Ah, well this is interesting. If you can read this, I managed to adjust the date when this blog entry would be posted to a week after I left Microsoft. At this moment, I'm probably enjoying some very unhealthy fried food in Belfast. So thanks again for all the comments you guys have left on my blogs over the years: your feedback make it worth doing. Keep in touch!
OK heroes, this is my last blog entry as today is my last day at Microsoft. I’ve greatly enjoyed the last eight years here, and sorry I can’t say longer. However, it’s back to Ireland I go. If you would like to stay in touch, please feel free to visit my person website at: http://www.johnterencekennedy.com/
Thank you, and goodnight!
Good news if English isn't your first language, or, I guess, you want to test your foreign language skills. Using a rather cool machine translation system from Microsoft Research, the Content Publishing Team have managed to convert the Windows Moble 6 SDK into multiple languages. You can even read them side-by-side to compare, in case the translation is lacking.
Your feedback is definitely welcome, so please check it out.
MSDN MT Labs Library Pilot
Back to work for a moment: if you now go to the MSDN site and check the Windows Mobile docs - in fact, the entire Windows Mobile and Embedded docs - you'll see one important difference: nothing. Well, hopefully you won't spot anything out of the ordinary.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms376734.aspx
However, in the background for weeks, we've been moving around every single topic we own, and sorting them into a considerably more logical platform/release structure. This sounds both trivial and common sense, but I should tell you that this was one of the first things I was tasked to do when I joined this team about two years ago.
In order to move these docs around, poor Troy on the production team had to create massive lists of instructions for the MSDN engineers to follow. We had to create new entry pages. We had to try and work out what to do with older content (Pocket PC 2000, anyone?) that we're legally obliged to include. We also had to work out where Windows Mobile 6 content, and any future content, would go. All the teams involved had to buy-off on the moves.
So, in between writing documentation, we finally found time to do this in the past month, and it went live yesterday. There are still a few bugs that need ironed out (we can't change the .Net Micro Framework's extra quotation mark in the title for example - that belongs to a different team, and the request to change need to be filed in triplicate, recycled as firelighters, and fed to the Bugblatter Beast of Traal ), but things will settle down soon. No URLs that point to content have been changed as far as I know, so if you have bookmarks, they'll still work.
If this is the kind of thing that interests you, maybe there is a career for you in the exciting world of programmer/writing and information engineering! :-)
Someone suggested in a comment to a previous posting that I write about the current state of the industry, and as I’m leaving the company, I might as well be completely honest. That would be a great idea, but remember that I only have the viewpoint of a foot soldier rather than a general, and so I’m not sure that I know the current state of the industry in any way that would be meaningful.
Also, I don’t think I’ve ever been dishonest when writing this blog (haha) so there might not be much new here. And finally, I would like to keep the option of working for Microsoft in the future open. I do like this place, and the people and I still have stock!
With that out of the way, I am happy to start with a rant and say I dislike the latest version of Word and its default typeface Calibri a great deal. Drives me crazy. The kerning seems whacky, and it doesn’t come with my favourite Helvetica. There, that’s set the scene nicely. You can tell I’m going to be at least a little mean here, but in a nerdy way. J
So, to be honest, I have a feeling that we lost our way a little.
My favourite mobile devices were the early ones: the Palm-size PCs, the Pocket PCs. There was no attempt to be a phone, they were PDAs – and back then, this was a really novel idea. The competitor was Palm, and Microsoft really shook them up. Sure, the user interface was clunky (after eight years here, I am still not convinced that a Start button on a pocket device is a good idea, and I don’t think I ever will be) but there was some real innovation. Remember “Channels”, that funny icon that looked like a satellite dish? Those were a cross between desktop widgets and RSS feeds – and that was ten years ago. Ahead of its time. Even the mighty iPhone doesn’t quite have the same model in place for pulling down content. If those had survived until WIFI/GPRS, they would have flourished. Sadly, all we have at the moment is the Mobile Internet Explorer web browser, which, let’s be honest here, is not amazing.
