Among the trials innovators in teams are expected to go through is the convincing of skeptical team members that a particular technology is something worth considering.  And when that technology is mature, but unfamiliar except through what skeptical team members see as "trendy" buzzwords, the task might be especially difficult.

Take RSS, for example.  Real Simple Syndication provides a pull-model for content that beats static-content models all hollow.  What if you want your users to be able provide content blurbs that only their own customers can see, and allow them to be able to submit the content themselves (going through moderation, to save you from inappropriate content)?  Well, a syndication model works best!  Examine this particular entry, and you will see why!

2/12/2008 12:23:39 AM UTC      Comments [0]Trackback

And what if you are trying to create a way for your customers to put content into an application that their userswill see (and only their customers).  With the additional proviso that their entries have to be approved by a moderator, and that their content can expire. 

One model that could be used is the model of a blog -- with the content accessible via RSS.  It's a thought, at least.

2/11/2008 11:15:32 PM UTC      Comments [0]Trackback

I just heard of the Object Test Bench in Visual Studio 2005 (in Kevin Hammond's blog), and hurried to use it, but ran into a small problem, in that the context menu off the class diagram I don't have a "Create Instance" item!  Am I perhaps doing something wrong, or is this OTB tool only available in a higher version of VS2005 (I'm running VS2005 Professional)? 

Here's a picture of what I get, which does NOT include the Create Instance:

Anybody with any clue is invited to comment...

10/20/2006 12:45:55 AM UTC      Comments [2]Trackback

Learning new things is almost always fun, and one must try to check one's assumptions at the door.  However, what if your brain assumes something and doesn't come right out and say so?  That's interesting.

Keeping in mind that I am new to ASP.NET 2.0...

I'm experimenting, and here I have a neat little master page with a hidden field on it that I want all the other pages to use, so one page puts data in the field and then transfers control to the next page.  The next page then checks that hidden field and doesn't find anything.  This had me wondering what the darned problem was, until suddenly it occurred to me how on earth I could expect anything to be there?  The master page is not stateful, and it is generated from scratch each time.  Doh!  Somehow it had gotten into my head that the master page was some sort of repository -- despite the fact that I know there is no state preservation or information passing beyond query strings, forms, and session/application variables.  Amazing what assumptions one can make with no justification whatsoever and contrary information and experience in rich abundance from past encounters.  Makes me feel like I just called up customer support with the complaint that my computer's cup holder had broken. 

Doh!

10/18/2006 9:06:34 PM UTC      Comments [0]Trackback

Rory Blyth.  Neopoleon.  He's a geeky Microsoft guy who was formerly with the Microsoft MSDN Events team, and he was going on about leaving, possibly even leaving Microsoft, and finally the shoe dropped and <whew>, he's not leaving Microsoft, just moving to a different part of Microsoft.  Still part of Developer communications, but in the heart of The Beast, in Redmond itself.  He's joining the Channel 9 team.  Here's his "Exit Interview", so called:

http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=237876

9/26/2006 5:13:17 PM UTC      Comments [0]Trackback