I have CA EZ Antivirus on my computer. It decided to install the firewall. I don't want it and am happy with WinXP's firewall. It's on my demo machine so I don't have to deal with it often but it's stupid. It says "do you want IIS to run" and I select "remember this setting" and click "Allow" which is dim, but still active (doh) and next time I turn on my computer it asks me all of those questions again for a series of apps. SQL Server, svchost and more. The big problem with this is I get sick of it and say "yes yes yes" without looking. I turn it off and turn on Windows Firewall, but when I restart the computer it's there again. Next step is to just uninstall it. My recommendation is to avoid this program. (Sorry CA) 

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Laura Blood is a .NET consultant in vermont who has been programming for a looong time! She has also been an invaluable help to me with the Vermont.NET user group as well as being one of the founders of VTSQL.org. Laura has jumped into the blogging fray which makes 3 Vermont.NET bloggers now.

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All I can say is "lucky us"!!

Tim is driving up (or is that over) from New Hampshire to give a fantastic talk I saw/heard him do at TechEd to the Vermont.NET user group tonight.

We are also lucky to have a new convenient venue for our meetings at Vermont Technical College and a sponsor for pizza & soda tonight: Technical Connections.

And just for icing on the cake, I recieved a big box filled with phenomenal O'Reilly press books today!

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

I just got my annual letter from MVP which made me look back to see how much it has gone up since we started.

For the two of us

2001 $425/mo
2002 $527/mo
2003 $568/mo
2004 $617/mo
2005 $697/mo
2006 $721/mo  ($8,652)

70% increase in 6 years.

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

From the PAG Service Orientation workspace:

Just Released: October CTP featuring WSE 3.0! (10/15/2005 •  News)
We invite you to check out the latest release of the Web service security patterns. This release is a substantial improvement over the past releases. We’ve added even more patterns and updated the implementation patterns to take advantage of the latest advancements in WSE 3.0. Please note that the WSE 2.0 implementation patterns have been removed from this release. We will add them back for the final release, but if you would like to review the WSE 2.0 implementation patterns in the meantime, check out the August CTP.

Developers can build secure Web services easier with WSE 3.0 by using its simplified and enhanced policy framework and by taking advantage of features in the .NET Framework 2.0. When you combine that with solid architectural, design, and implementation guidance, you have a much better chance of choosing an appropriate solution and saving some time in the process. While the WSE team just released the WSE 3.0 October CTP, these implementation patterns were tested against the WSE 3.0 Beta build.

The following patterns have been added since the August CTP release. These patterns have all been through the workshop process, but haven’t all been through an initial editorial pass ... that’s why it’s a CTP ;)

• Message Replay Detection
  
• Perimeter Service Router
  
• Message Validation
  
• Exception Shielding
  
• Trusted Subsystem
  
• Protocol Adapter
  
• Delegation

As we are ramping up to release the final version of this content, we’re really depending on you, the community, to provide the feedback needed to make this the definitive resource for Web service security guidance. We would also love to hear from you if you’ve used this content as the basis for decisions you’ve made regarding your production Web services.

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

I have a self-hosted service which I am calling through it's proxy in a client app.

When the service has multiple endpoints, svcutil adds "ConfigurationName" properties to the endpoints in the config file. With a single endpoint, that parameter is not necessary.

When instantiating the service via the proxy, I was following a single endpoint example and forgot to indicate *which* endpoint or configuration I wanted. Thus my code:

ServiceProxy myproxy=new ServiceProxy();

gave me an error when it hit the proxy's constructor and I was given the following exception:

could not find endpoint element that references contractType [whatever my contract name is]

Oddly, if I found that if I removed ConfigurationNames from the config, the app will actually run and somehow randomly selected from the multiple endpoints.

The exception message led me on a very wild goosechase. But luckily, Softwaremaker, who is quite the Indigo guru already, asked me a key question: "how are you instatiating the proxy?"

Since all of this stuff is so new, I am placing this mistake out on Google for the next person who makes this mistake.

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It has been raining for about a week with intermittent major downpours (like right now). We are in northwestern Vermont and not experiencing the dreadful flooding that surrounds us in New Hampshire, Southern Vermont and other parts of the NorthEast. Rich and I have discussed what would happen if there was indeed flooding around here. Though living on a mountainside and far from the mountain streams prevents us from worrying about our house being flooded, we have to cross bridges in two directions to get off of our road so we could be screwed if the bridges were ever washed out. All of the disasters of late have made us think about the what-ifs and what we need to do to be prepared. Not only do we have to think about food and water for ourselves but also our pets. And of course we would stay here with them. Funny the things you take for granted. Hopefully it will turn us all into little boy  & girlscouts.

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

I bet you didn't know that the Emily Post Institute was based in right here in Burlington Vermont! They are now reporting that good manners are on the decline in the U.S. Dear oh dear!

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I figure if Don Box can do Indigo demos in VB, then I should do them in C#. That of course, will make my demo take a tad bit longer as I will likely have to compile a few times to find all of the VB syntax I typed into the C# code.

