Entries for Sourcecode

ISO votes to reject Microsoft's OOXML as standard. [ISO votes to reject Microsoft's OOXML as standard.]

Sourcecode — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:24:55 GMT

Here is the story.

It's not that big of a deal. Though I suspect it'll hold back some forward momentum until it is recognized. Especially where government bodies are concerned. Seems there is a big push toward open standards in government, almost to the point where it is becoming mandated.

Anyone have any experience with OOXML and would care to share their opinion on it?

Was this going to be used strictly in Office or does MS have other implementation plans ?

cheers

in reply to ISO votes to reject Microsoft's OOXML as standard.

Flash Player now supports H.264 video codec [Flash Player now supports H.264 video codec]

Sourcecode — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:03:16 GMT

Ubiquitous HD video across all platforms. Video on the web just changed big time.

Real tech details:

http://www.kaourantin.net/2007/08/what-just-happened-to-video-on-web_20.html

Other thoughts:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=501

http://www.techbizmedia.com/industry-news/2007/08/20/adobe-flash-supports-h264-video-codec/

cool!![H]

in reply to Flash Player now supports H.264 video codec

Microsoft redefines the term RIA. Literally !! [Microsoft redefines the term RIA. Literally !!]

Sourcecode — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:39:38 GMT

Yessssss. Begun, the clone wars have.

RIA degradation

JD wrote:

source

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but Microsoft staff blogs today are lockstepping on the phrase "rich interactive applications" (as if there are applications which aren't interactive!), which risks muddying the five-year-old phrase Rich Internet Applications. Intentional, or just clumsy? I can't tell the motive. The similarity between the MAX and MIX conferences might be coincidence too.

JD comment wrote:

Recap: Microsoft is degrading the term "RIA", trying to disassociate it from its roots by attempting to redefine it. It might still be just naive obliviousness, but it's looking increasingly like a conscious deception.

Mary Jo Foley wrote:

source

Nearly everyone in the tech industry uses RIA as an acronym for "Rich Internet Applications." But not Microsoft.

Microsoft up to their old tricks again, being deliberately deceptive? Silver light, Flash… Rich Internet Applications, Rich Interactive Applications.

Is Microsoft trying to turn others innovations into a perception of their own doing?
Or it is both brash(foolhardy) and smart marketing?

in reply to Microsoft redefines the term RIA. Literally !!

The Death of UI Consistency ?'s [The Death of UI Consistency ?'s]

Sourcecode — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:25:09 GMT

This Interesting blog post made me think about the reality of what seems to be happening and what will most likely happen over the next couple years (rich interface, more control, etc..), not just on the web but on the desktop as well.

Blog Post Wrote wrote:

Ends up the title bar controls for palette windows in CS3 are on the right side, Windows-style. “X” for close, “_” for collapse. God, that just looks so wrong – how did this ever get approved? If Adobe really wanted to put these controls in the same location on both platforms, why not do it the Mac way? If Windows users cared about consistency, they wouldn’t be using Windows.

I suppose with WPF/Flex/Apollo and advent of really rich interfaces it’s an inevitable fate. With much more control over the look and feel of our applications one is more inclined to change and reinvent the user experience. Some perhaps will be for the better.

As the author states the typical web user is now very much accustomed to a new experience for each page visited.

Do you think the same will occur with desktop applications?

I think yes.

Has the user evolved to the point of being able to quickly adapt to new experiences for the desktop?

I think perhaps not quite yet, but soon.

How do you think the user will perceive these changes?

I’m not quite sure on this one.

Should we hold true to the current standards, or should we push the boundary in UI innovation?

I think we should push the boundaries but stay loyal to the most important points. Given the new power available to designers I would imagine to stifle it would be a real shame. I also think there are allot of ways still to innovate the UI part of the computer experience.

In any case I’m quite sure we will see some real drastic changes and bad designs over the next couple of years, but I think we will also see some really good innovation.

Thoughts?

in reply to The Death of UI Consistency ?'s

Monitoring network traffic just got cooler :) [Monitoring network traffic just got cooler :)]

Sourcecode — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:23:13 GMT

Just noticed this over on TechCrunch. A product called NetCOSM allows you to visualize your traffic in 3D Space. Cool!! You can see packets moving in and out, and from the video what looks to be attacks hitting a firewall. You can zoom around mouse over for packet info.

