Andrew MacNeill - AKSEL Solutions

XAML or XUL (Mozilla's version) - two ways of building user interfaces via XML. Column posts some great problems with this issue: Is this going to be compiled at run time into the application or via a compiler via VS.net and C#? I don't know. Based on the demos I've seen, it would seem that XAML is loaded and compiled via some sort of software processing system because there was a noticeable pause between the window being created and the UI coming up. Great - more application delay! Now how do you explain this to your customers? Don't get me wrong - I LOVE The idea. Maybe FoxPro should support the first incarnation of it. After all, it's a LOT faster than any of the .Net stuff for parsing strings, etc. BetaNews | Commentary: Avalon and XAML Great for Developers, But...

"Among the features shown off were transparent windows, animated windows that pop open and a new taskbar on the righthand side of the screen that displayed a clock, buddy list, and news and other information streamed onto the desktop via an RSS feed. " ooohhh...ummm - don't I already have that? (hopefully it's an intelligent RSS feed that combines from multiple sources) Quite frankly I don't WANT my news streaming onto my desktop - I have too much news right now when simply clicking on newsfeeds in Outlook (thanks to Gator) Granted I was not present but if this is the best the news media had to offer about it...I'm worried. There is something to be said about "cluttered" windows (which is why Apple trotted out their new Panther software with a better Alt+Tab view). People today suffer from information overload. The System Tray was supposed to only hold a few icons but now every company loads onto it so much it looks like an old TSR list...

Priceless - wonder what people think when you say "I work on a computer" (visions of someone with their legs over a monitor spring to mind) Incessant Ramblings: Everybody here works on Word

Well - at least they've realized that a friendly voice is better than the mechanical sounding voice from typical SAPI applications. Now - the big question: does it work in Canada? All of these great GPS navigation systems are completely useless unless you are in a major US city. Hate to break it to the designers but there are other places in the world. Wherever You Say, Yvonne, I Will Go

Excellent article on how bugs are created, fixed and reported...worthwhile reading for everyone (thanks Craig!) Incessant Ramblings: The anatomy of a bug

Great new things from Hentzenwerke! 1. FoxTales: Behind the Scenes at Fox Software released 2. Painless Legacy FoxPro Applications on Modern Networks ebook released 3. Big, big, big sale - it's Halloween! 1. FoxTales: Behind the Scenes at Fox Software released ------------------------------------------------------- FoxTales: Behind the Scenes at Fox Software chronicles the rise and sale of Fox Software by one of the early developers, Kerry Nietz. Kerry joined Fox Software fresh out of college in the late 80's, and was responsible for the Report Writer, the Screen Painter, the Foundation Read, and other parts of Fox that you still use every day. While doing so, he found the time to keep a detailed diary of events in Perrysburg through the day that the development team packed up their offices and moved to Microosft. This is his story. We've been shipping this book to Seattle and Toledo by the crate; get your copy before they're all gone! No s...

Great article! The Scobleizer Versus Cerberus the Hound of Hades

Maybe instead of Viagara ads, they should concentrate on the game....(or maybe Trish has a point, Beyonce would be a better bet).  

You know - there is an alternative here. I subscribe to MusicNow (www.musicnow.com) which doesn't always have ALL of the latest songs but is pretty good about keeping up, offers $.99 cent purchases, excellent radio stations and unlimited access to a HUGE variety of music, all for $9.95 a month. It's integrated directly into WMA (which I like because I can switch between the two seamlessly). Still, I will take a quick look at iTunes - if nothing else, I still bleed six colors. Solid features boost iTunes for PCs

(Some ideas gleaned from 5 small specs that were outsourced to an overseas programmer)   1. Always keep an idea as to how much time it would take to do it yourself and make sure the time and effort it takes to write it down and discuss it is worth it. Example: I outsourced a project because it shouldn't have taken that much time but I didn't have that time. When our O/S company told me they hadn't done it yet (see next point), I had to put the time in. As it turns out, it only took me an hour to fulfill the functionality. Now I have testing to do but it really only took a little bit of time. I easily wasted that hour with emails asking about its status. (Note: the hour to spec it was worthwhile because it ensures the functionality is documented)   2. Only give away ONE task at a time. They might complain that there is a lag between the work but it's the only way to ensure prompt delivery of stuff...

I know I've been warned but something tells me I'll be getting a lot of "feedback" from people on my Framework reviews. For one, not enough detail. For others, I whitewashed it. Can't keep everyone happy so let me just say right now:   The purpose of the framework reviews in FoxPro Advisor is to help developers who are looking for a framework see what is out there and what is involved in picking up a new framework. So if a framework doesn't have an application helper or something that helps a new user get started but is simply a blob of procedures, it's obviously not as easy to pick up as something with an Application Generator. But I WILL be trying to get under the hood so readers can see how difficult or easy it is to expand on stuff. Since we have limited space, I am deliberately going to focus on how quickly you can build an application, how difficult it is to change the application and how much learning you have to do to ...

