Once upon a time, a Microsoft employee said that UAC was designed to annoy people, thus encouraging people (and systems administrators) to bug application developers and get those developers to fix their use of resources in Windows. Well, it seems that one company actually went backwards, making its application more annoying than it used to be.

Of course, I’m talking about Java.

I figured I would turn Java into an example of what not to do when designing something for Windows before uninstalling it. Since Sun Microsystems clearly has no idea how to develop for Windows Vista, I’m going to direct them to this wonderful page.

I highlighted the single switch present in the command which indicates the problem: “-auto”. UAC prompts should never be automatically launched without informing the user prior to launching one. It’s very plain and very simple, and when developers start writing applications which throw consent prompts without any obvious reason as to why, they’re clearly doing something wrong.

Worse yet, Java Automatic Update decides to tell me after I click Cancel that it wants to update.

This bubble should be thrown first, followed by launching the consent prompt should the user decide to update. Doing it the other way around is mindblowingly stupid. It’s not exactly an easy thing to screw up, either, so I’m chalking this one up either to developers not knowing what they’re doing or developers testing UAC out for the heck of it to see how many people obey random UAC prompts.

If you’re seeing this, I highly encourage you to click Cancel. Better yet, go ahead and uninstall Java. That’s what I did.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going off to celebrate my birthday away from random UAC prompts.

DreamSpark is one of those relatively-awesome-yet-equally-as-known initiatives from Microsoft. Yeah, plenty of people know about it, especially many up-and-coming developers who happen to be the intended audience, but there are also others who could easily benefit. I always manage to run into an IT or CS student who has no idea about DreamSpark until I tell the person, and once they see it, it’s like this treasure trove of lightbulbs turns on in the person’s mind.

For those who don’t know, DreamSpark throws free software at students (after verifying their student-hood, of course). I previously wrote about using DreamSpark to get and use a free OS in place of Vista over here.

Now, keeping the awesomeness of DreamSpark in mind, Expression 3 was only very recently released. A number of threads have popped up on the internet, with the most notable first result for me being this thread on Channel 8. Coupled with requests from other students I personally know as well as faculty from schools near the DC area (thanks for reading, guys!), I figured I’d look into it.

There’s good news, and there’s the news which isn’t exactly bad. I’ll spill the news which isn’t exactly bad first.

There’s no official target date on getting Expression Studio 3 up on DreamSpark, nor will it be available in July, nor is the target timeframe a certainty or guarantee. There; that’s the news which isn’t exactly bad.

The good news: the target timeframe is still before the point when classes start for many of you. The word, as given by a Microsoft spokesperson, is that a “target timeframe would be [the] end of August.”

If you can’t wait ‘til then, go grab Expression Studio 2 from DreamSpark right now. Otherwise, show some patience, be awesome, and grab Expression Studio 3 once it drops for you guys for free in a month. Cheers to dreamers at Channel 8 for holding out, and I’ll have an update for people once a specific date has been settled upon.

This topic is way too technical and/or boring to be an April Fool’s joke. Sorry. ~Devin

While researching to make sure my computer wouldn’t explode at exactly 12:00AM on Wednesday, I happened to see on that site that to check a server’s time, you can look up HTTP information via telnet (Note: This will only work on computers running Windows XP or below. Windows Vista and Windows 7 do not include telnet by default).

While examining these headers, I happened to see something very interesting with the site I tried: the very popular MSN.com.

Check after the break for an analysis along with other targets.
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This post was originally supposed to be about why blu is faster with WPF, hence the tweet in the image, but after some digging, an equally unusual happening supplanted my original purpose for this post. If you decide to download blu, feel free to follow me as well; blu is a fine application if you don’t mind the occasional random crashing.

When Vista was being developed, the ability to magnify WPF vector graphics was included as an accessibility feature: vectors scaled in the magnifier on a WPF app would be easier to see and read, thus making this feature highly beneficial for those with diminishing sight. However, down the road, the WPF guys decided to scratch this feature in SP1.

