Come dicevo stamattina... grande giornata oggi per le beta!!!

Simply the best media player for all your digital entertainment.

Download alla Fonte: Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2

Metà settembre... non vedo l'ora... così potrò usare la versione finale durante la sessione...

Having just returned from vacation, I thought I'd update folks about the V1 release of DSL Tools. This will be shipped as part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK Version 3 in the first part of September.

Continua alla fonte: DSL Tools V1 release - latest news

Finalmente Microsoft si è decisa a rilasciare il tool per montare direttamente i VHD senza passare da una macchina virtuale... Dovete scaricare la Beta2 del SP1 di VS2005R2...

Beta2 of SP1 ships with a nifty tool called VHDmount.exe -- Which does just that, allows you to mound a VHD and access it as a local drive.

You can copy data into a VHD (and delete it out of) on the fly which is very welcomed functionality -- Getting updated copies of SysInternals tools into library VMs is now so much easier.

 

Continua alla fonte: Using Virtual Server VHDmount.exe

Se non l'avete scaricato da Connect, non l'avete preso dai 100.000 download gratis... potete sempre prenderlo da MSDN Subscription...

Fonte: Windows Vista August 2006 CTP (Build 5536) on MSDN

O altrimenti a partire dal 10 Ottobre non ci saranno più aggiornamenti...

Microsoft will discontinue all public support of Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) on Oct. 10.

Fonte: Microsoft To Drop Support for XP SP1

Come passano in fretta quando mezzo mondo è li con ADSL/Fibra/altro... pronto a scaricare l'impossibile...

Download Alert! The 100'000 CPP download limit has already been reached and is now officially closed as announced at:
http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/prerc1/en/download.html
It was also revealed on the same site that Windows Vista RC1 is expected in the coming weeks so watch out for it!

Fonte: [Vista Build 5536.16385] Pre-RC1 CPP Download Closed

Anche durante un webcast... ma volevo passarvela subito...

Just click this link.

Fonte: Download the Xna Game Studio Express (Beta) now..

Giro direttamente dal blog di Ale... la prossima volta il mio lo distruggo direttamente... non si sa mai...

La Trust Digital di Vancouver, Azienda specializzata in sicurezza in ambito Mobile, ha comprato su Ebay un pò di telefonini usati.

Nonostante da questi fossero stati cancellati tutti i dati sensibili, anche tramite hard reset, la Compagnia sostiene che esiste il modo per "resuscitare" i dati all'interno del vostro obsoleto telefonino.

Ed ecco quello che hanno trovato...

Fonte: Ocio a rivendere il vostro telefonino usato...

Ora... se mi danno anche un Blog It per RSS Bandit dovrò dire completamente addio a IMHO...

Intanto uno dei miei "vizi" è stato ripristinato... bloggare direttamente con un click sulla notification area...

Can’t live without Windows Live Writer? Need easy or easier access? Need instant access even when not using the Windows Live Toolbar or the Blogit Firefox extension? Windows Live Writer System Tray is precisely the application you were looking for. Unzip the download, put the resulting folder in a place on your hard disk you’re comfortable [...]

Fonte: Windows Live Writer System Tray

Ecco una nuova CTP di un prodotto che secondo me avrà (purtroppo...) il suo spazio...

The SQL Server Everywhere Edition team has just announced the Community Tech Preview of the Access Database Synchronizer (ADS) which allows you to do what its namesake says, synchronize data between Access Database on a desktop and SQL Server Everywhere Edition on a device. You can find out more from the SQL Server Everywhere Team Blog .

Fonte: SSEv Database Synchronizer (ADS) CTP

Non ho molto da aggiungere... se non riportare il link...

E noi che ci preoccupiamo dell'offuscazione del codice...

Microsoft already patching cracked Windows Media DRM issue

Potrebbe interessarvi un buon libro sull'argomento?

Some students told me about this book, and I think I'll pick it up. Steven Borg just bought a copy as well.

The book is titled "Expert .NET Delivery Using NAnt and CruiseControl.NET (Expert's Voice in .Net)", a hardcover by Marc Holmes (APress) and has received good reviews.

Fonte: Good book on NAnt and CruiseControl.NET

Se volete potete scaricare Vista PreRC1... ma solo se fate in fretta e siete nei primi 100.000 downloads...

After downloading, please install and test the build as soon as possible.  Most importantly, if there is a crash, hang, or error – please make sure that you send the information back to us using the built-in Windows Error Reporting technology (a dialog box will display automatically).  Sending this information is essential to helping us improve the overall quality of Windows Vista – and collecting this information is the primary purpose of distributing this pre-RC1 release.

