I've been thinking for the past few weeks about blogging, using the open source model of writing.  I'm throwing my thoughts, imagination, and ability to manipulate English onto my blog free of charge.  This sounds suspiciously like programmers pouring their talents into Mozilla, Linux, or other open source projects free of charge.  I suppose the one exception is that if anyone cites my blog, I don't claim any copyright control over their remaining blog content.

Those that know me, know that I'm an enemy of open source software in general and specifically of the GPL.  I think they are an economic abomination on the software industry.  My reasoning is simple - for every line of code that a programmer gives away, that is one line of code that another programmer wasn't paid to write.  Thus, GPL'ed software reduces the value of my skill set and the skill sets of all other programmers.  I don't consider this a good thing.

So, what am I doing with my blog?  Oh yeah, exactly that which I detest but in a different industry.  I think there is some distinction, however, between the two.  In no particular order - I don't use a viral (thanks for that term, Mr. Stallman) license like GPL for those who quote me; There is no company that can leach off of my efforts (a la IBM, HP, and Intel from the open source community) to increase its bottom line; This blog, in a few ways, can increase my bottom line (ads, notoriety, written communication skills, etc.)

I must admit this isn't an entirely thought out idea.  Then again, I'm under no obligation to write quality content unlike those writers who write for hire.  Maybe I have more in common with many open source folks than I had previously thought.

I've been using Outlook for a long time now.  In fact I've used every version (97, 98, 2000, 2002, and 2003).  Only a few minutes ago did I realize sometimes when Outlook displays a number after a folder (like the number of unread items in the inbox) it some times encloses the number in parentheses and other times in square brackets.  Also, the number is some times blue and other times green.  Why is this so?

True to their word, the Canon PowerShot A60 that Dell promised me arrived today.  I was a bit surprised that AirBorne didn't make me sign for it.  I guess I didn't hear them knocking, because I only discovered it when I went outside to get my mail.  Anyway...

Since I've barely even held a digital camera, much less owned one, I'm enchanted by it.  Truth be told, I have no idea how good of a camera it is.  It has menus and buttons all over, so, I suppose it must be good. 

My likes so far are the auto focus, auto zoom, and auto lighting.  It seems to be saying, “Look, I'm a camera, and I know how to take pictures.  Unless you're really sure you know what you're doing, you just point and click and leave the rest to me.”  I'm happy with that arrangement.  The pictures I've taken are really sharp (and really huge - 1600x1200 by default).  It even turns itself off (covering the lens and everything) if left idle for too long (I think three minutes).

My dislikes are that it doesn't auto sync with some atomic clock to get the proper date and time.  Yeah, this is picky, but if my cell phone can do it, surely my camera can too.  My other annoyance is that for the download picture software to recognize the camera is connected to the PC, the camera has to be in review mode (where you see all the pictures you've taken but can't).  Silly me, I didn't figure it would matter, so when I first plugged it in, the camera was in picture mode (the “I'm taking pictures” mode).  I think you should be able to download and upload (why would you want to upload pictures to your camera?) in either mode.

So, overall, I'm a happy new camera owner.

In August '98, I signed up for my first personal email account.  Mine all mine.  In the years that followed a acquired several more.  Other than Keith sending me virii/worms, so I could check out their source, did I have receive evil email.  The tide has begun to change.

I'm not claiming causation here, but I will state circumstance.  Since I began attending University of Phoenix last June, I've begun receiving evil email.  More accurately, I've begun receiving evil email at the only two email addresses that UoP knows about.  More precisely than that, I've begun receiving evil email at two email addresses that are only used for corresponding with UoP - one, my account on UoP's domain for the purpose of posting to class newsgroups, the other, an inbound only account on my own domain that I created for UoP to send me mail.  Other than, perhaps, the federal government when I filled out FAFSA last year, the use of these two accounts has been limited to UoP or those attending UoP.  Very curious.  I'm not blaming UoP, but circumstantial evidence does point to some connection between them and my receiving evil email.

