Sys-Con’s EdgeEast 2004 Conference in Boston

dotNET

Gulp. Guess it’s official. I’m only doing the talk once, but maybe they just wanted it to look like they’ve got lots of women speakers by putting me on that home page twice! Just kidding. There are at least two others that I can see. My task is to pack a laundry list of what’s new in the Whidbey CLR into a very short period of time. I am still trying to decide if I should whiz through the list (boring), or just pick out my favorites and focus on them. I think a combo of those two would be the best – though timing will determine this. I’d also like to get a little into how these classes relate to WinFX. This is NOT the same as doing a talk on something you have great experience with – since it’s all new stuff. But it’s a great means of making sure I get my ass in gear!! 🙂

Preparing to jump into the black hole…

Just Rambling

Well the time has come. I can put it off no longer.

My new hard drive is here. I have my win2k3 server software (msdn universal) and I have run out of space on my little server.

My two possible plans of action are this:

1) Install new drive as the slave drive. Copy the current drive completely to this new drive. The current system is win2k server wtih IIS5 (many test websites) and SQL Server 2000 on it. Once that is in place then I change that drive to the master drive and upgrade to Win2K3 server and hope all stays well.

2) Install new drive as master drive. Reformat it (just in case) and install Win2K3 server, SQL Server 2000 and IIS6. Install .NET Framework 1.1 and remote debugging tools. Then copy my databases and my websites over and recreate all of the virtual directories. Actually not all of them. Many are garbage tests that can disappear.

I know that MS recommends migration over upgrading, but I think in my envronment (I only have the server so that I have a good test environment to emulate my clients) a plain old upgrade might be sufficient.

I am not looking to the physical part of this – installing the drive, doing the master slave thing. I did that a few years ago on my development machine when I switched to a new hard drive and at the same time went from win2k to winxp. When you only do this stuff every 2 or 3 years, it becomes a mystery again.

The sadder part is that I have come to the conclusion that my dev machine is really just maxed out and could use more memory and a new processor. I’ve got a screamin’ 160gig hard drive in there so that’s no problem. I don’t want to contribute to the computer graveyard so I’ll probably just upgrade the box. I tried that a few years ago on my server and ended up having to get a new motherboard and a new case as well.

Forte asks if Reporting Services is an Access Killer

dotNET

Stephen Forte asks if Reporting Services will be an Access Killer.

Of course we have all giggled about how it looks like Access for SQL Server. But it won’t kill Access. Many people will not need or be able to justify the cost of a SQL Server license as well as [what I have been led to understand is] the current required design tool – Visual Studio .NET.

Based on Phil Scott’s comment I should clarify that I am talking about situations where Access is already a viable tool – limited number of users and limited resources.

NPR Commentary on Blogging

Blogging

Today’s NPR Commentary by the ever-enlightened and very entertaining poet, Andrei Codrescu, talked about blogging. I have been a fan of Codrescu’s for years, though I can’t say his take on blogging is too flattering! But that’s okay by me. Listen here.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu talks about a spider in his backyard and how it relates to Internet web logs, or blogs. The blogger is at the center of a web, like a spider. Both eventually die — from the cold or from being unable to pay the server’s bill.

Something’s cooking at TabletPCDeveloper.com

dotNET

I received this email today (well this is a slice of it…). I hope this means good things to come!

The TabletPCDeveloper Web site is moving, and you can move with it!

On December 17, TabletPCDeveloper.com content will be moved to its well-established peer site GotDotNet.com.

You have received this notice because you are a registered user on the TabletPCDeveloper.com Web site. Part of the process of moving content to the GotDotNet site includes moving the TabletPCDeveloper user registration and related Samples. Unless you instruct us otherwise, on “moving day” (December 17), we will move your TabletPCDeveloper User Samples to their new home on GotDotNet. We will also automatically create a user account for you on GotDotNet (unless it appears that you already have one).