DevBlog

Yesterday, the Universal Thread hit a historic milestone... on million messages. Congrats to Michel and the entire UT team and to Mike Helland, who posted the message.

It amazes me how people refuse to spend money to upgrade from an eary version of VFP yet will spend hours to create a feature in the old version that's built-in to the current version. Here's an example from a recent newsgroup posting:

I'm trying to create a right-click menu in VFP6. The only question I have
about this is to find out if there's an easier way of doing this. The
shortcut menu is created and now I want to attach it to the RightClick
method of the form. The only question I have is to find out if there's an
easier way of doing this rather than attaching the code to the RightClick
method of every object on the form.

I tried using the ON KEY LABEL RIGHTMOUSE command but the problem with that
is that after the menu option is selected there has to be some additional
commands depending on what option is chosen and these commands need THISFORM
in them which is only allowed in a method.

If it was only a couple forms, it wouldn't be a problem adding it to every
object but I have 42 forms and it's going to be very time consuming so if
anybody has a better suggestion, I sure would like to hear it.

The hourly costs of doing this in VFP 6.0 probably outweigh the costs of just upgrading to VFP 9.0 and having it done in a matter of minutes!

I love it when marketing picks a product name that just is really dumb. A classic that is often quoted in marketing textbooks is when the Chevy Nova was first introduced to Mexico. You see, in Spanish, "no va" means "doesn't go". (Note that I have heard reports that this never happened. Still, it is in marketing textbooks.) Not only does marketing need to pay attenting to the product name, but what the acroynm might be. Now, Microsoft has done this with the new Windows Update Services (WUS). Yes, wus. I can see Linux people chucking over this now, "Not only is Windows not secure, even the update program is a wuss."

Microsoft's John Porcaro, who I had the privledge to have lunch with a couple of years ago was burned recently in a fire in his back yard. Good to see he can have some fun with this. John, here's to a full and quick recovery. Thanks to Garrett for emailing me about this.

I was near the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City yesterday and noticed the big red banners around the center trumpeting Novell's Braindead conference, again underway here. Unlike last year when I was in the same area, I didn't see CNEs and CNAs walking around with blank stares on their faces. That's not because they weren't doing that. It was because I was there in the middle of the day and the conference was in full swing. It's interesing to read the comments from Novell CEO Jack Messman, who tried to paint a rosy picture by talking about how the number of servers running Linux has grown over the past year. He failed to point out two things. First, Where is Novell in all this? Has their percentage of the Linux market grown, shrunk, or remained the same? Second, the number of server running Windows has also grown in the past year. He failed to show how Linux is making any headway against Windows. If I were attending Braindead (which I'm not, never have, and never will), I would be skeptical of the numbers.

Longtime Fox Guru Andy Kramek has stuck his toe into the blogging waters. You can check out his blog with Andy's VFP Weblog. Andy, welcome to the blogosphere!

I've been busily preparing for DevTeach since I was accepted as a speaker a month or so ago. While I've given these presentations before, I wanted to update them, especially the COM+ sessions. I'm trying to use some of the ideas from beyond bullets. In otherwords, reduce the number of bullet point slides in the deck. What I'm finding is that it's difficult to totally eliminate them. I have several slides where I've done this by using graphics and the such and I think it's making for a much better presentation. Coworkers are getting previews of them as my work progresses and I'm getting positive feedback. I'll also let our Marketing Communications group have at them to provide further tweaks.

My speaker's notes are also getting some attention. The COM+ sessions are being completely rewritten. I last did the COM+ session at Advisor DevCon in 2001 and my speaker notes were very thin. I'm currently about 1/3 of the way through and already I'm over 20 pages. That may seem like it's too much, but I'm writing one document for two sessions.

This morning I woke up to find the DevTeach PowerPoint and Word templates in my mailbox. I've applied both templates and am in the processing of tweaking the slides to fit the new format.

If you're attending DevTeach, make sure you introduce yourself. I'll also be looking for your feedback on the slides and speaker notes.

If Rod Paddock can do it, so can I...and I'm really excited about my World Tour 05...what I hope will not be the last. As previously announced, I will be speaking at DevTeach in June. Now I can announce (drum roll) that I will be speaking at the German DevCon in November in Frankfurt! I have also submitted proposals for Southwest Fox and a new .NET conference being organized here in Salt Lake City.

My trip to Germany will be my first time in Europe and I'm planning to do some additional site seeing while there. My current plans are for Switzerland, Austria, and northern Italy. I've been checking out Eurail passes and routes, and that seems like a fantastic loop. My friend Heidi, who was on the 1980 US Olympic Ski Team, has family in Germany and has told me about places to stop. This should be a fantastic trip, even with the cold, wet weather expected that time of year.

Well known Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble wears a VFP polo in this photo on the Red Couch. [Ken Levy]

(If you don't think there are enough links in that one line, you should let Google Toolbar have it)

Microsoft has distributed a press release about solutions developed with Visual FoxPro 9.0. Microsoft Press Pass is the primary source for the press to get information about Microsoft. Let's hope many trade publications pick up this article and republish it. Also, send the link to the Press Pass article to every computer related magazine and web site that you read. Help get out the word!

Great article. [Rocky Lhotka]

If you haven't seen Napolean Dynamite, you probably should. The movie has become a cult hit since coming out on DVD. It's the story of the life of a high school nerd. It takes place in Preston, Idaho, a town I've been to many times. It's a mere 30 miles from my hometown of Logan, Utah.

Preston is an interesting place. Before the movie, its biggest claim to fame was That Famous Preston Night Rodeo. Since the movie was released, Preston has become "geek-chic captial".

I remember taking the turn on US-91 at the south end of town and driving down Main Street. I remember stopping at the A&W and Arctic Circle for hamburgers and shakes and looking at the pictures of the Employee of the Month. Names like Bertha, Eunice, Nephi, and Harold. I remember looking at the abandonded sugar beet factories that looked like bombed-out factories from World War II Europe. I remember the farms surrounding the rural town. Today, the brother-in-law of a former co-worker is the local mortician and a high school friend's husband manages the local King's variety store. A former high school classmate is the basketball coach at Preston High.

Anciently, much of northern Utah was covered by Lake Bonneville. When the land shifted due to an earthquake, the lake drained just north of Preston. There is a historical marker there today to commemorate the spot.

Preston is at the northen edge of Cache Valley, named for the location that many trappers of the 1800s cached their firs. Nearby Bear Lake was the home of THE Mountain Man Rendezous. Just south of Preston is the town of Franklin. The sign to the entrance to town there claims it to be the oldest city in Idaho. It probably is. Much of Idaho was originally settled by Mormon pioneers.

Cache Valley extends southward into northern Utah. Logan is the "big" city there. That's where I grew up. Yup, I went to high school in the same valley as Napolean Dynamite. In case you're wondering, high school was nothing like it was depicted in the movie. Candidates for student council did not have to put on skits.

One more thing...if you're a big Napolean Dynamite fan and planning a trip to Preston, be sure to let me know. I'll be happy to show you around.

...that's the name of the new blog from VFP developer Rick Schummer. However, I can't add him to my blog roll. Why? No RSS feed. Now, it may be there, if given the proper URL, but it should be discoverable. I shouldn't have to guess where it is or go find it.

Ever wonder how Google can keep on running, returning millions of results almost instantly and simultaneously? Here's how it is done.