Hello world! December 22, 2005
I’m in the process of setting this site up, and bringing my content over from it’s current home. Bear with me - I want to take advantage of the opportunity and play with some of the Wordpress features first. Current content is being posted over there still.
(Any posts below this one are “real”, but part of an import test, to put some “play” content into the site for me to work with. They’re from my Wordpress blog, as noted above).
December 24th/25th Update: The configuration is coming along nicely; there’s a couple of extra plug-ins I want to work on, but all the basic post content has been moved over. In the next couple of days, I’ll move pages, links and so forth, and then put a “Everything has moved!” post on the old blog. If you’re here and you see a post you want to comment on, etc., go for it - I’m watching both blogs fully.
Comment Spam December 15, 2005
Got my first comment spam today - I feel so special! 
Been out with the ‘flu all week. Regular writing to resume this weekend, all being well.
Blogmad? December 9, 2005
New Category - Blackberry December 2, 2005
I’ve added “Blackberry” as a sub-category to “Technology”, as I seem to be writing about it regularly. I’m going to go back and update previous posts to reflect this category, in addition to “Technology”. Hopefully, that won’t push those back out to the RSS feed - sorry if it means you get dupes; it’s just a one-off correction.
Hello WordPress Dashboard Readers… November 29, 2005
No idea how I ended up on the dashboard as a “growing blog”, but it’s been very apparent once I looked at the referrer’s page! Anyway, posting has been light the last few days, as you’ll see, due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, and a personal vacation, but I plan on getting back in to this.
Coming up, in the next day or three, a post on “GTD With A Blackberry” - as I’ve noticed a few referrer hits from that particular Google search, and practicing the Getting Things Done methodology, with a Blackberry, is indeed something I make a habit of.
Comments welcome, good or bad, on what you’ve seen so far.
Cheers!
OneNote Mobile November 22, 2005
OK, so, if the RIM/NTP lawsuit goes in favor of NTP, and RIM actually does have to close down US operations (getting more unlikely, given the recent brief filed in interest by the US DOJ), this might be enough to make me happier about moving to a Windows Mobile device again.
Enter OneNote Mobile. OneNote Mobile is your portable extension to OneNote that you get when you purchase OneNote. You install it on your Windows Mobile SmartPhone (this is semi-automatic so it is low hassle) and you’re good to go. A few weeks ago, David Siedzik, the program manager for OneNote Mobile showed it to the mobile devices MVPs who were on campus and actually got a standing ovation! Read on to find out why.
When we shipped the syncing feature for mobile devices in OneNote 2003SP1, we had a few constraints that limited us to simply one-way sync (device to PC). A big one was that the built-in note applet was not designed with OneNote in mind, so it couldn’t handle our data unless it were “dumbed down” to plain text more or less. We didn’t have dev resources then to build our own SmartPhone client so that limitation wasn’t going away. We also found that most people were interested in the “upload” scenario, although plenty were also interested in bringing their data with them. So we did the relatively cheap thing which let you take notes on your device and see them in OneNote.
OneNote Mobile goes way beyond that. It is a real note taking app for your mobile device. You can take text notes, voice record, or snap them with a camera. It has a cool picture viewer for navigating the image in detail.
Goodies:
- Two-way sync
- Note flags
- Most formatting is transparent between OneNote and OneNote Mobile
- Image pan and zoom
- Photo note taking. Merging the analog and digital worlds in Chris Pratley’s words, and expounded on some here.
No PocketPC version at the moment - there’s several “votes” for that functionality in the comments of the source post, so that may change - you never know.
I’m a satisfied Blackberry user, but I also make a lot of use of OneNote as part of my personal GTD methodology, using OneNote as a primary capture device during meetings, brainstorm sessions, and so forth. Being able to use it in a mobile fashion… That’d be useful.
Microsoft - Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE)
An extension to RSS intended to facilitate the sharing of data between disparate applications, such as calendar data between private, corporate and public calendar objects. Sounds like a better method than iCal at first blush. Be interesting to see what comes of this. The draft spec (0.9) for the extension is here. From the FAQ, this isn’t limited to calendar data though:
Just as RSS enables the aggregation of information from a variety of data sources, SSE enables the replication of information across a variety of data sources. Data sources that implement SSE will be able to exchange data with any other data source that also implements SSE.
From the user’s perspective, this means that you will be able to share your data (such as calendar appointments, contact lists, and favorites) across all of your devices and with anyone else that you choose, regardless of infrastructure or organization.
