Isn't the american soldier in the foreground holding his very own penis replacement also.............

# April 17, 2003 5:53 AM

plato said:

I'd go for XML rather than SQL CE, if nothing else there's some level of compatability with the other aggregators out there.

Other thoughts/comments:
* Don't really mind if there's an AS interface, but would want to be able to do most things from the PocketPC when I'm on the road (add & remove feeds, update etc)
* Really like Dan's suggestion of the "link basket" for looking at things later - much better than copying them to a PI note :-)
* Allow feeds to be stored on a memory card.
* Would like to "lock" items (ala SharpReader) so they never get aged out (Dan's "never delete").
* Implement IBlogThis interface - although given System.Xml.XPath isn't supported in .NET CF this could be a small problem. Some sort of blog posting support would be cool though.

Ideally it would also sync with my desktop aggregator so that I don't have to read both, make the tea, put the kids to bed and ...

# April 17, 2003 12:15 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I've been thinking a lot about it... and I don't know if it's very practical to have a PocketPC aggregator. Brady Gster made a very valid point.... you could always use AvantGo to grab the pages themselves.... with full HTML.

What I am curious about is....seeing if I can use .NET speech to let you dictate blog entries, and then submit them up to the blog using the webservice or the IBlogThis interface. I don't think it's possible tho since .NET speech is prompt-based.

# April 17, 2003 12:55 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I've been thinking a lot about it... and I don't know if it's very practical to have a PocketPC aggregator. Brady Gster made a very valid point.... you could always use AvantGo to grab the pages themselves.... with full HTML.

What I am curious about is....seeing if I can use .NET speech to let you dictate blog entries, and then submit them up to the blog using the webservice or the IBlogThis interface. I don't think it's possible tho since .NET speech is prompt-based.

# April 17, 2003 12:55 PM

TrackBack said:

XSLT as a Bigger Hammer? : Kirk Allen Evans' Blog

# April 17, 2003 4:39 PM

sirshannon said:

there is a VERY easy way for MS to stop people from complaining about "typical m$ bull----". Very, very easy.

# April 17, 2003 5:20 PM

blink said:

There's an RSS feed there now...just waiting for you to take advantage of it...

Enjoy!

# April 17, 2003 11:16 PM

Greg Robinson said:

Tato charged you $700! See he is still up to ripping his friends off ;-)

# April 18, 2003 6:56 AM

Scott Cate said:

This is a great find, thanks ....

# April 18, 2003 11:59 AM

Robert McLaws said:

NP Boss. ;)

# April 18, 2003 12:41 PM

Chad Osgood said:

I empathize completely. Being inquisitive and ambitious in the developer world is a time consuming (but fun) combo.

# April 20, 2003 7:11 PM

Nino Benvenuti said:

Yep! They announced that site at MDC (see:
http://dotnetweblogs.com/nino/Archive/032003.aspx ..scroll down). Finally a community for us PPC developers. =)

-Nino

# April 20, 2003 9:04 PM

David Stone said:

Hasn't that been around in OmniPage for a while? I've been using it for at least a year...

# April 21, 2003 1:45 PM

Jeff Julian said:

Happy Birthday bro. There are no more good ones. I turn 22 in two weeks and it is nothing to me. I don't want to party, drink, or really do anything. Live it up tonight!!!!

# April 21, 2003 8:02 PM

Dan F said:

Whoa, only 21? I feel so old! (26)

Happy birthday man. Heres to the golden hangover (that lasts the same amount of hours as your birthday)

# April 22, 2003 8:47 AM

kristen mclaws said:

I am his twin sister and trust me, he did not live it up as he should have! But don't worry, I drank enough for both of us :)

# April 22, 2003 12:55 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Unfortunately I have a product launch in 2 days and I could not afford to get hung over. That's ok tho, I still had a great birthday. It felt good to get that "Under 21" stuff off of my license.

Thanks to everyone that wished me a happy birthday!

# April 22, 2003 2:46 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Unfortunately I have a product launch in 2 days and I could not afford to get hung over. That's ok tho, I still had a great birthday. It felt good to get that "Under 21" stuff off of my license.

Thanks to everyone that wished me a happy birthday!

# April 22, 2003 2:46 PM

Dan F said:

Bah, product schmoduct. Its a well known fact that you code better when buzzed. Or, at least, you *think* you code better :D

Happy birthday to you too Kristen!

# April 22, 2003 6:35 PM

kristen mclaws said:

thanks dan!

# April 23, 2003 3:22 PM

Eli Robillard said:

"The Lazy Programmer": http://dotnetweblogs.com/ERobillard/Story/3801.aspx

Lazy Programming Category:
http://dotnetweblogs.com/ERobillard/Category/544.aspx?Name=Lazy%20Programming

# April 24, 2003 9:27 AM

Chad Osgood said:

Yes, I was indeed asked that just the other day. This person has gone through Guerilla.NET, works with a whole team of .NET developers, and works on a large-scale well-known production web application. The reason I was so flabbergasted by such a seemingly simple question is because it indicates a profound misunderstanding of (basic) .NET in general.

He's an intelligent individual, but he simply doesn't care about delving into details or learning more than he needs to. It's unfortunate, but I find this to be the resonating norm among developers I encounter. This is why I feel user groups are such a positive thing...

# April 24, 2003 10:21 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Yes, Eli, but Ambrose in your comments made a very distinct point. Laziness + Intelligence + Enthusiasm = Great Developer. Laziness + Enthusiasm = Most developers. #2 is a very dangerous combination., and illustrates Chad's point very well. We've got developers out there who don't understand the basic elements of .NET, and are writing software. I've inherited several projects that have spaghetti code in one place or another. As I said, laziness can help breed invention, but it can just as easily breed more problems.

# April 24, 2003 1:59 PM

Dan F said:

Copy and paste into notepad/word *before* clicking submit/post is your best friend. It'll save your hide everywhere, from message boards to sending emails. Software is evil :(

# April 29, 2003 7:07 AM

Tim Marman said:

Have you tried w.bloggar or newzcrawler? I personally haven't had any problems with the webform interface, but I know others were successfully using these tools.

Actually, I downloaded w.bloggar, but haven't gotten around to playing with it much yet... it looks like a nice piece of software though!

# April 29, 2003 7:34 AM

Justin Rudd said:

Ha! What a small valley! I'm actually working on a gig with the author of OnTime :-)

# May 1, 2003 10:21 PM

Scott Swigart said:

Thanks for the, uh, compliment?

Glad you like the articles.

# May 5, 2003 2:12 PM

Robert McLaws said:

LOL. I'm just a smartass like you guys, so it was DEFINITELY a compliment.

# May 5, 2003 2:18 PM

Datagrid Girl said:

Hi Robert,
If you find this interesting you should really read: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671015206/datagridgirl20

Enjoy!
Marcie

# May 5, 2003 2:59 PM

Robert McLaws said:

It was definitely very interesting. I read the first 10 pages from the sample. I'll pick it up from your store the next time I get some spare green.

# May 5, 2003 3:45 PM

Justin said:

Yes I do leave tracing on when I deploy a web-site. But since I use log4net, I can easily control where the output goes...

Sorry...just being a little pedantic today (the week has not started well for me) :-)

# May 5, 2003 5:21 PM

James Avery said:

I understand what you are saying Robert, and I agree, but I think it would have been better to just shoot the offending people an email.. instead of adding more noise to the main feed.

- James

# May 5, 2003 6:16 PM

Robert McLaws said:

It was for EVERYONE to see, present and future testers. I don't have time to e-mail everyone individually for a discussion. it's in the main feed and everyone saw it. Now they'll use their deleter next time.

# May 5, 2003 6:24 PM

Khurram Aziz, khurram@nexlinx.net.pk said:

Regarding #2, what you want me to do.

# May 6, 2003 2:32 AM

TrackBack said:

heLP .Net Blog

# May 8, 2003 12:12 PM

Anon said:

I don't see passion in your posts. I see a lot of ranting and personal comments....

# May 8, 2003 2:27 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Hey cool. I thought it was my blog and I could do whatever I wanted with it.

# May 8, 2003 2:35 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Besides, you are entitled to see whatever you want. Anyone that knows me knows that I am extremely passionate about what I do.

# May 8, 2003 2:36 PM

Phil Weber said:

"My wit and sarcasm go unedited for the first time..."

Not to mention your modesty! ;-)

# May 9, 2003 1:54 PM

Robert McLaws said:

???

# May 9, 2003 2:58 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

Welcome to the world of third party components. I have yet to find a single third party component that is up to snuff (and I have used quite a bit of them). Even EntityBroker, as cool as it is, has been a hassle to work with.

# May 12, 2003 1:43 PM

Robert McLaws said:

It's not exactly a component. More like a website plug-in.

Have you used my GenX.NET yet? I worked really hard on that architecture, and I'll be refining it again for 3.0.

# May 12, 2003 1:48 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

The DAL is supposed to know a lot about the DB, it is the other two layers that shouldn't. If you want maximum maintainability, dynamic queries are a heck of a lot better than stored procs. I'm not talking about your standard hard coded SQL statements, I am talking about true dynamic queries. Yes, if all your app does is use hard coded queries, using stored procs is debatable. However, many applications with complex domain models choose to use an object mapping tool such as EntityBroker (http://www.thonaconsulting.com or Hibernate (http://hibernate.bluemars.net/?cowiki=c52ed0bab39a75fc12df3bed651d710a) which take the maintainability ratings for your SQL code off the chart. Why, because you never have to write any in the first place. A great thing about a DAL that truly utilizes the potential of dynamic queries is that it can automatically switch between Oracle, SQL, Access, MySql, etc. without recoding any of your command objects. You can't do anything remotely close to this with stored procs. So, the end result is that you save a couple hundred hours and have more time to make sure your server and your code are both secure and don't get hacked in the first place.

# May 14, 2003 3:16 PM

Robert McLaws said:

You still have to open direct query permissions on the database, which is completely unacceptable. I'd rather write more DAL code then leave my system open for attack, and you should too.

# May 14, 2003 3:24 PM

Frans Bouma said:

Robert:
1 SqlServer machine, 1 Application machine with IIS5 and ASP.NET, running a webapplication written in .NET.

Tell me, how are you going to implement the security? On the stored procedures? You only have 1 user to add rights for: OR the user the website runs under and which is a domain user (BAD) OR the user the website runs under and which has the same password as the user you give rights to (Less bad) OR the sqlserver user you login with using the connection string.

Either way: there is no security necessary on the stored procedures, simply because there is just 1 user logging in!

Maintainability? I hit 'generate', the code is compiled, I go. With stored procedures, I hit 'generate' the code is compiled plus I have to update the stored procs with the generated script.