Question is, is it practical or just cool. I sway toward just cool.

Though I have to hand it to these guys. If this is in fact the way you can really see your traffic; they’ve redefined a space.

NetCOSM (check the video/animation on the page).

TechCrunch Blurb

In any case still very cool. [H]

in reply to Monitoring network traffic just got cooler :)

How can I/we improve and tap into the Channel 9 community? [How can I/we improve and tap into the Channel 9 community?]

Sourcecode — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 10:05:44 GMT

I made a post the other day asking questions about usability design in which I got a couple of very helpful responses, and I’m forever grateful to those that did respond. I look forward to a continuation of that conversation. Not just because it helps me but because it’s interesting to get other view points in a space that needs to be improved. Again thank you for that.

However in retrospect.

I've see very few posts here that are about improving technology and innovating the world we all presumably work in. Collective idea generation on how to improve a user experience or development methods. Perhaps these types of posts are not coffee house posts? I for one would like to see many more.

So what kind of posts make good conversation for you? What kinds of posts do people want to see? A debate on the best movie of all time, the latest youtube funny video. Or something that can improve us and that we can learn from, allowing us to tap into the many hundreds of years of collective development, marketing, and design experience that is here.

We talk about wanting a better c9, but in all that there are no(or very few) suggested cultural or content changing suggestions. Just things like “I can’t wait for an ignore feature”, a feature that I can honestly say I will never use.

If the interesting and thought provoking posts out weigh the troll and crap posts; would that not improve c9 content over all? Or do we truly require a button that allows us to exclude people from such a resource?

We seem to be gravitating toward controversy as opposed to intellect and I’m just starting to be confused as to what is c9 (besides MS) and what's it really good for. So many smart and creative people in one place. Seems we are all guilty of wasting a real treasure trove of idea generation and collective reasoning that could help every one of us in so many ways.

I have never seen a forum with such an abundance of experience, knowledge, and view points. I come back daily in the hopes of learning something from a very powerful and divers knowledge base.

How can I(we) as a community tap into this power? How can each I (one of us) benefit from it? How can I(we) do my/our part to get the ball rolling? Or am I hoping for miracles?

I use “I” as I don’t speak for others, and as most others am willing to give more then I receive.

There are allot of questions here. Discuss?

-jason

Disclaimer: I don’t exclude myself as being one of the folks that post crap on occasion.

in reply to How can I/we improve and tap into the Channel 9 community?

Happy CSS Naked Day 2007 !! [Happy CSS Naked Day 2007 !!]

Sourcecode — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:00:40 GMT

Never heard of this one before. I suppose the idea is to strip all css out of your web page to support standards. Different way of encouraging standards use.

W3bbo get Naked!!

Details

Andy Jarrett wrote:

The idea behind this event is to promote Web Standards. Plain and simple. This includes proper use of (x)html, semantic markup, a good hierarchy structure, and of course, a good 'ol play on words. It's time to show off your...

Quote link:

http://www.andyjarrett.co.uk/andy/blog/index.cfm/2007/4/5/Im-naked-and-you-should-join-me

in reply to Happy CSS Naked Day 2007 !!

Decent Article: The man who would change Microsoft. [Decent Article: The man who would change Microsoft.]

Sourcecode — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:44:23 GMT

In light of recent posts criticizing MS and where they are going. This seemed like a good bit of perspective from the man himself.

The Man Who Would Change Microsoft: Ray Ozzie's Vision for Connected Software.

The entire interview rather long. I’m not done reading it.

and

Ray Ozzie on Adobe and software as a service

a perspective from Ryan Stewart (Mr. RIA):

in reply to Decent Article: The man who would change Microsoft.

Filter and Search tools. Design and usability ? [Filter and Search tools. Design and usability ?]

Sourcecode — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 16:12:33 GMT

In that past I’ve designed software that is for a rather specific user base. With a new product coming up in the next few months +-6 (if all goes well) we are attacking a much broader user base with a more diverse experience level.

