AKSEL

Song from Vimy Memorial 2007 Rededication

2007-04-11T07:49:00.001-04:00

Many posts have been made about the song that was performed at the Vimy 2007 Memorial Rededication this past Easter Monday. Although the fiddle piece was the work of Sierra Noble, the song itself (performed by the Confederation Youth Chorus and Susan Aglukark) was "I'm Dreaming of Home" (as noted here) , one of the hymns from the movie Joyeux Noel, about the Christmas eve in World War I, when the troops from both sides had their own truce.

As luck would have it, I have found a clip of it here.

Enjoy.

YouTube - Hymne des Fraternises- Joyeux Noel

Ken Levy Moving into Windows Live

2006-02-01T08:42:00.000-05:00

Ken Levy, former product manager for the FoxPro Team at Microsoft, has announced that he's moving over to the Windows Live team to work on a variety of areas, including building better communities, something that he's definitely well-versed in.

Good luck Ken (although as Craig Boyd noted, you likely won't need it with your talents)

Andrew MacNeill - AKSEL Solutions: Ken Goes Live!

Emoticons Patent? :(

2006-01-27T12:27:00.000-05:00

I agree with Rick - This is just plain scary or is it crazy?

It's only crazy if untrue so I would say scary.

By the way, Tom and Molly from BuzzOutloud were about to patent the word "the" but someone told them it was already done. Darn - let the lawsuits fly.

Someone needs to clean up the patent office.

Shedding Some Light: Emoticons Patent? :(

So how do I get involved with SednaX?

2006-01-26T08:12:00.000-05:00

The SednaX project has been filled so far with lots of talk and ideas but not a lot of direct output (this led Craig Berntsonto keep it off his 2005 highlights) but that's about to change.

I interviewed Craig, Rick and Doug on what the plan is and how the 400+ developers who have signed up can start getting involved with this open Visual FoxPro community project.

As noted in the interview, it's important to note that SednaX doesn't have to rely on Dotnet components (although there may be some benefits there) and that each project will have its own timeline. It's not a "packaged" solution - but more of a organization of several related projects.

We touch on the commercial vs. open aspect of the project as well - so commercial developers (such as Doug and Rick) can know what to expect from such a project.

What also struck me was Craig's comment about "tricks up their sleeves" from the Fox team themselves - as things like source control are still being worked out, one can only imagine (at least my thought would be) what a great coup this would be if MS allowed the entire project to be driven from the Visual Studio Team system approach. It might give MS more credibility and visibility and it would benefit the Fox community as extra add-ons would be built to help integrate the two environments as Scott and Craig have talked about before.

As Craig has noted, we live in exciting times...

The Fox Show podcast: News, reviews and training on Visual FoxPro

Non-VFP: Canada's day of reckoning

2006-01-23T19:29:00.000-05:00

As Captain's Quarters puts it, it's our day of reckoning.

Our local paper put up funny cartoon ideas of what to do (everything from listening to the radio with Peakfreans, to live blogging and waking up with drool on the keyboard) - as it stands, we don't even get to find out how the far East coast voted until 9:30 pm which means we'll be waiting for a while.

However, unlike our neighbours to the south, the networks will likely "successfully" call the election by about 10:30-11 after Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario have voted.

Why? Because the biggest voting block (Toronto - a big city) actually outvotes most provinces (er, states ) in Canada.

Regardless of which way your political stripes may run, I'm proud to say "I Stood up and I voted!" - especially in a time when so many are dying to do the same. I hope all Canadians do the same.

The FoxShow: A Podcast about FoxPro, Software Development and other business topics

2005-10-03T12:26:00.000-04:00

The FoxShow is a podcast produced by AKSEL that discusses Visual FoxPro and other development related topics. If you've never heard of the term "podcast" before, here's a link to a Wikipedia but for all purposes, it is a file that you can download and play on your iPod, MP3 player, computer, anywhere. Unlike Internet radio, you can play it anywhere and anytime. Enjoy.

