DRH's Thoughts and Musings

Tribute to Utakz

DRH — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:22:00 GMT

Just learned we lost one of our own bloggers. (well if you call me that) Utakz is one on my MSN account and we had our differences but more importantly I counted him as a friend.) Didn't relize he was so young, Born almost 20 years after me. Utakz would get some great scoops that would be the envy of us all. May you rest in peace. Aaron Lukas.

I would like to thank Long Zheng for making the tribute plate for us to post.

Douglas (Eldoen)

Scott Guthrie, North Dallas Dot Net User Group

DRH — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 03:34:00 GMT

Attended the Thursday Nov 2nd User group meeting in dallas. First one since I have moved ot the dallas area. Was held at the Intuit Headquarters in Plano, Texas. Scott gave a very entertaining pressentation with Tips and Tricks for VS.net through several different areas.

One in particuliar was if you select on a text in design view it will take you to that area in code view with the same text highlighted. the comment that it was hard to implement and no one knows about it brought alot of laughs.

The second hour was on the Linq project which brought alot of jaw dropping in observation. as I have been waiting on this for several years I only hope it doesn't get dropped again. I believe it is in there for good this time as it has language support to back it up which in the long run is the answer to a truely functional orm imo.

I did get to talk to Scott briefly in q&a. 1st about thanking that IIS7 has very little limitations in Vista. so you can actually develop and test with vista and deploy to the server. Second I asked about designer support in the orcas CTP's, Scott explained that with Orcas a new check in policy is in place. before merging to main the code must past a series of tests that willl put check-in to main at beta level or higher. most of the designer checkins are expected around the mid jan to feb time frame. beta is exptected in first quarter 2007 as in all things in development this is probably a moving target, but I was happy to hear this higher level of checkin to main given the condition of 2005 at rc2 and we won't even talk about 2k3. douglas

New name old name.

DRH — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 01:28:00 GMT

Microsoft announced the new name for Longhorn. Vista. but still calls the display driver model the Longhorn Display Driver Model. Ponders with Vista Display Driver Model, the Short may be ViDDM or videm or the could perhams the Vista Display Enhanced operation short would be VIDEO. oh well that was stretching it. Douglas

Microsoft Announces Name for next OS

DRH — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 02:21:00 GMT

Microsoft today announced the name of the next version of windows.

Microsoft Vista. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsvista

Beta 1 is Due by August third.

Now for more seriuous news. Microsoft will announce in Oct at the release of Office 12 Beta 1 that the

name for Office 12 will be Office with a Vista. Ok couldn't resist.

Have fun looking forward to testing both.

Douglas

testing dictation In Internet explorer

DRH — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 00:32:00 GMT

preparing the system to test Avalon's support for speech API

While it appears that we have a few more years to support real dictation, it is Fun to experiment with today's technology.

this message was written using XP's built-in speech support. With minor Correctionup but .

most sorry for any mistakes just playing with the technology I will say that Dragon Speaking Naturally is light years ahead with dictation from 5 years ago.

Hoping we will see an updated recognition engine during the Avalon beta

Douglas

The Myth of GHz part 2

DRH — Thu, 12 May 2005 23:38:00 GMT

Well I have given a few days. sorry. Medical issues in the family. Nothing as bad as in the past but non the less needed time to take care of it.

But in the first installment I was giving an example of 2 engines and the fact that they are Identical and left it at that.

The important part I left out was that the gear boxes are diffent on the motors and the engine running at 8500 RPM will actually push the car along faster.

So why did this start up. During the Microsoft/AMD Some people were asking when AMD is going to catch up on the GHz range that intel is at.

But the are comparing Apples to Oranges. When Intel Desinged the P4 they designed it primarily to win the GHz race that AMD beat them at. (hey I call them as I see it)

The P4 has some very nice designs to it. It can move Lots of Memory quickly, as a matter of fact it generally needs faster speced memory so that it doesn't become starved. There are several other nicities I won't get into (Intel processor are generally better at encodeing decodeing video either with or without Hyperthreading)

But in that Design change the Gear box was changed. In CPU design terms. the Processor actually perfoms less Instructions per Clock cycle. Some to the tune that P4's when first produced and with the PIII still around under performed them.

In chip design there are always tradeoffs to be made. for heat contraints etc.

