Have you ever read someone else’s code?  I have, but generally it wasn’t to see how well they coded it, or to learn something new, but rather to fix something broke or add a new feature.  However, since I began reading Scott Hanselman and his “The Weekly Source Code” series of posts, I have changed the way I think and operate, somewhat.  I’ve began looking at code just for the fun of it.  Yea, kind of weird.  But that’s what being in this business is all about (or so I tell myself).  If your not familiar with Scotts series, it’s about taking some time each week to purposely read someone else’s code hoping to learn something, good or bad, that will help you become a better programmer.  With the advent of Open Source projects and Google Code (is there a Bing Code?), that, has become a lot easier.

How about documentation?  Have you ever just grabbed your favorite API documentation or a stack of white papers and sat down by a cozy fire and read it from top to bottom while sipping some a latte? No? Well frankly, neither have I.  But, I constantly find myself digging into them to understand a new tool or looking through them to solve a problem. Sometimes I use them to write my code for me grabbing the “samples” and pasting them in my classes.  However, when I use them it’s usually as a result of a Google or Bing search pointing me to something deep inside of the documentation.  I’ve never really taken them from the surface and just started reading them.  Can you do that?  Is there a way to read documentation like a book?  I don’t know but, I’m willing to experiment to find out and in the process expand my knowledge and hopefully yours too.  So in the spirit of Scotts “The Weekly Source Code” series, I am going to begin a series on reviewing online documentation, specifically Microsoft's. Taking a look at the hard core .Net developers favorite source for documentation, MSDN.  MSDN is chock full of information of all varieties.  There is so much information that I believe a lot of it is overlooked by the average developer, myself included.   I intend to fix that and make myself more aware of what’s in there and, hopefully you’ll come along for the ride.

So join me next Friday as I begin this journey into the the tangled field of API’s, white papers and blog posts.

Till then, get the firewood and cappuccino machine ready.  As for me, I’m off to start mapping my trip.

Enjoy the day!

Now that Windows 7 is in general availability most hardware manufacturers have updated their lists of drivers available for their pc’s.  If you've installed Windows 7 like I have, it would be good advice to take a few minutes to update those drivers now.  I have an HP EliteBook that I use for work and when I took a look today at the HP support site I noticed that 9 of the drivers listed were newer.

Time to start the downloads and keep my system running smooth.

Later!

The word is out on some great new HP products.  My favorite right now is the HP Dream Screen. It takes the digital picture frame to the next level, providing not only pictures, but music, videos, access to Snapfish, Facebook.  It’s like a mini HP TouchSmart PC.   I’d like to see them open this up with an API to allow us to develop apps for this little wonder or add some more ports to be able to port the video/audio to an entertainment center.

Prices are quite reasonable too the HP DreamScreen 100 with a 10” screen is now only $199.99 (after $50 instant rebate), and the HP DreamScreen 130  with a 13” screen is currently $249.99 (after $50 instant rebate).

Time to start building that Christmas Wish List.  The 130 is top on my list so far.

Enjoy!

I was researching a problem tonight and I noticed that MSDN has a new look.  There’s also a new “Switch View” button at the bottom allowing you to change the look/feel of the interface.  Scott Hanselman posted about this earlier but I believe it’s now out into the open.  Here’s a few shots…

Classic View

Lightweight Beta…

ScriptFree…

I like the easy control to switch between the different views…

Time for some more exploration…  Enjoy!

If you using the new Windows 7 and having fun with the new native VHD mounting and booting and the new Virtual PC, it wont be long before you’ll be looking for some utilities to make things easier for you.  I’ve found a couple of tools to help me create and manage all the the VHD’s I’ve been experimenting with over the past few weeks. 

Make a VHD image from an existing hard drive image.

Sysinternals has introduced a tool (Disk2Vhd) to convert you existing pc image to a VHD.

Expand the size of a VHD

vmToolkit has a great tool VhdResizer for increasing the size of a fixed VHD.  It requires creating a second VHD (so save some space) and then it copies the files over sector by sector.  I just used it on a Vista VPC image and it worked great.  Don’t forget to expand your partition after using this tool.  This tool only expands the VHD and not the partition found within the VHD.  Once expanded I used the Vista’s Disk Management (via the Computer Management control panel) to expand it to the fill size of the VHD.

Convert from VMWare Disks for use with Virtual PC

vmToolkit also has another great tool, VMDK2VHD, to allow you to convert from VMWare's VMDK format to the Virtual PC’s VHD format.  I haven’t tried this yet but looks like a promising tool.

