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WCF is flexible, you can configure it to use different encodings including (since 3.5 SP1) JSON.

This is not really a comment on this particular case (haven't watched the video yet) but I wish people would learn that "readability" is very subjective and situational.

IIRC (don't have a Haskell interpreter handy atm) "let double x = x + x" will work.

Sweet -- will watch when I get back from work.  But it's "lambda" 

Cool series concept (love the title graphic).  Now do an episode on MAX_PATH.  Or two or three or four ... 

I saw him give that talk at last year's ICFP!    It's not really a research paper, more of a stimulus to thought.

I think you can do that sort of thing in C# unsafe code; you might be able to code just the portions that need it in C# or native C++ and the rest in VB.NET.  You could be right though that in your particular situation you might be best off just sticking to classic VB; my impression though is that your situation is rare (i.e. most VB programs do not make extensive use of pointer trickery etc.)

and guys, please do not absorb the F# team.  

I prefer the "Combine when full" taskbar setting.  You get the benefit of pinned applications, plus separate taskbar items for each window when there's room.  The only disadvantage is that a shifting visual layout makes it harder to remember the Windows-[number] shortcut keys for the applications you've pinned.

Thanks.  I'm intrigued by the work she alludes to around 15:50 about the connection between usability and software architecture which I managed to find here --> http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bej/usa/ .  think I'll try reading a few of the papers (hope they're not all behind the ACM paywall)

re the joke at the end, I certainly hope there are plenty more women at all levels at MSFT who would make interesting interview subjects.  as far as higher-level/more prominent women goes, do you think you could get an interview with Maria Klawe who joined the MSFT board of directors a few months back?  I'm curious about her work/thoughts on serious games.

I actually used to work for a company that, after spending months trying and failing to solve compatibility and deployment issues, eventually gave up and started shipping their software only in the form of entire preconfigured desktop computers.