Entries for Soe Tun

Microsoft Security Essentials [Microsoft Security Essentials]

Soe Tun — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:18:59 GMT

I haven't downloaded/used it yet, but I just want to ask some questions about it.

(1) Why isn't it integrated with Windows Defender?

(2) Why use MSE v.s. Avast or AVG or other FREE Anti-Virus utilities? Is it better/faster? Anyone used it yet?

(3) Now what do you think is going to happen to Norton and McAfee flagship product lines?

Thanks,

Soe

in reply to Microsoft Security Essentials

IE6 Retirement Home? [IE6 Retirement Home?]

Soe Tun — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:44:52 GMT

Dear everyone,

Digg.com is considering about what to do with IE6 http://digg.com/tech_news/Much_Ado_About_IE6.
I am keeping IE6 on my work computer for development/testing because the majority (approx. 65%) of the users still have IE6.

I hate the fact that we are still stuck with this very old browser and some IT departments are still not upgrading to IE7 or IE8 yet.
In a perfect world (of course not 100% perfect), most people should be using at least IE7 with IE8 gaining marketshare slowly.

Why are we still stuck with this IE6? What's your experience with it?
Do you think Microsoft should encourage (*ahem* force) people to upgrade to at least IE7 or higher by NOT supporting it anymore and stop releasing Security Updates for it?

I am not starting this to start a flame war.
I want to know if there is anything that can be done as an industry wide effort to move forward.

-Soe

in reply to IE6 Retirement Home?

MicrosoftCommunities: News Ticker [MicrosoftCommunities: News Ticker]

Soe Tun — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:08:23 GMT

OK I posted about this a long time ago because it was really annoying me.

You see something interesting news item in the News Ticker at the top of the page,

and while you are moving your mouse to click on it, it changes to another ticker.

So, you have to wait a while for that ticker to come back again.

Back in the days, I used to be able to go to MicrosoftCommunities.com website and just click from the list of news ticker.

But the website got changed into the Silverlight stuff which I never use.

Is there a way where we can just see the list of currently running News Ticker items?

I wish the old MicrosoftCommunities.com web page would be added back into the current one.

Soe

in reply to MicrosoftCommunities: News Ticker

Comfortable Work Shoes [Comfortable Work Shoes]

Soe Tun — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:19:57 GMT

For those of us who are unlucky, we have to dress business casual at work.

I am badly in need of a new pair of shoes.

I usually buy Bostonian shoes because they are pretty comfortable.

But the one I am wearing is starting to feel like it is cutting off the blood supply to my feet.

So here is my question...What kind of workplace shoes do you guys normally wear?

What is the most comfortable and non-casual pair of shoes you have ever worn?

in reply to Comfortable Work Shoes

C# Anonymous Type Enhancement [C# Anonymous Type Enhancement]

Soe Tun — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:07:49 GMT

I have an idea about C# Anonymous Types.

Currently anonymous type by definition is anonymous. No confusion there.
However, I think it would be really cool if we can do something like this.

var myIEmployeeAnonType = new { EmployeeId = 1, FirstName = "John", LastName = "Doe" } : IEmployee;

So basically, I am declaring an anonymous type that implements the IEmployee interface.
You might be asking why am I wishing for a language feature like that.

Let's say I have

a partial view that accepts List<IEmployee> collection as its model.
a LINQ Query that returns an inner-joined record set [Employee]<=>[PurchaseOrders].

Well, since the ASP.NET MVC is finally RTM, there are some cool things I want to do with.

In this case, I want to pass that returned result set as an anonymous type into the partial view, but "cast" it as List<IEmployee> type.

Having that ability to implementing interfaces dynamically for the anonymous types will be an awesome feature for me.
What do you guys think?

in reply to C# Anonymous Type Enhancement

Windows 7 and DVD Playback Problem [Windows 7 and DVD Playback Problem]

Soe Tun — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:31:53 GMT

I am not able to play Netflix movie DVDs on my Windows 7 Beta at all.

It looks like the DVD is damaged.

But, I boot back into Windows Vista (yes I have dual boot) and play the DVD.

It works fine without a problem.

Is anyone experiencing the same problem as me?

It looks like something changed with the way Windows 7 read DVD discs? maybe???

in reply to Windows 7 and DVD Playback Problem

MSDN Blogs Down and When Is IE8 RC? [MSDN Blogs Down and When Is IE8 RC?]

