There has been some talk about the death of Windows as a programming platform, since any application that can be developed for Windows can also be developed for the Web. Developing for the web frees you from Microsoft's grasp and frequent changes to the API... ie: Win32 begot Windows Forms begot Avalon...

Of course, the entire premise of the argument is hogwash. There are plenty of reasons to develop directly for Windows. Windows apps can do many, many things better than Web apps. And true cross-platform-ness is largely a myth.

This blog entry sums it up nicely:

It's the platform, Silly!

For open source applications, the cost of testing and support is pushed from the developer of the package to the end-user.  It’s no longer the responsibility of the author of the software to guarantee that their software works on a given customer’s machine, since the customer has the source, they can fix the problem themselves.

In my honest opinion, platform stability is the single thing that Microsoft’s monoculture has brought to the PC industry.  Sure, there’s a monoculture, but that means that developers only have to write to a single API.  They only have to test on a single platform.  The code that works on a Dell works on a Compaq, works on a Sue’s Hardware Special.  If an application runs on Windows NT 3.1, it’ll continue to run on Windows XP.

...

Having a software monoculture is NOT necessarily an evil. 

I just uploaded my first photo.

http://www.fotolog.net/scottjduffy/

Of course, I have my own website and my own server, so I don't know why I don't just install an album myself. It probably has something to do with Fotolog being an established community.

My first problem with Fotolog is that when I went to browse for only pictures from Canada, the results were flooded with Brazilians. This probably has to do with country-limits Fotolog has - only X new accounts per day per country. But this ruins half of what I thought was cool about the site - "get to know your neighbour".

Hey, the Brazilians look like they are having lots of fun, but that's not what I expected to see.

Fotolog.net: An interesting concept. 400,000+ people from around the world uploading pictures of themselves and their city to a central server. Sort of a "meet your neighbours" type thing. Cool.

It looks like Apple will run out of iMacs this month, and it won't be able to replenish supplies until September. That's three full months without a mid-range desktop computer to sell.

(This reminds me of one of the main problems with the Communist system -- someone in the Central Command orders too many shoes and not enough shoe laces. And the following year, there would be too many shoe laces and not enough shoes. It's very, very difficult to get it right.)

Allow me to say, this could never happen in the PC world. If Dell runs out of desktops, I just call Gateway instead who would be happy to serve me. If Gateway is out, I would call the independent computer maker down the street from me. As a last resort, I could buy the parts and make it myself. The hardware sources are endless -- there are literally thousands of PC makers.

Something is not right here... Instead of granting these prisoners access to a lawyer, the Pentagon will instead release the ones that do not pose a danger. If they weren't a danger, why were they being held in the first place? If Saddam Hussein can be put on trial, why can't some unknown Taliban? I agree with those people who say that United States should treat prisoners like it would like its soldiers to be treated by others.

BBC NEWS - US hints at Guantanamo releases

The US may try to head off legal challenges to the detention of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay by releasing some prisoners, the Pentagon has said.

This has bugged me for years. In cleaning up my Internet Explorer favorites list, I always delete the Links folder as it is pretty much useless and just takes up space. Of course, every now and again IE recreates it. It has been a hand-fought battle between myself and IE to see who would give up first.

I win.

The way to get ride of the Links folder is to Hide it using folder properties. Ahh...

Why does the Links folder keep re-creating itself?

Those of you who dislike the Links folder have probably tried to delete it, only to discover that it keeps coming back. Why is that?

This is Internet Explorer trying to do some auto-repair. It noticed that the Links folder is missing, so it figures, "Gosh, it must be corrupted! I'd better fix the problem by creating a replacement."

People complain that computers can't perform self-repair, and then when the software tries to perform self-repair, they get mad. "But I wanted it to stay broken." You can't win.

The way to indicate, "Yes, I know about the Links folder, but I don't want to use it" is to hide it.

Just a quick note... I've had a wonderful few days programming extensively in .NET, mixing evenly between Visual C# and Visual Basic. My productivity has been incredible - completing several important project tasks. There is nothing like positive project progress to make a developer feel happy.

For instance, I was talking to one of the other developers on my team today about a particular task on our to-do list, and 10 minutes later I was able to hand over working code for that developer to use. (I've been working with the middle-tier components lately, and this developer was working on the ASP.NET front-end that uses those components.)

I love days like this. And having an easy to use development environment, like .NET, is a big part of it. The people on my team and the company I work for are another big part of it.