Once you complete the download you must burn the ISO file to a DVD. If you don’t know if your DVD-burning software will support burning an ISO file, please refer to your DVD-burning software program and search “Help” for instructions on creating a disc from an ISO file. 

Use this link to download using the Download Manager (recommended):
• Windows Vista pre-RC1, English 32-Bit Edition

Leggete tutto alla fonte: Download Windows Vista Pre RC1 build 5536

Visto che oggi sembra la notizia del giorno... ecco finalmente la verità sul "presunto" taglio del ribbon...

It was with a bit of surprise that I read a flurry of stories on Friday with breathless headlines like "Microsoft backs off the Ribbon in Office 2007!" and "Microsoft Cuts Office 2007 Ribbon!"

...CUT...

Unfortunately, in this case, there was no actual announcement of substantive changes to the Office 2007 user interface—just someone from Microsoft's office in Australia ruminating in front of journalists about a few things I wrote on this blog a month or so ago. The result: stories got published which kind of played up the scope of changes we've made to the Office 2007 user interface since Beta 2. Some of these stories, unfortunately, included inaccurate information.

What we had considered to be a relatively minor, if nice, improvement to the way Ribbon minimization works turned into rampant speculation on the 'net that we were somehow cutting the Ribbon entirely from Office 2007

...CUT...

Honestly, I love that people are excited by Office 2007. It makes working on it fun and fulfilling, and I know the whole team agrees. But one of the downsides of a high-profile, fast-moving project like this is that sometimes inaccurate information can make its way around, and it can be hard to correct.  This blog is one place you can always come to find out what's really going on with the Office user interface and the team behind it.

Leggete tutto alla fonte: Reality Check

Uhm... mi chiedo se veramente ne vale la pena... ma conosco gente davvero disperata a cui potrebbe far comodo...

Non ditelo però ai vostri capi... mi chiedo se la legge che vieta la videoregistrazione dei dipendenti sul posto di lavoro si applichi anche a questi scenari...

I heard a cool idea from an attendee of Devscovery last week. He said that his wife is a consultant who switches tasks throughout the day. Like most consultants, we have a hard time remembering what we did (or didn't do) throughout the day.

Their answer is to just run a screen-capture program like Camtasia or something like it, and configure it to shoot a snapshot every 5 minutes or so. This way you can play back at the end of the day and have a semi-recollection of what you've done!

Fonte: Track your activity throughout the day

E' uscita la nuova CTP di Sandcastle...

Quali sono le novità? Eccole qui:

1. Firefox support for Sandcasltle generated HTMs
2. 3 different link options (local, Index and MSDN) in sandcastle.config file. (Per maggiori info potete guardare qui.)
3. /internal+- option in MrefBuilder enables documentation of private APIs to be produced for the internal consumption of development teams
4. Support for multi-dimensional arrays
5. Support for CHM Index.
6. Support for all C# tags and html style elements in code comments
7. Abilty to use environment variables in config files

Inoltre ci sono una serie di bug fix...

Leggete tutto alla fonte: What's new in August 2006 Sandcastle CTP

Ridurre l'esplosione incontrollata di spreadsheet:Sarbanes-Oxley 404 and Microsoft Office 2007 Excel Services

Dopo l'uscita ufficiale, ecco una serie di link sulle novità della nuova versione di Team Edition for Database Professionals...

• Gert Drapers - Importing SQL Scripts in to the Database Project
• Gert Drapers - New Project Wizard
• Gert Drapers - So close...
• Cameron Skinner - CTP5( Beta ) Just around the corner!
• Cameron Skinner - CTP5 and MSDN
• Matt Nunn - I can see the finish line
• Richard Waymire - CTP5 should be out Monday

Fonte: What's New in Team Edition for Database Pros, CTP 5

Forse non è troppo tardi per cercare di preservare il valore delle certificazioni...

I'm really surprised this didn't happen a long time ago as their product has been around for years. The latest MCPMap newsletter has a link to a brief writeup about the suit.

Taken from the MCPMap newsletter -

** Microsoft Sues Testing Materials Vendor
Microsoft has filed a federal lawsuit against testing materials vendor
TestKing, alleging that the company is illegally selling the actual
answers to its certification exams. By Stuart J. Johnston
http://mcpmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=1015

Continua alla fonte: MS suing TestKing over their certification preparation material

All'inizio c'erano le BOF... ma ora... se volete vincere un biglietto per Barcellona e presentare una sessione... Fatevi sotto!!!

In the beginning, there were Birds of Feather (BoF) sessions, a great opportunity to interact with your peers and TechEd attendees.

