Vista.On.Merdeka

Selamat Hari Merdeka!!! Today is Malaysia's 49th birthday.

Woke up at 10:00AM this morning after watching some Korean war movie last night that lasted until 1:30AM. Then went back to my room to check and reply mails. Don't know why I was so hyper last night... uh, I mean this morning. I have not been sleeping so late for quite sometime.

Decided to try out Windows Vista Build 5536 Pre-RC1 on my Presario X1000. I'm curious how it performs on my hubby. Before I install, I ran the upgrade advisor and it tells me that Aero Glass isn't going to work. I knew that already since my hubby doesn't have a DirectX 9 graphics card.

I went on with the installation and everything looks good but when the installation is done, my whole display went fuzzy with horizontal lines all over my screen. Then I realized, "Darn it! The ATI Graphics driver is busted!"

Booting up in safe mode was ok and it tells me that there was a resource conflict with my AGP controller. I suspected that wasn't the cause because the conflict is probably due to the default VGA driver. Braving through the fuzzy lines (thank Buddha I can still read what is on the screen), I managed to uninstall the driver but that didn't help as Vista smartly reinstalls it when I reboot. ARGH!!!

Disabling the AGP controller seem to do the job but it uses the standard VGA driver instead and I couldn't update it. Finally, I extracted the ATI Radeon drivers for XP and brave through the distorted display again to update the driver. This time everything worked fine. Yeah! Vista Vista Baybee!!!

Performance is pretty good in this build although it still sucks up 460MB of RAM upon boot-up. I left all the diagnostics and error reporting services on because I wanted to share my pain with the guys in Redmond. ;) Most of the fancy animations are still around in Aero Basic, just no transparent stuff and Flip 3D.

Out of curiosity, I ran the performance rating and I got the following score.


1.0 - Hahaha! But what surprised me was that my Intel Centrino 1.5 GHz processor scored the same as the 2.0 GHz on my office notebook and my 2GB RAM scored better than the 2GB RAM on my office notebook. The rest all are lower because my office notebook is running on a NVidia GeForce GO 6600 128MB RAM and a 5400 RPM HDD. I ran the tests again on both machines and the results returned the same. No applications were running when the tests were on.

Should be running on Vista from now on if everything works ok.

Conference.Call.Parody

Check out this funny parody on international conference calls.

My.First.MOSS.Project

Completed my first Office SharePoint Server 2007 engagement yesterday. It was a three weeks project to build some collaboration portals. I had the chance to play with InfoPath Form Services and use Office SharePoint Designer to develop some simple workflows.

As usual, the last day of an engagement is always the saddest. My customer, now my friend, has just got used to me being around and I had to say good-bye already. She kept asking why my boss cannot let me extend for another week. Sigh! Other IT staff also abit sad to see me go.

Now come Monday, I will be waiting for my next assignment. I hope I can get some .NET projects to do.

TechEd.2006.SEA

This year, I'll be presenting at ...

on the topic - OFC243: Integrating Workflows with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 in the Messaging & Collaboration Track.

I will be discussing the integration of Windows Workflow Foundation into Office SharePoint Server 2007 at a high level and walkthrough the various levels of workflow development. I will also be demonstrating how to use the Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to develop no-code workflows, and use Visual Studio 2005 to develop more advanced workflows.

Hope to see you in the event.

Hokkien.Fly

Went to SS3 for lunch with a friend today. Not knowing what is good to eat, I turned to her for advice, "What's good here ah?" She replied, "You can try their Hokkien Fly, not bad."

I stopped for a while and looked at her. The we both laughed all the way to the table. She meant to say, Hokkien Fried Noodle.

Nasi.Lemak.Story

Yesterday, I had nasi lemak for lunch at my customer's place together with a few of their IT department staff. It was some surplus from a training and they didn't want it to go to waste. I didn't know why I took it yesterday since I have stopped nasi lemak for a few years now after my slimming program. I actually had my usual sandwich packed for lunch and was thinking to have that instead. But since my customer was so kind (and persuasive), I decided to give face a bit lah.

