Quote

Microsoft Vista and .NET

DVD Maker is one such application that Microsoft could have written using .NET--or even WPF (Avalon).

Part of the debate invariably comes down to defining an Operating System.  Using a traditional definition of an OS, then it probably shouldn't be written in .NET.  But using a more generous definition such as "everything on the Windows Vista DVD" there are lots of pieces (such as DVD Maker or even lowly Notepad) that clearly could be written in .NET.  Once again, it's disappointing that Microsoft isn't using .NET for new applications or even new features in existing applications (isn't C++/CLI supposed to make this easy?)

 Quote

TOM WALSH: Ford brass is steering in the right direction

... He desperately wants to restore Ford Motor's reputation for invention by figuring out what people want before they even know what they want. "My great-grandfather," Henry Ford, "once said of the first car he ever built, 'If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse,' " Ford said Monday.

Customers don't know how to ask for innovative new features; they only know what they know.

Quote

Lynn Allen's Blog: Bringing DWF files into AutoCAD

"... PDF which is raster based."

Just to be clear: PDF is not a "raster based" format (although it can handle raster data), it can also just as easily handle vector data...and does so quite well.  In fact, PDF is "based" on PostScript, a (vector) page description language.

 Quote

The Microsoft Office I Really Want

I'm not heavy into Excel, but I do use Outlook every day.  But Olivier's is right on track: things just need to work. Small companies don't have an IT department, and in large companies getting IT to do anything "special" requires giving up your first born.

Microsoft seems to be touting the thick/smart client, but there are few real applications (Outlook is the only one that comes to mind).  Scoble says the next version of Office will be different, I hope he's right.  As I've said before, Microsoft should be a showcase for its own "best practices".  And Office should be the best of the best.

Oh, and please do something with the "Outlook Today" page.

http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2005/03/autocad_2006_bl_1.html