Darren Sim's Blog

Greening Planet Earth with couple lines of Code

There's an interesting article on ForeignPolicy that shares how Microsoft could save 45 million tons of CO2 emissions with a few lines of computer code.

After the BREAK: The numbers behind the savings.

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/2281

Something really interesting, and those who have not moved to vista, you might want to set your computer to turn off it's screen after 20 minutes of in-activity, it's the monitor that is a big energy consumer. (That's what I heard) :)

Microsoft Ajax RTMed

Finally, this long awaited day has arrived! Microsoft Ajax Library has RTMed! Do go to http://ajax.asp.net to get the latest bits.

 Ajax 1.0 contains all the stable code base. while an additional add-on contains features that are still under development. :)

Scary SQL Eh? This's wad's been keeping bz!

Ok. Here's the most scary SQL I've written... :O Don't ask me why. It only works this way.

SQL Server 5 Compact Edition Released!

If you've followed the SQL Server 2005 family line, you might have heard of this product called the SQL Everywhere edition. Just this morning, Micorosoft has finally launched the SQL 5 Compact Edition, which was formally SQL Everywhere.

"low maintenance, compact embedded database for single-user client applications for all Windows platforms including tablet PCs, pocket PCs, smart phones and desktops."

And best of all, it's FREE!

Click here to know more!

Microsoft Groove

Many who knows me for quite sometime would have known that I'm always on the move. However, I prefer to work from my desktop most of the time as it's considerable much more powerful then my labtop and it has must bigger screens.

So I was thinking... Syncronization had always been troubling me for a long long long period of time. So I was searching around for tools to help me with that, and finally, "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF GROOVE"?

I was introduced to GROOVE almost 6 months back when the then GM for groove, David was in Singapore. Ok! Now's I'm a happy man with many of my files "Groovy".

So folks, if you're a project consultant/project manager or something similar, I think you're really goina love Groove! With Groove, you'd never be out of sync again!

 Click here to view a short flash video intro.

Windows Vista Security Guide 1.2 Released

Microsoft has released an updated version of the Windows Vista Security Guide (where they released 1.1 in dec)

Is it Bad Developer or Is it Bad Bosses?

I had been working on a project recently (non paid one, not for any bosses,  rather for an academia), am not at all happy with the requirements. It's sort of, they are so eagerly to get the stuff out, and not really bothered about the code.

Well, I could definitely push out

• fast app
• junk code

If i wanted to. That's in fact super easy! But I'm holding back as I WILL NEVER PUSH OUT CODE THAT CRACKS!

So sometimes, when we see bad codes lying around, we should ask ourselves. Is it bcos the developer's incompetency or is it their bosses incompetency? All good bosses or PMs would understand that it's more expensive to fix bad code, then it is to write it right from start!

Optional Windows Updates for Daylight saving

If you're staying in a country which has daylight savings, this might look really interesting to you.

These are in the optional updates, so if you're using automatic updates, these might not be pushed down to you.