Two all beef patties, special sauce …

“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun”  Anyone still remember this slogan from McDonald?  They used to have a campaign whereby if you recite this slogan at the counter under a certain time limit and you will get a cheeseburger free!  In Singapore they have a Chinese version as well, so I believe it might be also be translated into several other languages.  This slogan is so popular that some American can still remember it after so many years but they can’t seem to remember their Pledge of Allegiance (America’s National Pledge).  A few other cartoons like Bart Simpson and Spongebob Squarepants had make use of the slogan one way or another as well.

What? What OSR2?

I was reading some articles that mention about FAT32 disk format and this remind me of something interesting that happened when I was trying to purchase a copy of a so called “specialized” version of OS.

Time warp to the era of the Windows 95.  Windows 95 has just been released into the world not too long ago and I’ve just started work, fresh out from the U.  Later on, Microsoft decided to release a newer version of Windows 95 that is much more stable and has a particular feature that I wanted badly once I’ve heard about it.  This newer version is targeted mainly for Microsoft’s OEM customers and thus was called OEM Service Release 2, in short OSR2.  The new feature?  FAT32, support larger hard disk partition and will create smaller file fragments so that hard disk usage is dramatically reduced if you have a lot of small files on your machine.

Thus I went down to a local computer shop and asked them whether they sell a copy of Windows 95 OSR2.  “OS what?” said the salesman, “Oh you mean OS/2 is it?”, before I can even start to react, he follow up and said “Nope, we don’t carry IBM’s software product here.”, pointing to his Microsoft authorized dealer sign he continues “You mean still got people want to use other OS meh?”.  From that I know I have to rest my case, this guy has obviously never heard of an OSR2 before.  But at least he still know about the once highly regarded IBM’s OS, the OS/2.

Mac Attack!

Recently Apple released a new slew of ad campaign which target “so called” PC’s weak point.  They have a nerdy looking guy acting as a PC and a young guy dressed in jeans acting as a Mac.  So the ad start with these 2 guys standing beside each other and goes “Hi I’m a Mac”, “And I’m a PC”.  You can check out the clips from here (oh yeah, if you’re not on a Mac, you will need to install the Quicktime player, dude) .

These ads actually created a back lash from the community.  Check out this article on Slate just to see what one of these guys think.  And because of this someone actually came out with a spoof to get back at Apple.  Be sure to check out this spoof just for a good laugh.

So do you mean stupid stupid or cool stupid?

Software designers urged to list on exchange

So what am I waiting for?  Calling all Software Developers, let’s unleash WPF applications onto the world!

“

In the United States, we’ve many software developers who make a lot of money listing their software on AppExchange, and I would like to invite Singapore-based software developers to do so too

Mr Marc Benioff, 41, CEO & President of salesforce.com

Research firm IDC had also said that worldwide spending on this kind of on-demand software service will grow at a compounded annual rate of 21 per cent to top US$10.7 billion (S$15.8 billion) in 2009.  This seems to be a very big market!  And since this AppExchange thingy take away the need for developers to do marketing and sales, this is really a good way for freelance developers to sell their goods.

Its time to put on my thinking cap, come out with something that can be of a hit, and head on down to the AppExchange!

Transparency is finally easily enabled in XAML

With the release of the June CTP .NET Framework 3.0, transparent background and window with rounded corners can finally be easily tweaked in XAML.  Lauren Lavoie, from Microsoft, blog about how you can go about doing it.  The trick is in Window.AllowsTransparency, just set this property to “True” and then setting the Window.Background to “Transparent” will get you a transparent window.  With the whole background being transparent you can then achieve rounded-corner window by drawing a Border with a CornerRadius defined.  Below is a snippet of the XAML code that Lauren did:

• <Window x:Class=”WindowTransparency.Window1″
• xmlns=”http://shcemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation”
• xmlns:x=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml”
• Title=”WindowTransparency” Height=”300″ Width=”300″
• AllowsTransparency=”True” WindowStyle=”None”
• Background=”Transparent”
• >
  • <Border CornerRadius=”50″ Background=”Blue” Opacity=”.7″>
    • <Button Click=”CloseWindow” Height=”30″ Width= “100″>
      • Close Me
    • </Button>
  • </Border>
• </Window>

and the result:

Don't forget to check out her blog.