While I won't say frequncy doesn't matter, (it does) there are a ton of other issues that must be taken into consideration when considering a Chip. a 3.5 or 4.0 GHz chip may not be better than a 2.5 or 3.0 GHz chip. or it may even be the same when all the aspects of computing are taken into consideration.

As we quickly approach the limitations of Silicon and lithography issues become even more contrained. (each die shrink puts more issues at hand as we get into the quantum instabilities of atoms and electrons)

The next few gens of processors are going to be interesting to say the least.

We are the Colony, xbox 360

DRH — Thu, 12 May 2005 22:10:00 GMT

Well we are having major storms in my area so satallite is down and missed the MTV preview. But was sent this link Enjoy.

http://msxb.wmod.llnwd.net/a274/o2/ourcolony/TheColony_v1_750k.wmv

The Myth of GHz

DRH — Sun, 08 May 2005 21:40:00 GMT

Ok, a little back ground on me, For 11 years I worked in the Semiconductor industry.

In particuliar. I worked for a Capital Eqipment Manufactorer Speedfam. who made polishers. Before that I worked at a Small Epi Company that no longer exists called Lawrence Semiconductor Labs.

While at Lawrence, since it was a small outsourced company, we would get odd jobs in materials to run tests on. So interesting Ideas as Silicon on Insulator, and Silicon on Sapphire experiments were done. This was also during the stages of mass transistion from TTl technologies to CMos. and mos technologies were taking place. although most of your processors were already mos.

Ok, why the backgroud?? well I was directly in the industry when it transistion from 486 to pentium, pentium 2, pentium 3 (which is a very important part of the GHz myth) and pentium 4 processors. actually all the way up to 3 years ago when I was layed off with the big down turn.

But first lets start off with something that most people know a little about. An Engine.

I have 2 engines. side by side the Engines them selves are Identical one is running at 8500 RPM and the other is running at 9000 RPM. with the engines in the vehicles which car would be traveling the fastest velocity.

Catch you next time. with the rest of the story.

What is a Power User???

DRH — Sat, 07 May 2005 03:53:00 GMT

An interesting item came up at the Recent WinHEC show. and something I mentioned what I thought of WinHEC and the Longhorn build. in a previous entry.

But listening to the Chris Pirillo show, great show. For the 2 shows with Robert McClaws brings up a very interesting point. http://www.thechrispirilloshow.com/help/20050502_robert_mclaws_on_x64_and_longhorn_part_1.phtml

http://www.thechrispirilloshow.com/help/20050503_robert_mclaws_on_x64_and_longhorn_part_2.phtml

What is a Power User???

A Knowledge worker is fairly easy to determine but you will have Power Users in that category.

Business user ditto.

Hard Core Gamers ditto and then some.

A Power user is hard to define because it covers way to much. but in essence as a Power User myself or how I look at a power user. Once I learn the Tool. take the training wheels away and give me full access. Turn off the wizards or allow them to be configurable at startup. Generally if it is an area I have no Idea on I will leave the wizards on the first few times to get the idea of what is needed. then turn them off.

I would like to go the step further and I am hoping that Moand brings that to fruition as the system moves forward and a safe scripting language becomes available system wide that. I can script some of my own needs.

But that is my view of the Power User. One that Uses the Computer to its full potential no matter what the underlying skill set is.

Home power users become the biggest issue as they have the widest varyance from the platform.

I would like to hear what Chris and Robert think what a Power user is. as during the show it wasn't clearly stated.

I do Agree with Robert that Of all the teams at MS that Windows (and perhaps Office) are the most secreative groups at MS.

There are two things I wish to point out. Most of the money made in Windows is from Business customers so that will drive most of the feature set. And businesses what stability so the 4 year turn around on OSes is a good fit for Business users.

Consumers tend to have need for access to the latest and greatest before hand. And that support for it in a 4 year cycle feels like it is breaking down. (lets just say that Blue Tooth support has a ways to go yet for those that have felt that pain)

Comments??

50 GMail Accounts

DRH — Mon, 02 May 2005 15:03:00 GMT

post here if you want one. put in the reply with the http address so that the email script jockies don't get it .

douglas

When will Orcas arrive??

DRH — Mon, 02 May 2005 12:37:00 GMT

Interesting interview with one of the PM's from the MBF team. The much delayed Business foundation, which was linked heavily to WinFS.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1789299,00.asp

Interesting observations. MBF is part of the Orcas VS delivery. and it is expected in late 2k7.

