This week Microsoft announced that their Virtual Earth product versions 3, 4 & 5 will be retired.

As part of our planned deprecation schedule for older versions of Virtual Earth, we will be permanently retiring Virtual Earth version 3, version 4, and version 5 in the coming months. If you are currently using one of these versions, please read this notification and the end-of-life schedule that applies to the version(s) of Virtual Earth you are using. Please note, this Virtual Earth version end-of-life plan only applies to Virtual Earth and does not affect the MapPoint Web Service.

Please note, this does NOT affect the Microsoft Map Point 4.5 Geocoding class that I wrote. This class will continue to do its job. :)

Related: Google Maps Geocoding Class

Every now and then I have people who want to know what books I recommend in regards to IT and Software. My list tends to change over time, so I plan on keeping this up to date. I'll be posting this link on the home page, so feel free to check back any time. 

Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture  - Martin Fowler Great book with great patterns for enterprise architecture.	Head First Design Patterns Good intro to design patterns.
The Pragmatic Programmer Great book for those who like to program but what some more direction on the ways of great software development.	Refactoring to Patterns Learn how to refactor your code into patterns.
Working Effectively With Legacy Code New to unit testing? Having problems with how to understand and test old code? READ THIS BOOK. This book helps any developer understand "hand-me-down" code. :)	Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C# Can't be a book written by Robert C. Martin like this one. All around goodness.
xUnit Test Patterns You know how to unit test? But what about all of these edge cases? How about testing sending emails? How to test file handling?	Framework Design Guidelines A great resource for someone who is attempting to write a framework for a team. This is not the end-all-be-all, but it is a good resource.
Code Complete 2 A must read for any developer.	Agile Software Development with Scrum Get a grip on the development process with Scrum.
Software Estimation Another classic from McConnell. If you need to learn how to estimate better, pick up this bad-boy. If you're agile or waterfall, this can help.	Release It! Having trouble getting things out the door? This book will help guide you. Completely mind altering book.
Practices of an Agile Developer Excellent book on agile development.	Learning WCF If you're interested in SOA, then you need to learn WCF. This book helps you ramp up and get dirty quick.
Agile Web Development With Rails Again, in my quest to learn new languages, I decided to whip up some web apps with Rails. Very slick, very nice. If you want to learn how to build web apps with Ruby check out this book.	Everyday Scripting with Ruby In my quest to learn a new language every year, I picked up a copy of this book. It has been outstanding in helping a .NET architect become a dynamic language convert.

I've been using GMail since it first came out. I remember getting it and having TWO invites to send to friends. This is back when Gmail invites were going for $100.00 a pop.

Through the years its been a great service and I've love every single second of it. Its truly the best at keeping track of conversations, and this works wonders for insanely active groups like ALT.NET.

Over the last couple of months its seemed that Gmail has gotten progressively slower and slower. Through using Fiddler I was able to determine that larger chunks of JavaScript was coming down the wire. The amount of AJAX and DHTML going on behind the scenes brings Gmail to a crawl.

How to overcome it?

On the top right hand side of your page, click "Older Version".

This will load the UI without all the bells and whistles and its about 5 times as fast in regards to response times.

Unfortunately there is not an option in the preferences to make this stick. As soon as I log in, I immediately click "Older Version". Alternatively you can also switch to "Standard HTML View" at the bottom. But with this, you don't get any smooth AJAX. Its regular HTML page post backs.