#region Coad's Code : General

VS05 Express Free for a Limited Time

coad — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:37:00 GMT

Visual Studio 2005 Express editions (WebDev, C#, VB, C++, J#) are officially Free! for 1 year (expires 11/6/2006).

I just watched Steve Balmer give the keynote at the first and official kickoff launch event and he talked about the great Web Developer Starter Kits w/ a demo that was real cool. Want to start up a website fast? This is the way to get started and experience the awesome power of ASP.NET 2.0!

Please be sure to register your free download so we know how popular these are. My guess is that the more people we have register, the better the chance these will be free (or as inexpensive as possible) longer.

Visual Studio 2005 Launched

coad — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:18:00 GMT

As of today, Visual Studio 2005 has officially launched! This is a fantastic product that we have all been long awaiting!

There are a number of launch events being held in cities around the world the next month. Check out if one is in your city soon. I'll be at the Dallas Launch on November 30th. If you're going to be there, `let me know`|`mailto:noah@coad.net?subject=Dallas Launch Event`.

MSDN Subscribers can download Virtual Server/PC images with Team Suite installed for evaluation. This gets you up and running quickly on Team System without having to worry about installing Team Foundation Server. There are a number of other ways you can Evaluation Visual Studio.

Favorite Web Design Links

coad — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 04:43:00 GMT

These are some of my core reference links that I consistently refer back to while working on the web (mostly from MSDN). I also use them with many other projects, but most frequently with web/html/scripting/xml apps. The main links have been listed on my IE Links toolbar for awhile and now I can replace them all with a single link here.

I'll be updating this as I come across more. If you have any recommendations of reference links you use frequently, please leave a comment and I'll add them.

Main References
CSS, Color, DHTML, HTA, Regex, JScript, WSH, Filters, Script Runtime, SQL

eXtensible Markup Language
XML, XSLT, XPath, DOM, Node, DHTML, XmlNode, XNode

Secondary Links

Define 'Axiom Postulate Theorem Corollary Hypothesis'

coad — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:43:00 GMT

When explaining to a friend of mine some of the fundamentals of mathematics, I found myself giving definitions of these base terms. A quick search with Google returned this great excerpt that efficiently and eloquently defines the words and relations, and merits posting here.

The words axiom and postulate are synonymous in mathematics. They are statements that are accepted as true in order to study the consequences that follow from them. Suppose that you were studying a deductive system called Jabbermetry and the words toves and mome appeared in the statement For every two toves P and Q there is a unique mome PQ that contains both P and Q. Given no other information, you would be unable to prove that this statement is true. In fact, this statement defines an important relationship between toves and momes; it is an axiom or postulate of Jabbermetry. Notice that if you are informed that Jabbermetry actually means Geometry, toves means points, and mome means line, the statement becomes more familiar: axiom 1: For every two points P and Q there is a unique line PQ that contains both P and Q. Do not be misled by your familiarity with points and lines, however. It remains that this statement cannot be proven since you are given no other information and is thus an axiom or postulate.

Three other terms that occur in the hierarchy of deductive reasoning are theorem, corollary, and hypothesis. A theorem is a statement that is a logical consequence of axioms and other theorems. A theorem, unlike an axiom or postulate, exists only if a proof can be given for the statement. For example, if you allow the additional axioms axiom 2: There exist three points not all in one line, and axiom 3: Two lines L and M are parallel if they do not intersect or if L = M, then you can show that the statement Two distinct lines intersect in at most one point is a consequence of axioms 13; the proven statement is a theorem. A corollary is a trivial theorem, that is, a theorem that so closely follows another axiom or theorem that it practically does not require a proof. For example, a corollary of axiom 3 above is If L is a line, then L is parallel to itself. The proof of this corollary is the definition of equals: L = L. Finally, a hypothesis is a statement that has not been proven but is expected to be capable of proof. For example, you may hypothesize If point B is between points A and C, then point C is not between points A and B. This is equivalent to a conjecture. If this statement does not follow from your present system of axioms, you may wish to include an additional axiom or make the hypothesis an axiom itself and see where it leads you. For the hypothesis given above, you may want to introduce an axiom that establishes a coordinate system.

Thus, axioms and postulates form the roots of a particular deductive system; theorems and corollaries are the logical consequences that fill out the deductive system; hypotheses drive theoretical development forward.

From: The American Heritage Book of English Usage

Ballmer Dancing Developers Conference Video

coad — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 12:39:00 GMT

At one of the developer conferences (late 90s, early 2000s?), Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, came out on stage saying 'Developers' over 15 times before his voice went out. Being a developer myself, I think this is cool. At the Microsoft company meeting that followed, I remember talk among us employees whether he was going to come out on stage saying another word repeatedly (he didn't that time). Here they are...