Security is something you think out thouroughly, not something you apply in 1 spot and it magically works everywhere.

# May 14, 2003 3:52 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

Opening direct query permissions is by no means leaving the system open for attack. If your web server or network gets compromised in the first place, that is the issue. Put the SQL server behind a firewall and enforce proper security on your web tier and you shouldn't have any issues. Assuming someone compromised a web server in the first place, not having query permissions doesn't mean much. They don't need query permissions to screw you over.

# May 14, 2003 4:55 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Wait until my article comes out, and I will explain my security concepts further. I've spent a long time developing what I believe to be the best security architecture for SQL out there, which is why you may not quite understand what I am talking about yet.

# May 14, 2003 5:32 PM

Frans Bouma said:

Robert:
Without your article it's perfectly understandable what to do: you don't have that much options when it comes to webapplications and sqlserver spread over more than 1 machine. Even when they're run on 1 machine, you will probably use 1 connection string and use 1 user to connect to the database (because all accesses are anonymous f.e.).

# May 15, 2003 1:34 AM

Jeff Julian said:

Jeff Julian

# May 15, 2003 4:08 PM

Mike Sax said:

Yes!

# May 15, 2003 4:17 PM

Phil Weber said:

<b>-1</b>

Given a choice between having them write code, and having them write <i>about</i> writing code, I'd prefer that they spend their limited time creating cool tools for me to use.

# May 15, 2003 4:27 PM

TrackBack said:

ScottGu's Blog

# May 15, 2003 4:49 PM

David Stone said:

<voice type="Shaggy">ScotGu...where are you?</voice>

Seconded. :)

# May 15, 2003 6:15 PM

Roy Osherove said:

0.02$ :)

# May 15, 2003 6:23 PM

Jason Mauss said:

especially rob howard...stop doing .NET Shows and blog instead!! heh..just kiddin' that show was cool.

# May 16, 2003 1:10 AM

Rajiv said:

rajiv - rajspace.blog-city.com

# May 17, 2003 4:21 AM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws

# May 20, 2003 3:39 PM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws

# May 20, 2003 3:39 PM

Phil Weber said:

This line looks like a bug waiting to happen:

If System.Environment.Version.Minor = "0" Then

What happens when this code is run on version 2.0 of the Framework?

# May 21, 2003 12:53 AM

Frans Bouma said:

I already thought I was crazy. I got a truckload of crap thrown over me yesterday that I was wrong, giving bad advice etc. but I'm not. It IS a problem. I'm glad someone else finally understands what I'm talking about.

In the comments on my blog about this problem an NUnit developer posted a piece of code which might help. I'll test that today, perhaps it's a solution.

# May 21, 2003 1:36 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Frans,

It's not as big a problem as you're making it out to be, and if you read my previous post, I flamed you too for making that comment. Other peoplr read this stuff and you need to be careful.

Go back and read the link to my first post on the subject and re-read what I wrote. I've been supporting 2 versions of my code without incident for 6 months now. Don't get all Henny Penny on everyone, that's all. We want people to stop using VS.NET 2002. That's not gonna happen if people read stuff like "ISV's - DONT USE 2003"

# May 21, 2003 1:42 AM

Robert McLaws said:

This code assumes that it REALLY wouldn't run on 2.0 because of the changes to the configuration system, et. al. Besides, the code does not run anyways, although it was a nice idea, I'm still missing a piece to the puzzle.

# May 21, 2003 1:44 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Besides all this, your primary concern should be ease of use to end users, not the time you have to put into making it work. Having 2 separate versions is just good policy... removes confusion or configuration issues.

You could include both versions in your redistributable and use Strong Name Signing and versioning similar to MS's to specify which version is which.

# May 21, 2003 1:47 AM

Frans Bouma said:

Well, what I want is 1 version of the assemblies I have to distribute and generate code against. If I have 2 versions, this will be cumbersome, because the user then has to manually add the right assembly, which can lead to mistakes and thus a bad experience with the product. I understand that maintaining 2 versions is an option, however it IS extra work, for the same code, which shouldn't have been necessary.

Microsoft seems to think every sole who bought vs.net 2002 (which are over 1 million people) is upgrading to vs.net 2003 within a month, but I doubt it will be that way. I too talk to developers and what I hear is that a lot still have to work with vs.net 2002 and can't or won't upgrade soon. That's a problem that's a reality, no matter how much we all want it to dissapear.

Robert, if you think flaming me is helping the problem go away, you're wrong. After reading the flames and crap I received over yesterdays article I'm not going to change the title of the posting. I understand now this site as a whole gets bad press when a blogger types in "Microsoft sux" or similar, but you all also have to understand blogging is about writing personal opinions. It's not about news, we're not jounalists, we're developers.

# May 21, 2003 2:07 AM

Robert McLaws said:

So don't do anything 1.1 specific. Fortunately for me, I make use of the platform as a means of education, therefore, as part of the sales process, I educate my developer customers as to why .NET 1.1 is better. In the case of GenX.NET, it allows me to support more databases with a fewer number of dependencies than my 1.0 version.

Remember also, that just because you WANT to do something, doesn't mean you CAN. I'd like to have one version too, but I can't. GET OVER IT. It's one of the pitfalls of the system you're developing for.

Further, research that I've seen shows that over 6 million developers are using .NET. One guy said it perfectly right: 1.0 = DirectX 8, 1.1 = DirectX 9. Educate your friends, developers, and customers, and push them to switch. Don't be anal about it just because you don't like what you are forced to deal with.

Bottom line: .NET 1.0 assemblies will run on .NET 1.1 99% of the time. If you don't want to take advantage of the improvements in 1.1 , then you can have 1 version. but I think you do yourself and the community a disservice if you do so.

Further, you still have not recognized your responsibility to this community. You say you have a personal opinion, then title your post "Why I Think People Shouldn't Use VSNET 2003". Don't entitle it "ISV's - stay away at all costs" which is pretty much what you did. If you got flamed by it then you got what you deserved.

# May 21, 2003 2:22 AM

Frans Bouma said:

Hmm. So it isn't obvious for people who blog that blogs are personal? I'll change the title in what you suggested. Look, I don't want to receive heat because I think ABC and the 'community' or Microsoft thinks CBA, and I do not want to bring Scott in trouble because I have the urge to tell people about what I think (btw, who carez anyway what I think, I'm definitly not important or a 'prominent'-.net person).

The root of the problem is: if you pick .NET 1.1 (which I do not have a problem with, its free, download it and be happy), you also force an upgrade to visual studio.net 2003, because you can't develop with visual studio.net 2002 and .NET 1.1. That's the problem, or better: I'm not in the position to tell a customer to upgrade to another version of an expensive tool. Now the short-time offer is 29$, but VS.NET 2003 EA upgrade costs here over 2000EURO. I can't tell a developer to shell out that money. I wished everybody swapped platforms and editors on the spot so there wouldn't be any problem.

To use the DX analogy: in VS.NET 2002 you can developer DX8, in VS.NET 2003 you can develop DX9. Now, would that be acceptable? I don't think so. However .NET developers are in that position.

# May 21, 2003 2:41 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Why is it such a bad position? I think it's perfectly acceptable. Why are we so damn hell-bent on supporting old technology? MS is offering an incredibly cheap deal in allowing upgrades for $29. The goal is to get you to do it now. If you wait till later, I have absolutely no sympathy for you. You snooze, you lose.

You can always command line compile your stuff too. You don't NEED VS.NET 2003 if you just want to recompile to 1.1.

# May 21, 2003 2:47 AM

Frans Bouma said:

[quote]
Besides all of this, I have said several times that .NET 1.1 is not an upgrade, it's a sidegrade. VB6 was not an upgrade to VB5... it ran totally separate. Could you build VB5 apps in VB6? Could you build VB6 apps in VB5? So WHY IN THE BLOODY HELL do you expect to be able to build VB 7.1 apps in VB 7.0 or vice versa?
[/quote]
Why in the bloody hell? Well, I'll tell you: BECAUSE I AM NOT IN THE POSITION TO TELL MY CUSTOMERS TO BUY YET ANOTHER IDE FROM MICROSOFT WHICH COSTS MONEY.

So there. In VB5 you still can use dlls written in VB6 (hell, even VC++ or Delphi). In VS.NET 2002 I can't use assemblies written in VS.NET 2003 unless I add a long list of redirects to a config file. And because I'm on VS.NET 2002, I do not think about that, because I never had to and MS is NOT TELLING ME TO ADD THEM TOO. Only some dork from The Netherlands is, who you flamed out of the water with this posting.

I changed the title of my article and added a note. Then I read this posting. Thanks a lot, Robert.

# May 21, 2003 3:19 AM

Jonne said:

I totally agree with you...

# May 21, 2003 3:20 AM

Frans Bouma said:

Not all versions are valid for that upgrade. Not all companies upgrade a.s.a.p. (see the win2k upgrade cycle), and upgrades cost a lot of money if you miss that deal. I find it pretty amazing that a customer should shell out extra money to run your software he bought.

Of course I can jump through hoops and come up with lots of versions of the same code, for each platform a different version. Which hoops though? It's not documented. The only solutions seem to be 1) command line compile, 2) keep two versions and 2 IDE's installed (yeah right). This is not that good since maintaining 2 codebases for 1 codeset is a pitfall for errors 3) tell customers to include a set of assemblyBinding redirect tags in their config file.

Customers can't see from the outside an assembly is for .NET 1.1. Not all developers read the documentation cover to cover before they start developing. Are you paying for the supportcosts? My goal is to write software for developers which works as easy as possible. Any hurdle a developer has to take is a hurdle too many.

Ok, I can tell my customers to run out the door and buy the latest and greatest MS IDE because *I* think they should, but personally I don't think that way, because it is MY problem if a customer can't use my software on his machine, not the customer's problem.

# May 21, 2003 3:35 AM

Scott Watermasysk said:

Careful, I never said I did not like it.

I only said I saw it, looked it up on Amazon, and read some horrible reviews of it. Nothing more, nothing less.

-Scott

# May 21, 2003 7:57 AM

Jamie Cansdale said:

I'm interested.

# May 21, 2003 9:10 AM

Greg Robinson said:

wow, at first glance I thought I could start liking him now..having read his post though, afraid not.

# May 21, 2003 10:08 AM

Frans Bouma said:

I've found a solution for the 'framework-hell', so you can compile your class libraries from inside vs.net 2003 and use them in vs.net 2002 and thus .net code 1.0 without having to worry references to f.e. system.data.dll are crashing the 1.0 application (and you do not need any references). I'll write a blog about that within an hour or so. It's very easy: put your class lib in its own solution. remove all .net 1.1 references, add references to the .net 1.0 equivalents. Compile. Ready to go :)

# May 21, 2003 2:23 PM

Greg Robinson said:

I posted this a while back:

http://discuss.develop.com/archives/wa.exe?A2=ind0302C&L=DOTNET-CLR&P=R4015&I=-3

got a lot of interesting replies...even one from Jim Hogg himself.

