blowdart said:

Oh yes, because creating custom icons makes up for the fact that the WM interface still needs a stylus to function properly in a lot of cases. Yea. Great.

WM6.5 actually looks quite good. I am going to use it before I make up my mind and I don't think it is going to be up to the iPhone but it certainly seems to be an improvement. The Honeycomb app launch thing is long, long overdue.

My iPhone 2G is starting to get a bit long in the tooth so I am going to upgrade at the end of the summer. At the minute it is between

- Pre

- HTC Hero with that Sense UI that looks cool

- iPhone 3GS

WM still isn't something that I would be willing to spend money on. Maybe 6.5 will change that but I doubt it...

Turbodad said:

You may think it is great to be able to use Mono for iPhone development, but I think it is completely backwards. A non-native toolset will always lag behind (hint: Mono vs. .NET, Moonlight vs. Silverlight). If you can't be bothered to learn Objective-C, a very simple and elegant language; Cocoa Touch, which, as far as frameworks go, is much nicer than .NET; and Interface Builder, which is leaps ahead of Microsoft's way of designing UIs (just IMHO), you are bound to produce crappy bloated apps no one wants to use. Sure, it is interesting--as a proof of concept and a curiousity, but no more than that. Just because you can use C# and Mono to program iPhone, doesn't mean you should.

I disagree. It depends on the application IMO.

Take for example the C9 iPhone app that is being discussed at the minute in another thread. To do that, the person had to go and learn Obj-C, if you could do it in C#, it would look every bit as good as it is only using a few standard controls and wouldn't have required new learning.

Now, I am not saying that if you are serious about iPhone dev that you shouldn't learn Obj-C and Cocoa etc, but for quick apps, things like the tip calculater for example, it seems ideal.

Thought some of you might be interested in this post over on Miguel de Icaza's blog about Mono running on non-Jailbroken iPhones. I think this sounds like a really great way to get started developing on the phone, and hopefully without needing to invest the money in a Mac or the time in Obj-C.

http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2009/Jun-29.html

littleguru said:

KevinB said:

*snip*

I stopped using Winamp because of the direction it too when it was taken over by AOL.

Yeah, pretty much since Justin Frankel left the company development has been 0. That may sound unfair to the dev's that are still working on the software, but in all honesty, not 1 feature has been added that benefits me personally.

And the installer has become a massive headache as you have to deselect all the stuff AOL tries to install.

That said, I sitll haven't found a better music player...

Sven Groot said:

AndyC said:

*snip*

Seconded. It's easily the least readable formatting style in existence.

Yeah, I've actually never seen it with C# but all Java source that I look at is riddled with it

Sven Groot said:

Koogle said:

*snip*

I'd like to know your recommendation as well. I use Media Player Classic and occasionally VLC for playing videos, but for playing music I haven't found anything better than WMP.

I'm the other way around I'm afriad Sven, I use WMP for video, or VLC in the rare case that FFDShow-Tryouts can't play back a particular file, and WinAmp for audio. I just haven't found any other player that has as good a library feature as Winamp

Wookie said:

DCMonkey said:

*snip*

This new generation has me worried!!! If I don't write a swapfile key like say maybe this one ---> ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1 under 386enh in sys.ini then how else am I gonna keep more of the kernel in RAM ?? Superfetch you say?? That may well be, but I am from the old school where we learned everything ourselves and didn't go to a $50K a yr. college to learn it. I like TRIED and TRUE methods.You do know what 386 enhanced is right? The [386Enh] section of the SYSTEM.INI file contains information specific to running Windows in 386-enhanced mode, including information used for virtual-memory page swapping. As far as you wondering about my machine DCMonkey, I triple boot XP Professional SP3 (32 Bit), Windows 7 Ultimate RC (32 bit), and Server 2008 Standard SP2 (64 bit).

 

I find it hard to believe that the kernel is still honouring these settings, and a quick google search for that Virtual Memory one you call it suggests that I am right.

Have you any evidence that these swtiches are still processed by the kernel?

Koogle, what do you recommend instead of WMP?

I also use the Zune for music as I don't want to run the iPhone's battery down any faster than it already does

PaoloM said:

KevinB said:

*snip*

Live Sync is not cloud storage, but a p2p sync tool.

Skydrive and Office Live, I *believe* they're already using the same backend storage.

Groove and Mesh are doing their own thing

 

But Sync and Mesh offer the same functionality. In Mesh, you can set a folder to sync P2P bypassing the cloud, this is the exact same feature that Live Sync offers. (Even if their respective implementations differ wildly...)

So, my point is still valid, all those products do essentially the same thing with varying success.

And, it leads to very, very confused customers....

Edit: Also, in regards to your same backend remark, I could care less how it is implemented on the backend. They don't share the same front end. Which means that if I am on SkyDrive and I want to access my documents, I need to go to a whole different site, why??? I know you aren't on any of these teams, so I don't actually expect you to be able to answer this question

Dr Herbie said:

KevinB said:

*snip*

Ooh! Good idea!

Herbie

 

If you do use PostSharp (or any other AOP platform in general), I would be grateful if you could write up a quick post about how you got on with it. We learned about AOP in a Rigurous Software Design module this semester, it sounded very interesting.

I would be interested to know how it works in practice.

Kevin

Simo said:

KevinB said:

*snip*

Thanks for the positive words Kevin.

I'd really like to see MS put the SkyDrive feature into the next version of the WHS product. First 25Gb for free, small scaling charge for greater. In the past I've seen slightly snarky comments from WHS people about Time Capsule's inability to do this, so time they stood up delivered themselves IMO.

Yeah, but I think that goes on to the broader point of MS consolidating all their 'cloud' type file management offerings.

Currently, there is Live Mesh, Live Sync, Live SkyDrive, Groove, Office Live Workspaces.

