I think Paul Allen is last low on the right

Thanks guys

I would imagine that there will eventually be some kind of decomplier. But since all the new MS languages (with the exception of unmanaged C++) compile down to the same IL(theoretically), who knows what it will decompile to? My guess is that it will be more of a dissasembler that breaks the IL down into something human more readable, but probably not source code. -Mik

I totally agree about the web development stuff. I still like to consider myself a C++ guy but the advances with ASP+ and .NET leave me feeling like a kid with a new toy. Debugging that actually works, ASP pages using C++ or C#, scheduled server restarts, Session information integrity retained even after reboots, proactive component destruction/recreation,...<Homer Simpson drool...

>> I've heard that Microsoft uses Apache servers for hosting some of their web pages. Does anyone know if this is true? << A persisent rumour, and one very easy to disprove (visit www.netcraft.com, which does surveys). I heard one varient that, two weeks after the launch of MSN, Microsoft realize the NT wasn't up to it, and switched to UNIX. (The rumourmongers never quite explain how MS was able to pull off such a massive switchover, over night, with no downtime) The truth is, that is MS buys a company which is using Apache for thier webserver, they will leave the Apache server up until they get around to switching the site entirely over to Win2000. For Hotmail, the complete conversion took three years. For LinkExchange (bCentral) the conversion is going much faster.

Hi Jonathan, Although I don't believe that any intellectual property issues exist with zLib, who legally warrants that there aren't any? Can you sue the authors or the legal counsel that reviewed the library if they were wrong? FWIW, I think Intellectual property issues are of paramount concern. Ask any corporate counsel in any corporation with a worth of more than $20M, people lose a lot of sleep over this (and corporations spend a lot of time in court over this). Particulary in the areas of compression, encryption, delta comparisons, etc. Although our library doesn't use zLib, I don't see any problem in Stingray utilizing a standard library in their toolkit, unless they aren't being up-front about it. Simply cleaning up the interface and making it easier to use with MFC would be of value, and certainly worth the $495/70 classes = $7 that a developer would pay for it, considering that they *are* warranting it, and are legally liable if there in-fact is an intellectual property issue. In the end of course it is personal choice. Far too often however our fellow developers put code into their applications without thought of its origin, of warranties, and of these legal issues and put themselves and their employers at risk. I have no doubt that companies that are serious about using libraries like zLib (such as Microsoft or AOL) solicit an outside legal opinion on intellectual property issues before including it in anything important. That's how they get their intellectual property protection, from their legal counsel (if they are wrong they can sue their lawyers.) Anyway, legal stuff gives me a headache :) In short, I heartfully say that it is not a non-issue!

Pretty simple: Try to be a cracker. Learn how crackers work, what tools they have (SoftICE), and crack some programs. Think as a cracker. You will learn how to protect your software. No need to 3rd party cracker-protection. Just some good ideas

I think the point behind web services is to really allow software to interoperate, and to finally release the legions of human beings that keyboard enter accounting documents to find a higher calling. Internet sites that now attempt to cover their costs through advertising may not be a good fit for webservices, and maybe sites like google, or goto that rank paid links higher will lead in the web services arena. It's hard to tell right now. Microsoft's Biztalk initiative is pretty key in the whole webservices plan. It hopes to specify the "interfaces" that link disparate business processes, and to join together all the different mechanisms by which organizations now exchange standard information. Imagine standard interfaces that would allow you, using Quickbooks, to send an invoice electronically to your client, who uses Peachtree. Imagine a standard format that all accounting packages accepted. EDI has promised this for years and years, but only the largest companies have put it in place. No question that a whole series of web services will emerge, like Microsoft's Passport architecture, that will become fundamental pieces of application development. There will be standard services for currency exchange, payroll deduction calculations, translation, calculating shipping costs (no question FedEx and others have this in the works), etc. and it will be adventageous for we as applications developers to make use of these services. Will we all run out tomorrow and buy subscriptions to a whole list of webservices... I doubt it. But I do believe that vendors will certainly open up their systems to make it easier to integrate with their systems. That's a more reasonable economic driver IMO. I don't think

Hmm, reminds me of the FoxTrot comic strip from a week or two ago..

Well, It's not quite that big a deal... I mean, they use the word "ball" a lot in the Olympics, and that means pretty much the same thing in the US.

I've always found this site an interesting place to poke around: http://www.cetus-links.org

Thank you. I got it :-) I really do not think I will have the honor to compile MFC sources! Best regards, Paul.

Oh, and the JAVA SOLUTIONS site is at www.cuj.com/jav

I wonder how many people DIDN'T download it for any various reason: (a) not interested (b) doing real work (c) consider it vaporware (d) too beta-ish (e) management doesn't car

WinDev East is in Boston and next year's Microsoft TechEd is in Atlanta. Also the PDC moves around quite a bit. Not held every year, the one previous to this year's Orlando conference was held in Denver

Yes the Aussie's have put on quite a Games so far. The venues are amazing. Look at the beauty of the Triathlon circuit or even holding Sailing events right in the harbour instead of having to travel away from the host city as is the custom. Leslie you brought up 2 points near and dear to me as a Canadian. First I have to say the U.S. coverage is quite ridiculous. I'm talking about sports coverage not the opening ceremonies. NBC has paid $4 billion and will not show one minute of live coverage. Everything is taped and edited I'm assuming so they can put a dramatic twist on the event or highlight American athletes no matter where they finish. I have some American friends in Vermont who are very happy they can get Canadian coverage which include over 500 hours of live coverage! NBC has 60 hours of taped coverage. I reckon it's tough to be a sports fan in the U.S. Second, It's amazing what Australia is achieving with their medal wins. Canada has more people and we only have 2 medals with not may prospects left. I love the way sports are so revered in Australia and so well supported by the people. This topic is coming up nightly in the news here in Canada. All the officials are wondering how the Australian system works and how we can reproduce it. Of course it takes money but it's sad to say I don't think the people will go for it because they don't have the same respect for amateur athletics as in Australia.

Erik, It was more the concept of pulling together samples of the UIs that people send out that caught my fancy. I didn't really put much stock in the opinions of the site owners. You gotta admit, there are some pretty bad UIs posted there. :

You buy outdated computer/math books for your nostalgia collection... which really just doesn't seem to be what it used to...

Hah! Wish I had the time, the spare $1500, and the luck in managing to actually score a ticket. cheers, Chris Maunde