Back then, Pocket PCs had the ability to write plug-ins for the home screen that was powerful and easy to do. I wrote and sold a program called “Sticky Buttons” that let you use anything from South Park characters to Star Trek-style graphics as your user interface, and the templates people emailed me were stunning. They broke every copyright law in the book, but they were stunning. Everyone loves customizing the look of their personal gadgets, and it's a shame that it’s increasingly difficult to change the look of Windows Mobile devices.
The move away from innovative new ways of using mobile devices seemed to happen when we started to mate these pocket devices with mobile phones. Of course it was inevitable that this union happen, but bolting a phone onto a PDA was kind of back to front, and highlighted the “Start button” model. In my view, it should be a phone first, and a computer second. We always seemed to get that the other way around, even with the Smartphone devices.
Now, when I say lost our way, that simply mean deviates from the kind of device that I, personally, would like. I’m not speaking for the entire market. The market that Windows Mobile devices seems to be two groups of people: the business person who needs access to email on the road, and the company that needs to tweak a device into a bespoke platform for remote access to data. Given Microsoft’s success with Exchange Email Server and database tools, this isn’t that surprising when you think about it. Plus, Microsoft has Visual Studio in its catalog – and I’m biased of course, but this has got to be the finest, most powerful development suite in existence.
Windows Mobile devices have been very, very successful in these markets, which is a Good Thing. But then I walk into a local phone store and see Windows Mobile devices on display, and I worry. I think that if we have these for sale in a High Street store, we’re reaching beyond business users, and in that case someone is going to buy one of these, and then they are going to discover that the device isn’t really ideal for, you know, fun stuff. The web browser, the media player – these are features that have not kept pace, and ironically this is exactly where mobile technology is blossoming. Social networks, portable video, Web 2.0 – we’re lagging behind there. Thank goodness there are some cool apps happening and many changes afoot that I can’t talk about, but there is still progress to be made here.
I’ve seen people put a Windows Mobile device and an iPhone on a PowerPoint slide, and check off the features: email, media, web browser. Sure, the Windows Mobile device gets a check mark but that’s missing rather an important point. I would like to see us make a device that combined the amazing, industrial-strength business stuff we have pretty much perfected, with the type of experience that would make me personally want to buy one of these for my brother, who doesn’t need to stay in touch with his office.
There. I’ve said it. For fun stuff, we’ve a ways to go. And that is what I like doing with devices, fun stuff. It’s what I liked doing on Pocket PCs and Palm-size PCs, and it was easy to write some applications to make fun-stuff happen. These devices aren’t fun for me anymore. My personal phone is not a Windows Mobile phone.
Of course, there are just my personal opinions. I’m far away from any team that implements these features, and defines which market segment Windows Mobile is aimed at. This company exists to make money for the shareholders, not create a device specifically for me. My job here has been to try and help developers write applications, by wrestling with the enormous number of programming APIs on one side, and the enormous overhead of the documentation creation process on the other. When I do get to pop my head up and try and see what’s coming next, another wave of new APIs and documentation tools crashes down on me, and I get caught up in the enjoyable process (and I’m not being sarcastic there, really) of getting information onto MSDN in a way that someone might actually be able to find it, and think it useful. Hey, it was a wonderful job – but it wasn’t a job that could influence the next generation of device user interface.
So I do think we strayed a little too much into the business user side, and could have spent more time creating user interfaces, customization tools, web features and media players.
Obviously I can’t talk about any products or versions or platforms or tools that have yet to be announced, and to be completely honest with you, my job has kept be busy enough that I’ve not had a chance to dig too deep into what’s coming next.
I’ve heard codenames, I’ve seen demos. I do hope it’s cool. Maybe if it’s really cool I’ll buy one.
Last month was my last full month at Microsoft, which means it was also the last full month in which I had a chance of getting more hits on my blog than my manager. I didn't manage it! Despite the fact that he didn't have a single new post, he still beat me by a comfortable margin. That's the benefit of getting onto a lot of RSS feeds while in a different team, I guess...
So, perhaps there is still hope for this month. I might be gone at the end of this week, but at least my manager will see the stats for October.
All I need to do is writing an amazingly popular blog post that hits Digg or SlashDot or something. Hmm.. I could leak some secrets.. or publish some pictures.. or leak some secret pictures..