Everything evolves and INETA is proud to present in collaboration with TechEd Team this year's competition open to all developers and TechEd attendees: TechEd Developers Speaker Idol [1]. The top presenter will win a free ticket to attend TechEd: Developers 2007, plus the opportunity to present a technical breakout session. And to become more famous than any other speaker - there are many speakers slots, but only one Speaker Idol winner ... 

What is our role? You'll find us, INETA Europe volunteers, taking part in a Speaker Idol Jury. We look forward reviewing your submissions!

[1] http://www.mseventseurope.com/Teched/06/Pre/Static/Developers/SpeakerIdol.aspx

Fonte: [INETA] TechEd Developers Speaker Idol

Spero per loro che la cosa sia interessante, anche se difficilmente abbandonerò VSTS...

The Developer Tools Group of Borland Software Corporation (NASDAQ: BORL) announced plans to release single language versions of Borland Developer Studio, the company's development environment for Microsoft® Windows® and .NET applications. Bringing back the popular Turbo? moniker, the new Borland Turbo products offer low-cost, language-specific rapid application development capabilities for students, hobbyist developers, occupational developers as well as individual professionals.

The Turbo product set includes Turbo Delphi® for Win32, Turbo Delphi for .NET®, Turbo C++® and Turbo C#®. Each version will be available in two editions: Turbo Explorer, a free downloadable version, and Turbo Professional, a version priced less than $500 which is designed to accept thousands of available third-party tools, components and plug-ins. All Turbo editions enable developers to rapidly build high performance GUI, Database, Web, and Web Services applications for Microsoft Windows. Turbo Delphi for .NET and Turbo C# support the Microsoft .NET and ASP.NET platforms.

Fonte: Borland trying to revolutionize software development again

Marco e tutti gli altri a cui ne avevo accennato... vi prego... non odiatemi...

...come si fa... potete provare a seguire i numerini...

Ho aggiornato la pagina italiana di INETA.

Le novità riguardano il prossimo workshop di .netSide e l'offerta valida per i soci degli UG affiliati ad INETA per partecipare alla WPC.

Ultimo giorno di lavoro... poi mi sa che anche i BdG andranno in vacanza per un po'...

• System Definition Model Extension Package for Visual Studio 2005 - un progetto molto interessante su CodePlex, permette di creare i componenti SDM per VSTS Architect senza impazzire con i tool da riga di comando...
• CTP 5 is Around the Corner - VSTS x DB Pro procede a passi da gigante... la prossima CTP è vicina...
• DSL Tools quietness - e anche i DSL sono quasi pronti per la versione 1... giusto in tempo per il workshop di ottobre...
• August 2006 Team System Webcasts - per chi non va in ferie e vuole seguire un po' di webcast su VSTS... ma chi ve lo fa fare... ci sono già i miei in italiano...
• Paint.NET v2.70 Beta 1 now available via auto-updater - attenzione che la beta scade a fine mese...
• New Fiddler is Out that Supports Vista - Il miglior tool per capire cosa succede alle vostre pagine web... ora supporta anche Vista...

Direttamente da PressPass (Technology Leaders Release New Specification to Simplify IT Management)

Common goal to provide standard for describing system information in XML formats.

Aprendo il documento si vede:

BEA Systems Inc., BMC Software Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Dell Inc., EMC Corp., HP, IBM Corp., Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. today announced they have published a draft of a new specification that defines a consistent way to express how computer networks, applications, servers and other IT resources are described — or modeled — in extensible markup language (XML) so businesses can more easily manage the services that are built on these resources.

In pratica SDM ha intrapreso un processo di standardizzazione simile a quello già avvenuto per i web services, e questa è un'ottima cosa. Spero solo che non faccia la fine del WSDL o di XML Schema, due specifiche inutilmente complesse.

Speriamo.. ma questa è un'ottima notizia per le evoluzioni future di VSTS Architect, MOM e SMS...

Il draft della specifica è disponibile qui: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/dsi/serviceml.mspx

Che volevo il lanciamissili USB...

USB Missile Launcher Winner: Lorenzo Barbieri  79,600 Points

Ormai sto diventando un veggente... tre premi che volevo li ho portati a casa... e senza barare!!!

Questo mese sono indeciso fra l'HD USB da 8Gb (per far vedere a Janky che ce l'ho più grosso del suo...), la tastiera wonderbra da regalare a qualche amica .nettara... o le ferie senza pensieri e senza toccare il pc... vedremo... dopotutto si chiama .netTrullo mica per niente...

P.s. complimenti anche a Christian, Luciano, e Simone!!!