Following up from all the helpful comments people posted the last time around , I've again updated my dream .NET Bookshelf . Sorry I couldn't please everybody, but it shows that there's still space for subjectivity. There are only three books from...

One common criticism of ASP.NET today is that the code it produces isn't valid XHTML but instead matches the HTML 4.01 Transitional doctype. XHTML is becoming increasingly prevalent on the web due to its compatibility with XML (it's just another XML...

Ingo expresses his frustration at not being able to listen to his CDs when he's travelling due to copy protection. I can empathise, having just returned the latest Sting CD because I can't listen to it from two out of my three CD players (an Xbox and...

Several things mark the forthcoming PDC out from other Microsoft conferences I've attended: The fact that it's sold out so quickly, wildly ahead of expectations in this difficult economic climate. (That's not marketing fluff - we would definitely...

At last, we've got an answer to the top request I hear from web developers every day - how can we migrate from ASP to ASP.NET without doing everything by hand? Here's the internal announcement: The ASP to ASP.NET Migration Assistant is designed...

If you've got a Pocket PC or a Smartphone, you should find it well worth your while to install this . This maintenance release is focused on fixing USB reliability and connectivity issues and reducing crashes - no complaints here!

Since the ADO.NET Tips and Tricks blog entry seemed to generate some interest, I thought I'd post a few more general .NET tips and tricks. Lots of people know about the basic QuickStart samples included with the .NET Framework SDK, but did...

It's Sunday - a good day for reflection. This site might be a good place to start...

I just spotted that you can download a trial edition of Virtual PC 5.2 without even requiring an MSDN subscription. Just click here .

To anyone out there who aspires to be like Don Box - are you sure that's really what you want ?! (Hint: if you've got children or need more than 6 hours sleep a night, probably not...) Surprisingly, I can't see any time set aside for...

Virtual machine technology is one of those great ideas that has been close to bearing fruit in the Windows environment for some time now. The concept of a PC running inside a PC has many obvious benefits for developers, including: the ability...

Benjamin (and Larry ) have noticed the recent emphasis internally within Microsoft on working with communities, but it sounds like we're being too heavy-handed for his liking in some forums. What Benjamin appreciates in the Java world is a thriving...

The very first PDC I attended was in 1998 in Denver (before I joined Microsoft). Don Box reckons this was an unremarkable conference by PDC standards, and he may be right. Nevertheless, I remember being blown away by the range of ideas Microsoft were...

Have been suffering from blogwriters block over the last week. Sorry about the lack of posts; I'm encouraged to see that this happens to even prolific bloggers like Robert . Hoping that normal service will resume.

He's right , you know...

With the PDC in mind, I was experimenting with two of the most broadly advertised features of Yukon earlier this week: CLR hosting in the database engine, and ObjectSpaces. If you missed the TechEd announcements and haven't seen these features at VSLive...

(groan) I'm away this week in the south of France attending an internal briefing on Yukon / CLR integration prior to the PDC. Whilst the tools themselves have still got a little way to go before they're mature enough for production use, I've picked...

Just noticed that Microsoft Press have recently published a new book by Simon Guest on interoperability between .NET and J2EE . I've not seen it yet, but a book like this is desperately needed. I'm regularly asked about this and even if the question...

Arrr! Shiver me timbers! Today is Talk Like a Pirate day.

Some time ago I wrote a tool called Snippet Manager which manages all those little bits of code that I find myself needing repeatedly, such as the Dispose pattern. (Of course, you can drag snippets to the toolbox in VS.NET, but I wanted something...

I've been keeping a blog for about two months now, and I thought it would be an interesting exercise to do some analysis of the logs. The blogging application that this site uses ( BlogX ) records the daily hits each blog gets into a tab-delimited...

For what it's worth, I've updated my dream .NET bookshelf . Have I missed anything?

I gave a session on Yukon at the VBUG conference yesterday - they're some of the friendliest developers I know, and it's always a pleasure to work with them. User groups like this go a long way towards building community; at the drinks reception, I...

The final release code for Office 2003 (officially named Microsoft Office System 2003 Professional Enterprise Edition :-) has finally been made available to MSDN Subscribers. Click here  to download - expect the site to be sluggish for a...

John Rutter's Requiem is perhaps one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. If you think contemporary classical music is limited to 12-note scales and prepared pianos, try this CD for an experience that will leave you wanting...