Friday, January 16, 2004

Longhorn: Managed and Unmagned code interop - [11:04 AM]

Longhorn Developer Center: "Chapter 3: Recommendations for Managed and Unmanaged Code Interoperability" - Here's a must read if you have legacy code, and don't we all have legacy code?

More about PowerBlog - [9:42 AM]

I had an interesting question in email this morning about PowerBlog. The question was basically, "I'm thinking about switching from Radio to something else, would you use PowerBlog as your blogging client?" My answer wasn't so straight forward, unfortunately. If you're currently using a client based blogging tool and like that then the answer is a resounding YES. PowerBlog has a nice feel, it feels like a native Win32 client as it should. The nice thing about it is you don't have to abandon Radio if you don't want to. You can marry the two, if you'd like. Say what? It's true! PowerBlog supports the MetaWeblog API so it can communicate directly with Radio. So if you like Radio's publishing engine but would like a more "natural" client UI give PowerBlog a try.

Something else I like about PowerBlog. The next release is supposed to include an RSS Aggregator, built right in, along with Newsgroup support and the ability to manage your favorite web sites; what if a site you like doesn't have an RSS feed? It's not all there in the Beta and hopefully Jon won't cut the support. He's come a long way with the new client in a very short period of time.

Now if Blogger would support the MetaWeblog API I could use PB today for posts to this site... Sigh...

Movie line of the week answer - [9:23 AM]

First off I'd like to thank the usual suspects for their continued support of this little game, it means a lot to me.

We have a winner, and he's not a first timer, but now we have a blog to tie to the name! Congratulations to Mr. Charles M. States, Jr! Say that five times real fast, I dare you. Of course he's a good blogger and has an RSS feed for your viewing pleasure.

The correct answer was...

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

If you have kids you had the advantage with this one.

Thanks again for playing!

Click here for a permalink to this entry.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

New work blog - [11:33 AM]

Our workplace intranet is a little behind the times and not what I've become accustomed to, but that's very understandable. As I told Scoble during his visit and tour of the plant; the plant has most of the nice high tech gadgetry because that's where the money is made. Makes perfect sense why our intranet isn't as dialed in as the one I got used to at Microsoft.

Watch out! It's a blog fly! In all seriousness I've been looking for a better way to share the progress I'm making on my current project with other folks without resorting to e-mail, so I created a work blog that runs on my laptop. It has some really nice benefits. One, I can share with others without e-mail; like I said above. Two, RC and I have been tossing around the idea of using RSS as a mechanism to get reports to the management. Some like the top level, others would like to drill down. Using RSS we can give them the top level information and let them start the drill down process right from their aggregator. So my work blog will serve as a Demo Dolly of sorts for the technology. I'll also use my blog as a to-do list of sorts, I can jot down stuff collected in meetings and categorize for later consumption. We may even use it as a mechanism for status reporting, gotta keep our manager happy don't we!

I'm using the PowerBlog 2.0 Beta for my little experiment and publishing to my local computer for the time being, it's running IIS and ASP.Net so I'll be able to do lots and lots of experimentation from my box and hook it up to the weblog, yet another nice benefit.

Side note: I still say Microsoft should purchase PowerBlog and use it as a client to whatever blogging tools they decide to ultimately publish. It's all C#, ground up, a nice use of the framework, and a well written client application. If you're looking for more .NET clients try PowerBlog. Yes it's still in Beta and can surprise you on occasion, but in the end I'm certain it'll be very solid. It's too bad Jon can't find a way to work on it full time.

Movie line of the week - [11:16 AM]

Watchin' it on the big screen! This weeks movie line comes from my 12 year old daughter, so remember to consider that when you read it.

Here it is...

Of course, this isn't your ordinary housecat. This is like Arnold Schwarzen-kitty!

Ok, quick, what movie! Send your guesses here.

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Move along, nothing to read here... - [4:37 PM]

Just had to share some lyrics...

The fawn-eyed girl with sun-browned legs
Dances on the edge of his dream

Yes, this makes me think of my wife and when I used to admire her from afar, I believe every man has experienced this at one point in his life or another.

I was blessed enough to marry my dream.