Alain's Globosphere : Others

That's THE decision of the year for me...

alainler — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:10:00 GMT

Hi all, I just wanted to share my joy with you all. On Saturday, I'll get married! :-D

I have spent almost 10 years of my life with my soon-to-be wife so I figured out that she deserved it. You know what it is, right? Living with an IT specialist is not always easy. She keeps claiming that there's "something" in my life (as opposed to "someone"): my computer(s) ! ;-)

For those in Belgium who want to have a drink with me, just drop me a mail and I'll let you know how to come and join me!

You'll now notice a little slowdown in my postings: it simply is because I'll spend some quality time with my wife forgetting a little bit about computers (assuming it's possible :-S). It's gonna be back to normal on Sept. 11th. And, just to give you a little hint, there will be some postings on "Search"...

Now, for Saturday and beyond, let's hope for the best...

Make a folder available as a toolbar on your desktop

alainler — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:34:00 GMT

I've been using Windows from many many years and I came across a feature that I had never heard of (this was explained in a family magazine as a hint for using Windows! :-S)

Try it for yourself: Take any folder on your machine, drag it and drop it on any side of your desktop (when half of the icon is visible). As you drop it, it immediately converts into a toolbar (there's no visual hint to tell you that this will happen). Once like that, you can do a simple click on any item to activate it exactly as if it were a button!

I'm happy because I've learnt something today! :-D

Back in Blogosphere life...

alainler — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 17:06:00 GMT

Hey, you can't imagine how many times I've been asked to start blogging again. Yeah, after one year, it's about time to come back to the blogosphere (oh, by the way, there's no typo in my title, it says indeed "globosphere").

So now I'm back. I'll try to have regular postings about basically anything that relates to our industry and Microsoft and Architect activities at Microsoft.

Come back often or ... syndicate! :-)

Cheers.

AntiSpyware software available from Microsoft

alainler — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 20:25:00 GMT

Hi guys,

Just to let you know that Microsoft has just released a beta version of "Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware" technologies recently acquired from GIANT Company Software Inc (see official press pass). Actually, this is a very important piece of software to help protect your PC against software that collects information without your knowledge or permission (be it Spyware or malicious software).

It actually goes way beyond just the concept of software you install on your machine because it can work (if you decide to) with a community called SpyNet(TM) that helps discovering threats way faster and thus better protect you.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware is available here. You can download it directly from there.

Enjoy.

Strategic Architect Forum is now over ...

alainler — Fri, 15 Oct 2004 05:55:00 GMT

The Worldwide Strategic Architect Forum has come to an end. If I have to summarize what has been shown and said, I'd say one word: Waouw!

The keynotes:

Day 1

Modeling for Connected Systems by Norm Judah. Well, I think that no one can doubt about it: not only is Norm an amazing speaker but he is also very knowledgeable when it comes to business modeling. He has shown really where Microsoft is heading to. He has given a little preview of one DSL (Domain Specific Language) that will be put in Visual Studio.NET (Jack Greenfields' keynote will further develop the subject). The feedback that I got from customers and partners while leaving the keynote was really great: They loved it. They just regret it's not there yet!

Business Architecture by Jack Calhoun. I had the chance to talk to Jack while eating in the morning and he's a real business person. He delivers an amazing view and understanding of the business world. I'm very much convinced that his insights are very valuable and has helped and sure will further help Microsoft better prepare their toolset to meet Business Executives' expectations.

Day 2

Q&A with Microsoft's Chief Architect, Mr William H. Gates. Loud and clear, the 3 main priorities are: Web Services, Modeling , and Security. Actually, those 3 core elements play a fundamental role in the future. Web Services go beyond the Enterprise boundaries and will open a whole new era of businesses and business models (just have a look at what's gonna come with the RFID technologies); Modeling is a way to communicate (first and foremost) but also to automate and, more importantly then, to reduce the potential surface for errors (indeed, if we can automate task and agree on them formally, this reduces the risk of manual interventions and human misunderstandings); Security ... should I say something about that?

Software Factories by Keith Short and Jack Greenfield. Well, as I announced in my previous post, this is THE thing not to miss. Those two gentlemen have really taken a step back to restart from the whiteboard and put their huge experience in common. (and if you add their experience with the one of Steeve Cook and Stuart Kent, you really understand what it means "experience"). Keith and Jack have gone to the extend to show really how to create your own DSL in minutes and thust make Design part of your day-to-day IT practices. Watchout, making things easy to begin with will undoubtedly create a confusion and a proliferation of languages, but rules will come to help finding the best language to communicate. There is just one thing: As discussed with David Chappell when leaving the keynote: Factories are meant to create things ... are they as good at maintaining things? Well, I'll investigate the idea and will keep you posted! Thanks David.