Smaller scale and, apparently, less interesting worms found me last summer at the aforementioned addresses.  Recently, several Bagles have come visiting.  Kudos to UoP for blocking the attachments from reaching me (using Network Associates' server AV software) and kudos to Dell for hooking me up with McAfee's AV software to protect my other accounts.  I'm glad the AV software knows that I prefer English Muffins when given the choice.  I'm hopeful that Win32.EnglishMuffin won't be a worm in the near future to visit my inbox.

Thanks to Raymond Chen, I've created a huge URL for my blog.

http://www.hugeurl.com/?M2E0NmJiMmM1ZTM4NDY2YmI5OTE0MzY3YWE5
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WW1zMVYxWnRlR0ZXYkZKV1ZXNUtVVlZVTURrPQ==

I've been interested in the how's and why's of the consumer financial industry for some time now.  What do those numbers on the bottoms of checks mean?  What's the relationship between my credit card number and the bank that issued it?  Are there sets of credit card numbers that are invalid?  How is McDonald's paid from my credit card, when I buy my Double Quarter Pounder?  Etc.

I have peppered the few people I know in the financial services industries with questions.  Still, I had many unanswered questions.  Joe Ziegler has provided many answers.  I found a link to it when searching for credit card validation for use on e-commerce sites.  If you are interested in either subject, visit the sites below.  If anyone knows of good info an ABA routing, please let me know.

Credit Card 101 - Joe Ziegler

Credit Card Validator control for ASP.NET - Paul Ingles

After much travail, Dell sent someone to silence my banshee fans and give me a new AC adapter.  They also are shipping me a Canon Powershot A60 digital camera for my inconvenience.  I'm a more satisfied customer than I was yesterday.  I'm hopeful that my days of Dell trouble are behind me.

Now, I'm mad.

On Sunday, February 29, 2004, I called Dell to report a problem - when I picked up my laptop everything froze.  This happened in Windows, in BIOS, whenever.

2 March 2004, a tech support man came to visit me with new parts to solve my problem.  Though it did solve my problem with not being able to pick up my laptop, it disabled several keys on my keyboard.

3 March 2004, the tech support man returns with a new keyboard.  No dice.  Same disabled key problem occurs.  Dell decides to ship me a new laptop and forgo piecemeal troubleshooting.  OK, I'll wait for my new laptop to come.

12 March 2004, my new laptop arrived with the wrong power supply (70 watt not a 90 watt) and the cooling fans are broken (make horrid noise, sometimes don't run at all, sometimes run for hours).  I called to let them know the problem, and they told me I had to send my new laptop back first.  There's also the problem that my support contract would expire on the 14th and my old laptop wouldn't arrive by then.  I can only renew my contract M-F 8-5, so I have to wait till the 15th to resolve that.  All of this aside, there is no reason for Dell to hassle me about the old laptop, since they sent me a defective old laptop to begin with.

13 March 2004, I call Dell and report the problem again and get the same result as the night before.

15 March 2004, I call to renew my contract.  I give a credit card number.  All is well with the contract.  Actually, not quite all well.  My “new” laptop is really a refurbished laptop, and Dell seems to think that the previous owner still owned it.  Ugh.  After resolving that, all was well with the contract.

I also, tried again to get my new laptop fixed without sending the old one back yet.  The issue is this - if the power supply or fans cause my new laptop to die, I need the old one to fall back on.  Nobody at Dell cares about my needs, though most of them agreed that their company policy on the matter was foolish.  So, I ship my old laptop back on Monday (less than one business day after the new one arrived, and I'm supposed to have 15).  I was promised that a new AC adapter would be sent, but that the fans couldn't be fixed until the old laptop was sent out.

17 March 2004, I track the package and Dell received the old laptop early in the morning.  It's now two days since I renewed my contract, so that should be updated in all the systems now.

19 March 2004, Still no new AC adapter.  I called to get my laptop fixed and received personal assurance that all would be well and I'd get a phone call from that tech support agent on Monday if all wasn't fixed yet.

