Date: 01/03/08 (Web Technology)    Keywords: html, web, microsoft

Slashdot got suckered and picked up a story by NeoSmart which was able to "exclusively reveal that Microsoft's website is in the middle of a redesign that will feature a fully Silverlight-powered interface - doing away with HTML and everything else." The problem, it's all BS. The...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=691

Date: 01/04/08 (Data Management)    Keywords: web, microsoft

When Microsoft starts shipping Windows Web Server 2008 real soon now, the licensing terms and conditions it will require of its customers will be different than they were for prior versions of the company's Web-server version of the product. Customers will be able to use any type...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1075

Date: 01/05/08 (Security)    Keywords: microsoft

Since I do have a few CoralDraw .CDR files hanging about the place, and have Office 2003 installed on a couple of system, I was interested in getting to the bottom of why Microsoft blocked access to .CDR files with Office 2003 SP3. For some answers I contacted Microsoft, and...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1116

Date: 01/05/08 (C Sharp)    Keywords: xml, web, microsoft, google

All,

Hi again. I posted the message two down from this one (unless someone posts while I'm typing this) about the frustrations of .NET WebServices and an OO structure with logical boundaries. I received a bunch of hearty recommendations for WCF, all ensuring me that it would provide all of the great stuff I love from .NET Remoting, but it would let me do it over HTTP(S).

I guess I should have been more specific.

I attempted a WCF implementation of a few of the methods in one of my services. While it certainly behaved better than a WebService implementation (e.g. passing/returning an Interface didn't crash it! *sigh*), I'm still not getting the behavior I want. So I'm going to be a little more specific.

My application's architecture necessitates a large number of application modules, most of which are communicating with most of each other, while what each of them has to say to any given module is fairly narrow in breadth (say, 1-3 possible remote transactions per module pair in the network -- that is, if there were three modules (and there are actually more than double that), let's call them A, B, and C, module A would host 1-3 types of requests from B and C; module B would host 1-3 types of requests from A and C; module C would host 1-3 types of requests from A and B. You get the picture.

Because of this property of my application's communication schema, I was (perhaps stupidly -- I am certainly willing to eschew this particular practice, but read on for what I want to still be able to do) using two generic structs to do the gruntwork for all communication methods: TCPResponse CallRemotingService(TCPAction thisAction)

Where TCPAction is simply:
public string Command;
public string ComputerName;
public object Data;
public Type DataType;

and TCPResponse is simply:
public bool Success;
public string ErrorMessage;
public Exception ErrorException;
public object Data;
public Type DataType;

By switching on TCPAction.Command and verifying TCPAction.DataType, I could cast TCPAction.Data into what I expected (TCPAction.DataType) and execute some private method on it that would return a TCPREsponse which I would return to the caller.

WCF complained that it didn't know anything about the classes (which contained other interfaces or still other classes as members) I was shoving into TCPACtion/Response.Data.

I understand that this approach has a number of unreasonable properties, so after seeing that it did not work with my attempt at WCF (which I suppose is my first question -- could it?), I moved on to the following.

As long as I can use the business objects I created for the purpose of shoving into TCPAction/Response.Data as parameters/returns for operation-specific methods of the WCF service, I am still happy, so I tried setting up a WCF service with a single method to see if my business objects would work in a more explicit form:

public string TestWCF(WSDataObject thisData) { }

Now, WSDataObject is a custom business class that has the following members (with appropriate get/set properties):

private ITransactionObject myITransactionObject;
private WSAuthenticationObject myWSAuthenticationObject;

While ITransactionObject contains native framework value types, WSAuthenticationObject goes even further with:

private IWSPreAuthentication myIWSPreAuthentication;
private string myServerAuthenticationKey;

Again, all of these classes have get/set properties for all of their members, which I've listed -- property names simply chop off "my."

The problem with this implementation was that WCF didn't know anything about some subset of the classes/interfaces "underneath" WSDataObject (ITransactionObject, WSAuthenticationObject, IWSPreAuthentication). The result was some kind of custom exception relating to type conversion.

FYI, I was using the Microsoft WCF "Getting Started" tutorial (modifying it to my needs) at this link.