Day 3

Interchangeability of Operations in the Service by Pat Helland. We did find a gigantic Pat Helland. All what he says makes good sense and is presented so simply that even I did undersand it! ;-) He has spent most of his presentation time trying to explain the fundamental shift between Service Orientation and CBD. That's all it comes down to. I'm sure it is essential to really understand that ... but I'm also sure that all the consequences of this SOA architecture are not anough understood. Pat makes an excellent job at explaining that. Oh, yes, he ended up with his now-famous performance "Mr CIO guy" that he will post on his site very soon.

Well, I think that's all I'll tell about it right now. It's been a great SAF.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Guido Van Humbeek and Mr Gary Cleal who have accompanied me to this unique event. I'm sure they have appreciated the experience. We'll have plenty of time to talk about it when we'll be back home.

Oh, one more thing before I forget: I'll have the unique opportunity to present the content of the WWSAF (at least a summary thereof) to the Belgium Microsoft Architect Council members no later than next Tuesday. ... They will definately have the latest news, hot from Redmond.

Belgium Dev & ITPro Days: Tell us what you want ...

alainler — Tue, 21 Sep 2004 01:41:00 GMT

Hi guys,

We're now preparing the content of the Belgium Dev & ITPro days. I appear to have the ownership of the content together with Rudi Larno. Please tell us what you want to see and what you want to learn!

Topics can go over: Visual Studio.NET 2005 (what aspects of it?); ASP.NET 2.0 (caching, design, ... ?); Sql Server 2005 development, administration, integration, business intelligence features, reporting services; Infrastructure Security; Software Deployment; Software Release Management in VS.NET; Modeling features in VS.NET; Operating the data center; Applying patches; or anything else!

I'll galdly receive your comments, requests, feedback about that and I guarantee that I'll use that to prepare the content. Be as precise as possible in your expectations.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Surprise, surprise ... I'm using Broadband Internet access right from the plane, heading to Tokyo.

alainler — Wed, 08 Sep 2004 00:45:00 GMT

After the recommendation of our travel agent (thanks Isabelle), I decided to fly Lufthansa to go to Tokyo.

While waiting at the gate, someone came to me. He probably saw my red shirt with "Microsoft TechEd 03 Speaker" written on it. He nicely gave me a coupon for a $10 rebate for the Internet Broadband access righ from the plane. I did not really expect it but, you know, if they offer it, why not giving it a try. I sat in the plane and plane took off. 20 minutes later, a little piece of advertisement on the screen to talk about Wireless Broadband Internet access in the plane! Hhhhhmmm, that's a good moment to try it out. In a blink of an eye, I subcribed to the service provider, got my login, connected using the coupon code and ... off you go!

It's wireless, it's not too expensive ($19.95 for the whole duration of the flight) and it's so convenient! Only my battery is the limit. To solve that one, I talked to a steward and asked if it was possible to reload my battery when needed (you know, I'm flying Economy and there's no power plug).

So, at the very moment I'm writing those lines, I'm sitting in seat 20D of the Lufthansa flight heading to Tokyo (in Economy class).

I'm not very often surprised but I really did not expect that type of service from the aiplane. I must admit it has a pretty good quality. I've een using it for more than 45 minutes now and I still did not have any problem.

Reading mails, browsing the Net, chatting with my Messenger contacts is all possible. VPN to the corporate Intranet is also possible. In other words, I can finally work in a plane! I love it!

About backward compatibility of XP SP2: Life has changed ...

alainler — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 05:42:00 GMT

I read a lot of comments about the backward compatibility "issues" of Windows XP SP2 and I understand that this could be quite frustrating that an application does not run the way it always did but let me try telling why by using a real life example, not related to IT at all.

I'm living in a very peaceful neighborhood in Belgium around Liège. My wife, Josette, and I really felt good at home. You know, when you want to buy a bread, you just jump in your car, go to the baker, buy your bread and come back home without worrying about anyhting. Of course, when you're back home, you leave your car in front of you home and you don't even close the windows. Life really was great!

However, not so long ago, I left my home, not to go buy a piece of bread but to go and meet my sister. We stayed together say, half an hour, not a long time anyway and when I came back home, what a frustration! All drawers open, DVD player, TV, home theater system all gone, jewelry gone as well ... what a mess! This is a terrible feeling that I had back then.