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 is now available

Microsoft has just released the beta 3 for IE7.  You can surely download the good here.  For those who have been using the beta 2, please remember to uninstall beta 2 first before installing the beta 3.  You can follow the steps here as well.

The following are the changes made for beta 3, mainly there are improvements in reliability, compatibility, user features, and security:

• reliability has improved as several layout-rendering bugs have been fixed
• improve compatibility with websites and web applications
• contains all the security fixes addressed in the June Internet Explorer Security Bulletin MS06-021
• based on customers’ feedback made some additional changes to the look and feel of the browser
• allows users to add the e-mail button back to the toolbar
• enables users to reorder the tabs by dragging them to the left or right
• enables horizontal scrolling while zooming
• to improve the RSS experience, users can now update all their RSS feeds automatically
• the user now has more control in marking their RSS feeds as “READ”

More OO?

Can a language be more object-oriented (OO) than another language?  OO is a programming paradigm, a style of programming.  This style of programming emphasizes the following concepts:

• Class – a unit definition of something that belong in a set, Dogs can be considered as a class.
• Object – an instance of a class, a runtime manifestation of a class.  My wife’s favourite dog, Zombie, would be an instance for the class Dogs.
• Method – way to interact with an object of some class.  Dogs can contain a method call ActCute, so to ask Zombie to act cute, you can use this method.
• Inheritance – way to define a class as having all attributes of another class, this kind of class thus defined would normally be call a subclass.  Pomeranian can be a subclass of Dogs.  Zombie will then be more correctly instantiated as Pomeranian, as it is of that kind of breed.
• Encapsulation – way of hiding the implementation detail of an object.  You can ask Zombie to ActCute but you won’t know its do that.
• Abstraction – way to ignore details of an object’s subclass and work at a more generic level.  Zombie can be considered as a Pomeranian most of the time, but when needed it can be abstracted as a Dog.
• Polymorphism - a way whereby an object can dynamically change its behaviour during runtime.  If you think of Zombie as a Dog then it should be able to guard the house, but if you then know that Zombie is actually a Pomeranian, you would know that Zombie is more for play.

A language can be consider OO, as long as it provide mechanisms to support most of the above concepts, so that OO developers can program at ease.  However, certain language might choose not to support certain concept and thus can be consider “less OO”.  For example, Visual Basic does not support inheritance and Java does not support multiple-inheritance which is a more complex mechanism of inheritance.

Did you download a copy?

What is your guess?  How many people downloaded the Windows Vista Beta 2 Customer Preview Program (CPP)?  Apparently, Microsoft has not release this information yet.  However the bandwidth needed to cater for everyday download had reached a stage whereby increasing the bandwidth some more will potentially bring down the whole Internet!

Incidentally, if you have not download a copy, the Customer Preview Program has already been closed.

Finally, Microsoft is going to change that ugly theme

This is one benefit of releasing beta software for users to try out; Users can then feedback on what they dislike about the software.  With so many negative feedback, Microsoft is finally going to change the theme that is shown when Windows Aero^TM cannot be enable, known as the Windows Vista Basic theme.

You can see from the diagram above, the middle window is the old look for the Windows Vista Basic.  The new look (the window at the bottom) in my opinion is much better, at least now it convey a certain professionalism instead of the half-hearted effort that was done for the old look.  Though I would prefer that Microsoft enlarge the 3 top-right buttons some more, ditched the old icons for the 3 buttons and use the icons that the Aero theme is using (the difference is small, but the Aero’s icons look nicer).  This is what I feel from looking at the picture, I am sure seeing the new theme in action would give a different perspective.

