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 Friday, September 29, 2006
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I think open source and free software is important but I'm also pragmatic about it. A lot is just itch-scratchware that will never get maintained and that is OK. A good hint that a project is not very active is when the web site says this: The site is under construction. The site is scheduled to be up by 31st October 2003. :)
Posted by Derek Hatchard 9/29/2006 6:23:45 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, September 07, 2006
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This is a bit off topic but for our subscribers in New Brunswick: Offices for rent in Moncton in a beautiful 100-yr old building at 118 Mountain Rd. With hardwood floors on first and second floors plus lots of wood trim, this space has retained its charm through the years. Includes wireless Internet (wi-fi), fax/print/copy service, and a shared kitchen. Offices can optionally be furnished. $525/office, heat/lights/Internet/parking included. Email derek@ardentdev.com (or call 851-1838). 
Posted by Derek Hatchard 9/7/2006 12:07:22 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, September 06, 2006 Thursday, August 24, 2006
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I believe strongly that you need great tools to support a great development process. There are a few core tools every team should have: work item / defect tracking system, automated build system, developer testing tools (including unit testing tools), and source code control. A lot of places I go it seems that source code control is the only tool that most teams have in place. And I find it baffling that in 2006 most people are reporting that Visual SourceSafe is their SCC tool. Look at these stats: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000660.html.
Jeff Atwood makes some good points in that post about why you should avoid SourceSafe. The biggies are the illusion of safety and the bad habits that SourceSafe encourages. SourceSafe is still hanging around because Microsoft had to do something with it. The SCC with Team System ain't free and people have gotten used to having a free source code control system from Microsoft. I fully expect that we'll see a lite version of Team System SCC come out to replace SourceSafe (with a wizard to suck in your VSS data). But of course it will come after the first few big pushes to get folks to buy the full Team System line (including Team Foundation Server). If a VSTS SCC Lite came out now, I think too many people would just opt for that instead of going for the full deal with work item tracking, automated builds, reporting, and all that great integration.
I recommend one of three products if you are ready to move away from SourceSafe or you are not using a SCC system at all (and I've seen places using informal processes like network shares and verbally "checking in" and "checking out" code - seriously!):
- Visual Studio Team System - if you have the budget for it, the integration with the other parts of VSTS is awesome. The only thing I've found missing is edit-merge-commit functionality. I had heard that it was coming - I haven't checked to see if it's there now. Bear in mind that the cost of Team System includes so much more than just source code control.
- SourceGear Vault - this is what I use now and I absolutely LOVE IT. It costs a bit per developer but it is pretty much hassle-free. It works perfectly over HTTP / HTTPS so it's awesome for a distributed development team.
- Subversion - I have the least experience with Subversion but I have been very pleased with it when I've used it. I have used the TortoiseSVN client with it and it's nice. If you don't have the budget for Team System or Vault, you'll need to have a "time budget" for Subversion. I haven't set it up myself but I've been told it's not quite as painless as Vault.
If you've got some money and want a full suite of development process tools, get Team System. If you've got some money and only need source code control, look at Vault. If you don't have $$$, look at Subversion.
Oh, and if you "only need source code control", it better be because you already have adequate work item tracking, automated build, and developer testing tools. With so many great tools available, why would you cripple your dev process?
Posted by Derek Hatchard 8/24/2006 11:00:51 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, July 05, 2006
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Do you have any experience with people@work from ADP? If so, I know someone looking for some feedback on it. Leave a comment or send me a private note (derek@ardentdev.com). Thanks!
Posted by Derek Hatchard 7/5/2006 6:00:20 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, June 14, 2006
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We have some consulting time available! We are primarily a consulting / training / mentoring / content development group. We took a bit of a hiatus to build Church Radius (church management software) but it has launched so we're available again. Our primary focus is Microsoft technologies including .NET, SQL Server, and related technologies. The past 2+ years we have done a lot of ASP.NET-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) work but our experience and skill set is certainly broader than that.
We have a few services available:
Consulting and Contract Development
Software development is not quite as easy as falling off a bike. We can help get it done right and on time. We can provide various levels of service from high-level guidance on architecture and design right down to pumping out the code.
Mentoring and Training
If you are more of a we-do-it-all-in-house type of development shop, that's great. We can help keep your development utility belt up-to-date with customized training and mentoring. We have a great mentoring program called On Tap - read more at http://www.ardentdev.com/OnTap/.
New Offering: Process Improvement / Project Governance / Crisis Intervention
Ron Smith, a PMI-certified project manager with experience in crisis project intervention, is now offering help to companies with struggling projects or looking to optimize their process. Here's a breakdown of what Ron's doing:
Why is it that a horror story project gets so out of control before management knows about it? Projects gone bad are expensive to fix and they destroy morale, causing high staff turnover and re-training costs. And then there's the damage to your company's reputation in the eyes of the customer. Well-run projects have clear escalation paths and good communication up and down the ladder. If that doesn't sound like your company or project, keep reading.
