Category: Microsoft

Using Silverlight

~ rbonini

Not that I’ve used Expression Blend 2 to create anything fancy. I’ve done a two page test Slideshow in a quick feasibility study with regard to one of my pet projects.

Then I had to deal with the hosting. I’m using Sliverlight Streaming to deliver the applications to my webpages (via an Iframe, I belive).

It took a while to figure out how to upload the pages so that the service could understand what was supposed to happen with the application. then it took a wee bit longer to understand how to integrate the provided code on to my ASP.net page.

But I got it working, in the end 🙂 .

Now that I know it works, I have a few ideas.

And now I have to go and actually build the thing….

PS. If you get Error 2252 while running your application make sure that the path from your xaml file to the dll is correct. Took me a while to figure that one out. I find that its usually the simplest things that stump you 🙂 .

WHS Update: Dell Customer Service

~ rbonini ~ 2 Comments

Well, yesterday I ordered  1Gb in new memory for my Windows Home Server from Dell. I intend to install a Tv Card and SageTv and get more bang for my buck out of said server, thus the new memory.

Since I was lazy, I originally got a Dell PowerEdge SC440 for Whs to run on.

However, the memory I ordered yesterday was/is incompatible with the SC440 (this being despite the fact that I went to Memory Upgrades for the SC440 on Dell’s Website). So Dell Helpfully called to inform me of the fact.

Within minutes, the old order was canceled and the new order submitted and the earth once again revolved on its axis. Easy as pie.

Well, not quite. The new memory is not quite twice the original amount I paid- once again blowing the budget out of the water.

Nevertheless – congratulations to Dell.

So I’ll need to wait slightly longer than anticipated for the TV card.

I’ve not decided between:

Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T 500 – Dual Digital Freeview TV tuner

and 

Hauppauge WinTV HVR4000 – True HD TV tuner – Quad mode (Analogue, Digital, Satellite both DVB-S and HD DVB-S2)

(For those outwith the British Isles, Freeview is our version of free-to-air digital TV)

In typical fashion, the first is half the price of the second.

Not exactly Media Centre Edition, but the whole idea here is to the extend functionality of the Server – which spends most of its day idiling (truth be told, its only really busy between noon and 3pm when it backs the pcs up and SyncToy moves files to to the server). Though, Ill have to fiddle around with the backup times once the Sage is Installed.

And second, the Current PVR is hopelessly deluged with recordings that are usually watched weeks later (its only got 100GB of space).

And third, finally, I’d rather keep the recordings for than delete the everytime the space runs out.

I’ll keep you posted.

And kudos to Dell, again. for their customer service (and I don’t really mind the extra costs as a result 🙂 )

Open Source at Microsoft

~ rbonini

A contradiction in Terms? Well, no. But I can’t blame you for thinking it.

Port25, Microsoft’s open source blog, is worth subscribing to because of posts like this:

Today, Microsoft has published 175 projects on CodePlex, we have written a pair of open licenses that are under a page in length and over the 500-project mark in adoption as others in the community have decided to use them

As Microsoft’s engagement with open source grows, we have to move from being trailblazers to being road-builders. When you’re blazing a trail, organization, bureaucracy, and majority rule are a burden. In the beginning, a passionate group of people with strongly held beliefs and the will to persevere in the face of doubts and doubters is what it’s all about.

Never thought I’d see the day when this was corporate strategy at Microsoft.

In my view this about-face has come about because of a change in the environment that Microsoft operates in.

Think of it. Sun completely open sourced Solaris. The rise of the blog,  the wiki and the Twitter (perhaps not in that order, but humor me) has lead to an increasingly networked community where people’s calls for change can gain plenty of traction. And if Microsoft wasn’t going to do something about them, others would – and did. Think of Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office – or even Linux.

Secondly, Microsoft had a huge pool of untapped resources in the form of techies who had a great deal of experience in Microsoft products and blogged about it. I mean what better to find out what gripes (or ideas, for that matter) people had than by reading their blogs. And Microsoft could always hire the best ones.

And finally, the perception that Microsoft was opening up and actively engaging with the community has done wonders to its once-flagging reputation.

So while Microsoft may not be on the road to open sourcing its flagship products (Windows, office, Visual and Expression Studio), it is opening up.

Googlemail Hacks

~ rbonini

Lifehacker helpfully has a top ten list of Googlemail hacks.