Soe Tun — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:35:25 GMT

Servers are down for the MSDN Blogs currently.

Can't access any of these http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/ and http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/.

Read "news" that IE8 RC was supposed to be released today.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/158226/microsoft_to_deliver_first_ie8_release_candidate_monday.html?tk=rss_news or maybe Wednesday?

Any new interview planned for IE8?

Cheers!

in reply to MSDN Blogs Down and When Is IE8 RC?

DirectX 11 [DirectX 11]

Soe Tun — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:36:28 GMT

I am reading "news" that DirectX 11 might be released as soon as early 2009
and
ATI also planning to release DirectX 11 cards in early 2009.

I also found some articles about DirectX 11 being cut from Windows 7.
I am sure something is not quite right with the news.

Can we get some CONFIRMED news about DirectX 11 to squash rumors?
And also, can we get a video interview with the DirectX team or something like that?

in reply to DirectX 11

IE8 ~ approx. mid 2009 [IE8 ~ approx. mid 2009]

Soe Tun — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:59:28 GMT

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/11/19/ie8-what-s-after-beta-2.aspx

Looks like IE8 Release Candidate will be coming in Q1 2009 and final release after that.

For me, IE feels slow and bloated and unresponsive since IE7 in terms of UI.
Try opening a new tab, try switching tabs, scrolling lagging problems....etc.

I will say this again. I do NOT have any 3rd party ActiveX extensions installed.

I don't care about Acid 3 test, but I do care about Acid 2 test which IE8 already passes.
However IMO, IE8 needs to be more lightweight and faster to compete in this new generation browser wars.

Apart from legacy Intranet applications, I see that IE's market share could be challenged much more.

I hope they make IE8 my favorite browser....fast, lightweight, and compliant.

in reply to IE8 ~ approx. mid 2009

Let the Browser Wars Begin! [Let the Browser Wars Begin!]

Soe Tun — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:51:00 GMT

Try going to Mac.com in IE7 or IE8 !!! ;-)
OhNoes you didn'

I hope you guys can get a kick out of this, I know I lol'd

in reply to Let the Browser Wars Begin!

Complaint about the MSComm. Ticker [Complaint about the MSComm. Ticker]

Soe Tun — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:21:28 GMT

It is really annoying how I saw an interesting blog/article post in the MSCommunities Ticker at the top,
and right before I can click on it, the next ticker comes up.

Before, I used to use MSCommunities.com to just simply look up the list of news/articles and easily browse through them.
Now it is replaced a not-so-useful Silverlight based "Ticker", which is cool and all but it doesn't get solve the problem.
I can find all kinds of random stuff in there, but I have to scroll and wait and filter through all the stuff scrolling on the screen.

Can we also have a section that simply lists what is being circulated in the News Ticker at the top like before please?

in reply to Complaint about the MSComm. Ticker

Craving for Big Exciting News [Craving for Big Exciting News]

Soe Tun — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:29:28 GMT

All right, I am getting a little too impatient. The Internet has been all filled with iPhone 3G ZOMG lately.
I am craving for some other breaking news to come out.

For example,
1) IE8 Beta2 is out (supports partial CSS3 yay!!! (*I wish*).
2) Maybe like Solid State Drives manufacturing technology was improved that it is very cheap and they are 4 times faster than regular disk drives.
3) Windows 7 boots up under 15 second.
4) Finally, SilverLight and Windows Live Mail (Hotmail) finally works in FireFox 3 !!!! <=== This needs to happen soon.

yes yes I know those are a bit far fetched.
But damn it, I need something to get excited about.

Anyone got something interesting to share?

Cheers,
Soe

in reply to Craving for Big Exciting News

IE JavaScript Engine and New DOM APIs [IE JavaScript Engine and New DOM APIs]

Soe Tun — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:26:59 GMT

Firefox 3.1 Alpha is starting to support the JavaScript Selectors API.
http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/selectors-api/
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Firefox_3.1_for_developers

In my opinion, Microsoft should *add* new features like this to older browsers like IE6 and IE7 by updating the JavaScript engine.
But the usual "Don't Break the Web." motto from IE team (or Microsoft) is preventing the incremental upgrades to the IE.
Sometimes (or most of the time depending on how you perceive) it looks like Microsoft is intentionally making it harder for developers to abandon the IE platform.

