It took a little longer than expected to get ready, but it's here. Head on over to Extended64.com to see the guide. It includes an MSI file with some simple tools that will help you switch between the 32-bit and 64-bit shell, as well as make working in the 32-bit shell a bit easier. At this point I'm still labelling this as an experimental hack and nothing more. If you don't understand what you're doing, don't do it! Wait until braver souls have tried it out and found all the issues that I may have...

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Dare wrote a post with the title Microsoft Missing the Boat on Programming Language Trends. Coincidentally (or not? Maybe Dare read my mind) - I was preparing to write an entry with almost exactly the same title! My topic is a bit different. Dare wrote about how Microsoft has neglected certain types of languages (scripting, VB, etc), and appears to have been inspired by Chris Anderson's post. I'm certain that they're both right. No doubt about it, Microsoft has been blindly focused on C# (and to...

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For some reason it was making my blog load really really slowly sometimes. Unfortunately I'm kind of limited in terms of places where I can put it seeing as I don't own the server, and only work with the tools they so graciously provide me :) But yeah, performance for those that come by way of browser should be improved

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http://desktop.msn.com Download away :) Also, http://addins.msn.com is up as well. 64-bit users will find that Windows x64 Editions are not supported in this release. HOWEVER: Watch here or Extended64.com for more on that

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Microsoft/MSN will be releasing their new MSN Toolbar along with what is now called “Windows Desktop Search” within the next few hours. I've been working with near-final bits for a little while now (as part of the Search Champs program) and I must say I'm very impressed with how they've listened to customer feedback and incorporated changes so very quickly. Examples: -The “Prioritize Indexing“ option, so that those of us with excess computing power can have the index always...

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If you remember my Search Champs trip, you might remember that Seattle was uncharacteristically lacking of percipitation. Having watched Weather.com over the last few days, I've been given the impression that it's been pretty rainy here since then. It's a lie. The weather is perfect today. As far as I'm concerned, it never rains in Seattle. They just want you to think that. The forecast says no rain tomorrow or Thursday, but then four years of flooding right after I leave. Okay, maybe not four years,...

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Here are a few things that I'm working on: 1) A simple plug-and-play add-in that you can use to build a Windows application that hosts results from MSN's desktop search, as I've shown in screenshots before. 2) A package that makes MSN's desktop search much more useful on Windows x64 systems. I'm looking into options for achieving shell integration with 64-bit Explorer (Deskbar, etc). I should be able to have a basic 64-bit deskbar soon, but without the advanced shortcut functionality (it will initially...

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But I haven't been completely non-productive:

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It looks like a Toshiba design engineer ran out of time in developing the new Tecra M4, and decided to just hit the “zoom” button while looking at the M200 spec and submit that instead. That's the new Tecra, here's the original M200: Oh okay, if you look closely, it looks like the buttons on the screen were reversed. Still, I think this is a good example of not changing the formula when it already works so darn well...

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Buzz Bruggerman blogs, “What’s in a vanity search? Or why are the numbers so far off?” He mentions that Google returns a much larger number of total results for his name (as well as several others) in quotes, ie. “Buzz Bruggerman” returns 24,100 results on Google and only 4,079 results on MSN Search. But more interestingly, neither engine lets you see all of those results that it supposedly found! In his case, Google did still show a greater number of results (about...

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One of the three parallel IDE drives remaining in my computer is dying. I’m not sure which at the moment, since they’re all in a span array and I’m more concerned with getting all of my precious music and videos off of them. I’d been meaning to do it for some time, knowing that at least one of those drives had been acting funny and that the disk span was, well, fault intolerant. But I just kept putting it off. Well, today, after a spree of delayed-write failed messages, the...

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About an hour after I suggested a “Windows Champs” event, Scoble blogs about Team 99. He’s asking for his readers to nominate members/invitees for this event (I’ve already suggested a few myself) over at Channel 9...

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