The Visual C++ product unit is currently in the process of refining its strategy for the post-Orcas timeframe. We'll definitely share this strategy as soon as we're able to do so, but meanwhile I'd love to get your thoughts on how you'd like to see Visual...

Yes, I know. It was only a few weeks ago that I was animatedly expressing my love for my Motorola Q like Tom Cruise on Oprah. Now I'm here to report that we've been quarrelling more than we should. It's not yet so bad that the Q is sleeping on the couch...

After months of kvetching, Helen finally defected from Spaces as her blog platform. Can't say I blame her; she really tried to make Spaces work for her, but I'm afraid the stability just hasn't been there from a blog management standpoint. I expect the...

I wrote recently about some of the challenges faced by personal firewalls and the state of desktop security in general. Perhaps following my lead (okay, more likely, perhaps not), Slashdot just picked up on a Mail & Guardian article that tries to...

Reader Andre poses a great question about the use of COM for a new project: Steve, I would like to hear your opinion whether or not to use COM for the development of a new component based application. There is a large native C/C++ code base, where porting...

If you're still using VS 2003, you should pick up the service pack. We posted a few details about SP1 on the VC++ team blog .

After years of working in the consulting field, my good friend, Nick Hodges , recently jumped into the developer tools business as the product manager for Delphi at "DevCo" (what the Borland IDE people like to call themselves these days). I'm glad to...

I'm back in Redmond after spending last week in the Bay Area. Is it just me or does the Bay Area look more like LA every day? The smog, the traffic, the concrete and asphalt habitat... it's all there. Anyway, although I spent the first 34 years of my...

A few issues were raised in rhe great comments from Norm, Chaim, and Tim in response to my recent post on DLL security. To address some of these issues (and add a few more), I've decided to re-post an article I wrote a few years ago when I was with Falafel...

Mark Miller over at Developer Express recently posted this interesting entry to his blog regarding DLL protection. Mark is dead right in the general sense about the risks inherent in plug-in architectures like the Visual Studio IDE, in which an otherwise...

I suffer from obstructive sleep apnea , so I had some minor surgery this week on my nose to correct my formerly deviated septum. Unfortunately, it still looks the same as it always has from the outside, but the now roomier interior will allegedly enable...

Being a gadget geek, I always keep an eye on what's cool and new. As mobile phones go, I've been frustrated for years over having to choose between the feature set I desire and a reasonable form factor. I want all the cool features... the good camera...

My old friend and colleague, Charlie Calvert , has recently joined the C# team as a Program Manager. I'm really excited about having Charlie on the VS languages team, not just because it's great to have another old friend move to town but also because...

Regular readers may have noticed that I took a month-long sabbatical from blogging. I took a couple of week's vacation in July. Factoring in the usual pre-and-post-vacation rushing about, the net result was no blogging in July. Vacation was nice, btw...