Chris Kirby's Inner Monolog : Software

If you use Pandora….

Chris Kirby — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:25:00 GMT

Then stop reading this and upgrade to Pandora One now! The Air desktop app is very nicely done and the higher bit rate (192k) really enhances the audio quality…though I’m not sure yet if it translates to the iPhone app. You also get a few smaller conveniences like unlimited skips and 5 hours of uninterrupted streaming, so really there’s just no good reason not to support Pandora and upgrade your shit.

Why I chose the new Zune over the iPod touch

Chris Kirby — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:45:00 GMT

Seems crazy right? I thought so at first considering that the iPod touch was probably the coolest gadget I've held in my hands to date. Not only was it thin, small, and of high quality build components but also had a revolutionary touch screen interface originally available only on the iPhone. With all that said, there were some things that just didn't work for me and my Windows centric lifestyle, and I ultimately decided to return it.

iTunes.
Is there a more bloated and clunky media application for Vista? I think not! it totally pukes on a library as large as mine (16,000 songs) and continually created system instability and crashes. I've literally spent countess hours uninstalling and reinstalling, trying to figure this out, but I think it simply comes down to poor support for a large network library of music (all my songs reside on a local file server connect via gigabit LAN). Previously I used alternative software like Anapod, but there is currently no support for the Touch. And even if it did, doesn't support podcasts and store bought music.

Windows Media Support.
The only way around this is was to literally have iTunes convert all of my wma tracks to aac audio files. Now, initially that wasn't a deal breaker for me, but considering I have over 4,000 wma files in my library, it turned out to be quite an overwhelming task. That, and I'm stuck with 4,000 duplicate tracks needed only for iTunes and the iPod. Third, its overall inability to integrate in to my tech lifestyle. Since the iPod touch is Internet enabled via its built-in 802.11 b/g, it has a couple of the killer iPhone features such as safari and YouTube. While initially great, this created too much gadget crossover for me since I already carry with me an 802.11 b/g and 3g enabled window mobile 6 smart phone which can do both of those things, though admittedly not as well. In addition to that, it has no support for my Xbox 360 (and I'm not talking about the crappy library sharing via iTunes, which does not work with network tracks btw) and no glimmer of future support for a subscription music service via iTunes or the wireless store on the iPod.

Storage And Cost.
The device itself was limited to about 14 gigs of flash storage and cost $400 bucks. At the end of the day, it was just too little and too much to justify.

Now on the the new Zune. I snagged one of the rare 80gb models last Tuesday at a Target near me, and have been very pleased with it thus far. For starters, its a LOT smaller that the old 30gb brick, with nearly 3x the storage capacity, and a cost of only $249 bucks. So already its off to a better start.

The Software.
The new Zune software is a significant upgrade from the original. The interface has been totally redesigned for the better and looks and acts as I would expect a Microsoft developed WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) app to, even though it unfortunately is not WPF based. The navigation is a clean as it comes, and actually reminds me of the iPod touch interface experience quite a bit, less the touch screen of course. The new features included with the software are complete podcast subscription support via Collection or the Zune Marketplace (finally!), integration with the new Social, and wireless synchronization over your local wifi network. The podcast support is great, as of now they have a growing catalog of choices via the marketplace, or you can add the rss feed directly in the podcast section of your collection. Best part is that all iTunes podcast feeds designed for the iPod will work natively on the Zune, no transcoding necessary! The Social has been beefed up as well, which now has a built in messaging system, a new Zune card which shows all your recently played tracks and music prefs to your friends, and has even tighter integration with my Xbox live gamer tag...e.g. friends list and shared MS points. All of that combined point to some pretty amazing things on the horizon for Zune and 360 owners...I'm already envisioning full marketplace and social integration with Xbox. Just imagine being able to stream your subscription music or Zune radio channels on your Xbox while playing some Halo 3! The wireless sync is a very nice feature as well, though when I did it for a fairly decent size sync, it ate most of my battery in the process.

