Joe Stagner posted on his blog about the 10 people who don't matter that was spurred by an article on CNN.  Joe's post got me to thinking about open and commercial software and how the two mix.  It also got me to thinking about why one fails and another succeeds.  I'm not sure where this is going to wind up but here are some thoughts. Apple has already found a way to use open source in a commercial business. I think they have a great blend of commercial and open source software.  For example, Mac OSX was built out of the open...

Remember 2002 in terms of what was available for Smart Phones? Not a whole lot to be honest. Palm was just starting to add phones to their PDA line up and about the only other phones available were Java based. I bought one of the first Sidekicks and used it for awhile. I loved the flip around keyboard and the ability to check email on it and surf the web but I ultimately gave it up for the T68i because I wanted to use Bluetooth with my new Mac. The Sidekick was a fun device but it didn't take me...

If you are working with a Windows Form where a user can create and edit data in the same form you may run into the problem of trying to set the BindingSource to a given record in a DataSet you want to work with.  For example let's say you have a DataGridView in a Smart Client.  When the user double clicks a given row in the DataGridView a form opens so they can edit the data.  More times than not (no matter how many demos you watch) user's do not edit data values in DataGridViews.  Although this is a supported feature, business objects...

I've had three or four people try to find me on MSN Messgenger in the past week.  Unless I told you exactly what to use, you would never find me.  Being that I am a junkie of said technology I decided to change my handle so people could better / more easily "guess" my handle.  I do this all the time.  For example I'll get someone's business card or I'll be reading their blog and I will want to chat.  I'll take their email address and try it in MSGR.  More times than not it works and I have an instant connection with...

Jason Follas, who I met at Tech Ed, posted about my winnings on his blog.   Jason stated he wished he would have signed up at more vendor booths instead of just walking past them.  This inspired me to write out some of my "Tips" below.   When I attend a conference I am a complete vendor prostitute with my "fake information". And yes the info I use is "fake" in that I can easily remove it and "disappear" into the depths of the Internet.  When I attend a conference it is all about winning.  Sure I am there to learn and network but...

Looks like Brian Noyes stole my thunder for a blog post I was going to do soon.  I get asked the same question.  "How do you sign your ClickOnce program with a valid provider like Versign?".  Unfortunately for myself, I had to figure this out the hard way last year during the VS2005 beta when I had to publish the new CRM app out with a Go Live license.  It's a wonder I was able to piece all of the pieces together.  Call it a true testament to my genius. Thanks to Brian for putting this together. If I get hit...

For the past several months, maybe even longer, I've been the victim of various spam engines or viruses sending out massive quantities of email on behalf of me. If you've never had this happen it is a serious problem. Imagine how much email a spammer sends, then imagine ALL the bounced emails coming into your inbox. I thought I knew enough about procmail and mail filtering server side to be able to stop this from getting out of hand but my efforts have failed. Last week I was out of the office at Tech Ed and each time I checked...

I was going through mail this morning (no not email, real mail) and my mortgage lender sent me an advertisement regarding Total Protect's Home Warranty. I normally don't read ads but this is from my lender so I read them all just in case. It's funny because now that we are home owner's my biggest fear is some major gizmo in the home is going to all of a sudden quit and I'm going to have to fork over thousand's of dollars to get it either fixed or replaced. Probably my biggest concern is air conditioning. We have two air...

For anyone that knows me, you know my musical taste lies in the 80's. Call it what you will, the 80's still rock. Nothing gets me coding in the morning like a good dance hit from the 80's. I found a web site that allows you to watch over 1400 80's vidoes! You remember videos right? The things MTV started back in the 80's but abondoned for crappy shows like "Real World"? If you want to get your 80's video fix for the day head over to http://www.freephotosandvideos.com/ and ROCK OUT!

Tom Hollander, who is on the Enterprise Library team, posted to his blog the Enterprise Library team want everyone's feedback for the .Net 3.0 framework release.  As I sat and thought about this in relation to .Net 3.0, the more I thought about it and started to write about it, it just all became crystal clear.  Here's my wishlist for EntLib 3.0: $20 - Add the EntLib console configuration tool into Visual Studio IDE.  Lot's of people mentioned this in comments, so it looks like this should definitely be on their list. $20 - Integrate GAT to assist setting up EntLib based on the...

One of the biggest challenges I see team members at work struggling with when trying to learn .Net is "how to get started".  If you are a developer with lots of experience, coming into VS and .Net things are very different let's face it.  For example, what's the right way to setup a project?  What's the difference between a solution and project?  Everyone knows about n-tiered architecture, but how do you pull it off in Visual Studio?  If you are using TFS how do you setup projects so they can be easily versioned?  How do you organize the name spaces of projects? I...

Last week was Tech Ed week.  Sorry I didn't blog any entries on it.  I was still recovering from my web host loosing 2 months of my data.  It is hard to recover from a loss like that.  Not to mention  I spent ALL of my energy walking 11 miles a day riding the bus back and forth from the conference.  Everything you've read about the bus and traffic situation in regards to this year's Tech Ed is absolutely true.  Enough of that though, let's talk about the goods! Now that Tech Ed is over, the raffles and drawings are being done by the vendors.  Everyone...

Last week I was in Boston, MA for Tech Ed. Roughly 10,000 - 15,000 IT professionals decended upon Boston to add to the already horrible traffic situation. It was my first time in Boston and I had a blast. I went to Cheers twice, Jullians, Avalon, Fenway Park and of course the Convention Center where I walked about 10 miles a day (no joke). Before I left for Boston I was trying to get an order re-filled for my contacts. My eyes are extremely sensitive to light and this is why I typically have a pair of sun shades on...

For those that were following this blog you may have noticed something as of recent.  Primarily, where did all of the blog entries for this site go?  Well, let's just say the web hosting company I am using is a complete IDIOT!  If you've been paying attention to this blog you would have noticed the last entry on this blog was in the middle of March.  In March, I had to swap database servers.  Not that I got an email or anything from these assholes telling me I needed to do so, my web site just stopped working one day.  It...