20 March 2004, I send several emails to Dell via their support web site.  I receive no response.

22 March 2004, I receive no phone call.  I have no AC adapter.  My fans still sound like banshees.  I receive an email saying my support contract couldn't be processed because the contract I wanted isn't available for refurbished systems.  The agent tried to call, but number was disconnected.  Ugh.  Of course the number was disconnected, I moved two years and nine months ago!  Dell knows my new number and address.  It knows my cell phone.  It knows my email address.  Still, I didn't get contact until a full week had passed.  Grr.

I also received an email (response from the emails I sent on Saturday via the web site) saying a tech was coming to fix the problem.

24 March 2004, No phone call.  No tech.  No AC adapter.  Very mad customer.  I emailed a few times and told Dell my opinion of their service.  I got more apologies and a new promise of a dispatch.

25 March 2004, I send a few more angry emails in response to Dell's “truly regret[ing]” my inconvenience.  I call Dell and discover that the previous support dispatches had been canceled because my contract had expired.  Of course, nobody called to tell me they were canceled or what I could do about it.  I'm currently on the phone and have yet another personal promise from tech support that the problem will be resolved (e.g. a tech will be at my house tomorrow) and that she'll see to it personally.

I'm not holding my breath.  26 days and counting, and I still don't have a fully functional laptop.

I just installed the Macromedia Shockwave Player and was asked to register it.  Though registration is optional, it certainly isn't obvious that it is optional.  After installing, a dialog pops up and asks whether your age category (13 or older, younger than 13), followed by a dialog asking for your name, email, etc.  You can simply hit the close button to close the dialog, but there should be an explanation that registration is optional and a “skip registration” button.  Shame on you again, Macromedia.

To clarify - I'm annoyed at this for a few reasons.  Macromedia makes their client software (Flash Player, Shockwave Player, etc.) freely available.  The money is made by selling the authoring software.  What Macromedia is doing is getting free marketing.  Macromedia customers sell applications (typically web sites), and any users of those apps then have to go to Macromedia to get the player software.  I'm annoyed at Macromedia taking advantage of this relationship.  I'm also annoyed that they don't let the user know that registration is optional.  (If someone wants to chime in with “they need your email, so they can notify you of updates”, I'll respond with “if any content requires a higher version of the player than the one I have, I'll be directed to upgrade my player, so there's no need for Macromedia to ever have my email address”)

Another quote from Mom...

Why not go out on a limb?  Isn't that where the fruit is?

I just installed a junk email filter update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and some other update for Microsoft Office Excel 2003.  Earlier today, I installed an update for Flash (v6 to v7).  Outlook and Excel didn't require a reboot.  The Flash update did.  Shame on you Macromedia!

I'm finally working on a site that lives on IIS 6.  So far it feels slightly more friendly to work with (better error messages).  I'm getting used to the caching and clearly need to read up on it and how to configure it.  I hope it is as good a product as I've heard.

Worried about getting PayPal spoofed?  Try the eBay Toolbar...on IE for Windows, it'll tell you if you are on the real PayPal.com or some phony.  It does other stuff too.  [Thanks Jonathan at AW for the reference]

By way of software review, I'll state that for some reason, I can't download this thing.  I get to the download page, I see the info about a security warning.  I don't, however, get the toolbar.  Hmm...perhaps eBay made this public a bit too soon?

Here are the top ten search terms for the month (so far):

1. stupid words
2. the web page you are viewing is trying to close the window
3. asp.net deployment
4. wmtools
5. potato man
6. potato juice
7. outlook 2003 rules bug
8. c# illegal characters in path
9. infragistics.netadvantage.2004.vol.1
10. netadvantage 2004

Dell still hasn't updated my contract, processed that they've received my old laptop, and as a result sent me a new power supply and fixed my very noisy cooling fans.  It seems that they are going to get on the ball and make everything all better for this growing very disgruntled customer.

As a result of my fan issues, though, I've found out something nifty.  It seems if my laptop gets too hot and doesn't seem to be able to cool itself off, the processor drops its clock speed.  I think I knew this already, and I think its called Intel SpeedStep.  This is nifty in its own right, but what impressed me is that when viewing system information (Start | Control Panel | System | General tab), the section that tells me about my CPU (I think a custom Dell extension) actually changes the clock speed figure to the current clock speed.  I was guessing that his was a hard coded value based on the max speed of the CPU, but, no, it seems to be the current clock speed.  The Support Information button just below that, which gives the service tab, express service code, and support phone number are nifty too.

