What is ‘Metro’?

Yesterday Microsoft introduced us to Windows 8.  If you want to download the new bits, you can here. The  screen shots have been shared millions of times across the net so I wont show them to you here.  But what I want to talk about is the new Design Language that Microsoft is focused on.  It is called Metro.

This Design Language is not new to you if you have been programming for the Windows Phone. But if you have been focused on the desktop and client server apps, which are still very prevalent, then this is new to you or you are just learning about it.

Ziff Davis has a small article on Metro.  The interesting thing to me about this write-up is the graphic:

(image courtesy of @longzheng) via ZD

If you are like me, you have been focusing on the right side of this picture, what Microsoft now is referring to as Desktop Apps.  This is the traditional .Net, HTML, Win32 based apps  that we all know and love.  This includes today’s Internet apps and client server apps.

The left side of the graphic is new to most of us. Though we have been utilizing the languages and the technology in the upper portion (presentation), the lower part of the green section is new.  It looks to be all encompassing. It controls the basic services all apps will be utilizing.

I am not offering anything new here.  I just thought some of you may want to start gathering up as much information as you can about this “new” way of doing things so when Windows 8 hits the bricks you will be ready.  I know that I am going to do just that.

till next time…

Technorati Tags: Metro,Microsoft,Windows 8

WHS 2011 Add ins Slow to Arrive

Many of you know that I have been a Windows Home Server fan since I participated in the WHS v1 beta back in 2007. I wrote a little bit about my experiences installing and using WHS. I was, by no means, prolific in my writing but I did a blog or two on it. I fell in love with it and evangelized it to my friends and family. It was a great product that Microsoft knocked out of the park.  Many a pundit agreed with my assessment so don’t just take it from me.

WHS was exactly what I wanted as I brought my home into the technology age. I had a centralized backup solution for all the PCs and laptops in my home.  It used de-duplication for storage of the backups so space became less and less of an issue.  I could restore individual files, or the entire pc easier than ever before.  I tried many ways to backup my ever increasing photo collection.  I tried NAS.  I tried Novastor. I tried Norton Ghost. I tried Genie.  All had their positives and negatives but none as good as WHS.

One of the other things Microsoft did right with WHS was offering an API to create add-ins.  Add-ins are little programs that integrate with the Home Server Console which is the central management facility for WHS. I could use and did use many add-ins.  My favorites include Advanced Admin Console, Add-in Central which was an add-in manager, and DA Document Manager which allowed my WHS to be the central repository of of my document management system.

DA Document Manager is a great product and one that used almost everyday.  My family was going through the process of becoming paperless. We receive all our bills via the internet as .pdf's. We do everything we can to cut down on the amount of paper we consume and have delivered.  We managed all these paperless documents with DA Document Manager. We were doing great for a long time.

Then, after months of deciding whether to move to WHS 2011, I finally made the decision to move to the latest WHS.  This version of WHS offers many distinct advantages over WHS v1.  It is now based on the Windows Server 2008 R2 code base. It has significantly improved remote access capabilities.  It can take advantage of more memory now that it is 64bit.  I am very happy I made the move.

But there is something missing.  No not Drive Extender, though that was a great feature. What is missing are the plethora of free user community supplied add-ins.  To date there are only a handful of replacements for the add-ins I used with WHS v1.

I know the API and the code base for add-ins are completely different. I have tried my hand at writing an add-in for TFS and WHS v1 which I never released because I never felt it was ready for prime time. Then when WHS 2011 API came out I tried to port it. Not easy when working 1 hour a night every other night.

So, for all you WHS add-in developers out there.  We really want some of the older WHS v1 add-ins converted to WHS 2011.

On a related note, I sent an email to Digital ArcHound asking when they may have their add-in for WHS 2011 ready and this was the response:

Thank you for contacting customer support.  We are still working on the WHS
2011 version of DA Document Manager.  Because the new version of WHS is a
complete rewrite, it has taken much longer to implement all of the features
that were in the prior version.  We are working as diligently as possible to
finalize an update for DA Document Manager.  Thank you for your patience.

Till next time…

Technorati Tags: whs,add-ins

Tools I Use

Here is a list of most of the tools I use everyday at home and at work. Some are free others I pay for.  What do you use?

