Blogging

Windows Live Writer Goes Mobile

Chris Haaker — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:19:29 GMT

Windows Live Writer for Windows Mobile has been released in alpha on CodePlex. I am going to fire it up later on today and see how it runs. If it is even has as nice as the desktop version I am going to be psyched.

Gearing Up for PDC 2008

Chris Haaker — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:16:29 GMT

Having not ever been to the PDC before, only TechEd (x9), MEC (x2) and WWPC (x2), and I am curious to attend my first one. I have also never been to LA before so this should be a double mint of traveling pleasure. I hope I see some celebrities eating ice cream at a sidewalk cafe like in the magazines my wife always reads! :) Plus I love me some Mexican food and there has to be some good stuff in LA!

I started up the TweetDeck filter for PDC and there is a lot of traffic and a good buzz going already. The weather looks to be nice as well, and since it is getting tres cold here in Ohio some more extended warmth will do me good.

I am looking forward to all the sessions on the cloud services, mesh, soa, windows seven and anything architecture and messaging related. If anyone wants to chime in the comments with some tips on the PDC feel free.

I have missed the last two TechEd so I am also happy to see the GWB team again and say hi. Less than a week away! Moo.

Technorati Tags: PDC,PDC2008,Microsoft,LA,Los Angeles,TechEd,TweetDeck

Still Searching for a Good Mac OS X Blog Editor

Chris Haaker — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:37:57 GMT

I am writing this post using the ScribeFire Firefox plug-in. I am still on the lookout for a blog editor that come close to all the features and ease of use found in Microsoft's LiveWriter - but runs on Mac OS X. I have found some close ones -- MarsEdit and X -- but their big achilles heel is that they don't recognize SharePoint blogs running on MOSS 2007 (sp1 or otherwise). Natch Microsoft would build support in to its tool - no one else does though. And I will be damned if I can find a way to manually configure it to work. Grrrr

Technorati Tags: MarsEdit, ScribeFire, LiveWriter

My Shared Links Feeds From Google Reader

Chris Haaker — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:44:52 GMT

I have switched over to Google Reader (after being a long time FeedDemon user) and am loving the browser-based access anywhere experience. While FeedDemon had great offline reading abilities, if I switched computers I was out of luck. It also doesn't have a sweet Blackberry reading option as does the web-based Google Reader.

Part of this switch also means that instead of laboriously re-posting items I want to share to my blog I can SHIFT + S and easily add them to my shared feed. You can read it in a web view or subscribe to the RSS feed. Be warned: these are things I find interesting. Mileage may vary!

Aggreg8: Exchange Working Group

Chris Haaker — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 22:32:31 GMT

I have started for some time now an Exchange working group on the Microsoft\Culminis community site Aggreg8. It now has a decent amount of traffic and conversation with lots of questions posted that many in the Exchange community may find helpful. You may also be able to share your experience with others. Please stop by and take a look. I can also give out some invitations if they are needed. Leave a comment.

Update: Okay, so while traffic spiked I had been remiss in looking at post dates - nothing since 11/2006! Let's get the posting back up!

Need to Explain RSS to Your Mom or Dad?

Chris Haaker — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:55:09 GMT

Point them here. This is a great 2 minute explanation on how to set up a reader and subscribe to feeds. No computers were harmed in the making of this video.

River of Mail?

Chris Haaker — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:58:00 GMT

In the world of RSS and newsreaders there is a war of preferences going around over how people prefer to read their feeds. Categorized by feed, type of feed, or as a “river of news.” In other words first in, first displayed, in a long list and you simply scan top-to-bottom. I have tried both and IMO both have merit. River of news lets you see everything in an instant, and I find it useful for quickly locating important event. Then I read the “normal” stuff later on. When I am ready to consume all my news, I prefer to read by feed as I find it more efficient not having my brain change cylinders from sports to tech to music item by item. I can keep it focused as I read a whole collection of news at once.

