IE 7 Beta 2 ... it's public now

Latest word from InternetNews.com is that IE 7 Beta 2 is going public today.  Tabbed browsing, anti-phishing measures, security improvements ... all on tap for this release.  While Beta 1 was private (I had a CD of Beta 1 and left it behind at the Blog Business Summit, actually), Beta 2 is public.  No word yet on whether is this is for the faint of heart or beta.

For web dev folks like me, MSFT has tried to strike a balance of old and new, so not as too break IE 6 tweaked sites.  I think AJAX is going to make serious headway now that IE 7 is in the fray.  RSS?  Well now that it's public, I will try it for the RSS features are there.

Will this be a Firefox killer? That is the million dollar question.

Tags: IE7

Agility comes from the top

Some of the great sites I've been directed to delve into the details of programming.  While this is great for some readers, folks like me aren't programmers.  I'm tech savvy, I've done more than my share of web dev (and still do), but a programmer I'm not.  What I am is a manager who has to supervise programmers.  I'm the guy who people report to.  So, I'm learning about Agile methodologies.  Sounds great.  How do I get people to use it.  Sounds like the best way isn't to say be Agile or be gone, but rather be productive on these metrics or ...

Encourage results.  Offer Agile as a way to get there.  Then let your managers choose.  Sometimes the sugar coated stick (lollypop?) works.

From: XProgramming.com

Tags: Agile, Agile Methodology, software development, management

Don't hide these buttons ... save yourself some time ...

I came across this tip on SecretGeek.  A couple buttons in Visual Studio .Net that make your life easier in programming.  The first is View Code, the other is View Designer.  It seems that Microsoft hid these buttons from view in  Visual Studio.  So ... take two seconds and customize your toolbar.

Tags: Visual Studio, .Net

Feed your readers with .Net syndication libraries

Syndication is hot.  Personally I subscribe to over 700 of them.  Now ... one thing that bugs me when there isn't a feed for a great site (thanks for the sites Doug!).  Looks like there are some .Net libs so you can do it...

http://www.howdev.com/technologies/ http://www.howdev.com/news/howelldevelopments-rss.opml

Hat tip.

Tags: .Net, RSS, Atom, OPML

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IE 7 starts to leak out

Rumor is that IE 7 is getting close, so close that it's starting to leak out.  Still not going to make me switch, but the feature set below looks promising.

Among the new tools shown in the pictures, while relatively low resolution, are some of Microsoft's security-related additions to the dominant browser, including its anti-phishing controls and its recently announced Delete Browsing History function. Also highlighted in the available screen shots is Microsoft's attempt to mirror the so-called tabbed browsing controls popularized by alternative products such as Firefox and Opera, which the software giant has dubbed as QuickTabs.
eWeek

Tags: IE7, Vista, Microsoft

.NET PDF Solution - Siberix Report Writer & Siberix PDF Library

During a current project, I needed a tool for generating PDF documents for reporting on pre-printed forms. The majority of reports in the system use this form. I wanted to find a solution that fit my needs and nothing more. Other systems do so much and very well, but for just developer needs, they are a bit much. I found a utility call Siberix PDF Library and it's counterpart Siberix Report Writer. If you need a tool for PDF generation, I highly suggest these products. At the current time, the price is $149 for the PDF Library and $299 for the Report Writer which is amazing in this day of third-party software tools for reporting. If you purchase the Report Writer, it is actually the Report Writer + PDF Library for $299 so no need to purchase each product separately!  Not only is the pricing amazing, but the licensing is tremendous. You would expect utilities like these to have a server license per-install or a per-developer license, but the license states:

The Corporate License includes unlimited number of company's developer seats, unlimited number of company's web servers and unlimited number of distributions as a part of your application.

To break out how these products work, we need to understand their propose. The PDF Library is an API for .NET 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 that allows you to programmatically build a PDF document with all the bells and whistles you would except in a PDF API. As stated, the code is compiled and ready for .NET 2.0, so there is no waiting if you have already moved on. The API is very similar to other vendors and could be used by anyone with a basic understanding of .NET. The process for building a PDF is build a Document class, assign styles and properties to the document, and start adding text in free form or tables. Once you have the Document class where you need it, call the Generate method and get a stream for your use to save, or push back to an ASP.NET Response.OutputStream.

If you are like me, you love to work with XML natively and building documents like this makes more since with an XML Editor and XSLT to build a template for transforming an existing document like an RSS feed. This is where Siberix Report Writer comes in to play. This tool takes a XML document, based on their schema, and will generate either the PDF stream or source code for you to integrate with you application. If you use XSLT, you might as well generate the PDF, but if you want the ability to design the template in XML and then use .NET to link in your data, building the source is a highly valuable tool. If you are like me and have a requirement for both, the Report Writer interface supports the ability to Callback into source during the generation of the document for a good mix of the two.

