Friday night took us to Jazz at Lincoln Center, to hear the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, led by Wynton Marsalis.  This was, nominally, a late Christmas gift to my mother-in-law and her husband, but it was also a treat for us.

The funny thing about Jazz at Lincoln Center is that it’s not at Lincoln Center, but rather on the fifth floor of the new Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle.  This “off-campus” facility has three performance venues (and, apparently, classroom space) and we were in the largest of the three, Frederick P. Rose Hall.  Although a larger setting than I prefer for jazz, this was a very nice space, with good acoustics (unlike some of the venues at Lincoln Center proper).  The other two spaces offer a smaller auditorium and a small club (albeit with “Coca Cola,” its corporate sponsor, embedded in its name) and I’m going to make it a point to get to both.

The music, not surprisingly, was excellent.  In addition to the full orchestra, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and bassist Rodney Whitaker were on the program.  Whitaker was great, but Gordon was just positively amazing.  Check out his incredibly prolific discography on his Web site.  Unfortunately, a search of Napster (the new, legal one), MusicMatch, and MSN Music turned up only one album, “Bone Structure.”  I bought this and think it’s great, but not a good showcase of what I heard on Friday night.  I’m going to have to hit the Tower or J&R jazz dept. and pick up some of his CDs.

There were two other very special guests, a singer and a guitarist…so special that they weren’t on the program, and I can’t remember either of their names.  This is frustrating because the singer had a stunning voice – it was a cross between Aretha Franklin’s and Ella Fitzgerald’s -- and she was just a freshman in college!  She only did vocals on one number, but she had the audience mesmerized.

The great thing about the program was that all the numbers followed a train theme…music about trains, and music that really sounded like trains.  I was a bit surprised that the band finished their set without playing “Take the ‘A’ Train.”  Luckily they came back and played it for an encore, and because the gig was at Columbus Circle, Lauren and I took the A train home immediately afterward.

Microsoft today announced a new Workgroup edition of SQL Server (and also announced an OEM arrangement with Dell for it!).  A SQL 2K version is available immediately, and SQL 2005 will have Express, Developer, Workgroup, Standard and Enterprise editions.  Standard and Enterprise will continue to be the only non-developer versions that include Analysis Services, and their prices will increase a bit.  Meanwhile, the lower cost of Workgroup Edition (and the lack of cost for Express Edition) combined with the no-extra-license policy for passive failover servers and multi-core servers contribute to making SQL Server a pretty very cost-effective product compared to its competitors.  Tom Rizzo discusses the new product lineup here, and the press release is here.

I am enjoying immensely the reruns of "Welcome Back, Kotter", running in syndication and on an odd, seemingly religious/family values channel, called the Good Life Network.  My Windows Media Center PC is recording these reruns in the wee hours for me.

On a recent episode, in a scene in the schoolyard, I noticed that even though the 1970s set was wildly fake-looking, one of its attempts at NYC public schoolyard graffiti was rather realistic: "B.M.T. Sheiks."  For those who don't know, BMT is one of three disused names for divisions of the NYC Subway system.  The BMT lines were once run by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation, a private concern whose holdings were eventually taken over by the agency that is now the NY State government authority called the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.  I don't know if the Sheiks actually existed, but the BMT Lines did (and do) serve the neighborhood where the show's Buchanan High School is seemingly located.

The B.M.T. Sheiks "tag" reminds me of a strange Manhattan public access cable show in the 80s called the "Crank Call Show."  The show basically consisted of private school teenagers calling in, saying something stupid, giggling, and then hanging up.  There was one guy who kept calling in saying his name was Muhammad, and that he sold incense on the D Train and the (Times Square - Grand Central) Shuttle.  That was funny, because there really was such a person who really did that.

Why did I put this posting into the Tech Industry category?  Because it turns out that Steve Lasker, a member of the VB Team and a former RD, grew up here in NYC and worked on the crew of the Crank Call Show.  I was in stitches when he told me this a few weeks ago, and he was impressed that I even knew what the Crank Call Show was.

