When you get a chance, check out Live Mesh at www.livemesh.com . As it is right now, it's incredibly useful for sharing files across computers and users. For example, I synchronize certain folders across both of my work PCs and my personal laptop, so...

I just downloaded the Windows Live Writer beta. It allows me to work on posts offline and just push a button to publish them. Since I spend a lot of time on planes and trains, I think this will suit me. I've tried it both on spaces.live.com and this blog...

I was in Utah Wednesday, meeting with a subsidiary of a large software vendor that I work closely with. Great people with a really cool product. After work, they took us up into the mountains to a restaurant at Sundance. Oh my – the food was excellent...

So you want to learn how to develop on the Microsoft platform, but you don't want to spend any money ... what do you do? First, if your goal is to learn, I ALWAYS recommend starting with the Next Big Thing, which means unreleased (typically beta) software...

As I said, I'm learnng more about Windows Live Services and what it can do for ISVs. Here's the place to start: http://dev.live.com/ . Here's a company that used Windows Live Services to bring lenders and borrowers together: http://www.zopa.com/ZopaWeb...

I'm at MIX07 this week, and it's very exciting. Silverlight is the big story, along with the release of Expression Studio . Seeing Silverlight in action, I keep thinking that this is going to have a huge impact on the way people think about and build...

There are so many new features in Windows Server Longhorn and Vista … how can you learn how they fit together? Try visiting www.dinnernow.net . DinnerNow is an end-to-end sample that shows off IIS7, ASP.NET Ajax, LINQ, WCF, WF, WPF, CardSpace, PowerShell...

LINQ – Language Integrated Query – is one of the coolest language features I’ve ever seen. It makes queries into first-class language elements – not just strings that you pass along to a database engine. That has all sorts of benefits … one of the simplest...

Jon Udell (now a fellow Microsoft employee) recently made a simple suggestion: every time you email someone with information, ask yourself if you can blog that information instead (or in addition). That way, you expand the reach of your communication...

I'm Patrick Foley, and I've been at Microsoft for 3 months. I'm an "ISV Architect Evangelist". My job is to help independent software vendors build great software on the Microsoft platform. Based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, I work closely with...

Examples speak louder than words. At the launch event I attended, a company called electric rain demonstrated their beta product StandOut ( www.erain.com/standout ). StandOut is a presentation tool that aggressively separates content from visual design...

On Thursday, I attended the Expression launch event in Chicago. Expression is Microsoft's new line of tools for creative designers. I'm not a designer, but I care deeply about good design, so I've always tried to incorporate design professionals into...

In 2005, the US Congress passed legislation to lengthen Daylight Savings Time. Starting in 2007, DST dates in the US and Canada will start three weeks earlier and end one week later. This obviously impacts many software products, including several from...