The Hardware.
This time around its got some significant improvements. The most notable are the size and construction, the new touch sensitive dial, and the incredible premium headphones. The size seems half the foot print of the original, and Microsoft used some higher quality components on the exterior. Primarily the change to a glass screen instead of plastic, the extra .2 inches of screen real estate. On the inside they added chip support for MPEG-4 and H.264 a/v an updated wireless adapter which now supports wpa2 security, and a new hard drive that's smaller and allows for 30 hours of audio playback on one charge. The touch sensitive dial is a very nice addition as well, it works just as you would expect sliding in the direction you wish to navigate. It's also a convenient way to adjust the volume when playing music and video...you even have the option to turn it off if you don't care to use it. Lastly, the new included premium headphones were the real surprise for me. They are hands down the best in-ear headphones that I've ever seen included with a media device...and I've bought a lot of music and video players over the years. The earpieces themselves come with 3 sizes of ear fittings and magnetically stick together for storage, which is even more convenient then you would realize. Also, the cord for the headphones are wrapped in a thin rope vs your typical plastic casing, which makes them considerably more durable. Granted, they will not take the place of my uber expensive Bose noise canceling headphones, but they are an excellent and more portable alternative for certain situations.

Final thoughts.
Overall, I'm extremely happy with my decision. Not only did I save $150 bucks, but I now have a music player and software that tightly integrates with the OS and gaming platforms that I already use. And, as much as Apple has done to make the iPod at home on Windows, it just isn't enough to compete. And honestly, I don't think they care. They would much prefer and have certainly designed for their devices to function in their world of the Apple desktop and the Apple TV, which is fine considering the Zune is equally targeted to the Microsoft universe. Though, i would love to have one of those 17" Macbook Pro's running Leopard and Vista, they truly do make some, usually unrivaled, hardware.

Visual Studio 2008 is GOLD and available on MSDN!

Chris Kirby — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:22:22 GMT

The wait is over, and I still can't wait! The only issue I'm going have with the upgrade at this point is that Fortress is not going to support 2008 integration until version 1.1/4.1, which unfortunately is still several weeks out according to their support site. At least the folks at Jetbrains were on the ball...resharper already has experimental support for us immediate adopters.

Xbox 360 spring update...best yet

Chris Kirby — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:52:00 GMT

The 360 is finally getting some key features that I've been waiting for! Next months update (5/7) will include all the goodies in this press release... among them, live anywhere support via live messenger integration and, from the "its-about-time-department", H.264/MPEG-4 video support. With this announcement and the upcoming arrival of the 120gb drive (separately or on Elite system), there really is no better time to pick up a 360...not to mention the IPTV service thats slated for later in the year, no iTunes required ;)

First day with the Zune

Chris Kirby — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:08:00 GMT

I was planning on getting a Zune sometime next year, once they beefed up the software/firmware a bit, but to my surprise, Santa decided hook me up with one on Christmas morning! I guess those cookies and Jager I left for him paid off...

My first impression of the Zune and the companion software was very reminiscent of hooking up the 360 or more recently, the Wii for the first time. In that, that hardware seemed solid and full of potential, but the software was nowhere close. I believe that this is both a good and a bad thing. The good being that you now have a device which is capable of achieving a countless number of additional features, given its unique hardware features. Specifically the onboard wireless and the windows live integration. The bad being that this potentially great device is quite limited for the time being, and may not be up to the standards of the veteran Creative players or even the iPod. Which, unfortunately, has become common place in this 'beta' software age we now live in.

With that said, I think there are some specific things Microsoft will need to do to in order for the Zune to be successful. First, it needs to ride on the coat tails of the Xbox 360. Meaning that it should have wirelessly integrated with my 360 out of the box...giving all 6+ million 360 owners an immediate need to ditch their iPod and pick up a Zune. Second, clean up the DRM mess. Do i use Urge or Zune marketplace? Why doesn't my Zune work with Windows Media Player 11? What do i do with my PlaysForSure tracks? Will it DRM uninfected tracks share via wireless? Finally, get me the features that will bring the Zune up to par and eventually set it apart. We need podcasting support, games, and a video marketplace just to catch up to the competition...and real wireless functionality with tighter live integration to surpass it.

So, buy one or not? Well, for me, the potential and the quality of existing features was enough...but i'm not conviced that its ready for the masses just yet. Afterall, its the hardware that sells it, and the software that keeps it.