Everything was fine in the afternoon, until I started to have gas in my stomach. I was burping and burping and burping. (Luckily, they were *little* burps and not *BiG ONEs!*). "Strange", I said to myself. I didn't had any soda when I took my lunch but it feels as if I have drank a lot of soda. Then I feel like I want to pangsai (*poopee*).

After finishing my work, I went to my customer to see if she is ready to go home together and she was complaining of gas as well. Then another guy said he felt uneasy either.

This morning at 2:00AM, I woke up in the middle of the night with stomach cramps and rushed to the toilet. Fu-Lau-Eh! Then 7:00 AM, woke up again to rush to the toilet. Then 8:00 AM. Wah! Non-stop pangsai. Then got sms from my customer. She told me she also went to toilet whole night 7 times. The other guy also sick. Damn! Confirmed food-poisoning liow.

I asked her, who else took it. She said, "There were 35 packs of nasi lemak so all the 35 people should kena (get it) also." Crazy man, mass food-poisoning. Come Monday, my customer sure kena tembak (shoot) wan. But not her fault actually cos someone else tar-pao (packed) the food for her.

Aiyah... why I so wai-sek leh? If I stick to my sandwich, then I probably won't be sick now lor. My customer said, as compensation, she will bring me to eat much better nasi lemak after we recover wor. Eeee.... dowan er. Scared oledi.

Service.Factory.HOL

The Hands-on-Labs for Web Service Software Factory is now available. You can download it from the gotdotnet workspace.

End.2.End

Just to share something hilarious that my friend told me today...

Developer: "I can't work on this requirement. I need some help."
My Friend: "Well, what help do you need?"

Developer: "I need an end-to-end code sample."
My Friend: "You can have it when the product is done!"

Good.Work

"Good work is delivered through the heart and not through the
hands."

The.Clouded.Path

Something has been bugging me for a while and I thought to share it - maybe get some advice. About six weeks back I was asked to take-up SharePoint and due to utilization pressure, I had no choice but to oblige. Day-in-day-out, I tried my best to pickup the product and tried to convince myself that it is OK to go ahead. However, a reality check on myself today made me realized that my job satisfaction is wearing thin.

Today, I had spent almost half-a-day on designing and converting PowerPoint templates and uploading them to document libraries. My job for the past days had also been clicking and configuring stuffs. To some people, it maybe interesting, but for me, I say that it is a complete waste of my skills (and time).

I should be working on something that is more aligned with my experiences. For example, I was researching on how to generate architecture-compliant code with the Guidance Automation Toolkit previously. If successful, it could enable architects to automate the creation of their code components (i.e. data access components, entities and etc.). Basically, it is putting the theory into practice by eliminating tedious repetitive job.

There are many things that I wanted to learn. Among them were Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Visual Studio Team System and the Patterns & Practices guidances. I believe these knowledge will further increase my capacity in bringing greater value to customers. However, majority of my time is currently concentrated on picking up SharePoint because I need to grow my expertise in the area.

SharePoint 2007 is a great product. Great feature enhancements over the previous versions but it is not something that I would like to build my career on. I'm saying that only because I know I could do something else better and that is .NET architecture. I strongly feel that application architecture and software development are my roots.

I was quite depressed when I discovered that we have VSTS Rangers while I was in Seattle. Rangers are experts who have proven their technical knowledge in the field. I can't stop thinking that should I be given the opportunity, I could have done it as well. Afterall, I'm blessed with a good mix of experience - CMM style of project management and a developer's background. Having these knowledge allows me to easily switch back-and-forth between agile and formal practices. But I had not touched VSTS since it left beta and my skills had rusted.