NewsGator has GREAT News Group support. After figuring out how to change the font for the posts, my posts are now all showing in a nice Verdana font and I'm finding the tool much more useable.   Apparently new features are coming imminently...I still have FeedDemon up but it may be changing soon....   Andrew MacNeill    

Great but short closing session from Great Lakes: Where To Go. Whil's comment: "People ask me what to do...for years, it hasn't been clear, but now it is." Whil is heading into Linux full steam ahead but that doesn't mean that Fox is dead. A quick survey of the audience showed (gasp!) about 40% of attendees were STILL maintaining FoxBase and FoxPro/DOS code. (WOW!!!!) That's 10 years old code - that would mean that in 10 years, we may still be able to work maintaining VFP 8 or later code. That may be a bit of a stretch but the numbers would certainly make sense. From Whil's thoughts: ten years ago, the Fox market was 2 million, it's now about 200,000 developers... user group attendance is down from 200 to about 9 to 20 - Dot Net is not where it's at because it means, for other reasons, competing with 10 million other developers currently moving to Dot Net from VB, C+, etc. Linux on the other hand represents a much more open opport...

Tried newsgater as a news reader. It runs within Outlook. Interesting...I like some of the features but the actual posting is done as an Outlook post (instead of an email) so it doesn't look as nice. Still...it looks very cool for $29.... NewsGator Plug-ins

Last day of Great Lakes....not a lot of activity in the trade show but definitely saw a lot of people yesterday and this morning. Picked up Kerry Neitz's FoxTales book (heavily promoted by Toni Feltman of F1) about war stories from Fox Software (available from Hentzenwerke http://www.hentzenwerke.com). Rich Simpson's ReportEngine control still continues to amaze...during the show, he developed a way to do real cut and paste while running a report (huh? Imagine copying a Visio or Project diagram and pasting it directly into a VFP report while it's running - very cool). Drew Speedie put me on the spot on Monday night ('hey Andrew! how's that TB?') right during his MaxFrame presentation. Maybe I'll sic "Muffy" on him... Nice to see some familiar faces...and put faces to names (Laura, Dan Greenberg, etc) The next big show? Russ Swall's Essential Fox next June. What will happen? Well bets were being laid as to who would provide the...

Ok - the new Ottawa airport opened Sunday...guess what? No wireless...sure it's bigger but is it better? A few gripes: no desks to work at (the old terminal had them), the displays are way too small (only one display for 12 gates). Yes they have glitches ( doors don't open, etc, etc) but those are bugs that can be worked out. The gripes are things that MUST be addressed. It's a new airport - why don't they have wireless? Chicago (where I was stuck for about 3 hours) doesn't have it but it's an older airport (so they can be forgiven)   Hotels...Hotels should have this built in as far as I'm concerned. Modems? Come'on - it would not cost that much for a hotel to put  $500 of wireless routers on a few floors and have them service the area. They could even charge for it. Jeers to Hilton (where I am) and the Hyatt for not doing it. Someone should call Boingo!!!

Finally made it to WhilFest...(a day of traveling on a plane isn't much fun)   Attendance looks around 200....the wireless network is also a bit funky but I think I've got it going now...found out I'm running a version behind on my wireless driver so that could be it.   Looks like a lot of people switched their box to Linux last night...wonder what that means for the EULA?

The latest is out - be sure to get it! October 7, 2003 - Visual FoxPro News for October

VFP MVP awards are given to those who are actively helping VFP developers on "FoxPro" related topics. Mostly online contributes for "technical assistance", but also adding to that is speaking at VFP events, writing VFP articles and books - on the topic of "FoxPro". I see .... and yet Ted Roche and Whil Hentzen are NOT on this list... I guess being the sole publisher of VFP books, conference speaker (and organizer), User Group "constant speaker", initial Fox Blog publisher and general FoxPro promotion is not considered "actively helping to promote FoxPro" Whil's recent promotion was called "Fox is everywhere..." - I guess someone at MS missed this. MvpVfp2004 - FoxProWiki

Found this on Craig's Blog - very cool Joel on Software - Bionic Office

A Great show for sure. Hope to see you there... EssentialFox Conference - Visual FoxPro Conference

  As he writes later in the day, they are already doing this. Devs read blogs for all kinds of reasons - the problem is that the media picks up on stuff and considers it gospel and this is what the Legal team fears.   This is kind of like Arnie's comments in CA. People attack him for (possibly) saying something over 25 years ago despite all he has done in the past to show his true commitments. The biggest fear the Marketing and Legal groups always have is that someone in the media takes a comment and then treats it like public policy.   In Ontario (where I live), we just had an election where the number one issue turned out to be that the (eventually) losing incumbent party sent out a quick email calling the competition "a kitten-eating reptile from another planet". This became the entire big MEDIA problem.   Get over it, reporters! Get over it , media and such. Stop looking for scoops in blogs. They are simply ways to comm...

David Dee (see post from 9/22) asked MS about promoting VFP by discussing items with Citrix...As noted in his comments, the response from MS was:   We do not test VFP with Citrix and it is not something we are focused on as a solution, mainly due to lack of demand. For web (or thin client) applications with VFP, we are promoting VFP with ASP.NET using VFP 8.0 with Visual Studio .NET 2003 and that is working well, and most companies we talk to who need web front ends to VFP applications are using or considering ASP.NET with VFP combined. Thanks for your feedback.   Huh?!?! - Until such time as Desktop apps are killed off completely (don't see that happening anytime soon), I actually prefer to recommend Citrix or Terminal Server based solutions than purely Web-based. Maybe David's problem was actually using the term "Citrix" instead of the more "MS-friendly" Terminal Server. VFP continually gets updated in service releas...