Now, before I start, it’s best to know what vector graphics are. Outside the usual jokes about vectors thrown around during the Longhorn days when Aero Diamond managed to be a very persistent rumor, not many people actually understand the benefits of vector graphics over raster images (or, for that matter, what a vector graphic even is).

• Raster images are built pixel-by-pixel stacked like brickwork to generate an image. Because of this, raster images aren’t any good once you start zooming in and seeing the individual pixels. Generally, raster images are great for photographs simply because there’s far too much detail to be captured through points and lines, which brings us to vectors.
• Vector graphics, on the other hand, are built using a series of points connected together by way of instructions for various types of lines. Along with fill, effect, and other instructions generally used to make things look pretty, that’s really all a vector graphic is. Because of this, vector graphics are great for web graphics and other computer-generated things which don’t require photographic precision (Corporate logos are a great example).  Thanks to the fact that vector graphics are rendered upon request, they’re infinitely scalable; all you’re doing when scaling a vector graphic is scaling the math behind the scenes.

Here’s the thing: this feature was supposedly nixed from Vista SP1, but before I found out about this, I tried scaling blu in the magnifier. The text scaled just fine, while the rest of the app did not (though this second bit could just be due to how blu was designed). I tested this out in Windows 7 and found that vector scaling in the magnifier was also kept out of Windows 7, as you can see by the fact that the text in blu is not magnified in Windows 7’s magnifier.

Well, if you take a look at the leading image at the top of this post, you’ll clearly see that vector scaling works in Vista SP1 at least with text (the unmagnified app is to the left).

Anyone have any ideas? I should note that I am on Vista SP1, and I do have .net 3.5 installed.

Yesterday, I took a look at the varying perspectives taken with regards to the Zune 30 debacle. Today, I’ll take a look at what exactly led the Zune 30s to freeze. If you’d like to see the code for the entire driver, click here.

Below the fold lies a sufficiently sized code sample with everything you’ll need to understand what happened with the Zune 30 bug.

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The wide world that is the internet may have successfully convinced you that Microsoft just released this wonderful, mystical new blogging front-end for use on ASP.NET servers (Windows hosting, for those of you who just grab shared plans and run with them rather than learning nitty gritty details). There’s a problem with this interpretation of what Oxite is, and the fault lies with those who nearly emulated a recent Saturday Night Live Short with the Oxite announcement. To be fair, part of the fault lay with the MIX Labs description of Oxite, but that has since been mostly corrected. Update: or not. MIX Online still calls it “an open source, standards compliant, and highly extensible content management platform that can run anything from blogs to big web sites.”

What is Oxite? First of all, it’s not a competitor to Wordpress, MovableType, Drupal, or any other completed blogging front end or CMS. It’s not meant to be any of those. It’s meant to be a code sample, a foundation, a building block for those looking to create something like Wordpress for their own sites. According to Jeff Sandquist of Channel 8, 9, 10, and MIX Online fame, “it is a developer sample. period.”

On the other hand, these guys didn’t just toss it up there for no reason at all. Oxite was made public in order to encourage developers to do something with it. The only example that’s online right now is the site for MIX Online, though this could change once developers begin using Oxite as a base to build their own Microsoft-centric blogging/content platforms.

Basically, if you hate Community Server (who doesn’t?) and have some spare time and ASP.NET knowledge on your hands, Oxite might be just what you need. Even if it isn’t something you’ve had in mind, it’s a perfect base for a hobby project.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the news about Oxite, you can pick up the code sample at codeplex and you can see the MIX Online implementation of Oxite live. The single biggest benefit to Oxite is that, unlike Community Server which costs tons to implement and even more to maintain, building a solution atop Oxite costs far less in the long run for business and is far more safely extensible for everyone.

AeroXperience may host a contest for developers willing to work some magic with Oxite down the road, though this depends on the level of interest.

