After using iblog for about 1 and a half year, I’ve finally decided to join in the flow and choose the popular WordPress type of blogging service. One problem with iblog is that it is not up to date with the trend in blogging and thus not even tag is supported, however, it allows user to customize the theme (note CSS, not just changing the template) without any other added cost. But the cons finally outweigh the pros and I’ve finally made the change.
Welcome!
Singapore is going to host the 2006 IMF/World Bank meeting and because of that security has been up a few notches (or should I say to the highest) at and around the venue. Roads close to the vicinity have also be closed. Since I might be going to a place that needs to bypass the area, I have decided to check the Singapore Traffic Police website and see whether any route that I have in mind is affected by this closure.
Since a map depicting the area of closure is available in a PDF form, I have decided to check out the online street directory to have a better sense of area not shown on the PDF map. To my surprise, the map display by the street directory has information on the temporary road closure as well. Roads affected are mark with shades of gray and with a no-entry sign at the beginning and end of the closure. This is what I call, Service!
Finally, tools that are compatible with Windows Vista RC1, .NET Framework 3.0 RC1 and Windows SDK RC1 are now available. Orcas is now a real gem to use, especially the included Cider (the Visual Designer tools for Windows Presentation Foundation) which won’t slow down your Visual Studio anymore. I am now quite satisfy with Cider performance and it can finally display my application’s GUI in its designer window.
Other tools of interest to any .NET Framework 3.0 programmer are Expression Interactive Designer, Expression Graphic Designer, and Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation. Enjoy!
Hot on the heels of Windows Vista RC1 (or is it the other way around?), Microsoft has released the set of tools that developers can use on Windows Vista RC1 (or use to develop applications that can work on Windows Vista RC1).
The Windows SDK has been updated to be compatible with RC1 of Windows Vista. Hopefully, all the header files that had been breaking since Windows Vista interim build 5483, has been fixed and applications build using Windows SDK July CTP will not crash on Windows Vista RC1 (they have been crashing on interim build 5536).
The .NET Framework 3.0 has been bump up to Release Candidate status. Thus any developer that feels more comfortable in Windows XP (hmmm….. that’s a thought) can install this build of .NET Framework 3.0 (together with Windows SDK RC1) and still be able to program applications that can work on Windows Vista RC1.
Strangely, the Visual Studio 2005 extension for .NET Framework 3.0 (codename Orcas) has not been updated to support RC of .NET Framework 3.0. It has been missing ever since Windows Vista July CTP and .NET Framework 3.0 July CTP. I hope this will be release soon.
Lastly, designers who wish to get onto the RC1 bandwagon, have to wait patiently. This is because Microsoft Expression suite of applications has not been release for RC1 just yet. Soon. I hope.
So what am I waiting for? Calling all Software Developers, let’s unleash WPF applications onto the world!
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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!
Yes it is finally out. Click on the link below and try it out. Go ahead, its a good software, worth the time you spend on it to try (or should I say test?).
I am definitely going to check this new release of Office 2007 out. New usability idea, can I use that “Ribbon” in my application development?
Anyone trying out Windows Live? I was giving it another try (the previous time my setting was not saved and things were quite messy, but its beta software, what do you expect?) and surprisingly this time round it is quite a satisfying experience.
According to Microsoft, Windows Live or Live.com is about 3 things:
It is a place where you can host all these cool gadgets like weather forecast, hotmail notification, image search, safety center, word of the day, story of the day and so on. You can even host your favourite RSS feed on this page. The best thing is though the RSS feed appear in headline form, if you hover your mouse over the “more” text beside each headline, you will be able to read the full post. That to me is so cool.
It seems like Microsoft is giving away Office 2007 to those who buy Windows Vista Home edition.
According to C|Net News, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, said that Windows Vista Home edition (he did not say whether it is the Home Basic or the Home Premium, but I believe both will get it) will come bundle with Office 2007 Student/Home edition.
This will be so coolz if the price stay at the same.
For details, take a look at this article. The title is of a different topic but the 2nd last paragraph (in point form) talks about this bundle thingy.
No, not that type of boot camp, is the all new catch phrase in Mac world.
Boot camp is a software that is going to be in the next release of Mac OS X, Leopard, which will let Mac user boot into their *favourite* oops, sorry, should be *disgusted* OS, Microsoft Windows XP. So Mac user can now enjoy another different world.
So if Mac OS X is so good why do Mac users need Windows XP anyway? All needs should be taken care of by Mac OS X, isn’t it?
Gaming might be one aspect that make Mac users cling on to Windows XP. I believe most games still run faster on Windows than Mac, this is because most game developer still base their game on Windows and just port it over to Mac. Also a lot of games are still Windows only, developers just don’t see why they need to take care of the smaller market, time might be better spent at making the next big version of the game.
As a side note, don’t you think Apple should not charge its user for all these minor refresh of Mac OS X? Tiger and Leopard sound to me like just mere service packs.
