November 2006 - Posts

• First Impressions of Vista

  I installed Windows Vista Ultimate on the Media PC yesterday.  Installation was a sleek and relatively fast experience.  After that I only did a few basic configurations like network, domain and so on.  This involved the classical "where did they move configuration option x to this time" game ;-) Vista looks estethically pleasing to me.  Which is A Good Thing. More later when I've had more time to play with it. Posted Nov 29 2006, 08:39 by Dirk with no comments

• Da Monsta Is Looz

  I finally got my hands on Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell 3 - The Monster Is Loose.  My first impressions: the sound of the album is "heavier" and less "Wagnerian" - the lack of Jim Steinman's involvement shows.  My personal favorite so far is In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher is King, probably because this song manages to evoke the epic feeling that I long for.  Seize The Night is a marvelous song of course, but Meat Loaf's rendition pales somewhat compared to the original (German-language) Carpe Noctem (from Tanz Der Vampire) or even the english version from the Dance Of The Vampires promo album. Oh yes, a certain guitarist plays lead guitar on Bad for Good. It takes him all of three seconds into the song to make his presence unmistakably known. Posted Nov 28 2006, 08:48 by Dirk with no comments

• C# 3.0 "because" justification operator - WTF?

  If this were posted on April 1st, I would be sure it was a joke. As things stand now, Mitch Denny appears to be telling us in all seriousness that C# 3.0 will include a "because" operator, so you can write: "1 + 1 == 3 !! true" which means "1 plus 1 equals 3 because it's true". I sincerely hope this is a joke, because if it is not, there is something I'm just not getting here. Posted Nov 27 2006, 07:19 by Dirk with no comments

• Silly Season (updated)

  Key: bold is confirmed, italic are rumours, and normal are current drivers (if nothing else is "known"). Today's update (Lewis Hamilton at McLaren) leaves only the Spyker (ex-Midlan (ex-Jordan)) seats open. Renault Fisichella Kovalainen McLaren Alonso Hamilton Ferrari Räikönnen  Massa Toyota R. Schumacher Trulli Williams Rosberg Wurz Honda Button Barichello  Red Bull Coulthard Webber  BMW Sauber Heidfeld Kubica Spyker  Monteiro Albers Toro Rosso Liuzzi Speed Super Aguri Sato Davidson Updated 2006.11.24: Hamilton confirmed as McLaren race drivers. Posted Nov 24 2006, 12:19 by Dirk with no comments

• How to enable ClearType on the login screen

  I like ClearType - it takes some getting used to at first, but in the long run my eyes hurt far less when using ClearType than without it.  What annoyed me so far is that the login screen isn't in ClearType.  Yes, it's only one screen, but I'm the kind of guy who is annoyed about such details.  Today I finally solved my annoyance thanks to an article at the elder geek.  They say their solution works for Windows XP, but it also appears to work on Windows 2003 R2. As always: edit the registry at your own risk. HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below. Data Type: String Value // Value Name: FontSmoothing Setting for Value Data: [Set Value to 2] Data Type: Dword // Value Name: FontSmoothingType Setting for Value Data: [Change Value to 2] Exit Registry and Reboot Posted Nov 22 2006, 07:41 by Dirk with no comments

• There are only two traffic rules in Malta - and soon in the rest of the EU as well?

  There are only two traffic rules in Malta, those being "keep left if a car approaches from the other direction" and "yield to the car that trumpets louder".  According to this article in Der Spiegel, the European Union is conducting an experiment to create a almost-entirely-but-not-quite-similar system by doing away with all traffic signs.  The two rules become "Yield to the right" and "Get in someone's way and you'll be towed". I'm very interested to hear how the experiment will turn out, and if the system will find wider implementation.  Personally, I find myself torn between "cool, most of those traffic signs are useless anyway" and "Can car drivers really be trusted to abide by common sense?".  Or in other words, the eternal power struggle between the agile programmer and the heavy-process programmer, or between Princess Leia and Emperor Palpatine. Posted Nov 21 2006, 08:23 by Dirk with no comments

• Silly Season

  Key: bold is confirmed, italic are rumours, and normal are current drivers (if nothing else is "known"). Renault Fisichella Kovalainen McLaren Alonso De La Rosa Ferrari Räikönnen  Massa Toyota R. Schumacher Trulli Williams Rosberg Wurz Honda Button Barichello  Red Bull Coulthard Webber  BMW Sauber Heidfeld Kubica Spyker  Monteiro Albers Toro Rosso Liuzzi Speed Super Aguri Sato Davidson Updated 2006.11.15: Super Aguri race drivers confirmed. Posted Nov 15 2006, 01:18 by Dirk with no comments

• I won't bore you ...

  By providing links to announcements about the significant releases/RTMs by Microsoft over the last couple of days.  If you're reading this blog, then you're probably interested in programming using Microsoft technologies and you are very likely to know about those releases already.  Or you're reading this blog because you're interested in me as a person and so all this computer stuff may not interested you all that much. Posted Nov 09 2006, 07:21 by Dirk with no comments

• Changes

  No, this is not about my wife Tatjana, whom I still love and hopefully always will. By Trevor Rabin, Jon Anderson and Chris Squire. I'm moving through some changes I'll never be the same Something you did touched me There's no one else to blame The love we had has fallen The love we used to share We've given up pretending As if you didn't care Change changing places Root yourself to the ground Capitalize on this good fortune One word can bring you round Changes I look into the mirror I see no happiness All the warmth I gave you Has turned to emptiness The love we had has fallen The love we used to share You've left me here believing In love that wasn't there Change changing places Root yourself to the ground Word to the wise - Well you get what's coming One word can bring you round Changes When I look into your eyes and try to find out how There's no way to save it now And everything I feel Changes Keep looking for Changes Changes For some reason you're questioning why I always believe it gets better One difference between you and I Your heart is inside your head One word from you One word from me A clear design on your liberty Who could believe when love has gone How we move on like everyone Only such fools Only such jealous hearts Only through love changes come Change changing places Root yourself to the ground Capitalize on this good fortune One word can bring you round Changes One road to loneliness It's always the same One road to happiness It's calling your name Change changing places - Changes Root yourself to the ground Capitalize on this good fortune One word can bring you round Changes Change changing places Changes Root yourself to the ground Word to the wise - Well you get what's coming One word - One word can bring you round Changes Posted Nov 08 2006, 09:01 by Dirk with no comments

• TIE Fighter under Windows XP

  Yes, you read that right. TIE Fighter runs under Windows XP. If you have the X-Wing collector Series, which comprises X-Wing, TIE Fighter and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, then all you need is a patch.  If you have the TIE Fighter Collector's CD edition, you should follow these instructions. I've wanted to play TIE Fighter again for ages - why didn't I find this patch earlier?  Now that I got it working on XP, chances are that it won't work under Vista ... Posted Nov 02 2006, 07:18 by Dirk with no comments

• I Love IE7

  There you have it.  I grabbed IE7 as soon as it was available and installed it at home.  I love it.  The UI is so sleek - gradient colors, reflecting surfaces, minimalistic yet functional.  I love the "open favorite in new tab feature".  The IE7 team did everything so right with the UI.  Way to go! Now, someone is sure to say "everything you like in IE7 was stolen from other browsers like FireFox".  Yeah, well, two answers really. One: I downloaded FF2.0 as soon as it was officially available to replace my FF1.5, and FF failed to elicit that animalistic "wanna have" response.  Two: there's a score of people who can testify that I've always been a Microsoft guy.  So there. Now Playing: The Alan Parsons Project - Ammonia Avenue Posted Nov 01 2006, 10:22 by Dirk with no comments