SomeGuyWithA.com » beta

Windows Live Writer!

James — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:46:10 +0000

Well this is pretty cool, I’ve just installed Windows Live Writer beta and am making this post using its nice WYSIWYG interface. This is a winning app. It allows posting to multiple blogs, automatically detected the blog software for each type, and displays your post using the style indicated by the blog. If you change your theme, the interface changes to support it. It also has built in spell checking support for image uploads and mapping.

I highly recommend that anyone using other free blogging tools at least take a look at this software.

Vista RC1 will ship soon!??

James — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:41:56 +0000

I’ve been using Vista Beta 2 and its interim CTP releases as my primary OS for about 2 months now. It looks like MS is going to ship ~~another beta~~ a release candidate of Vista soon. This despite the two post Beta 2 interim releases which were still not as baked (IMHO) as any previous OS’ beta 2 I’ve used. I do have some perspective on this as I’ve been beta testing MS development tools and OS’s since NT 3.0. I’m a big fan of Vista overall, but relative to what it is promising the product just isn’t ready yet. I can’t help but think that the Windows group’s definition of Release candidate is somehow out of line with the industry. ~~Foisting a build that isn’t truly ready for real world apps~~ Allowing us the privilege of using a ~~complete~~ more usable build is a something I am really looking forward to.

BizTalk 2006 and Beyond

James — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 18:27:37 +0000

I really like all the stuff I am hearing about BizTalk 2006R2 v.Next+1 and .Net framework 3.0. As if the product wasn’t good enough already. Integration with RFID and better EDI support should put this product clearly in the leader position in the next gartner quadrant. Its nice that MS has a clear product strategy with brokers unlike IBM that is the most confusing marketing snafu I have ever seen. The one area where they are still weak is in marketing HIS. It is such a strong product, but there is no clear message they they can communicate on how to use it. It almost requires a degree in rocket science.

Now I am off to the HIS Adapters session, or to the managing Windows Mobile in an enterprise environment (which sounds cooler but isn’t erally on my agenda).