# May 21, 2003 3:20 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Awesome. I'd still like to find a way to do it programmatically. The ultimate goal is to have a redistributable assembly that your project references. This assembly would tie into the existing Framework's compatibility system, and then you would add compatibility attributes to your code. Then you'd never have to worry about it again.

# May 21, 2003 3:32 PM

Sudhakar Sadasivuni[MVP] said:

scott...are you there?

# May 22, 2003 4:40 AM

JosephCooney said:

I know this is over a month old now but I have to bite. If you don't like the tools other people write....don't use them. It _really_ is that simple.

# May 23, 2003 12:38 AM

Frans Bouma said:

If you target 1.1 and not 1.0, it's of course not that clever to build against 1.0. If you want to target 1.0, you can't target 1.1 anyway and can't include 1.1 features. If you still want to offer 1.1 customers a true 1.1 experience then you have to opt for 2 codebases. (and when you patch, you have 4, and after you patch, you have 6 etc). :)

It's a matter of choice. For the projects currently in development, all targeting 1.0, it's an option to keep it on 1.0 and go for 1.1 in next projects.

# May 23, 2003 3:38 AM

Adam Hill said:

So what is MS's recommended "drop-off" point going to be? Five versions back, six, seven? Will there need to be a version for every Framework rev?

If .NET continues on for a while we will be trading DLL/COM hell for Assembly hell.

adam...

# May 23, 2003 9:22 AM

steven vore said:

Heh. When I take Nyquil (like earlier this week), I *immediately* turn off the light, buery myself under the covers and don't even think about coming up for 8 hours. I'm impressed that you could even *try* to code /under the influence/.

-Steven

# May 23, 2003 10:12 AM

Mike Sax said:

I've posted a brief note on my blog that explains what most developers need to know about this. I don't think it really applies to the case with the Oracle driver, but it certainly covers the general case the Frans was talking about.

# May 24, 2003 6:45 PM

Scott Sargent said:

Yes, Definitely More blogging!

# May 26, 2003 10:19 AM

Frans Bouma said:

I don't see your problem with IDataReader. It has all the methods you want, so you can create the physical datareader in a factory and work with the instance through the interface definition, which results in database-generic code.

# May 27, 2003 2:14 AM

Robert McLaws said:

You misread my post entirely. I love the IDataReader that's why I'm using it.

# May 27, 2003 3:20 AM

Dan F said:

Not really having much of a clue what GenX does, I'll lead with a qualified yes.

If you're talking about being able to set properties at design time, maybe even a custom properties dialog window thingy ala VB6, then I'd be voting a definate yes. It makes it easier to just "fiddle" to get used to the component. Using a custom properties dialog also helps guide the user through the job of setting up the component.

Although, (get ready for a flipflop), that'd make it a bit like the VB6 equivalent of using an ocx that had no runtime visual component and could have been done just as easily as a dll. Which I could never really see the point of :)

Its a definate maybe :-)

# May 27, 2003 7:42 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Well, see, that's exactly why I'm torn. GenX.NET outputs an Excel file to the server. It doesn't have a UI whatsoever, it just has some properties that are set, usually in code. Now, should I give something like this design-time support, JUST so that I can make it easier to use... or should it always be manipulated programmatically?

# May 28, 2003 2:58 AM

Philip Rieck said:

The problem with using the assembly file version is that it's not really used by the CLR for versioning issues. Say you have a no-touch app that's loaded via an href.. the dlls are pulled into the machine's downloaded assembly cache. If you update one of the dlls, but only update the fileversion attribute, then the CLR will NOT download the new dll, and you'll have some clients running with the new version (those that cleared the download cache, or those that never ran the app before), and some running the old. Ouch.

# May 28, 2003 8:29 AM

Scott Swigart said:

It sounds like you are not advocating bindingRedirect, or publisher policy files when you patch a component. Simply drop in a new one right over the top of the old one.

Also, I'm not convinced that having the AssebblyVersion and the AssemblyFileVersion say 2 different things is the best idea.

I also agree that it makes sense to maintain separate versions of components for different frameworks. You might want to cover having two different project files that point at some of the same source files as a way to share common code, and not have 2 completely separate source bases to maintain.

# May 28, 2003 1:00 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Well, I think making your end users manage binding redirects and distributing publisher policy files is a little much to make your end users deal with. Besides, I don't want a component vendor telling me which version of the component I should use. It's my decision most of the time, not theirs. Besides, it kinda negates the idea of XCOPY deployment if you have to modify the web.config or register a new assembly in the GAC as part of the deployment process.

Well, I know that the AssemblyFileVersion attribute is not used for the CLR, it's for YOU to be able to tell the difference.

I'm not really talking about mo-touch deployment scenarios. While I think no-touch is really cool, I don't think it's advisable in a server control situation. I'm mostly yalking about server controls, where you have redistributables available for download off the web.

# May 28, 2003 1:25 PM

TrackBack said:

ISerializable

# May 31, 2003 8:15 AM

Roy Osherove said:

Cool! Congratulations :)

# May 31, 2003 11:10 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Thanks Roy!

# May 31, 2003 5:14 PM

Paul Alexander said:

If you take a look at any of the .NET framework core assemblies that have been patched or upgraded they follow this versioning scheme. The idea behind breaking the version into two attributes was to accommodate easy updates that do not include breaking or binary changes. In a no-touch environment you'll just want to keep updating the version number and let the framework handle it. But if you're dealing with server side controls, or shared components it's you should be able to release an update that doesn't require a re-build. Plus the bindingRedirect and publisher Policy files have additional security impleications and Polciy files only work when installed into the GAC. That's not an option for shared hosting environments and other such isolated projects.

# June 1, 2003 11:36 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Well said, Paul.

# June 2, 2003 1:08 AM

TrackBack said:

Santomania

# June 2, 2003 3:44 PM

Robert Scoble said:

Heh. Yeah, that would be fun. I think the PDC will be even more fun than TechED. But, I'm jealous too.

# June 2, 2003 5:53 PM

Addy Santo said:

Robert,

The thing which really gets me is how much my position has changed in the past 6 months. Last year Microsoft Israel flew me over to the TechEd in Eilat where I gave 3 great presentations and chatted with the likes of David Chappel. But since then I moved to the other side of the world (NYC), changed jobs, and basically left behind everyone who knows how good I am :)

Which leaves me here at work - while I rebuild my reputation from scratch everyone else is out having fun at TechEd...

-Addy

# June 2, 2003 8:12 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I wish Microsoft would send ME to TechEd. All I got was a lousy book. Well, it was a really good book. I guess I still have some dues to pay.

# June 2, 2003 9:21 PM

Darren Neimke said:

Well done Rob! I know - only too well - how good it feels to jump over another architectural bar. Just this week, I too felt that my coding form has evolved to a higher place, but, alas, I still haven't reached OONirvana :-)

# June 3, 2003 8:29 AM

DonXML said:

Rob,
Congrats! I know how you feel. There's a bunch of known “intellectual plateaus”, that once you make it, you feel like you’re on top of the world. The problem is that once there, there isn’t anyone around to share it with. Other architectural “intellectual plateaus” are:
Truly understanding XML as an object representation
Understanding declarative programming (XSLT is the big one).

DonXML

# June 3, 2003 11:13 AM

Drew Marsh said:

If it's something you discovered that gives you a competitive edge then, personally, I wouldn't be mad at you if you didn't share it. You deserve to keep that edge as long as you can. Let the others work hard now to figure out what you're doing. If they're public about trying to figure it out, then you can chime in with: "Yes, that's right... here's how I discovered it/do it.".

Just my 2¢,
Drew

# June 3, 2003 1:03 PM

TrackBack said:

Drew's Blog

# June 4, 2003 10:28 AM

Paul Wilson said:

Just use C# :)

# June 4, 2003 7:23 PM

Robert McLaws said:

har de har har

# June 4, 2003 7:31 PM

SBC said:

I think it has to do with the rendering of embedded picture - I had a similar problem with my postings which had embedded pics. Then again, you probably know that already.

# June 5, 2003 8:48 AM

Mike Gunderloy said:

Remember, you can get some compensation for talking about the design by writing it up as an article, even after you fill us in on the Great New Technique here. You seem to be able to turn out grammatical text quickly, so any edtor is going to love you.

# June 5, 2003 10:00 AM

sirshannon said:

If you are going to run a site that may offend your customers, etc, with your opinions, I would highly suggest you not use your real name. Google has cost many people many dollars.

# June 5, 2003 11:57 AM

Phil Weber said:

"One should not believe in an 'ism'. They should believe in themselves." -- Ferris Buehler

# June 5, 2003 1:28 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Good Idea SirShannon. Then I can piss people off anonymously ;)

Let's hear it for Phil Webber. He knows what's up.

# June 5, 2003 4:28 PM

Josh Ledgard said:

Thanks for posting this. I also wanted to let you know that we have now set up a gotdotnet workspace for the community to use and contribute to the powertoys projects. Here is the forum post that announces it...
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/MessageBoard/Thread.aspx?id=107870

Thanks Again,
josh

# June 5, 2003 10:04 PM

Nick Katsivelos said:

blog on boyz

# June 6, 2003 9:52 AM

TrackBack said:

Dan's Brain Wasteland

# June 10, 2003 4:15 PM

TrackBack said:

.NET Brain Droppings

# June 10, 2003 4:15 PM

Don said:

Thanks for the info Robert. Oh well, guess I'll use the trusty web interface for now... =)

# June 10, 2003 6:45 PM

Marc said:

Well, he cannot be President (not born on US soil) so the world can only go so insane.

That said, I would vote for him if I lived in CA.

# June 10, 2003 6:50 PM

Brian Desmond said:

I've had a page fault BSOD from my 2003 dev box - i suspect it has something to do with all the "stuff" I have loaded on it.

--Brian

# June 10, 2003 7:26 PM

sirshannon said:

wow. I REALLY wish I could say I've never seen a BSOD on XP. There are at least 7 incidents in the online Crash Report system for this install of XP. But I'm not complaining, I have been running this install since XP went gold, quite a relief after the almost bi-weekly installs during the Whistler betas.

# June 10, 2003 8:25 PM

TrackBack said:

Ryan LaNeve

# June 11, 2003 3:05 PM

randy said:

Why not do both? It isn't hard. Personally, I prefer C# due to what I perceive as its "first class" status. But I see a place for VB, and other languages.