I have to say I was disappointed that, just like WebServices, WCF requires a proxy class to mangle the public-facing portion of the object. However, I was too disheartened (and found far too little information from Google about "nested" classes like this) to "get my hands dirty" and see if I couldn't use the KnownTypeAttribute, or some other magic entirely, to make my business classes behave. Also, I was disappointed that WCF didn't (or I didn't make it) pass an entire object, private members and all. Is it possible to pass even methods?

That said, it looked like I was going to be pigeonholed into (some of) the same activities that WebServices would have forced me into -- basically writing a kind of serialization/deserialization layer in which I transmit and return only .NET native value types across the wire, but to and from which my applications can pass my real business objects. Which seems like a lot of unnecessary work.

I'm sure I didn't learn 10% about WCF in MS' tutorial -- does anyone have any better WCF resources that might be able to help with my problem? And/or has had experience with this particular problem in the past?

Any information/help is appreciated, as always. .NET Remoting works so well, but I just don't think it will fly in an application being marketed to customers, one component of which must be running from within their firewall. I wish there was some way to use .NET Remoting to make a request, grab the bytes, serialize them with XML, pass them to a really generic WebService with WCF, deserialize them, execute the transaction, and perform the reverse.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/csharp/90948.html

Date: 01/07/08 (Web Technology)    Keywords: microsoft

Pretty big news out of CES tonight where Bill Gates gave the keynote. NBC and Microsoft have signed a deal that will make MSN the provider for online content during the 2008 olympics at NBCOlympics.com. The biggest news is that Silverlight is going to be powering the video. Allen Stern...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=693

Date: 01/07/08 (Data Management)    Keywords: microsoft

Whether you think the recently proposed class action lawsuit over Xbox Live service holiday outages is crazy or justified, there are undeniable problems with Microsoft's back-end Live infrastructure that Microsoft needs to address. Microsoft recently offered its 10 million Xbox Live subscribers a free arcade game as...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1084

Date: 01/08/08 (Security)    Keywords: microsoft

Microsoft on Tuesday delivered one "critical" addressing two vulnerabilities in XP and Vista and one "important" vulnerability in Windows 2000, XP and Windows Server 2003. The critical patch resolves two vulnerabilities (CVE-2007-0069 and CVE-2007-0066) reported by IBM ISS X-Force. The vulnerability, which involved TCP/IP processing, was critical...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=790

Date: 01/16/08 (Data Management)    Keywords: software, java, microsoft

We knew that Sun has been lusting after a real software business in addition to Solaris. We knew that Sun "shares" -- that it digs open source, including Solaris and Java. And we knew that Sun had a love-hate relationship with Oracle and a hate-hate relationship with IBM and Microsoft....

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gardner/?p=2596

Date: 01/17/08 (Data Management)    Keywords: microsoft

Microsoft has replaced its fired Chief Information Officer (CIO) Stuart Scott, with the former Walt Disney CIO Tony Scott. Microsoft announced Scott's hiring on January 17. Scott will manage Microsoft's 4,000-member global IT staff and will report to Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner. From the press release...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1118

Date: 01/17/08 (Security)    Keywords: security, microsoft

If you're like most folks you are taking your time installing Microsoft's latest round of security patches. However, you may want to get your rear end in gear. Specifically apply MS08-001, which was released on Jan. 8. That patch fixed a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) processing...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=817

Date: 01/18/08 (Data Management)    Keywords: microsoft

Microsoft has been turning up the volume on its green initiatives across the company, as of late. I recently stumbled onto yet another one: DiskEnergy. DiskEnergy is a Microsoft Research project headquartered at the company's Cambridge, U.K. research facility. So far, there's very little public information about...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1119

Date: 01/21/08 (Data Management)    Keywords: xml, microsoft, google

In spite of their public opposition to Microsoft's attempt to get the ISO standardization nod for its Office Open XML (OOXML) document format, IBM and Google quietly are supporting OOXML. That's according to two blog postings from the end of last week by Microsoft execs involved in...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1121

Date: 01/22/08 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: security, linux, microsoft

I'm a Windows fanboy (and, for the record, I don't care about your opinion. If Apple had 90% of the market share, all you Apple fanboys would be Microsoft nerds. Don't give me that crap about usability and security. Same for Linux geeks). Microsoft has a reputable OS, and if it were really terrible, it would have kicked the bucket by now. There's a reason they have most of the market share.

