ZogBlog

I just came across this explaination of VS2005's outrageous pricing. I was writing my own post on this... but time caught up with me, and I couldn't have done a better job. Larkware definitely gets it right when they say: "only Microsoft would use the word "simplifies" in the headline of the press release that ultimately requires reading through a zillion Web pages and following flow charts to figure out."

I've seen this before, but the databases were either empty or were for just the Seattle area. Now, it appears that this one allows for the DC area. Sweet. So, as Scoble has done, here is my BlogMap. It's not as impressive as Scoble's (146), but it's not bad (54) for DC.

For giggles, I've even added the map to my blog template.

I happened across some free training on VS2005 today. Naturally, I could have just installed VS2005 and played with it at home (though I have been waiting for B2). Apparently Microsoft is providing a free demo of AppDev's Exploring ASP.NET 2.0 Using Visual C# 2005. This is a 250MB ISO that you have to download and then burn. Unfortunately, there isn't much in the way about C# 2.0, and in fact VB.NET is used in the first section. The real cool thing here is the walkthroughs of some the new IDE features and ASP.NET controls. Highly recommended... especially the third part where they show you how the IDE does not mangle your code now.

If you decide that you like it, AppDev is offering a 40% discount off the MSRP of $495 (so $297, a savings of $198) when you use the priority code WB00022. I'm guessing this is for MSDN members.