Category: Microsoft

Visual Studio Install Error 1935 (HRESULT: 0×80070BC9) Fix

~ rbonini ~ 4 Comments

As  I wrote here last week, getting Visual Studio 2008 installed was a bit of a problem for me on my main Desktop PC.

And I couldn’t find a fix anywhere. So since the installation was successful on my laptop ( they are both nearly identical systems) I set about trying to find some difference between them.

I came up with the fact that I’d had Visual Studio 2008 Visual Web Designer Express installed and had uninstalled it before my Visual Studio 2008 Pro install.

So in the finest tradition of Voodoo Troubleshooting I did the following:

  1. Mounted  the Visual Studio Express Editions DVD image available from Microsoft here
  2. Installed Visual C# Express ( it looks as if any edition will do)
  3. Restarted
  4. Uninstalled only Visual Studio C# Express (the runtime prerequisites will also uninstall)
  5. Restarted
  6. Installed Visual Studio 2008 Professional

I’m not quite sure why this works. I put forward the idea that it fixes the registry or the .Net Install ( see my earlier post for details).

Happy Coding 🙂 !

Installing Visual Studio 2008

~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

UPDATE: I found a fix. See here.

Right. Let get this straight. I’m running Vista Business with Visual Studio 2005 Standard installed (and All the extras – SQL Server etc).

The short version is that Visual Studio 2008  Professional refuses  to install itself. It installed .Net 3.5, Document Explorer 2008 and the Web Authoring Component and then quit at some point while installing Visual Studio itself.

Heres the error log:

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition – ENU: [2] ERROR:Error 1935.An error occurred during the installation of assembly ‘Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT,version=”9.0.21022.8″,publicKeyToken= “1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b”,processorArchitecture=”x86″,type=”win32″‘. Please refer to Help and Support for more information. HRESULT: 0x80070BC9.

I’ve no idea what is going on. If you Google search  the Error Code you get this error for VS2005 (or SP1), .Net 2 or SQL Server.  Searching by HRESULT points to this MSDN Forum where the discussion is about a VS2008 Compile problem.

Now here’s the thing. It installs perfectly on my laptop (also running Vista Business with Visual Studio 2005 installed with all the bells and whistles). So the download ( and no, its a perfectly legal copy) is definitely not corrupted.

HELP!!!!!

Microsoft-Yahoo

~ rbonini

I was thinking about the merger this morning and it struck me that the model tech merger is… Adobe’s buyout of Macromedia for $ 3.4 billion.

Now it is nowhere near the size or complexity of the Microsoft merger offer. But the point is that both companies brought their software together to create the Creative Suite series.

I mean think of it, different software, different programming, different programming culture, ethics and architecture.

Now I currently have CS3 installed. Its quite amazing how Macromedia’s software ( Flash, Freehand – now Illustrator) works quite well with the rest of the suite.  My point is that it works, not that its amazing ( which it is).

In similar vein, Yahoo and Microsoft are totally different companies. 

The problem isn’t the technology. The different technology might be good, it’ll force Microsoft to take another look at Linux. The problem is the people, the culture. No matter how good your team may be, they’ll never turn out anything is they can’t work together.

Getting the two cultures to play nice is simple: phone up Adobe and ask who their  consultancy company was in 2005 for the merger, and hire them 🙂 . Or hire, Jim Rohn, Antony Robins, and Tim Berners Lee. As teams are integrated, send them off on a team building course or something.

Now, is $44 Billion too little for Yahoo! ? The board seems to think so. Forget the “only logical option” argument for a second here and think it though. As Kara Swisher said it:

Indeed, some think that if the company was managed more aggressively–and that has been a big if at Yahoo for far too long now–Yahoo shares could be trading closer to $30 a share.

And that makes $31 kind of a bargain.

It’s not such a leap of faith, in fact.

Many mid-level and senior Yahoo execs have told me that CEO Jerry Yang’s too-cautious approach has been the problem and that there was pressure building for a change

In fact, the more you think about it, the more it sounds as if Microsoft have jumped the gun looking (hoping?) for a quick deal.

Now for the de rigueur Scoble quote:

“Are they crazy?”

I said “probably, and arrogant too.” Then she wondered why they would do such a thing. I told her that I agreed with Philip Greenspun, who says that to reject this deal is lunacy. Since I know Yahoo’s board members aren’t lunatics, I figure there must be some other answer. I told Maryam “they are probably trying to see if the offer will go up.”

Yahoo! are playing a high stakes poker game. the winners get bask in all their glory for the next few decades and losers look for new jobs.

If you are going to pay money for something – make sure that you get your moneys worth. If Microsoft think that they are going to get Yahoo on the cheap ( relatively speaking, that is), they need to rethink their attitude. Yahoo is worth shelling out for, but is above being treated like a second class citizen.