Ballmer Saying 'Developers' Repeatedly
Ballmer Excited at Another Conference
Remix of the Two Video Clips w/ Music
This is really cool! In a geeky way...

Ballmer Sells Windows v1.0 TV Video Ad

coad — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 12:30:00 GMT

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, can be seen here in an early days of Microsoft in this TV ad selling Windows v1.0. It is a facinating, and entertaining, video.

Get a load of the 286 computer w/ IBM EGA monitor! Wow, that brings back memories... The 'card filer' could use some sample data, it isn't clear what it does here. Looks like the control panel was a bit small in those days. Hehe, I actually remember trying out Reversi. :)

Congrats to Jeffrey Palermo, MCAD

coad — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 08:50:00 GMT

Congratulations to my friend Jeffrey Palermo on becoming a Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD)!

Jeff's making great progress on his MS certifications and is headed towards a MCSD & MCT.

US Patent Plaque

coad — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 06:39:00 GMT

Between high school and college (at Texas A&M Univ.), I spent a year in Sandpoint, Idaho, working on a national biomedical smart card system. My Dad was working for a sister company at the same time on a portable home cholesterol monitor which interfaced with the smart card. The company, Lifestream, filed for a US Patent on the cholestoral monitor and medical tracking system and it was granted.

It was a great experience working with smart cards and creating a medical record tracking system. Smart cards at the time were desined for financial purposes, so it was a fun challange to create a flexible system on the cards for medical data. The smart card inserts into portable medical devices, like the cholesterol meter, glucose monitors, blood pressure cuffs, etc. Requiring the user's PIN, the medical device gets data from the smart card, saves its results to the card, then the user puts the card into a PC to save and analyse the data.

My Dad recently gave me this plaque to commemorate the patent being issued. Thanks Dad!

The plaque my Dad sent me to memorialize our accomplishment.

Bubble Tea

coad — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 06:03:00 GMT

My new favorite treat! Bubble tea is a tasty flavored drink with tapioca pearls in it. Also known as Pearl Tea, the drink comes in a flavored ice slush, milk shake, or tea form, but what really makes it is the squishy tapioca balls! At first glance, it may look strange since the tapioca is colored black (I think so you can see it since all my tapioca is opaque white to clear), and it looks funny going up the thick straw, but it is fun. :)

The best bubble tea in Seattle I've found is at Yunnie Bubble Tea (university district). The first good place I found was at Oasis Tea Zone (China Town), but Yunnie's tapioca is chewier. The only bubble tea in Redmond that I've found so far is at Jade Dragon, but they use nasty frozen tapioca and the flavors are very limited. If you know of any others in Redmond, please let me know! Even in my home town of College Station, Texas, a great new bubble tea shop just opened up, Cafe Biegnet Tea & Coffee (in the old Fuddrucker's building).

Enjoying my first Bubble Tea in Victoria BC Canada

Microsoft Coding Guidelines

coad — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 04:20:00 GMT

Brad Abrams posted Microsoft's Internal Coding Guidelines.

This is a good read! I'd agree with most everything there. I see a lot of Microsoft code and it sure is good to have consistancy. One thing I differ with, is that personally, I really like not using braces {} for single command blocks (ex: if (x == 2) return false;). When grouping simular members, instead of just // comments, I use #region directives (ex: #region Property Variables ... #endregion).

Thanks to Jeffrey Palermo for posting about this.

Hello Neighbor

coad — Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:58:00 GMT

Today a friend came over and I'm showing off how to do blogging. Say Hi!

Moving to Microsoft

coad — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 06:49:00 GMT

Joining the Ranks
Well I've taken the red pill, gone blue card, lost my MVP status, been assimilated into the collective, and joined Microsoft! I am now a Program Manager on Visual Studio Team System.

On to Washington
On Friday (July 7th) my girlfriend, Dawn, and I flew up to Seattle Washington First Class (Delta) curtesy of Microsoft! The same day we looked around the gorgeous Microsoft campus and met up with my team for a quick visit. Saturday we settled into temporary corporate housing in beautiful Bellevue Washington. Today (Tuesday) will be my New Employee Orientation (NEO) and my first official day as an employee!

Blog Migration
My plan is to migrate over to a blog on blogs.msdn.com which is the blogging site for Microsoft employees. So this may be one of my last posts here. I am no longer an MVP (how sad) as the MVP award is only for non-Microsoft employees as it recognizes key community leaders in the industry. Since I am now a "previous MVP", and this is the MVP blog site, I'll leave the logo up for now. Being an MVP has been a terrific experience!

The Photos
Here are some photos from the trip so far... :)

On campus to stay this time! Not just another MVP conference or EAP, this is the real deal.

Dawn at the building sign for my new location.

Sunday was spent visiting downtown Seattle, particularly the famous Pike Place Market.

