Alex Barnett's blog

Moving on.

alexbarn — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:12:00 GMT

Alex Barnett here...a quick one: This will be my last post on blogs.msdn.com as I'm leaving Microsoft at the end of March 2007. If you're still subscribed to my RSS feed on blogs.msdn.com/alexbarn please note this blog won't be updated again from March 30th. If you want to keep up with what I'm up to go here.

Moving my blog

alexbarn — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 18:38:00 GMT

OK, so I moved my new Alex Barnett blog to here for a number of reasons, explained here at my, er, new blog.

Sir Tim: Calm Down 2.0

alexbarn — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 02:20:00 GMT

This is what The Register said Sir TBL said about Web 2.0:

"You should thank Tim Berners-Lee. Not just for giving us the web, but for articulating what's gone wrong in the lexicon and thinking of Silicon Valley. Hopefully, his standing in the web community will serve as a rallying cry for right-thinking individuals and true visionaries, and mean Web 2.0 is put in its proper context."

This is what Sir TBL actually said in the IBM podcast:

"LANINGHAM: You know, with Web 2.0, a common explanation out there is Web 1.0 was about connecting computers and making information available; and Web 2 is about connecting people and facilitating new kinds of collaboration. Is that how you see Web 2.0?

BERNERS-LEE: Totally not. Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along.

And in fact, you know, this Web 2.0, quote, it means using the standards which have been produced by all these people working on Web 1.0. It means using the document object model, it means for HTML and SVG and so on, it's using HTTP, so it's building stuff using the Web standards, plus Java script of course.

So Web 2.0 for some people it means moving some of the thinking client side so making it more immediate, but the idea of the Web as interaction between people is really what the Web is. That was what it was designed to be as a collaborative space where people can interact.

Now, I really like the idea of people building things in hypertext, the sort of a common hypertext space to explain what the common understanding is and thus capturing all the ideas which led to a given position. I think that's really important. And I think that blogs and wikis are two things which are fun, I think they've taken off partly because they do a lot of the management of the navigation for you and allow you to add content yourself.

But I think there will be a whole lot more things like that to come, different sorts of ways in which people will be able to work together.

The semantic wikis are very interesting. These are wikis in which people can add data and then that data can then be surfaced and sliced and diced using all kinds of different semantic Web tools, so that's why it's exciting the way people, things are going, but I think there are lots of new things in that vein that we have yet to invent."

This is what Emily Turrettini over at Smart Mobs said The Register said that Sir TBL said:

"Berners-Lee has dismissed Web 2.0 as useless jargon nobody can explain and a set of technology that tries to achieve exactly the same thing as "Web 1.0." The Register reports"

This is what Voidstar said Smart Mobs said The Register said that Sir TBL said:

"pointing out that Web 2.0 is just Web 1.0 with pastel colours and a style sheet"

Did someone say 'echo chamber' or Chinese whispers?

I've not met Frank, but I know about his shirt.

alexbarn — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:18:00 GMT

I've not met Frank Arrigo in person, but I know about his shirt.

In the latest episode of the 'Frank and His Shirt' reality show series, the hunt is on for an apparent posuer.

The background to this rather potracted saga is a story unto itself, even getting press coverage in the local IT rags (local = Australia in Frank's case).

Windows Live QnA service - public beta

alexbarn — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:43:00 GMT

Congrats to Betsy and the team: the Windows Live QnA service is now in public beta.

I've been on the private beta for a little while and turned to it for help for a couple of things when I got stuck. One example was asking for good seafood restaurants in Seattle. I tried out one of the recommendations and was not let down...it works!

Update: TechCrunch picks this up.

I still love the smell of comment spam in the morning.

alexbarn — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 16:36:00 GMT

I love the smell of comment spam in the morning. I did then, I do now.

YouTube video - How to - using Windows Movie Maker

alexbarn — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 21:31:00 GMT

A video on how to make a YouTube video using Windows Movie Maker, on YouTube, made using Windows Movie Maker...

Top 10 Ways to Light Up Your Windows Vista Apps

alexbarn — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 19:58:00 GMT

Somasega introduces the 'Top 10 Ways to Light Up Your Windows Vista Apps'

1. Follow the Windows Vista style guidelines
2. Enrich the user experience
3. Enable users to visualize, organize, and search
4. Run securely
5. Design for reliability and manageability
6. Establish a customer feedback loop
7. Build for connected systems
8. Bring data to the user with RSS
9. Make document data accessible
10. Build for mobility

RSS feeds, OPMLs and Grazr

alexbarn — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 19:37:00 GMT

Kevin Briody of the Windows Live team has published the RSS feeds he subscribes to as OPML files for your feedreader. Some good feeds worth checking out there, including a bunch of Windows Live individual employee and team blogs.

Kevin, one way of displaying these as a blogroll is to use Grazr. Below is your OPML file for the Windows Live team blogs rendered inside the Grazr ui:. Just wack in the url of any OPML file here and then copy and paste the code...

