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The remainder of the Office System 2003 is now available on MSDN Subscriber downloads. This includes final release of SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Project 2003. It's going to be a fun weekend. :)
The Windows Mobile Developer Power Toys demoed in this presentation from TechEd 2003 are now available for download here.
Overview
The Windows Mobile Developer Power Toys help you develop and test your Windows Mobile applications. N.B. These Power Toys are NOT supported..
The Power Toys include:
A bunch of sites are talking about Microsoft's new wireless adapter for XBox. I've been using my XBox via wireless for over a year using the Linksys WET11 Wireless Ethernet Bridge. However, the Microsoft adapter is 802.11g (54 Mbps if your receiver supports it) and supposedly comes with a Live rebate of $40USD, though I don't see it mentioned on the site.
Everybody's talking about the latest software from the makers of KaZaA -- Skype:
Skype is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA. Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users – not to share files this time, but to talk for free with your friends.
The technology is extremely advanced - but super simple to use... You’ll be making perfect quality free phone calls to your friends in no time! Just tell them to get Skype as well, if they don’t already have it.
Sorry, but I just can't imagine ever wanting to use my computer as a telephone. Then I'd want to crush my computer into tiny little pieces every time it rang. Computers are frustrating at times, but telephones are just plain evil.
Orson Scott Card speaks out on MP3s ... and I tend to agree with him.
The following thought especially resonates with me:
The record companies swear that it's making a serious inroad on sales, and they can prove it. How? By showing that their sales are way down in the past few years.
It couldn't possibly be because (a) most of us have already replaced all our old vinyl and cassettes, so all that windfall money is no longer flowing in, or (b) because the record companies have made some really lousy decisions as they tried to guess what we consumers would want to buy.
It couldn't possibly be that they've targeted all their marketing at precisely the market segment -- high school and college students -- who are most likely to be sharing MP3s over the internet.
Maybe if they started marketing more music that people my age would enjoy, they'd find that, lo and behold, there are customers who prefer to buy music the legal way!
(emphasis mine)
[thanks to Chris Sells for pointing out the link]
Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 2003 is now available for download to MSDN Subscribers.
400MB. Get it now.
While watching The Science of Rock and Roll on Discovery Channel (Canada) the narrator highlighted the guitarist's self-tuning guitar. A few Google-seconds later, here's the link to the actual product. Cool. Apparently you can switch tunings in 1.4 seconds.
A small computer mounted inside the self tuning guitar controls motors that are linked to each string. The bridge and tailpiece are replaced by the self tuning system, allowing your imagination to run wild. At the touch of a button or footswitch, motors are activated to adjust the tension of each string.
Customers include Eddie Van Halen, and Paul Allen - yes, the Paul Allen who started Microsoft with Bill Gates.
[ISerializable] aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
That's quite interesting. I was able to read it pretty near full speed. Does this knowledge provide us with any practical application? Is it possible to shorten words to some bare minimum and leave it perfectly readable, thus making it quicker to type? How about some way to help make reading faster. Oh what I would give to be able to read faster...
Some unfortunate news in the last few days about two popular music artists:
Ba-dum bum <crash>
It's fun to call someone I don't know a jerk.
Update: My wife reminded me that she made the JERK joke in a Messenger conversation yesterday. Oops.. I forgot. You're the funniest, Darling.
Ok, I've been meaning to blog this for a couple of days, but Amanda brought it up first. After reading Chris Sells' post about an online version of the MBTI® personality test I went ahead and did it myself. (Jared also did the test.)
Turns out, I'm what's classified as an INFJ. It's absolutely uncanny how accurately it describes me. Reading the various profiles has helped me answer a bunch of things that have puzzled me about my personality. It's apparently the rarest of the 16 basic personality types (1.3% of males) -- one of the defining characteristics being "feels like an alien". Yep, that's me.
Here are some links to descriptions of INFJ personalities:
Some quotes that especially ring true about me:
...though affable and sympathetic to most, INFJs are selective about their friends.
...find themselves caught between the desire to express their wealth of feelings and moral conclusions about the actions and attitudes of others, and the awareness of the consequences of unbridled candor.
...enjoy thoughtful discussion but dislike arguing for argument's sake, as this often degenerates into ugly conflict.
...are bookworms, love bookstores and libraries
...live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities - part of an unusually rich inner life
...put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done.
...often hard to get to know. They are selective about their friends, but such a friendship is a symbiotic bond that transcends mere words... They hunger for deep and meaningful relationships, provide spiritual intimacy for their mates, and can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious "soul mates." In such relationships, they strive for mutuality, don't believe in compromising their ideals, and can understand and deal with complex issues and people.
...are usually right, and they usually know it.
...are future-oriented
...are usually extremely intuitive individuals, who will have no patience for anyone they feel is dishonest or corrupt. They'll have no interest in being around these kinds of people.
...the interior world of vision and ideas is this type's most comfortable domain, but some degree of human connection is essential for the INFJ's happiness; a potential conflict for this type.
If you want to take the test, try it out here. If you know me, IM me your personality type.
For goodness sake, chairs and stoves aren't sexy. Neither are flower gardens, chocolate bars, shampoo, vacuum cleaners, and most everything else on the planet. It's just getting so tiring to hear people use the S word just because you can now use it anywhere and any time...
I occasionally visit the Microsoft Webcast site and always find a ton of content that I want to view. Today I thought, "There should be a RSS feed for this." 20 Google seconds later voila! Unfortunately, it's just the upcoming webcasts feed -- I prefer to view the archived webcasts so I can watch at my own time and pace, but it'll do.
Our lead software architect, Jared Rypkema has started a blog. I see that he's already posting on a topic that's near and dear to his heart -- ADO.NET and data access layers.
Jared is the guy that helped me through my Slashdot withdrawal (over a month clean and sober; not a single trip back to old /.) and is always an open ear for my non-stop ranting. Welcome aboard, Jared!
... for Canadian Idol.
American Idol is arguably the worst television programming ever foisted upon humanity (a record that is now being broken weekly), but we have managed to bring it to a whole new low.
Certainly there are better things we can "Me Too".
[Raymond Chen] Automobile manufacturers have learned to consolidate all their error messages into one message called "Check engine". People are conditioned to take the car in to a mechanic when the "Check engine" light goes on, and let the mechanic figure out what is wrong. Can we have a "Check engine" light for computers? Would it be feasible?
I think it's a great idea. Computer messages are far too complex for the average user to decode and decide how to approach. Since reading Chapter 6 of Joel Spolsky's book on User Interface Design for Programmers I've taken note of just how many times I automatically click "No" or "Cancel" on a dialog box without even reading it.
Update: I asked my wife how she responds to a computer message that she doesn't understand. She said, "I look for the button that says 'Avoid this now!'" Yeah, give us an engine light, and while you're at it, automatically install patches for us.
[kuro5hin] Nordic & Asian countries reveal open-source plans
Hmmmm... can you imagine an operating system jointly designed by multiple governments?