I never in a million years would imagine that my VB world would collide with my NYC 80s public access TV show/subway riding world.  I guess Times Square really is the crossroads of the world.

Did anyone catch Darryl Taft's piece in eWeek this week: "Real Software Slams Microsoft's Patent Effort"?  Apparently, Real Software (not the RealPlayer folks) has a (very) VB-like cross-platform product called REALbasic, and thus objects to a Microsoft patent application for the IsNot keyword that originates from VB.

Paul Vick, whose name is on the patent application, and who is tech lead of the VB team, blogged about the patent application back in November.  From reading the post, Paul seems pretty ambivalent about the efficacy of patenting IsNot, to say the least.  In fact he feels the entire premise of software patents is harmful.  He further argues that Microsoft, like other software companies (IBM key among them) routinely file for numerous patents, as a defensive measure.  Typically the companies don't enforce the patents in a way harmful to other parties but, so the logic goes, need to protect themselves from someone else filing a patent that could be used harmfully against them.  Effectively, this argument likens the reality of the software patent landscape to the nuclear "mutually assured destruction" regimen that practically defined the cold war.  Hardly a comforting analogy.

I haven't made up my mind on this one.  But I'll offer a few observations:

• It's very difficult, intellectually, to argue that IsNot is patentable when the != syntax is effectively in the public domain, and the <> notation is standard mathematical usage.  I know IsNot is for objects rather than scalars, but come on...get real (sorry).
• Darryl Taft is one of the fairer reporters out there, with regards to Microsoft products, its strategy, and its role in the marketplace.  So I'm concerned when even someone of his wisdom writes an article that comes off so inflammatory (and presents the dubious notion, albeit through attributed quotes, that Microsoft's patent is meant to stave off erosion of Visual Studio's market share in the face of competition from Linux IDEs).  If Taft is saying stuff like this, Microsoft has a PR problem here and they need to address it.
• Microsoft takes a lot of heat for doing things that other vendors view as standard practice.  Microsoft is very much in the spotlight, so they need to accept this and not gripe about it.  Meanwhile, I hope people, when considering this issue, keep in mind that Microsoft cannot disenfranchise itself from diligent competition by abstaining from what all of their major competitors do.  The question is, does trying to get a patent on a keyword like IsNot go beyond that kind of reasonable parity?

Something tells me we haven't heard the last of this topic.

(Yes, the word "its" has no apostrophe when used in the possessive form, even though most people use one.)

Did you know that Oracle is working on a VS .NET add-in (now in Beta 2) for creating Oracle databases, tables, stored procedures, and ADO.NET objects?  Did you know they claim they will support CLR stored procedures in the database?  Did you know they have a .NET developer mail distribution list?  Did you know they keynoted at VSLive?  Did you know they they have an online Developer Center for .NET devs?

Don't you love it when software companies have to acknowledge the fact that competitors' products are out there, and the need for interoperability is a fact, not an issue?  Doesn't happen enough (and all major software companies are guilty).  Seeing this stuff from Oracle is really encouraging.  Wonder what others of you think...

NBC put on a terrific two-hour special last night with clips from, and interviews with stars and writers of, the original Saturday Night Live.  The special really went a long way toward showing what genius (and eccentricity) went into that show all the way back in the latter half of the 1970's.

If you were a kid growing up in New York at that time, as I was, there's no way you could watch this show and not feel huge nostalgia, and sadness.  The show was really an embodiment of a bygone era in New York: grit, grime, danger and an abundance of brilliant, creative people who could afford to live here even if they were under-employed.  The show hasn't been funny since the original cast left a quarter century ago.  And New York, while still the greatest city in the world, has seen a gradual and dangerously complete erosion of the sort of creative vitality it had back then.

More from my dad on Bone Lick Park BBQ, and other new West Village eateries....

I spent all day today at the New York Microsoft office at a regional gathering of Microsoft MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals).  I have been a Visual Basic MVP for about a year now, in addition to being an RD (Regional Director) for about 3 years.  RDs were invited as well, though I was the only one in attendance.

