In cruising around town it is remarkable how many businesses and government offices have not upgraded to Windows 10, even for free. Why we might ask is this the case? At a claimed 350 million installations in the wild is the glass 1/3 full, or 2/3 empty? Could it be corporate customers are leery of the privacy policy embedded in the new op system? Could it be they want control of how and when their computers are upgraded? Could it be they want to test patches in the context of their own organization to evaluate the impact? Could it be they have an investment in custom developed, in-house application systems which need to be checked out against op system fixes or upgrades? Could it be they do not want their employees distracted by pop-up adverts? Could it be they do not want their customer contacts, email documents, appointments co-opted? Could it be they need to develop and distribute their own company unique applications in-house? There is a big difference between the requirements of business and government organizations carrying out activities on a day to day basis, and that of individual consumers. Windows cannot be a one size fit all. So what can Microsoft to do in order to keep their investors hoppy? More Here And for gods sake get rid of this side loading crap, give your ISVs a break.

What I mean is, do not place critical business information on servers (or server farms) that are connected to the internet. This includes accounting, CRM, customer data, credit card, planning, source code, any other company confidential information. Only public facing websites need be hosted on servers connected to the internet. Everything else should be placed on isolated, internal networks. Even systems such as accounting should be on separate internal networks, available to only those with a need to know, apart from general company network. PCs are cheap (in comparison to being hacked). Use a KVM switch to switch between desktop PCs for browsing the web/email, and a PC with access to internal, confidential application systems.

In this era of international hacking why expose critical lob information to the internet? Cut the cord to in-house servers...

Where oh where did the installer packager go????

Interesting. No one has mentioned Metro style apps. If you want to develop for Windows tablets or Win Phone 8 You will need VS 2012. Personaly I donot care for the blah color scheme, but I suppose its a matter of getting used to. And of course VS 2012 Express with a ton of samples, tutorials etc can be downloaded for free. Check this out: VS 2012 Express released.

You mean a summer job while you are in school, or a full time job? One summer many moons ago two friends and I got the bright idea to hitchhike to Wyoming and look for work. After arriving in Jackson Hole we spent a day knocking on doors, asking at every business with no luck. We got a ride from a man driving a big Cadillac and I guess we were sounding discouraged. I remember him saying "Oh, you have been looking one day? Then you have just started." Right. We got the message. We all ended up getting jobs, my friends with the Yellowstone Park Company as busboys, and I with the Park Service as a trash collector. We were thrilled. After college it was a bit easier. I got a letter from Uncle Sam saying we want you. There used to be this thing called the Draft. But the US Army sent me off to programming training at the IBM Ed Center in D.C., thus launched a career. So it appears you are at a wonderful age. You can haul ass to Wyoming (or wherever) and not be too particular about what you do, or you could join the military for a few years to get some practical experience (but if you do get a guaranteed MOS (military occupation) before signing on the dotted line). Have fun.

Like it or not, contrary to many pundits, Windows 8 is going to be BIG. At least on smart phones (Windows Phone 7.5 Metro is way smooth to use) and tablets. And on the desktop, but not in Metro mode. Why? Microsoft's ace in the hole is the billion plus PCs out there. Metro devices will sync well with the desktop and the cloud. Drop your small tablet in your pocket and you are out the door with your contacts, email, music, slide show, what have you. Oh, and you can make calls too. Wifi Skype? Coming soon I'll wager...

The other day I received an email from somebody I know. It said click here to see something amazing! It was a standard www.something.com url, so I clicked. The site began by presenting a log in screen which requested, enter your Windows Live ID and password. Would you? Would the normal non-technical user?

Metro: Good for tablets. Not good for the desktop. Compared to the Android UI (Google's Linux implementation?) on tablets it does not look as slick. And what am I supposed to do with all the icons on my desktop? Actually with a few tweaks our Console Express (free download at WindigoSystems.com) would be a better alternative for business users.

I stand abashed. MVM was devised by people far smarter than me. However, coding trends come and go. It would be interesting to do a survey to see how many are actually using the MVVM pattern, or are planning to use it. MVM seems to fly in the face of the KISS principle. As a consultant, bidding and developing LOB apps is very competitive. Time is money. Code should be concise and logically structured. It should be easily picked up and modified at a later date. What are the benefits? You say it is elegant. You say once you get used to it its easy. In the middle ages wearing a hair shirt or self flagelation were thought to bring you closer to God.

In 95% of projects MVVM adds another degree of complication that is simply not necessary. For what? To separate the UI from business logic? You are probably doing this anyway. For automated testing? I fail to see how automated testing can test anything but the simplest of scenarios. Check the excellant tutorials on the Silverlight site to get started. Look into entity framework (EF) and Domain Services to generate code for backend database access. Use one of the business application templates to stub out a new project with styling. Avoid MVVM unless you are working on a team of dozens.

Hats off to Grace Hopper. How could this one little lady head up a project for the Navy that in its day turned the computing world on its ear? Right up there with Jobs and Gates.

I am currently working on converting the online portion of a project from ASP.Net to Silverlight 4. As Pete advised the learning curve is steep and not to be taken lightly. If you are using SQL Server I am guessing the app has a large investment in stored procs. Domain Services in Silverlight does not handle stored procs very well. That is, expect to be hand coding a lot of boiler-plate. Joins require procs. So if the app is interperting codes, for instance state codes, you need to use procs. Have you considered using Windows forms with Sync Framework and SQL Compact for a local data store? This would work well for an ih-house application. It would let you keep the data base pretty much as is and convert the subsystems incrementally. Use Krypton controls for a choice of look and feel, for instance Office 200x. Have fun.

Kill C#. Who needs case sensitive coding and all those crappy sqiggly things?

Do you find it useful? Or does it grossly complicate what otherwise would be a simple program?

Think 40 is a shock? Wait til you hit 70! As my Mother used to say, Oh to be 60 again! (She was 93 at the time. Me -Im still jogging a couple of miles 2 or 3 times a week in the hills. Dont have time for more -too busy developing. Trying to keep up with MS is like trying to drink from a firehose. Knock on wood.

Are you trying to distribute a database to a client? I just back up the database, zip the .bak file and send it to the client. The client can then restore it to their server. Do you need to generate script for a single proc or table? Just use the SQL Server Management Studio (or Enterprise Manager) built-in scripting function. Works well.

Look into the Action Pack available from the Microsoft Partner website. Highly recommended for small companies or individuals. Here is a link: https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40016455

Well think about it guys. The hardware stores and retrieves data in 8 bit bytes, right? Unless you have defined 8 single bit fields in a row your one bit switch is going to take up a whole byte anyway. Also there is a thing called a check bit that comes into play. If your server is using ECC memory then by using bit switches you lose the error correcting capability. Does anyone know if SQL server actually stores a one bit field as a bit or does it store it as a byte?

None of you old enough to require bifocals? I find progressive perscription lenses are great; no line across the lens. If you look down thru your glasses (as in reading) they focus close up, and if you look straight out they are focused on distance. The only problem is if you are looking in short-medium distance (as at a computer screen) your eyes still have to strain, hence headaches after a long day. The solution? A number of years ago my optomitrist gave me a perscription for "computer glasses", a special pair of glasses I use just for working on the computer. Another tip; finding a good opthemologist (MD) or optomitrist (not an MD) can make a big difference. Ask around. And if you have a hard time adjusting to the perscription after a few days, take it back. You don't want something that is close enough that cheaper outfits may pull out of a drawer. Also, carrot juice helps keep those old eyeball lenses elastic besides helping your night vision.