Quote :

"so, Noen, is it safe to assume you don't agree with Joel Splosky's take on Mesh? More or less that it's just another Microsoft Platform providing a solution to a non-existent problem?"

a) That guy is a fucking idiot.

b) Mesh came from a MSR project AFAIK and almost (if not) everything in his post is either misinformed or flat out wrong. I can't speak specifically, but he is COMPLETELY WRONG about his assumptions.

c) It's a lot more than a web delivery platform, or remote desktop.

d) I never claimed it good or bad. Don't take my responses as either an endorsement or swipe at it. I'm only speaking objectively here.

e)

Quote :

"eh, let MS hold your data? why does there need to be a middleman holding the files? this would be a security nightmare for companies (the camtasia example is 'work' laptop to a desktop) ...it would be better if mesh could make my windows desktop a standalone hub for synchronization between devices. a little dyndns magic tied to my live id and i can sync from anywhere with alot more storage. also, devices are only wintel computers atm? "

If you think your desktop is more secure than a well developed centralized repository, keep on daydreaming. While I can appreciate the concern for letting someone else hold your data, no one seems to mind banks holding their money, or the credit bureau's holding your life in their hands. And I sure as hell trust Microsoft, Google, Yahoo or Amazon with my data a HELL of a lot more than any traditional Brick and Mortar establishment.

[Edited on May 1, 2008 at 3:23 AM. Reason : .]

5/1/2008 3:20:41 AM

Quote :

"That guy is a fucking idiot"

you bite your tongue

5/1/2008 4:48:16 AM

Quote :

"i read that too. and while i see his point about Mesh, the whole post was overshadowed by his bitterness toward larger companies at hiring tons of young programmers"

yeah, i do agree there. He would have been better served by just sticking to his criticisms of Mesh, or rather "architecture astronauts" in general rather than finishing with his attack on the hiring practices.
It is worth pointing out, though, that he did work for MS for a long time and was on the Excel 1.0 team, and was the project manager for the creation of VBA.

Quote :

"a) That guy is a fucking idiot."

are you saying that in general, or just in regard to this piece? I don't know anybody in the software community that thinks Splosky is a "fucking idiot".
His original Architecture Astronaut piece in 2001 was spot-on
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000018.html

Quote :

"eh, let MS hold your data? "

agree completely with Noen on this one. The MS-hate about privacy or holding your data or whatever is totally a knee-jerk reaction against MS probably based mostly on their business practices, not their technical or engineering prowess.
I'm not saying that people should give up on trying to keep their data private or close to their chests, but really.... the amount of data that companies like MS, Google, ebay and amazon already have on you is incredible. adding some more to a well-designed and secure repository isn't going to hurt anything

5/1/2008 7:26:00 AM

Quote :

"are you saying that in general, or just in regard to this piece? "

Just this piece, but:

Quote :

"It is worth pointing out, though, that he did work for MS for a long time and was on the Excel 1.0 team, and was the project manager for the creation of VBA. "

Microsoft is a radically different company internally from even 5 years ago, much less 10-15 when he was apparently here. And the whole concept of Architecture Astronauts may be alive and well in other areas of the company, but it sure as hell isn't in my division, and it sure as hell isn't in MSR. It's just really him ranting about his PERCEPTION of the justification for things. He is also confusing Architects with Marketing, because at the high level people he is targeting, there is much more of the latter than the former going on.

5/1/2008 4:20:26 PM

I don't normally defend Microsoft (just out of principle, not that I really care) ... however, one guy speaking out against Microsoft is really just one guy, no matter what he USED to do there. I know people in Corporate Sales that have absolutely no concept of some of the projects going on elsewhere ... but they work at Microsoft so you think they might, but no, they don't.

So don't just assume any affiliation with Microsoft is instantly validated.

Um, that said ... Microsoft still has to prove itself to me, to convince me to use some sort of Mesh solution. As interesting as it looks to be.

5/2/2008 1:17:15 AM

Quote :

"and was the project manager for the creation of VBA. "

He should be shot.

BTW, anyone going to the MSDN Heroes Happen Here event in Raleigh on Friday? I'll be in the developer track at noon.

5/2/2008 1:22:59 AM

i went to the one in Denver last month, this is what you "should" get...


-

-


FYI: they said the Enterprise Server 2008 license (yes, worth over $2,000) was only 365-day license (though fully functional forever) because if the tax stuff, they couldn't give us an unlimited-time license.... but they said the OS would still fully function after the 365-days... it's kind of a loophole, but obviously you'd want to not have it in commercial use after 365-days

"Appreciation Voucher for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition, Eval-only copy"
apparently this "eval-only" copy will be fully functional as well with the same 365-day license thing.... but fully functional after 365 days still

[Edited on May 2, 2008 at 1:28 AM. Reason : .]

5/2/2008 1:27:24 AM

^^ See you at noon.

PM me if you want to find me.

