Microsoft has finally come up with a web administration interface for SQL server (as pointed out to me by our trusty developer, Travis, earlier today). I have these conflicting thoughts about the product (which is not unusual for me. Oh, and since it's free, is it really a product?)

First of all, it's about time they did something like this. Having to load a copy of Enterprise manager on every PC you want to work from is more than just a slight pain. It sucks. So, on that level, great news - It does a lot of the things you would commonly do in Enterprise Manager.

On the other hand, from the perspective of security and running secure apps on a business network, I have to say that when I read this, I get a little nervous:

There are two versions of the SQL Server Web Data Administrator Tool. One runs under IIS and the other runs under a Microsoft .NET open source web server named Cassini. For more information on Cassini and source code please go to...

Oh Boy. This should be interesting. At our company, we will need to test this and have the security guys look at it before we allow it to be used - especially considering the sensitivity of the data we deal with in SQL databases.

But, for working with non-critical data in SQL databases and doing some basic database administration, it's pretty sweet stuff.

For some people, I am completely certain it's important to make sure certain types of email attachments never make it through the email client to the end user's machine. But I am - after all - a technically-savvy person (and I can spell savvy), so I want (well, actually need) to be able to receive a lot of the kinds of files that Microsoft Outlook seems to think I shouldn't be able to get at.

Enter OL2K2SEC (an Outlook 2003 version is also available, for all you acronym decoders who have not yet clicked). Sure, you could edit the registry, but frankly I have better things to do with my time, I deal with too many computers, and I might need/want to enable someone else to do the same thing on their computer (and I am leary to direct most people to edit their registries). Not for everyone, to be sure, but great for those who need it.

I had the privilege of spending the past few days at Microsoft for a set of sessions and meetings for IT execs, and while I can't comment about any specifics of what was presented there, I can say that it was a worthwhile venture. Nice to see that even a massive company of 52,000+ employees can make a real effort to be customer-focused and to reach out to the hands that feed it.

I also had a chance to catch up with a few “Microsoft-ies” that I had not seen for awhile, and for whom I hold a great deal of respect. One thing that always amazes me (given the size of the company) is the fact that Microsoft hires a lot of really smart, quality people. From my local rep (who is a truly good guy) on up to the big-wigs I get to speak with from time to time, it's a consistently high-caliber bunch of people who have a contagious passion for what they do.

Nothing earth-shattering to report, but I can say that it's always good to meet others in the field, to get out and see how other companies do their jobs, and to take that information and mold it into a useful tool you can use to critically review the way you do things. It's entirely too easy to fall into proverbial ruts in this business, and doing so means either falling behind in your career technically, or becoming careless and risking career damage as a result. A job like mine - where you're responsible for maintaining systems at a consistent state of high-availability, ensuring the network is fully secured, and making sure people have what they need to do their jobs, all while keeping costs as low as possible while at the same time improving services - is stressful enough. In my case, our company's employees, those who are shareholders, our customers, and about 25% of the online banking population in the United States all count (either directly or indirectly) on our company doing a good job in these areas. No need to hammer nails into our own coffins, and so a continual, honest review of the state of things ensures we stay out of that rut.

One really cool thing I got to do was paying a visit was the Center for Information Work's Office of the Future - a conceptual office if you will, where they showcase some of the ideas they are working on for placement in the market over the next five or so years. It's all cool stuff, has been publicized in the media quite a bit in the past, and it's a lot like the concept cars you see at the auto shows (the actual car never makes the streets and chances are it doesn't even run, but parts of it show up in other real vehicles down the road). It was a fun, interesting and eye-opening hands-on experience. One thing's for sure - we still have a long way to go in the world of computing!

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!