Do you really lock your workstation? Ian sent me this
October 9, 2008 – 7:00 pmDo you really lock your workstation?
Ian sent me this as he found it on Jeff s blog who found it on the unlocked workstation web site It does get the point across about locking your workstations and as Jeff says: Next time you come across an unlocked workstation, just open a browser on it and go to the website. Don’t forget to lock the…
Eileen_Brown
Another way of looking at this
Jamie A comments to an article on Channel Register:
Here’s a slightly less technical way of looking at the issue:
Microsoft essentially have 2 editions of a program. The first edition speaks English (User Interface) to the user, but in behind can speak French (COM) to other components.
The second edition also speaks English and French, but can also speak Russian (VSIP - Visual Studio Integration Programme).
Microsoft intends that your components speak Russian in order to extend Visual Studio. Their VSIP license agreement also states that you can only try to speak Russian to the second edition of the software. Attempting to speak Russian to the first edition is not allowed (even if it does speak the language).
Rather than try and speak Russian, Jamie has been using French. He has asked Visual Studio if it talks a certain dialect (COM interface), and it has said “oui”. So he uses that dialect to talk to Visual Studio in order to do what he needs.
The main problem from Microsoft’s point of view is that they didn’t intend for anyone to use that dialect of French in order to talk to Visual Studio. They only expected Russian to be used. However, there’s nothing that explicitly states this. Microsoft even has public notes on the French dialect.
Therefore, Jamie thinks he’s in the right because Microsoft have not said that speaking French is forbidden. Microsoft sees it the other way. And the way things are going, it looks like the decision is going to come from a judge or jury.
There will be some French lessons in a follow up post.
It has been over a month since my last update. I just want to put to rest any rumors of TestDriven.Net’s early demise. With the help of my lawyers, I responded to Microsoft’s lawyers‘ letter and am now attempting to come to a resolution of the issues. Continuing to play this out on the blogosphere would unnecessarily antagonize the situation and undo the good progress which has been made.
To be clear I am not anti-Microsoft. I am simply a passionate advocate of unit testing for developers of all experience levels. To my mind test driven development is like climbing with ropes. Beginner climbers can gain the confidence to climb without the fear of landing in a mess at the bottom. Expert climbers can take on overhangs and other hard problems that they wouldn’t otherwise have the confidence to try. Climb without ropes if you like, but I am certainly not going to encourage it for anything outside your comfort zone.
To end on a happy note the Wells for Zo charity that many of you supported last year through the .NET Developer’s Charity Auction is about to enter a new phase. You can read about the pump workshop which is being set up in Mzuzu, Malawi later this year. There is also a photo blog which is being updated by our guy in the field (when the Internet works). Perhaps the people who suggested I put up a PayPal button to help with legal fees would prefer to save their money for something worthwhile and make a donation here instead. :-)
Mike goes to FOWA (Part 1)
#define FOWA “Future of Web Apps” One of those “early starts” for me today as it’s time to get up at 4.15 to head off down to London for “Future of Web Apps”. I needed to be in Docklands by about 9am and it turns out that I could get a train ticket which was going to cost a minimum of 230 for 2nd …
mtaulty
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