This was a great opportunity to meet other MVPs from the New York/New Jersey region as well as to meet MVP program execs from Redmond, TechNet event staff, and Bob Suess (pronounced "cease" and not like the guy who wrote "Cat in the Hat") who is the new Regional DPE Director for the entire East region.  DPE stands for Developer Platform Evangelism, and despite the similarity in title, the Regional DPE Director is not an RD.

All Microsoft people present, both Redmond-based and NY/NJ-based, told us what they did, what their goals were and then very patiently listened to our feedback and ideas.  Let me just say that it was refreshing to have Redmond people come out to "the field" and also very encouraging to see that someone in the field like Bob Suess was clearly excited about working with developer influencers and building community.  Those of us who have been working for years to build successful user groups appreciate the local support and the opportunity to meet people from headquarters without having to get on a plane and go straight across the country and three timezones to do so.

I really know of no other software company that works so closely with 3rd party experts and enthusiasts.  I'd like to hear from anybody who knows otherwise, because I have to assume that IBM, Oracle, Sun, and other firms must at least have some initiatives in this area, even if they're smaller and less organized.

A new neighborhood place opened recently (in the West Village) and it turns out to be one of the only legal, authentic BBQ places in Manhattan.  It's called Bone Lick Park BBQ and it's at 75 Greenwich Avenue, between Bank and 11th (just northwest of the intersection of 7th Avenue and 11th Street, for those of you who find Village geography confusing).  My wife and I have been there once (and really liked it, except for the cornbread) on the advice of my dad, Norman.  He and my mom have now gone back a second time and he emailed me this review:

"We had dinner [at Bone Lick] tonite.  Your mother had the back ribs and I had a combo of beef ribs and chopped pork.  I am enormously impressed with this food because of its authenticity.  I asked and was told that the smoker is right in the basement.  I don't know how the hell they get away with this.  Danny Meyer spent two years trying to get the city to allow a smoker at Blue Smoke.  The BBQ style is Tennessee, which means they rely on the rub for the flavor instead of smothering it in sauce.  You can taste the wood smoke in every bite.
 
Although I still insist that the collards are timid and I agree that the cornbread is insipid, we tried two different sides tonite and were extremely pleased with the limas and the okra.  Makes you forget about the collards. 
 
The beef ribs look like they came off an elephant.  There's about a half pound of meat attached to each one.  They serve two on the combo plate and I could only eat one.  No prob with doggy bags.
 
I asked for the Tabasco and the waiter brought the McIlhenny along with a squirt bottle of their home-made.  This is not the stuff that's already out on the table.  Be sure to ask for it.
 
Finally, we shared a slice of key lime pie.  Wow!  The last time we had anything this good was when we were in Islamorada decades ago. They use real key limes (tart and bitter).  There's nothing like this in NYC."

For a neighborhood joint, this place is really good.  Go sample the fare if you have a chance.

Thankfully, Microsoft announced today that there will be an IE7, that it will designed for users of Windows XP, and that there will be a beta version by the summer.  The denialist rhetoric of promising us an amazing new browser, but tethering it to Longhorn without throwing us a bone beforehand is now over. 

IE's a great browser, and its security issues are more a byproduct of its ubiquity and role of high-value target than of deficient engineering.  On the other hand, the product's been in maintenance mode for a long time, remaining largely unchanged (though not unpatched) for years.  This has left Redmond incredibly vulnerable to attack by the Mozilla Foundation, or for that matter any programming team actually getting some substantive work done.  All the FireFox team had to do was catch up to IE, throw in a few easily implemented features (sorry, I'm a bit jaded) like RSS integration and multiple tabbed browser windows, and yee haw! The Browser Wars are back, and the slow news days at CMP and IDG give way to a festival of provocative headlines and a new round of predicting Microsoft's demise.

So Microsoft is fighting back, as it should (and indeed as it should have done more proactively beforehand) and we'll get some new stuff in the browser.  By the time it's all over, I suspect it will be a non-event.  We'll all revert back to our anxiety over the actual release of all the stuff we saw at PDC in 2003 (Yukon, Whidbey, and Longhorn).