# June 11, 2003 5:51 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

I don't know of anything better (unfortunately). I agree that the design of this component is really sucky though. We have considered writing our own component for this (which we would, of course, make available to others), but, alas, there are not enough hours in the day and we have more pressing projects to finish up right now. In the mean time, we will use dot net ship, because it does actually work great once you have everything coded, it is just the initial coding that can be a pain because of the way they architected the component. But hey, that doesn't make them any different from any other third part component vendor.

In my experience, 99% of programmers live in a little bubble where that "teach yourself VB in 21 days" book tells them everything they ever needed to know about programming. They don't care about design (at least of their products, but shame on any developer who gives them code that is hard to work with). I think, the other 1% work for Microsoft... they sure as hell don't work for any third party component vendors I've seen.

# June 11, 2003 5:52 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

PS: I suggest you do what we did till you find a better solution, write a quick little facade/wrapper that hides the component so that when you do find a better component, you can switch w/o changing anything but the implementation of your facade/wrapper. As a matter a fact, our shipping provider facade does happen to convert all the values to DataTables from their custom collections :-).

# June 11, 2003 5:56 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I can code both, but my primary language is VB.NET.

# June 11, 2003 6:00 PM

Scott Galloway said:

Looks like C# still pays more...according to the recent Fawcette survey! I was an old VB coder - and VBScript in the ASP times. When I started learning .NET, I began by using VB.NET...hmm..I did not enjoy it, it has all the clumsiness of VB (CType...ick!), so I decided to go for C# instead. C# has the advantage that it's strict by default (no Option Strict or Option Explicit), is so similar to Java as to be a very simple transition - java coders are in general better OO coders than VB ones - sorry, they just are! I could also more easily repurpose my J2EE architecture skills into C# - I have no clue why it was easier, just seemed more natural.
Also, the jobs market here is FAR better for C# (added advantage, you can flip back to Java more easily if need be - the job market is really tricky!)

# June 11, 2003 6:25 PM

Scott Galloway said:

I agree with Jesse...but look on the bright side, there's so many .NET developers out there right now looking for interesting project that this thing will be superceded in a few months...

# June 11, 2003 7:06 PM

Scott Galloway said:

And also, .netShip has VERY limited support for non-US shippers!

# June 11, 2003 7:07 PM

Tim Marman said:

I use WinRAR personally. Check it out.

# June 11, 2003 7:40 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I use both, but I like WinZip's UI better. Cleaner, more professional. WinRAR still clings to that Windows 95-esque UI.

# June 11, 2003 7:45 PM

Tim said:

If you like it and use it why not pay for it? I have. Your last line "It's not like it stops working after 30 days anyways... it just has that nag screen. " isn't exactly helpful to shareware authors is it?

# June 11, 2003 9:56 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Good point. <edited>

# June 11, 2003 10:06 PM

Robert Scoble said:

I should clarify my position a bit. Does it really matter? But, yeah, if you want status at Microsoft, it seems most of the hard-core folks I know here at Microsoft are C# types.

# June 11, 2003 10:32 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I think that goes in line with Scott's comment that C3-ers are usually better at OOP cause they come from Java. I think if VBers actually <i>understood</i> OOP, which is what I am focusing on, then maybe they would get somewhere, especially at MS.

# June 11, 2003 10:41 PM

George Doubinski said:

Have you tried http://www.vbcentral.net/ShipRater/ ? Looks like a decent alternative to me.
Georged

# June 12, 2003 1:19 AM

Tim Marman said:

Maybe I'll give Winzip 9 another shot, but I especially like WinRAR's shell integration.

# June 12, 2003 2:37 AM

Ryan LaNeve said:

We've despised .netShip since we bought the thing almost a year ago. FedEx support broke when the FedEx site was re-designed because the component scrapes instead of using the FedEx API. Then DHL support broke (twice), and if I remember correctly Airborne or UPS broke once, as well. Never, in any of those cases where the component broke for *all* users, did the developers of .netShip inform their customers that they were working on or had a fix ready. Furthermore, on two occasions the "fixes" provided were half-baked and introduced new rediculous bugs, such as "oops, all rates are getting multiplied by 10!". The tone of their emails is always infuriating, as well - sounding as if they're always doing *us* a favor by giving us a fix for their broken fix.

Finally, I'd had enough and began rolling our own, opting to use the published APIs for Airborne, FedEx and UPS. As others have said, there really isn't time in the day, but it's to the point where rates can be returned for all three providers. More work remains, but we always intended to release the source. If anyone wants it as it stands now, we can go ahead and setup a project for it on SF or GDN Workspaces.

# June 12, 2003 2:58 AM

JesseEzell said:

Please! :-)

# June 12, 2003 2:11 PM

Tim said:

Be sure to check out the Outlook addin at WinZip also. Adds buttons to your new mails enabling you to automatically zip up attachements prior to the mail going out. Great time saver.

# June 12, 2003 3:45 PM

TrackBack said:

Jonne Kats

# June 12, 2003 4:03 PM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws

# June 12, 2003 5:15 PM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws

# June 12, 2003 5:15 PM

Jason said:

This happened to me too. The only way to get it to stop was to give it the FrontPage CD. A strange thing also occurred after installing Adobe Reader 6.0: Now opening the .NET Framework docs causes the Windows Installer to try and reconfigure Visual Studio. Wierd...

# June 12, 2003 5:44 PM

Jason said:

One more thing. Now it seems that I can't view in PDFs in my browser anymore because it freezes when I try and use the Back button. Both IE and Firebird.

# June 12, 2003 5:45 PM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws

# June 12, 2003 7:46 PM

sirshannon said:

Every time I search for files on the Win2K machine in one of my client's offices, I am asked for the Visio 2002 Professional disk over and over until I can cancel out of it twice in a row fast enough to make it realize I REALLY don't want to install anything.

PITA.

# June 12, 2003 9:53 PM

Alex Hoffman said:

Thanks for pointing that out - I had just about given up on w.Bloggar

# June 12, 2003 10:13 PM

Frans Bouma said:

Thanks for the pointer!!!

# June 13, 2003 5:14 AM

Frans Bouma said:

That's all fine what MS thinks I should do but what I think MS should do is make their IDE able to work with older CLR's so people can choose a new IDE while writing a control for 1.0 or 1.1. MS didn't even bother creating a config file for a library so a library can be made runnable on 1.0 with redirects.

# June 13, 2003 5:19 AM

TrackBack said:

Ryan LaNeve

# June 13, 2003 8:05 PM

Ryan LaNeve said:

The Workspace is setup, though I haven't gotten a chance to upload the code as it currently stands. I should be able to get to it this weekend, though. The name is "DotNetShipping", and the link is below.

http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=29bbb7fe-2d18-4f82-a273-9445b978d1bf

# June 13, 2003 10:03 PM

Ryan LaNeve said:

Some of us are getting together to implement an open-source alternative. The GotDotNet Workspace was just setup last night and the initial source upload should happen sometime over the weekend. Any assistance - via code submissions or just suggestions/comments - is very welcome.

http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=29bbb7fe-2d18-4f82-a273-9445b978d1bf

# June 13, 2003 11:30 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

VERY COOL!

# June 14, 2003 4:18 AM

Stephane Rodriguez said:

Yeah, I'd like to know where are the toilets in building 54. I love sensible information.

# June 14, 2003 7:21 AM

OmegaSupreme said:

Nice post, for me there was nothing I was interested in until I started programming and therefore no reason to bound out of bed.

Now the only thing stopping me jumping out of bed is the fact that Im up all night programming ;)

# June 14, 2003 3:03 PM

Dave said:

I'm constantly amazed at how differently people define career success. Lately this has become very important personally too.

Two years ago I was well-paid, secure AND working on various web and windows apps. In other words in heaven.

Today I am well-paid, secure and toiling away writing ABAP code for a newly implemented SAP system. In other words, unhappy and frustrated.

Many around me know this. Their reaction? Stick with the well-paid and secure job. Hell, a few mention that ABAP programmers make a ton of money.

My feelings? Unless something happens (and it may soon) with my current employer, I'm easily able and greatly willing to take a 30% cut in pay and/or do a startup of some sort. You see, my definition of success is exactly that of John Maxwell.

Thanks for the post!

# June 14, 2003 4:48 PM

Jim Arnold said:

The public API should of course be documented, but I probably wouldn't provide comments for the private implementation.

I find code clarity much more important than comments (I usually delete comments before looking through unfamiliar code). If the code is easy enough to understand, it should not need comments.

Jim

# June 15, 2003 8:39 AM

Frans Bouma said:

I'd provide a reference manual generated by NDoc for the public api. Besides that, I'd provide 'how to use' documentation which guides the user through all the usages of the component/tool you're selling. This way, the user learns how to use the component plus can always check out the reference manual for details.

Private member documentation is of no use for a user, because the inner workings of a library is of no use, the api provided is the sole api the user can interact with anyway. It has to be said that that API documentation of course has to describe how a method M performs its tricks. If it formats the harddisk before doing its thing, the user should know :)

# June 15, 2003 10:11 AM

Paul Wilson said:

I too want to enjoy what I'm doing, but if two paths are nearly identical and one often pays more and brings more respect, then yes you will find me trying to make the extra money!

# June 15, 2003 11:21 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I don't respect you any more for knowing C#.NET over VB.NET. Respect should be earned by the quality of the code and the quality of your presentation.

I just recall the gentleman the other day who commented in my blog that he is going to quit his job to take a 1/3 pay cut to work on a startup...

# June 15, 2003 11:43 PM

EricK said:

Dave,
Having done a stint in PeopleSoft work (3 jobs, actually - I moved a lot looking for happiness) I can definitely related to what you are talking about. Pay and security are only useful if you can keep getting out of bed and go to work, which becomes really hard when you spend all you time working on that data interface that is just a little bit different than the one you built the day before, or changing that column heading on that report because the accountant uses a different term...

Actually, it amazes me that people pay so much for ERP "programmers".

# June 16, 2003 12:54 PM

Alex Hoffman said:

Yes and Yes.

We generate and use documentation internally which includes non-public member information. It's considered extremely helpful and important. Insufficiently documented code (especially non-public) is rejected during code-review if comments are not deemed adequate.

If one can reduce the huge proportion of time any one developer spends trying to work out what's going on when maintaining (or developing against) existing code it's worthwhile. Good code is maintainable code.

As a former development manager, I have no time for team developers who claim that comments are inherent in the code.

# June 16, 2003 11:27 PM

Greg Robinson said:

Wow, too cool. Watching the overview now.