I also realized that during my diversion to SharePoint, I'm missing a lot of developments and learning opportunities in .NET. Yesterday, a senior had asked me to help review something on SQL CLR Integration. He told me that he thought of me when the word .NET came up. However, when I looked at it, I realized how much I did not know about the subject. But how can this be? It is .NET and it is SQL Server 2005 - both were my core.

The problem with technical knowledge is that somehow, it vaporizes when we don't use/practice it - just like math. And given the limited time, we can only invest that much on learning up new technologies for our work. There are just too many "leaking barrels to fill".

The diversifications are diluting my skills and breaking my focus. It has also created an internal conflict within myself - the thing I do no longer aligns to the career I envisioned. I guessed it is all about what I want to do vs. what I need to do. I had always known my passion. I just need someone to discover my potential.

VSTS.MSF.Event

For those who are interested in VSTS and MSF, do check-out the following event. David Anderson is flying all the way here to give the talk on MSF.

Software Management Methodologies and Best Practices – A Business Case…

Event Details
Date : 22 August 2006 ( Tuesday )
Time : 9.00am - 12.30 pm
Venue : Microsoft Auditorium East, Level 29 (Petronas Twin Tower 2)

Agenda
9.00 am – 10.30 am : Microsoft Solutions Framework Overview: Leveraging Microsoft’s best practices (David Anderson)

10.30 am – 10.45 am : Break

10.45 am – 12.00 pm : Best practices in Software Development & Architecture using Visual Studio Team System (Aaron Tan)

12.00 pm – 12.30 pm : Q & A

12.30 pm – 1.30 pm : Lunch

Recommended Audience : CxOs, Technical VPs, Senior IT Managers

Registration : Please register with the Microsoft Account Managers or Technical Account Managers to attend the event.

Microsoft Solutions Framework overview:
Leveraging Microsoft’s best practices for planning, building, and deploying a variety of technology solutions. Consistently delivering high-quality technology solutions on time and on budget is challenging for any business. Does your organization need to quickly implement the Microsoft® Solutions Framework (MSF) as an effective process to coordinate and control your IT and software projects? Learn how Microsoft and other organizations around the world have used MSF solution to more effectively manage IT and software projects.

Best practices in Software Development & Architecture using Visual Studio Team System:
This session will cover the solutions to the problems faced by each of the roles in the typical software development team that includes: Project Sponsor, Business Owner, Project Manager, Solution Architect, Software Architect, Infrastructure Architect, Developer & Tester. It will highlight the benefits and capabilities on how VSTS can enhance team communication & collaboration among different stake holders and roles in the project team.

Sudoku

Have always been curious about it and today, I'm finally introduced to it by my customer. She recommended this site for me to train up. So far, I managed to solved 2 puzzles. Looks like I'm getting the hang of it.

InfoPath.Form.URL.Not.Valid

While working on InfoPath 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Beta 2) the other day, I've encountered a strange error. I get the following error whenever I try to publish my InfoPath form:



It says "The following URL is no valid". No matter what URL is entered, the same error will appear. After struggling on it for half-a-day, a colleague of mine finally managed to solve it (Thanx buddy!). The solution is to stop the System Event Notification service.



Everything should work accordingly after that.

Random.Clicks

Here are some random 'clicks' from my Seattle trip. I didn't take much pictures this time due to lack of sleep and the tight schedule. I somehow felt that my first trip was more exciting. There were many pictures which I took that did not come out well due to my shaky hands. :(

This is the room that sheltered me for a night in Changi. It is a bit small but anything beats sleeping on the couch in the airport right?. As you can see, I'm quick to make myself at home *blush*.

This store caught my attention while I was walking around in Narita. These are Yukatas (notice the ribbon in front) and not kimonos. They look pretty good actually and they come in children sizes too (notice the little one on the bottom right). The other picture which I took that has both the adult and children sizes in focus was very blur. Really makes me imagine a mom taking her little daughter out and both were in the same outfit.