Now where does this put Orcas at. I for one don't want to Shell out 300+ for standard 1200+ for pro (retail prices) and turn around a Year later and look at upgrading for LH.

Personally, Whidbey has been delayed Long Enough that if LH is released in 2k6 the designers for the platform should be built to work within whidbey. It would be interesting to see the Tools support evolve for both Avalon and ASP.NET on the “designer role“ but keep the cost in the realm of the Single Consultants realm.

So the whys of Orcas in 2k7.

It will give time for the Product to mature. Also the ability to implement version 2 of most of the DSL additions. Hopefully bring in a Small teams approach to some of the LIFELINE tools.

Delivery of a solution for the biggest issue we face in more software design. The mismatch between Objects, relational data and xml data. And the move to the universal data store.

I am sure these questions will be addressed at PDC 2k5. Although it would be nice to know before I drop the money on the Whidbey platform. or make a decision on which poison to pick on the MSDN subscriptions.

I am a small vendor. so in my role I am architech, test and the like. I do believe that team systems does have a Place. but give us a path to upgrade from.

An example would be that we already have source safe for small teams that can move up to Team Systems source control as the team expands.

it would be nice to have that for bug and workflow items.

the team already knows I would like to push source control all the way down to express editions. I personally believe that the Testing platform should start at express and propegate to a Test Team enviroment. IOW if we are going to give the tools for Hobbiests and dabblers at least give the tools to start down the road to proper develoment.

Oh well, got off on a tangent there. So back to the topic at hand. When do you want orcas and what feature set do you want. I personally am hoping that Orcas is now focused around the LH server delivery with particuliar view of delivering the WinFS platfrom for the Client and what ever they call the server vesion.

comments??

a hitchhikers guide to Longhorn and winhec.

DRH — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 16:14:00 GMT

While those of us that couldn't attend wait for the presentations to show up on the web and scour through weblogs to catch a glimpse of the presentations.

I find it disheartening that there Seems to be a SERIOUS lack of understanding of the computer industry in the blogosphere.

First, maybe it is because I worked for 11 years in the semiconductor industry. have built a working 4 bit Computer from discrete compo nets. wrote interfaces between robots and the main system over rs232. I don't know if it is my hardware centric back ground that makes that difference. but when I look at the Name of a Conference that Says Windows Hardware and Engineering conference. I am expecting to get information on the boring stuff of computing. Boring but the Most important as this is the foundation that makes the exiting stuff possible.

While at PDC 2k3 and WinHec 2004 we were presented with a first showing of what MS wanted LH to be. (most of us then said it was to big of a chunk) a few things have changed in that time period.

We know that we were told that. so expecting that LH was further along (which it is in several areas btw) would be a fools goal. Most of the LH developers were repositioned to get SP2 out the door. and drive the sp1 support in 2k3.

But back to the point. Most of the new exiting stuff coming in LH build on the new support in the kernel. Express and Glass for aero will not work without LDDM drivers for example. The new File Filter stack in LH will require new filters written for it. (think all your AntiVirus, and other file filters. but even lower than that is the optimized streaming optimization made in the kernel for the file system.

Winhec is all about getting hardware vendors on board to write drivers to support these changes. They don't need to see the final outcome of what is planned they just need to see enough to know that it will be worth while to support it.

My main disappointment with WinHec 2k5 is that WDF wasn't at a final format so that Hardware vendors are not writing old style drivers for xp x64 and the x64 bit servers. then turn around later to write wdf based drivers. especially those that could be User Mode Drivers now to get them out of the kernel and increase stability.

One of the folks asked why to upgrade to LH a while back. with so many features going down level now (speaking of winfx, avalon and Indigo)

One of the Main reasons to upgrade to LH will be the significant upgrades coming the kernel. Running a winfx app on LH as compared to xp and 2k3 will be no comparison. especially if you need to use any streaming technology.

Beta 1 will be a step in the right direction although it will generally still be in the lower levels of the OS. PDC build will be closer to what is expected for general consumption and of course Beta 2 will be feature complete(feature complete doesn't not mean spit and polished).

Will Longhorn Lose the Sidebar And the Push for HD in Computing

DRH — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 18:27:00 GMT

I remember reading a blog entry a while back that stated that Scoble stated that the sidebar was being dropped from LH, at the time I didn't have time to fully investigate.