My favorite site at Pike Place Market, heck, all of Seattle... :)

Official Forum Flame Form

coad — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 06:59:00 GMT

<lol> This is hilarious! :) Here is a simple check off list for flaming forums. I'm not a flamer, but I've got to try using this sometime when it would be appropriate. The checks are from its original post.

Official Forum Flame
==============================================
Dear:
[ ] Clueless Newbie
[X] Loser
[ ] Spammer
[ ] Nerd
[ ] Vet
[X] Other: Troll

You Are Being Flamed Because
[ ] You bumped a thread from the last page.
[ ] You started an off-topic thread.
[ ] You posted a "YOU ALL SUCK" message.
[ ] You don't know which forum to post in.
[ ] You posted false information (or lack thereof).
[ ] You posted something totally uninteresting.
[X] You want to sue a company for your bad experience.
[ ] You doubleposted.
[X] You posted a message all written in CAPS (oR aLtErNaTe CaPs).
[ ] You posted a X > Y thread.
[ ] I don't like your tone of voice.
[X] You said/suggested something incredibly stupid.

To Repent, You Must:
[X] Give up your AOL Internet account
[X] Jump into a bathtub while holding your monitor
[ ] Actually post something relevant
[ ] Apologize to everybody on this forum
[ ] Go stand in the middle of a freeway

In Closing, I'd Like to Say:
[X] Get a life
[ ] Never post again
[ ] I pity your dog
[ ] I think your IQ must be 6
[X] Take your crap somewhere else
[ ] Do us all a favor and jump into some industrial equipment
[ ] Go play Dress-Up Barbie Online
[ ] All of the above

.Text Upgrade on MVP Site

coad — Sat, 12 Jun 2004 15:53:00 GMT

Susan Bradley just updated (6/11/04) msmvps.com to .Text v0.95.2004.102. We're still working out the kinks, but it is coming along!

So if your agregate news reader shows double post entries (like my RSS Bandit), you know why. If you're using RSS Bandit, just follow these steps to restore normality.

Close RSS Bandit
Edit "C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Application Data\RssBandit\feedlist.xml"
Search for "msmvps.com/coad"
Delete all elements inside of the "stories-recently-viewed" element.
Delete the Cache\msmvps.com* (or Cache\www.msmvps.com*) files.
Load RSS Bandit, it will automatically download and recache the posts.

TechEd 2004 Curiosities

coad — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 19:52:00 GMT

<lol> I missed these funnies at TechEd, but thankfully they have been captured in time. :)

Ultra-Portable Laptop

coad — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 03:44:00 GMT

Overview
I have received many inquiries in airports, conferences, classes, meetings, etc when I pull out my laptop and it is smaller than even the thinnest paper notebooks on the table. I've seen too many people not carry or use their portable computer because it was inconvenient, this defeats the purpose of a laptop. Even with my last Sony VAIO V505, which was only 4 lbs, I still found that I would leave it behind because it just wasn't easy enough. Not so with this little system, it goes everywhere with me. This has been one of my most enjoyable, useful, and best investments.

Specifications

Sharp Actius MM10 (PDF)

Cost	$1400
Weight	2.10 lbs (0.95 kg)
Dimensions	9.9" x 8.2" x 0.54" (min.)/0.78" (max)
Processor	1 GHz Transmeta Crusoe
Memory	256MB DDR SDRAM (fixed)
Video Controller	SMI Lynx3DM+ w/ 8MB
Display	10.4" XGA TFT LCD (1024x768)
Networking	10/100 Ethernet & 802.11b Wireless
Hard Drive	15GB
Pointing Device	Touch-Pad
PCMCIA	Type II x 1, CardBus port supported
I/O Ports	USB 2.0 x 2, LAN, Audio output, VGA dongle cable connector, DC in, Cradle connection
Storage Media	External USB 2.0 CD Writer / DVD Reader Combo

