A .NET Architecture, Design & Development Journal

Stick to your process for success

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:28:39 GMT

If you work for a large software or consulting company, then most likely your company has some good processes in place that their infrastructure and business model are built around. Process almost always adds value in repeatability, consistent output, and reusability, but process almost always adds overhead to both time and budget.

So what happens to your process when your projects start to hit speed bumps? We often find it expedient to try to doggedly stay on course

Road Warriors Beware

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:19:29 GMT

If you are in the IT consulting business or work as an IT freelancer you will travel... a lot. You become very familiar with rental car companies, airlines, hotel chains, and the best places to eat in your home away from home. You also become very familiar with long hours, a lot of stress, and a general lack of personal attention.

Recently I became very ill on a flight to Hartford, CT and had to be taken to the hospital when I got off the plane. Fortunately it

Are we destined to become the Borg?

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:08:43 GMT

No, I'm not advocating Locutus' OS of choice. The more I read about advances in computer science and the biological sciences, and how much they are starting to converge, I really start to wonder what the end results will be.

This month's Popular Mechanics has an article about new medical devices that can be inserted into a patient's arteries and be used to scrape the walls of the arteries to remove blockages. These little devices are to be controlled wirelessly and can stay

The CPU isn't dead, yet.

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:59:23 GMT

I've been writing for years on this blog that parallel computing is the future of computers. When the AMD Athlon 64 X2 came out I was an early adopter and sang the praises of multi-core. Now everyone seems to be getting the picture and software is finally starting to catch up with the hardware. Now that developers are starting to think in terms of parallel computing, it's only natural that they begin looking at processors that are designed for highly parallelized operations.

The Present Meets the Past

Thu, 29 May 2008 15:24:55 GMT

I work from home (most of the time) and one of the joys of working from home is being able to shape the malleable young minds of my kids on what to appreciate in past and present technology. In other words, I get to play old video games with my kids. This is a lot of fun for all of us and the true test of any game is whether or not it can suck in a 4-year-old. In addition to all the old games we play, we also have a XBOX 36

The Current Economy and IT Jobs

Tue, 27 May 2008 15:34:24 GMT

Here in the USA you cannot turn on a news source without hearing about the "recession" that is "imminent"; this in the face of positive economic data. The topic has me wondering if the "recession" is affecting IT hiring practices and if IT staff are encountering massive layoffs. If you are in IT and are either searching for a job, recently changed jobs, or have been or will be laid off, please sound out about it in th

The Matt Asay Watch: Letting Stallman Dictate to OLPC

Thu, 08 May 2008 10:01:03 GMT

There's no question that Matt Asay is Richard Stallman's biggest cheerleader. Stallman could say that the Earth is a giant pyramid and Asay would report it as fact and blame Microsoft for perpetuating a lie that the Earth is round.

OLPC's capitulation to Windows: A question of community | The Open Road - The Business and Politics of Open Source by Matt Asay - CNET Blogs

Here we have a post to

The Solid State Drive (SSD) Comes of Age

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:12:28 GMT

The era of the hard drive is coming to an end, and quicker than was expected.

Super Talent Announces 120 GB SSD For $650 - Tom's Hardware

When given the choice between a 250 GB 7200 RPM 2.5" laptop HD for $250, or a 120 GB 2.5" SSD for $650, any person with a mild interest in performance might still be a bit wary, but for users who need fast boot time, fast launch times, fast save times, fast read times,

Need a Blog Authoring Tool?

Sat, 03 May 2008 20:31:28 GMT

I'm definitely not being a Microsoft shill on this one; the product is that good. What product? Windows Live Writer, which is by far the best blog authoring tool I've found (and I've used a bunch of them). Even ZD Net recently named Windows Live Writer as the best blog authoring software around and one of the 10 best programs for Windows. You can download Windows Live Writer here.

PS. It wor

The Payton Byrd Manifesto (or how to Understand this Blog)

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:56:34 GMT
I want to clear up some misconceptions around here.

Hypocrisy Indeed!

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:14:49 GMT

You will not find a better missive on the topic of OOXML's ratification than this blog entry by Jan van den Beld (who happens to have been the Secretary General for ECMA International in Geneva for 16 years).

Jan van den Beld: Hypocrisy

Please, go give it a read regardless of which side of the aisle you are on. After reading that, come back here and see the correlation of truth vs. the alternate unive

Coding Horror: The Two Types of Programmers - Or Why Open Source Doesn't Get It

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:28:15 GMT
I know, I know, another open source bashing post....

Looks Like I'm Right about Windows 7 Launch Date

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:18:04 GMT

And remember, you heard it here first.

Gates: Windows 7 may come 'in the next year' | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com

Given the inevitable +3 month delay in launching any version of Windows, it appears that I was right on the money in reading the tea leaves about the launch date f

(Un)Official Launch Data for Windows 7

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:48:02 GMT
It appears that Microsoft has let the cat out of the bag on the official launch date for Windows 7....

It's Official, ODF Sucks - That's No April Fool's Joke Either

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:45:45 GMT

It's no secret that the world has decided to hate Microsoft at the journalistic and regulatory levels. Everywhere you turn Microsoft is under attack from media of all sorts, emboldened by their close ties to socialist-leaning government employees who have taken great pains to cause Microsoft as much damage around the world as is humanly possible. Face it, there's no company that screams Capitalist Americans more than Microsoft, and for better or for worse, that's exactly why they