Advantages and Disadvantages of C# as compared to C++

Advantages:

1. While no programming language lets programmers write entirely bug-free programs, C# goes a long way in comparison with C and C++.
2. With Windows Form and later on WPF (especially with the aid of Expression Interactive Designer), C# is great for Rapid Application Development (RAD).
3. C# is safer to run.  Since C# program is compiled into an intermediate language, the OS can always check it to see that no malicious code is about.
4. C# combines the old and the new in an almost perfect balance.  C# duplicates much of the concise syntax of C and also adds modern, object-oriented features while retaining very little unnecessary baggage from C.
5. Cost of maintenance for C# is definitely much lower than that of C++.  This is a positive side effect of C# helping programmers to write program that is as bug free as possible.
6. C# can make use of every feature available in WPF, making it one of the languages that can work perfectly with WPF.

Disadvantages:

1. C# is slower to run.  This is somewhat taken care of when using WPF, although currently the launching of WPF application is still a bit slow.  However, after the program is launched, the animation effects are all very smooth.
2. C# is less flexible than C++.  C# depends greatly on .NET framework, anything that is not found in the .NET framework will be difficult to implement.

Italy wins the World Cup!

The Azzurri denies the les Bleus and win the World Cup 2006.  Although it was not the glorious of way to win, the Azzurri lifted the World Cup for the 4th time through the means of a penalty shootout.  Which they won it with a 100% accuracy.  5 out 5 of penalties were scored, giving them a 5-3 win on penalty shootout.  This was totally unheard of for the Azzurri, who had bowed out of previous World Cup through penalty 4 times out of the total 5 penalties that they had taken.

In the end it was a controversial penalty, a superb header, an outrageous head-butting and a missed penalty that will be well remembered in this year World Cup 2006 Final.  Forza Italia!

The rise to Power

As I have recently completed re-reading the book “Magician by Raymond E. Feist”, the last chapter talks about the crowning of a new King and the new King in turn confers titles to personage who had given much to the rift war.  It is always very satisfying reading about all those who deserve to be rewarded are finally rewarded.  Thus the last few chapters brought me to the wee hour of the night.

Spoilers and long winded account ahead.

As the mad King was killed by the Tsurani enemies and the next in line of ascension, the Prince of Krondor, was also killed unfortunately, it was left to the 3 sons of the late Prince of Krondor to claim the right as King.  Since the eldest will get the right prior to the younger brother and that the late Prince of Krondor had acknowledged his illegitimate son, Martin, on his death bed, Martin being the eldest was offered the crown first.  He abdicated his rights so as to avoid a possible civil war as other dukes might not agree to his claim.  Lyam, the second son (supposedly the original eldest son) lay claim to the crown and was pronounced the King.

After the coronation, Lyam summon all those who had exceptional contribution in the rift war.  As the Kingdom is vast and is further divided into the west and the east for easy governance, the King rules the east exclusively and the Prince of Krondor will help govern the west.  Lyam name Arutha, his younger brother as the Prince of Krondor, since he is well honored by all in the west.  Kasumi, the tsurani who aided in creating peace for the Kingdom and friend of the main character Pug, was name Earl of LaMut for his great service.  To his eldest brother, the King name him the Duke of Crydee, Crydee is the homeland of all the brothers who laid claim to the crown and it is a place of great importance in the west, second only to Krondor.

As for Pug, the main character of the story, the keep boy, after becoming the apprentice of the Lesser Path magician Kulgan, he has come a long way.  He wasn’t suited to be a lesser path magician as he can’t control the magic properly and because his world does not produce any magician of Greater Path, he was left perplexed.  He was later captured by the Tsurani (a world that is on another planet, connected through a magical portal) and later on recognized as a potential “Great One” -a magician of the Greater Path and a rank outside the law in Tsurani who only bow down to the Emperor of Tsurani.  Pug passed the test and became a Great One.  With study and experience he was able to realize his full potential and became a Greater Path Magician with immense power unsurpass by even those in Tsurani.  A turn of event brought him back to his own world and at the death bed of the late Prince of Krondor, he was being adopted by the late Prince, bearing the royal family name conDoin.