I like the customizability of Windows Media Player with respect to which columns are displayed (title, album, play count, rating, etc.) when viewing tracks.  However, I'm annoyed that there is no easy way to say, “I want play count to appear right before rating no matter how I view my tracks (by playlist, by genre, by album, etc.).”  Currently, it seems that I have to tell Play Count to be visible, move it from the right most column to sitting just before rating (almost all the way to the left), then repeat for each view of the tracks (by playlist, by genre, etc.).  That's very annoying.

I've recently begun reading ebooks using Microsoft Reader.  I love the "most recent page" feature.  The use of ClearType, annotations, and other stuff is cool too, but most recent page is a killer usability feature.  Kudos to the Microsoft Reader team!

Combing my referral logs revealed that someone found my blog by looking for “Kurt Cobain's height.”  Since I didn't remember mentioning his height (especially since I don't know it), in my post about him a few weeks ago, I investigated further.  It seems Yahoo! Search indexed my RSS feed (which includes embedded HTML) and associated the words “Kurt” and “Cobain” from my post text with “height” from an IMG tag.  It seems to me that Yahoo! needs to tweak its algorithm to learn what is content and what is not.

From that happiness that is Windows XP Service Pack 2, I find the unhappiness that is a crashing MSN 9 Premium.  I have it (MSN 9) installed on a new Windows XP box fully patched (no beta products installed), and it just loves to crash every few hours.  The sidebar is cool, but it's not worth the hassle.  Since MSN Explorer has a habit of pretending to be Internet Explorer (IE is my default browser), I'm not all too sad that I'm taking a break from MSN.

Today I was pleasantly surprised with an install of Windows XP SP2.  The install was smooth.  It recommended that I enable auto update (this was a clean install of XP).  After updates, anti virus software was recommended and several options were available.  From the very brief glance that I gave SP2 today, I'm impressed.

Too funny!  Almost as if Network Associates (or the admins who provide me with my IMAP account) read my previous blog entry, I just received this...

Network Associates WebShield SMTP V4.5 MR1a on <email server> detected virus W32/Bagle.j@MM
in attachment Message.pif from <email address> and it was Deleted

I was surprised this morning to discover I had sent myself a warning about the capacity of one of my email boxes.  At second glance, I discovered that Bagle.J (McAfee's name for it, Syamantec calls it Beagle) had sent it to me.  I saw a handy text attachment from McAfee letting me know that the .zip file had been infected with Bagel but was now clean.  Hmm, so my AV software did its job and killed the virus, but still delivered it to my inbox?  What's the point?  FYI, you were attacked, but I made you safe!

McAfee's parent company, Network Associates, seems to have the same digestion problem.  Its server based AV software began to eat two Bagel'ed emails on one of my IMAP accounts, but it only ate the attachment.  It left the email itself (plus message telling me I was now safe) in my inbox.  Again, what's the point?

It seems to me that a better thing to do, and one far less confusing to consumers, is to finish eating the Bagel.  Bagel, NetSky, MyDoom, etc. have no business in my inbox even if their attachments are now clean.  Don't just cleanse it.  Delete it.  If you want a pat on the back for a job well done, then, perhaps, send an email with the text “You were attacked, via email, by , but I made it all better.  (signed) The wonderful folks at ”  Even this notification should be optional.  Perhaps there already is such an option that I haven't found yet.

I've created a new category called “Software Review” and this is the maiden entry.  Since I talk about my experience with software quite often, I think I'll put all future entries that deal with quality or quirkiness into this category.

I wonder what should be the result of this formula...

Windows XP Pro Start Menu + Visual Studio .NET 2003 = ?

Apparently, it means the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Command Prompt jumps into my most recently used (MRU) apps list on the Start Menu even though I never use it.  Perhaps it was used during the install of VS so extensively that it demanded placement in the MRU list.  One of the oddest things, in my opinion, is that it gets a decent placement on the list (usually in the top 10 out of 20).

