August 2008 Entries
IE8 Beta 2 is out; you can download it for XP, Vista or Server 2003 at the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/ie8
Here are some features highlighted by the product team as favorites:
Accelerators - Highlight an address, click the blue button and hover over “Map” or try Right Clicking a Page and Choosing Translate with Windows Live. Check out the new IE Gallery that has cool accelerators and slices from Digg to FaceBook to Ebay
Web Slices - Visit Live Search, search for “Seattle Weather” (or major city relevant to your region), hover over the rich search result and click the green button. Click...
Developers that have been “doing it” for a while can all remember the day when their job turned from coding in their favorite language and environment to something more complicated. Wether it was a need to debug an application or website already running, a need to reverse engineer something or just a time create a set of graphics. During these moments tools and often 3rd party tools not native to their environment came in to save the day. The list below is just some of the tools I have personally used at just such moments and I hope you find...
Before joining Microsoft I must admit that I have never used Windows Vista, yep never. I was happy with Windows XP and its performance and saw no reason to change. Besides, why would I? Windows Vista obviously was horrible with very little to offer in terms of new features. This all changed the day my Microsoft employee Laptop arrived, loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate. I knew the machines hardware would be compatible and id have no issues so I was happy to finally try this Vista thing, and wow was I impressed. No...
One very exciting and often overlooked aspect of the Microsoft community in the NY/NJ area is the large number of events such as: User Group Meetings MSDN Events Technical Conferences and much more! These in-person activities don’t just offer great opportunities to learn about technology but they also help build the kind of spirit that is often lost in our hectic day-to-day jobs. If I have learned anything over the last year it would be that with excitement for ones career...
Just in case anyone missed it SQL Server 2008 has gone RTM and is now available for download in the MSDN Library or through the links listed below: Press Release Trial Download (Full) Free Download (Express) Feature Pack Download (Redistributable components for SQL Server 2008, Add-on providers for SQL Server 2008 and Backward compatibility components for SQL Server 2008) SQL Server Community Features: Its a big deal This is a big deal for us...
Today I got an email from my friend Jon Skeet regarding a new reference card he put together for DZone. Link: http://refcardz.dzone.com/refcardz/csharp Description: As C# has evolved over the past few years, there’s more and more to remember. You’ll find this reference card useful whatever type of C# project you’re working on, and whichever version of C# you’re using. It covers many topics, from the basics of string escape sequences to the brave new world of query expressions and LINQ in C# 3. Features include String Literals, Delegates, Declaring Events, Generics, Extension Methods, Query Expressions (C# 3), Hot...
If you tried to create or open a Silverlight 2 Beta 2 project after installing Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (sp1) then i suggest following this installation order to try and resolve it: Step #1: Cleanup your machine http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A494B0E0-EB07-4FF1-A21C-A4663E456D9D&displaylang=en Note: I also manually uninstalled all SL2 components I had previously installed Step #2: Install VS 2008 SP1 (or leave it installed) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=FBEE1648-7106-44A7-9649-6D9F6D58056E&displaylang=en (or ISO version if you want a one-time download) Step #3: Install the SL2, BETA 2...
After some soul searching I have decided to switch my work T60p laptop over to Windows Server 2008. I am a huge fan of Vista (and run it at home) but the really low RAM (2gig) on my laptop made a more compact install of Server 2008 very appealing. Installation Process I love the Server 2008 installer, its simply one of the best experiences I have had to-date. First its quick, since you make most of the “role” and “feature” choices after the base install it takes only minutes on a fast machine. Second it took the...
Dmitry, what’s going on? After having some serious issues with Live Writer blog posting using my original choice of BlogEngine.net I have decided to make the switch to Subtext v2.0. I am aware that some images are still broken in the posts I ported and all the comments are gone. I will work over the next few days to restore all this so please be patient and forgive the construction zone feeling. I’m Back Now that I (hopefully) have a stable blogging platform you can expect me to resume my normal blogging schedule. For those 21...