After the release of Windows Vista Feb CTP, it seems that there is still something missing to complete the puzzle. Yes that is Microsoft Expression Suite that work with the WinFX Feb CTP. Now it is finally here.
Expression Interactive Designer March CTP and Expression Graphic Designer March CTP. 2 great tools that help you to harness the new capabilities of Windows Presentation Foundation.
It seems like Microsoft is giving user a preview of their upcoming Office 2007 UI. You can see their new design direction from the screenshots that is up on their site.
Personally, I like the bluish theme, but I have seen people in forum who said that the blue looks ugly. Well it seems in design, personal taste still rules.
It is official, Office “12″ will now be officially known as 2007 Microsoft Office System which will release by end of 2006. Packaging and pricing info is also out.
The Home and Student edition seems interesting, which replace the Office 2003 Student and Teacher edition. I am just wondering, what is OneNote 2007?
Formerly known as Microsoft Antispyware. Windows Defender is a free software that will help your fight against spyware. So if you are interested you can get the Beta 2 here.
People who are familiar with the traditional software development milestones will know about Alpha, Beta, and RC. As in the schedule for a particular software release will be like this, start out in Alpha, where by important features are in but most things are not that stable, this stage is normally for internal testing only. Then when the software is stable enough for more people to test, it will go into Beta stage. And after a few iteration, in a final Beta, all features will be in and the software will be consider feature complete. After that the software will go into RC stage (RC stands for Release Candidate), and the software is being prep for the final release.
It all started with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Microsoft decided to try a new method of releasing software for external testing and they called it Community Technology Preview (CTP). The CTP will be release monthly and feedback from external tester can then be gotten far more frequently than traditional milestones. CTP being a preview, will also put less pressure on developers. In between CTP, there will also be Beta and RC milestones. For Visual Studio 2005, the CTP program was a success, this success prompted Microsoft to try out the CTP program for Windows Vista as well.
But after the first 2 CTP for Windows Vista (the Sep CTP and the Oct CTP), the suppose Nov CTP turns out to be too bugy for external release. After some delay Microsoft finally announce that they will not release monthly CTP as it is too taxing on resources. However, the CTP program has also been successful, but instead of monthly CTP they will now release CTP as frequent as possible. Furthermore, they will skip Nov CTP and will release Dec CTP instead. A public Beta 2 will aslo be release sometime in the Q1 of 2006.
Now Microsoft’s co-president Jim Allchin is saying that they will concentrate instead on the CTP approach and will drop the traditional milestones method. This really make me wonder, is the CTP approach really better or am I missing something?
For the past few days, I was trying out the advance posting feature of iBlog. But seems like it is not working. I have slated for my 3 posts to be published at 7am on 4-6 Feb, but when I went into my website on the afternoon of 5 Feb, none of the advance posts were published. Then I login to manage my account and try to update the posts (so as to finally published them). My posts are finally all published but seems like I can’t do advance posting.
Currently, the new beta will only work with WinXP SP2. I guess Windows Vista will get the IE 7 Beta 2 in their upcoming Feb CTP. New to IE 7 is the new interface, which get rid of the old bulky toolbar, and let you see more of the web page. Next is the tabbed browsing (this should not be anything new to users of Firefox and Safari) which let you open several web sites in a single instance of IE 7 using tabs. Then you have the new built-in search box on the top right corner, this search box even let you select your own favourite search engine like Google, Yahoo and so on. Another new feature is the RSS Feeds which let you view the headlines and post from your favourite blogs or websites. Last but not least, is the new phishing detection engine, which let you know whether a website is really just a phishing site.
You can get the beta here.
After using the Office 12 Beta-1 for 2 days, I feel that the office team has really made a big step forward, especially in the user experience space. The toolbar and menu bar have been replace with a so called “ribbon”, something like a tabbed toolbar.
“Ribbon” (click to enlarge)
The ribbon is task oriented. Right on top are things that you would want to do to your document. In this case for Excel 12, if you want to do any insertion, you just need to click on the Insert button and the “ribbon” will change to shows all command related to insertion. For example, for this version the first thing you will see when you click insert is the pivot table. When you click on the pivot table, a side bar will pop up on the right, prompting you what to do next. When the pivot table is inserted, clicking on the table, and you will notice that the “ribbon” will show another button right on top, this is the so call “contextual ribbon” at work. Clicking on this new button will give you all the command related to the pivot table.
Because of the “ribbon”, my work became more efficient. That’s a good step forward.
When I reached the office this morning, something strange was on my desk. A yellow and red package from DHL. Looking at the address, I noticed that it was from Microsoft. Quickly I startup my PC and went to get my coffee. Tore the thing open, and inside contain a letter and a couple of DVD. Its Office 12 Beta-1! I was thinking Microsoft is so cool! There I was in L.A. at the PDC05 last September and Microsoft was telling us that those who attended the PDC this year will get to try out the upcoming Office 12 Beta-1. But we need to log on to download a copy. Fast foward to the near present, and I wanted to try out the Office 12, but I kept forgetting to bring the slip of paper that state the userid and password. And now, here it is, right in front of me!
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