.NET

Links - 03/16/2006

Josh Evitt — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 22:07:00 GMT

Another list of random links I've found interesting lately:

Business
What's the Secret to Your Success? - Michael Hyatt, president of Thomas Nelson Publishing, gives his secret to success.
Y Combinator Startup Library - nice collection of resources from the Y Combinator team; mostly Paul Graham stuff, but other good links as well.
Entrepreneurial Proverbs - good ideas about starting up a business
Getting Real - 37Signals finally release their new book

Tech
Dual Monitor Gripe - Damien Katz complains about his dual monitor setup; some interesting dual monitor links in the comments.
Why Features Don't Matter - where less features equals a better user experience

.NET
Phalanger - PHP compiler for .NET (via David)
How Axosoft Sold $1.3 Million Worth of Software in 3 Days - interesting insight into the recent $5 OnTime promotion by Axosoft
Made in Express - win $10,000 by writing software using Visual Studio Express and/or SQL Server Express

Web Dev
A (Re)-Introduction to JavaScript - fairly detailed overview of JavaScript

Excentrics World Re-opens for Business

Josh Evitt — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 15:09:00 GMT

When Matt Hawley went to work for Microsoft last year, he had to quit distributing and selling the source code to his excellent server controls. Today he announced that Microsoft is going to allow him to resume selling the controls! We use his free Unleash It utility at work and have been very pleased with it. Congratulations to Matt for getting the approval to resume selling his controls!

MySQL and ASP.NET Part 2

Josh Evitt — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 15:44:00 GMT

David has posted his second* article in his series about using MySQL 5.0 with ASP.NET. This article introduces stored procedure support in MySQL 5.0 and how to execute MySQL stored procedures from ASP.NET. Read the article here.

* Read part 1 here.

Using MySQL with ASP.NET

Josh Evitt — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:11:00 GMT

David recently posted part 1 of a series of articles about accessing a MySQL 5.0 database from ASP.NET. Check out Using MySQL with ASP.NET - Part 1. In part 1, David explains how to set up the database and connect to it from ASP.NET.

Microsoft Certifications

Josh Evitt — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 10:15:00 GMT

Microsoft has officially announced their new generation of certifications. (via Lorenzo Barbieri)

The announcement defines three formal levels of certification: the Technology Series, the Professional Series and the Architect Series. The Technology Series is the lowest level in the new generation of certifications and typically consists of one to three certification exams and do not include specific job roles. The Professional Series is the next level in the certification hierarchy and consists of one to three exams, is focused on job roles, and requires prerequisites from the Technology Series. The Architect Series is the highest level of certification in Microsoft's new certification hierarchy and culminates in an oral review in front of other certified architects. Click here for the complete details.

Cropper

Josh Evitt — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:46:00 GMT

I've recently been creating some documentation at work for one of our applications, and I've had a need to include a number of screen shots to illustrate some features. In the past, I would simply hit Print Screen, then open Paint and crop away until I had the screen shot I was looking for. As you can imagine, this isn't the most efficient way to create screen shots.

Luckily, David reminded me of one of the utilities that Scott Hanselman posted on his Ultimate Tools List named Cropper by Brian Scott. Cropper is extremely easy to use and does exactly what it was intended to do: easily create screen captures. The utility provides a resizable window that you place over the area you want to capture, then you double-click the window. A copy of the screen area is placed in a folder named Cropper, and that's all there is to it. If you need a screen capture utility, I recommend taking a look at Cropper.

Things I've Learned So Far at PDC05

Josh Evitt — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 20:27:00 GMT

This is a list of a few things I've learned so far at PDC05:

Don't be late to lunch. (Unless you're really into salads.)
People lose all common sense when they see a bin of free t-shirts. Yesterday, one person dropped his dinner plate while reaching for a shirt, but that didn't stop anybody! He knew better than to try and reach down to pick it up.
If the economy can be measured in free t-shirts, then the economy is doing better this year than last year at Tech*Ed.
"The compiler is an unforgiving mistress." (quoted from Don Box's talk about Indigo)
Windows Vista is much better than I thought. While some of the features in Vista are already available to Mac users, Microsoft has really made some great strides in the user experience. And, RSS really is built in everywhere.
Microsoft *is* listening. This is perhaps the most important thing I've learned at the conference. Microsoft is really trying to incorporate the things customers want in the next version of their applications, and they are trying to be much more transparent.

Arrived in LA for PDC05

Josh Evitt — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 22:27:00 GMT

I finally made it into LA this afternoon. Luckily, it looks like I just missed a massive power outage to half of the city. After arriving, I drove down to the convention center to register and look around. It looks like I'll get plenty of exercise over the next few days.

On the ride to the rental car location, a Microsoft employee from China indicated that this will be a big year for the PDC, so it'll be interesting to see what gets announced during the keynotes.

PDC05

Josh Evitt — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:29:00 GMT

Thanks to a cancellation, it looks like I'm going to be going to the PDC this year in Los Angeles. This will be my first PDC, and I'm looking forward to it.

While preparing for the PDC, I found that Bill Evjen has updated his "What you need to pack" post from TechED 2004 for the PDC. Bill has also listed the sessions he's most excited about, and I have to agree that those are the ones I'm most interested in as well.

If you happen to read my blog and will be at the PDC, then I'd enjoy hearing from you. Leave a comment on this post, or send me an e-mail using the contact form.

Fresh Links - 08/28/2005

Josh Evitt — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 21:36:00 GMT

.NET
Tips for Improved Accessibility in ASP.NET 1.1 - Anyone who's tried to create accessible Web sites using the ASP.NET designer knows how difficult it can be. Also check out Milan Negovan's site covering similar topics at www.aspnetresources.com.

Web Development
A List Apart 4.0 - Beautiful redesign of an already beautiful site on Web standards. The new version is built using the increasingly popular Ruby on Rails framework.

Software Business
10 Steps to a Hugely Successful Web 2.0 Company - Step 1) Create Web site. Step 2)??? Step 3) Profit!
Need Help? Don't Call Us - Inc. Magazine article that covers using forums as a customer service device to increase customer satisfaction. Much of the article discusses how Nick Bradbury utilized forums for FeedDemon and TopStyle with great success.