#37 - Interview with Rod Miller of dbi Technologies
#36 - Jan 25, 2006 - Interview with Doug Hennig, Rick Schummer, Craig Boyd on SednaX
#35 - Dec 19, 2005 - Interview with John Petersen on development legal issues
#34 - Nov 30, 2005 - Upcoming conferences, the Big Moo and Fox events
#33 - Nov 21, 2005 - Conferences and Interview with Tamar Granor
#32 - Nov 12, 2005 - Thoughts on SednaX and discussion with Rick Strahl
#31 - Nov 4, 2005 - Interview with Rainer Becker, new editor of FoxTalk
#30 - Oct 31, 2005 - Interview with David Stevenson, former editor of FoxTalk
#29 - Oct 22, 2005 - Fox News and Design Patterns
#28 - Oct 19, 2005 - Southwest Wrap up with Doug Hennig and Kevin Ragsdale
#27 - Oct 14, 2005 - Interview with Toni Feltman
#26 - Oct 7, 2005 - Discussion with Rick Borup and lost Ken Levy interview
#25 - Oct 6, 2005 - Interview with Marcia Akins, Andy Kramek, +Macros and more
#24 - Oct 2, 2005 - an interview with Ken Levy
#23 - Sept 28, 2005 - an interview with Craig Berntson
#22 - Sept 21, 2005 - an interview with Markus Egger
#21 - Sept 13, 2005 - an interview with Steven Black
#20 - Sept 9, 2005 - an interview with Bob Kocher of Southwest Fox
19 - Aug 17, 2005
18 - Aug 13, 2005
17 - Aug 1, 2005 - Bill Sander Part II
16 - July 20, 2005 - interview with Bill Sanders
15 - July 7th, 2005 - RSS, ActiveVFP, DotNet
14 - June 30th, 2005 - Designing an application
13 - June 17, 2005 - Debugging DevCon
12 - June 2, 2005 - The VFP Roadmap
11 - May 30th, 2005 - FoxPro Application Design
10 - Posted May 21st, 2005
FoxShow #9 - Posted May 19th, 2005
FoxShow #8 - Posted May 9th, 2005
FoxShow #7 - Posted May 2nd, 2005
FoxShow #6 - Posted April 23rd, 2005
FoxShow #5 - Posted April 17th, 2005
FoxShow #4 - Posted April 8th, 2005
FoxShow #3 - Posted April 1, 2005
FoxShow #2 - Posted March 24th, 2005
FoxShow #1 - Posted March 15th, 2005

2005-08-31T08:53:00.000-04:00

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by hurricane Katrina in the southern States and across the continent.

In times of disaster such as these, the best in human nature comes out in most people. I hope that everyone finds their loved ones safe and sound. Things can be replaced - people cannot be.

The recovery will be long and slow but it will happen.

What Role Are You Doing?

2005-08-20T09:15:00.000-04:00

The FoxShow is one of my FoxPro and development business-related podcast. The latest episode (issue, cast, whatever) had an interesting piece that a colleague suggested I share in other areas as well.

Even though every one may have a different title in a company, when it comes to customers, EVERYONE is a sales person, a support person and a developer.

Part of this comes from the Return on Customer book I'm reading but it's also something that I think many people see in their every day life.

You're always selling something, You're always supporting something and everyone is always developing something.

The key takeaway - if you see someone in your organization that isn't thinking this way, then think of the consequences. Do you want that person speaking for you in front of others?

The FoxShow

Codetch - Web page editing and more within FireFox

2005-08-02T09:27:00.000-04:00

If you haven't seen this before, it's very cool. Found this from one of my fellow TechPodCasts network members, Victor of the Typical PC User podcast.

What does this do? Allows you to edit HTML, XML, XUL and more.

And provides both a code and preview "view" as well right from within Firefox.

Very cool
Mozilla Update :: Extensions -- More Info:Codetch - All Releases

The Game is Afoot: A New Game

2005-08-02T09:24:00.000-04:00

Eric wrote a great article on the software business: The Game is Afoot. In a recent conversation with a colleague, I came up with my own:

The Game: Puzzle Making

The Principle

You have a bunch of pieces that you need to create a picture from. Some of these pieces may fit into multiple areas but there's really only one place where each piece fits to create the right picture.

The Challenge: You have to know what the picture is supposed to look like BEFORE you start putting the pieces in. If you think you're working on a picture of a grassy meadow, but the real picture is of a balloon in the sky, it doesn't matter where you put your pieces - the picture will never turn out right - even if you have pieces with pictures of the sky.

