I found a good resource for people who have computers at home at http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security.

If you are starting a new project that will be .NET 3.0 focused consider the Visual Studio Orcas TAP?

Ok what is TAP? (I don't like acronyms but MS is full of them) TAP = Technology Adoption Program.

The overall purpose of TAP programs are to get customers to use new software and tools early so we can have the best product possible at release and to have information about the experience highlighted so other customers can lean for you experience.

Let me know if you are interested.

Dang I got tagged... What is it with this tagging stuff? Don't get me wrong I do like getting the cross traffic but still how much honesty do people expect? Well stand by!

I do have to say I am like my buddy Tim and have never moved a chain letter forward and will not be tagging anyone else sorry.

1. I am extremely dyslexic this has been something that causes extreme difficulties for me so please excuse all the bad spelling on this blog.
2. I never wanted to me married or have kids... I have now been extremely happily married for 17 years (in March) and have 2 boys that I am downright goofy about.
   • By the way my wife never reads my blog so I am not just staying this.
3. I don't much like crowds, I think it is a side effect of being so single tracked and not being able to keep track of everything.
4. Working for a huge company is hard for me.
   • I worked for my own company or small firms for so long that the big company thing is quite hard for me but so far the job is interesting enough to keep me going. Do some reading of Mini-Microsoft to understand some of the issues but Mini-Microsoft works in Redmond there are more issues bout working in the field.
5. I still love to make a computer do what I want, that is why I fell in love with programming when I was 12 years old with a TRS 80 16k color computer.

Eileen thanks for the tag, sorry I am not passing it along.

This coming work I will be starting a Fundamentals of the .NET Framework Class at UCSD all the details can be found at the UCSD web site here. I have created a web site to support this class here. There is still room for more people in the class.

OK I live in San Diego county where we get a lot of truck\vans and cars brining things from LA to Tijuana. I am always amazed how packed the vehicles are but this one took the cake!

I know someone will delete this soon but there is my clam to fame... From my previous entry about benware vs malware I was told that I soul publish benware to wikipedia.org to see how long it would last, I just posted a few minutes ago lets see how long it will make it.

Go see it quick! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benware

Edit: Just after I posted this I tested all the links and benware was already removed :( so much for a open encyclopedia... The original text I posted was:

Benware or beneficial software is software designed to protect or help a computer system. It is a portmanteau of the words "beneficial" and "software". The expression is a new term used by some computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of protective, scanning, or unobtrusive software or program code.

With the over used term of Malware may people who are annoyed by such computer terms meant to separate the computing elite (or those who want to sound elite) from most computer users. Most commonly this is called antivirus or antispyware software, though some venders antivirus or antispyware software that constantly prompt users to purchase additional software are anything but unobtrusive.

Software is considered benware based on the particular features of the software and the validity of it’s behavior.

The local launch for Windows Vista Office 2007 & Exchange 2007 is coming to Southern California late January. There will be a total of 4 events in SoCal and one in Hawaii (that I will just have to go help with :)) I hope to see all of the users groups show up and help promote themselves.

For an overview of the events go to the launch site.

Each sits signup are:

• Ready for a New Day: Launch Tour 2007- Los Angeles Convention Center, January 26, 2007 Register
• Microsoft Across America Launch Event - Ontario California, February 20, 2007 Register
• Microsoft Across America Launch Event - San Diego Convention Center, February 22, 2007 Register
• Microsoft Across America Launch Event - Anaheim Convention Center, Tuesday, February 27 Register
• Microsoft Across America Launch Event - Hawaii Convention Center, March 01, 2007 Register

The Microsoft Across America Launch Events are done by the great group of Microsoft Across America presenters like Anand Iyer & Rob Bagby. The Ready for a New Day: Launch Tour 2007 will have many other (including myself) Microsoft people and Tim Huckaby and Michele Leroux Bustamante doing the presentations.

I hope you all can make as many of the events as you can, I am sure you will get all kinds of interesting information from them all.

This is a cool tidbit that I just found on Jason Langridge's blog... It looks like the Best Buy Geek Squad is using Windows Mobile to provide better service. The full press pass article is here, what I like from it is the quote “It provides our field personnel with rapid and constant access to comprehensive real-time customer information, an obvious competitive advantage over businesses that don’t.” this has been the pompous of Windows Mobile but until now the applications, carriers and devices have been a bit lacking but I think we are at a tipping point for Windows Mobile...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/VS2005SP1

Go get it! Lots of fixes and make VS 2005 work well on Vista (still not 100% but close).

I had a great lunch today with a bunch of people who I work with around user groups and developer events in SoCal. While we were doing some good SoCal conversation I was turned on to this funny web site.

Thanks Stephen!