The Future of Computing?.  

Robert Heverly took a lot of time out to write a blog post titled "what Scoble doesn't get." I highly recommend everyone at Microsoft read it.

I want a computer with a wide range of scenarios supported out of the box. I want "average users" to be able to do things like watch a video on CNN.com. Send email. Participate in newsgroups. Subscribe to RSS feeds. Read a web page. Watch a DVD. Listen to music. Use a calculator. Instant message with friends. Play some games. And much more.

Most importantly I want these scenarios to be enabled out of the box.

I also want users to always have the latest versions of these apps. Why? Because we'll add features. Fix bugs. Improve experiences and performance. And, add new scenarios.

 [via The Scobleizer Weblog]

I attended the UK developer launch of Windows 95 - during which it was said (I paraphrase) "... and this bit of the sandpit here is where you developers can play...", that bit was about the size of a grain of sand. Winows 95 needed new apps to be developed, the 'official' MS view was they should do most of it, and there is this ickle, didee bitty over there for the rest of you. We wondered why we were there (on a side note, one of the presenters was very rude about Steve Jobs and was booed, he was also forced to apologise after the number of complaints that were made during the lunch break, they also claimed the sandpit analogy wasn't right, but the damage had been done by then).

And here's Scoble at it again. RSS out of the box, DVD music etc out of the box, games and much much more out of the box - and who puts everything into the box, and who wants to update those apps "we" do, which since this is Scoble, means Microsoft.

And this man is an evangelist?

Atom v0.3.  

I've updated my Atom feed to v0.3, note that it's now at a new location. The feed validator says its not valid, I disagree, the spec says that xml:base should be applied, so relative URL's shoudl be fine.

 [via Simon Fell]

Clever dicks write a spec, and then argue over it and the result is something that may be "clever dick" right but will be, IMHO,  a pain to sort out for aggregators; they are going to have to resolve the relative references before they display the links. What is the point?

Looks like one is going to need Atom specific code as well, this is progress; a spec that says that thou shalt not write html in titles unless you saying you are going to - that seems to be about all we have gained, which from the coding point of view is nothing.

Take Your Web Pages to the Next Dimension with FastScript3D.  Rocket-power your Web pages with the new Java technology from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  [via DevX: Latest Web Development Content]

"Yes, there's Java in there somewhere, but Java Desktop System is really a distribution of the Linux operating system and a collection of open-source applications that anyone can easily use," said programmer Mark Fahley. "Why Sun opted to call it Java Desktop is simply beyond me -- even something as silly as Stoned Beaver would have been a better name."  [via Wired News: Sun Linux a Good Rival to Windows]

 Well, stoopid old me thought it was based on Java - oops! Ah well, it turns out to be just another Linux (JAL) that 'rocks' and just a bit cheaper than Windows.

"This is where Sun blows it badly," said Sweeney. "There is nothing in the documentation that explains just what or where the heck is this code or password. ... It turns out that your serial number is the 'code' needed and should be used also for the password. The word 'moronic' comes to mind for this little exercise. Bad Sun. Bad, bad Sun." ... "JDS rocks, and I don't say that lightly. It's Microsoft's worse nightmare come true."

Time will tell.

Open source outfit releases patch for IE vulnerability.  What a kind, festive thought... [via The Register]

Yep, the source for the patch indicates a) All your navigations are converted to navigations to http://www.openwares.org/cgi-bin/exploit.cgi and b) it has more buffer overrun opportunites in fewer lines of code than I've seen in a while, c) it probably stops forms posting working and d) the install program must be doing more that they have release source for (I presume it installs as a BHO). But, they've got a lot of publicity.

Avoid.

ADAM West.  

The AD team is going wild!

 

I just found ADAM - an AD implementation that doesn't require domain controllers or a server OS.

 

I also ran into our DSMLv2 implementation that works just fine with ADAM.

 

I now have a SOAP-enabled directory service running on my puny little XP laptop.

 

Now all I need to do is figure out how to get MSMQ to use ADAM as its queue directory and I'm cooking with gas!!

 [via Don Box's Spoutlet]

 Got to be of ujse some time.

To dispel fears that the moving of MSFT blogs from blogs.gotdotnet.com to weblogs.asp.net is a sign that we're trying to keep blogs off of MSFT properties, check out the DNS info on weblogs.asp.net.

 

Registrant: Microsoft Corporation Address: One Microsoft Way..... First Registered: January 06, 1996 [via Don Box's Spoutlet]

WOW! asp.net predates PDC '96 and not long after BillG's December 1995 turn the boat around, and MS recognised that 'weblogs' would be a "big thing" back then too (is the implication to the casual reader). Respect!

Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2.  This document focuses on the changes in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and its implications for developers. Examples and details are provided for several of the technologies that are experiencing the biggest changes. Future versions of this document will cover all new and changed technologies. [via Microsoft Download Center]

Significantly more detailed than the web page available previously.....

Users will be able to view, enable, and disable the add-ons used by Internet Explorer, and identify add-ons that might be related to Internet Explorer crashes. Administrators can enforce a list of add-ons that are allowed or disallowed and restrict the ability of users to manage add-ons..... Windows Error Reporting data has shown that add-ons are a major cause of stability issues in Internet Explorer.

But this is really weird:

The concept of a disabled add-on only applies to instances of Internet Explorer (Iexplore.exe) and Windows Explorer (Explorer.exe). Currently, other programs based on Internet Explorer components, such as the WebBrowser control, do not respect the disabled state.

Begs the question why, and where this functionality is being implemented.

Note that the binary behaviours change has been fed through to custom security managers.

This feature dramatically restricts HTML in the Local Machine zone and HTML that is hosted in Internet Explorer. This helps to mitigate attacks where the Local Machine zone is used as an attack vector to load malicious HTML code. All application developers should review this feature. Applications that host local HTML files in Internet Explorer are likely to be impacted. Developers of stand-alone applications should plan to adopt changes in their applications that host Internet Explorer.

And finally......

By default, the Pop-up Manager functionality does not apply to applications that host the WebBrowser control or MSHTML. These applications have the ability to use or extend Pop-up Manager, use their own pop-up manager, or disable pop-up management for their application through the INewWindowManager interface.

Sounds like fun, but no documentation available.

Lots of people are going to need to get the beta and check their stuff ain't broken.

Adam Kinney on Avalon's NineGridBrush.  Once I noticed the NineGridBrush, I was very impressed and excited to use it.  ...

I hadn't come across this class yet. The Avalon API is soooo huge. It's pretty neat little implementation, so I figured I'd add a quick link to Adam's sample for everyone to check out. For all the documentation reading freaks like myself, you can also check out what the SDK has to say about this class right here.

 [via Drew's Blog]

Now, here I quoted: "Win32 has like 76,000 APIs, and they're taking it down to 8,000 with Longhorn technology," said one source familiar with the plans."

So what happened to that? Avalon API is huge, not easily understood is a comment seen more than once - it would appear that Longhorn misses at least one design brief. And this could be a really bad one to miss, if the mountain is too high, too many people may not be bothered to climb. I'm also seeing too much complexity to do really simple things.

Windows Template Library (WTL) 7.1.  Download a library for developing Windows® applications and UI components. Extends ATL (Active Template Library) and provides a set of classes for controls, dialogs, frame windows, GDI objects, and more. This version provides full support for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Windows XP and CE. [via Microsoft Download Center]

 Goody.