You tell me: what should I do? I've nothing to lose :-) I'm leaving the company AND the country :-)
Update #1
Did I mention that I spotted Steve Ballmer in a Subway last weekend?
Update #2
Is it just the fact that I work in the Windows Mobile team, or is it a trend in society in general that men think it is acceptable to hold a telephone conversation, or to send text messages and emails, whilst in the toilet? Here at work I always seem to notice chaps standing up, talking away on their phone, or on one memorable occasion, as I sat in the cubicle I was forced to hear the occupant next door telling a collection agency about his ex-wife's spending habits...
As a 40 year-old computer nerd, I’m interested in how home computer programming has changed over the years, and I’m seriously wondering if we’re seeing the end of the hobbyist computer programmer. Hey, I’m leaving Microsoft next week, so indulge me.
My first computer was one that I borrowed from a good friend when I lived in N. Ireland. That friend now runs a best-selling Linux magazine in the UK: it’s fair to say we have different outlooks on the computing industry. That little white plastic computer was a Sinclair ZX80. It had a Z80 CPU, 1K of memory (yes, 1 024 bytes), a built-in BASIC interpreter and it stored programs (if you were lucky) on cassette tape. The keyboard was a touch sensitive piece of plastic, and the display was a spare black and white portable television.
This was one of the very first home computers, and it was designed from the outset for crazy nerds like me with no girlfriends to write their own applications, type one in from a magazine, or possibly buy some on tape from another crazy nerd with no girlfriend. In my computer collection, this was followed by a ZX81, then a Jupiter Ace (when everyone else bought Spectrums, or Vic 20s, or Commodore 64s, or BBC Micros), then an Amstrad CPC464 and 6128, and then an Amiga or two. Or three. I loved the Amiga so much that I was co-editor (with my ZX80 buddy) of a UK Amiga Magazine.
Here’s my point. All these computers were designed to be programmed. Right up until the Amiga, the computers came with BASIC (or FORTH, in the case of the Jupiter Ace) in ROM. When you turned them on, there was no booting, no operating system, just a BASIC interpreter. Sure, 90% of the people who bought these would only type “LOAD” into that BASIC interpreter and wait 30 minutes to play “The Hobbit”, but if they wanted to, they could write a program.
On the Amiga, you really needed to buy a C or C++ based development tool to do anything serious, and at this point computers really were turning into something of an appliance or games console, but the fact is you could write a program if you wanted to. If you had the talent and time, you could write the same application as the number one selling game on the market.
In the UK at least, parallel to these home computers were the more expensive and serious computers such as the IBM PC and Apple Mac. These tooo were designed to allow serious development. By the way, my first experience of the IBM PC, with dual 5.25 inch floppies and something called MS DOS was at university, and boy, were those ugly machines. My professor gave me special access, but after 20 minutes I decided they were horrible, and didn’t touch a PC again for many years. Instead, I learnt Pascal on the Macintosh and tried to free my brain of the spaghetti coding that years of BASIC had hammered into me.
Ok, so summary: early computers in the 1980’s and 90’s – all designed to be programmed.
Then I discovered Windows Mobile devices (Handheld PCs they were called back then), and I learnt Win32 programming. One problem: I was broke, and the Visual Studio tool was expensive, and only available in the US. And the Windows CE SDK wasn’t available to anyone other than special select few. So I called in a few favours and got lucky, and someone at MS that I’ve never met was really kind and sent me Visual Studio. I need to send that guy something before I leave.. anyway, eventually I could write apps for Handheld PCs! And then Palm-size PCs! However, even at this point, it was getting difficult to get the tools. Imagine a platform that the manufacturer deliberately made difficult to code for.. this was a huge change from the 1980s.
Then Microsoft did a wonderful thing. They released the Embedded Toolkits for Visual C++ and Visual Basic for Pocket PCs for free. Completely free. This was a great move. Immediately the number of applications for devices mushroomed. Happy days! Life was good. Programming was free!
And then things started to change. Instead of home computers, games consoles became the norm. Loading “The Hobbit” from a tape wasn’t as much fun as loading Mario from a cartridge. Sure it made sense, but how could you write a program for a games console? Answer: unless you were a company you couldn’t.