I have to update my OPML file, but you can browse mine at my blog's left hand nav.

Private equity buyouts and crack

alexbarn — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:52:00 GMT

Mitch Ratcliffe spotted a column published ealier this month on the FT. The article, written columinst John Plender, proposes that a leveraged buyout of Microsoft by private equity bankers would be a good thing. As Mitch points out, this scenario would be a good thing for the private equity bankers and er, that's pretty much it.

I can't see the whole article (behind a paywall) but from the citation Mitch provides I think I can help Mitch out on his question around what was being smoked at the FT that day - it begins with a 'c' and it rhymes with smack.

Windows Live WiFi - beta testers wanted!

alexbarn — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:10:00 GMT

Laura John (who I used to work with while we were both at MSDN / TechNet), has blogged about something I've not heard of before...Windows Live WiFi:

"We provide dial-up access to a ton of users across the United States but we've also been working on a stealth project that we're now ready to Beta -- Windows Live WiFi. This version is pretty basic, but you'll want to be in on the Beta, I'm sure, because there are some very cool and incredibly useful features coming."

The Windows Live WiFi team blog (Un-Wired) has more details and is currently looking for beta testers...

oh yeah, I'm back...

alexbarn — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 07:17:00 GMT

From Yellowstone that is. Land of volcanos, bears, tents, and scary sounds at night.

I nearly killed a coyote. Don't mess with me.

IE7 - RCs, Changes and CSS

alexbarn — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 01:04:00 GMT

As you probably know by now, Dean Hachamovitch announced this morning that Internet Explorer 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is ready for download.

So what is the difference between a 'Release Candidate' (RC) and a 'Beta'? Here's the short answer from Dean's post:

"A release candidate is fundamentally different from a beta. With the exception of a very short list of issues we’re aware of and working on, we think the product is done. We’re looking to enthusiasts, developers, and IT Pros to tell us if this build has any critical, must-fix before we ship issues. The real world is much richer than our test environment and I appreciate the feedback that has helped us make the product better."

In a follow-up post on the IE7 team blog, John Hrvatin points out a few of the changes made to the installation process for the Release Candidate. Example:

"If installation detects a previous version of IE7, it begins uninstall for you so you don’t have to dig through ‘Add/Remove Programs’."

Seth McLaughlin, also from the IE7 team then posted the A Quick Reference Sheet for IE7.

"We’ve created this sheet to bring together keyboard shortcuts and directions for common tasks in one, easy to access location. Rather than provide an exhaustive listing of ALL the IE shortcuts (there are a lot!), we focused on outlining only the ones that perform the most popular actions within the browser."

I like this one: 'Open the website address that is typed in the Address Bar in new tab ALT+ENTER'.

You can the rest of these tips here.

Some quick links / quotes / reactions from around the web:

Ed Bott;

"The most interesting part of today's announcement that an IE7 release candidate is now available is the almost complete lack of news. No new features, a few bug fixes since the last beta release. And now the march is on to fix remaining bugs and compatibility problems."

Paul Thurrott:

"Internet Explorer 7 RC1 is faster, more stable, and better looking than previous IE 7 betas, so it's a required update for any users who installed IE 7 Beta 3 or earlier. As for IE 6 users, I think it's both safe and prudent to migrate to IE 7 now: "

Regarding CSS, Joe Wilcox says the IE team still has a way to go:

"Absolutely, way, way many more Websites properly load in IE 7 than do not, and Microsoft at least deserves some of the credit for that. The company has done a terrific job communicating what it's doing with the browser, and Microsoft put IE 7 into protracted beta, which facilitated broad testing by many Web developers. So, Microsoft has made great strides, just not enough to reach the goal."

dev/nononsense also comments on the progress made regarding CSS:

"In my opinion it’s fantastic that the IE team have made so many improvements to the CSS engine in Internet Explorer 7 - almost all of the rendering bugs I’ve had to combat in various web designs seem to be fixed, and many more bugs I wasn’t expecting to be looked at.

...I think the team have done a good job in picking some very common CSS issues - hopefully they’ll move on in future releases to even greater compatibility."

Not surprisingly, CSS issues have been a long-running theme throughout IE7's development and today is no different. If you have any interest in this area, you should check out last week's post by Richard MacManus where he wrote up his interview with the Group Program Manager of IE7, Chris Wilson, all about the topic of IE7, CSS and web standards.

Update:

I should have included a link to this post by the IE team: Details on our CSS changes for IE7 (posted by Markus Mielke, Aug 22).

150 cool Windows XP downloads

alexbarn — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:00:00 GMT

150 cool Windows XP downloads.

via JoshBlog

1 line in XAML

alexbarn — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:00:00 GMT

Tim Sneath asks:

"What's the most impressive WPF demo you can construct in a single line of XAML? Can you improve on these?"