I was talking with Microsoftian Scott Woodgate yesterday and he let me know of a lacuna in my toolbox: BizTalk 2004 has a forward-chaining RETE-based rules engine. I've never heard of anyone using this technology (BizTalk's implementation, I mean -- I've used (and written) rules engines before). Dang. Not enough hours …

My latest SD Times column is on Microsoft's Smart Client strategy. Funny story: when I wrote this, the acronym “Ajax” hadn't yet been invented...

The DevX Office portal has opened and, waddya' know?, I've got an article about using XML to transfer data to/from Office applications.

MSNBC has an interactive Flash app that provides bracketed competition for comedies. My Final Four was “Austin Powers“ vs. “Something About Mary“ and “Spinal Tap“ vs. “Dr. Strangelove,“ with “Something About Mary“ going up against “Strangelove“ for the crown.

Fun, but how did “Pee Wee's Big Adventure” not make the …

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The WinFX March 2005 Community Technology Preview (CTP) is now available for download to MSDN subscribers. The WinFX CTP includes new versions of Avalon, the unified presentation subsystem, and Indigo, the new service-oriented communications infrastructure. …

MSDN subscribers …

Last night was the first really clear evening in a week. As a matter of fact, it was downright gorgeous -- Mauna Loa was dusted with snow, a few low cumulus clouds gave the horizon some character, the setting sun really lit up Hualalai. And, I saw Mercury for the first …

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[Loren writes about Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith’s talk of patent reform (covered here and here). A line in Loren’s post caught my eye:]{style=""}

“it's not the patent fee that's the big issue. You'll still need legal assistance writing and filing the patent.”

[Ever since my …

By now you've heard that Microsoft is buying Groove Networks and Ray Ozzie is slated to become a Microsoft CTO. Not the CTO, though. He'll be one of three “Chief” officers, along with David Vaskevitch (CTO, Business Platform) and Craig Mundie (CTO, Advanced Strategies & Policy). As such, he'll report direct …

I missed the premiere of the Episode III trailer last night, largely due to the fact that I refuse to watch the OC. However, our fellow netizens have provided a torrent for your downloading pleasure. …. Odds are this film will be just as disappointing, but no matter. The dark side …

In a new study, cognitive scientists show that humans can usually track just four mental variables when trying to solve a problem…. Link  [via]{style="FONT-STYLE: italic"} [Boing Boing]

I would definitely suspect that programmers are better than average at tracking variables but I wonder if we have a gift …