McAfee's consumer AntiVirus, FireWall, etc. software came preinstalled on my new laptop.  (Actually, it's only partially preinstalled.)  On reading through the Dell branded McAfee SecurityCenter, here are a few thoughts.

Sadly, I ranked 1 out of 10 on the My AntiHacker Index.  I'm scared!  I'm vulnerable!  The bad guys will ownz0rs me any second now!  What do I do?!  SecurityCenter to the rescue.  I can install McAfee Personal Firewall Plus.  That'll make everything better.  But wait, why don't I use SecurityCenter to “Test My Computer's Security” first.  Clicking on that link opens a browser window on hackerwatch.org.  I opt to do a Port Scan.  Not surprisingly, I pass with flying colors (“No open ports were found.”).  McAfee's own hackerwatch.org site says I'm totally secure (because it can't get passed my hardware firewall), even though McAfee's SecurityCenter flunks me with a 1 out of 10.  Seems that 1 out of 10 doesn't mean I'm not safe from the bad guys.  It really means, “You don't have the McAfee Personal Firewall Plus or other similar McAfee product installed.”  Incidentally, to score 10 out of 10, you can install Personal Firewall Plus and leave it disabled.  So long as you are paying McAfee, that's enough.  You don't actually have to use the software.

Now that I know the AntiHacker Index is of dubious value, what about the AntiAbuse Index and AntiAbuse Index?  SecurityCenter explains the My AntiAbuse Index in these words: Your AntiAbuse Index provides a measure of how secure your computer is against the latest privacy abuse outbreaks.  The index is computed based upon which types of privacy abuses currently exist and how prepared your computer is to defeat these abuses.

One of the factors that influence your AntiAbuse Index is external privacy abuses.  For example, if there is a privacy abuse outbreak, does your anti-abuse software protect you from this scenario?...

I don't know what a “privacy abuse outbreak” even means.  It seems to me if there is an evil piece of software running around invading my privacy, it'd be classified as a virus or a worm.  My antivirus software (which just happens to come from McAfee) should take care of that for me.  By using a term like “outbreak” it scares the reader into thinking you need a special product to protect you.  However, I say that's a load of marketing unreality just like saying I need McAfee's firewall, because SecurityCenter was too inept to test for a hardware firewall.  The reality is if there is an outbreak of anything, antivirus software should deal with it.  The day to day, social engineering kind of things (warning: you are transmitting your credit card, social security number, etc. in plain text!!) should be handled by privacy protection software.

So far SecurityCenter has two strike against it in my book.  It lied to me about needing a firewall.  It tried to deceive me by instilling irrational fear of privacy abuse outbreaks.  Let's see what's next on the list.  Ah, My AntiSpam Index.

Arggg!  I've got a 1 out of 10 for that too.  My Inbox must be bursting at the seams with spam.  Please save me, McAfee!  First, let's see what that My AntiSpam Index is.  According to SecurityCenter: Your AntiSpam Index provides a measurement of how secure your computer is against receiving inappropriate, unsolicited, and virus-infected email.  The index is computed based upon which types of spam abuses currently exist and how prepared your computer is to defeat these abuses.

One of the factors that influence your AntiSpam Index is external spam abuses.  For example, if there is a spam abuse outbreak, does your anti-spam software protect you from this scenario?...

Hmm, that sounds just like the AntiAbuse Index.  A few thoughts - first, I have Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 installed.  I have my junkmail settings set to Safe Lists Only (the highest setting offered...basically, if I don't explicitly trust an address, any mail from that address is considered spam and doesn't get to my inbox).  OK, so SecurityCenter lied to me about being protected against unsolicited email.

Second, since I'm using McAfee's antivirus software, shouldn't that take care of protecting me against virus-infected email?  Either McAfee's AV software is lousy, or SecurityCenter is deceiving me again.

Third, what the heck is a “spam abuse outbreak”?  Some have said that at least 50% of email delivered each day is spam.  If we aren't already in an outbreak scenario, I don't know what an outbreak is.  Since I'd say we are already in an outbreak scenario, and not one piece of spam has hit my inbox in months, I'd say Outlook is doing a great job.