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This is a Wissif Wippif

(it's a Toyota Avalon in Indigo Bunting Blue - so an Indigo Avalon - WCF WPF... get it? I'm sure this is already an ancient joke but it sure had me and Kate giggling today)

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

I have a 512MB memory chip for a Toshiba Portege M200.

They are on sale right now at Crucial for $50 so if anyone wants to buy mine, I'll sell it for a little less than Crucial. I bought this a little less than a year ago and the M200 is not my daily use machine. You know, only driven by a little old lady on Sundays.

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Here is an excellent article on using ADO.NET and SQL CLR inside of SQL Server: Managed Data Access Inside SQL Server with ADO.NET and SQLCLR. Besides the obvious code, there are things you should be aware of such as context connections, how transactions work and most importantly, when not to use ADO.NET in the SQL CLR. The article is by the ADO.NET master himself, Pablo Castro, who is the Technical Lead on the ADO.NET team.

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One of the talks I will be doing at Visual Studio Connections is "Deciphering C# for VB Developers". One of the BEST resources for converting your code back and forth is O'Reilly's C# & VB.NET Conversion Pocket Reference. I have a slide in the presentation devoted just to the book. Now I have dozen copies of the book to give away at the presentation. Thanks to Marsee Henon of O'Reilly!

Here is the description of the presentation

As a Visual Basic developer, have you ever searched for a code sample and then found one that is exactly what you need but written in the C# language instead? The differences between the two language syntax are substantially more than just semi-colons and curly braces. This session is intended to help you understand such idiosyncracies as backwards variable declaration, stringent rules for scoping variables and methods, compound assignment operators and more. This session will be given by a Visual Basic programmer who has felt the pain both deciphering and writing C# code and wants to help you avoid some of the same pitfalls.

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From the INETA website

INETA Announces New Board Members, Sheri Nawrocki, Matt Ranlett & Brendon Schwarz.

INETA ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF SHERI NAWROCKI AS VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING Redmond, WA – October 4, 2005 – The International .NET Association (INETA), an organization that provides resources, services, and support for .NET user groups around the globe, today announced the appointment of Sheri Nawrocki as Vice President of Marketing for INETA North America. “Sheri has been a valuable member of our team over the past few years and will do an excellent job leading our marketing efforts.” says Chris Pels, President of the North American Board of Directors. “Sheri brings a unique perspective to our team with her background in software development, marketing, and graphic design that will be invaluable.” “INETA has done a great job strengthening the .NET development community with its efforts over the past several years and I am excited to have the opportunity to help the organization.” says Nawrocki. “This is a great group of volunteers and I look forward to working with them.” INETA ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF MATT RANLETT AND BRENDON SCHWARTZ TO INETA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Redmond, WA – October 6, 2005 – The International .NET Association (INETA), an organization that provides resources, services, and support for .NET user groups around the globe, today announced the appointment of Matt Ranlett and Brendon Schwartz as Co-Vice Presidents of Technology for INETA North America. “Matt and Brendon, or The Atlanta Regular Guys as many know them, have done exciting work in the Atlanta area with local INETA User Groups and have contributed to the success of the Community Activities Division of INETA” says Chris Pels, President of the North American Board of Directors. “We are excited about the energy and ideas the guys will bring to the Technology Division.” “Matt and I are very excited about our new positions on the Board.” says Schwartz. “We are really looking forward to having a big impact on how INETA works with technology now and in the future” added Ranlett.

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

I swear, not one word about Pakistan (or Guatemala for that matter) on the home page of CNN.com. MSNBC stil has a little something on the lower half.

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I have postponed, cancelled and delayed this appointment [to remove an ancient filling and replace it with a new one] three times now. Oooooh the torture (and to top it off, the expense). But I can avoid it no longer. Off I go... whimper whimper whimper...

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

Burlington Vermont's Champlain College is definitely on the cutting edge of  I.T. Education, so it does not surprise me to see this new degree program that they are offering.

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

The agenda for TechEd South Africa is now online.

I see that two of my session will be in Session Room 1 - the big room. This room as a capacity of 800 people (okay not so bad as TEchEd US where it's more like 8,000). But still.... gulp.

The fun begins on Sunday evening at 7pm (Oct 23) with the welcome party!

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I had the good fortune of having Melanie Spiller edit a recent article for the upcoming CoDe Focus issue on Tablet PC and Mobile PC Development. (Free issue by the way, subscribe here).

One of the habits she noticed was my use of the word "actually". We talked about it a bit and she happened to mention that another problem word is "basically" which, she told me, people use when they are guessing. That actually (see, I use that a lot) makes a lot of sense. Of course, being THE editorial blogger for technical authors, I was able to find a blog post where she talks about "actually", "basically" and some other oft misused adverbs.

I wonder what she thinks of the infamous "So..." that begins every sentence of Microsoft employees when they answer a question...

Don't Forget: www.acehaid.org

Damir Tomicic, who heads up INETA Europe, created such a wonderful video of his trip to PDC that I wish it was much longer than 3 minutes. Microsoft EMEA chartered a flight to L.A. from Austria or somewhere (which was dubbed "EMEA @ PDC"), so the video starts with a plane filled with geeks. [read more ...]

[A DevLife post]

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