And If Microsoft have such an attitude with Yahoo!, any merging will be a disaster. Yahoo’s minds (linux or not) will leave and the empire will suffer ( sounds like Star Wars). Microsoft will be left with a rotting hulk that will drain money and resources for no observable gain. It’ll be like Alice in Wonderland where she has to run faster  and faster to stay where she is (the translation being that Yahoo will require more and more to stay  the same).

So although this sounds like a 7 Habits lecture, Microsoft’s attitude will determine how this ends up.

In the words of the immortal Spiderman:

With great power comes great responsibility

MacWorld Fallout

~ rbonini

iPod Touch update downloaded and installed. Add-on purchased.

I’ve only had a cursory look at the features. And boy do they rock. I was going to say that I really needed a Notes app and his Steveness has gone ahead and stole my thunder. Not that I’m complaining 🙂 .

The Add-on was cheap when I think of the iPod classic owners that I know – they are going to really  be envious.

I’m currently looking at my new Dell Inspiron and wondering who I might sell to get an Air (yes, who).

While I think that one over here’s a Youtube clip making fun of the OTHER software company in action:

Media Centre or not?

~ rbonini

The issue of streaming media (TV, Music, Photos) across a network really zeros in on the reason for having a home network.

For those of you who read this blog, you’ll know that I’ve been trying out SageTv for Windows Home Server. And it works great, if you set aside the EPG issues. Recorded TV is of high quality, crisp and clear; and watching from a SageTv Client is only slightly spotty (mainly due to the server being busy and the wireless connection).

My problem is two fold. One WHS is actually a server and is busy all the time and only has a Celeron D.

Two, SageTV shows only play in SageTv itself or in Real Player. Requiring re-encoding to watch via WMP11 or for use in Movie Maker. Which is a pain since a 27 minute show comes out at 650MB at Normal quality and takes about 4 and a half hours for Windows Media Encoder to process.

The EPG issue that I’m encountering means that the Program Guide only has info for about 4 channels out of 24. It is irritating in the extreme since identifying shows requires that you watch them. UK EPG support is quite spotty the forums tell me.

The solution to all of this is, I think, a Media Centre PC. A dedicated hardware device. The whole point of dedicated hardware is to share the load. My broadband connection goes though a router instead of a PC. A GPU handles 3D graphics instead of a normal, general purpose processor. In this case, WHS can stick to the business of serving files and taking backups and let the Media Centre take the load.

I’ve only heard positive reviews for Media Centre Edition (XP) and it seems pretty good. On top of that, Microsoft has a good strategy as far as extenders are concerned such as the Xbox 360 and so on. Also it should slip seamlessly into an all-Microsoft network.

I’d be using WHS for Storage, and WMP11 to watch the content on a PC. It also makes the purchase of a 360 more likely (I’ve been sitting on the fence lately and can’t decide either way).

To actually build the hardware, I’d use the same method that I did for my Windows Home Server. Order the shell (Chassis, power supply, motherboard, processor(s), hard drive) from Dell and then order the rest of the kit from Amazon.

The thing is, how much juice do you need in a Media Centre? SageTV uses about 15% CPU at record time and not much RAM.

Dual Quad Core 2 might be pushing it a little far. A single Core Duo 2 might cut it, but then again, you don’t want “might” to be anywhere near your Media Center. Specially since after-market upgrading can be extremely expensive for hardware like this.

RAM is dependant on whether Vista Media Centre is 64-bit. I’d say that 2 or 4 GB is safe enough.

The next thing is required for this is, well, a network. Streaming media over wireless is Ok if its small enough and you are close enough to the Access Point to get the and excellent signal ( In my house that practically means sitting right next to it). For real media streaming, you need Gigabit Ethernet. More on that to come.

Microsoft Search Server

~ rbonini

I had next to no idea about it until Mary J Foley’s article about it.

I’m still a bit stupefied as to what exactly it does. Search. Yeah, I got that bit. But what, aside from stuff the server is installed on?

Index content on file servers, web sites, Windows SharePoint Services, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Exchange Server public folders, and Lotus Notes repositories. Find additional Indexing Connectors in the Search Connector Gallery.

I checked the Connector Gallery. It’s simply an explanation of the types of connectors.

As far as I can tell, Connectors allow target systems to be indexed by the Search Server.

And how does Windows Desktop Search come in to this whole thing???

And its free. The very best part of any software system you can find 🙂 .

Microsoft’s site also mentions that you can program against it. And that is really cool. A WHS Add-In anyone???

Though, in hindsight, its a wonder Microsoft never incorporated the Express version with WHS somehow. it would have ben an extra killer feature that would have tied right in with the Remote Access bit.

I’m adding it to my WHS v2 Feature Wishlist.

