Rix Bits

I delivered an ALM presentation focusing on Microsoft Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server for the BDPA Webinar series.  I tried to make it a high-level “Intro to ALM” talk – hopefully I was successful.  The slide deck can be found in my SkyDrive (link below).

There was a Q&A session at the end, and the participants asked some great questions.  One of the questions was, “have you found that Team System has helped you increase your time to market (TTM)?”  For me, that question brings to mind a great quote – “…that which does not get measured never gets improved…” 

I can’t definitively say that VSTS has helped our TTM because I can’t say that we’ve ever [consistently & systematically] tracked that metric.  The only answer I could give is that I have a “warm fuzzy feeling” that yes, it has helped. :)

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My webinar slide presentation
(use Slide Show mode to see full animations):

“…Sources today informed us that the Obama Administration has made a significant amendment to their Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) – they have added a requirement that all credit card companies must allow online Recent Activity data to be integrated into Facebook and/or Twitter feeds.

The goal is to allow consumers to use their online friends to help encourage them to achieve better debt management practices, by letting them see their friends’ credit card usage, and either praise positive behavior (like making a payment larger than the minimum balance) or chastise negative behavior (liking buying a Mac when a PC could have gotten the job done for less money).

Sources say this could soon be extended to credit score reporting agencies as well - soon online friends might start seeing messages like “John Smith’s credit score changed today: +12 points!”, to which they can respond with encouraging comments in their Facebook and Twitter feeds.

“We believe that Americans can help each other help themselves,” said a government spokesperson, “and that current technology provides great opportunities to do so in the area of social networking…”

Response to this amendment has so far been positive, as consumers have begun to see the importance of managing their finances, and allowing their friends to help them do it…”

Yes, this is a joke – I repeat, a JOKE.  (the whole Mac vs Pc comment should have given it away). :)  But what do you think – should it be a joke, or does that sound like a good idea?  Hmmmm….

This week I was a speaker at a SharePoint event in Columbus, Ohio, where local business & technical professionals gathered to share their respective experiences with SharePoint.  I spoke on the use of MOSS 2007 at the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

I don’t know why it requires a Mac-mocking message to materialize before I will pull myself out of a 3-month blog-posting slump.  But when I saw the article regarding the researcher who broke into a fully patched MacBook machine, my blog fingers started itching, and I couldn’t resist. :)

The article can be summarized with the following classic quote:

“…Hacking into Macs is so much easier. You don’t have to jump through hoops and deal with all the anti-exploit mitigations you’d find in Windows….”

He basically goes on to give the impression that the Mac has hardly any defensive mechanisms in place at the operating system level – as a hacker, exploiting Macs is easy for him because there’s “almost no hurdle to jump through”.  Priceless.

So, this falls right in line with my previous post about Macs needing antivirus software.  Day after day, the machine touted for being so reliable and secure keeps getting its frailty exposed.  And now it seems like Apple is taking their “it just works” mantra to the next level – they seem to say that not only will it work easily for the end user, but also for the hacker – come on in, we won’t get in your way… we’ll let you do what you need to do.  LOL

The scariest part in my opinion is that I think most Mac users are buying their own hype so much, they won’t realize the danger and take the necessary precautions until it’s too late.  However, unlike the antivirus issue, there may not be much they can do about this newest exploit.  Remember, this MacBook was fully patched.

Now I’ve got to look at my mac Mini and wonder – is she the weak link in my network security?  Do I need to take her offline to protect my PC’s???  Well, since I’ve still been unable to find a practical way to work my mac Mini into my cyber lifestyle, I guess yanking the plug on her would also be “easy to do”.  :)

So, I figured I’d join the ranks of those who are trying out the new Beta of Windows 7.  So I fired up a VPC and gave it a shot.  I only messed with it for about a half hour, so this is just some initial thoughts:

• Install process and time to install was good – seemed pretty quick.  Loads fast.
• For the most part, it feels just like Vista. (which for me is a good thing, since I like Vista) 
• It kinda felt like the new taskbar was a rip-off of the Mac taskbar.  Usually I’m okay with Windows ‘borrowing’ good ideas, but I never did like that Mac taskbar.
• For some reason, I haven’t yet been able to experience the “full-screen taskbar previews” or the “invisible windows to see your desktop” stuff.  Either I haven’t enabled something, or maybe it’s got something to do with me running virtually?
• Do I need Outlook installed before I can view email metadata?  I threw a few .msg files in there hoping all the metadata would be magically exposed with what I assumed is a ramped up Search engine.  Nothing new so far.

It’s a little early for a final verdict, but I guess the good news is that it ‘feels’ at least as good as Vista.  I’ll give it a little more time to see when it starts to feel better.