I'm not one to tout tools developers would use (since I'm not a developer myself), but it just so happens that SourceGear released a new version of it's Vault version/source control server while I am in the process of evaluating it. For those who are wondering what source- and version-control means, well you can skip this. But if you are a user of VSS or CVS or similar (especially VSS), you know what I am talking about.

SourceGear Vault is a version control system for Windows developers, with full integration into the Visual Studio.NET environment. It is implemented entirely on the .NET platform, and uses SQL Server 2000 for its repository storage.

Vault is the only version control system designed specifically to offer a seamless transition from Visual SourceSafe. SourceSafe repositories are imported with no lost data, including history.

The user interface resembles SourceSafe Explorer, and all SourceSafe features are present, including Share and Pin.

And from there the improvements become quite apparent. Face it, VSS sucks as a version/source control product for more than a couple people - It's outdated, limited in capabilities and really is doing more these days than it was ever originally intended to do.

But they can explain it better than I can, so go here and check it out. There's also a list of what's new in this version. Looks nice. I'll have to give it a try.

EDIT: Price reductions announced, and single-user edition is - get this - FREE.

Ever had a problem with always losing your status bar in IE6? I got tired of always  having to turn it back on, so I went on a search. I found a number of similar solutions to the problem. This one worked. From MVPS.org by way of KC Lemson:

If your status bar disappears when opening a new IE 6 browser window:

1. With (only one) IE open, click View, select: Status Bar
2. Right-click on IE's Toolbar and select: "Lock the Toolbar"
3. Hold down the Ctrl key and click the close button (upper right)
4. Open Windows Explorer, click View, select: Status Bar
5. Right-click on Explorer's Toolbar and select: "Lock the Toolbar"
6. Click Tools | Folder Options | View tab
7. Click the "Apply to all folders" button.
8. Hold down the Ctrl key and click the close button (upper right)
9. Open IE to any page, right-click on a link and select: "Open in New Window"

Verify that these Registry entries exist:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
  • "Show_StatusBar"="yes"
  • "Show_URLinStatusBar"="yes"

So, my friend Chris just anounced Gnomedex 4.0, which will happen later this year at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. For $99 bucks you can't beat it, and hey - for those who are inclined, OPEN BAR! Wow. That should be scary. And it's included. How'd they do 'dat?

Why Gnomedex? Here's why.

It's just been announced and doesn't actually happen til September, but keep checking the updates page for more info as it becomes available.

Seriously - this is a real conference, and people who attend are consistently very pleased that they did. I'll be there. Check it out!

"What goes up must come down. Ask any system administrator.”

(anonymous)

Ain't that the truth. Ever have one of those days where things start out okay, quickly go sideways, straighten themselves back out, then take another turn for the worse? Even days like today, ones where none of the problems I had to manage was what I would call “a big deal,” can wear on the nerves... Kind of a when-it-rains-it-pours thing I suppose. One thing's for sure: The level of complexity in troubleshooting sideways systems is exponentially related to the complexity of the system itself. I spent a few harrowing hours fighting a Blackberry server today that was doing nothing short of driving me crazy. I ended up rebuilding the app server, after doing some serious registry hacking, but all was recovered and well in the end. At times, when I see the level of st00pididity that goes into designing certain systems, I can't do much more than shake my head in utter disbelief, noting that somewhere along the way my disbelief was replaced with the occasional cynical disgust.

I don't like feeling that way. People will laugh when they read this, but I am actually not a cynic at heart, and I don't like acting or feeling that way. It's part of why I left my job in law enforcement a few years back and went on to other things (of course the paycheck helped in that decision, too). Today was just one of those days when I found myself frustrated, then content, then cynical, then calm and cool, then just ready to give up, and finally something I can only describe as triumphant.

I guess it's just one of those days when you're the passenger (or the kid on the hood of the car, as the case may be), someone else is barreling down the road, and all you can do is hold on tight and scream at the top of your lungs (metaphorically of course) and hope someone hears you and stops.

Of course, it's also days like that that make the good days look better.

Chris Pratley talks about Program Management, and in the process proves that he truly understands The Way Things Are:

Some years ago I realized that as a PM, my definition of vacation was not just going somewhere to have fun (work is quite fun most of the time). Vacation means getting to an environment where no decisions have to be made. I used to drive my friends nuts, since I would go visit them, and they'd say "what do you want to do?", or "where do you want to go?", and I would simply say "you decide".

Amen, brother.

More kudos to Scott and also to Stuart - Thanks to them I now have colored search results in dasBlog... Try it out in the search box over there in the menu bar. It makes the page that dasBlog spits out more meaningful, for sure.

One thing I noticed it does though - and I will have to bug someone to help me figure this one out - is that if you search for text that is, say, part of a URL, the results get returned as well. Need to adjust so if you search for XML, for example, it doesn't return results where “XML” is in some part of the blog entry other than the displayed body text.

But hey - highlighting is nice.