That feeling, I don't want to have it anymore, never, no, never again. I called a security company and asked for the very best security system allowed by the law. I managed to have such a system not only in my home but also in my car. I had to pull wires all over my house for sensors and video cameras and of course, I had to repaint every single room. I attached sensors to the windows, the doors, etc. I connected my alarm system to my telephone and I managed to have a monitoring contract with a security company. For my car, I installed a system that allowed me not only to locate my car wherever it is, but also to remotely stop the engine. The cost of all that was huge, believe me, but I felt better. Hmm, better ... how good is that? Not really as good as it was before my home had been visited, no really, far from being as good as it was!

Actually, life has dramatically changed! All the things I did, like going to the baker (remember?)... Now, when I want to go to the baker, I have to activate my alarm system, close all the doors with the security keys I have received, deactivate the alarm system of my car, etc, etc. Even simple things such as going to p... at night and you forget you turned the alarm system on! (:-o) Can you imagine, all the things I did before and that were that easy?

Sometimes I wonder why I have done all that. I'm sometime so pissed to turn on the alarm system to go see my sister for half an hour. But when I really think about it, all this energy and money I have put in my home, in my car, really is to feel ... secure and once for all, prevent that terrible feeling from happening again!

Life will never be the same, it has changed, but it's the cost for my new peace of mind after a dramatic experience with a thief!

But, you know, in computer science, we also know that life was easy, that it was very easy to send files by e-mail to a friend, that if was very easy to go read a document at home through RAS but when you get a virus, when sensitive information is stolen, you start understanding that security measures really are necessary. Those security measures cost an awful lot of money, take time to implement and test. After you have them all, you feel better but life has changed ... dramatically! If you understand that feeling, you understand why Windows XP SP2 potentially can prevent you from doing things as easily as you did them before ... but that's the cost for your new IT peace of mind!

Think about it!

Some readings:

This Smartphone can change one's life ...

alainler — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 20:51:00 GMT

About 3 weeks ago, I got a Smartphone Qtek 8060 powered with Windows Mobile 2003. Well, it changed my life!

Before having that device, I had a Nokia mobile phone and an iPaq PDA (read about new HP iPaqs here). That was 2 devices to carry at all times. 2 devices to take care of, 2 cables connected on my desk at all times for battery reload, 2 contact lists and synchronization methods (+ a special piece of software for the Nokia), etc. I looked at the Qtek 2020 that took me closer to the PDA with telephone features but still, it was too big for me.

The 8060 is what I wanted. It's first and foremost a telephone. You have the ability to use it and carry it as if it were just a classic telephone. You reload the batteries once per day, you put it in its beltpocket when you leave in the morning and that's about it. However, it has the versatility of a PDA. (Oh yes, you also have the ability to turn off the phone features but keep the PDA features available).

As far as connection technologies, it uses GSM, GPRS and Bluetooth. Through GPRS, I got it to work with my Exchange server (for my mails, my tasks and my 500+ contacts) and with an Internet Browser ... in minutes. It automatically synchronizes with my Exchange server every hour so I'm in touch with the office and I have all my contact (speed dial is a dream!) and tasks info wherever I go. There's also a very nice feature called the "Automatic Mode" that changes the telephone mode (silent, normal, etc) based on your schedule so you don't even have to remember to put your phone on silent when you go in a meeting. Bluetooth comes in handy when it comes to using a headset or a GPS software!

It has a little camera but, really, it's more a toy than a real tool. There's multimedia support through Media Player. There's a "Voice Note" capability that really is great when you think about something while driving your car. Once again, the key thing is that you actually do have it all at all times!

I even installed maps of cities. Can you imagine having, in your telephone, the map of the city you're in, with hotels, points of interest, museums, etc?

Hey, and through the use of the Compact Framework and the convenience of Visual Studio.NET, you can also have your own applications on that device (DVD list, train collection, work hour registration, traffic counter, games, etc). I've put an extra SD card of 128Mb in ... and I never had to use it so far!

This smartphone also has some bad sides: The battery does not last long enough for one full day heavy use (say from 6.00AM to 11.00PM) so the craddle is very helpful to reload the battery when you're at the office; the navigation pad is not really the very best I've ever seen (to say the least); there is no voice dialing feature (that was available on my Nokia)!

If I have to summarize: It's an amazing productivity tool that you have with you at all times, even without thinking about it. It comes handy more often than you think. I strongly recommend it!