Firefly MMO!

Chris Kirby — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:46:59 GMT

Wired has an article that Multiverse (unknown to me) has acquired the rights to a Firefly based MMORPG! This is great news for all browncoats hoping to keep the Firefly universe alive! Maybe they will even secure some of the original actors for voicing some of the in-game quests? They didn't mention an ETA in their press release, but my best guess is Q1 of 08.

.Net 3.0 Framwork baked and now standing

Chris Kirby — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 23:20:50 GMT

The RTM download for the .Net 3.0 Framework is now available for download on MSDN! And, the VS 2005 extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) have also been released...Though the WCF and WPF extension are still in CTP.

Theres been so many new drops lately that its been hard to keep up...not that i'm complaining ;) Its an exciting time to be a MS/.Net developer.

Vista's all gowed up

Chris Kirby — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:32:53 GMT

Its official...November 30th launch for Vista and Office 2007!

I think i'm going to go for the install right away, but dual booting only to start. I have over 100 apps installed on my primary workstation workstation, so an upgrade is definitely out of the question. And, its unclear from nvidia's site whether or not they will be ready with release drivers at the time of Vista's business launch. As of now, they have beta graphics drivers for Vista RC2 and beta nforce drivers for Vista B2. So, until they release nforce support for rc2 or higher, i'll probably have to hold off...can't do much without raid or network drivers.

Asp.net AJAX Beta 1 a showstopper

Chris Kirby — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:08:31 GMT

I, like many others, have just put in the time to migrate my atlas ctp site over to ajax beta 1 only to find out that ajax extender controls no longer work with templated controls!! You've got to be kidding me! I just don't know how this could have slipped past testing, being that its such a major issue. I hate to rag on the dev team being that this is still a beta product, but this bug wasn't present in the last 2 ctp's and now is a major showstopper for me and many others...and unfortunately, the workaround that was posted by the team just won't do the trick for the majority of my controls. I'm now left with the lose lose decision of trying to stick it out and hack it together or going back to the July CTP :(

Please guys, get us an update soon!

Vista and Framework 3.0 go RC

Chris Kirby — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:30:58 GMT

Vista has finally gone RC along with all of the developer goodies that come along with it!

To grab all of the RC1 bits, visit these download links in order.

WinFX runtime uninstall tool (only if you have a ctp or b2 installed)
.Net 3.0 Runtime (formerly WinFX runtime)
Windows Vistal SDK
.Net 3.0 Developer Extensions Sept CTP for VS 2005
Windows Workflow Foundation Extensions RC5 for VS 2005

Insert source code plugin for Windows Live Writer

Chris Kirby — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:13:00 GMT

Last night, I finally got a chance to finish a workable version of my source code formatting plugin for Live Writer. The plugin isn't quite done yet, but as of now, will let you insert and format C#, VB, Javascript, Html, Xml, and T-Sql, very similar to the functionality available in the Wookie Blog Extension v2 which is also based on the original source code from Jean-Claude Manoli's CSharpFormat project. As for the cross posting support, the api just isn't there yet...so far, there is only support for content based plugins, but I'm assuming they will add support for more integrated plugins in future releases. You can grab the code plugin using the link below...and, to install, just drop it in your Live Writer plugins directory.

Insert Source Code Plugin Beta 1

dotNetWookie now running CS 2.1

Chris Kirby — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 19:26:31 GMT

dotNetWookie.com is now up and running with Community Server 2.1!

Wookie users...dont' forget to check out all of the new features and skins available.

CS 2.1 goes gold...Beta site up and running

Chris Kirby — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:23:00 GMT

The dotNetWookie beta site is now running Community Server 2.1! The most noticeably feature right off the bat, is the new Tags feature...Tags have replaced blog categories, and are a great way to quickly find the most popular and relevant content in any section of the site. And, perhaps a not very noticeable feature, but important to me, Feedburner support! For a complete list of new features, check out the announcement at communityserver.org.

The upgrade to the main site should be happening sometime this week...just have to do a few migration test runs and some skin tweaking first.

Windows Live Writer unleashed.

