Tim Stanley photos

Exchange Hosting

Is Software As a Service hype or real.  Microsoft Exchange Server Hosting is not only real, but extremely cost effective. Read More...

 
 

Vista For Retail

Having recently used Vista for about a month now, I’d like to provide some feedback on Vista’s use in Retail for POS.

In the same way that lower end versions of XP were not suitable for a multi-POS environment because of networking, security, and remote access features that are needed, Vista has similar considerations. Below is a comparable list of XP Versions and Vista Versions suitable for a retail multi-POS environment. Read More...

 
 

Vista Can't Find DNS Servers With Check Point

I've had problems from day one with VPN Connections on Vista Ultimate Service Pack 1 returning a default gateway 0.0.0.0 and it couldn't resolve any DNS lookups.

I purchased a new Dell XPS M1530  in December of 2008.  It seems like a fine machine, but the Vista networking issues have troubled me like a cancer.  It's been one of those nagging problems that I never had enough time to fully investigate and resolve. I finally found the annoying issue was with Check Point Secure Client / Secure Remote software. Read More...

 
 

Office Accounting Express 2009

Microsoft has a great deal for small business with a free version of Accounting Express 2009.  It can create estimates, invoices, track customer payments, set product and service pricing and can export and import data using Microsoft Excel formats, and can export to e-mails, Microsoft Word documents, or PDF files, and even sell items on eBay.

You can compare Microsoft Accounting 2009 versions to see if you would like the professional version which includes additional report, multi-user access, and the ability to track and bill for employee time. I've found the free Accounting Express 2009 version combined with the PayPal Outlook add-in provides everything I need.  It does require Microsoft office. Read More...

 
 

Silverlight 2.0 Released

On October 14, 2008, Microsoft released Silverlight 2.0, the cross-platform browser plug-in for both Macintosh and PC platforms.

Silverlight includes several Rich Internet Application (RIA) features, including:

  • WPF UI Framework
  • Rich Controls
  • Rich  Networking Support
  • Rich Base Class Library Read More...
 
 

Visual Studio 2008 SP 1 and .Net 3.5 SP 1 Released

Microsoft announced August 11 availability of the following new downloads.

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Source Control Tools

H.O. Studley Tool Chest

The limitations of your tools are your limitations. Choose your tools wisely. Read More...

 
 

ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions CTP Preview Released

On Dec 9, Microsoft released the ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions CTP Preview for Visual Studio 2008.  Scott Guthrie outlines some  ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions CTP Preview key features this preview release provides.

These include:

  • ASP.NET Ajax Improvements
  • ASP.NET MVC
  • ASP.NET Dynamic Data Support
  • ASP.NET Silverlight Support
  • ADO.NET Data Services

Read More...

 
 

Visual Studio 2008 Released

On November 19, 2007, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2008.  Scott Guthrie outlines some of the Visual Studio 2008 key features.

Some reasons on why you may want to upgrade.

Key VS 2008 Features

  • Full tool support in VS 2008 for WF, WCF, and WPF
  • Target builds for .Net 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5
  • Java Script intellisense and richer Java Script debugging
  • Nested ASP.Net master pages
  • Continued support for web site and web application project models
  • ASP.NET AJAX support
  • ASP.NET 3.5 ListView control
  • LINQ (language integrated query) support
  • Intellisense code editing improvements

Key .Net 3.5 Features

  • LINQ support
  • ASP.NET AJAX
  • New WCF Protocols (including AJAX, JSON, REST, POX, RSS, ATOM, and several new WS-* standards)
  • New base class library features

Read More...

 
 

Visual Studio 2008 Express Free

Microsoft announced on Nov 19, 2007 the availability of Visual Studio 2008.  It also made available to the public a free version of the developer tools.  Check out the following links to obtain your free copy of these tools.

The Visual Web Developer version includes a significantly improved HTML web designer also used in Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft Expression Web.