On June 26, Microsoft released Hyper-V for Windows Server 2008 to manufacturing. You can download it today!
Now, I can really finish up with my home network virtualization project, which has been languishing because I haven't had a lot of free time.
A few reviews of Beta and Release Candidate code can already be found on the web, including this review published by Network World.
It's been quite some time since I've taken a moment to blog anything. Lots of stuff going on at work has been the main culprit, but traditionally, summers are very busy for me -- both at work and at church.
There are several technology articles that I would like to comment on, while they still bear some relevance, and hopefully, I'll get around to posting them this coming month. I will probably have the most time to address them during my vacation, much to the chagrin of my wife...
Speaking of vacations, my wife and I are currently looking for a relatively inexpensive digital camcorder that writes to a hard drive, rather than miniDV or miniDVD formats. We might go with one of the Sony Handycams, such as the HandyCam DCR-SR45. And we only have a week to choose and obtain the equipment, if we're going to capture the activities of the family vacation.
We have a couple of outdoor activities scheduled for this year, including a couple more trips to Shepherd Lake for some picnic and boating fun.
If you're a Dilbert fan, and you're experiencing performance issues with the new and improved Dilbert Zone, then consider using the following link for access to Dilbert like the good old days...
Dilbert - Fast
Microsoft has announced that it will be supporting more file formats in its Office suite in the first half of 2009, and the response from the European Union was one of skepticism.
Microsoft intends to increase PDF support natively in Office, as well as add the Open Document Format (ODF), as a part of Service Pack 2 for Office 2007. The timing of this announcement comes after they have been successful in getting their own native document format, OpenXML, approved as an ISO standard, and is most likely being done to prevent attrition from a variety of Office competitors (free, and otherwise) that will be supporting the ODF.
Ostensibly, the EU is aiming at Microsoft because of the lack of interoperability, which is everyone's current bandwagon, but there are other areas that I wish they would focus on if interoperability was truly their foremost concern. I'm still trying to figure out why they should even have any jurisdiction over application document formats in the first place...
These grand interoperability quests are always supposed to be a benefit to the consumer, but they're not targeting any actual consumer needs. They really only benefit the other vendors in this space. And Microsoft's support of alternate formats will only help Microsoft and the free vendors. The other vendors with paid products are going to suffer attrition from the freeware options.
We have a year or so to see how this turns out...
Lately, I've been playing various medieval build/conquest games on Facebook and other places. My favorites are Knighthood and Tribal Wars.
(PLEASE NOTE: I am especially interested in getting some vassals in Knighthood, so if you're interested in playing even a little, be sure to visit my kingdom.)
I don't know about you, but I don't always read the terms of use for a given site in much detail. Oh, I'll always skim through them, but as most of them say the same ol' things, there's usually nothing that catches my eye. The terms of use for Tribal Wars, however, are not at all in this category. They stand out in a very definitive way.
Not only are the rules themselves very detailed, but they provide clear examples that leave no doubt about how the rule should be interpreted. Rule #2, for instance, is very specific about the ways in which players cannot interact with each other if they happen to share an Internet connection. I would love to see someone claim later that they did not understand what the constraints are.
On the other side, you have Knighthood, with its guide for playing the game. You are strongly advised to build up your defenses before starting any offensive strategies, or you will be quickly overrun. From my short time playing this game, I can see that there are many who have not taken this advise, and have opened themselves up to being pillaged. It's very important to make use of whatever good information is available to you whenever you can. Life is just much easier that way.
And now, I'm off to build my empire. Feel free to join my kingdom, as I am a fair and noble liege.