March 2007 Blog Posts
Yes, I got to conferences I don't speak at (although this time I'm a helper monkey). Time is running out to register at the discount rate (tomorrow); or of course you could simply join the Next Generation User Group and come for FREE! It'll be worth it for the swag, I emptied the DPE cupboard of goodies last night ... What's FEST07 all about? It’s all about “Into The Future …”. We’ll start the day in the present, looking at Vista, and then we’ll jump forward a few months to take a look at LINQ, a great and innovative...
Heh. This is going to run and run. They keep repeating "no refund" but refuse to address any additional questions or put this in writing or provide a copy of the EULA. Obviously I want this in writing just in case I feel like heading down the small claims court route. From me; Can I please have this in writing, on headed paper, signed by a manager that you are refusing to honour the EULA on the software and hardware you sell? PC World's reply; Again im afraid all i can is to re-iterate my first response email...
*wave* Hi Mike. The Inquirer has picked up my Vista license fun with PC World (original post / followup). MS licensing were quite helpful when I emailed them, they pointed out that it's an OEM license and so I must contact the manufacturer for the refund. Of course PC World say they won't refund anything. Of course I find the whole thing amusing; it's not like I'm installing Linux on the box (boo, hiss), I am using it to run a Microsoft Operating system, just not the one supplied. I'm sorely tempted to go down the small claims court route;...
The call for submissions for Developer Developer Developer 5 are open. I've already put my first submission in (can I beat Oliver & I think Benjamin who last time around, if my memory serves submitted rather a lot). More importantly, was I first to submit again? I plan to talk on CardSpace again; extending the presentation I gave at WebDD to cover managed cards and writing your own security token service. Yummy. [Edit: 29-Mar 07:30] Yes I was the first to submit yet again. I think that's 3 times in a row now. Vote for my session; I promise...
Following on from yesterday's "Give me my refund" quest I replied back to the PC World, including a copy of the EULA and pointers to the BBC news story which reported the Dell refund. No joy at all. I guess they just don't understand their legal obligations. Dear Barry, Thank you for your email of 27 March 2007. I have read through the history of your issue and unfortunately I am only able to reiterate my previous colleagues response. Therefore I can only advise you to contact Microsoft directly to obtain the refund you are requesting. Please accept my...
Ok I know; I bought a PC from PC World, that was the first mistake. I'd just been accepted on the Windows Home Server beta, and I needed a box. Right then and there, you know how it is. So I went and bought a cheap box; put the WHS Beta DVD in and away I went. Then it struck me. I could get a refund for the preinstalled copy of Vista. Heck, even if I end up putting Vista back on the machine I'd use my MSDN license for Vista Ultimate. So I emailed PC World; and a day...
I'd forgotten about this; Steve Clayton blogged in early January that KLM were offering two custom luggage tags where you could upload your own image and it would be printed on the tags. When I got in today there was a KLM envelope waiting. Having never flown with them I wondered what it was and luckily, instead of dismissing it as junk mail and throwing it in the recycle bin I opened it. Lo; this awaited; Don't steal my luggage damn you.
Poor Benjamin Mitchell. Last night Benjamin was going to present a session on Windows Workflow to nxtgenug Oxford, but the perils of calendar and travel were against him. He actually came over on Tuesday night, after a mix up over dates and we had to send him home. Then yesterday as he attempted to come out of Oxford the train gods decided it was not to be, a fire on a First Great Western train meant that all travel out of London was canceled. So I stepped up and presented my session on CardSpace, first given at WebDD. I came...
SQL Express is a great idea; I use it when developing applications so I can isolate everything from my "grown up" version of SQL until it's ready to go live. Admittedly it has problems; when a program mounts a user instance of a database it connects as dbo, so if you've missed setting permissions on your tables and stored procedures you won't find out until you migrate, but that pain is minimal compared to how handy it is. This week I've been trying to upgrade me SQL Express instance to SP2; as you can guess from the fact I'm blogging about...