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The Daily Grind 803

By Mike Gunderloy
Monday, January 23, 2006

Well, it looks like the week is off to a busy start...

Software

Shell MegaPack 7.1 - New version of this set of Windows shell emulation controls, available in both .NET and ActiveX versions. My review of version 7.0 is here, trial download is here, pricing from $295
Enterprise Library for .NET Framework 2.0 - January 2006 - This is the release version for .NET 2.0, with Application Blocks for caching, cryptography, data access, exception handling, logging, and security. Free download, but registration required. If you want a good overview of this release, check out Tom Hallander's blog entry.
CSBat: The C# Interpreter - A little hack to put C# code into batch and .cmd files. Basically it's another variation on the theme of C# scripting. (via Jason Haley)

Hardware

Audex Jacket - Burton and Motorola team up to bring you a winter jacket with speakers, control panel, hands-free microphone, Bluetooth, and who knows what else. Personally I just want a jacket that keeps me warm but I'm sure I'm a dinosaur.
The Slanket - A giant fleece blanket with sleeves, ideal for couch potatoes (or developers who prefer to do their work on the couch with a laptop and the football game on the tube). (via Digg)

Information

Windows Workflow Foundation Beta 2 Hands-on Labs - More information for those of you interested in Microsoft's approach to workflow in WinFX. (via Lance Hunt)
99 Useful Run Commands - I posted something similar to this list of shortcuts for Start, Run a couple of days ago. This appears to be the original source, or at least an earlier rendition.
The End of Personalized Menus - Office 12 is finally dumping personalized menus (at least as the default for apps that don't have the Ribbon interface). Now if they'd dump the Ribbon too I could be happy.
File downloads from IIS 6.0 - John Hoffman's tale of tracking down some IIS issues makes a few points about the changing information landscape, including the general uselessness of books when you're on the cutting edge and the lack of help on MSDN.com.
What's new in the TFS Release Candidate? - A list of the coming changes to whet your appetite.

Community

CMP Media's Software Development Magazine Announces Finalists for the 16th Annual Jolt Product Excellence & Productivity Awards - Lots of good stuff and friends of the Daily Grind in this year's nominees.
Sam Gentile - Just in case you lost track of Sam and his always-interesting agile/.NET/WinFX posts, he's relocated his blog over to CodeBetter.com
Losing Weight - Matt Griffith announces the launch of PhysicsDiet.com, a site that helps you implement the Hacker's Diet.

Rants

Why do I need Windows Vista? - Manuel Clement and Robert Scoble team up to bring us a list of reasons to upgrade from Windows XP, complete with Channel 9 video links. Some of these have got to be jokes - if I want new sounds from Robert Fripp (which I definitely don't), I'll buy a CD, not an operating system. Some strike me as the sort of useless crap that software companies always load on operating systems, the same way auto manufacturers loaded tailfins on cars to make them look new and different - in the long run, I believe the utility of things like tiny external LCD monitors for laptops and desktop gadgets is near-zero. Some are good reasons, like better performance and security - but gee, Microsoft has promised us those things with every OS upgrade from DOS 2.0 on. Of course, they don't mention the big drawbacks of Vista, like the built-in DRM and the huge hardware requierments if you want all the spiffy new UI features they're always showing off. I personally won't be upgrading, because not a single one of the 15 computers in the house will run Vista, not even the high-powered dev box I bought late last year (because I optimize for getting my work done, not for eye candy). Fortunately for me, it's going to be years before my business customers go down this road either, so I don't particularly need to worry about it. Microsoft is on the verge of releasing an OS that is pretty much irrelevant to me. If you're still playing the cutting-edge game, I hope you enjoy it.

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Mike Gunderloy is the lead developer for Larkware and author of numerous books and articles on programming topics.

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