How Software is similar

Software companies need to place individuals where they are best fitted. Some people are great in front of customers. Others are great in front of white boards. Others still are great in front of a screen and a keyboard. Every person can have a fit in the puzzle but if you try to put a coder in front of a customer or a salesperson into design, then you are not going to complete your puzzle.

And regardless of where they are great, if they don't know the end goal, then you may still be left with a Picasso or Dali picture when you were thinking of something completely different.

Reading List

2005-08-01T16:19:00.000-04:00

Return on Customer by Martha Rogers and Donald Peppers

Truly innovative - not for the solution discussed (most smart business people know to put the customer first) but in the approach taken. Instead of a "do it for the customer, rah rah rah" approach - Rogers and Peppers take a highly analytical look at what it means to take the customer's perspective and turn it into an equation - one that everyone should be able to appreciate.

TiddlyWiki - a reusable non-linear personal web notebook

2005-05-21T14:02:00.000-04:00

FoxShow #10 is almost up but in browsing Odeo, I found this cool tool!

TiddlyWiki - a reusable non-linear personal web notebook

A Wiki - WITHOUT any server side logic required. Now THAT is cool.

Only supports saving on Windows FireFox and IE but that looks like it's getting fixed and it automatically generates an RSS feed.

Did I mention that it only uses HTML, Java and CSS?
But they do note that it's NOT Ajax. Why?
AJAX is an acronym standing for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Although TiddlyWiki uses JavaScript extensively, it doesn't do anything with XML or XMLHttpRequest, so it doesn't really fit the category.

Fortune.com - 25 BREAKOUT COMPANIES 2005: Odeo

2005-05-21T13:56:00.000-04:00

This sounds like something very cool - taking podcasts and making them accessible by show OR channel tags.

Seeing as Evan started Blogger, he knows all about making it easy. I wish I was on the beta.

Fortune.com - 25 BREAKOUT COMPANIES 2005: Odeo

The Post Money Value: The anatomy of "noise"

2005-05-21T13:38:00.000-04:00

Great post about how "interview" was not verbatim and it caused all kinds of problems. Seems like Winer is doing this quite a bit these days.

The Post Money Value: The anatomy of "noise"

Ajax, promise or hype?

2005-05-21T13:26:00.000-04:00

QuirksBlog: Ajax, promise or hype?

Running VFP 9 with Windows NT 4?

2005-05-19T10:05:00.000-04:00

Saw a recent note from Woody

You may know, VFP9 (IDE and RT) are not working on NT4 based
systems due to a not resolved API call. This may get fixed in a possible SP, but until then maybe this statement by Rainer Becker (Leader of the German FoxPro Usergroup) may be of interest:

Please inform your readers/customers/users in your next issue / email that a free patch for VFP 9.0 is available to run it on NT 4.0.

The patch has been created by the German FoxPro User Group (www.dfpug.de) and can be found at the dFPUG document portal in the directory
http://portal.dfpug.de/dFPUG/Dokumente/Freeware/

so VFP-developers do not need to wait any more to buy an update of VFP 9.0 if they or their customers still use NT4.

Some Technical details what the patch program does:

1. vfp90nt4.dll is copied to Windows system directory
2. vfp9r.dll and vfp9t.dll in VFP-Runtime folder at "Shared Files" are
patched.
3. vfp9.exe in VFP-program directory is patched.
4. vfp9.exe, vfp9r.dll, vfp9t.dll in same directory are patched.
5. backup copies of all files are made (extension .001, .002 and so on)

A patched VFP9 file will run on any operating system as long as it can find vfp90nt4.dll in the windows system directory or the current directory. The patch program can be forwarded to users if needed but you are not allowed to offer it as an own download - please link to the above mentionend directory instead. Patching executables might cause problems with virus filters and/or licence agreements. No guarantees whatsoever for patch program and results.

Dokumente

Where Is Your Screen?

2005-05-18T06:36:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard this Malcolm Gladwell talk from the the SXSW conference - be sure to give it a listen. It's from March but I was re-listening to it the other morning and wanted to pull it back out.

It's all about how removing information can be on of the best ways to make intelligent decisions.

IT Conversations: Malcolm Gladwell - SXSW Interactive 2005