All in all, it seems that SecurityCenter is throwing around technical terms and scare tactics to sell its products.  The indices aren't based on how secure, private, etc. you are.  They are based on how many McAfee products you have installed (even if they aren't running!).

If you happen to be a man named Julius Caesar living in ancient Rome in the imagination of Mr. William Shakespeare, you might want to stay home today.

For the rest of you, this is just plain old March 15th.

I just had a typical Explorer moment.  I decided to remove an IIS application.  Simple task, right?  All you need to do is delete it?  Well, no.

In IIS, you can remove the application (open IIS, open web site, right click on application directory, select properties, on the Virtual Directory tab under Application Settings click the Remove button), which causes it to become a standard virtual directory.  Then, you just delete?  No, Explorer will whine and give access denied or file in use errors.  You have to recurse through the directory structure yourself, deleting as you go.  Once you've deleted all the internal files/folders, suddenly the directory is no longer locked and you can delete it too.  Sure would be nice if Explorer would do the recursive delete for me and not whine about locks which obviously don't exist (if they did, then a manual recursive delete should fail too).

The introduction of File and Settings Transfer Wizard in Windows XP was a great idea.  What would make it much better, would be support for non Windows settings.  By that I mean, it should support migrating settings for all of your applications, not just for the apps installed with Windows (IE, OE, WMP).

My current config with Outlook 2003 consists of 5 .pst files.  One relates to an IMAP account, one to an HTTP account, one to collect blog posts, one for archive, one for POP3 mail.  My 10 email accounts, rules, contacts, calendar, and most of my mail live in or are connected to this .pst for POP3 mail.  It's a less than pleasant experience copying it to a new install of Outlook, retyping all the info for my email accounts, convincing contacts to display correctly, etc.

FSTW could easily grab all this info for me and transfer it.  The way I think it should work is this - the API for FSTW should be extensible.  By that I mean, any app vendor should be able to write a plug-in for their apps.  It shouldn't be Microsoft's burden to migrate your QuickTime settings or you Mozilla bookmarks.  Microsoft should write plug-ins to migrate Office, Visual Studio, SQL Server Enterprise Manager, etc.

Yesterday, I opened the box with my new laptop, plugged it in, turned it on, and was greeted by AOL Buddy.  Earthlink and Real also tried help me feel welcome.  I was also surprised to find .NET Framework 1.1 anxiously waiting to execute some managed code for me.

Real has filed a 1 billion dollar law suit against Microsoft, in part, due to the inclusion of Windows Media Player in Windows.  Real says this hurts their business.  Curiously, Real Player and Windows Media Player were preinstalled on my new laptop.  It seems to me that Real needs to sell its player a bit better and form deals with OEMs to have it preinstalled, just like Microsoft has with Windows and Office to have them preinstalled.  You can say that Microsoft gets a free ride now, but in the beginning, Microsoft had to fight just like everyone else.

Sun also has a suit against Microsoft, in part, due to the inclusion of a Microsoft Virtual Machine for Java in Windows and the lack of a Sun JVM.  What I find interesting is that the .NET Framework 1.1, which is not part of Windows XP Professional or part of Service Pack 1 for Windows XP Professional (both of which were preinstalled on my new laptop), was preinstalled.  That tells me that Microsoft talked nicely to Dell, hooked them up with an easy to use setup program for 1.1, and the rest is history.  If Sun is so adamant about consumer Java development, why doesn't Sun (or why hasn't Sun for the last several years) talk nicely to Dell and other OEMs, hook them up with a nice J2SE setup program, and let the rest be history.

Why can't Real or Sun do exactly what Microsoft had to do to get its software preinstalled on PCs?  Why should they get a free ride?

My laptop difficulties are nearly over.  My replacement laptop arrived today.  Its 2.4 GHz P4 M, 1 GB RAM, and 40 GB 5400 RPM HD jumped at me and said, “We're here to make you happy!”  The cooling fans, however, had other ideas.  Apparently the fans didn't like that fact they had to cool off such a CPU.  They have decided to make loud scraping noises whenever they run.  The good folks at Dell said they'd make the fans behave.