Several of these tools have been around a while, but I’ve not found a consolidated list of these so hopefully this post will help you as it has me.  As I discover more of these tools I’ll try and keep this post updated.

Enjoy!

Microsoft is doing some pretty amazing things with their new data centers.  I’m most impressed with these “Container Bays” that can hold 1800-2400 servers and are essentially large cargo containers (like the kind used on ocean going ships bring goods to the US) full of servers.  They are self contained data centers within themselves.  They appear to be designed to never have to be opened.  Could they be placed anywhere with the right power available and internet connections?  Is that their design?

This video show their data center concept and how the containers will be built, transported and plugged in.

 
Microsoft Generation 4 Data Centers

This video shows the arrival of some of the Container Bays into the Chicago Data Center.

Microsoft Chicago Data Center Container Bay

Amazing!

More information on these Next Generation Data Centers can be found on the Green Data Center Blog  and the ms datacenter blog.

Thanks to Steve Clayton for the blog post that pointed me to the second video and other blogs.

Could Microsoft Tag…

be as useful as the :CueCat?

You be the judge.

As of this morning the EDS.com web site has changed, and the internal emails are flying through my inbox.   The big announcement is that the EDS brand is being retired and being replaced with “HP Enterprise Services”.  It’s been a little more than a year since HP bought EDS and they have done an amazing job of integrating the two very large companies in a relatively short period.  It’s been a bit rough at times, to say the least, especially with the staff cuts and salary reductions.  Throughout the process however, there seems to have been this undercurrent that the EDS brand was fading.  Oh sure, no one was going to admit it out loud, but something in the back of your head said it was going to happen.  Many have speculated that way for months.  You could see it in many of the decisions being made.

I’m not sure my position on the movement, change, retirement.  Something in me still has pride for working at EDS, Electronic Data Systems, but there is some excitement in working for a new company especially one that people recognize.  HP has products in a lot of my friends and families homes.  EDS has long faded from the company that Ross Perot founded over 47+ years ago and built into one of the premier IT Outsourcing companies in the world.  A lot has changed even in my 17 or so years with the company.  It’s been a great ride working at EDS.  I’ve enjoyed it a lot.  Now I look forward to next ride aboard an even bigger ship.  Let’s just steer clear of those icebergs.

Hang in there, We’ll make it out the other side!

Update:  An article in the New York Times

Thanks to Scott Hanselman for this post on programming tips from Microsoft for the beginning programmer.  Go ahead take a look.  You might like programming.   You should also download one of the Visual Studio Express Editions and get started writing your own “Hello World” app.  If your a programmer and want to get your kids interested there are other alternatives like Phrogram.  Are there others?  Add your comment with ones that you know of.

Let’s excite the next generation of programmers!

Enjoy!

As I posted earlier, I’ve just received a new laptop an HP EliteBook 8530w Mobile Workstation.  My next effort is to begin preparing it install the Windows 7 Enterprise (64 bit) operating system.  First I’ll start with getting new system component software and drivers.  Soon, after getting any new PC I always check the manufactures support site for any BIOS or driver updates.  A lot of times a PC is built and the “images” used during the build could are several months out of date, or quite possibly your “new” PC has been spending several months in a box somewhere out there.  As a result the system software is most likely out of date. 

Well, with some help from my co-worker Scott Rudy who has some great notes to help me along, here’s what I’ve done so far.

Step 1 – Check the bios level.  The PC was reporting version F.09 from 3/10/2009.  According to HP’s support site there is a newer one (version F.0E).  Time to download and update the newer one.  

Step 2 – Download other system hardware drivers.  While I’m there I’ll also make sure I know what hardware is on my laptop and get the latest drivers and place them on a cd or flash drive for use during OS install.

Step 2 – Partition the drive and install Windows 7.  I’m using two partitions to allow one to be encrypted and the other to hold unencrypted VPC images that I can boot from.  This partitioning can be done right in the “install” screens by selecting the Restore option when prompted to “Install Now”.

Step 3 – Immediately perform a Windows Update check.  This will add any hardware drivers and software not found during the initial setup.  It also downloads any missing patches that you might need.

Step 4 – Install required software for VPN connectivity.  Since I’m connecting to a corporate network I need to get my pc to be a member of a domain.  To join the domain I need to be connected to the corporate network first and the VPN gets me there since I work remotely.

Step 5 – Transfer all my stuff.  (Today’s task)

Enjoy!