Andrew MacNeill - AKSEL Solutions

InfoWorld had a neat article a few days back called 7 dirty consultant tricks (and how to avoid them) Those of us who are consultants should know that these are being done and should be pretty angry about it. Most of the practices listed here are the reasons why the right consultants (that would be us) don't get the jobs we bid on. Those who run consulting firms should know about these and know that they are the best way to stay in business. I wrote an response to this on my own web site more but thought I would share some of the immediate takeaways here: 1.  If you (as a client) aren't starting your project with a measurable result by a specific date, then you need to break your project INTO those results first. Otherwise, assemble an internal team and maybe ask for some guidance but keep the deliverables in mind at all times. If you don't, it becomes a money pit. 2. I often look at my work as a consultant as being similar to a good plumber: if you want me to f...

Something for the local Ottawa group...Microsoft Ottawa is doing a Developer Bootcamp on May 11th. While some things don't sound that exciting ("Enhancing Pinned Sites with IE 9"), the HTML 5 session does look pretty cool. Despite Hachamovitch's recent statements of "native HTML5", IE9's improved support for web standards is a good thing all around. I look forward to building web sites that every browser can support. That said, look to the FoxShow next week for an interesting interview with the FoxInCloud guys. WP7/IE9 Developer Bootcamp - Ottawa FoxPro VFP

If you haven't seen it, Dilbert for 3/24 sums up the way some unit testing zealots like to approach unit testing. Dilbert comic strip for 03/24/2011 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

Doug Hennig: Southwest Fox 2011 Call For Speakers Southwest Fox is gearing up for the 2011 conference season by issuing an open call to speakers. Go to the  Speakers  page for details. As with last year, they are looking for a wide variety of topics from core VFP, extending VFP, new technologies and becoming better developers.  This year's SW Fox is  October 26-29, 2011 SanTan Elegante Conference & Reception Center/Legado Hotel Gilbert, AZ Session proposals are due by March 28.

iPad 2 was announced yesterday and the business and technology world (and mainstream media who bends over backwards for Steve Jobs) stopped and gazed at the double rainbow that is Apple. Foley had an interesting question : Discussion on: Does Apple's iPad 2 further dent Microsoft's iPad compete plans? | ZDNet I responded there but I thought I would take the opportunity to drill down a bit further. First, Microsoft should stop trying to be a hardware maker. Their expertise is in software - so they should attempt to provide the BEST applications available in the App Store, even out-doing Apple. Microsoft's forays into hardware with the exception of the xBox have been fairly laughable - not many people recommend their webcams or mice without offering just as good alternatives. Imagine what would happen if Microsoft actually GAVE businesses a reason to buy iPads or other tablets? Because Microsoft felt that their focus should be on the software - the BUSINESS software. Where i...

Saw a tweet come through on SW Fox - the dates have been booked with Southwest Fox 2011 on from October 26th-29th with a post-con going through to the 30th. Twitter / SWFox Conference: Southwest Fox 2011 is offi ... It doesn't look like the main SW Fox site has been updated yet but I'm sure it will be shortly. FoxPro VFP

Ken Levy has an interesting post up on his MashupX site since early last month. Ken Levy's Blog _ MashupX Visual FoxPro Strategy at Microsoft The post goes into some fascinating details as to the history of Visual FoxPro at Microsoft. Most of it is well-known or obvious (making VFP.Net would break backward compatibility - which is what MS did with VB.Net as well) I guess more details can be shared now - when VFP 9 was released, " the amount of sales for all versions of VFP combined annually was less revenue than Microsoft sales of Visual Studio in only one day" It would be interesting to know however if some of those companies who were out there working on a VFP-like language in .Net were "persuaded" to stop their efforts, as some have suggested in various forums. Well worth the read. The FoxPro community is what keeps VFP alive (thanks to VFPX and other initiatives) - and there were some members of that community inside of Microsoft at one point. As he n...