Custom software developer. IT consultant. Geek.
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Migrating my blog from Graffiti CMS to WordPress
Jun 2nd
A couple of years ago, I moved this blog onto the Graffiti CMS platform. I was mainly drawn to Graffiti because it was based on ASP.NET, and written by the same folks who make Community Server. Unfortunately, the platform never really took off as I had hoped, and a while back it was announced that Graffiti CMS was moving to be an open source project.
For several years, I have supported various friends and clients who had blogs hosted on the WordPress platform, so I decided that it was finally time to take the plunge myself.
Fortunately, I was able to find some More >
CubeGuard – The perfect addition to the home office
Jun 11th
I recently ran across the CubeGuard on one of my gadget sites, and just couldn’t resist buying one for myself. These are essentially customized versions of the cloth tape that movie theaters use to delineate queues. You can choose from a number of stock messages, or choose a custom message. I was a bit scared that the product would be tacky, but was pleasantly surprised by the build quality when it arrived. The mounting plates are very high quality, able to be attached using the provided double-sided taped + velcro strips (good for flat surfaces or fabric cubicle walls), the built-in More >
Keeping IT Simple – Infrastructure Choices for the Small Business
Apr 25th
With the economic climate becoming increasingly hostile to small businesses, I’ve been giving a lot of thought (and research) into how small businesses can keep their IT costs low and maintain a smoothly-running IT infrastructure. Of course, the best way to discuss these topics is to dive into a specific example.
THE SCENARIO…
The scenario for this discussion is an accounting firm with 5-10 employees (I’m being particularly ambiguous, as this scenario involves a real client). Currently, they run Windows Small Business Server 2003. I’ll summarize their IT needs as (1) Exchange Server, (2) file serving, and (3) database software More >
Creating a Modern Line of Business Application using eXpressApp Framework
Apr 18th
About a year ago, I began work on a large project to replace a FoxPro-based line-of-business application with a new modern system that would provide the customer with better visibility and management of their data, as well as improving our ability to rapidly implement new software capabilities to improve their business operations.
Before I get into the details of the new system, I’ll elaborate a bit on the old system. The customer’s Microsoft Visual FoxPro solution had been ported from the pre-Microsoft non-Visual version of FoxPro, so it was entirely text-based. In its previous life, the system resided on an IBM More >
Battle of the sweatshirts – Apple vs. Microsoft
Jan 19th
A few weeks ago, I went to my friend Josh’s house to help him hang some drywall. There was an interesting and entirely unplanned/coincidental dichotomy in the sweatshirts we chose to wear that day (I’m on/in the right, needless to say). Let me say that an electrical/computer engineer and an information systems consultant make a mean drywalling team. We were also aided by a physicist who, due to recent surgery, could not raise his arms above his head or lift more than five pounds. Pretty funny stuff…
VS2008 Web Server Here Shell Extension
Jan 15th
I ran across a great article on Phil Haack’s blog regarding a registry tweak you can make so you can right-click on any folder and launch the Visual Studio Web Server (aka Cassini) against the directory. This is very handy if you are working on a website locally and want to spin it up without completely opening Visual Studio. Here’s the code you need:
32 bit (x86)Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\VS2008 WebServer] @="ASP.NET Web Server Here" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\VS2008 WebServer\command] @="C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\microsoft shared\\DevServer \\9.0\\Webdev.WebServer.exe /port:8080 /path:\"%1\""64 bit (x64)Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\VS2008 WebServer] @="ASP.NET Web Server Here" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\VS2008 WebServer\command] More >
Windows 7 Beta: Adding and removing programs
Jan 9th
I was playing with the Windows 7 beta today and made an interesting observation… Microsoft has made it easier to find where you remove programs!
First, a bit of background… In Windows XP and before, we used to have “Add/Remove Programs.” Now that frustrated people, because they said “Who ever uses that to add a program?” Of course, the IT Pros out there said “Hey, that’s where we can publish programs using Group Policy,” which was followed by a collective “Huh?” from everyone else. … So in Windows Vista, they renamed that to “Programs and Features.” Now that made a lot More >
Hilarious video – Macbook Wheel
Jan 7th
The Onion never fails to disappoint me. To coincide with MacWorld, they have a great parody video out about the “Macbook Wheel”.
Why my Zune did not have a happy New Years Eve
Jan 1st
So yesterday, on December 31, 2008, everyone with one of the original 30GB Zunes (I have two) found their precious portable media players frozen at a startup screen. Of course, in today’s blogging world, this hit the news quickly and Microsoft found themselves swamped with support calls and demands to fix the problem (wouldn’t that be a great way to wake up?).
This morning, I saw that a user over at ZuneBoards.com has found the bug in a reverse-engineered version of the Zune 30 source code. This is just such a classic programming “oops” that I had to post it for other More >
Some Good Windows Azure Videos
Oct 27th
Some good videos came out today about Windows Azure. I’m linking them here as a good single-page way to get a quick (haha… ok, several hours) understanding of what Azure is all about.
Program Manager Steve Marx gives a great 35 minute overview of what Windows Azure means for developers Steve Marx: Windows Azure for Developers
Next on the list, is a 40-minute video of Manuvir Das, Director in the Windows Azure team introducing Windows Azure. Lots of good architecture stuff in this video. Manuvir Das: Introducing Windows Azure
Diving a bit into more of the individual Azure services, Technical Fellow John Shewchuk More >