Software Geek

As ScottGu announced in the Mix08 keynote today, we now have a full, rich set of controls built in to Silverlight 2. 

Kathy Kam recently created a very cool control viewer to show off all the great built in controls.  

Oh, and don’t forget about the really rich set of controls produced by our eco-system.  Just a couple of examples:

• http://labs.componentone.com/Sapphire/?demo=controls
• http://www.vectorlight.net/silverlight_net_form_controls_demo.aspx
• http://www.infragistics.com/hot/silverlight.aspx

Virtual Server has been free for a while now; however, some folks prefer Virtual PC. Well, my friends, that too is free now. Come on down!

How did we ever live without virtualization software? 

If you watched the Mix keynote , I am sure you saw the very cool Silverlight Momentum video that shows off a lot of the cool apps we have already seen in Silverlight. 

In case you missed it, here it is:

[Mobile ] [Progressive download ] [streaming ]
[4M CBR ] [720p ] [640x360 ]

I am really looking forward to my Mix08 session this year… It is going to be fun to building an Ajax application from scratch on stage with VS2008 and ASP.NET 3.5.  

Update (3/07):  The session video is now posted.  There is even a place to discuss the session.

Here is a play-by-play if you want to follow along and help keep me in line…  This Mix08 folks should have the video up tomorrow… I will link to it when it is up.

Everything I will show can be done with the free-and-always free Visual Web Developer Express edition of VS… Go grab it and play along! 

Download the completed sample or just the starter files to play along at home.  

Part I:  CSS and HTML Designer

I started a brand new project and selected.NET Framework 2.0 as the target runtime.  This allows me use VS2008, but target servers that have not been upgraded to.NET Framework 3.5 yet. 

I then showed off the new Split view that is an excellent way to find out what markup goes with what UI element.  Notice as I highlight the text in the markup, it is tracked and highlighted in the designer.  I can also do two-way editing in the designer or the code source view. 

Next, I used VS 2008’s great new CSS support.  I used the Manage Styles panel to create a new CSS Selector…  Notice I use ".photolist li" this rule will apply to any li inside an element with the class photolist. 

I’ve uploaded a minor update to Snippet Compiler. I also put up an Add-Ins page with the following samples:

• Web References
• Folder Browser
• Settings ToolBar
• Snippet Repository

Calling Load(AssemblyName) is not necessarily the same as calling Load(String). If the AssemblyName.CodeBase is not set, then they do do the same thing. So, if you’ve set the AssemblyName.Name, CultureInfo, public key token / public key and/or Version properties, it would be the same as if you had specified those properties in a String (as a display name ) and passed that to Load(String).

If the CodeBase is set, but the Name is not, however, then it’s the same as calling Assembly.LoadFrom() on that CodeBase.

When both the CodeBase and the Name are set, then the bind is tried with all the given binding information except the CodeBase (so, again, just like calling Load(String)). If that succeeds, we’re done. But, if that fails, then the bind is tried again with just the CodeBase (just like LoadFrom()). If it fails again, then, of course, the whole bind fails. But, if it succeeds, then we verify that the binding properties in the AssemblyName match the found assembly. If they don’t match, a FileLoadException will be thrown for hresult FUSION_E_REF_DEF_MISMATCH.

So, setting both the CodeBase and the Name is useful for when you want to both load an assembly at a given path into the LoadFrom context, and verify that it has the public key token, etc. that you expect. Of course, as described above (and due to binding context rules ), keep in mind that just because you call Load(AssemblyName) with a CodeBase, it does not mean that it will be loaded from that path.

< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 

Costs

Finalization is expensive.  It has the following costs:

(more…)

Of course, anyone who has started a company has their own rules and guidelines, so I thought i would add to the meme with my own. My “rules” below aren’t just for those founding the companies, but for those who are considering going to work for them as well.

1. Don’t start a company unless its an obsession and something you love.

2. If you have an exit strategy, its not an obsession.

3. Hire people who you think will love working there.

4. Sales Cures All. Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales.

5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but are cheap

6. An expresso machine ? Are you kidding me ? Shoot yourself before you spend money on an expresso machine. Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. Lunch is a chance to get out of the office and talk. There are 24 hours in a day, and if people like their jobs, they will find ways to use as much of it as possible to do their jobs.

7. No offices. Open offices keeps everyone in tune with what is going on and keeps the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show them how to use the lock on the john. There is nothing private in a start up. This is also a good way to keep from hiring execs who can not operate successfully in a (more…)

Using the most recent features in Java is not always possible if you need to stick to earlier Java JDK’s. This post presents a short recipe on using JSR-105 (XML Digital Signature API) — which forms part of JDK 6 release — in earlier JDK/JREs such as JDK 1.4 or JDK 5.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techtarget/tsscom/blogs/~3/244457030/thread.tss

Mar 12th 2005 12:58AM

The Sport of Business.

I can’t go more than a week without shooting baskets. There is something about the feel of the ball coming off my hand, and the sound of the ball going through the net. It just feels good.

If I’m just standing in the gym, I can shoot pretty well. Playing in a game. Well it’s not quite what it used to be. I used to have a spin move that would work for me no matter who I was playing against or what level they were at. If I could get a pick and the defender went under, I didn’t have to think about it, I could hit the shot. These days, my mind knows what to do, but my body just laughs at me. Put me up against 20 year olds, and I won’t embarrass myself but it’s only because I know how to set a pick and hit an open, a very wide open jumper, and spend the rest of the game getting out of the way.

I love to compete. I always have. Playing basketball was just something I had to do no matter how good I was and its something I will always do, no matter how old I get. It gives me a chance to blow off steam. It gives me a way to refocus.

But no matter how much I love to play the game or how involved and competitive I get during a Mavs game, it’s only a minor release. Real competition comes from the sport of business.

In sports, you know who your opponents are. You know when you are going to play a game. You know pretty much how long the game will last. It’s mentally and physically exhausting if you are at the top of the game, but it still pails at the effort required to be successful in business.

(more…)