Random disconnected diatribes of a documentation engineerhttp://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/atom.xmlCommunity Server2008-06-18T18:51:00Zhttp://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/12/27/Elf-and-Safety_2E002E002E00_.aspx2009-12-27T06:45:00Z2009-12-27T06:45:00ZOne of the joys of living in England is the plentiful opportunities for amusement (and sometimes even amazement) due to the proliferation of daft laws and rules emanating from our near-expired Government. According to an article in last week's newspaper, it's now illegal to sell a grey squirrel. It's nice to know that the appropriate level of law and order is being enforced in these troubled times. But best of all are the ramifications of the "Elf and Safety" laws (as they are affectionally known) that now blight almost every aspect of our lives....(<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/12/27/Elf-and-Safety_2E002E002E00_.aspx">read more</a>)<img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9939123" width="1" height="1">alexhomerhttp://blogs.msdn.com/members/alexhomer.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/12/20/Icon-Do-It-_2800_but-only-as-an-Administrator_2900_.aspx2009-12-20T06:16:00Z2009-12-20T06:16:00ZI'm convinced that there are millions of Windows users out there who spend a large proportion of their time just sitting staring at their computer, without actually running any programs. Maybe they can't afford to buy the latest cool applications. Or the ones they've got don't work on Windows 7. Or perhaps it's a just a new incarnation of Zen meditation techniques. How else would you account for the increasing focus on, and proliferation of pretty background pictures and animated wallpaper? Even to the extent of having a different one every time you turn on the machine?...(<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/12/20/Icon-Do-It-_2800_but-only-as-an-Administrator_2900_.aspx">read more</a>)<img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9927225" width="1" height="1">alexhomerhttp://blogs.msdn.com/members/alexhomer.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/12/13/A-Big-Box-of-Windows.aspx2009-12-13T06:05:00Z2009-12-13T06:05:00ZAt last, I'm Windows 7 enabled! Perhaps you can tell from the increased productivity and heightened user experience of this post. Or maybe not. Probably because I'm writing this on the old XP box, while the new one laboriously installs endless patches and the several tons of software I need just to make it worth getting out of bed in the mornings. I mean, how can a new machine built only three days ago already need 15 patches just for the operating system? I imagine that, after I install all the applications and other stuff I need, it will spend the whole of next week installing patches for these. All I can say is "Thank heavens for WSUS"....(<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/12/13/A-Big-Box-of-Windows.aspx">read more</a>)<img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9917333" width="1" height="1">alexhomerhttp://blogs.msdn.com/members/alexhomer.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/12/06/Move-Over-Harry-Potter.aspx2009-12-06T06:11:00Z2009-12-06T06:11:00ZI can't honestly say that I've ever been much of a patron of the dark arts. Mind you, a few years ago I was fascinated to see a chapter for a book on ADO.NET that I'd written come back from review with fifteen paragraphs about devil worship in the middle of it. I was about half way through editing this when I suddenly realized it sounded unfamiliar, and seemed to have little to do with asynchronous data access and stored procedures. I assume that the reviewer had got their Ctrl-somethings mixed up, and I still can't help wondering if there is a Web site out there somewhere that has a detailed description of the behavior of a DataReader in the middle of an article about witchcraft and sorcery....(<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/12/06/Move-Over-Harry-Potter.aspx">read more</a>)<img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9922728" width="1" height="1">alexhomerhttp://blogs.msdn.com/members/alexhomer.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/11/29/To-R2-Or-Not-To-R2_3F00_.aspx2009-11-29T06:33:00Z2009-11-29T06:33:00Z...that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the server cabinet to suffer the outrageous lack of valuable new functionality, or to take arms against the powerful improvements to the core Windows Server operating system. And by opposing, manage without them? To sleep (or hibernate): perchance to dream - of an easy upgrade. I guess you can see why I don't write poetry very often - it always seems to end up sounding like somebody else's....(<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2009/11/29/To-R2-Or-Not-To-R2_3F00_.aspx">read more</a>)<img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9921257" width="1" height="1">alexhomerhttp://blogs.msdn.com/members/alexhomer.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2008/06/18/Archived-XML-Feed.aspx2008-06-18T20:51:00Z2008-06-18T20:51:00ZView the RSS feed for the ten most popular posts... View the RSS feed for the best weird or daft posts... View the RSS feed for all archived posts and diary entries from a previous life......(<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/alexhomer/archive/2008/06/18/Archived-XML-Feed.aspx">read more</a>)<img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=8928355" width="1" height="1">alexhomerhttp://blogs.msdn.com/members/alexhomer.aspx