By Rip Rowan on 7/6/2008 12:03 AM

I really like Windows Live Writer.  But what's up with the installer?

Why should it take long to determine which Windows Live applications are installed?  Hey, Microsoft developers, I've got a new word for you: manifest.  Would it be too hard to just have a file that contains the Windows Live applications and their versions?  I'm sure it would take a lot less time to "Search".

Oh, yeah.  A loooong time.  Just under 15 minutes.

Seriously, folks.  If you can't write better apps than that, I have grave concerns for the future of your company.

By Rip Rowan on 7/4/2008 6:37 PM

TechRepublic has a cute article listing 19 words that you should avoid using in your resume.  If you need this sort of advice, then it's a good read.

However, I think they missed a few:

Microwaveable: your skills in reheating leftovers are probably not going to get you the job, unless you are, in fact, applying for a job as a microwave oven operator.

Lesion: nobody wants to see your scab, and, regardless of the macho factor, your wounds will not earn you enough pity to get the job.

Spandex: I'm sure you look great in your Speedo.  Don't bring it to the office.

Nubby: nobody even knows what this means, so why bother?

Lotus Notes: two words that guarantee you will be summarily passed over for any job, probably including Lotus Notes Developer and Lotus Notes Administrator.  It doesn't matter if you used Lotus Notes to cure cancer, the world has determined that it sucks, and has moved on.  Let go.

By Rip Rowan on 6/23/2008 9:39 PM

I needed to do a quick screen-sharing session with a couple of folks today.

In the past, I've always reached for MSN Messenger.  At my last client, Messenger was the default chat client, and since it has built-in application sharing, we used it daily for all kinds of tasks from troubleshooting code to figuring out where to eat.

For some reason, however, I got stuck in an infinite loop when I tried to use Messenger to share a web page.  Selecting "Application Sharing" from the "Start an Activity" menu, I was presented with this disturbing message:

Your invitation was not sent because you need the latest version of Messenger to use the Application Sharing feature. Please go to the Windows Live Messenger update site to install the latest version.

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By Rip Rowan on 6/1/2008 1:44 PM

Vista sucks.

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By Rip Rowan on 2/27/2008 11:55 AM

Jeff Atwood writes about the "The Years of Experience Myth" in his usual, dead-on style:

Imagine how many brilliant software engineers companies are missing out on because they are completely obsessed with finding people who match-- exactly and to the letter-- some highly specific laundry list of skills.

Somehow, they've forgetten that what software developers do best is learn. Employers should be loooking for passionate, driven, flexible self-educators who have a proven ability to code in whatever language -- and serving them up interesting projects they can engage with.

Jeff goes on to make the point that you can use job requirements like "3-5 years of experience in such-and-such" as a baseline for determining the quality of the hiring company.  If they hire based on irrelevant (or counterproductive) measures of skill, chances are good that "the rest of the team will be stooges picked for the wrong reasons."

Let's take this a few steps further.

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By Rip Rowan on 2/19/2008 7:16 AM

If you aren't yet familiar with DynDNS.org, you should be.

For several years now, DynDNS has offered a free (yes, ma, free) DNS service for people with dynamic IP addresses.  This allowed people with a highspeed always-on internet connection to get a domain name.

See, if you have cable modem or DSL, you really have enough bandwidth to run a light-volume internet host from your home.  The problem is, you can't register a domain name, because your IP address changes from time to time.  Enter DynDNS.  They have software that detects when your IP changes, and it updates their routing table.

Unfortunately, the only domain names you can use are extensions to their preset names (names like myserver.dynalias.net).  For many uses this is enough.  I've been using webculture.dynalias.net for years as a domain name for my company's backoffice server.  It really works, and it's free.

Free.  The word seductively rolls from my tongue.  MMMmmmmm freeeeeee.

But now, DynDNS offers another service that may change everything for me.

For about $25 per year, they'll run a dynamic DNS service for any domain name.  You register the name with the registrar of your choice (say, GoDaddy) and point the domain to DynDNS' nameservers.  That's it.

What you'll find is that if you have a reasonably reliable high speed internet service, you can easily run a web site on your personal machine (or, if you're like me, on your own server at home).  In case you're wondering, Dell sells servers perfect for this sort of light-duty use starting around $350.

If this works well enough, I may even decide to host ProRec.com at home.