# June 17, 2003 11:44 AM

Alex Lowe said:

I don't know anything about GenX.NET but if you wanted to alleviate the memory allocation couldn't you use some kind of event architecture to flush out the data when each row is ready (or something like that)?

# June 17, 2003 7:24 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

This is what Streams are for. Use them. (StreamWriter will give you nice StringBuilder like text writing functions).

# June 17, 2003 7:25 PM

TrackBack said:

A Blog for Graymad

# June 18, 2003 3:51 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I am using streams.

# June 18, 2003 4:03 PM

Jeff said:

Thanks Robert. I'm new to the world of .NET and after about a month of skulking about the .NET Weblogs feed, I decided to ask one of the bloggers about the best way to get my hands in .NET. I asked a pretty general question, shouldn't be much of a stretch to give me even a canned response, and ... nothing.

If you're blogging on a specific topic, and then don't want to answer questions regarding that topic, why even bother having a contact page?

I'm glad to see the entire community doesn't shared the closed-door policy. Thanks.

# June 18, 2003 6:06 PM

Victor Lindesay said:

I agree

# June 18, 2003 6:22 PM

Garrett Fitzgerald said:

Ah, another 1776 fan, I presume. :-)

# June 18, 2003 6:32 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

No one is censoring anyone. It is just a request. Feel free to do what you want, but please think twice before posting questions that would be better suited for a newsgroup. Why? Well, because if you don't then the .net weblogs main feed could very quickly turn into a newsgroup quality feed, and then no one will want to read it anymore. I already know quite a few people who have unsubscribed from the main feed and only read individual feeds, since the overall quality of the main feed has been significantly degraded from what it once was.

Again, posting questions for discussion is one thing, but asking what is wrong with a specific line of code or code block in a blog posting is just lame when there are other resources that are designed specifically for that type of thing. It is up to individual bloggers to decide what is best suited for the individual mediums, but all we ask is that you think before posting. I don't think that is too burdensome a request.

As far as your comments go:

"By blogging here, you have a responsibility to your community members to help them out. This anti-social mentality will only turn away readers who may learn something from what we all have to say. If you can't handle that responsibility, don't blog. Go back to moderating the Forums and the Newsgroups and let us talk about our experiences."

I think you miss the point. The point is that a lot of bloggers here do not want to moderate forums or newsgroups. Why? Not because they don't like helping people, but because they don't have a lot of spare time in the first place, and what little time they do have left during the day they would rather spend with their wife and kids than some people they have never met. Those bloggers that do have extra time and want to help people out hang out on those newsgroups anyway, so by posting there instead, you won't be spamming anyone, just posting to those who are able and willing to devote time to help you out.

# June 18, 2003 6:36 PM

Jason said:

Well your response was a lot nicer then mine was going to be. :)

I agree totally with you. I still to this day get people emailing me (from the contact page no less) about a problem I posted a while ago. I'm not against helping them out when I can. This is another resource for developers to use, I see no reason not help out people. If a person doesn't have time or can't help the person send them to another resource, there maybe some that you know about that other people don't.

# June 18, 2003 6:36 PM

Roy Osherove said:

Jeff: Hope that wasn't me who didn't answer(I recall someone asking me that and I answered as a blog post to his question)

# June 18, 2003 6:46 PM

Jeff Julian said:

This brings up a couple questions. Are blogs going to be like emails where everyone is going to have 10 just to get out the information they want? Does the MainFeed need to be like TechEdBloggers.net where only .NET topics are feed to it?

# June 18, 2003 7:06 PM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws

# June 18, 2003 7:12 PM

Robert McLaws said:

<Adams> "... and the three, Franklin, Washington, and the horse, fought the entire Revolution singlehandedly.
<long pause>
<Franklin> "I like it."

# June 18, 2003 7:24 PM

Robert McLaws said:

stupid UrlEncoding....

# June 18, 2003 7:24 PM

Scott Watermasysk said:

Actually, HtmlEncoding ;)

I think you missed the point.

Broad thought provoking questions are O.K. Part of blogging is sharing what's on your mind and getting feedback on it

I think what Jesse was getting at is questions about how to property page a datagrid are not necessary. There are many other viable (and I would even say better :D) resources for these kinds of questions.

# June 18, 2003 8:04 PM

sirshannon said:

If newsgroups were frequented by the same type of people that read and write the blogs on this site, putting a question in a newsgroup would be a good idea. The level of intelligence and maturity on newsgroups can not be compared to this community.

# June 18, 2003 8:13 PM

Robert McLaws said:

right.

Well, Scott, unfortunately what came across was a community-disrupting post telling those who don't know better to basically go to hell. What gives anyone except you the right to tell people what they can and can't talk about if they're only talking about PROGRAMMING. it seems to me that property pages relate to .NET (seeing as how it is called VS<b>.NET</b>. We already can't talk about ANYTHING else.

Hey SirShannon - AMEN!

# June 18, 2003 8:19 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

The reason those intelligent people hang out here is because they aren't pelted by annoying questions like "what is a null reference exception?" Keep wasting their time with things like this, and I they will leave, or at least go back to their old blog roll.

# June 18, 2003 8:33 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Jesse,

You're gonna need a ladder to get yourself out of the hole you keep digging yourself. What you did just now was make yourself seem like an arrogant, self-important jerk, who doesn't have "time" to answer "annoying" questions from people who are unfortunate enough not to know as much as you. So, as I said in my first post, go back to your blogroll. You're no longer on mine.

# June 18, 2003 8:50 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

I used to spend hours a day answering newsgroup postings (go to google groups, and query my name and you will have more than enough posts to read for the next couple days / weeks / months). Unfortunately, I can no longer do so because I am busy helping out people that have such a need for help that they are willing to pay for it. I wish I could help people for free all day long (I am literally behind my monitor from 9:00 AM to about 2:00 - 3:00 AM on a daily basis). The fact of the matter is that you can easily spend 24 hours a day answering newsgroup postings and get nothing done at the office, but this doesn't pay the bills, keep food in your stomach, or gas in your car.

As Julie pointed out, no matter how much help you have given to the community, there is always a group of people that doesn't seem to appreciate it. They just get addicted to the free advice and code samples and want more, more, more of your time. They think, "can't you just answer one question for me?" Yes, but then Bob and Jim and Jill and Billy all have their own questions they want answered and you have to draw the line somewhere. It is quite unfortunate that when you do decide to draw the line, some people act as if you don't have that right and are somehow rude for not donating yourself out of house and home.

# June 18, 2003 9:12 PM

Eric Kepes said:

Years ago, Microsoft had a service called "Members Helping Members". I was among the first to sign up. It seemed like a good way to expand my skills - helping others.

The I think I took three before I quit. One was a simple question about data environments and queries, and at the time that stuff wasn't well documented beyond the examples, so I was happy to help. But then the other two basically wanted me to be a PSS engineer and write their programs for them.

If you have a question, and I have the time, I'll find it on one of the newsgroups I read. If you know me, or were in a class I taught, or whatever, fine - ask away. If I can help, I will. But if you just want me to do the work for you, forget it.

That's what Jesse is talking about - there are lots of people who say - "Hey, look, this guy seems to know something. Let's see if we can trick him into doing some work for me..."

Its not arrogance. Its called protecting your most valuable asset - your time.

# June 18, 2003 9:24 PM

Robert McLaws said:

It was not what you said but how you said it. Your message did not say any of these things. you did not explain your reasoning as you did in this last post. You just said people's posts were boring and that you didn't have time to answer annoying questions. And you assigned this viewpoint to the entire community, which is not accurate. I may not get to you right away, but if you ask me a question, you're in the queue.

My time is not any more valuable than anyone elses. If they take the time to ask then I am obliged to take the time to answer. I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Don't make blanket statements that can be interpreted by others as applying to the entire community.

# June 18, 2003 9:36 PM

Robert McLaws said:

They didn't apply to me and I wanted to make note of it. Sorry if you didn't like that.

# June 18, 2003 9:40 PM

Dave said:

If the major issue is the .NET weblog main RSS feed, why not enforce some kind of category across all the blogs?

First off, I don't think anyone here is talking about comments. These are not part of the main feed AFAIK. Very few blogs here even have their own individual comment feed.

So why not have 'questions' category and it can have it's own separate .NET blog feed? This should take care of any diluting of the main feed right? (If I'm asking something impossible forgive me... I'm not a blogger here so I'm unaware of the technical details needed to accomplish this. But I do see such things on individual blogs so I'd think you could do this here.)

# June 18, 2003 11:54 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Just to make it quite clear, I've spent tons of time on the ASP.NET Forums answering questions, as well as the private Beta forums for MS software.

You guys are missing the point here. THE POINT WAS: Jesse's views are not shared by everyone, and I will not censor what I write about in regards to programming. I already have to have 3 blogs to separate out my writing topics, I will not separate it out any more.

THE POINT WAS: Anyone should feel free to write about whatever they want... INCLUDING questions on "What is a NullReferenceException?" How is that any different from "I'm not understanding the Factory design pattern" or "how should I version my components?

THE POINT WAS: Excercise your right NOT TO READ IT because you're smarter than the rest of us. Let us stupid people talk about our boring topics.

# June 19, 2003 12:32 AM

G. Andrew Duthie said:

Robert,

You seem to be taking this all just a little too personally. No one called you "stupid" or "boring", and no one asked you to "censor" yourself.

What people have asked, INCLUDING THE PERSON WHO CREATED THIS SITE, is that bloggers on weblogs.asp.net keep in mind the main focus of the site, which is .NET. That shouldn't be so hard to do, IMO. And in the meantime, I hope that you can hear that from an outside perspective, it appears that you take any suggestion that bloggers here should stay on-topic as a personal attack. Not meaning any distrespect, Robert, but it's not always about you. ;-)

# June 19, 2003 9:41 AM

Robert McLaws said:

LOL. Thanks Andrew. You're right, it's not about me. I wasn't taking offense for me (cause if you think I'm boring, don't read my stuff) I was taking offense for all the newbies who are still getting the hang of this stuff. The topic is .NET. Asking about property pages or exceptions *IS* on topic. You answered the first part of my last comment while ignoring the second. "What is a NullReferenceException" is no different from "I'm having problems implementing the Builder design pattern". I felt as if Jesse's comments would be taken as the mood of the entire blogging community when looked at by a newcomer, and I wanted to portray that this was not the case. I was not personally hurt by anything that was said.

# June 19, 2003 5:13 PM

Robert Rolley said:

looks liek a blog void from Redmond since TechEd!

# June 23, 2003 1:26 AM

Mads Nissen said:

I've used it for a month now, and although it's beta it just rules. Just the BugTracker is such a productivity boost. I hadn't even heard about vs.net integration?

