The goal of write the code once and have it run everywhere has existed for a long time. That was the promise of C (except back then it was called “portable code” and then “cross-platform”). While the goal is admirable, in practice it means coding to the lowest common technology denominator. Java works fine until […]
Somehow I knew that installing the Beta 1 of LightSwitch would prevent the installation of the production bits. While Beta 1 seemed to uninstall fine, installing the real deal failed. The installer emitted the following error log: [08/19/11,08:23:15] VS Scenario: [2] Error: CVSScenario::ExecuteEachBlocker returned false [08/19/11,08:23:15] VS Scenario: [2] Error:There is a blocking condition met, […]
When I tried Microsoft’s Mesh a few years back I thought it had great potential. But it wasn’t clear what Microsoft was going to do with the software. Since that time, I have been using Dropbox; which has an elegant simplicity (and works across different platforms). Moreover, I didn’t even realize that “Mesh” is now […]
“There is a saying: Yesterday is History; Tomorrow is a Mystery; but Today is a Gift. That is why it is called the Present.” Master Oogway While unable to find the original source, most web searches attribute the quote to Alice Morse Earle as “The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits […]
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” Charles Darwin
While traveling I could not get Outlook on my laptop to send/receive any emails. The Outlook status bar would say Disconnected and checking the Outlook Send/Receive Progress Errors would show “Task ‘Microsoft Exchange Server’ reported error (0x80040115) : ‘The connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete […]
I’d been meaning to try some Windows Phone 7 development for a while but could not get the tools installed into Visual Studio 2010 on Windows Server 2008 (the main OS that I run). In vain I setup a Windows 7 Virtual Machine which allows for the Windows Phone Developer Tools to be installed but […]
WCF makes heavy use of reflection. In order to support object inheritance one needs to help WCF by decorating DataContract with [KnownType(typeof(aType))] so the service reference will include the proper information. Below is a quick example: The below data contract for an Animal also includes the known types of Cat and Dog: [DataContract] [KnownType(typeof(Cat))] [KnownType(typeof(Dog))] […]
“Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” Thomas Huxley
Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. Thomas A. Edison