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  Thursday, October 23, 2003


From eWeek: a report on Office 2003:

The study, commissioned and paid for by Microsoft, was conducted for Microsoft by Navigant Consulting, Inc. It found that information workers using the Office solutions gained an average of two hours in productive time each week without working longer hours. The full version is available here for download.

It also found that the companies realized a median net present value of $4,000 a worker, and that the solutions paid for themselves in an average of just eight months…

Isn’t that worth the upgrade price?

 


11:57:07 PM    comment []

Someone asked me today about PDA development guidelines.  My response: get some advice directly from the source.  Microsoft has a logo program so that ISV’s can have their app’s approved by Microsoft (or their appointed testers) and also wear the official logo.  When looking for this, I learned that there is also a document for Smartphone applications.

Pocket PC: Handbook for Software Applications

Smartphone: Handbook for Software Applications

The Designed for Windows Mobile™ logo program was developed by Microsoft to help end-users easily identify software products that are compatible with Windows Mobile 2002-based Pocket PCs. Users of Pocket PC 2002 devices are assured that software products with the Designed for Windows Mobile logo are designed specifically for Pocket PC, and incorporate new functionality featured in Pocket PC 2002 where applicable. For independent software vendors (ISV), licensing the logo opens up a number of marketing opportunities.

 

 


11:51:29 PM    comment []

In reading Peter Coffee’s article Building Better Systems: A Lesson From Murphy's Law, I found this really interesting:

People often misquote Murphy's Law as stating, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." This misses an essential element of the Law: one that ought to be part of our thinking about what it means to build good systems.

Murphy's mantra comes to mind with the special appearance of Edward A. Murphy III, son of law propounder Edward A. Murphy, Jr., at the Ig Informal Lectures, held earlier this month at MIT. The younger Murphy shared a videotape of his father, explaining the origin of The Law, after the elder Murphy and his colleagues were honored with this year's Ig Nobel Prize for Engineering in honor of their 1949 statement: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, someone will do it."...

Note the difference between the original Law and its common oversimplification. The true Law is a statement about people, not about things. People are the least predictable part of any system: it's pointless to design systems that are merely proof against accident, as suggested by the simple version of the Law, when people are capable of both idiocy and evil that step far beyond the boundaries of mere chance.

You should read the entire article for its message, but the take on the real Murphy’s law was a new fact for me.

 


8:28:29 PM    comment []

In case you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend NewsGator.  As you might guess, I use it with Radio.  I also use the Radio plug-in and post from Outlook.  This is the way software is supposed to work:  low cost, intuitive, easy to use, lots of free support.

Tonight, I was doing a post and forgot to start the local Radio service on my box.  When I posted, I got a nice error message stating that there was an error connecting to the service, and then my post went away.  Later, after emailing NewsGator support, Greg enlightened me on the fact that all posts are saved to the Posted Items folder.  This product continues to impress me with its simplicity and solid features.  Greg: my hat is off to you!

Greg and several notable bloggers are having a BOF but I can’t recommend it due to the time conflicting with my BOF.  Because he is competing with other great BOF’s, he is giving away NewsGator licenses at the event.

 


7:02:55 PM    comment []

 This afternoon, I see that I’m quoted on the .NET Developer Journal site in an article regarding the announcement about Windows source being distributed to MVP’s.  I just don’t understand the big deal about having the source to the O/S.  Furthermore, how many people will be able to manage that gigantic set of source?

I understand that Microsoft has some customers saying that they would feel more comfortable if they can have the source.  Customers who spend money do have a say at Microsoft.  But I have not heard why this is beneficial for customers.  And in the above mentioned article, I give a parallel similar to my usage of airplanes.  Check it out and see if you agree with it.  You can check out and add comments there on the bottom of the page.

Naysayers
This morning, I was in Nashville giving a presentation on mobility. Afterwards, a couple of folks were telling me how they thought Microsoft represents a closed environment.  I questioned and questioned “how is using Microsoft tools and platforms a closed deal?”   They thought it was a good deal that Microsoft was sharing source with people.  In these environments, I really try to listen to hear what people think in the marketplace.  So, here are some of the answers:

Because Microsoft charges for Office upgrades
I can’t understand why Microsoft can’t charge for upgrades.  They spend lots of money every year to learn what people are doing, how they use the current version of a product, and what works well in a product.  Then they pay smart people to convert this into software projects, build the new versions, offer beta testing, market the improvements, and support the next release via technical web content, support people, conferences, etc. Don’t you think that costs lots of money?  (And I don’t think the PDC is making a profit.)  

If you don’t need the Office upgrade, don’t buy it.  However, I would advise that you check into this version.

Because we don’t want to be tied to one vendor
I agree with this in principle.  One of the folks that I talked to today said that they were having some of their projects done in PHP and some in .NET in order not to be on a single web platform.  One of the guys said that his company will start using StarOffice in order not to be pushed around by Microsoft.  Based on these statements, there are choices in software, tools, and operating systems.  Therefore, you’re not tied to a single vendor.  Everyone makes choices about which products they use and I haven’t heard any stories where Microsoft held a gun to a potential client’s head.

The problems come into play with having too many vendors.  For smaller companies, choosing more than one vendor can create problems.  Is it smart to have set of PHP developers and a set of ASP.NET developers?  The ASP.NET developers could also create Windows apps, Windows Services, Compact Framework apps, Mobile Control apps, and even console based apps – and all of these can be done in different languages.

Because they are arrogant
This response is unfortunate but I understand one of the ways that this happens.  Microsoft is a big company spread all over the world but sometimes you wonder where they are in the field.  At my previous job, I worked for a company that had built a videoconferencing control system on top of the Windows platform.  We found it incredibly hard to get a chance to meet local Microsoft employees and discuss what we were doing.  Finding the entry point is tough even though Microsoft has all sorts of programs.  But if you ever meet one of their folks, typically they are the nicest people that you’ll meet and they want to help.  And you’ll usually find that they have more requests than they have time.

 

 


5:57:05 PM    comment []

Be sure to register for the Succeeding with the .NET Compact Framework BOF. 

In this context, I'm looking for the following information:
1) information resources on .NETCF
2) preferable devices and OEM's, especially with the new O/S
3) problems unsolved

If you can add to any of these points, let me know.


7:30:57 AM    comment []


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