I’m having some trouble clearing my mind (forgetting old way’s) at the mid-higher user experience level. I’m trying to find a usable way for a user to search and filter data. I would like it ideally to cover the curve on the different user experience levels.

It has to be a separate form or view part as the base views are different i.e. it’s not always a list of data or a calendar etc.. There are several visualization types in which a user can manipulate and use the data.

At the lower user experience level we have a full text search just a text input.

Lower user experience level mockup:

At the higher user experience level we want to allow specific field filtering (using and, or, all, any etc..). All with the necessary operators or combinations translated to a readable language.

Multiple nested conditions, and spanning of tables/databases (transparent for the most part). Trying not to let a user get bogged down with logic.

Now in some systems this may be overkill, but we expect a large percentage of the more experienced user base to use this for quick reporting purposes (due to the visualization possibilities).

In the past all data started as a list so we had columnar drill down filtering, and the optional advanced filtering similar to the below mockup. No longer possible, as the starting visualization of data on a primary table is user preference and can change at any time between different types/sets of data.

I’m thinking that the best way is to allow the user to build a sentence/phrase so fields, criteria, operators, additional conditions etc.. become parts of that.

So below is a higher level mockup as it is now. I realize it’s not ideal (doesn’t reflect well on sentence/phrase idea) and would like to ask input on way’s to implement this correctly. Keeping in mind that for example a filter could also be something like “Show all records that changed last week” so instead of a date picker you would have a list of choices (last week, last month, yesterday etc..)

Higher user experience level mockup:

I looked at a lot of usability stuff on the subject but almost all of it is a very basic user level or to complicated for a non technical person.

I want a new user to be able to eventually use the advanced tools as their experience progresses so that they can get more value out of the product. I don’t feel comfortable that with the above advanced type of interface a new user will be able to get to a productive stage with this part of the product.

I realize this is a broad question.

It’s a mock up so no graphics have been thought about yet, however if your willing to throw out some ideas in that area I’d love to see/hear it.

I’d really welcome any kind of push in a direction that makes sense, advice, experiences, criticism, ideas, links, and anything else anyone is willing to provide/share.

Much appreciation , and Thanks.

-jason

in reply to Filter and Search tools. Design and usability ?

Forbes article - Can Adobe Unbox? [Forbes article - Can Adobe Unbox?]

Sourcecode — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:20:05 GMT

Forbes wrote:

Since Adobe released a preview version of Apollo last week, 40,000 people have downloaded the software and 30,000 people have downloaded its development tools, the company says.

Article

WOW!! 40,000 in 1 week, for an alpha..

in reply to Forbes article - Can Adobe Unbox?

Microsoft Zune. It's Crackalaken !! :) [Microsoft Zune. It's Crackalaken !! :)]

Sourcecode — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:14:34 GMT

How funny it that !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqr3R1CtXzs&NR

This Craig guy rocks...

in reply to Microsoft Zune. It's Crackalaken !! :)

Microsoft irony and double standards at it’s best. [Microsoft irony and double standards at it’s best.]

Sourcecode — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 22:53:25 GMT

Not meant to be flame bait but rather start a serious discussion.

I have been pondering posting this for a bit, and decided I need to for my own sanity. I may regret it and I’ll take what ever hits I need to. Just please tell me I’m reading all this wrong.

I noticed this and perhaps I’m making mountains out of mole hills here but did I just read this right? MS helping people steal copyrighted art work? One video says hey guy’s can’t steal our ribbon idea unless you pay, but for the record here is a handy utility to steal art work from starving artists, convert it into another format so you can use it.

mswanson wrote:

For context, Adobe does make the Flash file format specification available: http://www.adobe.com/licensing/developer/. Unfortunately, their license was too restrictive for my needs, so I had to use other[1] publicly available information on the internet (and there's a lot of it) to build the SWF2XAML tool. It's also important to note that I've built a converter, not a player. My goal is not to play back Flash content.

The inspiration for this tool came from many of the early adopters I've been working with over the past couple of years. A lot of them have content in the form of SWF files, and they want to use some of that content in their WPF applications. In many cases, they no longer have the original Flash project files (.FLA). So, this tool was built to help solve those needs.