Now, by my count, there are 3 Windows (read IE) hacks. Only 3. This seriously has me considering switching back to Firefox as my main browser.

Besides the fact that Firefox has a huge amount of flexibility from RSS readers to Sports tickers, its the fact that the web application itself can be hacked (I know, “hacked” sounds bad since we consider hacking to result in digital damage). All of these “hacks” are genuine improvements to Googlemail:

  • Check multiple accounts with Gmail Manager (Firefox)
  • Gmail Encryption (Firefox)
  • Saved Searches (Firefox)
  • Drag and drop attachment upload (Firefox)
  • GmailDrive file manager (Mac/Windows/Firefox)

Lifehacker comments that:

From the get-go Google’s stayed out of developers’ way and turned a blind eye to unofficial Gmail add-ons, even ones that may very well violate its terms of service. Smart move: Google’s high tolerance for third-party apps have only helped Gmail win the hearts of power users and tweakers everywhere.

and I agree. if only IE devs had the same attitude.

My Take on DRM

~ rbonini

OK, DRM is the ugly duckling of technology. No one likes it. And the reason is that it comes between us and our media.

Now I don’t mean coming between you and sharing your library over the Internet. That’s clearly a violation of copyright, among rather a lot else.  For the uninitiated in this argument, Scott Adams explains:

But obviously there has to be a limit. After I published my first best-selling book, The Dilbert Principle, within days it had been illegally scanned and was widely available on the Internet for free. Technically speaking, it wasn’t theft. But I still lost something. I (and my publisher) lost the ability to decide if, when, and how to publish as an e-book. You can’t compete with “free and immediate.”

From a legal standpoint, taking a creator’s right to control distribution of his art is not “theft.” It’s just “taking something that used to legally belong to someone else and making it your own.”

 

Fair enough? Ok.

However when media is bought (DVD’s, CD’s) its ours to watch in any way we see fit. usually this means popping a DVD into the drive to watch, either on your PC or HDTV.

For music I generally rip all my CD’s the moment I get them and keep them on my server. that way I can listen to my tracks from any TV within my house. I don’t do sharing (Scott Adams and his theory of cognitive dissonance to the contrary).

My point is that we should be able to do the same with DVD’s. Let me rip my collection to my server and watch them on any network PC.

Ahh, I hear you say, there is no guarantee that said DVD’s and music won’t find their way on to the Internet. True. This gets to the meat of my argument ,err, post.

DRM is too restrictive in the sense that it prevents even legitimate use of DVD’s. Lets change DRM from a content-oriented perspective to a network- oriented perspective. DRM should be focused on ensuring that content that has been ripped for legitimate use does not find its way out the home network.

Content owners fail to distinguish between ripping for legitimate use and ripping with malicious intent.

To implement such a network-oriented DRM, an arbitrary standard is required. The standard cannot be biased to  individual Studio’s or Record Labels.

The standard should define

  • a technical means of ensuring that copyrighted data is identified as it travels through the network
  • a technical means of determining the ultimate destination of packets of copyrighted data as they are requested over a network
  • a technical means of ensuring that copyrighted data is stopped either at the gateway or at its source (see above)
  • a technical means of identifying data across the various formats in general use

As far as an actual implementation of such a system, the technology is already there. Microsoft’s WMA format already supports allowing media to play only when there is a license installed. The licensing system simply has to be extended to cover the whole network.

How about a licensing server, then? The receiving media player simply checks the the packets of data and queries the server to ensure that its allowed to play the file/packet.

I’m sure Linksys and the rest of the router manufacturers will get in on the game and build checking routines into their gateways and routers.

As far as determining the destination at the beginning of a file copy operation, its up to Microsoft and Apple to implement this at the OS level.

Once the means to ensure that the spirit of the law is enforced is in place, then we can think about a law change (even here in the UK DVD ripping is a bit of a gray area).

WHS Add In

~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

Last week, on the advice of  the We Got Served blog  I downloaded and installed the OnTheFlyUnzipper (download link).

It works like a dream. it allows you to upload multiple files as a zip archive, saving time and bandwidth.