But Microsoft will have learned a lesson, or at least reinforced one already learned: don't rest on your past victories, or customers will start getting impatient and resentful.  Even if it's just for effect, keep the new features coming.  The whole PC culture is built around an attitude of entitlement toward new features, and people get very upset when their entitlements are taken away.

When I have more time, I'll discuss Windows Media Center (I own the HP z545 Digital Entertainment Center and x5400 Media Center Extender), with which I have a love-hate relationship.  But no matter what type of home entertainment center you have, you should strongly consider buying a Harmony Universal Remote from Logitech (I have the 680).  If you don't know about these things, they are learning remotes, but the way you set them up is to connect them to your PC via a USB cable, and then connect to a mother ship Web site which has IR codes for virtually all VCRs, TVs, DVD players, PVRs, media PCs, cable/satellite set tops, tape decks, receivers, CD players, tuners, etc. ever made.  You just tell a browser-based Wizard what makes and models you own and how you have them connected and it will set up just about everything for you, including programming and labeling of configurable "soft buttons" at the top of the unit.  Yes, you will want to tweak the default set up a little and yes, you can teach it IR codes the old-fashioned way if you have to.

But when you're done with set up, ONE button for TV, Music, or DVD/VCR operations will turn EVERYTHING on and switch the inputs on everything and ONE button will turn everything off.  And guess what the latter button is labeled?  Yup...it just says "Off."  This remote is 100% spouse-proof and 100% baby-sitter friendly.  It's tactile (no screen based pronto-type stuff here) and it's back-lit and it's WAY smaller (and shaped like the TiVo "peanut" remote) than my two-handed Marantz RC 2000 Mk II was.  Get one!

I _love_ my new ThinkPad T42.  I got it (care of my benevolent employer) loaded with 2GB of RAM, a 60MB 7200RPM internal drive _and_ an 80MB 5400 RPM second drive for the "UltraBay."  I'm running all VPC images off the second drive, and this is really amping up my presentation capabilities.  For the talk I gave at today's Microsoft ISV Community Days event, I had two separate VPCs running (one with Whidbey Beta 1/Yukon Beta 2 and the other with the Whidbey December CTP) as well as PowerPoint on the host/physical machine, and I was Alt-Tabbing between everything with ease.  Oh, and the VPCs ran pretty quickly too.

This is my first IBM laptop, and I'm never going back (unless Lenovo really screws up the superior engineering of these things, which I doubt).  I previously used Dell Latitudes (have owned 3 of them in total), and before that a couple of WinBook models (that was ages ago).  The Dells were never great, but the last one was a horror show...I had it serviced more times than I can remember, replacing the hard drive, the DVD/CD-RW combo drive, the keyboard, and the motherboard (three separate times).  The ThinkPad is just leaugues better; the 1400 x 1050 display is lovely and high-res without being illegible, and the UltraBay is especially impressive.  I do think the Dell docking station was easier to use (especially because it was truly front loading), and the icons for the myriad IBM software utilities are ugly as sin.  IBM's continuing refusal to put a Windows key on the ThinkPad keyboards is beyond absurd.  I have mapped the Right Alt key to be the Windows key, but that's far from elegant.

Sorry for the ridiculously late notice, but I'll be speaking on Monday, February 14th (uh...today) at Microsoft's ISV Community Days event on Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005.  I'll be presenting a "Lunch and Learn" session on ADO.NET 2.0, covering SQL Server 2005 CLR features, async and MARS (multiple active result set) querying, enhancements to typed DataSets, and the new data binding models in Windows Forms 2.0 and ASP.NET 2.0. The event will be held at the offices of ThinkPath at 195 Broadway, near Fulton (and the World Trade Center site -- I hate calling it "Ground Zero").  It's a $99 event and seems well worth it.  I'm told most of the content is coming from Redmond.

Again, sorry for the late notice but, have no fear, Microsoft will be repeating the event on March 17th.  Pretty cool that I will be speaking on both Saint Valentine's Day and Saint Patrick's Day.  Not bad for a Nice Jewish Boy, eh?.  Thanks to MS NY/NJ ISV DE (is that enough acronyms?) Sajee Mathew for inviting me to take part in the event.

