T40T, 12 May 2008

Install Windows Server 2008, SQLServer2005 into Virtual PC 2007

  • My previous application development platform experience is LAMP, so this Windows Server 2008 stuff is going to be fun!
  • Installation to a fresh VirtualPC took less than 15 minutes.
  • Only 6 updates required post install of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
  • Added Application Server, Web Server (IIS), File Services as installed applications
    • FTP added because I understand that stuff
  • Installed VirtualPC extensions
  • Reconfigurated networking for home network
  • Installing SQLServer2005 (as most external hosters are using this revision)
    • Too many questions for a mere mortal. Its like recompiling MySQL!
    • Going for a base level SQLServer as possible
    • Apply SP update to SQLServer2005
  • Launch SQLServer Management Studio
  • All Seems Well
  • Time to Backup the VM

Next sub-project: Windows Mobile 6 Professional SDK

  • Some of the Imagine Cup finalists use the Windows Mobile 6 SDK, so grabbing that and evaluating their entries
  • Installed; have to wait for the .zip files so I can correctly unzip with directories. Oops
  • (on hold)
  • (restarted at 8:00pm)
  • OK, submissions reviewed, including in-the Mobile emulator (w00tage!). Karo has my data 🙂

ASP.NET/Database. Exactly how easy is it? Can I do it without RTFM?

  • Move VM over to separate machine
  • Launched OK!
  • Hmm, adding a user, setting up non-Windows authentication (ie: no ActiveDirectory) requires checking on super-special(tm) checkbox. Done and running. Can create a table, add columns and records.
  • I declare a successful day

Transparent 40% Time

desk geek

As my Microsoft job subtlety changes at the beginning of July, it is self-development time!

Next year involves more cycles devoted to development ‘themes’. A change that I am

Following sage twitter advice from Christy Dena, the diary is locked and loaded. Every Monday and Friday are hard allocated to self-development.

Self-development relies on self-control.

To aid the tempation of twitter, email, rss feeds, weewar, TV, cats and general outside interruptions: I am a stickler for not misappropriating this 40% time. Secondly, there will be a blog/wiki post that will detail the daily activities. 40% time full transparency.

The general themes:

  • Windows Server 2008 as Web Development/Web Host backend
  • SQLServer 2005/8 as datastore
  • C#
  • ASP.NET
  • HTML/Ajax/Silverlight
  • DLR; IronPython and IronRuby

Duncan Riley: Officially a Web 2.0 Startup 2.0

@DuncanRiley, formerly of Techcrunch, has left as a fulltime writer and has started another startup: Inquisitr.com

Described by Duncan as a “mix of tech, pop and fark type stories”, it promises a blog that captures the lighter side of this strange web world.

I, for one, welcome our new Duncan overlords.

Movie: Kurt Cobain About a Son.

About a son

Photo: Rod Yates, editor of Empire Magazine interviewing Michael Azerrad on his movie, Kurt Cobain About a Son.

Kurt Cobain looms out of the cinema screen like a melancholic Viking, ready to pillage our minds. Like the images of other dead celebrities, the image sets off thought patterns and we classify: drug addict, father, musican.

Like all narratives perpetuated by the one dimensional main stream media, he was also a son. A talented person with real problems, real skills and dreams.

A son of divorced parents, a common afliction of children of the late 20th century, this and the times haunted Kurt. The lyrics and music of Nirvana described the world of the US Pacific Northwest: dark with low hanging fog and cloud. This description also applies to his life, and the life of many of Generation-X. Cold war, AIDS, unemployment.

The movie, About a Son, is Kurt narrating his life in his own words. As captured by biographer, Michael Azerroth in 25 hours of taped interviews during 1992-3. The imagery paints a Washington state that Kurt lived in. A child of his parents, age and area.

Using Kurt’s own words, and showing the real life Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle one gets a sense of the angst of Nirvana. Kurt also talks about his addiction via self medication to opiates to escape pain; depression and scoliosis.

The movie is about an ordinary person; it humanises a driven person. An complex artistic soul that expressed the nihilism of my generation.

Most importantly, Kurt touches the ultimate poison that is the cult of celebrity that has only grown in the last 15 years. Especially fighting the negative narrative.

Any Nirvana fan or member of generation X should see this movie.

Thanks to PopcornTaxi for bring this movie to Australia.