[1] read: find a way not to pay for the right to do so.

Wouldn’t you think if they didn’t have the fla they probably didn’t to begin with?

UPDATE:

Sourcecode wrote:

mswanson wrote:

Sourcecode wrote:
So now it's easier to pillage someone else’s work? Great... Ahh… gotta love the irony here MS helping people steal copyrighted art work and port it to a useable format.

Just cause they may say they no longer have the fla doesn’t mean they had it to begin with. I can’t believe I’m reading this.

Believe it, Sourcecode. In a few very large cases that I'm aware of, third-parties were hired to deliver thousands of small Flash animations, but they never thought to obtain the original FLA files. Today, when they're considering an update to WPF, they find themselves out of luck. This tool allows them to preserve some of their investment in those assets.

I don't want to cause any grief for you but I really need to post something about this in the coffehouse to get other opinions. It’s not as much a tool problem as a double standard thing that really kind of itches me wrong.

Please come and join the discussion there.

My response here ***:

Mr Swanson; I understand the benefit your customers my get from such a tool. However don’t you think that it’s a little, just a little hypocritical of MS to provide such a tool to do it considering all the efforts your company makes to protect their intellectual property rights. I mean I’ve read stuff about site designs being the same as live.com and people getting all in an uproar over an icon that looks the same as one of Microsoft’s, yet MS writes a tool to do this stuff. Not only that but goes around corners with out rewarding the just parties in doing so.

I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble here but what kinds of example is this setting/delivering. Sorry if this comes as being down on you which I’m not, unfortunately your name is on it.

***

Shame I honestly thought I’d seen it all. I realize that there is a lot of tools that will decompile a swf, but not once did i think MS would condone such an act, nevermind going as far as making it that much easier to accomplish.

Hey Rory what was it you were grilling W3bbo about Link

Seems like a good move in the right direction on Adobes part to get developers interested in it's RIA platform.

Announcement wrote:

Nov. 7, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) and the Mozilla Foundation, a public-benefit organization dedicated to promoting choice and innovation on the Internet, today announced that Adobe has contributed source code for the ActionScript™ Virtual Machine, the powerful standards-based scripting language engine in Adobe® Flash® Player, to the Mozilla Foundation. Mozilla will host a new open source project, called Tamarin, to accelerate the development of this standards-based approach for creating rich and engaging Web applications.

in reply to Adobe & Mozilla (Open Source Flash Player Scripting Engine)

Who needs a hybrid disk drive? Ask Bob. [Who needs a hybrid disk drive? Ask Bob.]

Sourcecode — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 08:52:50 GMT

Sorry for all the quotes but this sounds phenomenal !

Thoughts ?

Bob Cringely wrote:

they could design new families of disk drives that held up to three times as much data in the same space, were more reliable, actually cheaper to build, and used 70-95 percent less energy to run than the current state of the art.

Bob Cringely wrote:

Our 10-gigabyte 0.85-inch drive can spin up, read or write data, then shut down again, all in less time than it takes to perform the same task using flash while being just as resistant to shock damage and more resistant to heat. That 10-gig drive will cost $24 compared to $240 for 10 gigs of flash

Bob Cringely wrote:

Our metal foil drive costs less, not more, and spins up so quickly that data can be read from disk as fast or faster than it can be read from flash. Who needs a hybrid disk drive?

Link here

in reply to Who needs a hybrid disk drive? Ask Bob.

What, are we all Monkeys? [What, are we all Monkeys?]

Sourcecode — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 13:11:34 GMT

What we are

Nice video in light of recent events.

in reply to What, are we all Monkeys?

For all 60,000 + MS workers (lol) [For all 60,000 + MS workers (lol)]

Sourcecode — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 12:14:21 GMT

Actually it could relate to anyone.

My cubicle

in reply to For all 60,000 + MS workers (lol)

To Funny and Cute [To Funny and Cute]

Sourcecode — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 10:38:52 GMT

Unless you like coke(insert bubbly beverage here) through the nose, put the can/bottle down!!!