Oh, I also just found out I'll be speaking at Tech Ed 2005, in lovely Orlando, in June.  At that talk I'll be covering Windows Forms 2.0 data binding exclusively.  Can you tell I like that topic?

I try very hard each Sunday morning to watch ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."  This is due to a combination of the time that it's on (9 am in New York), their Sunday Funnies segment that usually features outtakes from my all-time favorite television show "The Daily Show With John Stewart," and the fact that when David Brinkley hosted the show, it was actually pretty good.  Don't get me wrong...I think George Stephanopoulos is bright and astute, but he lobs mostly softballs at his guests, and, to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, he's no David Brinkley.  There's one other reason I still stay tuned...I actually like George Will.  George is a bit pompous of course, but he's a reasonable, honest and intelligent man, and he argues earnestly and skillfully.  I find it pretty tough to find another conservative on television I can describe as such. 

My nostalgia for the old crew and format was indulged today as Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts were brought back to sit on the round-table panel with the two Georges.  They discussed a number of recent news events and developments, one of which brings me genuine optimism, and one of which has rather the opposite effect.

On the positive side is what seems to be an improving situation in Israel and the occupied territories.  I honestly think the current initiative for peace is much more likely to fail than succeed, but it could just work out, and it would in any case be a mistake not acknowledge some genuine bravery and risk taking by both Abbas and, dare I say it, Sharon.  My gut feeling is that Abbas genuinely believes violent struggle to be pragmatically ineffective, not to mention immoral.  But beyond having his heart and brain in the right place, he seems pretty resourceful in his approach to influencing Hamas and Islamic Jihad to see likewise.  The danger there is that truly winning their confidence may require that he unreasonably compromise his current stance.  Time will tell.  For Sharon's part, it does seem that age and opportunity have swayed him toward a general desire to be seen as the one to deliver a secure peace to Israelis.  Time tends to moderate politicians, and Sharon's moderation was ironically pointed out by James Baker III, as he was interviewed by Stephanopoulos.  I say "ironically" because Baker himself seems to have moderated quite a bit since his Reagan-Bush days, as he provides genuine insight without much vitriolic Republican rhetoric.  Mind you, Baker is Senior Counselor with The Carlyle Group, so his conservative credentials are still well intact.

The negative development was Saturday's naming of Howard Dean as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.  Words cannot convey my anguish and utter disappointment in the choice of Dean to be the face of the party I affiliate myself with.  With this choice in place, it's unclear to me whether the Democrats can ever transcend their role as the party of (seemingly perpetual) opposition.  What frustrates me is that the Democrats seem to have fabricated a false dichotomy between choosing leaders that are too conservative and those like Dean who lay rhetorical claim to espousing the party's core liberal values.  Certainly, Dems who fashion themselves essentially as imitation Republicans don't strike me as good choices (especially since people will prefer real Republicans every time).  But candidates making passionate arguments for progressive causes, who do so pragmatically, and who sensibly and promptly respond to FUD and slander hurled at them by their opponents are the ones who ought to be in leadership positions in the party.  The last guy the Democrats had in the White House was a pretty good example of that, and we need more like him (don't all flame me at once).  They're definitely out there. Martin O'Malley, the Mayor of Baltimore, who I heard speak at my niece's graduation at Goucher College, strikes me as one such Democrat; he was a genuinely moving speaker who exhibited maturity, charisma, and passion. The FUD on O'Malley has already started, so the Republicans must think he's a rising star too!  Hopefully, he'll respond appropritely and quickly, and provide a positive example for discouraged Democrats.

Lauren, Miles (wife, 4.5 month-old son) and I met friends Jeanette and Ben in Central Park to see "The Gates."  For those of you outside of New York, "The Gates" is a mega installation, by artists (and spouses) Christo and Jeanne-Claude, of orange quasi curtains/banners arranged throughout the entirety of Central Park.  According to the New York Times, the project "has required more than 1 million square feet of vinyl and 5,300 tons of steel, arrayed along 23 miles of footpaths throughout the park at a cost (borne exclusively by the artists) of $20 million."

