The Value of Making Yourself Available to the Community. [scooblog by josh ledgard 3/29/2005; 3:53:05 PM] One goal that my team is looking at pushing within the Developer Division is that every PUM (Large team leader) make themselves available to their customer communities through having a blog.  In addition to the feeling that blogging is really the industry standard for cooperate transparency there is value in simply making yourselves available to your community.  I offer the following, shameless self promotion, as a good example of the value of becoming available to the community.

http://dotAvery.com/blog/archive/2005/03/28/2767.aspx
...I sent an email to Josh Ledgard through his blog contact form. I had noticed him promoting the Visual Studio power toys (which are covered throughout the book) and in general trying to promote the community around Visual Studio. Josh responded to my email and from that point was an invaluable asset while writing this book. One of the cool side effects of so many Microsoft people blogging is that Josh could point me to a blog instead of having to provide me with a direct email. Why does this matter? I know when I was in a large corporation I was always hesitant to pass other's email address out to external people... but with a blog I could use the contact form. I can't tell you how valuable it was to be able to talk to the people who wrote the feature or tool I was covering, especially since some of the features I was writing about were still under development and changing. Even though my experience with Microsoft on this started out on a sour note, it ended very differently. The fact that these people were blogging made them available to me, without the blogs I would have struggled on and wrote the book without any of this support from Microsoft. So the next time someone asks me why it is good for companies like Microsoft blog I have a real answer.

I also feel that, as a result, the book that James would have published regardless... ended up being a much improved resource for it's intended audience and Visual Studio customers in general.
7:49:11 PM    

internetnews.com: All Microsoft or None?. [Linux Today 3/29/2005; 9:52:07 AM] "...[T]he high cost of its server software could send some customers in the direction of open source, according to Jupiter Research..."
12:45:00 PM    

InfoWorld: With Linux, Enough is Sometimes Too Much. [Linux Today3/29/2005; 9:52:07 AM.] "Ignore servers for the moment and consider that other market--the one that's likely to be the most crucial for the Linux movement over the next few years--Linux on the desktop..."
12:44:18 PM    

Picotux Linux-Based RJ45-Sized Computer. [Gizmodo 3/29/2005; 7:53:17 AM] The $130 "Picotux" is a network-enabled Linux system in a unit just about the size of a standard RJ-45 Ethernet jack. It's based on the NetSilicon DigiConnect ME, a fully functional Linux-based OS, with up to 8 MB of Flash memory and blinking LEDs to tell you what's going on in there. It requires 3.3V of DC power but also includes a serial port and a processor up to 55MHz. It's available in Wireless flavor as well. A similar, Ethernet-sized web server has existed for some time, but this is likely the first running a Linux kernel on it. It's available today, if you speak German.
 - Linux on an Ethernet Connector [LinuxDevices]
 - World's Smallest Linux Box Fits in RJ-45 Jack [Slashdot: 3/28/2005; 6:52:57 PM]
12:35:31 PM    

Creating quick notes with WordPad scraps in Windows XP. [TechRepublic.com 3/29/2005; 3:52:43 AM] Do you often use Notepad to create quick notes to yourself and then save the file on your desktop? This alternative takes advantage of the fact that WordPad can generate and the Desktop can host special OLE objects called scraps. The benefit is that creating scraps is as easy as a quick drag-and-drop operation--and there's no need for all the steps involved in naming and saving the file.
12:26:13 PM    

Accessible Media through Internet Television. [The Latest from Brightcove 3/28/2005; 7:52:04 PM] A couple of days ago Tareef and I met with Larry Goldberg and Brad Botkin from the Media Access Group at WGBH. The Media Access Group has been instrumental over the last 30 years by pushing technology and developing standards...
12:22:50 PM