For the record, I'm very pleased with Dell tech support.  It takes a while sometimes to get totally satisfied, but Dell makes good on its support contracts.  They've definitely won me over as a long term customer (as long as they are selling Tablet PCs when I finally get around to buying one).

Seems the new tentative release data for Visual Studio “Whidbey” (or Whidby if you are spell check challenged as I was a few weeks back) and SQL Server “Yukon” is now first half of 2005.  The tentative names of the products are Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005.

I've read several complaints about the slip (did Microsoft ever promise they'd be here in 2004?), and I think only a few are valid.  The only valid concerns, in my opinion, are the Software Assurance agreements some companies signed in 2001 in hopes that the new SQL Server would be out by 2004.  However, you do take a gamble at that if they company doesn't have set in stone release dates.  The other concerns I've heard are just foolish.

It's much better to have a solid product a few months later than expected than it is to release on time but be buggy.  I think Microsoft is living up to part of the promise of its Trustworthy Computing initiative by delaying the release dates of .NET Framework 2.0, Visual Studio 2005, and SQL Server 2005 until they are of release quality.  Microsoft is often criticized for its software quality.  Since they are doing something about it now, let's give let them do it and stop moaning about getting more reliable software a few months later than expected.

OK, these aren't daily, so it's not really a quote of the day.  Perhaps, I should say “Today's Quote” instead?  Anyway, here's the quote du jour:

Sup, yo!  I decided last night that now was a great time to see what the hubbub was about with JSP.  I've since installed Tomcat (5.0.19) and have written my first JSP.  Other than the use of Java in place of VBScript, it seems surprisingly similar to ASP.

Thanks to Dare, I read some interesting things about Real.

For my part, I've avoided RealPlayer when at all possible since it was called G2 (or similar...circa 1999).

Last week I received two emails which have bearing on my current political exploration.

The first is from President Boyd K. Packer:
http://www.lds.org/newsroom/voice/display/0,18255,5004-1-61,00.html

The second is from Governor Mitt Romney:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110004647

I probably shouldn't have found this funny, but, um, I did.  Just so unsuspecting readers aren't unknowingly hit with my political views (political explorations would be a better term), this is an anti-Bush, anti-Patriot Act 30 second ad.  The creators graphically illustrate my characterization of the Patriot Act and the irrational behavior associated with “fighting the terrorists.”

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view/2802_small.shtml (low bandwidth)
http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view/2802_large.shtml (high bandwidth)
(requires Flash and QuickTime)

I just took Michael Platt's quiz and got a 60%.  See his post to determine the meaning of the score.

I'm lost in thought on what the ideal structure of government is and whether the implementation of representative democracy as practiced in the United States measures up.  Arguably this falls into the larger “relative vs. absolute” dispute.  This is an issue where there are two metrics about any given point - one absolute, one relative.  For instance, I got a 74 on my last exam.  On an absolute scale, that's a D, and not too far from an F.  On a relative scale, compared to the other scores, it was the highest grade in the class,   On one scale it's a bad grade, on another it's the best grade.

I think many of the questions about government are similar.  We look at things in terms of relative scales (well, things are better than they were before) and absolute scales (I should be free to do XYZ, but I'm not) interchangeably.  However, the two aren't interchangeable.  In such thinking, our arguments become apples to oranges discussions, in other words, rather meaningless.

From the first amendment, “Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech...”  This is an absolute.  It's iron clad.  Congress shall make no law abridging free speech.  Period.

Now, some would jump in and say that the FCC's regulations on what can and can't be said are violations of the first amendment.  They claim the absolutist perspective.  They are correct.  However, I suspect there are cases, where they'd be totally OK with the right of speech being abridged.  National security.  Safety of our soldiers in battle.  Screaming “FIRE!” as a joke in a crowed theater that results in people being trampled to death.  False testimony that results in people being executed.  Etc.  Suddenly the absolutists would say, “Relative to the current situation” (if they were the ones about to get the electric chair due to perjury), “ freedom of speech should be abridged.”