# June 24, 2003 8:55 PM

Paschal said:

It suits you very well :-))))))))))))))))

# June 26, 2003 4:05 PM

Robert McLaws said:

<rolls eyes>

It's because of my distinctive nose not my personality.

# June 26, 2003 4:28 PM

Paschal said:

Maybe both ;-))

# June 26, 2003 5:26 PM

Brian Desmond said:

A long time ago.

# June 26, 2003 5:34 PM

Jerry Dennany said:

Interesting - I really think that this will make life a whole lot easier for your customers. Of course, you have the advantage that your customers are developers, and all of this will automatically make clear and logical sense to them... What are you going to do for your 'less rational customers?'

# June 27, 2003 12:21 AM

Robert McLaws said:

How many of anyone's non-developer customers really care what version number you're using internally? Besides, IMO you can only do so much for people.

# June 27, 2003 4:16 AM

Abandoned said:

At least you're not stuck holding a h1910 staring at the upgrade page with a confused look.

# June 27, 2003 7:56 PM

Robert McLaws said:

They aren't going to upgrade that model :(. Sorry man.

# June 27, 2003 8:04 PM

Robert McLaws said:

It answers that questions on the FAQ's link on the bottom of that page.

# June 27, 2003 8:05 PM

Abandoned said:

for any other frustrated xscale owners out there - an article discussing user petitions for upgrades: http://www.brighthand.com/article/Users_Petition_for_OS_Upgrades
The h1910 petition: http://www.pocketwerkz.com/
The e740/e330 petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/e300e740/petition.html

# June 27, 2003 9:20 PM

Abandoned said:

Oh, and just so I don't seem too cranky, or to be straying too far from .net - at least the compact framework and sql ce work on these second class devices :)

# June 27, 2003 9:23 PM

Phil Scott said:

I made a breakout clone for the TI-82 that someone in California posted on the internet some how (I'm in Kentucky). That was pretty cool finding out that many people were using your program. That was probably my first application in the wild that people where using. I thought I was pretty smart for using a matrix to store stuff instead of the variables.

Good times. Good times.

# June 29, 2003 2:46 PM

Chad Osgood said:

I created quite a few games for my TI-83 in math class. I also created a chat application with a friend that would use the link that you normally use to transmit programs to another TI to transmit characters.

Geeks have to have some outlet for their interests, and the TI was handy.

# June 29, 2003 5:49 PM

Dave said:

Problem is, he already is back, speaking of making his point - feels like he wanted to teach his 'community' a lesson.

# June 29, 2003 10:37 PM

Marc said:

51.28205% - Super Geek

# June 29, 2003 11:26 PM

TrackBack said:

Loosely Coupled

# June 30, 2003 12:08 AM

TrackBack said:

Datagrid Girl

# June 30, 2003 12:08 AM

TrackBack said:

Blogging Alone

# June 30, 2003 12:08 AM

Robert McLaws said:

awwww crap.

# June 30, 2003 1:21 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Someone decided to post a link in my comments to my rant about this situation. I cleaned it up, and here it is:

How I Was Fooled by Dave Winer

# June 30, 2003 6:10 AM

the voice of experience said:

hey dude, don't know much about the background to your little flamewar, but trust me in my experience flaming gets you nowhere, no matter how much of an idiot the other guy might be. It will cheapen your name, and if you think his is already cheap, why go down to his level.

# June 30, 2003 7:22 AM

Robert McLaws said:

<robert to voice on shoulder>Hello voice! Thanks for speaking up so much lately. You've been a great help. Don't stop any time soon. I like to learn.

# June 30, 2003 7:48 AM

Damian said:

>>What have you done since then, BESIDES piss everyone else off?

What have you done EVER ? Besides piss everyone else off

# June 30, 2003 8:08 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Ouch. That's ok. I have pissed people off. Call it youth, call it inexperience. That's why I'm glad I have all these voices of experience to help me achieve the balance I'm looking for in my writing.

I've also wrote a lot of code since I started too. Like my code-free content management system, or my ADO.NET data export subsystem. And about 5 other products. I've grown a lot personally, and had some great experiences.

To answer your question, I've done more in my 21 years than some do by their 40s. Don't believe me? That's cool. Check out my personal blog. I'll be talking about those experiences in the days and months ahead.

# June 30, 2003 8:24 AM

Dave said:

Robert, you just expressed everything I meant by my comment in your last post.

Like you, I had started feeling that Dave Winer had a point - that he was willing to extend RSS to include the technical imporvements that Echo supposedly addresses. I wasn't yet convinced (as I know firsthand how abrasive Dave can be in matters requiring compromise) but I was beginning to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Unfortunately the antics of Dave this weekend appear to be only the tip of worse things to come. He speaks often - and actually quite accurately too - about the importance of the community. Too bad that like everyone, even his actions speak louder than his words.

# June 30, 2003 8:30 AM

Dave Winer said:

The reason I started posting again is because I heard from the people I needed to hear from, the good people who read Scripting News on a summer Sunday, not the selfish flamers. I might publish the emails, there are about a hundred, and only one was from a guy like you, making accusations. My humanity is not in question Robert, despite what you say. Whether you have an axe to grind here, is.

# June 30, 2003 9:01 AM

Robert McLaws said:

You're right, Dave. Your humanity is not in question. Although it SEEMS inhuman of you to toy with my emotions like that, you did not read the post before this one, one which Scoble also linked too, which apologized and wished you luck. I thought you were genuinely trying to change. Instead it just appeared that you took your ball back and went to go play with someone else.

# June 30, 2003 11:26 AM

Rogers Cadenhead said:

What has Dave Winer done since co-creating RSS? He co-created XML-RPC, created OPML, created the MetaWeblog API, created the XmlStorageSystem API, and evangelized all of these protocols and APIs (and others).

He's even helped give Echo a considerable boost by announcing that he'll encourage UserLand to implement the protocol and linking to it numerous times on Scripting News. If he really wanted to take his ball and go home, wouldn't he do the opposite?

One of the ironies of this situation is that Dave gets accused of not working well with others in an environment built in considerable part by collaborative protocols and technology he developed.

# June 30, 2003 11:47 AM

Phil Wolff said:

A few thoughts on this flame war.

First, it appears to me that many people are taking this all a little too seriously. No lives, careers, or freedoms are on the line, so why all the name calling? When passions run hot, take a deep breath.

Second, Dave is a very public figure, so when name calling cascades, well it must be overwhelming. The presumption that he has rhino-thick skin is clearly overstated. Manners exist to permit people who don't necessarily like each to coexist in peace and even to cooperate on tasks of mutual interest.

Third, while people post in the moment, blogging is a cumulative act. In the process, it reveals much about people (too much?). Try not to judge people by the post that gored you today, but by their overall autoblogphraphy. You will have a better measure of the blogger, and so make better choices.

Inhale.

Count to ten.

Exhale.

Repeat.

# June 30, 2003 12:12 PM

TrackBack said:

#region /* comments */

# June 30, 2003 3:42 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Yay... I love new readers.

All very good stuff.

Phil, if it's any consolation, this was one of my calmer posts. I've worked really hard to cut back on the tongue-lashing.

# June 30, 2003 4:09 PM

Anon said:

Work harder

# June 30, 2003 4:53 PM

Robert McLaws said:

LOL. Thank you. Self improvement is a constant process. I work every day at improving some aspect of my life. I think that the same notions could be applied to RSS. If it dies, it's because Dave killed it by not allowing it to improve any more. Just like my personality would die if I let it stagnate.

# June 30, 2003 4:59 PM

Brian Carnell said:

Phil Wolff wrote:

"Second, Dave is a very public figure, so when name calling cascades, well it must be overwhelming. The presumption that he has rhino-thick skin is clearly overstated. Manners exist to permit people who don't necessarily like each to coexist in peace and even to cooperate on tasks of mutual interest."

And Dave has yet to show any. I mean, he's the biggest bomb thrower of them all who then has the audacity to complain about people flaming him.

The Movable Type and Blogger folks are simply taking Dave's advice not to listen to flamers. I bet developers have a lot better things to do than try to figure out what the hell Winer's talking about when he calls them "funky" and posts mini-essays attacking them for allegedly usurping his role.

The only surprising thing about this blowup is that it didn't happen sooner.

# June 30, 2003 5:24 PM

Robert McLaws said:

See, I'm not the only one that said he took his ball and went home.

# June 30, 2003 5:42 PM

Ken said:

Winer is so annoying. I agree with you completely, he can dish it, but can't take it. It would be so nice if everyone could put egos aside and accomplish something.

# June 30, 2003 6:56 PM

Alex Hoffman said:

Appreciate the post - wish their were more like this amongst the increasing noise. One comment I would make is about "Version 3.0.5000 is enhanced for Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1". This statement invites the question from a layman - what is enhanced - what does it mean? I think it is better to be authoritative and simply say "Version 3.0.5000 requires Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1"

# June 30, 2003 6:57 PM

Alex Hoffman said:

I guess I'm dated - TI wasn't a contenter in my dinosaur days. I was way into a HP41c (http://press.ehsal.be/pcx/Museum/hp41cv.htm) - still wish I had it! Geek? Well I'm not from America and we don't have them here :)

# June 30, 2003 7:07 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Because we update the code for each version to take advantage of the enhancements of that framework version. it's subliminal thing to get them to upgrade to 1.1.

# June 30, 2003 7:57 PM

anon2 said:

"I've done more in my 21 years than some do by their 40s"

That's true of a suprising number of people in their twenties. That's the age that people have the energy and the free time to do more. That's the age when they think what they are doing will be recognized in twenty years by people in their twenties.

Few people that young have achieved anything that takes 30, 20, or even a mere 10 years to come to fruition. Or have the perspective to fully appreciate the difference.

A lot more goes into a single flower spike of a century plant than a whole field of day lilies.

# June 30, 2003 10:24 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Well, I'm sure it's probably easy to see that as a "he's a 21 year old who thinks he knows everything" approach, but it's not the case. I know there is much that I need to learn. I've been working on starting my own company for going on the 4th year. I won't stop till it's done. 10.. 15... 20 years? Who knows?

The difference in Dave's case is, if it took so long to do and achieved so much, why is he so eager to let his mouth completely distroy that investment and accomplishment?

# June 30, 2003 11:47 PM

Doug Thews said:

Yes, definitely more posts!

# July 1, 2003 5:10 PM

Robert McLaws said:

OK Doug you officially have the coolest blog subtitle.