Wouldn't it be nice if all this was integrated.

Dr Herbie said:

Sampy said:

*snip*

Don't quote Oasis to me, whippersnapper!  I was at Knebworth, and I've still got the T-shirt to prove it!

 

Going to ask this again the the Techoff, which may have been the appropriate place to ask in the first place ...

Herbie

 

You could try hitting up StackOverflow.com as well. It seems to get pretty crazy response times.

Its only a small post and might not be that much use to you but:

http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2009/06/04/getting-started-with-widgets-on-windows-mobile-6-5.aspx

The blog in general tends to have lots of good content and is updated regularly enough to be useful without overloading you with info:

http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/

EDIT: Yeah, I just re-read your post as soon as I clicked submit and realised you have probably already seen their widget sample...

AndyC said:

jamie said:

*snip*

OEM built machines are often better than home-built counterparts, predominantly because OEMs understand how to balance all the various components to get better overall performance. 64-bit probably helps a bit, but not usually by a significant amount.

This is probably true on the hardware side, and definitely in the performance vs. price ratio in my experience. But in terms of software, no way, all the crap that is installed on PC's nowadays (to keep cost of hardware down presumably) is crazy. First thing I do when I get a machine from an OEM is wipe it, much much faster without all the stuff they install.

Ubuntu said:

KevinB said:

*snip*

Perhaps it's not all nonsense since he's replying wouldn't you say. Since the EU got on the case then there are a few other people who also think that it's not nonsense.

I'm saying it nonsense because you have no intention of actually arguing it out with a chance of changing your mind. You are only here with your completely fixed mindset that won't be swayed.

And no I don't think I am being hypocritical replying to this, as I am not addressing any of the issues you raise, just the manner in which you choose to raise them

Sabot said:

littleguru said:

*snip*

I've never votes Lib Dem and after doing that survey they are the closest party to me.

I am very much pro-Europe, I have more confidence in the European Government than my own right now. I felt that way since I've learnt more about how it works and visited it.

British Government and Civil Service is obsessed with keeping power rather than making sure we are strongly represented in Europe and the World. There is a balance between Local, National, European and International and we in the UK have just not found it and this is because responsibility, power and process is all in the wrong places. All this means that decisions aren't made timely or correctly which means the mess just continues.

Technology again and again is exposing this. Anyway I could go on and on as politics is a pet-subject but thats why I have a blog on the subject ... and no I won't put a link here as thats not cool.

Some google keywords those of that are interested could use then to locate the blog?

Charles said:

Ubuntu said:

*snip*

But running C++ directly in the browser is secure(oh, of course it is, I mean, geez, Google can do no wrong, right?)?

IE still remains dominant in the market. This means that many people use IE because they, well, like using it. We have never, ever, prevented you from installing other browsers on Windows. Use whatever you want. Windows is a platform in addition to be being a highly generalized operating system. It is built to support any number of applications and services. We don't prevent you from installing applications. I mean, most application that run on Windows were not conceived of, developed or tested by Microsoft. This is what makes Windows a general purpose OS...

In terms of IE pre-installed, is it OK for us to try and add value to our flagship OS? Is it OK for us to provide functionality out-of-the-box to enable users to quickly (immediately) start doing what they like to do on Windows? I've always found it rather unfair to accuse us of abusing Windows' success by shipping a browser inside of it. It's a web browser. Big deal... Why is it OK for Linux distros to ship with Firefox? Why is it not a problem for Apple to ship OSX with Safari, Quicktime, iLife, iThis, iThat? Why doesn't the iPhone support Firefox? Why doesn't the iPhone enable seraching via Bing? Oh yeah, that's right. It's because, according to you and your fellow M$ haters, only Microsoft is evil. Only Microsoft is a multinational company who runs a core set of businesses all operating under the same goal: being successful by building products that supply usefulness for users, to the extent that they are willing to use and buy them, when purchasing is required.

As IE loses market share, don't you think we have the right to protect ourselves and our users? Can't we innovate without also being a cash machine for the EU? The EU, in my opinion (in my opinion, that's my personal opinion, you know, mine, not Microsoft's), needs to start treating all of the major players in our industry fairly. If you are going to fine Microsoft for supposedly abusing market share position, well, I know a few other companies who are apparently doing the same thing. Spend some time thinking about this. You'll see the forest for the trees pretty quickly if you remain objective and widen your narrow viewpoint.

C

As good as that reply was Charles, I have to ask, why are you replying to this nonsense at all???

blowdart said:

Hahaha. HAHAHAHA. Sky not using any excuse to charge money? You'd be better off hoping for a unicorn.

Plus is SkyPlayer not a free service (to existing customers)?

Sabot said:

Chadk said:

*snip*

Hi Chadk & Stevo ... You can have my Mac Mini ... because it really sucks bad! Well it's good enough to surf and email. I got it for video and pictures and it's guttless so I was mistaken and believed the hype.

 It's just taking up space now and using up electricity so you'll be doing me a favour.

Could it be used for iPhone development?

AndyC said:

KevinB said:

*snip*

It usually just prevents writing to the MBR and is often labelled as Virus Protection, since the aim was to prevent boot sector viruses. I'd be surprised that a modern motherboard has it though, as boot sector viruses aren't exactly a common sight these days.

Ah, I see, I was hoping it prevented all writes to a device, that would have been useful.

Ion Todirel said:

ZippyV said:

*snip*

there is a stupid option in BIOS that allows you to configure the storage controller to block all write commands, whoever use that... outof* niner, I'd look in the BIOS for that setting, if you didn't make any modifications in the BIOS just apply the "factory settings"

P.S. your PSU looks weak

I had never heard of that feature in a BIOS, very interesting. I can think of a couple of situations where that would come in very handy.