Ron has helped dozens of troubled projects for companies of all sizes. He can help your team make simplified plans to tackle complex situations and start dealing with issues one at a time. A finely tuned team can overcome drastic changes in scope or direction and overcome hurdles without breaking stride. And team members will be happier because the project no longer appears unmanageable.
Ron has run Root Cause Analysis and Problem Resolution for Fortune 500 companies. He has helped turn around projects with demoralized teams facing million dollar penalties.
If you find yourself constantly in firefighting mode and going from one tornado project to the next, call Ron.
We'd love to help out with your projects. Give me a shout at 1-877-672-3487 (ext. 111) or email me at derek@ardentdev.com to discuss.
Technorati : .net consulting, asp.net consulting, asp.net developer
Posted by Derek Hatchard 6/14/2006 5:19:17 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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On Friday I did something new: I ordered a new battery for my laptop (it arrived today). I've never had a primary laptop long enough to get really bothered by reduced battery life. It's been more than 1.5 years since I got my Toshiba M200 Tablet PC and I still love it. In that time the battery life has gone from 3.5 to 4.5 hours to about 1 hour or so. I'm flying to LA next week and that trip is just too long to only have an hour of battery life. TOSHIBA Portege M200 series Main battery
Posted by Derek Hatchard 6/14/2006 12:19:43 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, June 13, 2006
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In case you've missed all the noise about this, Microsoft is rebranding WinFX as .NET 3.0. More accurately, .NET 3.0 is .NET 2.0 plus WinFX, which includes WPF, WCF, WF (Workflow), and WCS (CardSpace, formerly InfoCard). Overall I think this is a great idea. There is bound to be some confusion given that .NET Framework 3.0 includes the same compilers and runtime from .NET Framework 2.0. But hopefully it will clear up the confusion that was building about the relationship between .NET 2.0 and WinFX. The announcement came a few days ago (just before TechEd) from the corporate VP of the Developer Division of Microsoft: http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2006/06/09/624300.aspx. At first glance I didn't think it was a great idea but I warmed to it quickly. Rumblings I've seen have been that this is not a big enough change to warrant a full version number jump but that's nonsense. WinFX encompasses a lot of new stuff in the form of managed APIs. .NET Framework 3.0 is really just the branded name of the distribution for marketing anyway - nothing changes technically. Of course there will still be things to complain about. For example, if you ask me to build an ASP.NET 2.0 application, we have to then talk about whether we are targeting .NET 2.0 or .NET 3.0 so I know if I can use Indigo and Workflow. Ultimately what is great about this change is that it positions the .NET Framework as the replacement brand for Win32 rather than WinFX. We all love .NET but WinFX is new and strange. Some more info on naming versus versioning of .NET: http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonz/archive/2006/06/13/630066.aspx.
Posted by Derek Hatchard 6/13/2006 11:57:18 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, June 06, 2006 Wednesday, May 31, 2006
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I have been waiting anxiously for this: Microsoft has announced Team System for Database Professionals. Among the coming features are: - rename refactoring,
- a new T-SQL editor,
- a schema compare tool that will generate scripts to sync the schemas of two databases,
- a data compare tool that will generate scripts to sync the data in two databases, and
- a database unit testing infrastructure.
More info here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/teamsystem/products/dbpro/default.aspx
Posted by Derek Hatchard 5/31/2006 11:26:20 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, May 19, 2006
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I went to see Mission Impossible 3 last night with my (very) pregnant wife. I don't want to give away too much of the rather thin plot but rest assured that something really important hinged on a tech guy back at the office. A couple of security-related things really struck me: -
The tech guy always has too much power. The tech guy says, "You know they're going to be recording this call." Ethan Hunt replies, "And you know that you can erase it." -
The tech guy was willing to break the rules because of his history with Ethan Hunt. If Ethan Hunt was a hacker, it would be classic social engineering. And don't think social engineering within an organization is unlikely. Reports indicate that the majority of attacks come from within the organization. Lessons to be learned from MI:3 are 1) only give tech guys the power/access they need and 2) have checks and balances to prevent abuse of power. Reminds me of a story I heard recently from [name withheld to protect the innocent] about an organization where the developers were Domain Admins for the entire organization.
Posted by Derek Hatchard 5/19/2006 5:47:14 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, May 15, 2006
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The Mad Mexican appeared at DevTeach last week to hook up with his old tag team partner Johnny "The Pimp" Bristowe - aka, John Bristowe of Microsoft Canada. The Mad Mexican mistook John's WPF talk for a WWF talk... Check out the videos and pics: http://www.madmexican.net/.
Posted by Derek Hatchard 5/15/2006 4:27:32 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)
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