microsoft

microsoft

The Ultimate Dogfooding Story

In software circles, dogfooding refers to the practice of using your own products. It was apparently popularized by Microsoft [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food]: > The idea originated in television commercials for Alpo brand dog food; actor Lorne Greene would tout the benefits of the

By Jeff Atwood ·
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ui design

If You Don't Change the UI, Nobody Notices

I saw a screenshot a few days ago that made me think Windows 7 Beta might actually be worth checking out. That's right, Microsoft finally improved the calculator app! We've been complaining for years that Microsoft ships new operating systems with the same boring old default

By Jeff Atwood ·
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microsoft

Bill Gates and Code Complete

By now I’m sure you’ve at least heard of, if not already seen, the new Windows Vista advertisements featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. They haven’t been well received, to put it mildly, but the latest commercial is actually not bad in its longer 4 minute version:

By Jeff Atwood ·
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open source

Why Can't Microsoft Ship Open Source Software?

In Codeplex wastes six months reinventing wheels, Ryan Davis has a bone to pick with Microsoft: I saw an announcement [in March, 2007] that CodePlex, Microsoft's version of Sourceforge, has released a source control client. This infuriates me. This cool thing they spent six months (six!) writing is

By Jeff Atwood ·
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.net

Donating $5,000 to .NET Open Source

Way back in June of last year, I promised to donate a portion of my advertising revenue back to the community: I will be donating a significant percentage of my ad revenue back to the programming community. The programming community is the reason I started this blog in the first

By Jeff Atwood ·
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microsoft

See You at MIX08!

Well, you won't technically see me at MIX08 [http://visitmix.com/2008/] this year. But you will see some very cool top-secret stuff Vertigo created [http://www.vertigo.com/mix] in the keynote. [http://visitmix.com/2008/] MIX is by far my favorite Microsoft conference after attending the

By Jeff Atwood ·
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microsoft

Giving Up on Microsoft

Although I am generally platform agnostic, I make no secret of the fact that I am primarily a Microsoft developer. In a way, I grew up with Microsoft-- as a teenager, I cut my programming teeth on the early microcomputer implementations of Microsoft BASIC. And I spent much of my

By Jeff Atwood ·
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microsoft

See You At MIX07

I'm heading off to MIX07 today. MIX is by far my favorite Microsoft conference, because it "mixes" in a liberal dose of traditionally non-Microsoft folks for a broader range of perspectives. It's probably the only Microsoft conference I'll be attending this year.

By Jeff Atwood ·
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navigation

Would you rather be a Navigator or an Explorer?

There's an interesting comment in this Amazon user review of The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556159390/105-1849539-8990040]: > My favorite entry, especially fun to find in light of Microsoft's legal problems arising in part from its relationship

By Jeff Atwood ·
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directx

DirectX Version Number Abuse

Has anyone noticed that Microsoft defines "version" a little loosely when it comes to DirectX 9.0c? Here's a screenshot of the DirectX 9.0c download page on FileHippo [http://www.filehippo.com/download_directx/]: DirectX 9.0c was originally released in August 2004, according to

By Jeff Atwood ·
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security

You may be a victim of software counterfeiting.

Microsoft has finally activated the most aggressive part of their Windows Genuine Advantage program -- active notifications. After downloading the latest Windows updates, if your Windows cd-key doesn't validate against Microsoft's online database of cd-keys, you may be greeted with this unpleasant five-second mandatory delay dialog

By Jeff Atwood ·
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.net

Microsoft Doesn't Trust .NET

Richard Grimes recently posted an Analysis of .NET Use in Longhorn and Vista, wherein he draws two conclusions: 1. Between PDC 2003 and the release of Vista Beta 1, Microsoft has decided that it is better to use native code for the operating system 2. Microsoft has shown no intention

By Jeff Atwood ·
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