Watch This

Yeah I watched it a few times as well.

in reply to To Funny and Cute

Slo-Mo Home Depot (l'd ol) [Slo-Mo Home Depot (l'd ol)]

Sourcecode — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 15:00:40 GMT

Link Here

Thier site

Another Funny one

Cool idea, to get a group to gether and do this kind of stuff...

in reply to Slo-Mo Home Depot (l'd ol)

C9 Sidebar not really inviting. [C9 Sidebar not really inviting.]

Sourcecode — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 14:48:19 GMT

Now I could be wrong but the current c9 sidebar just doesn't seem very inviting to new community members. :O

in reply to C9 Sidebar not *really* inviting.

2006 Stella Awards! [2006 Stella Awards!]

Sourcecode — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 12:41:06 GMT

Anyone seen this one yet ? Amazing!!

Stella Awards!

Time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella Awards."
The Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who
spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's (in
NM). That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous,
ridiculous, successful lawsuits in the United States

Here are this year's winners:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5th Place (tie)

Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $80,000. by a jury of
her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was
running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were
understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving
little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

5th Place (tie)

19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical
expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr.
Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the
car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

5th Place (tie)

Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had
just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the
garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was
malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door
connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The
family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the
garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a
large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming
the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed, to the
tune of $500,000. In my opinion this is so outrageous that it should
have been 2nd Place!

4th Place

Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500. and
medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door
neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced
yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog
might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who
had climbed over the fence into the yard and was shooting it
repeatedly with a pellet gun.

3rd Place

A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500. after she slipped on a soft drink
and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because
Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an
argument.

2ndPlace

Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a
night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom
window to
the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms.
Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to
avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge . She was awarded $12,000 and
dental expenses

1st Place

This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor
home. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having
driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and
calmly left the driver's seat to go into the back & make herself a
sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and
overturned. Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the
owner's manual that she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded
her $1,750,000. plus a new motor home. The company actually changed
their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any
other complete morons around.

in reply to 2006 Stella Awards!

Scientists say Erie mirage could be real [Scientists say Erie mirage could be real]

Sourcecode — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 13:42:20 GMT

Story

Also a couple of pics of one in China.

I wonder how the science behind this holds up. I also wonder if it can be re-created on a smaller scale in a lab or something. I searched for some info, but came up empty. Anyway, interesting all the same.

in reply to Scientists say Erie mirage could be real

Try your hand at being like Zidane [Try your hand at being like Zidane]

Sourcecode — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:16:02 GMT

not bad :)

http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zidaneswf4pz.swf

I don't condone his actions in any way.

in reply to Try your hand at being like Zidane

Where the Hell is Matt (best of youtube 2006 vote) [Where the Hell is Matt (best of youtube 2006 vote)]

Sourcecode — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 17:01:40 GMT

Where the hell is Matt

Hat's off to this guy, and I'm jealous he's been everywhere.

in reply to Where the Hell is Matt (best of youtube 2006 vote)

What's the shortcut key in IE7 ? [What's the shortcut key in IE7 ?]

Sourcecode — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:37:25 GMT

What is it for opening a new tab in ie 7 "key"+click a link?

In Firefox it's cntrl + click a link.

I don't have ie7 installed so I just want to make sure I stick to the widest used method.

Thanks...

in reply to What's the shortcut key in IE7 ?

Is MS Dying ? [Is MS Dying ?]

Sourcecode — Wed, 31 May 2006 15:39:07 GMT

The five stages of dealing with death as defined originally in 1969 by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. These stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. Microsoft has been in denial for most of the five years and $5 billion of Longhorn/Vista. They have been angry this entire time, too, at an establishment that just doesn't seem to understand the fragility of their empire and how breaking a few laws and destroying a few competitors is simply the price of survival at the top -- the price of American greatness. Microsoft has been bargaining for the past two-three years as it settles its debts to society, pretends to reform, and tries to figure a way out of its current mess. Depression has really hit Redmond in the last year and will continue to grow until well into the eventual period of acceptance, which has not yet begun.

As per Cringely

Great Article, I Also like the Apple ideas he has (other articles).

Thoughts ?

in reply to Is MS Dying ?