Installing Windows Vista 64

• 13:30 Started install, booted from DVD.
• 14:26 OS Installed ok. Had a crash during install after creation of the admin user but carried on with install. My NVIDIA Quadro FX3500 is recognised immediately and works in 2500x1600. Did not have to install the NVIDIA driver yet, using the driver provided by Microsoft. Now running Windows update.
• 15:32 Windows updated completed. Rebooting OS.
• 16:00 Ran Windows update again. Service Pack 1 does not appear in Windows Update yet. Installed Kaspersky 7.0.1.325.
• 16:40 Installed Office Ultimate and ran Windows update. Office Service Pack 1 appears in the list of updates. Started installing it.
• 17:26. Office Service Pack 1 installed ok.
• 18:15. Finished configuring Outlook email. I have a Hauppage WinTV-HVR. Does it support Vista 64? Apparently yes according to this page: http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/whatsnew/vista.html
• 18:45 Downloaded the software and Vista 64 drivers for WinTV-HVR 1100 from the Hauppage support website. Driver install failed: it could not find the hardware. Interestingly, Windows Media Center can use the card: though downloading TV guide failed, scanning of freeview channels worked perfectly.
• 19:00 Understood why downloading the TV guides with Windows Media Center failed: Kaspersky antivirus was being to keen. Disabled it and it worked fine.
• Installed the logitech drivers of my S510 keyboard to be able to control Media Center from the Logitech remote. It works brilliantly.

Summary: I installed the 64 bit version of Windows Vista today and everything seems to be working fine. My Nvidia card hasn't crashed yet. So far the only driver that caused me grief was the Hauppage card when using it with WinTV software. The WinTV software is a big pile of poo anyway, who wants to use that when you have something like Windows Media Center? I might discover more hardware problems this week.

Currently Listening To

• Dot Net Rocks: Andy Leonard on Unit Testing your Database

Usefull Links

List of Visual Studio shortcut keys: http://www.dofactory.com/ShortCutKeys/ShortCutKeys.aspx#textsel

Pandora not available in the UK

I started using Pandora in April 2006 and it quickly became the only way I listened to music at home. It simply matches my approach music: I tend to get bored of tracks fairly quickly and need to renew my list of favorites very often. Also my tastes are not too mainstream. The Find similar or bin it model of Pandora is perfect for me: I built a collection of genres (electronic, heavy metal, dark ages...) and keep switching from one to the other depending on the mental state I want to be in. I discovered artists I never heard of before: KMFDM, Pro-Pain, Darkwell, Leave's Eyes, Kill Hannah, Nightwish, Theatre of Tragedy, Elis, Lacuna Coil... I even ended up buying the CDs of those I wanted to listen in loop. Unfortunately, because of licensing issues the service will very soon stop in the UK...

Usefull Tools

• editor: Notepad2 (free)
• screen capture: Screen Hunter 5 (free for business use)
• secure FTP client: Core FTP LE (free for business use)
• refactoring for C++: Refactor! (free for business use)
• cheap Photoshop-like: Paint.NET (free)
• browse .NET assemblies: Reflector (free)
• Web Apps: http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/12/21-excellent-web-apps-for-college.html

Currently listening to...

• Martin Wolf - FT.com - Welcome to a world of runaway energy demand
• Channel 9 - MFC is back! - Pat Brenner: New Updates to MFC in Visual Studio 2008. This is quite an event. Nothing happened in MFC since Visual Studio 6 in 1998. I'm really surprised since I talked with a Visual Studio developer at TechEd who told me there would be nothing new for unmanaged C++ in Visual Studio 2008.

There's Perception and There's Reality

Joe Wilcox on Apple and Microsoft: http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/operating_systems/the_great_double_standard.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535

The blogosphere will praise Leopard as the next best thing ever and use it as more proof why Vista sucks (It doesn't). Meanwhile, there will be little good said about Microsoft's colossal 2008 fiscal first quarter results. Those people acknowledging the earnings results will blame Microsoft for trying to kill Linux and babies in Africa as reasons for its success. The perception: When Microsoft competes, it cheats. There is a double standard.

Performance Measurement for Financial Systems - Messaging

Performance Measurement for Financial Systems

• Seanet: http://www.seanet-tech.com/products.html
• Wombat: http://www.wombatfs.com/
• Endace: http://www.endace.com/

Messaging Systems

• Martin Fowler: Enterprise Integration Patterns: Designing, Building, and Deploying Messaging Solutions

Got my TechEd DVD

Received the 6DVDs per post. Will never run out of stuff to listen to...

TechEd DVD

The TechEd DVD is on its way!

Dear Tech.Ed 2007 Attendee, This e-mail serves as confirmation that your Tech.Ed 2007 DVD set has been shipped and you should be receiving it within 1-2 weeks (International locations may take longer). The DVD set has been sent via the U.S. Postal Service to the address included with your registration information.