During my evaluation of the product, I contacted their support not excepting to hear back from them anytime that day as I have been used to from other vendors. Instead, 10 minutes later I had an open dialog with their support and was able to get the solution I needed. Other companies could learn from this kind of support.

If you are looking for a PDF API for .NET, I would highly suggest this product. There is a free evaluation online at siberix.com for each product with a user guide and sample source code for you to try out.

Tags: PDF. .NET. Microsoft

Forecasting

When predicting the cost and delivery schedule for software, we tend to use the term Forecast as opposed to Estimate to reinforce the notion that predicting the outcome of software development projects (like any R&D process) is uncertain.

I first became familiar with the idea while reading Mary and Tom Poppendieck's book,  Lean Software Development, where they look at predicting software cost and delivery schedule in terms of forecasting other hard-to-predict events such as hurricanes. Like hurricanes, software development and the stock market, predictions are most accurate when they rely on the most recent intelligence. Using that intelligence, it's far more accurate to predict short term outcomes while going too far out into the future is a guess at best.

That's not to say we don't provide long-term forecasts for software development projects, we just recognize (and urge our clients to do the same) that forecasts need to be revisited based on up-to-the-minute project intelligence and actual results. Having been involved in software develompent and consulting in Kansas City for a number of years, we've grown to realize that frequent predictions based on actual and real-time data create more accurate predictions.

Why Vista?

Thanks to Scoble I came across Manuel Clement's blog with outlines the key features of Vista and why you should upgrade from XP including videos (by Scoble) on each feature ... worth a look!

• All new networking stack
• All new audio stack
• New search integration and file management
• New fonts and readability technology
• New kernel changes
• Performance, security, and all that
• New features for international users
• New print technology
• New installer technology
• New sidebar and gadgets
• New sideshow (external monitor for laptops)
• New updated applications like Windows Mail
• New crypto technology
• New RSS platform
• New sound experience by Robert Fripp

Tags: Vista, XP, Microsoft

Live Messenger 8 hardware will be ready when LM8 is ...

Clearly Microsoft is seeing the success that Skype has enjoyed and the relative slowness of getting hardware out, especially inexpensive hardware, to integrate VoIP into your day-to-day life.

From the Live Messenger blog (via Liveside) here are some high-level details of an upcoming phone that you can use for both your standard land-line and Live Messenger 8.

Who will make it?
We have partnered with Uniden in the US, and Philips in Europe, Asia, and Latin America to produce these devices.  The Uniden phone is a 5.8GHz digital wireless model, designed for the Canadian, US, and Mexican markets, and the Philips is a 1.9GHz DECT model.  Suggested prices for both are under $100.

Do people like it?
The Windows Live Messenger Phone was a big hit at CES. As we showed off how well it ties together phone and internet experiences, it was great to see peoples' eyes light up.

When can I get it?
Look for these to become available soon after the final release of 8.0.

No, this isn't earth-shatteringly new or news.  What is worth noting that Microsoft planned early on to have hardware available to coincide with the launch of Live Messenger 8.  Another thing to go head-to-head with Skype and give it a run for its money.

Tags: Live Messenger 8, VoIP, Skype

Blink and you'll miss it ... 20th of a second decides a website's fate.

Thanks to Byron at the BBS site for this ...

A Wired.com articles discusses new results from Behaviour and Information Technology journal showing that surfers decide extremely on the looks of a site.  Thumbs up or down in a 20th of a second!  OMG, think about how much we fuss over the widgets and such for our sites only to have people decide almost before the page has finished loading!

Here is the abstract from the paper ...

Three studies were conducted to ascertain how quickly people form an opinion about web page visual appeal. In the first study, participants twice rated the visual appeal of web homepages presented for 500 ms each. The second study replicated the first, but participants also rated each web page on seven specific design dimensions. Visual appeal was found to be closely related to most of these. Study 3 again replicated the 500 ms condition as well as adding a 50 ms condition using the same stimuli to determine whether the first impression may be interpreted as a ‘mere exposure effect' (Zajonc 1980). Throughout, visual appeal ratings were highly correlated from one phase to the next as were the correlations between the 50 ms and 500 ms conditions. Thus, visual appeal can be assessed within 50 ms, suggesting that web designers have about 50 ms to make a good first impression

Now, this is making me consider how quickly my blog loads, how it looks and what I need to change.  I think my days of tons of widgets and such are drawing to an end ... quickly.

Byron leaves us with a couple more thoughts ...

The study doesn’t show what makes a difference, what users like or don’t, but concludes that, “designers have to make sure they’re not offending users visually” and to not give them a negative impression.
The study didn’t cover it, but my guess is that RSS doesn’t give a great first impression, especially those RSS icons I call the little badges of courage.

Looks like blog design is headed for a sea of change.

Tags: blog design, web design, graphics, GUI, human interface