Quickie: Microsoft Windows Installed Base to Cross 1 Billion Mark

Interesting story I read about how "there will be more PCs running Windows in the world than there are automobiles".

How do they come up with these numbers?

Read on:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2163283,00.asp

Microsoft releases: VS2008 Beta 2, .Net Framework 3.5 Beta 2 and SilverLight 1.0 RC

New releases from Microsoft for all you developers out there:

• Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2
• .Net Framework 3.5 Beta 2, and
• SilverLight 1.0 Release Candidate

Happy downloading!

Links:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/install.aspx

Quickie: 10 hiddens gems in SQL 2k5

I know its been so long since I last blogged, but I've been extremely busy. I promise to come back, with a vengeance.

Meanwhile, enjoy this wonderful article Top 10 Hidden Gems in SQL Server 2005, courtesy of my MVP friends Moustafa Arafa and Alirez Aliabadi (who's now in Canada).

Enjoy!!

Links:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/bestpractice/gems-top-10.mspx

Quickie: MSDN Nuggets

Don't have the time to read a 10-page how-to article or watch a full length
webcast? Try an MSDN Nugget, a webcast that takes you step-by-step to
discovering new functionality or exploring a hot developer topic, all in 10-15
minutes. View them online now or download for later reference.


Links
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/nuggets/

Quickie: InfoPath 2007 Sample: Training Labs

Free!

Step-by-step training and downloadable samples illustrating Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 features.

Enjoy!

Links
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb251751.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=26E4FF75-E68D-4B34-9C60-94BA1937B467&displaylang=en

Quickie: Microsoft's XPS

I know its been so long since I've blogged, but I've been really busy, ever since my promotion. :-)

I'm blogging a quickie now, but will come back for a regular, full length, blog through the weekend inshallah.

Now, I was attending a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server class and realized that the instructor, another MVP, did NOT know about (not that it demeans him in any way shape or form, it just shows that not too many people know about it; thus my blog) Microsoft's open file format XPS (short for XML Paper Specifications), which in my opinion competes directly with Adobe's PDF file format.

Microsoft describes it as 'XPS describes electronic paper in a way that can be read by hardware, read by software, and read by humans.'

Unlike Adobe's PDF which opens in Adobe's Acrobat Reader (or other software downloads), XPS documents open in IE.

Developers! You can integrate XPS in your applications. 'Your application can seamlessly integrate with enterprise-wide workflows by implementing XPS publish, import, and view functionality. The Windows SDK and .NET Framework 3.0 provide the APIs to enable you to use XPS technologies in your Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) application.'

I like!

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML_Paper_Specification
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/default.mspx

Quickie: SQL 2005 Service Manager

Remember the service manager in SQL 2000. Yes, that nice little icon near the clock in the system tray that showed the status of the SQL Server service. Well, it went missing in the 2005 version of SQL.

Well, some cool dude has created one for SQL Server 2005. I have to say, WOW! It looks absolutely astounding and supports versions 2000 and 2005 of SQL.

Now, this guy is an SQL expert and he's even posted a few articles such as 'SM0 2005 - Populating a list of SQL Servers' which I've always wanted. How cool would it be to add it to your application?!

Enjoy!

Links
http://www.sqldbatips.com/showarticle.asp?ID=46
http://www.sqldbatips.com/showarticle.asp?ID=45

Quickie: Paint .Net

I just received an email telling me about this. Apparently this is a "free image editing and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools."

Download it from www.getpaint.net.

Enjoy!

Quickie: SQL 2000 with SQL 2005

Here's a quickie; if you need to interoperate two SQL servers, one version 2000 and the other version 2005, then you must ensure that Service Pack 4 is installed on the 2000 version.

Otherwise it won't be able to recognize the other SQL server.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Thanks!