Related link: http://www.frankiesfridayflashback.com
The lastest episode of Frankie’s Friday Flashback is now available for download!
Table of Contents:
Intro: 0:00 to 0:46
A Chat with Miguel Castro about Web Controls: 0:47 to 13:30
Wrap Up and Richmond Code Camp plug: 13:31 to 14:16
Enjoy!
Tags: Podcasting Code Camp Web Controls .NET
The new version of Google Desktop includes a potentially useful new feature that lets you search across your computers for files. So if you have a file on one PC, you should be able to find that file from a different one, even if you’re halfway across the world.
In theory, it sounds great. In practice, it’s only so-so. First, there are privacy implications, because a partial index of your files lives on Google servers as a kind of way station. While there are plenty of protections against privacy invasions, and the index that is on the server is only a very small slice of your files, you still may not like the idea of any of your index being on a Google server for any amount of time.
The other problem is that searching across computers doesn’t work very well. I won’t go into the dirty details, but you’ll only be able to search for a very small subset of files on a distant PC. And when you have more than two PCs involved, it becomes nightmarishly complicated.
There is, however, a great solution to the problem. Use LapLink Everywhere along with Google Desktop. It lets you make a secure, remote connection to another of your PCs, and then use Google Desktop to search the whole PC. When you find what you want, you can transfer whatever you find to your local PC.
No indexes are stored on Google servers, all your files are indexed, and you can get the files themselves, rather than an indexed image of them.
So if you like the idea of Google Desktop, but think that its implementation leaves a lot to be desired, check out LapLink Everywhere. It’s a keeper.
What do you think of Google Desktop?
Related link: http://atlas.asp.net/
Well, it is February right now, but nevertheless the ASP.NET team has released the January CTP build of Atlas. There are announcements and more information by ScottGu and Nikhil K. Nikhil calles the release “M1 Refresh” hinting at that the changes are not as drastic as they were with the December CTP, but some bugfixes and some new features that are rather under the hood. Go and play with it!
Update: The Atlas wiki has been updated for the January CTP.
Related link: http://www.frankiesfridayflashback.com
After seeing all the cool stuff coming out for the Tablet PC, the future certainly looks bright.
But what about the developer on the street that’s building Tablet PC applications now?
I interview a co-worker who has done some extensive Tablet PC development. I also take the time to complain about my damned sinuses and shamelessly plug the Richmond Code Camp.
Table of Contents:
Intro: 0:00 to 1:05
Developer on the Street: Alan Munson 1:06 to 10:50
Richmond Code Camp Plug: 10:50 to 11:26
Tags: Tablet PC Developer on the Street Podcast Code Camp
So, do you develop for the Tablet PC platform?
Microsoft seems slap the word “Live” on every one of its products these days. But what in the world does the term mean? Not even Microsoft seems to know.
Mary Jo Foley, in her Microsoft Watch newsletter, notices a similarity to when Microsoft applied .NET to every service and product under the sun until the term lost all meaning. Ultimately, Microsoft pulled back, and uses .NET to refer to a specific technology.
So now we have “Live,” which is applied to services and products as diverse as Microsoft’s upcoming security subscription service (Microsoft OneCar Live), service adds-ons to Microsoft Office (Office Live), and even, Foley notes, Visual Studio Live and CRM Live.
Foley did some digging, and found someone brave enough to try and explain what “Live” means.
Blake Irving, corporate vice president of MSN Communications Services and Membership Platforms Group gave her this incoherent explanation: “When I explain Windows Live, I describe a service that seamlessly brings Web experiences together with Windows software and provides greater relevance in people’s lives. Saying that Windows Live is simply extensions to Windows is too Windows-centric, and saying that it is MSN services rebranded also sells Windows Live short…This isn’t about rebranding MSN, it is about building holistic and unified experiences.”
Run that by me again, Blake. “Building holistic and unified experiences.” Call in the word police!
What do you think “Live” means?
Related link: http://www.franksworld.com/f3/
The third installment of Frankie’s Friday Flashback is now ready for your listening pleasure.
Here’s the table of contents:
Intro: 0:00 to 1:00
Tablet Talk’s Chris De Herrera Interview: 1:01 to 8:08
The DualCor Tablet PC: 8:11 to 9:17
Steven Hanley, DualCor’s CEO, Interview: 9:18 to 15:30
More on the DualCor: 15:31 to 16:00
Wrap Up: 16:02 to 16:47
Enjoy!
Tags: Tablet PC Pocket PC Mobile Computing MPD Microsoft Partners Podcast
So, what you think of the Tablet PC?
The deal Google has cut with Dell to put Google software on all Dell PCs may sound groundbreaking — but it’s all sound and no fury.
