Kudzu's Tech Blog

Welcome to my tech blog! Here you will find my thoughts and findings regarding .NET, programming, design, and other computer related topics.

 

7/24/2008 - Windows 2008 Activation

I am currently evaluating Windows 2008. I'm pleasantly surprised. So far Windows 2008 is absolutely amazing. But ff you are installing Windows 2008 from MSDN or Technet, there are some issues with activation. More...

7/23/2008 - Looking for an Outlook replacement

Outlook is a case study in voracious memory consumption. I desperately would like to find a replacement. My requirements are simple, but have been elusive for years. More...

7/22/2008 - Tiburon Troubles

Troubles sometimes can be a good thing. In this case it is, but to avoid the real troubles you need to understand why and what is going on with Unicode in Tiburon. This post will not detail every item especially since Tiburon is not released yet, but here is an overview of where code compatibility problems will be. More...

7/21/2008 - Bad Apples

I have a love-hate relationship with Apple. It is not just that they do both good and bad things, its that they seem to do extremes. They make some exceptionally well designed pieces of hardware, but then they turn around and take some small item and so completely screw it up that you want to.... More...

7/20/2008 - Send me your localization stories

I'm doing several sessions at TechEd Asia. One of them is about localization. More...

7/18/2008 - Dozens of Delphis

There are 6 versions of Delphi in common use today dating including Delphi 5 back nearly a decade. This is quite unusual for developers to be commonly using nearly decade old tools. It is a real testament to Delphi's flexibility and durability. There are some other factors for this as well, and it also presents a lot of problems for third parties. More...

7/17/2008 - Mark III Super Portable

I built it 6 months ago. Finally I've had time to post the photos and details of my latest custom built powerful portable. Uber geeky - don't miss this! More...

7/9/2008 - Unintended SQL

While there are standards for SQL, databases still have differences in how they interpret SQL. Recently I stumbled onto a small difference between SQL Server and Firebird that can cause unfortunate side effects. More...

7/6/2008 - Why Silverlight will be pervasive

One of the most common questions I am asked about Silverlight is about the end user requirements to install Silverlight. However this will not be an issue, and here are the reasons why. More...

7/4/2008 - Keeping clean and small Virtual Machines

I have about a dozen virtual machines that I use for development and other purposes. I normally have 4-5 running at anyone given time on my development machine, and I also do development on the host as well. More...

7/1/2008 - Delphi finally separated from Borland

It took nearly 2.5 years to happen, but Delphi is finally separated from Borland. This is another case where I am sorry to have been correct about such a prediction that it would be longer and messier than stated, but finally it is done. Delphi is now part of Embarcadero Technologies. Despite the trend for Delphi to stick to hard to spell and hard to pronounce companies (er, Inprise) continues, I first became acquainted with Embarcadero over 10 years ago and it seems like a good fit. More...

7/1/2008 - Full download of VS 2008 SP1 Beta

It is not readily apparent, but there is a way to get a full version download of the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta rather than the bootstrap install. More...

7/1/2008 - Newer isn't always better

Have you ever upgraded a piece of software to find a new crippling bug or a feature removed but the vendor has removed the older version? I came across a website which archives older versions of popular software programs. More...

6/30/2008 - Microsoft to publish formats of .doc, .xls, etc

From a mention in a press release called "Microsoft Takes Additional Steps in Implementing Interoperability Principles" there are a few gems. More...

6/29/2008 - LINQ to SQL vs. Entity Framework

There is a battle brewing between LINQ to SQL and the upcoming Entity Framework. Some say that it is already settled and that LINQ to SQL is DOA, destined to be replaced by Entity Framework. I do not think it is quite that simple though and both have a role in the mid term, and quite possibly in the long term. More...

6/29/2008 - Annoying IE and SOCKS proxy bug

IE has settings for a SOCKS proxy, and it uses it for retrieving web pages. However other applications that normally pay attention to IE's settings and use IE's HTTP engine ignore it. If you set the HTTP proxy they will use it, but they completely ignore the SOCKS setting. More...

6/26/2008 - Is Delphi Back?

The last few years for Delphi have not been good to say it nicely. Lately I have been looking at the latest plans for Delphi and finally they are moving in the right direction. Is it too little too late, or is there a chance for Delphi to recover as some say? More...

6/26/2008 - It just doesn't get geekier than this

I have long since realized I am now part of the "older" computer generation. In the mid 80's there was a movie called "The Last Starfighter" and was one of the first movies to use large amounts of computer graphics for the movie. By today's standards they may not seem impressive, but for 1984 they were quite mind blowing. More...

6/18/2008 - The PC in 10 years

In 1998 most of us were running Windows 95 or Windows 98. Ten years forward we have USB, faster processors, better graphics, but the general paradigm has remained the same. Windows, mouse, and keyboard are our primary inputs. Ten years prior to 1998 it was quite a different story, and I believe 10 years from now we will go through another change, hopefully even bigger than the one from 1988 to 1998. More...

6/3/2008 - What tablet to buy?

I'm looking for another tablet to buy later this year. Unfortunately, there is a very limited variety in tablets, especially with the criteria I am looking for. Can you make a suggestion? More...