# July 1, 2003 5:57 PM

TrackBack said:

Eric J. Smith's Weblog

# July 2, 2003 3:20 AM

Duncan said:

Web design is a bit like government :- nobody is absolutely sure how to do it right but everyone can point out any number of times when it has been done wrong ;-)

# July 2, 2003 8:45 AM

Duncan Mackenzie said:

No luck... It is Windows Forms code (of course... I'm pretty consistent)... doesn't mean you couldn't adapt it though... assuming the same Win32 API calls will work without a logged-on user.

# July 2, 2003 9:27 PM

Don said:

Ummm... great website design? Going the url provided without Flash, gets you a totally blank page.

# July 2, 2003 10:34 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Ok, well upgrade Flash and look at it again.... BTW it's supposed to be a joke.

# July 3, 2003 1:08 AM

Frans Bouma said:

But then I need 2 vs.net versions installed. :)

# July 3, 2003 5:04 AM

Robert McLaws said:

<smacks forehead>

# July 3, 2003 5:06 AM

Phil Wolff said:

I don't know if anyone's noticed, but Dave may be going through a sea change. In the last year he started walking for an hour a day, stopped smoking, sold his house, bought a new one three thousand miles away, sold off his company, started a new job that is non-techie and all policy/education/evangelism, picked up new stakeholders, made new friends, is travelling less. That's a lot in a short time.

Just by way of looking for deeper causes.

hmmmmm. I wonder if psychotherapists can analyze someone just from their blogging...

# July 3, 2003 3:52 PM

Firebird! said:

Install it so you can "test asp.net" across browsers... you'll end up using it full time. "Coffee" theme is great for Mac fans. Also, can download the "developer toolbar" which lets you validate, resize to common resolutions, toggle features and images, and do bad things (tm) with your forms.

# July 5, 2003 1:25 AM

wolfgang manousek said:

try netcaptor (www.netcaptor.com), great browser extension, the tabs are a killer feature in netcaptor

# July 5, 2003 6:10 AM

Stephane Rodriguez said:

Nice. Until today you thought IE had competitive browser features.

# July 5, 2003 9:21 AM

Tariz said:

I've been using MyIE2 for the last 6 months. When everyone in blogsphere started saying how good Firebird was, I went duh!!! these guys havent seen myie2, but no one took notice of poor ol me's comments.
Finally its out of the bag - MyIE2 rocks.
and I hope lot of people notice.
And all the MS team has to do now, is make the IE engine faster.

# July 6, 2003 9:10 AM

chadb said:

Man - I hate all these complaints.. The whole idea has always been:
Microsoft provides tools and base implementations - ISV's add value!

This is the way it is supposed to work...

# July 6, 2003 3:28 PM

Robert McLaws said:

LOL You know what I hate? Anonymous people posting comments!

# July 9, 2003 11:20 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Also, I want them to be able to ask that question... because .NET 1.1 is so much better than 1.0... I want them to convert ASAP.

# July 11, 2003 1:47 AM

Duncan said:

Looking forward to the article on namespacing - major split in the developer team here as to how it should be done.

Sláinte,
Duncan

# July 11, 2003 10:17 AM

Mads Nissen said:

I'd sure like to see that namespacing and code org. article. The way we've started to do it seems to work great both for building and source control.

# July 11, 2003 1:24 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Well, I hate to disappoint you guys, but again, this is really stuff I already talked about. I didn't really release any new information. Builder.com does not have a very large .NET community... it's mostly Java/Open Source people who only have biased opinions about .NET/MSFT but no hard facts. I introduce them to new topics and bring resources like the Weblogs to the table, so they get better information then their left-wing liberal developer media

# July 11, 2003 5:38 PM

HumanCompiler said:

Sure there are lots of reasons to be playing around up there...it's called, closing the form! ;) I've tried it up at the top and just could never get used to it! :-\

# July 11, 2003 10:50 PM

Frans Bouma said:

Why do you need a desktop that looks good? I've vs.net maximized all day on 1600x1200 so a fancy graphic is not visible anyway. Or are you staring at the desktop a lot? ;D :) :P

Startmenu at the top is for people who work with macs a lot (or amigas ;D) I never use the menu much, but I have a lot of icons on the quicklaunch. Because of the 1600x1200, I don't need autohiding which is great. If I can advise something it would be that everyone who does serious things with his computer should buy a 19" or 20" monitor and run 1600x1200 at least.

# July 12, 2003 6:28 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Not everyone can afford a 20" monitor...

Fitt's Law of UI Design says that the Mac UI is the best UI, because it's more intuitive, and it takes considerably less effort to navigate thru. If you combined elements of both navigation systems you'd have a real winner.

# July 12, 2003 6:38 AM

Damit said:

Does the emulator work with VS.NET 2002?

# July 13, 2003 12:03 PM

Brian Desmond said:

>HOW FREAKIN COOL IS THAT?

Rather!

# July 13, 2003 3:35 PM

JosephCooney said:

Lots of familiar names there ;-)

# July 15, 2003 12:28 AM

HumanCompiler said:

I didn't make the cut! Ouch! :P Guess I'll have to suggest myself! :|

# July 15, 2003 12:52 AM

Frans Bouma said:

This still doesn't change the referenced system.dll to version 1.0.3300 when compiling under vs.net 2003, it allows you to keep 2 separate codebases in one codebase. The problem I referred to was that you had 1 codebase, a .net 1.0 compatible one, and it is compiled using a tool which only understands .net 1.1.

# July 15, 2003 7:49 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Um, that's why you compile the same code file under VS.NET 2002 as well (which was stated in the article). You have one codebase, but 2 assemblies. I know you only want to have one assembly.... dude that's just tough. You make it harder on your customers that way, just to save yourself some time. That's not the way it's supposed to be.

At any rate, applications perform 20% faster when compiled against 1.1 than the SAME CODE compiled against 1.0. That simpole fact right there means that I wouldn't buy your products, because your 1.0 code with your 1.0 references will only dog my machine down in high-traffic situations.

Put both assemblies in the same installer, and follow the versioning policy I blogged about here. Paul from Xheo.com and I will be pushing this as an industry standard with the various component vendor groups very soon. It's solid, really smart, and it just makes sense.

# July 15, 2003 8:00 AM

Mel Grubb said:

Amen to that!

I suspect that the shuffle algorithm is trying to pick out songs you like based on how often you listen to them or something. The problem with this is that it feeds into itself like holding a microphone up to the amp. The more it plays songs I don't want to hear, the more likely it is to do it again. Then again, it could just be a coincidence. I've taken to shuffling the "Songs I haven't heard in a while" to combat the situation, but even then I'm hearing repeats. Sheesh.

# July 15, 2003 10:15 AM

Justin Bigelow said:

Thank God I'm not the only that this pisses off to no end! Hopefully somebody will be reading your blog and fix this. You are dead on with the damn thing playing the same songs continuously.

# July 15, 2003 11:05 AM

HP & Ipaq said:

HP are really taking the piss on this one. Suffice to say that I would have bought a copy of Windows Mobile 2003 for my Ipaqs, but have got bored and downloaded it from Emule.

It is:

about 10 times faster at copying files (activesync file from PC to Ipaq)
faster overall
useable IE implementation - works on SSL and cookie sites
better bluetooth

It also has windows media 9, although I not sure why anyone would want this. Are you watching movies on your Ipaq, because Media Player 8 plays mp3s and wmas just fine....

# July 15, 2003 12:55 PM

Robert McLaws said:

How did you get it on the EDonkey? I thought it was iPaq model specific....?

Contact me privately thru my contact page please.

# July 15, 2003 1:10 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Thanks! I'll check it out :).

# July 15, 2003 1:29 PM

ipaq said:

rom is for 3970, which I own. Still interested?

# July 15, 2003 1:42 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Nope. I have a 3835. ROM is not due out till October.

# July 15, 2003 1:45 PM

Marc LaFleur said:

33? You get 33? You bastard. Mine plays the same 15 all day long. :)

# July 15, 2003 1:55 PM

trade it in! said:

3835s go for up to $285 on ebay

Replace with 2215 (aka 2210) for $355 on pricewatch.

Get 400 MHz processor instead of 200Mhz
Get XScale rather than StrongArm, and feel the incredible power which only was realized with ppc 2003
Get PPC 2003
Get 200Mhz bus instead of 100 MHz
Get the best IPAQ design yet (http://www.brighthand.com/article/iPAQ_h2210_Review)
Get bluetooth
Get longer battery life
Get a well-designed machine

Sold?

# July 15, 2003 2:05 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Nah, because I bought mine with a sleeve, GPS, and a whole bunch of other crap, and that new one doesn't even have the same form factor. If I get one, it's gonna be a smartphone with WiFi, GPRS, and Bluetooth all in one. Which means I won't be getting one for a while.

# July 15, 2003 2:19 PM

HumanCompiler said:

MusicMatch has a pretty crappy shuffle too...maybe it's a new get rich quick scheme...write your own shuffler and be a millionaire! :P

# July 15, 2003 2:47 PM

HumanCompiler said:

You might want to post this in the GDN Workspace...

http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/Workspace.aspx?id=424aa445-63a0-4c4f-b1ad-286ee87c68c6

TaskVision is really cool, but I agree...hard to debug...you might actually want to skip the Web Reference and just add a Reference to the Classes (the two WebServices) directly so you can debug and what not. Just a thought.

# July 15, 2003 2:51 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I haven't even used the source code... I'm using the compiled client with web.config settings for the web service urls...

# July 15, 2003 2:57 PM

Kenneth LeFebvre said:

"my firm belief is that, though our competitors might read what we say and attempt to do the same things, we can do it better. And we will do it better."

I LOVE to see companies take this attitude! I'm on my way to your corporate site to check out what y'all do... :)

# July 16, 2003 12:41 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Well I'm glad you like that. It was not an easy stance for me to take up. If I have a quique selling point, I usually try to exploit it without letting the competition know how I do it. But I figure, my goal is not just to make software better for my customers, but for everyone. That's why I'm involved in the community and I blog. If I remember that, first and foremost, profits will follow.

# July 16, 2003 6:55 PM

Ed Daniel said:

Hi Robert,

perhaps check out the online business networking sites like Ecademy.com or Ryze.com where you may be able to find a good deal on your training.

Regards,

Ed

# July 16, 2003 10:50 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Thanks Ed, but MS is requiring me to go to 3 four day summits to get it. It's all good tho. If I don't make it this round, I'm sure there will be more training opportunities.

Thanks a lot for your help!

# July 16, 2003 10:56 PM

Robert McLaws said:

BTW Ed, I like your site. SLICK! Let me know if you need any .NET related assistance, or need resources for clients in US markets.

# July 16, 2003 10:58 PM

HumanCompiler said:

the nVidia softare that comes with their cards has some similar stuff, but that looks like more toys even :D

# July 17, 2003 2:15 AM

?? said:

is this a public speaking course?

or something to do with voice recognition?

