This isn't a directory, but is an interesting article in MSDN that's along the lines that Jeffrey was looking for: Ten must-have tools every .NET developer should download now.

Jeffrey McManus points to Apple's list of developer tools and wonders if Microsoft has anything like that.

My brain is fried right now, but I'm pretty sure there's a list of development tools somewhere. At Fawcette I used to produce a catalog of tools for Microsoft that was shipped in every box of Visual Studio.

I'll get back to you tomorrow on this. I'd love it if my readers would help: what's the best place to learn about tools for .NET developers?

I just pulled down a link to a fun video from Linspire because it looks like they pulled down the video. Instead, go talk about it on Channel 9. Bummer, it really was fun.

Jeff Maurone just posted an awesome blog entry about what it's like to have dinner with Bill Gates at his home. I'm so jealous.

Reminds me of when I had dinner with one of Bill's neighbors.

Addy Santo releases an alpha version of BlogWave, a tool which enables scheduled generation and publishing of RSS feeds.

Looks interesting. This would help when I'm writing about things that have an embargo date/time.

Another pimped out ride. Or, maybe I should say PC'd out.

Shel Israel: the changing face of Microsoft.

OK, somehow I've hit a nerve. Instead of trying to fight it, let's use all this attention for good.

This afternoon I had coffee with Jerry Michalski and told him: "I am going to reinforce my philosophy so that I can avoid the problems with getting too much attention."

So, what's my philosophy? Help software developers get adoption. Not just ones who work on Microsoft technologies, either. All developers. That's how Microsoft will really build a great following.

Adoption.

It's such a simple word, but so hard to do. How do you get people to use, er adopt, your software? Well, one, they need to know about it. So, tell us about it!

After all, a line of code isn't worth anything unless it actually gets used.

Lots of geek dinners happening.

Mick is holding one in Australia on August 4.

Bill Lazar is holding one in Silicon Valley on August 13.

And I'm holding one (Sam Gentile, Dan Appleman, and Rod Paddock, the publisher of CoDE magazine, all say they'll be there) on Thursday night (the 29th). We'll meet at the Bellevue Barnes and Noble (the one downtown Bellevue) at 7 p.m. (Dan Appleman is doing a book signing) and then we'll move to Rock Bottom Brewery (probably be there starting at about 7:30). Everyone's invited.

Are you doing a geek dinner? List it at geekdinner.com.

Oh, the folks who do the alerts technology I use have changed the system so that alerts get sent everytime I post. If you don't like that behavior, visit my alerts page and change the behavior. It's a work in progress. Let me know how you like it.

Phillip Torrone turns his iPod into an infrared remote control.

Daniel Fernandez has a cool demo (with source code) that shows you how to build an app with Visual C# Express Edition that'll search Google's images. Very cool.

Don Box is giving Channel 9 a tour around the Indigo team tomorrow afternoon. Is there anything you want us to ask?

My wife, on the DNC on CNN (as she grabbed the remote out of my hand and switched to Frasier): "a bunch of weird people talking about themselves." (CNN was playing Larry King Live with a bunch of pundits talking about the Democratic National Convention).

That explains why the ratings have been the lowest ever.

What was she refering to? That all we got to see was the pundits on TV. On PBS there's the speeches, but they are boring too. Totally scripted. I'd rather get to know the people on the floor. They aren't scripted, although they have a point of view. That's where bloggers come in.

The blogs are better than TV, but one problem is that I don't know where to go for the good stuff. And, even if I did (I just toured through Technorati's political blog, CNN's political blog, and Convention Bloggers) the good stuff just doesn't jump out at me. Too much noise. Too hard to figure out what the real story is. I have to do too much work. I have 10 minutes every evening to pay attention to politics. I need someone to do the hard work for me.

Maybe the DNC needs to do something like the nerd, the suit, and the fortune teller to get interest going again.

Think I meet cool people in planes? My coworker, Bruce Burns' 10-year-old-son was traveling home from grandma's house alone. He sat next to Plumb, a rock star. She wrote about him on her blog today. She made a lifelong fan.

Yikes, I'm getting referers from the Wall Street Journal Online. You'll have to register to get access, but Jeremy Wagstaff opines that I'm solely behind a PR turnaround at Microsoft. Here's a quote:

"Resentment of Bill was so widespread that all the king's public relations and philanthropic works couldn't put his image back together again. Then, one day, along came a rather chubby computer marketer called Robert Scoble who, via his online journal, or blog, turned it all around. Suddenly everybody liked the king again and bought all his products. (Well, at least, they didn't resent him quite so much, and even spoke to him at parties.)

That makes for a nice story, but it isn't true.

There are a whole lot of people, from Steve Ballmer on down, who are pulling to make our customer's lives better.

Yesterday, for instance, I interviewed Mythreyee Ganapathy. She's one of a few people working on University Relations in India. That's a tough job. India has something like 25,000 colleges. Is she helping make Microsoft a more friendly face? You betcha.

Plus, like I said a few days ago, there are a whole bunch of bloggers here who deserve more credit than I do. They took more risks. Coming in from outside the company made blogging far easier than it was for the real pioneers here (there were about 80 bloggers here when I joined Microsoft).

Plus, there are a whole lot of pioneers who are doing far more important work. Try blogging at Maytag, for instance. Or a travel services company (Sabre Holdings). Those guys deserve more credit than I do.

But, really, I am honored to work with the 57,000 employees of Microsoft. They inspire me every day.

Yesterday I did the unfathomable: I turned down Steven Levy from Newsweek.

First, some background. Seven years ago when I was doing marketing for a small Silicon Valley company (Winnov) I would have given quite a few of my teeth to meet with someone like Levy.

Back then I thought it was unfair that the press paid so much attention to big companies. It's always Microsoft this. Apple that. Sun the other thing.

Do I deserve this press attention now? No. I'm quite honored, but there are so many companies doing so many interesting things out there that I'd like to point out.

Heck, since I know Steven's reading here, how about we point them out here? Is your company doing something interesting? Think that Newsweek should write about it? Leave a note in the comment field here.

For instance, Greg Reinacker's NewsGator is worthy of coverage. The company Russell Beattie works for, WaveMarket, is one I'm watching. Mobile services are gonna be hot.

I could go on for years. Feedster. Technorati. Pubsub. Six Apart. Weblogs inc. Groove. Konfabulator (coming soon to Windows). Napster. Active Words.

You do note many of these companies aren't currently using Microsoft technologies. So, why do I point to them? For one, they are doing interesting work that's expanding the market. That's real important. The way we all win is to see new scenarios, new products, new opportunities, built by new companies.

So, let's hear it. Which companies do you think deserve the press' attention?

Oh, and Steven: sorry that we weren't able to match our schedules up this time.