I guess tomorrow we will find out if the next winhec 2k5 build as it will probably become to be known has it or not.

I have 2 concerns about it. As I sit and look for Wide Screen LCD Monitors, I find it interesting that in the HDTV market they are easy to find in the higher sizes the tend to drop to edtv modules at the “15”in range. The reason I bring this up was that the article seemed to hint that the reason that Side bar was being dropped because of screen real estate issues.

A HD Monitor, (or a better description) a Wide screen LCD monitor that allows for 16:9 aspect ratio with the capability of displaying ATSC Signals at 720p 1080i (and hopefully 1080p (hoping I am remember all of the lines correctly) would account for most of the Lost screen real estate given the wider screen as compared to the standard 4:3 platforms in use today.

In particular. HD MCE's will be pushing for Wide screen formats, but I believe there will be a “need” for it as xbox 360 issues in the era of HD gaming. Actually I believe that MS would be dropping the Ball in the PC arena if they were not pushing for HD gaming in the PC area also with the Release of LH.

what are your thoughts

Gaming Hobbyist and the Express platforms

DRH — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 18:11:00 GMT

One of the biggest Hobbyist platforms out there are the development of Levels, new assets, scripting etc for Games.

Looking at games Like Doom. Neverwinter Nights etc etc. the great part is when the game designers release some of the tools to allow for the community to build beyond what was originally delivered in the game.

With the Advent of XNA, and its Team System delivery and the talk at the GDC and other platforms of implementing a scripting platform in C# or VB.net.

I see the perfect inroad for MS to support the Hobbyist to the professional team developer around the XNA platform. MS has already announced the XNA studio, so the the professional level system is already in design.

There is time because a common game mid to high content game takes 2 to 3 years to develop if not longer. I believe with an Express edition that caters to a XNA development for additional content for games at the community level with eyes to move on to standard and professional for the more experienced user would be a winning combination.

It would give incentive for Game developers to develop more tools with an eye on the managed platform especially when developing with an eye to allow for community expansion.

Beyond games would be MCE and a few other platforms. but gaming brings alot to the table for those of us that dabble in the platform.

any thoughts??

Standards.

DRH — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 14:08:00 GMT

Some interesting reading from the IE 7.0 threads I had posted.

Let's clarify a couple of things. the W3C is not a standards body At least not in the binding platforms of ISO etc.

The do write Specs. (a lot of times conflicting within the same spec, or between groups within the same body) But the W3C is in the same regards as IETF possibly the Unicode consortium (although a ISO writtten standards have a Unicode back spec not all unicode consrtium specs have an ISO standard)

So in this light. it was pointed out that CSS 2.1 is CSS 2.0 revision 1. which is CSS 2.0. I will take a point to disagree with that statemetn in a moment. The interesting thing was that In 1998 there was no Recommended status on the platform.

Ok on the the disagreemement On Why 2.1 is not 2.0 Semantically the Spec was changed and certain parts were dropped in areas that were not heavily used. or never were implemented in real life (IOW there are times when standards written on Paper make no sense to implemented in the browser)

And this is where compliancy becomes an Issue.

While 2.1 is a minor update it does break some issues. just choosing one secttion

I do believe that those parts moved to the CSS 3 specs but am not absolutly sure on that part.

Not being part of the full history of the specs. I do believe when the alignment to 2.1 occured with the SVG group which btw is DOING much more work these days then HTML has been doing.

Granted I align with the group to replace CSS with XSL-fo but that is another battle.

Douglas

DRH's Thoughts and Musings

Tribute to Utakz

Scott Guthrie, North Dallas Dot Net User Group

New name old name.

Microsoft Announces Name for next OS

testing dictation In Internet explorer

The Myth of GHz part 2

We are the Colony, xbox 360

The Myth of GHz

What is a Power User???

50 GMail Accounts

When will Orcas arrive??

a hitchhikers guide to Longhorn and winhec.

Will Longhorn Lose the Sidebar And the Push for HD in Computing

Gaming Hobbyist and the Express platforms

Standards.

C.2.13 Chapter 12 Generated content, automatic numbering, and lists

C.2.14 Section 12.2 The 'content' property

C.2.15 Chapter 13 Paged media

C.2.16 Chapter 15 Fonts

C.2.17 Chapter 16 Text