What is stopping Microsoft (or) IE team from *adding new features* (that do not change existing behavior) to the old IE6 and IE7?
If the new features are added incrementally, it would benefit all of us developers and make our lives a lot easier.

Sure, there is a possibility that some computers may not have the latest update.
Why can't we have something like "IE Updater" like "Firefox Updater" periodically check for updates from the Update Server?

I want Microsoft to stay on top of their game in this aspect instead of giving excuses, using "Delay Tatics", and giving up on older versions.
What can be done to improve this? Can we have an interview about this topic?

in reply to IE JavaScript Engine and New DOM APIs

Windows + Power7 [Windows + Power7]

Soe Tun — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:29:09 GMT

I just read a /. article about Power7 CPU ( http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/07/14/2251231.shtml ).

Windows NT used to support PowerPC chips.
I just want to discuss a bit about why Windows doesn't support PowerPC architecture anymore.

Are there any advantages using PowerPC over X86 architecture?
I have found some articles discussing about differences between RISC and CISC.
http://www.osnews.com/story/3997

Can some CPU and architecture guru explain/shed some lights on it please?
If possible, I want to know if Microsoft's Research is working on something related with the PowerPC architecture for the Windows Supercomputing.

Cheers!

in reply to Windows + Power7

Ummm....Steve Ballmer and Mac Laptop? [Ummm....Steve Ballmer and Mac Laptop?]

Soe Tun — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:01:51 GMT

You bet!

Proof #1
http://digg.com/apple/What_laptop_does_Steve_Ballmer_use_for_his_presentations

Proof #2
http://flickr.com/photos/choubistar/2439499170/

any explanation for this outrageous "ship-jumping" behavior????
Or is there a story behind this that we don't know?

[6]

in reply to Ummm....Steve Ballmer and Mac Laptop?

Windows "Show Administrative Tools" [Windows "Show Administrative Tools"]

Soe Tun — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:56:51 GMT

Hello all,

anyone knows how to show the "Administrative Tools" only in the Start menu.
Not under the "All Programs" in Windows?

Currently, the following steps make the "Administrative Tools" to show up in BOTH "Start Menu" and the "All Programs".

Right click --> 'Start menu' tab --> Properties
'Advanced' tab --> Scroll to bottom in 'Start menu items:'
'System Administrative Tools' --> select 'Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu'

Sure it works, but I only want to show it in the "Start menu". Not in the "All programs". Anyone know a Windows Registry hack for it? Thanks, Soe

in reply to Windows "Show Administrative Tools"

Umm.....Vista ReadyDrive [Umm.....Vista ReadyDrive]

Soe Tun — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:07:13 GMT

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/performance.mspx

What happened to it? Why do I only see hard drives for Laptops?
What about the Desktop version of the Hybrid Hard Drives?

Another good idea that never made it into the general public? :O

in reply to Umm.....Vista ReadyDrive

OLED Televisions...Lions Tigers Bears OMG [OLED Televisions...Lions Tigers Bears OMG]

Soe Tun — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:26:17 GMT

GE announced "Roll-to-Roll" Manufactured OLED
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080311005806&newsLang=en

The goal of the collaboration was to demonstrate a cost-effective system for the mass production ....
portable TV screens the size of posters.... devices.

Sony now offers 27" OLED TV for $2,499, which is 3mm thin panel with 1,000,000:1 ( yes....you read it right 1 million to 1) Contrast Ratio.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&productId=8198552921665327724&langId=-1

Think of gaming on a BIG screen, watching movies in a dark room.....all that good stuff.
I cannot wait for bigger TVs at a cheaper price by the end of the year (holds my breath).

in reply to OLED Televisions...Lions Tigers Bears OMG

Channel9 Admins - what happened to mscommunities.com? [Channel9 Admins - what happened to mscommunities.com?]

Soe Tun — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:34:06 GMT

I always go to http://www.mscommunities.com to get a FULL list of Links being displayed in the "Microsoft Communities" gray bar at the top of the page.

I hate having to wait for it to cycle to get to display the link again if I saw something interesting and I missed to click on it before it changed.

Right now, the page is coming up empty with no links.
Can we do something about it please?

Cheers

in reply to Channel9 Admins - what happened to mscommunities.com?