Windows Vista Desktop Screenshots

~ rbonini ~ 3 Comments

(this follows on from my posts here and here about the Vista Beta 2 desktop)

Finally got round to posting screen shots of Windows Vista Business (click for high-res):

laptop_desktop_1

laptop_desktop_2

The desktop comes from the Hamid Darwish collection (for my write up and a view of the whole collection).

You can download  the whole collection as a ZIP file from his site. I’d unzip it directly to C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\ so it’ll show up when you personalize your desktop.

Random Thoughts for the Day

~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

I might make this a regular thing.

  • I was at Costa’s this afternoon and a guy walks in with a  brand new iMac. Must have been at least a 20" if not more. never felt so jealous in my life. He must have got it from the Glasgow Apple Store. I’ve been meaning to go past, but haven’t had the time yet
  • My 19" Xerox TFT died today. Its a display model that I got slightly cheaper and have had it for 2 years. Its one of those lookers -black with a glass front so its completely flat. Damned thing. Multi-monitor setup anyone??
  • TCP/IP – spent the weekend doing revision on it. No wonder the Vista networking team re-wrote it.
  • Wouldn’t it be easier to replace RAM if you could plug the old or new RAM into a USB port and use it with ReadyBoost??? I mean, you need every megabyte of RAM you can find these days.
  • I keep thinking that you can do so much with technology around the home (RSS on your TV for example). Its just so difficult. Windows or Linux?? Windows Home Server??? Media Centre Edition??? Mac Mini with Front Row??
  • I’m starting to think that a separate machine running Media Centre Edition would be better than SageTv for Windows Home Server. I’m fighting SageTv tooth and nail to get it working properly ( EPG and all).It should be easier than this. Might get a refund
  • Could we please have a virtualisation hardware solution for small business/ home. It’d be cheaper than buying the MCE Server.
  • How many Vista Sidebar gadgets are actually useful??Google desktop is much, much better at useful gadgets. The mail gadgets for GD actually tells me when any new email arrives ( even if its automatically archived).
  • And could we please get a free sunclock for either sidebar?? You know, the ones that show where its day and where its night on a map of the world.
  • Also, back to sidebars, I’ve noticed that Google desktop loads its widgets off the Internet. You could theoretically see your widgets at any PC with GD installed if you’re logged in. Which is logical for Google in becoming the hub on which our lives revolve. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were building a HealthVault competitor – on the web of course.
  • I’m seriously considering the iPod Touch. DRM or no DRM. iTunes integration or no integration. The Design blows me away everytime. Why did el Jobso have to come up with a design that puts every other portable music player ( and iPod, mind you) to shame?????? And don’t tell me the iPhone is the best iPod to have. I think I’ll put that SageTv refund money to wards it if it comes to that)

Good Microsoft, Bad Google??

~ rbonini

Taking a break from the innards of TCP/IP, I bring you two interesting blog posts.

First Verturebeat’s Matt Marshall asks: In history revision, Microsoft now a friend of the valley?

Second, Robert Cringely opines: The Future is Cloudy: Google’s plan to host ALL our applications.

Both may seem to be unrelated, but lets consider them both.

Matt says:

But now that Google has emerged as the all-pervasive menace, Microsoft has been transformed into an aging, less threatening knight, albeit with pockets and interests deep enough to help you against the Google onslaught. Microsoft’s alliance with Facebook — which calls for Microsoft to invest $240M in that company — has capped the transition.

Interesting inversion, don’t you think? Kind of like America springing to plucky little Britain’s aid after Pearl Harbor. In this case Microsoft’s Pearl Harbor was Google’s huge IPO and the raft of  highly successfully geek-drool-inducing products they released. And the Britons are everyone else in the Valley that have yet to go over the the Dark Side ( 🙂 ).

Think of the perceptive transformation that Microsoft has gone through. 3000 Microsoft Blogs (last I checked, which was while ago) and Robert Scoble have done loads to bring a human face to Microsoft. I remember once emailing Robert just after Office Live had its public debut for some specific details ( I was looking for a platform for a company web presence) and got a reply from the program manager 8 hours later.

Microsoft has done plenty to reach out to the community. Think of Mix06 and Mix07. The entire conference is on video with slides available from visitmix.org so anyone can take a look (I’ve still to get round to watch the sessions I downloaded 🙂 ).

Now take Robert Cringely. He looks at what Google’s Data Centre build out means, taken together with their MySQL contributions and their agreement with IBM to promote Cloud Computing to Universities.

By working with IBM to promote cloud computing to universities, Google is accomplishing two very important goals. It will first put them in touch with every graduate student doing work Google might find interesting. So it is first a hiring tool. But by teaching students about cloud computing Google and IBM are also seeding the technology in the companies where those students will take their first jobs after graduation. Five years from now cloud computing will be ubiquitous primarily for this reason.