Lyam called Pug forward and announced to the world that he has been adopted as one of the royal family.  From now on Pug will be known as Prince of the Realm, Pug conDoin.

Of Duke, Earl and Baron

As my favorite type of books is often of the fantasy genre, I have always wondered about the ranking order of the various nobility titles, which were used frequently in books about socerey, dragons and what not.  This is what I have gathered:

• King (Royal family)
• Prince (Royal family)
• Duke
• Marquess
• Earl/Count
• Viscount
• Baron
• Baronet

These are ranks of  the civilian:

• Knight
• Squire
• Page

Battle of the Giants: Intel Core 2 Duo Vs AMD Athlon64 FX-62

This month will see the arrival of Intel’s latest weapon against AMD, the Core 2 Duo processor.  The battle will thus heat up and a price war will also be looming on the horizon.  This can only be good news for consumer like me.  Currently AMD is holding the crown for the fastest processor that can be use for Windows and thus the price for such a processor is also very expensive.  Its used to be that Intel is the more expensive party, but now the situation has been turn around.  When the new Core 2 Duo is out, I believe the situation will change again.  Tom’s Hardware has come out with a preview of the performance of the Core 2 Duo (codename Conroe) and it seems that the slower Core 2 Duo at 2.6 GHz can even beat the fastest FX-62 at 3.0GHz.  Yes, price war!  Let us, consumers, reap some benefit.

I can still remember the days when an Intel spoke person said that they are not afraid of AMD, this is prior to AMD launching its ever so successful Athlon.

You mean bike is allowed on a bus?

I was reading The Old New Thing and Raymond was talking about how to use the bike rack on a Metro bus which even include a detailed instruction on how to use one.  This is really something new to me.  In Singapore, your own bike can’t go on to a bus, and no external rack is there for your bike to be secure to.  So how do you get to a place that is suitable for biking and which is much further from your house?

There are only 3 options available.  You can ride all the way to your destination, which for me is very tiring.  So unless you are those type that participate frequently in triathlon or marathon running, you wouldn’t want to choose this option.  Or else if you have a car and a bike rack or if your car has space to store your bike, then you can surely drive there with your bike.  Since car is expensive, this will normally not be a viable option.  That bring me to the last option, you can’t take your bike along.  Most of the time, those places that are suitable for biking will have a few bike rental shops around.  Thus you can always rent a bike at the destination and enjoy your biking adventure.

It would be really great that Singapore can adopt a system like those in US but then again what will happen to those rental shops?

WinFX is now called .Net Framework 3.0

A name change that’s all, every other things remain the same.  Its still contains .Net Framework 2.0 (funny isn’t it, a version 3.0 which uses a version 2.0), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) and Windows CardSpace (formerly known under a codename as InfoCard).

From the diagram above, you can see that all those components at row 2 and 3 are all part of .Net Framework 2.0 and the first row consist of all the latest developer tools.  .Net Framework 3.0 will also still be shipped together with Windows Vista as well as available for installation under Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Its devastating!

Simply devastating!  Argentina is out of the World Cup 2006!  Its true, reality is always so cruel.  This is not the year for Argentina football.  Not the year for Lionel Messi.  Not the year for Juan Riquelme.  I was out of control when Argentina crash out of World Cup losing 2-4 on penalty shoot out to host Germany.  Devastating, simply devastating!

I simply can’t understand when coach decide to defend a one goal advantage.  After Roberto Ayala score a header into Germany net, Jose Pekerman decide to play defensive.  Out came Riquelme, and in came a defensive midfielder Esteban Cambiasso; Out came Hernan Crespo, and in came Julio Cruz.  And the worst thing is that Argentina had also lost their first choice goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri through injury.  And sure enough Germany score and the rest is really history.