SSE is particularly useful for scenarios in which there are multiple masters and/or asynchronous updates. For example, SSE could be used to share your work calendar with your spouse—either of you could enter new appointments, even if not currently connected. Similarly, SSE could be used to replicate a set of calendar entries among a group of people, each working in a different company and using different infrastructure.
technorati tags: RSS, Technology
Using Del.Icio.Us November 20, 2005
I finally got around to installing plug-ins to all my browsers, both on my laptop and on my desktop. I still use IE, because (a) I always have(!), and (b) I access some corporate applications that simply work better in IE. For my reading and blogging, however, I’m a happy user of Firefox, and have also been playing with Flock — in fact, I’m writing this post from within Flock now. I like that Flock just needs me to hit one button, nice and clear, on the menu bar, to get stuff into del.icio.us. I have a bookmarklet for IE that does the same. Firefox, I choose to use a plugin, although I’ve got the bookmarklet as well. The plugin is more functional, but you have to right-click I can live with it.
In any event. having made it easy to push links, with comments, into del.icio.us, I’ve also configured it to post my daily links into the blog.
Why?
Well, personal convenience for a start - the blog is going to turn into a personal knowledge repository, that I can readily reference and search. I subscribe to my own feeds, using Newsgator and Outlook, so I get a copy of every post I make as an email. Those sit in the offline file with the rest of my email, that I can refer to wherever I am, and that I can index using the MSN Desktop Search or the Google Desktop. I see a lot of different websites, most days, like most people. Some will generate “real” posts to the blog, others will just be “background information”. This makes an easy way for me to remember that “oh yes, I read an article on that subject a while back…” and then find it again.
So, if you see a post full of links, brief notes, and some tags, with no substantive comment in and of itself, you now know what it is.
Some reference links:
technorati tags: del.icio.us, tagging, blogging, tags, plugins, bookmarklets
Microsoft Windows Desktop Search - Enterprise November 16, 2005
Announced at the IT Forum, from the press release:
The availability of Windows Desktop Search enabled for enterprise deployment. Windows Desktop Search enables information workers to save time by providing a single search starting point from which people can quickly find relevant information on their PC desktops, in e-mail, on network file shares, or across intranets and the Web.
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technorati tags: Search, Desktop Search, Enterprise Search, Microsoft
Exchange 12 - 64-bit Only
From the IT Forum Press Release:
As part of its commitment to 64-bit computing, Microsoft has been delivering products that are optimized for 64-bit, including the newly released SQL Server™ 2005, Visual Studio® 2005 and Virtual Server 2005 R2. To help customers take full advantage of the power of 64-bit computing, products including Microsoft® Exchange Server “12,” Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, Windows Server™ “Longhorn” Small Business Server, and Microsoft’s infrastructure solution for midsize businesses, code-named “Centro,” will be exclusively 64-bit and optimized for x64 hardware. In a future update release to Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Server “Longhorn” operating system, code-named Windows Server “Longhorn” R2, customers will see the complete transition to 64-bit-only hardware, while still benefiting from 32-bit and 64-bit application compatibility. For the highest-scale application and database workloads, Windows Server on 64-bit Itanium-based systems will continue to be the premier choice for customers for years to come.
Heads up on the Virtual Server pricing stuff, same source:
As part of its broad strategy to help customers realize the benefits of virtualization and progress toward self-managing dynamic systems, Microsoft has released to manufacturing (RTM) Virtual Server 2005 R2, which will be available in volume licensing and retail the first week of December. Virtual Server 2005 R2 delivers improved performance, availability and scalability for server consolidation, legacy application migration, disaster recovery, and software testing and development. Microsoft will be offering Virtual Server R2 Standard Edition for $99 (U.S.) estimated retail price and Virtual Server R2 Enterprise Edition for $199 (U.S.) estimated retail price. This new pricing represents Microsoft’s commitment to making server virtualization more accessible to customers at the lowest price point.
technorati tags: Exchange, Technology, Virtual Server
What I Read November 5, 2005
As much as an experiment for my own purposes (in seeing how the functionality worked), I’ve exported my current list of sites I read through RSS, and linked them over on the right-hand side of here. I don’t know if I’m going to leave them there - that might be just a little too much openness.
Technorati Tags: Blogging, RSS
FeedTier November 3, 2005
In the “Something to play with soon” department:
http://feedtier.somee.com/Default.aspx
FeedTier is a web feeds generator for web pages without an existing syndication format. FeedTier performs content analysis, picks-up the most prominent cluster of hyperlinks and automatically generates RSS web feeds from web pages without existing sydincation options. FeedTier is an experimental service and free for personal use.
Technorati Tags: blogging, RSS
Office Live and Windows Live November 1, 2005
Written as a “quick response” to a question about the launch of these two services, the below is my initial notes on the above, based on reading an assortment of the blogs out there (noted at the end of this).
- There is no cost data yet. Office Live won’t be in beta until early next year, for instance.
- Office Live is supposed to launch in Q1 next year. This is not a replacement for Office - it’s a different type of product (Rahesh Jha).
