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Windows Live Writer is Still Cool
I have been using the beta of Windows Live Writer for over a month and I can now say that without a doubt, it has totally changed my blogging experience.
Live Writer plugs seamlessly into the WordPress blogging engine I use. Since I'm using a Windows application, I find that amount of time it takes to create a blog post has been cut down by at least half. It also makes things like inserting pictures into a post so trivial that you would think you're creating a document in Microsoft Word.
So, if you are a blogger yourself, you should take a look at Live Writer.
Misc
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I [had] a drinking problem
A year or so ago I developed a drinking problem.( If my Mom ever sees this she'll be calling everyone in the family to proclaim my confession and acknowledge that she has known this for years. And years. And years. )Anyway, it has nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with Wichita Falls, Texas. If you've never been to Wichita Falls, I really have to say you're not missing much. It's one of the extra-unordinary small cities in the middle of mostly nothing Texas.Back in the Spring of 2005, I made four or five trips out there performing work for one of my former clients. On two of those occasions, I had very unpleasant experiences involving my attempts to either drink soda while driving or just drink soda period. Hence, my drinking problem.Episode I:
The first episode started out innocently enough. I had dropped off some computer parts at a customer site and since it was almost 10:00pm, I was pretty much starving to death. Luckily, there was a Sonic drive-through located next door so I drove in and drove out with a Combo #1 and a Coke.So I'm munching my way down the street and eventually get back on the highway for the return trip to Dallas. I have a habit of putting my drink between my legs as I drive rather than using the cup holder and at some point, shortly after I entered the highway, I hit a bump and my drink dislodged and plummeted to the floor of my truck. Great, I thought. Not only did I just spill my Coke and will have nothing to drink on the way home, but I also just spilled it all over the floor of my truck and I'm going to have to clean that up sooner or later. Just great.I put down the cheeseburger and reached down to pick up the drink cup. Feeling around, I found that it had somersaulted on the way down and landed on its lid, which was still firmly connected to the top of the cup. Cool, I thought, I still have a drink. So I picked it up and placed it back into its prior position, between my legs.It was about that time that I felt this unmistakable fire shoot through my testicles. Actually, it wasn't fire, it was the sensation of ice cold Coke penetrating the protective layers of my jeans and underwear and plunging the family jewels into the relative climate of Antarctica. You ladies will have no idea what I'm talking about but most guys will wince in empathy.It turns out, that when the cup landed, it pushed the straw through the bottom. I was so happy about the lid not coming off, I didn't think to check the bottom.So there I am, driving down the highway at 60 MPH, trying not to run off the road, trying to not to be concerned about my testicles, and trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with a drink cup that is pouring Coke from both ends.Finally, I decided to slow down enough to where I could safely toss the cup in the back of my truck and I continued on back to Coppell, Texas with merely a hint of dehydration and testicular frosting. No body parts where lost in the endeavor, but it made the trip back, very, very, uncomfortable.Episode II:
This one was even more bizarre – and more messy.Given my Southern upbringing and redneck heritage, I do indeed put peanuts into my bottle of Pepsi and consider that to be a meal. Yeah, I know. You Yanqui's are all saying: "Gross."
Anyway, I was about half-way back from Wichita Falls and about mid-way through the afternoon when I realized that I hadn't eaten lunch. Not having a ton of options, I pulled into the nearest gas station with a quicky-mart and proceeded to purchase a 20oz bottle of Pepsi and a bag of peanuts.This is where I ran into my first problem. The normal Planters Salted Peanuts where totally out of stock and I'm not really that into Cashews. My choices were: Honey-Roasted, and Spicy Hot. Not thinking that Pepsi needed any more sugar, I chose the Spicy Hot variety. That, it turns out, was my second problem.I get back into the truck, open the Pepsi bottle, and drank a couple of sips to make room for the peanuts, which I eased into the bottle a bit at a time. So far, so good.Normally, when you put peanuts into a cola, it foams up a bit as the salt from the peanuts reacts with the cola. Today was no different. I sucked off the foam and add the final batch of peanuts and started to pull out of the parking lot. As expected, it foamed up again. And again, I sucked off the foam.This is the point where things when horribly, tragically, wrong.It seems, that last bit of foam wasn't a bit of foam at all. Nosiree. Evidentially, it was a plug and the only thing keeping Mt. St. Helens from erupting. And lucky me, I removed said plug.So there I am, toodling across the parking lot with a volcano of Pepsi erupting in my mouth. Pepsi and peanuts were shooting out of my mouth, my nose, and most probably since there is nothing to block the path, my ears as well. My cheeks looked like Dizzy Gillespie and I have no doubt my eyeballs had distended to the point to where they were touching my spectacles. It was very, very, ugly.I finally managed to bring the truck to a stop. I threw open the door and expelled what Pepsi and peanuts remained in my mouth while holding the volcano at arm's length and and pointed away from me as it completed its eruption.The entire left side of the cab of my truck reminded me of what it looks like when you stick an M-80 firecracker into a bottle of soda ( not that I've ever done anything like that, mind you ). It took me weeks to clean my truck completely and about 10 minutes to start breathing normally again.Needless to say, I never again attempted to put Spicy Hot peanuts in my Pepsi.Conclusion:
Events similar to those above have not reoccurred but I'm not sure if its because I haven't been to Wichita Falls, Texas, or the fact that I now only drink water while on the road.Tall Tales
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In Remembrance of Ray Noorda
On October 9th, Ray Noorda, former CEO of Novell, passed away at 82 years of age.
