Thought I'd do a quick post before rebooting to Vista and tring out Media Centre that comes bundled with the Ultimate and Home Premium Editions And giving you a few more sacreen shots.
Now I'm not into the .Net Framework v3.0 yet (formally called Windows Presentation Foundation for some absurd reason), but I do intend playing around with it some once it ships (its in beta at the moment). So I found this blog(via Scoble) on v3.0 that just started. I gather its supposed to try ease the heartburn of learning an entirely new framework :). I'm still getting to grips with v2.0 and wonder why anyone would want to go without it in C++ :). Its by Micheal Lehman who works three doors down from Scoble.
I also found this blog on Google (also via Scoble). Richard makes an interesting point:
This reminds me of Microsoft's early days. Its products were mere "toys", people argued, it did not understand the enterprise, applications were very different than its core operating system business. Never forget what Microsoft taught the computer industry; it is much easier to move a product up in functionality than down.
Microsoft is now the company with overly complex products. Market research indicates that most people use only 20% of the functionality of Microsoft software. Microsoft has never offered simpler versions because it killed off all the competition (until now) and just didn't realize or didn't care that there was a need. Google is a master at simplicity. It can move up into the enterprise later.
Never thought about this. No wonder Microsoft has, to borrow an English expression, its knickers in a twist over "Google Office".
Been working with ASP.Net 2.0 and the Commerce Starter Kit . I'm building (alright, I'm subtly tweaking the kit) an e-commerce site for Herbalife products. Its going ,err, well as I discover the wonders of using Micosoft Visual Web Designer. It also made me realise how smart a move Microsoft made with the Express Editions: it makes people want to buy the Standard/Proffesional editions for extra features. It also made it easy for people to decide wheather this software met their needs or not. I'm going to grab a Standard Edition of Visual Studio 2005 come hell or high water.
About to re-boot to Vista and I'll post from the otherside.
Random Musings 