Microsoft released the Enterprise Library based on ACA.NET which our engineering guys here at Avanade, work their butts off! Enterprise Library features new and updated versions of application blocks that were previously available as stand-alone application blocks. All Enterprise Library application blocks have been updated with a particular focus on consistency, extensibility, ease of use, and integration. ...

Karan ponders on the Mac Mini and all I got to say is, man, that machine looks good! I almost bought one at Frys… err that is before the common sense kicked in (for not atleast). What do you think?

Google, today launched a new Video search service called Google Video . You can search for programs using Titles, particular channel, find out show locations in your area, etc. Check out all the features here .

Based on billions of searches conducted by Google users around the world, the 2004 Year-End Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year’s major events and trends giving you this aggregate look at what people wanted to know more about this year. Check it out . [Listening to: 04 dupatta (bhangra mix ) - - (05:04)] ...

Recently at work a someone was playing around with AD, and could not get impersonation working in ASP.NET - even hardcoding the userid/pwd did help, and all the time he got an Access is Denied error. After searching high, low, etc. he did find this issue. Interestingly I have never seen this, because well one, I have been working on Windows 2003 Server for the last few months, and two more importantly, my dev box, has not been a Domain Controller! (Why you would want one is another story). ...

This is what I have been told: Overall, you scored 95% which means 5% scored higher (more nerdy), and 95% scored lower (less nerdy). What does this mean? Your nerdiness is: All hail the monstrous nerd. You are by far the SUPREME NERD GOD!!! Bah! I know people more nerdy than I am! ...

Mary Jo Foley has has uncovered an interesting trend up in Redmond: contradiction when it comes to Windows. It seems that the Longhorn team has seven versions on tap, but the company as a whole is paring back Windows versions, folding Home, Pro and others into one SKU. Microsoft is sending mixed signals as to whether it will field more or fewer Windows releases; but she bets there are more, more, more. ...

A little while ago while I was one of the industry advisors for the PAG group at Microsoft. One of the last things I did in that capacity was provide input to the the Testing App blocks for MS. Microsoft has finally released this and can be downloaded here . ...

Brad Adams had a recent post discussing best method names ever. It is quite hilarious and interesting to find some methods that are used such as the FDangerouslyCommitToDiskCacheButNotActuallyToDisk, SetMetafileBitsBetter, PrestoChangoSelector, (all Windows) etc. My personal favourite are ZombifyActivationContext (in XP+) and die_you_gravy_sucking_pigdog() (FreeBSD).

What do you fancy with a Cockpit running Windows ? Now I think that is cool! (And please enough with the PJ’s about Crashing and Windows)…. [Listening to: Tabba (Techno) - Musafir [Club Mix - CD1] - Musafir (05:49)]

Interesting article that talks about the brittleness of URL’s and how much more we are depended on URL’s (though Google sure helps) and what is being done to fix it in MSDN2 . [Listening to: Goa - The Bourne Supremacy - The Bourne Supremacy (03:00)]

I got this via Meenakshi, my lovely and sensible wife (unlike me); but that is another story for another day. In the meantime I believe this is how they kill time in Ireland. You can click on each of the images to see them in full resolution. ...

LinuxInsider writes about the Linux vulnerabilities creeping towards the Desktop. Though the question is this another FUD? Smells like one… As Linux increasingly hits the enterprise and consumer mainstream, a growing number of security threats are emerging which prey on holes in applications and files managed by desktop users. According to some industry observers, a focus on digging bugs out of end-user applications makes perfect sense - not just as a means of protecting users, but as a method for wresting converts away from Microsoft. ...

Denis has an addin to Reflector for SQL Server 2005 (Yukon). that can be used to browse .NET assemblies stored in a SQL Server 2005 (Yukon) database. You can connect your local Reflector installation to a remote SQL Server instance, list the databases and its assemblies and download them directly into .NET Reflector. Once my issues with Whidbey are resolved, I will check this out. ...

Google’s prime directive remains intact. The Securities and Exchange Commission ruled Thursday that the company’s missteps in not registering millions of options and not keeping quiet during the pre-IPO quiet period were not “evil” but “very naughty.” Practicing semi-tough love, the SEC levied no fine but extracted a solemn promise from Google never to do it again. The company’s general counsel, David Drummond, took the bulk of the wrist-slapping over the failure to register more than $80 million in employee options, a move the SEC said he knew would let Google keep a lot of financial information under wraps. The commission also let slide a big Playboy interview with founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page that appeared during the pre-IPO period in which company execs are supposed to be seen but not heard (see “ Google guys to Playboy: They’re real and they’re fabulous … no, our options, you idiots ”). Marc Fagel, assistant district administrator of the SEC’s San Francisco office, told the L.A. Times the agency wanted to give Google a public scolding to as a warning to others , but didn’t fine it because the violation did not cost investors money and company executives cooperated with investigators. And investors? Way, way past all of this . ...