But Google wants us to embrace not just cloud computing but Google’s version of cloud computing, the hooks for which will be in every modern operating system by mid-2009, spread not by Google but by a trusted open source vendor, MySQL AB.

Mid-2009 will also see the culmination of Google’s huge server build-out. The company is building data centers large and small around the world and populating them with what will ultimately be millions of generic servers. THAT’s when things will get really interesting. Imagine a much more user-friendly version of Amazon’s EC2 and S3 services, only spread across 10 or more times as many machines. And as with all its services, Google will offer free versions at the bottom for consumers and paid, but still cost-effective versions nearer the top for businesses and education.

Google’s goal here is to help us, of course, but along the way the company will have marginalized most higher-end computing vendors, especially Microsoft. They will have also made us totally dependent on Google services in such a way that we’ll never, ever, be able to extricate ourselves. We’ll be slaves, but happy slaves, and Google will come to dominate all computing for the next generation.

Now if Microsoft ever tried anything like this, I’d probably have to turn off comments to avoid the Death-To-Microsoft chants from the virtual mob.

This, of course, risks taking a left turn into the whole Dependency on Microsoft Question. But, for the sake of argument Leopard and Linus’ Every Flavor Linux settle that question just fine.

I use Google Mail for correspondence, Calendar for scheduling , Search for the obvious reason, iGoogle for my dashboard-view-on-the-world, Webmaster Tools.

What if we’re all reduce to running dumb terminal emulators connected to our Google-Instance on their servers? Fascinating idea, I’m sure. I mean what’s not to like about carrying your whole computer around with your Google Account and password (would save my shoulders lots of grief that’s for sure 🙂 )???

Taken with Google’s insatiable hunger for startups, is Google Microsoft-that-everyone-loves-to-hate 2.0???

Windows Media Home Server

~ rbonini

Now that I have the time, I’d like to respond extend Terry Walsh’s article reporting on rumors of WHS v2.

The potential of a Windows Media Server (possibly a WHS v2 box?) is an exciting proposition for many people – my concern would be a [boosting] of WHS’ minimum hardware requirements. One of the main reasons Windows Media Center was such a problem to self build was TV tuner drivers – I’m no longer a big Media Center user (I’m a big fan of the UI and TV Guide, but it’s a cumbersome solution compared to Sky HD), and I’m sure tuner drivers and the built in MPEG decoder in Vista Media Center are helping drive a better experience, but I love WHS’ simplicity – both hardware and software – and I’d hate to see it be compromised in the future through more complex hardware.

The fact is that Home Server and Media Center are separate entities. The WHS team was right to do it this way since they both perform entirely different function. WHS is a backup and file server while MCE is a  TV and recorded media server.  I can see the sense of having both  and syncing files back and forth at 4am or something.

Terry makes a valid point about hardware. Could this server backup and stream media at the same time? It’ll probably be HD stuff by the time it comes out so we’re talking some pretty large data files here. Sure, the network will probably sweat a little, but that’s not the problem. 

If you’re going to actually write this thing, its going to have to be a pretty large undertaking.  Its going have to be able run on two or more cores efficiently. So in the four core environment that’s going to be pretty common two years or so  from now ( given Redmond’s release cycle) , its going to have to distribute the load across all four cores. Different hard disks will have to be used by each core ( i.e one for backups and one for media to avoid I/O conflicts and such). That’s one hell of a lot of programming logic right there,and that’s before we get to using network bandwidth efficiently.

It’ll be using the Vista networking stack, so we can expect a modest improvement (bearing in mind that I actually haven’t seen this with Vista yet). One possible answer to this is Sun’s Project Neptune:

That’s why we just introduced Project Neptune – a silicon project that marries the parallelism of the microprocessor (for Intel, AMD and SPARC systems), with the parallelism of the underlying operating system (Solaris, Linux or Windows), with parallelism in the network itself. Which in  concert with some software magic (which goes by the name of the Crossbow project) allows enterprises to collapse cabling, ports, cards and spending – by bringing parallelism to basic network infrastructure (for geeks, you can take multiple TCP streams and allocate them to different processor threads, spreading out load and freeing up CPU’s/ports). Ports become a physical convenience, just like a server – what’s happening inside depends upon rules or policies set by the user/administrator to automate such decisions. Like I said, the network is the computer, and the computer’s virtualized, so why not the network?

–Jonathan Schwartz

Now I’m assuming that we’ll see a less-than-enterprise offering of that could be part of the hardware.

Then there’s the  task of combining two codebases, the logic of how we combine WHS’s interface and WMS’s, how WHS’ duplication is going to work with WMS, how back-ups are gong to work and so on for a thousand and more items.

For now, SageTV or  the WebGuide WHS Add-in do the job quite well.