# July 17, 2003 10:14 AM

Robert McLaws said:

<chuckles>

Speech-Driven Software Systems based on the Microsoft Speech Server platform.

# July 17, 2003 4:25 PM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws: The Bleeding Edge

# July 18, 2003 8:10 AM

TrackBack said:

Robert McLaws: The Bleeding Edge

# July 19, 2003 6:45 AM

TrackBack said:

HumanCompiler

# July 19, 2003 9:30 PM

Doug Thews said:

I thought you might be interested in knowing I posted some cool feature updates on my LocalDeskop project at: http://www.ddconsult.com/blogs/illuminati/archives/000085.html

# July 19, 2003 11:13 PM

Tim Marman said:

Please do... :)

# July 20, 2003 11:25 AM

Doug Thews said:

Don't know if you are aware, but I released something similar this past Friday, and just provided some feature updates to allow dynamic imaging (windows, custom, or default). Source code & graphics are available to play with.

My primitive RSS parser does handle Schobleizer's lack of <title> elements, plus I believe it works on News.com as well. Let me know what you think.

http://www.ddconsult.com/blogs/illuminati/archives/000085.html

# July 20, 2003 1:04 PM

Robert McLaws said:

It's Scobleizer ;).

I saw the project.. It's really slick. Congrats, you did a great job. The point was not to favor one specific desktop system over the other, it was to provide a killer, real world example of this web control we're going to be selling. Obviously if it doesn't handle titles very well, or whatever borked up RSS that the News.com feeds have, I shouldn't be selling it. That's all.

# July 20, 2003 2:57 PM

Doug Thews said:

No prob. Just wanted to see if you were aware of it. I did mine just 'cause it's a useful example for many different ASP.NET topics. My next being how to provide real-time status updates during the processing of an ASP.NET page. Hope you visit my blog in the future.

# July 20, 2003 3:39 PM

Roy Osherove said:

Very slick!

# July 20, 2003 6:42 PM

kerouac said:

re funkelab - doesn't work in opera though - isn't actually a dropdown just a bunch of layers.

shame...would be really f****ing cool otherwise

# July 21, 2003 12:20 AM

TrackBack said:

Datagrid Girl

# July 22, 2003 8:28 AM

Anon said:

>Hope this is of value to someone.
It isn't.

# July 22, 2003 10:39 AM

Merill said:

Great set of tips.

Thanks a lot!

# July 22, 2003 10:53 AM

Duncan said:

Re: "You shouldn't allow poor practices, ridiculous deadlines, or miscommunication in any way affect the quality of your code."

I am writing an article, "Kaizen and the art of software maintenance" and would like to include that quote...I'll creduit it, natch.

# July 23, 2003 9:04 AM

Robert McLaws said:

no problem :)

# July 23, 2003 10:23 AM

Adam Kinney said:

That darn 'Anon' is always negative in these here blogging parts. He needs to take a vacation or something...

# July 23, 2003 2:19 PM

Robert McLaws said:

he he he. I know, i think he needs a girlfriend.

# July 23, 2003 2:23 PM

Paul Edwards said:

Robert,

Where are you getting the images from? I had seen your desktop on the gallery page before and been trying to find them.

Would look fantastic on my machine!

Cheers,
Paul
paul@vexem.net

# July 23, 2003 7:05 PM

Matt Hawley said:

A coworker pointed that out to me the other day. This, of course, was after I had created my own methods in my Multi-Text List Controls to handle such things.

# July 24, 2003 7:39 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

Yah, it is great, except for the fact that it makes your compiled source incompatible with the 1.0 framework, so you can't use it anyway if you are concerned about someone running on top of 1.0.

# July 24, 2003 11:39 PM

Tim Marman said:

I'm using it now, though I never realized it wasn't in before.

I never used the DropDownList much before, mostly because I never quite figured out how to elegantly use it when binding to an XmlNodeList. DataTextField etc expect a string that maps directly to a property on the DataItem.

Sure, I could load the xml into a DataSet and bind it to the table's dataview, but that always seemed a little bloated to me. I tended to use a select runat="server" and a repeater to generate the options. Gives you more control anyways.

I don't have a 1.0 install handy (or the docs), but I assume there was still an SelectedItem property. From a get perspective, this.Dropdown.SelectedItem.Value is not much worse than this.Dropdown.SelectedValue. I assume your main complaint was that it was settable?

# July 25, 2003 1:54 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Yeah, my point was that it was settable. I had to create a custom control to handle it in 1.0....

# July 25, 2003 5:42 AM

TrackBack said:

Robert A. Wlodarczyk's Blog

# July 25, 2003 6:46 AM

Anon said:

> Now, if only Eric would BLOG MORE OFTEN.
Maybe he's busy doing real work. Some people should blog LESS.

# July 25, 2003 12:22 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Anon:

And maybe you should be on Prozac.

# July 25, 2003 12:26 PM

Adam Kinney said:

Dude, Anon's got it in for you.

w00t, .NET!

# July 25, 2003 12:37 PM

Robert McLaws said:

I know man. But hey, Anon likes to heckle Scoble too, so I'm cool with it. He's a very busy heckler... ;)

# July 25, 2003 12:44 PM

Robert Scoble said:

Is Anon giving you trouble? Send him back to my blog. :-)

# July 25, 2003 3:24 PM

Datagrid Girl said:

*That* was your biggest pet peeve? :p

Marcie

# July 25, 2003 3:24 PM

HumanCompiler said:

SelectedValue and SelectedText have always been in the WindowsForms Controls. Good to see ASP.NET thought it was a good idea too! ;)

I'm in the crowd that never knew it *wasn't* there.

# July 25, 2003 6:17 PM

TrackBack said:

Matthew ".NET" Reynolds

# July 25, 2003 6:20 PM

Robert McLaws said:

LOL Scoble.

# July 25, 2003 6:24 PM

Scott Watermasysk said:

I have heard some good things about the Toshiba Tablet. It still has a pretty crappy CPU, but does support a gig of ram, so you should be able to do some dev on it. It also has a keyboard built in.

If/when I buy one, it will likely be the Toshiba.

-Scott

# July 25, 2003 9:44 PM

Tim Marman said:

I got the Acer C110. It's a beast of a machine, a pretty good value in comparison to the others.

DEFINTIELY play with it first, it's a little small for laptop mode but I prefer the size for tablet mode much more.. and I'm willing to sacrifice a little of size for the portability.

You can definitely develop on this one though. The 900mhz Centrino, 512MB DDR RAM and 400mhz FSB put it well ahead of the Toshiba.

Dependning on your timeframe, yuou may want to look into the new Sharp that was announced - but I still haven't heard of timeframes for it.

If you want to do development "on the go" at all, definitely get a convertible. Right now, only the Compaq (sort of), Toshiba and Acer are in that form factor. The rest are pure slate models and have a docking station.

Check out http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com, and welcome to the club hopefully :)

# July 25, 2003 9:58 PM

HumanCompiler said:

Valid in what sense? ;)

no really, same here...VS.NET all the way! :D

# July 26, 2003 12:20 AM

Robert McLaws said:

valid as in tags that are opened and closed properly.

# July 26, 2003 12:25 AM

HumanCompiler said:

gotchya...just wanted to make sure you weren't talking about XHTML valid or anything like that ;)

# July 26, 2003 12:26 AM

Datagrid Girl said:

I got the Toshiba (Portege), and do all of my development on it.

# July 26, 2003 12:30 AM

Steven Smith said:

I'm still waiting for Dell to enter the market. I'd really like my next PC to be a tablet, but I want to UPGRADE from my Inspiron8100 1GHz P3 w/512mb RAM, so going to a centrino 900Mhz wouldn't really cut it.

Still waiting...

# July 26, 2003 12:45 AM

Dave said:

ROFLMAO! Best comeback I've run across in quite some time.

# July 26, 2003 1:45 AM

Dave R said:

A few days after reading this article, I decided that it was, in fact, necessary to bug the sysadmin until he put the 1.1 framework on our web server :)

I don't know how often I've written code like MyDdl.SelectedIndex = MyDdl.Items.IndexOf(MyDdl.Items.FindByValue(someValue)) ...

# July 26, 2003 2:12 AM

Scott Mitchell said:

That's pretty funny. Keen observation.

# July 26, 2003 3:34 AM

Mike Sax said:

Be sure to check out the (substantial) developer discount from Motion Computing:

https://www.motioncomputing.com/partners/promotions_tdk.asp

# July 26, 2003 3:47 AM

Matthew Reynolds said:

Luke *really* needs to make SharpReader have a "Tablet PC" view, optimized for a portrait display!!!

# July 26, 2003 4:47 AM

Frans Bouma said:

And you think cycling through your tables is less time consuming than a realloc? :)

# July 26, 2003 6:05 AM

Robert McLaws said:

As I said, the performance speaks for itself. In my test it's 60% faster than before I added the algorhithm.

Which is more resource-intensive, exponentially enlarging your memory space, or doing a quick loop?

Hey, besides that, the DataSet doesn't have a "FieldCount" property, but the DataReader sure does. Therefore, it is only run some of the time.

# July 26, 2003 6:15 AM

SBC said:

I have a Motion Computing M1200 at work and I like it! Looking forward to developing on it soon.

# July 26, 2003 9:56 AM

julie said:

touche! Good catch. I had to look at it for about 10 seconds before I saw that extra >

# July 26, 2003 10:46 AM

Tim Marman said:

Actually, while I use VS.NET, it doesn't always spit out well-formed HTML :)

# July 27, 2003 1:54 AM

Robert McLaws said:

I've never seen an instance where it does not open and close tags properly.

# July 27, 2003 2:01 AM

Tim Marman said:

Steve: "I'm still waiting for Dell to enter the market. I'd really like my next PC to be a tablet, but I want to UPGRADE from my Inspiron8100 1GHz P3 w/512mb RAM, so going to a centrino 900Mhz wouldn't really cut it."

Trust me, a 900mhz centrino is an upgrade. The performance is about the equivalent of a 2ghz P4 machine. Actually, the benchmark on that machine was about the same as my new 2.4ghz Dell.

Ironically, this misconception was caused by Intel's marketing campaigns that told us for years that "faster clock speed is better".

Your clock speed just tells you how many cycles are executed per second. If you can execute more instructions per cycle, you can be "faster" even with a slower clock speed.

Now, this means a chip can use less power and generate less heat with performance equivalent to a chip running at twice the clock speed... perfect for a laptop (which is what the Pentium M / Banias) is designed for.

I'll blog on this soon and post some specific benchmarks on the laptop.