Incase you have been extra vigilant you might have noticed a new category called Live and Learn. This as the name suggests is a category, where I can post my screw up of life be it technical in nature or anything else - the idea being I should be able to get back to it and reflect and hopefully learn from it! If not, then, well I would just be getting more creative in my excuses won’t I? :) For those who know me, will know that most of my entries would probably fall in this category. Oh, ya, this ofcourse in true to tradition was inspired by a true life incident - which would be up here one of these days soon. :) ...

Interestingly, there is a story highlighting the fact that all your $$$’s (or £££’s as I am in UK now), are NOT tax deductible - which came as a bit of a surprise to me. For example, the American Red Cross has received close to $152 million in donations for tsunami survivors. If you gave to them, your contribution is tax deductible. But if you donated to the International Red Cross it’s not. That’s because most international groups are not authorized by the IRS to accept tax deductible donations. To simplify things the IRS says go to the websites of US AID and the USA Freedom Corps . All the charities listed on those websites are qualified to give you a tax break. You can also check the IRS website. On the home page click on charities, then click on the “New Search Features” and enter the charities name. If it comes back with a listing you know you’re okay with the IRS. Also keep in mind that if you have donated to an eligible charity for tsunami victims this month you can still take the deduction on last years taxes. ...

If you recall my previous post on VSTS installation blues , I got an answer from MS on that. It seems like installing Yukon Beta 2 did it. Per Microsoft, uninstalling Yukon won’t also help and it is better to rebuild the OS and then go from there. You can read it on the discussion thread here . I guess, there goes another evening in rebuilding a machine. ...

I forgot how I got this, it was thru someone but don’t recall. Whoever told me this, please ping me if you are reading this so I can give you credit. Anyways Gibbons has a very enlightening read which every parent who has a computer at home, just have to read ! Here is an excerpt: As an enlightened, modern parent, I try to be as involved as possible in the lives of my six children. I encourage them to join team sports. I attend their teen parties with them to ensure no drinking or alcohol is on the premises. I keep a fatherly eye on the CDs they listen to and the shows they watch, the company they keep and the books they read. You could say I’m a model parent. My children have never failed to make me proud, and I can say without the slightest embellishment that I have the finest family in the USA. ...

Jeffrey Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat had written a very interesting paper highlighting their research in Google for Simplified Data Processing on Large Clusters. Their implementation called MapReduce is a programming model and an associated implementation for processing and generating large data sets. Users specify a map function that processes a key/value pair to generate a set of intermediate key/value pairs, and a reduce function that merges all intermediate values associated with the same intermediate key. ...

Extremetech is reporting about Corsair Memory’s new XPERT Memory has one seriously distinguishing feature: It has a 10 character alphabetical LED display that snaps in place over your DIMMS. Install the RAM in your system and it automatically offers up your your memory speed, voltage, and DIMM temperature in bright red characters. Remember calculators in the Seventies? It’s that kind of LED display, and it really stands out through a case window. ...

I installed Microsoft’s Antivirus (Beta 1) over the weekend and here are some screen shots from the installation. Btw, I did not find anything on my machine, and honestly on this machine, I did not have any intentions of trying that out.

I am sure you also have played with VSTS, but not sure if you are having problems with VSTS Dec 2004 Refresh bits up on MSDN. I am installing this natively (not on VMWare/VirtualPC, etc.) running Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition with VS.NET 2003, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 (Beta 2), and usual suspects like Office 2003, etc. During the installation process when I get to installing Visual Studio (see screen shots below), aftre going about 60-70% of the way I get an error - “Product: Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Edition Beta 2-English – Error 1304.Error writing to file: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Windows.Forms.dll. Verify that you have access to that directory.” Now everything seems to be ok to me, I am logged as God (Domain Admin) on the box and there is enough disk space as well, so not sure what is causing this. ...

This is not a big deal, but does have me ticked, why does Microsoft have to sell ads on MSDN?? Are they running low on the cash on the coffers? Honestly this was the last place I expected it and is quite irritating. Check out the screen shot with the two arrows pointing to the ads. (You can click on the image to see in full-size).