5/2/2008 1:37:00 AM

For any of you guys located in Raleigh, if you are interested in being study participants, let me know. Limited to people in software development companies, but at any rate, if at all interested shoot me an email with name, contact information (name, phone, email, products and SKU's you use MS or not, position, company and role) and I'll keep your info.

With a little luck we'll start doing studies in the RDU area before the end of the year, and if I can get it together, we'll need a participant pool. It's worth the time to participate

[Edited on May 2, 2008 at 4:12 AM. Reason : .]

5/2/2008 4:12:06 AM

This is not a MS innovation, but its a plugin for MS Outlook. Its great work.

http://lifehacker.com/386997/xobni-beta-now-open-to-the-public

5/5/2008 8:30:07 AM

Just installed it.. we'll seeeee but it sounds awesome

5/5/2008 4:04:21 PM

That does look awesome, but I'm kinda scared to install it on this shitty ass work PC. I have 4 years of email saved on here and I can only imagine how long it will take to index everything.

5/5/2008 4:16:01 PM

who uses outlook voluntarily?

5/5/2008 4:20:45 PM

me

although I've had it forwarding to gmail lately so I can do it either way... the threaded view that gmail does is awesome and saves a ton of time

5/5/2008 4:30:53 PM

in Outlook (at work) I have my Inbox set to Conversation View, then I have a rule set up every time I send a message to copy it into my Inbox and mark it as read. Then the Conversation view threads my sent mail correctly into the conversation, and any replies are threaded appropriately below it. Then when a reply comes in, the entire conversation goes to the top of the list. As a bonus, you can copy/move/delete entire conversations, instead of individual messages. It's made managing my work inbox infinitely easier.

5/5/2008 4:37:30 PM

I am going to steal your idea, sir

5/5/2008 4:40:44 PM

please do. I wish it was a built-in option, and I think it would help a lot of people to manage their email better.

I have a couple caveats, though - when you copy a message that you just sent to the inbox, there is no option to "mark as read" automatically. So, to get around that (i.e. to get around the appearance that I have unread messages in my inbox, when in fact they're just messages that I sent), i make a couple other modifications to my inbox.

Right click on one of the column headers and go to "Customize Current View". Then in that window select "Automatic Formatting". This is where you set up the formats (font, color, weight) of the message subjects in your list-view. There are a few formats already made, like "Unread Messages" which by default are bolded and in black. I un-check all the pre-made rules, then make two new rules -
1) "From Me" - the format for these is non-bold, black, and I set the condition so that it's applied to all messaged from myself that are in my inbox
2) "Unread, not from me" - the format for these is bold and red, and the condition is not from my own email address.

So after you create these formats, when your rule copies your sent mail into your inbox, it will not mark it as read, but it will show it as non-bold and black, so it doesn't look like new mail. Then new mail from other people will show up as bolded and red.

5/5/2008 5:08:07 PM

just installed the live Mesh tech preview and i think this is a great idea.... as long as you are comfortable keeping your information on a centralized microsoft server.

i think it could be very powerful. i love the implementation.

it's on ms connect if anyone else is on it.

5/9/2008 6:26:54 PM

how can i get this

5/9/2008 6:37:09 PM

http://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=2181&SiteID=425&InvitationID=DEV-VP8Q-K3KG

Live Mesh is like a virtual web-based desktop that you can upload files to, a "logmein" type of install you can install on many different types of devices to be able to "remote desktop" into, along with sharing of files from those devices via one web-based interface

Right now you can only install the live mesh client on Windows XP, Vista 32-bit and 64-bit. Although it says Mobile devices & Mac coming soon.

[Edited on May 9, 2008 at 7:03 PM. Reason : ,]

5/9/2008 6:50:46 PM

I use xobni at work, VERY useful tool. especially when searching for active directory users or finding file attachments. definitely a time saver in a corporate environment.

5/10/2008 11:10:50 AM

anyone tried WorldWide Telescope yet?
Ars is impressed
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080514-first-look-peeking-through-microsofts-worldwide-telescope.html

Quote :

"I can say that, without equivocation, WWT is incredibly impressive and in my opinion outdoes Google Sky in almost every category."

5/14/2008 11:11:08 PM

i dont think theres nearly as much interest in stargazing from a computer as there is using this stuff for maps/directions, etc.

5/14/2008 11:18:33 PM

well, should be great for teachers and students

5/14/2008 11:22:38 PM

Leopard vs Vista handwriting recognition - pretty long but neat and kinda funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCHqMENtKkA

5/23/2008 6:47:30 PM

Whens the Microsoft table coming out already?

5/24/2008 12:04:35 AM

It's the Microsoft Surface. It's a big-ass table http://youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY

5/24/2008 12:06:01 AM

check out the "Unwrap Mosaics" project from MIcrosoft Research
http://research.microsoft.com/unwrap/
this video does a good job of showing what it can do - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNLx9pclMKU

in short, using an algorithm like this, a home-user could easily edit features into or out of video sequences which moves, tracks, rotates, stretches, etc along with the objects in the video

8/19/2008 11:36:52 PM

http://photosynth.net/
http://scobleizer.com/2008/08/20/how-i-photosynthd-my-family-room/

8/22/2008 1:03:26 AM

Well the new Seinfeld ads are popping up. Let me say this first one is a major WTF. Guess we will see Windows 7, with a fully functional churro drive. Decide for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz6amk3P-hY

9/4/2008 11:46:09 PM

Quote :

"who uses outlook voluntarily?"

i do

9/4/2008 11:48:24 PM

"moist and chewy like cakes, so we can just eat them"
..... interesting tactic, i guess?