The Review

Purpose
This is definitely a secondary, travel computer, it is not ment to be a primary system. Using a synchronization program I found with my own custom written multi-threading overhead, I can very easily synchronize my files to/from the laptop anytime. Frequently I'll just use the laptop to Remote Desktop to my main system when on the couch, front porch, or friend's house and will get another 30% of battery life.
Summery
Overall I love this thing! For its purpose, I'd give it a 4.5 star rating.
Size
Oh my gosh, this is definitely one of the biggest advantages! It is just so thin and light-weight! If a laptop is not light and small enough to be carried, it is no good to me (since it is not truly portable). The case is just barely thick enough for the PCMCIA and USB ports!
Low Power
Since it uses the low power Transmeta processor, it runs cool, doesn't need a fan, and runs about 2.5 hours on the standard battery and 9 hours on the slightly larger battery.
Speed
Even through it is 1 GHz, it still runs slow, but is fast enough to run WinXP Pro, IIS, Visual Studio, Office, and anything else I've thrown at it.
Storage
The 15GB may seem small, but I can still keep 5GB free. It uses a specialized hard drive because just the normal laptop drives are actually thicker than the computer!
Memory
The 256MB of RAM may also seem small, but remember, it is not for high-power work and actually works out just fine. It hibernates and resumes quite quickly, which is a big plus.
Removable Media
I actual really like the fact that it does not have internal removable media (floppy or CD drives) which I find quite unnecessary most of the time and would just add useless bulk. They only thing I've really needed the external CD drive for was reloading the operating system. Everything else I do through the Internet, FTP, USB Sticks, virtual CD mounts, etc.
Docking Cradle
It comes with a docking cradle that mounts its internal hard drive as a drive on the main PC, but I never ever use it. I just use folder shares and a wireless network and am set.
Keyboard
The keyboard is small. No doubt about it; it takes getting used to. Fry's Electronics (where I bought it) stopped carrying it because of too many returns by people saying the keyboard was too small. Once you get used to it, it is very efficient and I can actually type faster on it. So much so that I purchased a similar mini-laptop styled keyboard for my main system.
Networking
The 10/100 Ethernet and 802.11b wireless work great! The wireless does not take as much power as I would expect. It does not have a modem built in, but comes with a v.92 PCMCIA modem which I find I rarely ever need anyways.

Comparison
It has been hard to compare this unit since finding something comparable in weight and size has been difficult until recently. Sony just announced their new VAIO X505 which is very similar.

The VAIO X505 costs twice as much ($3k), uses an Intel 1 GHz M, has 512MB RAM, 20GB HD, does not have built-in 802.11b wireless, does not include a CD/DVD drive ($400 more), uses an eraser head pointer (no touch pad), weighs slightly less (1.9 lbs), is about the same physical size, is the same size and resolution display (10.4"), and does not have the option of an extended life battery.

Conclusion
This is designed to be a secondary, travel, take your files with you, type of compuer. For that, dang, it is awesome! The size, weight, price, and features just can't be beat (yet).

Favorite Bloggers

coad — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 20:01:00 GMT

News/Blog Reading
RSS Bandit is a great aggregate news reader. It is writting entirely in C#, is easy to use, works like a charm, and is even open source so you can see how various components have been implemented. To add feeds, just right-click in IE on an XML or RSS icon in the blog (or the RSS links below) and choose "Subscribe in default aggregator".

Favorite Bloggars (To Date)
Here is a list of the blogs I am currently subscribed to. As my list is modified over time I'll repost this list of active bloggers. These are really great posters!

Jeffery Palermo	RSS	ASP.NET Dude
Cyrus' Blather	RSS	VS IDE Team
Ted Neward	RSS	.NET & Java Author
Jean-Luc David	RSS	.NET MVP & Author
Erik Porter	RSS	.NET MVP
Eric Gunnerson	RSS	C# Team
Duncan Mackenzie	RSS	C# Team
C# Frequently Asked Questions	RSS	C# Team
Visual Studio 2005 Team System	RSS	Official VS TS News

More TechEd Photos

coad — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 19:25:00 GMT

Here are a few more photos that came out of TechEd 2004. Dang we had a good time! See you all next year! Look for me in a dark blue shirt... :)

Cathi Gero (C# MVP) and Ted Neward (MVP, Author, .NET Rocks!)

Mark Dunn (MVP, MCT, Previous .NET Rocks! Co-Host), Party on dude!

Dan Fox and Jon Box (.NET MVP), the Authoring Duo! Listen to Fox & Box on .NET Rocks!

Dr. Salih Yurttas (Professor in the Texas A&M - CS Department)
Thankfully he passed me in school so I could go work for Microsoft. Thanks Dr. Yurttas!

Increase Internet Explorer's Simultaneous Connections Limit

coad — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 00:30:00 GMT

Internet Explorer limits the number of simultaneous downloads to two downloads, plus one queued download. This is an out of the box browser setting.

To increase the number of simultaneous connections that are allowed, follow these steps:

Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Internet Settings
Select "New" > "DWORD Value" from the "Edit" menu
Name the new value "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"
Right-click the "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server" value and choose "Modify"
Under "Base", click the radio button next to "Decimal"
In the "Value Data" box enter the number of simultaneous connections you want to set (for example 10 is a good value), and click "OK"
Repeat steps 3 - 7 using the new value "MaxConnectionsPerServer"
Exit the registry editor

Enabling More Than 10 IIS Connections in Windows XP Pro

coad — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 03:49:00 GMT

The IIS included with Windows XP Pro is shipped out of the box with a 10 concurrent connections limit. This can be increased to 40 or so. Just download and install the IIS MetaEdit utility, load it up, and change the LM/W3SVC/MaxConnections entry's data to 40.