But I'll admit, there are features on other OSs UI that I like and would like to have on Windows, but not losing any particular Windows quality. I mean, the interface for Windows has been more or less the same since Windows 95.

I'm particularly talking about Mac OS X's dock. Or, specifically, I like the idea. The dock is really a problem for me. I used a Mac a few times, and the dock just got in the way of the applications I was trying to run. Still, the idea of not having to go to the desktop when I want to open something is great. (Windows' quick launch really isn't that great.)

So, for the last hour or so, I spent my time designing a new UI for Windows.



This is just a simple blueprint of what I imagined, so I used the Windows Classic theme. For the tiny icons, I used the icons that appear in the left hand corner of the window. This would look best in a more modern theme, like Vista. I also imagine the icons being bigger to take up space, and getting smaller when more space is used. But, again this is just a blueprint.

So, what are we seeing here? Well, we obviously have the Windows menu, which will serve it's basic functions. Then we have the taskbar icons. They will service like the icons on the desktop: you double click them, they open. When an application is open, they are added to the box you see on the right, which is for programs that are opened. When you minimize an application, you can reopen it by clicking it's icon in that box.

So, with this, what about the desktop? You can add widgets to it, or add whatever kind of eye candy you desire.

Well, that's my blueprint. (And I emphasize "blueprint". Don't give me crap saying that "why are you choosing it to look like boring Windows 98?".)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1145127.html

Date: 01/22/08 (Data Management)    Keywords: microsoft

Both Microsoft and Citrix/XenSource made important announcements January 21. Since they've been widely reported, I'd rather not cite the details. I'd rather consider what this really means. Microsoft Microsoft made a sweeping announcement that indicated that they changing their licensing rules for the Windows operating system and making...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/virtualization/?p=325

Date: 01/23/08 (Web Technology)    Keywords: microsoft

As companies rush to express their support for openness by joining DataPortability.org (Microsoft is the latest), we need to ask ourselves: what's in it for them? For if data portability -- the ability for users to easily move their data from one site to another -- were to become a...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=380

Date: 01/24/08 (Open Source)    Keywords: microsoft

Today's IBM is a world away from the old firm which fought the government, then Microsoft, over control of standards and customers. Sun's transformation has been even faster and even more complete.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/zdnet/open-source/~3/222350633/

Date: 01/25/08 (Data Management)    Keywords: sql, microsoft

Visual Studio 2008 went to manufacturing at the end of 2007. Windows Server 2008 is expected to be RTM'd in February. But SQL Server 2008 -- the other of the three products Microsoft is slated to launch together on February 27, 2008, in a big corporate event in Los Angeles...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1133

Date: 01/28/08 (Microsoft Windows)    Keywords: software, microsoft

There are three different personal computers in my household, and each computer is incapacitated by its own individual problems. One machine runs Win98, another runs WinMe, and the brand new one runs Windows Vista. (Yes, I'm aware that Win98 is old, and WinXP usually preferred to both of the latter. I'm not changing their operating systems.) I'm somewhat experienced with troubleshooting problems on the computers of family and friends, and I've had some successes with machines that seemed to be lost causes, but I'm at my wit's end with these particular problems. Can you help diagnose these problems, and/or suggest any fixes or work-arounds for these problems?


Nine-year-old(?) desktop PC running Windows 98:

1. This problem started last August. Computer shuts down spontaneously, often at startup. Rarely makes it far enough for Windows to boot up in the first place. Happens so fast that it's probably not overheating, and isn't kept in conditions where it would overheat, either: room temperature, not in an enclosed space, well-ventilated. Several knowledgeable people have said that its symptoms might mean that it has bad RAM. Supposedly replacing the RAM would be so expensive that the computer might as well be junked and replaced. Is that true, or does more affordable RAM exist? Is it possible that the symptoms mean something else?

