InfoPath 2003 SP 1 Preview - run, don't walk, to get it!
...However, it also has one "simple" feature that blows the mind: an elegant way to fill forms using ink on a Tablet PC. InfoPath automatically senses that it's running on a tablet (nice touch) and turns on "Ink Entry Mode". The form still looks the same, with "textbox" fields, but you can now write on top of them, into a little overlay area that expands to accommodate your writing, and it then gets converted into text...

So don't just hang around here, go get the preview!

I've got a CLI-compliant execution environment strapped to my body

Features for both managed and native programming give developers the ability to exploit WinFX and Longhorn within existing programs and create best-in-class programs by using the latest Microsoft technologies. Whidbey introduces a new syntax for C++ managed programming that leverages templates, deterministic finalization, verifiability, and STL.NET.

Update: This event is over. I'm taking it off the C++ feed until the recoding is live, at which point, I'll add it back.

Part I: The C++ Style Sweet Spot
Part II: Modern C++ Style
Part III: Abstraction and Efficiency
Part IV: Elegance and Other Design Ideals

I just had to comment on this picture. I took it with my 3650 camera phone on the way home from work yesterday and I was shocked at how well this little thing turned out. It was a beautiful sunset and it's so nice to be able to capture moments like these when they happen.

Julie: Wristwatch technology sure has come a long way since my first timepiece. When I was a kid, I remember being so proud of my Buffy and Jody watch from the show Family Affair. Remember the twins, Mr. French, Uncle Bill and Sissy? Am I showing my age here? ;o) I learned to tell time on that watch.

Judie: I learned how to tell time on a Disney Mickey Mouse watch. Later came Swatch watches, which I would wear in multiples on my arm depending on mood or outfit.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Security Information for Developers With Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Microsoft is introducing a set of security technologies that will improve Windows XP-based computers' ability to withstand malicious attacks from viruses and worms... ...To developers these technologies will have impacts on the applications that they create and the tools they use. This page contains resources to assist developers in dealing with these impacts.

Well, how to still make sure that assertions will be triggered when appropriate, but not to have any visual side-effects? Fortunately C run-time library provides you everything you need: _Crt* functions are the key, especially _CrtSetReportMode and _CrtSetReportFile, and also the documentation about CRT assertion macros.

Moral of the story: one should read more MSDN and/or CRT source code.

The Print Shop 20 Uses .NET CLR from MFC to Ease into the .NET Framework
The existing 1.4 million lines of code were not structured well enough to turn into COM components or to convert into managed C++. Riverdeep hit on the unorthodox approach of hosting the Microsoft .NET Common Language Runtime inside their MFC-based C++ application, which turned out to work extremely well in practice.