Chris Kirby — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:10:04 GMT

A few days ago, Microsoft released beta 1 of a new live product called Windows Live Writer. Its essentially an offline blogging tool that works with live spaces, or any other popular blog platform, out of the box.

For nearly 2 years now, i've been writing my own blogging tools, simply because there werent any out there which had the features I was looking for...until now. Live writer not only has many of the features i need (support for community server, photos, ftp, ping), but has excellent plugin support via their api as well. So, to get Writer just the way i like it, i've already started working on cross-posting, and code formatting plugins to fill is some of the blanks. Once completed, Live Writer should replace the Wookie Blog Extension as my primary offline blogger. Though, I don't plan on killing WBE entirely, future versions will just shift from an all-in-one, to more of an addon to Writer.

Virtualization showdown

Chris Kirby — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 18:25:00 GMT

I've been a huge fan of virtualization over the years. Its definitely the best way to maximize any workstation or server environment. I've always used VMware workstation on my desktop to test and demo software...and its especially great for demoing Linux environments on windows. I also heavily utilized virtualization on my Windows 2003 servers...so for the past year or so, i've been running Microsoft's free virtual server technology, Virtual Server 2005, to run additional web, mail, and database servers on my network. But, since the arrival of the first VMware server RC, I've been using a mixed virtual environment. Some servers are running VS 2005 R2 and some are running VMware server 1.0. The reason for this was to basically see how both tech's stood up to one another when it comes to management, deployment, performance.

On the management side, both offer excellent (and free) tools for managing the various virtual machines on a particular server...though, each take a slightly different approach. VS 2005's server/machine management is entirely web based (including remote control), with the exception of a very basic, remote desktop like client, that can directly connect to vm from your desktop. VMware also has a web based app, but it can only be used for monitoring the server/machines and changing some basic options. For complete management, its best to used the virtual console provided with the server install. The console is nearly identical to the vmware workstation interface, which allows you to manage multiple virtual machines at the same time as well as all of the available server settings. For me, the overall winner so far, is VMware. The desktop management interface is really in a different league from anything Microsoft currently offers with VS 2005. Though, I will say that VS 2005 has one significant option that stands out when running multiple vm's...In the web management there are a series of settings that allow you to set processor utilization caps and percentage base processor priorities on a server or machine wide basis. Now that is something that VMware server should have definitely included in this release, though the support for multiple virtual processors makes up for it, for the time being.

With deployment, neither one really stands out as far as functionality. Meaning, that I belive both do well at this by supporting the concept of Virtual Appliances. Virtual Appliance is a term make popular by VMware that basically describes a virtual machine which is ready to go with little to no configuration after startup. Now, technically, VS 2005 doesn't have tools to specifically support this concept, though Virtual PC 2004 can be used with a few exceptions or you can just create a new virtual machine description on the server and attach an existing (cloned) disk to it, which already has the server os installed and configured. With VMware, there is a more integrated approach to creating and viewing virtual appliances. The recommended approach is to create them using VMware Workstation and then simply deploy (copy) the vm/appliance to its hosted location. If you don't have workstation installed, then you would just use the Virtual Console to accomplish the same thing. VMware also has an excellent free app called VMware player, which allows you to view and interact with appliances on the desktop. So, on the free side of things, both are pretty even...though, once you jump in to the realm of paid deployment tools, VMware currently has VS 2005 beat. With their newly available Virtual Center 1.4 product for Virtual server 1.0, which allows the centralization of management and deployment across the network. Though, to be fair, MS has announced the upcoming beta of System Center, which will be direct competition for Virtual Center in late 2007.

Finally, the preformance comparison between VMware Server and VS 2005 is really too close to declare a winner (in single proc mode)...Now, that definitely wasn't the case during the VMware server beta, but now that 1.0 is out, the performance is very solid and up to par with VS 2005 on both the server and management side.

So, with ALL of that said. I will most likely phase out the rest of my VS 2005 vm's and import them into VMware format in the near future. Though both servers are very close in comparison, VMware still came out on top, showing that their still the best at what they do...and now that there stuff is (mostly) free, there's really no reason to for me use any other tech. Now, if they would just release a version of VMware workstation for free ;)