Seven-year-old desktop PC, a Compaq running Windows Millennium:

1. Can't play streaming .rm (Real Media) files through RealPlayer or through alternative players such as SMPlayer. Problem is not with the .rm files themselves, which play okay on the other computers. How can I get .rm to play?

2. I installed a DivX codec that was too new to run on WinMe. The official Microsoft site said that the codec was compatible with WinMe, but other sites said it was not. Result is that games like Zuma do not display. Supposedly can't downgrade DivX to a compatible version without uninstalling whole OS. Upgrading the OS isn't possible because the machine is supposedly too old to run WinXP. Can I do something so that Zuma will run?

New (bought last September) desktop PC, a Dell running Windows Vista:

1. Computer is not communicating with flatbed scanner at all, and communicating intermittently with USB keyboard. The problem is not with the scanner or keyboard hardware themselves. Scanner has been tested on another computer and worked fine. The scanner connects to the computer by USB, so this may be a problem with the computer's USB ports or drivers. On this computer, when I tell it to scan, the software says "Warming up the scanner bar," the scanner hardware makes a noise like it's about to scan, and then it locks up and has to be closed by ctrl+alt+del. The scanner software won't open again until the computer has been rebooted. As for the keyboard, sometimes it communicates with the computer in a normal way, and sometimes the computer seems unaware that anything is being typed into that keyboard. What can I do to make the computer communicate with the USB scanner and USB keyboard?

a) draque and kistaro suggest: plug into different USB port, because the USB ports I've tried so far might be defective. (I've tried plugging the scanner and keyboard into a few different ports, but I haven't exhausted this possibility yet by trying ALL the ports.)

b) draque suggests: install any drivers that came with the keyboard. (No drivers came with the keyboard that I'm aware of, but I'll dig through my CDs to make sure.)

c) baxil suggests: for keyboard, Add New Hardware wizard, then plug it in, then manually select generic "new USB keyboard" driver. (I've tried this before, but it's worth another try. Sigh.)

d) ridayah says this (or the Bluetooth problem below) is an inherent problem with Windows Vista, although Kistaro begs to differ, having not run into it on a Vista machine.

e) kistaro says a USB problem is so uncommon that it's almost certainly a problem with the computer's hardware, so the computer should be sent in for repair or return.

2. Computer is intermittently failing to communicate with Bluetooth devices, including the Bluetooth mouse and the Bluetooth keyboard that came with the computer. Problem is probably not with the Bluetooth devices themselves: their batteries have been changed, their status lights look okay, they have no signs of physical damage. Sometimes I have to go through the Add Hardware wizard to re-introduce the computer to the Bluetooth keyboard or mouse. What can I do to make the computer reliably communicate with its Bluetooth peripherals?

a) kistaro suggests: the computer's bluetooth antenna is internally connected by USB, so this is part of the same USB problem described above.

3. New Wacom Intuos 3 tablet mouse recognizes a single-click as a double-click, although its option screen claims that it's recognizing a single-click as a single-click. (Likewise, the tablet's pen sometimes recognizes a single-tap as a double-tap.) Previous Wacom tablet worked perfectly on this computer, and its drivers were uninstalled before installing this one, so probably no conflict from older drivers... although there may well be a conflict in something else. Maybe there's another options screen somewhere, where I can change the setting so that it works...? Is this another USB communication problem? What can I do to make the tablet recognize a single-click as an actual single-click?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/ms_windows/89213.html

Date: 01/28/08 (Computer Help)    Keywords: software, microsoft

There are three different personal computers in my household, and each computer is incapacitated by its own individual problems. One machine runs Win98, another runs WinMe, and the brand new one runs Windows Vista. (Yes, I'm aware that Win98 is old, and WinXP usually preferred to both of the latter. I'm not changing their operating systems.) I'm somewhat experienced with troubleshooting problems on the computers of family and friends, and I've had some successes with machines that seemed to be lost causes, but I'm at my wit's end with these particular problems. Can you help diagnose these problems, and/or suggest any fixes or work-arounds for these problems?