In my own world, Windows Mobile 5 now required the purchase of Visual Studio Standard Edition, for a few hundred bucks. This wasn’t going to break the bank, but much worse was the growing requirement for code-signing. As Windows Mobile turned more into a phone operating system, and less of a PDA gadget, it was deemed necessary to lock down features. This is probably only going to continue. As you may know, you can buy a Windows Mobile phone in a store today, bring it home, connect it to Visual Studio, and completely fail to run your application on it. Before you can run apps on your own phone, you need to work out the security certificates, and pay a fee to get it “code signed”.
Similarly, Apple released the most talked-about phone ever, and deliberately locked it down to avoid any development other than web sites. Sure, it was possible to “jailbreak it” and run apps until the last ROM update, but since then, it’s been impossible for anyone to write an application.
I find all this very sad. Sure, there are good reasons for making it harder to write applications, but for me, this makes the platforms less exciting. I’m clearly not a business manager or a lawyer, but I want to be able to write code for my gadgets. I want the 25-year younger versions of myself to get excited about the latest cutting edge technology, and make it their own. Rather than be consumers, I want them to be able to take it apart, expand it, learn about it – and make kick-ass things out of it by pushing it way beyond what the original designers ever imagined.
Instead, it seems, the industry is on a march to make it ever more difficult to do this by locking things down in order to protect sales, networks, reduce security risks, protect IP..
That said, I do see some good things still happening. Here’s a list of things that lift my spirits:
· Visual Studio Express – free versions of Visual Studio, that make it possible to write applications for the desktop using professional quality tools. Another good move from Microsoft. I wish there was a version for writing applications for Windows Mobile.
· Silverlight – I like the idea of a platform that can deliver amazing graphics but can also do it with JavaScript, meaning all you need is Notepad. I don’t know what the plans are for Silverlight on mobile devices, but could be a wonderful way of writing applications. Imagine a Windows Mobile phone with the Shell written – and customizable by you and me – in Silverlight/JavaScript.
· iPhone SDK – a story on ArsTechnica today talks about the possibility of enhancing Mobile Safari to add more features suitable for writing applications. Local storage, for example. Again, anything that lets you write apps in Notepad gets my vote. It’s not Cocoa, but it’s a start.
· Xbox – the tools that let anyone write games on the Xbox are fantastic. Top marks to the Xbox team for that. Seriously, brilliant move.
· Web Applications/Ajax – the popularity of the web as an application platform grows and grows. At one time “the network was the computer”, then that stalled, and the Web seemed to be nothing but pop-up adverts, But now, thanks to innovation like GMail it’s more a case of “the information is the application”. We need some better tools, but Ajax is a great start. Again, all you need is a text editor. I like that.
· Tools on free operating systems such as Linux that include powerful C++ computers, and source management tools. Nothing like these existed back when I was using the Amiga
I guess I have a plea for anyone designing a new gadget. If you can’t make it user-accessible and programmable at the same level as you have access to, at least design some kind of sandbox that makes it powerful and safe for writing applications that are as indistinguishable from your apps as possible.
But I’m interested in your opinion. Is it more difficult now to begin programming? What it’s like to be locked-out from coding at the same level as “professionals” on most devices on the market?
Next week will be my last at Microsoft. It’s just shy of eight years ago, that I came to the US from Northern Ireland, to work as a Programmer/Writer for the Visual C++ team. I worked on the ATL and MFC documentation, and to be honest – and this is something that is probably apparent if you read the ATL documentation – I never really completely understood it. Class factories? COM? Blegh! No thanks. That’s not me. So I was relieved when I moved onto the Visual C# team, where I learnt all about managed code (thanks, Sam A.!) and was able to work on the C# docs (thanks, Michael B.!), and write the C# Express doc set (thanks Dan F.!) Of course I had some great editors who make it all make a little more sense (thanks Sean M. and Michelle F.!)
Then, two or more years ago, I finally was able to move to the Mobile Devices team. Mobile Devices are why I wanted to work at Microsoft. When I first saw the very early Handheld PCs (such as the Philip’s Velo 1, and other HP devices) I was hooked. I had to learn more! So I pestered the contacts I had at Microsoft to get the tools (thanks Kurt S.!) which cost a lot of money in those days – sadly, we’ve moved away from the free tools again – and taught myself Win32 programming (thanks Doug Boling!).