They also have T-shirts but not really my type. Donno what the words mean. For ninjas maybe. *HeHe*
I stayed in the Sheraton this time which is just a block away from the convention centre. So it is very convenient for me as I can walk there and back anytime (Saved some sleeping time too!). This is just a shot I took from the main entrance of the hotel. There are lots of shops across the street.

I was fascinated by the huge chessboard during the Welcome reception. I think it is harder to play because everything is so big and it is a little difficult to get a complete view of the board at one glance. The pool tables behind there were fully occupied. Don't really dare to challenge them. *Gulp*

Donno what to eat for dinner. All my colleagues were out enjoying themselves, my roommate had a group party and I am too lazy to go anywhere on my own. So, I called up room service and they recommended this - Sheraton Club Sandwich. I forgot to ask them for half-size. Beneath those chips were the other half of the sandwich. I end-up finishing the bread and the vegetables, leaving the turkey and all the bacon behind.

Here's a close-up to let you see how big it is per piece. Notice it is a 'double decker' - equivalent to a Big Mac. Without the meat, I'm able to finish it. Otherwise, it will be like eating 4 Big Macs!

Same fate on the third night. Too lazy and tired to go out. Need to prepare for my exam. This time, I ordered Chicken Wrap and had no problems finishing it. It was not as big as the club sandwich. I noticed they serve the dishes with chips instead of fries (although the menu says fries). I'm not a fan of fries, so the chips were fine for me. Infact better!

Here's a closer look on what's inside. Taste not bad. I kinda like it.

I was walking around the convention centre and noticed a few people were having these. Not wanting to be left out *kiasu*, I also grabbed one. It is a GiANT cookie. It is bigger than my palm and it taste good. The picture is a bit blur because I took it too near. It will be nice if we have these giant cookies at home.

On the fifth day, I visited the pier and I saw this building - Edgewater. I don't know whether it is an apartment or a hotel. Looks more like a hotel to me since all the balconies looked very consistent.
This is the boat-ride that I missed. It was fully booked. They did extend the schedule to 11:00 PM but what is there to see at night wor. Sigh! Can only watch from the pier *Sob* *Sob*

I always wondered what do these little box noodles taste like after watching them on movies (i.e. Rush Hour). I finally got the chance to try them out and *Bluigh* it tasted awful. I had the impression that they may taste something like our instant cup noodle but the taste is really weird. It is sour! Oh! How I wished I could have a plate of Kwong-Fu-Chao (Cantonese Fried Noodle) instead!

Some Japanese musicians playing Sakura.... sakura... *jinggles along*

Finally found someone to take a photo for me. As you can see, my hair is a bit messed up. It has been a long day for me. I look like a China-mui don't I?

And the people down there... (brace yourself), they are all Microsofties!

We can actually see the city from here. This is how it looks like from the pier. Everyone is just waiting for the boat-ride. *Grrr*

Model ships displayed at the museum. There were lots of them (but they all look the same to me *HeHe*).

The guys seemed to be fascinated with this. A model terrain where you can design your own water dam and sail your own toy-boat. Noticed the shark lying sideways of the left? I bet if the water level rises to a certain level, the shark should be able to swim. The water didn't flow to this part of the model because the guys have blocked off the water supply in the other parts.








I went back to the hotel after visiting the museum not knowing that I missed the Dragon Dance and Fire-boat show. *Sobs*

SharePoint.Workflow.Templates

I've managed to solve the mystery of the missing SharePoint Workflow templates in the Enterprise Content Management Starter Kit. The workflow templates were indeed included in the ECM Starter Kit and the reason why they were not properly installed was because my Visual Studio 2005 installation path was D:\Program files\Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and the ECM Starter Kit had installed the templates to D:\Program files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8 .

To rectify the problem, I will just need to copy the contents over to my Visual Studio 2005 installation folder and run devenv /setup at the Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt. The SharePoint Workflow templates should be available in the New Projects dialog the next time Visual Studio 2005 is restarted.

Hope this helps anyone who had faced the same problems as me.