Nine-year-old(?) desktop PC running Windows 98:

1. This problem started last August. Computer shuts down spontaneously, often at startup. Rarely makes it far enough for Windows to boot up in the first place. Happens so fast that it's probably not overheating, and isn't kept in conditions where it would overheat, either: room temperature, not in an enclosed space, well-ventilated. Several knowledgeable people have said that its symptoms might mean that it has bad RAM. Supposedly replacing the RAM would be so expensive that the computer might as well be junked and replaced. Is that true, or does more affordable RAM exist? Is it possible that the symptoms mean something else?

Seven-year-old desktop PC, a Compaq running Windows Millennium:

1. Can't play streaming .rm (Real Media) files through RealPlayer or through alternative players such as SMPlayer. Problem is not with the .rm files themselves, which play okay on the other computers. How can I get .rm to play?

2. I installed a DivX codec that was too new to run on WinMe. The official Microsoft site said that the codec was compatible with WinMe, but other sites said it was not. Result is that games like Zuma do not display. Supposedly can't downgrade DivX to a compatible version without uninstalling whole OS. Upgrading the OS isn't possible because the machine is supposedly too old to run WinXP. Can I do something so that Zuma will run?

New (bought last September) desktop PC, a Dell running Windows Vista:

1. Computer is not communicating with flatbed scanner at all, and communicating intermittently with USB keyboard. The problem is not with the scanner or keyboard hardware themselves. Scanner has been tested on another computer and worked fine. The scanner connects to the computer by USB, so this may be a problem with the computer's USB ports or drivers. On this computer, when I tell it to scan, the software says "Warming up the scanner bar," the scanner hardware makes a noise like it's about to scan, and then it locks up and has to be closed by ctrl+alt+del. The scanner software won't open again until the computer has been rebooted. As for the keyboard, sometimes it communicates with the computer in a normal way, and sometimes the computer seems unaware that anything is being typed into that keyboard. What can I do to make the computer communicate with the USB scanner and USB keyboard?

a) draque and kistaro suggest: plug into different USB port, because the USB ports I've tried so far might be defective. (I've tried plugging the scanner and keyboard into a few different ports, but I haven't exhausted this possibility yet by trying ALL the ports.)

b) draque suggests: install any drivers that came with the keyboard. (No drivers came with the keyboard that I'm aware of, but I'll dig through my CDs to make sure.)

c) baxil suggests: for keyboard, Add New Hardware wizard, then plug it in, then manually select generic "new USB keyboard" driver. (I've tried this before, but it's worth another try. Sigh.)

d) ridayah says this (or the Bluetooth problem below) is an inherent problem with Windows Vista, although Kistaro begs to differ, having not run into it on a Vista machine.

e) kistaro says a USB problem is so uncommon that it's almost certainly a problem with the computer's hardware, so the computer should be sent in for repair or return.

2. Computer is intermittently failing to communicate with Bluetooth devices, including the Bluetooth mouse and the Bluetooth keyboard that came with the computer. Problem is probably not with the Bluetooth devices themselves: their batteries have been changed, their status lights look okay, they have no signs of physical damage. Sometimes I have to go through the Add Hardware wizard to re-introduce the computer to the Bluetooth keyboard or mouse. What can I do to make the computer reliably communicate with its Bluetooth peripherals?

a) kistaro suggests: the computer's bluetooth antenna is internally connected by USB, so this is part of the same USB problem described above.

3. New Wacom Intuos 3 tablet mouse recognizes a single-click as a double-click, although its option screen claims that it's recognizing a single-click as a single-click. (Likewise, the tablet's pen sometimes recognizes a single-tap as a double-tap.) Previous Wacom tablet worked perfectly on this computer, and its drivers were uninstalled before installing this one, so probably no conflict from older drivers... although there may well be a conflict in something else. Maybe there's another options screen somewhere, where I can change the setting so that it works...? Is this another USB communication problem? What can I do to make the tablet recognize a single-click as an actual single-click?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/861264.html

Date: 01/28/08 (Web Technology)    Keywords: web, microsoft

With DEMO today there's going to be a ton of RIA news but this one isn't DEMO-related. Microsoft is going to be working with the Library of Congress (one of my favorite buildings in DC) on an enhanced version of their website. The plan seems to be part of an...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=724