Google will pay Dell an unspecified amount to include the Google Desktop, and the Google Toolbar on up to 100 million new PCs. Google will also power a Dell home page for those PCs.
The pundits say that Microsoft should be quaking over this one. But the truth is, Microsoft has nothing to worry about. Google isn’t going after Office (not yet, anyway), and certainly not after Windows with this deal.
Microsoft doesn’t lose anything here. Google’s search technology is so far superior to Microsoft’s that people find their way to Google on their own. Microsoft wouldn’t be able to buy them.
So while the deal may extend Google’s reach, it certainly doesn’t threaten Microsoft — at least until Google goes after Office.
What do you think about the Google-Dell deal?
Related link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/
It would appear that Microsoft is investing a great deal in a new set of technologies under the rubric of WinFx. That said, for all the pages of information and support they are providiing, no where can I find a hype-free paper or set of papers that say “here are the new technologies, here’s how they fit in with what you know, here is what is a replacement vs. an extension of existing technology.”
Much less can I find a set of papers that gives the developer vision: if you want to create a Windows application you’ll use these technologies; for Web, those.
Other unanswered questions: does .NET go away, or does it complement the new technology or morph into a new edition or is it used to build a different (older? obsolete?) UI?
It is my job to figure this out, but I can’t say they are making it easy, and just to make matters worse, they have mixed together WinFx and Vista in ways that makes it very difficult to disentangle them.
On Mixing Politics with Business
(This is being posted simultaneously to my
technical blog
, my
Queer Politics blog
, and my
Amazon blog
.
)
Here’s what I’d like to discuss over the next few posts
Let’s start with some arguments in their most stark terms:
Argument one: There should be a wall between your
business and your politics, and the business should never reflect your
politics. Your clients don’t care, they don’t need to be exposed
to your politics, and you do yourself (literally) immeasurable harm. We’ll
call this the Church&State argument.
Argument two:
While it is not necessary for every client to know all my politics,
I am an activist in a cause that benefits from being not only “out” but “
in your face
” and failing to integrate these two aspects of who I am is an
opportunity lost. Let’s call this the Out&Loud
argument
There are many intermediate positions, but these will get us started.
I have chosen, over the past few years, to let my politics bleed into my
business presence, and as that continues to grow, I think it is worth
discussing whether or not it is a good idea (my family and friends have
an easy answer: “no.”)
Example 1: I have a page on my
business web site
called “Articles and Publications” – There you
can find links to my articles both print and on-line. I’ve
added a section for my political articles printed in my
local newspaper
.
Argument in favor: Writing is what I do for a living. Argument
against: this is a technology business site and these articles are not
about technology.
Example 2: I had repeated requests for recommendations on
technical books by readers and students. I created a Recommendations
page on my
business web site
(click on Books, then click on Recommendations). Over time, I received
requests to go beyond technical books (“what fiction do you like,
what else are you reading?”) On the one hand, what does that
have to do with business? On the other hand, reinforcing that Liberty Associates,
Inc. is me, a real person, not a part of a large conglomerate is part of
what I bring to the table.
So I started adding recommendations. For a while this was apolitical (lots
of literature) but then I got into a spurt of reading political books,
and so now the non-fiction section is divided into categories: “
Queer
,” “Evolution,” “Neuropsychology,” “Philosophy,
Politics and History.” It is the first category that dovetails
with my other politics.
Does having a section on Neuropsychology diminish my site? What about evolution?
What about Queer? Why would one be more problematic than the
other. Of course, the answer to that question depends on whether
you are asking “what is appropriate” vs. “what is
likely to lose more business?”
We’d all like to believe that we do now let money affect our deeply
held political and identity positions, but when you have two children and
a mortgage, reality intrudes.
One of the more interesting trends in Queer theory is the concept of “Covering.” Two
recent books,
The Long Arc of Justice
by and
Covering
by Kenji Yoshino.
Covering is the process of coerced hiding of crucial aspects of one’s self.
The assertion is that there are four stages that marginalized groups and
individuals go through:
conversion (assimilation), passing (the closet), covering ("just keep it to
your self") and acceptance.
The question I’m raising today is wheter separating one’s politics from
one’s business identity is a form of covering if the politics are
assocaited with a group that is struggling with covering or passing in general.
This leads to two different branches of discussion: (1) would this issue
arise if your political cause was unrelated ot issues of identity (e.g.,
if you were an anti-war activist) and (2) is there a special obligation
if, like me, you are both bisexual and happily married to someone of the
opposite sex (in which case
passing
is the default unless you go out of
your way to continually declare otherwise).
I actively invite your participation in this discussion, through comments and replies to these posts.
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