Integrated (Mouse + Keyboard) in one [Integrated (Mouse + Keyboard) in one]

Soe Tun — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:36:59 GMT

I remember watching a TV episode (way way back in the days, say about 8 years ago or less).

Basically, it is a mouse (well 2 mice to be "exact") and keyboard integrated.
You put your hand into two mice, and you could move your Mouse Pointer with EITHER hand.
At the same time, you could type while moving your mouse pointer with both your hands.

I want to buy that if possible if they still make/sell it.
It'd be amazing (maybe?) to play games, do programming etc without having to switch from keyboard to mouse and etc.

Does anyone remember that (or) do they still sell it somewhere?

in reply to Integrated (Mouse + Keyboard) in one

IE8 Beta [IE8 Beta]

Soe Tun — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:20:25 GMT

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/02/21/the-internet-explorer-8-user-agent-string.aspx

Yes yes I am a bit impatient to wait. Most of us (Niners) are very technical people.
We know what we are doing. We know how to clean up the mess.

When can we get our curious hands on the mysterious IE8 beta instead of only limited to the Microsoft Connect people?
Isn't it better to have a broader beta-user base? Sure, IE8 Release Candidate is a different case.

But come on!

Cheers!
Soe

in reply to IE8 Beta

Dev Machine: Vista and Server 2008 [Dev Machine: Vista and Server 2008]

Soe Tun — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:52:19 GMT

I know these questions are very basic and possibly one of the FAQs.

Question 1
Do I want Vista Ultimate (or) Server 2008 with a minimal set of features (lets say Server 2008 Standard) installed on my development machine?

Question 2
What is the difference between Desktop version and Server version?

P.S: when can we download Vista SP1 from the MSDN Subscriptions website?

in reply to Dev Machine: Vista and Server 2008

Performance/Efficiency @ Microsoft [Performance/Efficiency @ Microsoft]

Soe Tun — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:48:48 GMT

I remember watching the interview video with Larry Osterman.
I remember him talking about how Bill Gates went nuts over memory usage going over a little bit in a limited environment back in the DOS days.

From what *I* see, Microsoft does not want to admit about poor performance in the following products: IE7, Office 2007, and Vista.
No matter what the claim, when I use IE7 it definitely feels a lot slower compared to IE6.
Same thing in Office 2007 compared to Office 2003.

Well in the case of Vista, sure it works a lot more in the background due to the new security features added.
But, something still does *not* feel right for me....Even with a really powerful computer, I still think it is not as fast as before anymore.

I know there are more and more powerful hardware coming out, and the ever increasing system resources (faster RAM, bigger Hard Drives).
Are the performance and efficiency factors not given much attention anymore?

We have seen how compact the new Windows 7's kernel will be.
Sure I got excited seeing that, but I feel like I will be disappointed again when Windows 7 comes out.
From the trend I have seen so far, I think it is going to be slower or might need even more powerful hardware to run it.

**** I don't want this trend to repeat ****
I don't want to be told again "Oh just upgrade the computer and it'll run fine".
I don't want it to run "fine"......I want it to run FAST, damnit !!!

I want to learn more about what Microsoft is doing (if any) in terms of performance and efficiency.
Can we get more interviews with the people behind the scenes about what they are doing to improve the performance and efficiency?

P.S:
Yes I am aware that I am talking about both performance and efficiency in my post.
I just typed this up pretty much straight from my train of thought.
I hope I made my point clear enough.

in reply to Performance/Efficiency @ Microsoft

Team Explorer for VS2008 !!! [Team Explorer for VS2008 !!!]

Soe Tun — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:52:52 GMT

Title says it all. Where do I download it from?
Can't find it anywhere.... :s

I don't want to download the TFS (or) the Team Suite.
All I need is the Client stand-alone Team Explorer for VS2008.

Please help?

in reply to Team Explorer for VS2008 !!!

VS2008 November 2007 Release!!! [VS2008 November 2007 Release!!!]

Soe Tun — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:29:42 GMT

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/nov07/11-05TechEdDevelopersPR.mspx

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx

Yes! I cannot wait.....this is great great news for us developers.

When will it be posted on MSDN Subscriptions download site?
Any chance it will be on MSDN Subscriptions a few days earlier?

Cheers

in reply to VS2008 November 2007 Release!!!