While many in the audience may never have heard of Ray, you have benefited greatly from the efforts of Ray and his company, Novell. After all, they created something called the Network Operating System ( NOS ) and forever changed the way people used computers.
I encountered Novell and their Netware product at version 2.0a, way back in 1988 ( if I recall correctly ). People don't give any thought of connecting to a server to share files and printers, or access their CRM system, or connect to the Internet to read this blog, but way back then, it was just the coolest thing happening.
With Netware, Novell created a set of standards that would allow hardware and software vendors to create components that could be plugged into the network and play nicely with other vendor's products. Useful things like network cards, backup devices, etc.
One of the most fascinating things about Netware 2.0a was that fact that it was not delivered ready to install. You had to build it. And I mean build. Since Netware was an open architecture, it shipped with a stack of 5 1/4 inch floppies about a foot high. You actually created the NOS by selecting the hardware components installed in your server and using the appropriate object modules from the various floppies, created the executable that was Netware. I still find this process fascinating.
It was a whole new world and one of the most exciting times of my professional life. People who were not working with computers at that time may not be able to imagine how hard it was to get things done sometimes. Netware solved many issues we encountered in our daily professional lives and opened up new avenues of productivity that have resulted in the computer networking we know today.
Ray also coined the term coopetition, which is shorthand for cooperative competition, and is also responsible for the creation of the Reseller model of product distribution.
I don't think people gave Ray and his team enough credit for what they accomplished. Just about every single system and company that followed used many of the same approaches pioneered by Novell.
So anyway, thanks Ray. I can say with very little doubt, that had you and SuperSet not created Netware, all of our lives would have been drastically different. And that little software company based in the Pacific Northwest would not have had anyone to compete with and that would have made things even more interesting.
References
The Canopy Group press release.
Ray's page at the Canopy Group.
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Battle of the RSS Aggregators
I am curious to know how many of you have heard of RSS and may be using an RSS Aggregator to receive blog and news feeds.
If you haven't heard of RSS, here is the Wikipedia definition taken from the link above:
RSS is a simple XML-based system that allows users to subscribe to their favorite websites. Using RSS, webmasters can put their content into a standardized format, which can be viewed and organized through RSS-aware software or automatically conveyed as new content on another website
Basically, RSS is a standardized format that allows content providers like web sites, blogs, etc., to publish new information, like this blog entry.
An RSS Aggregator is an application that will periodically download this information from a list of web sites that you define. Items on this list are referred to as Subscriptions or Feeds.
Why is this technology so important? Well, it will help consolidate information you receive on a daily basis into a single location. I currently subscribe to over 100 web site and blog feeds. As you can imagine, that would take a tremendous amount of time to browse to each of those sites to see if anything new has been posted. Using RSS, the new postings come to me.
When choosing an RSS aggregator, I really only had one criteria: I wanted it to integrate with Microsoft Outlook ( 2003 ). I really didn't want to have another application running just to get my news.
I have been using an aggregator from Attensa for about a year but the thing is so flaky and temperamental that I recently switched to NewsGator Inbox. Both products have features that the other doesn't but I so far, I haven't had to worry about my newsreader maxing out my CPU when it has an issue with a feed.
NewsGator Inbox also has a neat feature called a NewsPage that is placed in the home folder where the RSS feeds are stored. It is a customizable web page that displays the latest feeds so that you don't have to navigate to individual folders to read new news.
Shortly, you may not have to have a separate application to subscribe to your RSS feeds. IE7 will support RSS and unless the feature has been removed, Outlook 2007 will as well.
And you're bothering me with this because???
Looking at the statistics of web traffic vs. RSS feeds subscriptions, I find that only about 10% of my readers are employing any type of RSS reader or aggregator. I thought I would mention the technology because it truly is a productivity aid and time saver.
Good luck and you have any questions, leave a comment.
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