Solution: When Windows XP mode does not start...

When you are unable to run Windows XP mode, which is no other than a XP virtual machine running under Virtual PC (a free Microsoft application), one of the reasons may be that the virtual hard disk has been mounted as read-only. How to solve this? Well the simplest of the solutions is to make the folder, subfolders and files, where the virtual XP machine is located, read-write using the shell command ATTRIB /S -R. However, you may run into an ugly "Acces denied" message even with elevated privileges. What to do, then? The only solution that has worked for me in virtual environments, including VMWare virtual machines, is a quick and dirty one. Simply take that unruly folder and:  1) copy it in the same disk or partition with a different name, and 2) then run the command mentioned above. It should work just fine and the read-only attribute will be cleared; 3) Try and rename the original folder (this is important); 4) Rename the copied folder with the exact name as the original. You may not need to follow these steps if you make sure to install first the Virtual PC program and then the Windows XP application that can be downloaded for free, as well. When setting up the XP virtual machine you will have to go through a similar setup process as with a hard machine, including providing a password for the administrator. For more information and to avoid any confusion, please follow this guide: Install and use Windows XP Mode in Windows 7.

Programming for Windows Phone 7 is fun too

In the ongoing competition to create Mobile applications, I started to see more and more books and "treaties" dedicated to iPhones and iPads, and the popular Android phones, very well designed and written and I was starting to get jealous till I finally came across this book: 101 Windows Phone 7 Apps, Volume I (Volume II, applications 51 to 101, is to be released in the near future), by Adam Nathan, published by Sams Publishing. This is a beautiful and practical book with well thought out explanations and examples to create useful and fun to develop applications. Incidentally I could not find an appropriate Web page to link directly to the publisher, so I resorted to Amazon. Begining iOS 4 Application Development, by Wei-Meng Lee, is a good example when it comes to comparing how Microsoft had been resting on its laurels... and then came along the iPhone and the iPad and the iPhone Touch... I don't mean to say, however, that there is not already a good deal of books on WP7 development and programming...

Don't mistake Microsoft Lync for Microsoft Linq

Just a curiosity amidst the jungle of acronyms and technologies in the Microsoft universe. When the news came out last week that Microsoft acquired Skype, the anaylist started to see the strategic value, and perhaps the overlapping, of this business move with mentions to Lync, an instant messenger client formerly known as Microsoft Office Communicator. Rightfully so, since Microsoft Lync 2010 is truly a unified communication client with instant messaging, meetings, and voice. On the other hand, Linq, or Language Integrated Query, is a development technology, specifically a set of extensions to the .NET Framework that came out a few years ago, and extends C# and Visual Basic with native language syntax for queries. No confusions, after all. Lync is for end users whereas Linq is an "insider" term for developers and geeks.

This is the week of Tech-Ed 2011, this time in Atlanta

Exactly ten years later, Tech-Ed, the Microsoft annual conference for IT professionals and developers, is taking place again in Atlanta, beginning today, Monday 16. With 917 sessions, 114 pre-event Webcasts and 312 exhibitors, the event will focus this year on the following areas or tracks: Cloud Computing & Online Services / Database & Business Intelligence / Developer Tools, Languages & Frameworks / Development Practices & Architecture / Exchange & Lync / Middleware & Integration / Office & SharePoint / Security, Identity & Management / Virtualization / Windows Client / Windows Phone / Windows Server. I attended Tech-Ed Atlanta in 2001 and Tech-Ed San Diego in 2004. This time I am following the event from New York.

All you can do in Windows 7 using the command prompt

This time I would like to recommend this really practical, useful and well crafted book: Windows 7 Portable Command Guide, by Darril Gibson, with "all the commands in one compact, portable resource" for MCTS 70-680 (Configuring Windows 7), and MCITP 70-685 (Enterprise Desktop Support Technician) and 70-686 (Enterprise Desktop Administrator) Microsoft certifications. Although you may find this information in the Web, you won't find it in one single place as organized, neatly presented and with relevant examples, as within this book. Using the command-line interface with elevated privileges (cmd, Windows Powershell or better yet, the Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment) you can do this and then some: Windows 7 installation, upgrades and deployment, User and application migration, Windows 7 deployment, Physical and virtual hard disk configuration and management, Windows Update, Device and application configuration, Internet Explorer configuration, Networking (including TCP/IP configuration), Firewall settings, Mobile and remote computing, Secure access control for local and shared resources, System performance management and monitoring, Backups, system recovery and file recovery. Having a powerful "console" is no longer the province of Linux geeks, I figure.

"IL CIBO: necessità primordiale e piacere infinito"

I just discovered Eataly, in New York City, today at sunset time, and I had the most incredible experience in this shrine of gastronomy, savour, design, lust for life and everything Italy encompasses. I know I will come back many more times, but this first time I only had a luscious cremespresso as a epilogue to my poetic encounter not only with the whole venue but with the book that holds the story of Oscar Farinetti, the founder of this Italian gourmet emporium. His biography, Il mercante di utopie (roughly translated as "The merchant of utopias") tells in a most poetic, romantic and with journalistic precision, his extraordinary story and how against all odds, from the ground up, even from a place of doubt, Eataly became the great success is now in all over Italy, Japan and New York (opened in autumn of 2009). You have no idea how much I cherish the Italian language and the Italian culture and, of course, il cibo (Italian for "food, meal", and everything of family, and intimacy and coziness it entails) which is "a primal necessity and an infinite pleasure" (a statement taken from one of the pages of the book, which gives the title to this post. [Incidentally, I noticed they use W7 in their restaurants].

Microsoft & Skype: a foretold business juncture

Though at the tune of $8,5 billion... Skype, one of my favorite software tools to be in touch with the world, is now part of Microsoft as a new business division as they entered today into a definitive agreement. "The combined companies aim to deliver the future of real-time communications to consumers and businesses around the world" and that means more healthy competition to Apple and Google, among others. So now this is how Microsoft's opening into multiplatform operability starts to solidify,  and "will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms." In this respect, Microsoft has made already inroads into iPhone, iPad and Android markets with tools such as OneNote, Azure for smartphones, and other open source projects. 

WPF and extreme user interfaces like StreetSmart edge™

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), introduced with Windows Vista, is an state-of-the-art presentation system for building Windows client and web-hosted applications with visually stunning user experiences. Curiously enough, the encyclopedic books about Vista and Windows 7, like the traditional Resource Kits, mention this technology in passing, mainly because it is part of the .Net Framework and intended mostly for developers, as its cousin Silverlight. One of these developers, Projekt202, an Austin, Texas, company, which without a doubt knows a great deal of usability and UI design, used WPF controls in the design of Charles Schwab's StreetSmart edge™, a very intuitive online trading application that has received good reviews since its release at the end of 2010. It runs in Windows 2000 and up and also in Mac 10.3 or higher.