Outlook 2007 - GTD Made Simple with ClearContext
July 29th, 2008Following InboxZero can be difficult; trying to keep up with all the emails that are constantly coming in can be a constant struggle.
Fortunately ClearContext has produced a great product that helps you tackle your inbox, I’ve been using a trial of ClearContext IMS Pro and have been extremely happy (especially with the functionality that lets you file an entire thread from your inbox)
Microsoft Embracing the Cloud
July 16th, 2008Microsoft has a number of solutions that appear to form a very strong offering for enterprise class web 2.0 applications:Web Scale:
- Scale Out:Microsoft Utility Computing Platform (a.k.a Red Dog)Details appear sketchy at the moment, but it will be interesting to see how this shapes up.
- Scaled Caching:Microsoft “Velocity” - Improving performance and scalability by caching objects. Cache is distributed across machines and is fault tolerant, can scale out by adding more machines.
Security:
- Single Sign On: Prevents new users to your application from having to register and remember new user credentials. Allows for pass-through security from enterprise users through a federated trust model:
- Development API:Microsoft “Zermatt” - Single API to easily work with user claims based identity (Federated Identity) Should make the mess of dealing with various credentials and sources (protocols & tokens) easy in the same manner WCF has done for network development.
- Online Service:BizTalk Identity Services -
Cloud Data:
- Online Data Store:SQL Server Data Services (SSDS) -
- Restful Access:ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria) + ADO.NET Entity Framework -
Interconnected Systems:
- Communications:BizTalk Connectivity Services -
- Data:Sync Framework -
Interconnected Devices:
- Data Sync:Live Mesh / Sync Framework -
- Offline Access:ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria) + Sync Framework a.k.a (Astoria “Offline”) -
Front End Support:
- RIA Offering (plug-in):Silverlight -
- RIA Offering (JavaScript generation):Microsoft “Volta” -
Mix08 Sessions - PodCast Format
March 10th, 2008If you want to view all the Mix08 Sessions in an iPod friendly podcast RSS feed, here you go:
Add to iTunes
Installing TFS2008 on Windows Server 2008
February 25th, 2008Unfortunately installing Team Foundation Server 2008 on Windows Server 2008 is not a simple process, the following guide should help you out if you are attempting this process:
- Install SQL Server 2005 with Reporting Services, DO NOT INSTALL ANY SEVICE PACKS.
- Create a Slipstream Installation of MOSS
- Install MOSS
- The Default Website will be disabled, change the port from 80 to another port and enable it.
- Follow Instructions on how to install TFS2008 using Microsoft’s guide.. Be sure to create all accounts
- When you get to the SharePoint Services page of the installation, it will ask for Configuration Site and Default Site, note the installation guide will tell you to remove the “/sites” from default site, ignore this note and keep “/sites” there and installation will continue.
- Configuration Site:
http://<servername>:<configuration site’s port> - Default Site:
http://<servername>:80/Sites
- Configuration Site:
- When you get to the SharePoint Services page of the installation, it will ask for Configuration Site and Default Site, note the installation guide will tell you to remove the “/sites” from default site, ignore this note and keep “/sites” there and installation will continue.