One way to reconcile these two ideas, and there is a very easy way, is to repeal the first amendment.  In fact, we can't stop there.  Clearly, laws regarding libel, slander, and perjury are unconstitutional.  Clearly, the Patriot Act's “It's OK to not have a warrant for a little while” clause violates the fourth amendment.  Pretty clearly, any gun control law violates the second amendment.

Back to ideal government...I'm not sure what this would be.  Some would argue that anything that does not harm another person (victim-less crimes) should be legal.  If I shoot up in my own house, then, at least in that case, drug use should be legal.  Sexual activity between two consenting parties should be legal.

Oh, well, unless one of the parties is a minor, an arbitrary line in the sand.  Even in the case of victim-less crimes, many people would want to have some stipulation for minors.  In other words, they want a stipulation that defies the “if it doesn't hurt, it's legal” premise.  That aside, arguably by using drugs in your own home you indirectly countenance the illegal drug trade outside of your home.

In like manner, you can argue that drinking in your own home is harmless.  However, if you leave your home, get in a car, and get in an accident, your drinking has now harmed someone.  The absolute gets sticky when faced with the relative.  To use cliché, the devil is in the details.

I'm not sure what the ideal is.  I am sure, though, that most arguments I've read on the subject fail the test of the absolute.  This is post, like most of my posts, is a bit of stream of consciousness.  Feel free to refute it.  I've been searching for some years for “the way things ought to be.”  Perhaps via civil discussion, I can find what I'm searching for.  Perhaps after we've found it, we can convince the rest of the country (world) to live it (or discover that we already have it).

I got an error last night using the WebDataInput control from Infragistics NetAdvantage 2004 vol. 1.  I google'd to no avail.  The error was “can't init editor” appeared in my status bar.  That message lives in a section of script that tries to call nother section of script.  The problem, and a really foolish oversight on my part, was that I forgot to copy the script file that WebDataInput uses up to the website I was working on.  If anyone else runs into this problem, hopefully Google will lead them to this entry and the very easy fix.

To correct my assumption from yesterday, it seems that TDD is a subset of XP.  I finished reading the MSDN Magazine article I mentioned yesterday.  I'm not sure where design fits in to the picture.  It seems that they advocate putting off design decisions as long as possible.  If you are writing a test for a specific case, you are mandating a feature of the design.  It seems that the tests themselves are the project design documentation.  I'm not sure where design meetings, use cases, etc. fit into the picture.

Paris Hilton, no matter how much you referral spam me, I'm not buying.  Perhaps you and Mr. Kerry's people should get together.  You both like talking to people.  I think you should talk to each other.  I'll talk to you if I'm interested, but don't hold your breath.

I've been thinking about eXtreme Programming lately.  It and Test Driven Development (they are the same thing, right?) get a lot of press, but I hadn't found a good primer on the subject until today.  The latest issue of MSDN Magazine has an article by Will Scott and James Newkirk on the subject.  I'm not finished reading it yet, but so far it sounds pretty reasonable.  I wonder, though, how well it works on smaller projects.  I think I'll try it out and see how it feels.

The unthinkable happened.  The motherboard that Dell installed yesterday (actually, it was Unisys on behalf of Dell), is defective.  Dell has decided that my laptop is entirely too troublesome to deal with, so they are sending me a new system!  The good part is, when it arrives, I'll likely have a keyboard that works.  The bad part is, it won't arrive for 7 - 21 business days.  Ugh.

In other news,I think Java's errors are nearly as cryptic as COM's errors.  In the nearly four years that I've used .NET, I almost always understood (or at least had a vague idea) where the problem was.  In the last week using Java, I can't say the same.  Perhaps I had similar experience with .NET a few years ago and I've forgotten it.  That seems unlikely to me though.

The nice man from Dell came to visit me today.  He replaced my motherboard and RAM.  All was great, until I got to the Windows login prompt and discovered several of the keys on my keyboard didn't work.  As a result, I'm currently sitting with my laptop on my lap and an old Microsoft Natural Pro keyboard on top of the laptop keyboard.  Now is one time I wish I had purchased a port replicator.  Oh well.

Tomorrow, I'm told, I'll get a new keyboard.  I'm hopeful that all will be back to normal then.