For those of you in or near New York: go.  No matter what you think of the work specifically or of public art in general, you can't help but be impressed by the sheer scale of the project.  And once you see everyone in the park marveling and talking about the work, or just using the event as an excuse to go out and socialize, you'll tangibly appreciate why public art can be important and powerful.  My own photography skills won't do justice to the installation, but a couple of my photos should at least add some personal context.

Here's a snap of Lauren, Miles and Jeanette taken near the 72nd St and Central Park West entrance to the park:

and here's another photo where I tried to convey the scale of the work.  In your mind, you'll need to extrapolate these flags winding up, down and around the entire park (3 miles from north to south, and about a half mile from east to west).

The "exhibit" will only be up for two weeks.  Anyone who can go should do so, even if just for a few minutes.  I do think it will end up being an important bit of New York City history.

I've told literally no one that I have started a blog, so if you're reading this anywhere close to the day it was posted, you have my admiration.

I have long resisted the blog trend, but have recently come to the conclusion that such resistance is futile.  Within the world of tech writers and speakers, it has become the case that not having a blog is somewhat akin to not having a cell phone or an email address in the mainstream world: there are a few left who cling to such principles, but they seem to annoy or inconvenience everyone else.  So although I find this whole process a bit self-indulgent, I am now a blogger, and will do my best not to whine about something I've decided to partake in.

I have just returned from VSLive! San Francisco where I carried out my duties as a conference chair and speaker.  The show was unfortunately smaller than last year's, but still an excellent event, featuring separate sub-conferences on VB .NET, C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server, Windows Mobile/Tablet development and software architecture.  I do wish more people would attend third-party (i.e. non-Microsoft) shows like VSLive! than seem to.  On the other hand, there is something nice about the intimacy of a smaller show...I was able to socialize with a number of the speakers, touch base with friends at Kinitos and Business Objects, and at least say hi to old friends from Fawcette Technical Publications (who produce VSLive! and have done so --previously under the name VBITS -- since 1993).

I had a bona fide international happy hour on Thursday night with friend and customer Yukiko Ito of Zest in Tokyo, fellow RDs Malek Kemmou from Morocco and Goksin Bakir from Turkey, and a very nice fellow from Microsoft Finland named Juhani Vuorio.  It was fascinating for me to watch three of my friends and a new acquaintance interact so passionately in a common second language.  Also funny was how geekdom transcends cultural differences...we all debated the efficacy of SOAP even while extolling the virtues of Services Oriented Architecture.  We also had a good chat about the upcoming Visual Studio Team System, a product of which I am still quite ignorant.  I clearly have some homework to do.

We also found out from Juhani, who is an ISV Developer Evangelist, that about half the developers at his country's high tech breadwinner, Nokia, develop with Visual Studio, despite that company's anti-Microsoft bent.  Quite the factoid, that.

Today was a serious back in New York day...Lauren, Miles (wife, son) and I went up to Central Park to witness "The Gates."  For those who don't know, The Gates is a mega installation by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude of orange quasi curtains/banners throughout the entirety of Central Park.  It just opened today and will be around for only two weeks, despite the fact that the project apparently began back in 1979! 

One more geeky thing before I close...I had a brief moment to sit with former RD and current Microsoft Visual Studio data tools mucky-muck Steve Lasker.  He showed me how Windows Forms Data Binding in Whidbey (.NET 2.0) can work harmoniously with objects, properties and generics.  Cool stuff!  And best of all, I was able to reproduce his demos from scratch on my laptop on the flight home.  What I will tell you now is that the BindingSource, BindingNavigator, and bound controls, including the new DataGridView, integrate incredibly tightly with .NET classes, allowing complete "CRUD" style operations over objects, lists of objects, and hierarchical relationships in your object model.  Imagine being able to add a new element to an object's child collection simply by typing a new row of data into a grid.  The stuff works so well its mechanics almost seem obvious.  I'll give more detail in a future post.