9/4/2008 11:54:18 PM

It's weird, but I liked it, kind of appealed to my sense of humor

and, the picture on his ID is a mugshot from a traffic violation in the 70s

9/5/2008 12:37:30 AM

I love seinfeld (in general), and I liked some of the Seinfeld-type banter in the commercial.
and Bill Gates can be kind of enamoring in a "awww, he's such a terrible actor and such a huge dork, but at least he's trying"

but overall, that commercial is a failure for Microsoft or Windows

9/5/2008 7:11:19 AM

I was embarrassed for microsoft watching this.

9/6/2008 12:18:01 AM

that was freaking stupid.

9/6/2008 8:27:36 AM

2nd commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBWPf1BWtkw

.... they're getting worse
once again, i do enjoy some of the Seinfeldian humor, but what this has to do with MS or WIndows, i'm still baffled.

9/12/2008 7:42:17 AM

Where do 4 minute 30 second commercials air?!

9/12/2008 7:50:51 AM

on youtube.com?

9/12/2008 8:11:05 AM

That commercial will be broken down into several small commercials, or that's the type of thing that is shown in 4 different spots during the super bowl, and then the final clip has the "PC" ending

but I agree, it wasn't funny

9/12/2008 8:37:54 AM

The second one was much better, entertaining. I'm impressed with the acting jobs gates did in the second one.

9/12/2008 9:27:58 AM

doh!
http://valleywag.com/5051455/microsoft-to-announce-jerry-seinfeld-ads-cancelled-tomorrow

Quote :

"Remember those awful Microsoft ads with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates? Well, now you can forget them. Microsoft flacks are desperately dialing reporters to spin them about "phase two" of the ad campaign — a phase, due to be announced tomorrow, which will drop the aging comic altogether. Microsoft's version of the story: Redmond had always planned to drop Seinfeld. The awkward reality: The ads only reminded us how out of touch with consumers Microsoft is — and that Bill Gates's company has millions of dollars to waste on hiring a has-been funnyman to keep him company. Update: In a phone call, Waggener Edstrom flack Frank Shaw confirms that Microsoft is not going on with Seinfeld, and echoes his underlings' spin that the move was planned. There is the "potential to do other things" with Seinfeld, which Shaw says is still "possible." He adds: "People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads, but this was not unexpected.""

9/17/2008 8:52:59 PM

god, could get worse.....
they're not acting like they have 95 90% of the US market
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/business/media/18adco.html




btw, here's where the 90% figure comes from

9/17/2008 10:47:24 PM

MSFT is a bloated behemoth full of college kids who think a "cool job" is owed them upon graduation.

the brains, creativity and innovative spirit of MSFT prime is long, long gone.

now its just a place where employees and contractors gather to drink free sodas and goof around.

9/18/2008 2:20:23 AM

http://www.liveside.net/main/archive/2008/09/16/windows-live-wave-3-betas-download-now.aspx

Quote :

"New Windows Live Betas – Wave 3 Here’s the download links for the new Wave 3 suite of applications, including Messenger v9, Windows Live Movie Maker, Mail with Calendar synchronization, Writer, Photo Gallery, Family Safety and the Outlook Connector."

9/18/2008 11:15:59 AM

Quote :

"MSFT is a bloated behemoth full of college kids who think a "cool job" is owed them upon graduation."

Really? I can't pick out even one person in my division who is fresh out of college. Maybe that's true in some areas of the company, but in STB I think the entry level positions require at least 5 years of proven experience. Sounds like a bitter contractor to me

9/18/2008 11:36:42 AM

^no, they work at google as customer service reps

9/18/2008 1:46:07 PM

Quote :

"Sounds like a bitter contractor to me"

9/18/2008 3:23:01 PM

Quote :

"god, could get worse..... they're not acting like they have 95 90% of the US market "

It's pretty much 95%. And the new ad is up at microsoft.com/windows

The funny thing is all the ads claiming Microsoft dumped Seinfeld because noone liked him. Turns out they never planned on him doing more than those first two commercials, and the ads were as much of a hit as a commercial really can be.

The I'm a PC ads the launched yesterday (we got to see it first at the company meeting at SafeCo Field ) are a pretty good first retort, and I'm suprised they still remain pretty funny and entertaining.

Also, this thread will be blowing up after PDC

9/19/2008 12:23:05 PM

yeah they were posted on gizmodo yesterday
http://gizmodo.com/5052051/microsofts-im-a-pc-ad-beats-seinfeld-but-not-hodgman

9/19/2008 12:30:38 PM