During my time at PDC, I managed to speak with many people knowledgeable about various aspects of Windows 7. One of these people was Dan Polivy, a lead on the team behind the new Windows 7 sensors framework which was mentioned a number of times during the old days when Windows 7 speculation was rampant. Dan and I carried an informative interview regarding a number of functions of the Windows 7 sensors framework, including topics such as how easy it might be for a user to receive sensor data from sensors which are plugged into the framework as well as what one could do with various forms of sensor data, such as locational input from WiFi triangulation and GPS signals.

If you’re a developer, watching this video would be a wise decision; we’re doing something special for those who watch, so stay tuned.

You can catch 720p and 1080p download links as well as an embedded version (via Vimeo) after the break. All videos are x264/MP3 in AVI containers.

Update (Sunday, Nov. 8, 2008): If you have yet to see the interview, a… “reasonably good incentive” embedded within the video is now live.

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For those wondering, Mike Nash is (according to his business card) the “Corporate Vice President” for “Windows Product Management.”

Mike held a small roundtable for a number of pressies. He gave a quick rundown of things you all basically already know, so I took the time to ask a few questions which kept you guys in mind. The questions I asked:

• What’s the difference between “API Complete” (build 6801) is and “Feature Complete” (Beta 1)?
• Why were lots of code samples and features being shown off for the Superbar at PDC when developers can’t develop for it? (Rafael’s extension of my API v. Feature Complete question)
• Why were the sensor demonstrations missing from the Windows 7 keynote today?

The answers to these questions can be found in the true-to-life* transcript after the break.

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Scott Guthrie and Brian Goldfarb held a conference call in the morning (Pacific time) and used their time to discuss the launch of Silverlight 2. I took part in the web conference and jotted down some quick things which are worth noting, though here are some worthy facts which you can take a quick gander at right now:

• Anyone on Silverlight 1 or Silverlight 2 Beta will be automatically upgraded to Silverlight 2.0 (as written in the EULA). I asked Scott if Windows Server Update Services can block Silverlight from auto-upgrading on a business network. Answer: Yes.
• Changes from RC0 are limited in scope, basically bug fixes and minor UI tweaks to some of the controls.
• Content can be DRM’d, which makes sense given Blockbuster’s willingness to embrace Silverlight as a platform.
• Eclipse IDE support!

To download Silverlight 2, simply head here. Catch more tidbits of Silverlight 2 goodness after the break.

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I kicked yesterday off talking about things which, hypothetically speaking, might be present in Windows 7 Milestone 3 based on what was in Milestone 1. I’m going to dedicate today’s followup serving of yam dip to something much more concrete.

I already mentioned the existence of Libraries. Based on what the technical fellows who used Vista Beta 1 know, if Libraries are anything like Virtual Folders, the feature will likely enjoy the frequent use and prominence that Virtual Folders enjoyed in Windows Vista Beta 1. Because of this, Libraries will likely be very well woven into Windows 7, thus making it exponentially more useful than Vista’s search folders. Examples of how this would be done:

• Libraries would be viewable and accessible as if they are normal folders. Whether this applies to applications as well as users is a good question, but if libraries could be treated by applications as normal folders, a whole host of possibilities would suddenly open themselves to developers.
• Paths could be relative or absolute, which trumps the usefulness of search folders altogether.
• It would be possible to manually add folders to libraries.
• A user will likely have default libraries for his pictures, videos, etc.

Integration would go beyond simple aesthetics. Logically, Homegroups could hypothetically support sharing libraries as opposed to folders simply because Libraries would inherently be more organized. A user may have many folders filled with pictures, but if all of those are in a “pictures” library, all of this user’s photos could then be shared over a homegroup just by sharing that one library.

On that wonderful note, since Libraries will likely be xml files interpreted by Explorer just like Virtual Folders were, let’s take a look at  what the basic structure of such an xml file could be after the break.

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