7-zip - for compressed files of any type
CCleaner - for general all-purpose disk and registry maintenance
DA Document Manager - managing all of my documents - (we are trying to go paperless)
doPDF - for printing to pdf
DVDFab - for DVD duplication
Google Chrome - for Internet Browsing
GrabBee - for video capture
IcoFX - for creating and editing icons
IfoEdit - for editing DVD ifo files
KeePass - for password generation and tracking
Media Browser - for maintaining my music and video collection in Media Center and Windows Home Server
Safe Eyes - for Parental controls on my kids laptops
SmartFTP - for website updates
TCPOptimizer - for optimizing my internet and network bandwidth
Trillian - for Instant Messaging
UltraEdit - for quick text writing and editing
UltraISO - for ISO creating and mounting
VLC Media player - for playing just about any type of media
WinDirStat - for Disk maintenance
Windows Live Photo Gallery - for tagging and maintaining my ever growing photo collection
Windows Live Writer - for blog posts

Technorati Tags: tools

Been a While

I have been away from this place for too long.  Many things have happened over the last year that have impacted my life in a significant way.  First, and most importantly, the company that I moved from Rhode Island to North Carolina to work for, no longer exists.  This is very sad for me.  I really enjoyed working for Emergent and with all the incredibly smart individuals associated with that organization.

In October of last year, Emergent’s assets were sold at auction.  fortunately, David Brame came to the rescue and with the help of Gamebase in Korea was able to purchase Gamebryo. I have 3 great years with that product so I am glad David was able to keep it moving.  And from everything I have heard over the last few months, Gamebase USA is doing well.  I wish all involved the greatest success. And who knows, maybe I will work with them again in the future.

So what have I been doing since I left Emergent in September?  Well, I have been doing a number of things.  I am in beta testing of the first version of my parental control application called Kidstime.  It will be made publicly available shortly.  I will have a future post that will talk all about it.

I worked with a great company in Cary called RMSource.  Straight Microsoft technology stack; right up my alley. Unfortunately, the commute killed me and I was spending more money on after school care late fees than I really wanted to (which is 0, btw)!

I am now with North Carolina Farm Bureau insurance in Raleigh.  A slightly closer commute (only about 35 to 40 mins.) and back to Insurance which is an industry I am familiar with. 

We bought a new home in Hillsborough last July, which we love!  The kids are enjoying their summer and Holly is still at Stewart PT.

We are well. I will try to post at least once a month now that I am posed with new challenges.

till next time…

Agile RTP (ARTp) meetup

Last night I attended my first meetup with the group Agile RTP. This is a group of Agile enthusiasts, practitioners, and those who just want to learn more about Agile.  They meet about once a month and have various presentations and discussions around the Agile movement and community. If you are unfamiliar with Agile, see my last post.

This month the presentation was entitled How "Bottom Up" is Failing the Agile Community.  It was presented by the CEO of Gearstream inc., Brad Murphy. Brad is a veteran of software development starting out as a programmer with Smalltalk way back when and moving on to found several successful startups.

So how is “Bottom Up” failing the Agile community?  Well,  the premise of Brad’s presentation is pretty straight forward and one that I have talked about before in this space.  Agile is not just a practice that should be isolated to one group in an organization.  Though my experience has been that it is in these silos that Agile has it’s roots. In order for Agile to be as successful as it can be, the inclination, the encouragement and the participation needs to start at the top. Executives, Directors and Sr. level managers need to be actively involved in making and shaping the Agile effort in their organizations.  As Brad indicated in his presentation, without commitment and participation from this level, the effort is doomed.

One thing that I would have liked to hear more about is how small companies can break through that executive barrier.  Brad started his presentation with the disclaimer that his experience is primarily with very large companies and their executives.  There was a little bit of discussion around this topic after the presentation and what I got from that is that small companies and large companies have the same goal: create value to succeed. 

The Agile community needs to address that goal, not just show that Agile saves the company money and gets the product out the door quicker (which are valuable outcomes). Brad shows in his presentation that in some ways these quick fixes can diminish the movement if that's all that is presented.  He gave the example of Apple and Dell in 1997.  Apple was a smallish company with somewhere around $700 million in revenue and Dell’s revenue was around $3 billion (can’t remember exact figures).  Today Dell is a $30 billion company and Apple is around $250 billion company.  The difference is that Dell focused on the thought that the consumer wanted cheap PCs while Apple focused on providing value that the consumers didn’t even know they needed.  It’s all about providing value.

All-in-all it was a well received presentation with some very interesting questions, answers and discussion following. If you are at all interested in Agile, I would encourage you to find your nearest Agile community get-together. If you are in the triangle area of NC I hope to see you at the next meetup.

till next time…