Now that I am piloting Vista and Office 2007 with integrated Desktop Search support, I wondered if this approach can work for mail as well. For as long as I can remember, I created a hierarchal folder system in Outlook and sorted my mail manually or with rules in to “buckets” of knowledge. If I needed an email from my boss, I knew exactly which folder to go look for it in. Perhaps the days of all those folders are past? Why not just keep all of my mail in one folder and allow the powerful properties of search to help me easily locate a message? On an enterprise level, I have a feeling there is some power here as well. Why the need to memorize or bookmark obscure URL’s or UNC paths? Index the enterprise and search for it. This isn’t a new idea, but it is one that the technology can finally support. Why do so few use it. Is it such a shift – to feel that all your data is just out there – unorganized – willy-nilly? I can see search driving the control freaks crazy. How do you really know everything is as or where it should be unless you look in your neat little file folder system and see it sitting there?

So this is what I am experimenting with now. As an Exchange administrator, I know having thousands of mail items in my Inbox will eventually catch up with me. However, email archiving should prevent me from feeling the ill effects of this. I have already cast off my PST shackles and imported them in to the archive. My precious PST’s! Right now it is taking some getting used to seeing all my alerts, MOM messages, personal and business emails floating in one folder. I want to see where this goes however. No zero mail inbox here! I haven’t been disciplined enough to do this with my files yet on my laptop. That is next though. Even though I remember to use Vista’s awesome search capabilities when I need a document, they are all still neatly organized in their safe little folder in Documents - One thing at a time.

Windows Live Writer Wishes

Chris Haaker — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:48:00 GMT

I have been using Windows Live Writer since it was released (sorry BlogJet!) and have been generally very happy with it. I have two wishes for anyone on the product team that may be listening out in the blogosphere:

Add a way to export the blog account settings. This will allow me to easily get my accounts back in when I reinstall my OS. If you can export the preferences (and all my pings) that would be great too!
Add a menu entry to check for updates to the program. I hate having to depend on blog entries to find out when a utility has released an update. This software isn't major enough to hit the mainstream blogs and I don't want to track a blog for each piece of software I use on a regular basis. Let it check for me in the background when I fire it up.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Writer, Live Writer

And Now Back to Exchange ...

Chris Haaker — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 23:55:00 GMT

A week out of the blogosphere feels good - and a refreshing way to recharge the batteries! Of course, now I have to wade through 700+ news items. I have not removed my laptop from its bag since December 22nd. It was hard at times, but I made it.

I noticed a lot of people are getting their blogs in a knot over Microsoft giving out some review laptops loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate to select bloggers. I wasnt selected so it is hard for me to be anything but envious. On the other hand, I find it hard to critisize the fruits of others hard labor. Will their view be influenced or slanted? Only time will tell. It would be extremely short sighted of them to compromise their blog's integrity for a laptop. In the long run reader's are savvy enough to tell posturing from the truth and then they will have no traffic or credability. Will they fabricate good reviews or old back on criticism? Again, I think no, they wont. I dont think (hope) they would trade a few not-from-the-heart blog posts for the next ~~gift~~ review unit to come down the river.

The week between now and January 8th when my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes will dismantle the University of Florida Gators seems like an eternity. Why the extra week? Why? You are only allowing more time for a student-athelete to do something ~~stupid~~ ill-advised and get themselves disqualified from the big game.

PS Notre Dame will continue its streak of losing in bowl games.

I have about five extra pounds to shed thanks to the holidays. My committment is to lose 45 lbs. by my birthday in June. I swear it! :) I have had success in the past, but I have also had success in putting it all back on. I have to be strong of mind and body to make this work.

And now Back to Exchange! Exchange 2007 is now available for download on MSDN and TechNet Plus Direct.

Technorati tags: Exchange 2007, MSDN, TechNet Plus, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Buckeyes, Acer, Vista, Windows Vista

Flickr Down and Out

Chris Haaker — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 21:39:00 GMT

Something weird is going on over at Flickr. Could just be a blip, perhaps something has crashed? All the photos in my blog linked to my Flickr account cannot be viewed and when I sign in I get the resulting screenshot . . . odd.

Technorati tags: Flickr, Flickr Outage