Other options or functions:

– unzip only archives with a special prefix in the filename (if you don’t want to unzip every archive)

– delete the archive after uncompressing

– create a folder for the contents of the archive

– select the shares that should be monitored for archives

– runs as a service

– languages: English and German

Now I haven’t actually needed to remotely upload files, but I’ve seen this add on at work. All  the zip archives in the folders that are being watched have been unzipped, even though they weren’t  uploaded.

Summary: its pretty neat. I’d love to peek at the source.

I think I’ll pick another Add-in to try from the We Got Served Add-In Page.

Windows Home Server Anti Virus 2

~ rbonini ~ 2 Comments

I’m following up this post ( which, in turn, follows up this post that dealt with Norton’s offering) on an Anti Virus Solution for WHS that doesn’t break the bank.

The MS Windows Home Server blog has a run down of a few options that work ( although none are specifically for WHS):

Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10. Only available in 5+ user packs @ ÂŁ186.83. Expensive and not much good when we only need 1 copy.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Windows Server (also known as Kaspersky Anti-Virus for File Server) @ ÂŁ225. Another expensive option.

NOD32 for NAS Server Licence and NOD32 LAN Update Server @ under ÂŁ120 or ÂŁ154 for 5 Licences. The BEST paid for option at present.

Comodo AntiVirus. FREE but very hard to setup.

ClamWin, the open source anti-virus software. FREE but it does not have a TSR, but you can schedule scans to run and it works OK. Probably the best FREE option available.

 

The first few are obviously out as they are rather pricey. 

Isn’t Open Source Anti Virus a bit of a contradiction in terms?

Now, by way of We Got Served, comes news that Avast is releasing a made-for-WHS edition of its software that will cost between $39.96 and $50.

In terms of actual formal announcements of a made-for-WHS solution, only F-Secure have done so. 

All I can say is that I’ll sleep better at night knowing that I’ve got anti virus software installed on WHS.

Mix 07 Videos (Updated)

~ rbonini

Just checked the Mix 07 Site and the recordings now have both the speaker and the PowerPoint slides in a split screen.

I’d check the Silverlight version of a video since its really cool how they’ve done it. There’s a fancy scene bar that pops up if you hover over the main video window. Very nice and slick.

I’m re-downloading the keynote to see if the downloads also have the split screen with speaker and slides. I’ve not watched any of the 2Gb’s of Mix07 videos I’ve got since I find it difficult without he speakers on screen.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Update: Nope. the .wmv files are only slides. [insert expletive of choice here]. 

I have a Windows Home Server Vision

~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

While I’m not that concerned about offsite backup for my Window Home Server. The problem has been dealt with in detail by a few fellow beta testers.

Check out a detailed look at the problem here and a further look at setting up IDrive-E with WHS ( the chosen solution) here.

Now, it seems pretty clear that an offsite back-up solution is a gaping hole in Windows Home Server. This is the case for one of two reasons. Either Microsoft deliberately decided that it was not going to bother ( possible, but unlikely in my view). or Microsoft has something up its sleeves ( if not for this first release of WHS, then then for the next one).

Now entirely by coincidence (sarcasm intended), Microsoft announced a limited private beta of its Live Folders service.

At the moment its limited to 500Mb of storage.

What if Microsoft integrates the two services together (Live Folders +WHS)? I mean, think of it.

  • Your OS files don’t need to be uploaded since Microsoft already has the original files (Since you are using a Microsoft OS). Only the Changes need to be backed up.
  • Microsoft products like Visual Studio, Office and Flight Simulator ( all three are the largest installed programs on my PC) don’t need to go since Microsoft already has the original files
  • This leaves us with your personal files. Once all your stuff is up, only changes need to be moved, making it much faster.

Once 20 Million households (the current MS estimate for the WHS market) all upload their data, Microsoft can literally organize the worlds data far more conveniently than Google.

Not that I’m being alarmist, but its a scary thought.

I can see Google coming out with a similar app, but in the form of a Universal Binary to reach a cross-platform audience (case in point – a friend of mine mistakenly reformatted a UNIX drive. WHS could not have been used to recover lost data. Any suggestions on recovering the data on the drive?).

In closing, Mary Jo Foley says, ominously:

Software+Services (S+S) is Microsoft’s alternative to software-as-a-service (SaaS). Unlike Google, Salesforce.com and other pure-play Web 2.0 companies, Microsoft is making sure that there’s both a services and a software component to all of its products, going forward. That’s the crux of S+S.