Scott Hanselman

With all this talk of shiny Avalon, I'm surprised that more people aren't mentioning "text-mode" applications.  I assume we all realize that there are literally millions of Windows machines from 95 to XP that exist only to allow more than one Telnet/ProcommPlus/Terminal window at a time, so end-users can interact with remote systems.

Point of Sale is a huge example:

• Blockbuster Video – I'd hate to have the video store guy have to reach for a mouse and click on a Gray Screen button OR a shiny Avalon Form.
• Toyota Service – Searching for Parts, making service appoinments, it's considerably faster in text mode than any *.*Forms technology, and I've seen them open as many as 8 windows at a time.
• Teller Banking Systems – Many banks are changing their TextMode systems over to intranets, and I personally waited 90 mins at a large bank last week to open a checking account, while I watch the teller move between three intranet ASP applications and two Word Macros, then attaching the Word files to an Outlook Email.  This same process, in text mode, at First Technology Credit Union took 10 mins. 

I'd like to see how far someone could take the new Colored Console support in Whidbey and make me a forms renderer. 

I’m just saying that my Tab,Tab,Tab,Enter will beat your Click,Tab,Alt-F,O,Click,Double-Click, more often than not and I will take the Pepsi Challenge otherwise. :) 

Am I nuts to think that Windows is missing the text-mode boat?

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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Here's a darned useful thing, the equivalent of a KB Serach for CSS and JavaScript bugs.

This is very useful: QuirksMode Bug Reports, "entirely dedicated to finding, mending, and publishing CSS and JavaScript browser bugs." You can search by browser or by keyword, or just go to that page to see the last seven reported bugs. [WebStandards]

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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It just kills me - literally tears me up inside - to watch people with both NUnitGui and Visual Studio.NET open who painfully switch back and forth, opening DLLs, attaching to processes, and generally cobbling together a sense of TDD.

Tell me you wouldn't rather right-click and say "Run Test" or "Test With...Debugger."

You may have used NUnitAddIn, which was a godsend. Today, Jamie and team launched TestDriven.NET 1.0 with full support for NUnit, csUnit, MbUnit AND Visual Studio Team System.

Naysayers may dismiss TestDriven.NET as a simple Add-In with modified right-click context menu, but there's much more than that. You run your tests in their own runner process, which gives you side-effect free testing. If you have different projects using different testing frameworks, their tests are all runnable with the same right-click/"Run Test" experience.  You can right-click on a single method and debug it. I love it.

You can run tests with NUnitGui, sure, but the Visual Studio integration goes very deep. I even show this integration in sales meetings. When you hit Build, the output window's combobox says "Build", of course. When you "Run Test" you'll see "Build" then "Test" immediately. This is what folks were aiming for when continuous integration and TDD.

I literally don't know how I managed before TDD, and you'll have to pry this free tool from my cold, dead hands.

Thanks Jamie and Team, this is great stuff.

I particularly like the last question in the short registration/survey, and I wish more people would ask it!

• How did you answer these questions? (it will *not* be held against you!)
• I answered them honestly
• Randomly to get to the download

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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I'm beating the Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Festivus rush, and posting my wants-list now. :) This is also known as my stuff-I-may-buy-if-you-don't-give-it-to-me list.

Enjoy. In no particular order.

Games

• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 - I'm loving the squad-based shooters
• Prince of Persia 2 - I'm about 85% through the first one, and it's the best 3D platformer ever
• Burnout 3 - Never heard of it, but the folks who play it won't shut up about it and it would be one more game to use my Xbox Wheel Controller
• Nintendo DS - I think I'll wait until the frenzy dies down, but this seems too cool not to have. I'd probably get Mario, and Rayman. Might be time to start taking the bus to work...

Music and Books

• Adrianna Evans - I dig the neo-soul
• Meshell Ndegeocello - Smooth sounds
• Davina - More music that somehow never hits the radio
• Amel Larrieux - Come on, people, you at least remember Groove Theory?
• Van Hunt - Heir to Marvin's throne...
• Anything from this neo-soul list...although I have most of these...
• Abraham : A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths - So I can give my borrowed copy back

Electronics

• iPod 60gig Photo - My 15gig is totally full, and I'd love to move photos from my camera when on long trips. I hate thinking about storage
• Airport Express - I wouldn't mind streaming some music to the downstairs stereo either
• Altec-Lansing iPod Portable Speakers - My speakers at work are crap...
• Actually, scratch that last one, I'd rather have a Tivoli iPal
• Casio Exilim EXZ55 - Can't say enough nice things about the Exilim series
• Panasonic SA-XR50 - One of the first truly digital receivers. There's no DAC!
• The wife will never let me get this 37" LCD HD TV

Gadgets and Misc

• Anything from http://www.despair.com/
• Any Phidgets, but especially the Motion Sensor and Interface Kit 8/8/8 with Power Supply
• A CFA634-TMC-KU so I can hook it up to iTunes

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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"The Internet combines the excitement of typing with the reliability of anonymous hearsay."
    -America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

About   Newsletter

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