Eventually I knew enough to write some software, which I sold through Handango (an astronomy program called “Pocket Universe” was my top selling application) and was able to do this full-time, until that is, I moved to the US to work for Microsoft.
So, here I am in the Windows Mobile division, working as a Senior Content Project Manager (I love the “Senior” part of the title – I just turned 40 last month, so it definitely makes me feel old), and I’ve been working on the Windows Mobile SDK documentation for most of that time. Now I’m winding down on that project, and I feel pretty good about the work I managed to do here, and the changes and (hopefully) improvements I was able to influence.
For personal reasons, I’m now planning on returning to N. Ireland. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a position within the Microsoft Empire in Ireland or the UK, and I’m sad to leave after all this time, but I have excellent reasons for going. Hopefully I'll find an interesting job in Dublin perhaps.
Microsoft is certainly an interesting company to work for. Before I came here, I was scared of the Evil Empire image, and hopeful that I would become a multi-millionaire within a few years. I was wrong on both counts J
Before I go, I may write some more on what it’s like to work here: feel free to ask me in the comments if you have anything specific on your mind. I think it might be interesting to share a few insights and opinions in case you were thinking of coming to work here. Obviously I think it’s a great place to work – and like anywhere, it has its challenges – but if you want to make a difference, learn a lot, and interact with great people I can definitely recommend it.
I’ve recently been working on a Windows Mobile Starter Kit (I’ll be uploading it shortly) that interacts with the internal Contact’s database on the Windows Mobile device. Last time I wrote an application that tried to read the Contacts, I used C++ to play around with POOM (the Pocket Outlook Object Model) and let’s just say it wasn’t the most fun I've ever had. This time, however, I’ve been using C# to do all the dirty work, and it’s absolutely wonderful.
If there is one thing that C# makes easy, it’s accessing a hierarchical list of data. Here’s how easy it is to list all the names stored in the Contacts directory:
1. Create a “session”, like this:
private OutlookSession mySession = new OutlookSession();
2. Set up a loop to go through all the Contacts
int index = 0;
while (index < mySession.Contacts.Items.Count)
{
// Do stuff
}
3. Access the data, like this:
MessageBox.Show( mySession.Contacts.Items[index].FirstName + " " + mySession.Contacts.Items[index].LastName);
Nice, huh?
Now I did meet a snag. I wanted my program to react if the user added or deleted a Contact from the list manually, using the standard Contact dialog. I was hoping that I could simply use a callback with the
mySession.Contacts.Items.ListChanged
event. Alas, it was not to be. After some research, it turns out that this event is only triggered when changes to the Contact’s list occurs programmatically within the same session. It makes sense, I suppose, but its less helpful than I hoped.
I asked a few code gurus, including Peter Foot, who recommended registering for PIM notifications via native code. Peter has created a PocketOutlook namespace that exposes this – you can check it out here: http://inthehand.com/content/Mobile.aspx
I'm really delighted to be able to tell you that the Content Publishing team have created three new Starter Kits for Windows Mobile devices. Starter Kits are ready-to-compile-and-run code samples, and are ideal for both learning how to write for Windows Mobile, and for using as a basis for your own applications.
In this set of releases, we have three C++ programs: two games (SkiTime, and Tic Tac Toe), and a Home Screen utility. The games demonstrate how to write an action game using DirectDraw, and how to use the new Mobile Ink APIs introduced with Windows Mobile 6. The Home screen plug-in demonstrates accessing low-level data such as the current Alarm Clock settings.
You can download the Starter Kits directly from MSDN.
Remember, you'll need Visual Studio 2005 installed (Standard or above), the Windows Mobile 6 SDKs, and either an unlocked device, or the emulators running. Enjoy!
If you need a daily dose of Windows Mobile coding information, check out this list of Windows Mobile Feeds.
If only I had know this list existed and got myself onto it, I might have had more traffic than my manager!
The August update to the Windows Mobile SDK documentation has just gone live on MSDN. You should definitely use this online version of the docs over any locally installed documentation for both Windows Mobile 6, and Windows Mobile 5.0 reference.
