Saw this cool code sample on MSDN today.

Managing a Music Collection Using Visual Basic Express and SQL Server Express

By Brian A. Randell, MCW Technologies LLC

I've always wondered about this. When you go into Add/Remove Programs in Windows, it displays a list of installed programs, their size and when they were last used. This is often completely wrong. For instance, a program I use every day may be listed as “Never Used”.

Raymond Chen tells us why that is. Very interesting Windows trivia. 

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.