Ravings From A Microsoft Junkie

Oh it is so sad. For so long I've been a Microsoft junkie consuming the twinkies of the uber-toolkit vending machine slobbering over gridviews, popping providers, and storing my procedures where the kids won't find them.

But even junkies have pride.

1. Save As HTML should save HTML. Period. Take out the MS processing instructions. Do yourselves a favor in the document office wars: punt to making extremely easy systems extremely reliable. There is ALREADY ENOUGH INFORMATION IN HTML 1.0 for long lifecycle support. Don't piss in the soup. CLEAN exports and imports are to stressed out
junkies what water is to aspirin.

2. CSS must work in IE exactly like it works in Firefox. It must work in ASP controls. Why do I need TWO style namespaces?

3. The Ajax Controls are hosed in namespace aggregates. Unpredictable Crapware Wastes Days. Days turn into weeks. Weeks turn into lost dollars. Junkies don't have enough time for thisjunk AND other junk. If switching between the design view and the XML source view regardless of container states can cause bindings and controls to disappear without error, crapware is too kind a word. If there is an error in the design view, that same error must be indicated in the XML view. Well-formed XML is not enough.

XML/Design Mode: It is valid or it isn't. If it is the design state is valid. If it isn't, it says so.

That's how synergy from dual-representation editing works. Otherwise, it doesn't.

4. The choice to support a polyglot for web application development is a commercially practical one, but the inability or unwillingness to implement a subset that is common to all web systems normatively, that is a failure to negotiate. Don't *be* the friction. Be the grease.

Clue: Too Much Stuff. Even for junkies.

ps: the C#/SQL Server stuff is good s**t.

The Millennials

Somewhere out on the flatlands of the web I was grazing on a press blurb about the so-called millennials, a term Gen-Xers prefer to describe themselves. It said they are not that well-liked by their bosses. The article described their high expectations, fast production and technical skills coupled to their inability to stick with an employer without quick promotions and senior salaries. The comments warned the baby boomers to get "out of our way".

Umm... glad to do it.

When a generation's most notable contribution to culture is the concept of "the starter marriage", that says it all. History skips right over them. Why? For all their ambition, ultimately, they're bland. As my wife says, "no staying power".