This month you’ll find the following key improvements:
Managing Windows Mobile Powered Devices
This is a large section that discusses using XML files to “provision” a Windows Mobile device. Effectively, this means you can change some low-level settings (as long as your OEM / device allows it) by creating an XML file and calling an API called “DMProcessConfigXML”. Although aimed mostly at OEMs and Mobile Operators, we thought you should know about it, as it is very useful for adjusting settings without performing non-supported hacks to the Registry (oh yes, we know who you are ;-) )
Remember though, the specific settings you can adjust are controlled by the device's security policy.
Programming Techniques for Windows Mobile
This section has been updated again, and the most important topics added are:
Making use of Device-Specific Features
This short section provides an introduction to using the XML Provisioning tool, and also the State and Notification Broker.
Writing Applications that Access Databases
Another short section that introduces using databases in your application. Don’t be frightened of databases, it’s surprisingly easy to implement one.
Starter Kits
Good news for those of you who like sample code.. wait, that’s everyone, isn’t it? Well, we have a bunch of Starter Kits almost ready for release. Watch this space.. I think you’ll like them a lot.
The release of Apple's new razor-thin keyboard earlier this week re-awakened my search for the perfect keyboard. As it's Friday and my brain is already in weekend mode, I've drawn up a list of some of the more interesting keyboards I've tried or wanted to try. I would welcome your suggestions too!
Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Keyboard 7000
This is the current keyboard that I use in the office, and I think it's great. It's very thin, with laptop style keys arranged in a nice curve. It has a mouse built-in and plenty of other buttons too, which to be honest I don't use very much. It uses Bluetooth to connect to the PC, which means one less cable for me to worry about. Of course, you'll assume that I'm biased because it's from Microsoft, but I still think you should try it. Be warned: it's on the expensive side though. There is a 8000 model due next month or so, which is even cooler - it lights up, for heaven's sake!
Details: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=081
Matius Tactile Pro
I heard nice things about this keyboard, but I've not had the chance to try it yet. It looks like a standard keyboard, but has expensive switches which a log of people like, and a form of dedicated key-macros. It also has built-in USB ports which is useful.
Details: http://matias.ca/tactilepro2/
Das Keyboard
Ok, this one is just insane. I love it! It's completely blank. No need to worry about letters wearing off, or moving the keys around if you are a Dvorak user. If you can touch type, this will completely freak-out your office buddies.
Details: http://www.daskeyboard.com/
Logitech diNovo Edge
Another super-slim keyboard, with a look of Bang and Olufson about it. Comes with a funky stand, and a neat scroll wheel. If you want to pretend you are living in the future, this is probably the keyboard to use. Logitech also make a keyboard called the Wave, which puts the keys at different heights, which sounds like it might be interesting.
Details: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2166,CONTENTID=10717
Details: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/wave/?view=wave_home&cl=us,en
Happy Hacking Lite2
If you have small hands, this is apparently a great choice. I've linked to the manufacter's website, but if you MSN Search it, you'll probably find some local stockists.
Details: http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/hhkeyboard/
Optimus OLED
What if every key on your keyboard had a tiny little screen that could be changed with software? Um.. I'm not sure exactly, but it might look like this one...
Details: http://www.artlebedev.ru/everything/optimus/
Good news everyone - the Crossbow SDK docs have been refreshed again. Here's a summary of what's new:
And much more! I'd love to hear your feedback. Thanks for all your comments on the navigation image map by the way, you helped shape it, and I'm delighted to see it going live. Now we'll see if it's actually useful!
Thanks!
p.s. Most of the content in this doc set is just as applicable to Windows Mobile 5, so feel free to use it as your main reference for development.
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be an intern at Microsoft? If so, you're in luck, as we've been lucky enough to hire two very smart students to intern as Programmer/Writers on the Windows Mobile SDK team this summer. Better yet, I've got permission to perform experiments on them, which is why I'm making them write blog entries.
You can check out their experiences so far at our team blog: Windows Mobile Docs.
If they suddenly go quiet, you'll know one of my experiments has gone too far, and I'm probably trying to hush it all up (haha! interns? us? I don't remember any interns..) or flee the country.
Here are the "before" pictures of (from left) Nuo, and Jason. Welcome onboard, chaps!