- Currently isn’t cross-browser compatible. They’re working on this.
- Windows Live - will help push RSS out to “the public” quite substantially. Also photo sharing and social networking features - that seems very home-user friendly; not clear yet whether the total focus is meant to be home use.
- The initial focus of Office Live is the ~28 million worldwide businesses that have less than 10 employees (Tom Warren @ Neowin.Net)
- Windows Live is a split of MSN, with MSN equalling content such as MSN.com and MSNBC.com. WindowsLive is services, such as Live.com, Mail and Instant Messenger.
- Michael Gartenberg at Jupiter Research: “There’s been a lot of chatter about how this is a response to Google or how it’s Microsoft being dragged into offering these type of services at the expense of losing it’s traditional market for Office apps. Well, that analysis is all wrong. Microsoft has been planning this for quite some time, long before it would appear as a response to Google or anyone else.
- These new services recognize the importance of connectivity and the near ubiquitous nature of high speed access but also combine with the richness that you can only get from traditional model. These are not replacements for Office or Windows but extensions of them.”
- Michael Sampson at Shared Spaces: http://www.shared-spaces.com/blog/2005/11/thoughts_on_win.html. Sample quote “Office Live ain’t about what most people call Office … I know Microsoft is trying to extend the Office brand to all sorts of things, and that’s fine, but Office Live isn’t about Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which is what most people associate with that term. These announcements aren’t an attempt to offer a Web-based office productivity suite, like the much vaunted but yet-to-be-seen Google Office. “
- Windows Live will be primarily ad supported. Does not kill off MSN.
- Office Live is “internet based services for growing and managing your business online”. There is an ad supported level, and an additional tier above this that will require subscriptions.
- Live.com is going to be the new default page for IE7 and Vista.
- SeattlePI.com - “As currently envisioned, for example, the company said you wouldn’t be able to create a Word document or Excel spreadsheet solely by using the Web browser in Office Live.
- The company will morph its MSN Messenger instant-messaging and Hotmail e-mail services into “Windows Live” services. MSN exec David Cole said the company will still maintain the MSN.com portal for people who want pre-programmed content.”
- Ray Ozzie - Windows is completely separate from Windows Live. Interaction through documents only.
Links used for note taking:
http://tech.memeorandum.com/051101/p50#a051101p50
http://www.crunchnotes.com/?p=18
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelarrington/sets/1267546/
http://thomashawk.com/2005/11/microsoft-turns-web-20_01.html
http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=31270&category=main
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/001048.html
http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000020066099/
http://www.shared-spaces.com/blog/2005/11/thoughts_on_win.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=2097
http://www.netcrucible.com/blog/Microsoft+And+Live.aspx
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/100348.asp?source=rss
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2098
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/gartenberg/archives/011607.html
Mechanics October 31, 2005
OK - that’s the introductory post written. I’m still working on some of the configuration of the site here. This is best considered a “soft launch” - I want to get a few items up here and done, before I let anyone know that I’ve started this.
Why Blog?
“Oh look – another tech geek with too much time on his hands, writing his daily activities!”
The above is somewhat of a stereotype, and it’s certainly not the intended aim of this site. Is this a self-serving exercise in vanity publishing? Yes, perhaps a little. There’s a certain element of self-satisfaction in writing something and then “publishing” it. Now, whether or not that actually gets read by anyone is a totally different matter!
I first looked at blogging back in September 2002, and I started up a trial site, using Radio Userland. That experiment lasted a couple of months, with my use primarily confined to using a browser add-in to use it as a link/articles-to-read dumping ground. Then I started creating content, relevant to what I was doing at work. That became an awkward line, so I moved the site to a test server run inside our firewall. I “got busy”, and the idea fizzled out.
Fast forward. I’ve been asked more than once in the last year whether I blog – here for instance. I’ve watched over blogs started by people I know – such as Ben’s site “A Collection of Random Thoughts” – without their necessarily trying to post daily, or even regularly. Just when they felt like it, and when they had something to say.
Well, I’m a white-collar worker. I’m paid to read, think and write. And some of that writing may be, I think, shareable. I like to write. I’ll never be writing the Next Great American Novel, for sure – but why should that stop me experimenting here?
This should be primarily a “serious” blog – technology, business, politics, law. The things that interest me. But it is MY blog, so if I throw in an occasional restaurant review, movie comment, joke or even a venting, bear with me!
My first planned post, to follow this one, is to explain why I chose the WordPress service to get started, rather than any of the others out there. I have a couple of things that I’ve written recently that I want to clean up and then I’ll load those up as well. Then we’ll see how it goes – I’ll post as I think of things, or am prompted to them, and as often as it happens.
Comments welcome.
Technorati Tags: blogging