The Daily Grind 420

Time for another book chapter. I used to be able to crank out a chapter in a day, but that was before I had three kids under the age of four.

Software

• PocketNerd Productivity Tool - Framework for adding new menu options to the VS .NET IDE. (via Powertoys Weblog)
• OpenNetCF Smart Device Framework 1.2 - Another upgrade to this superior set of classes for .NET Compact Framework development. Improvements include WSE 2.0 support! (via Neil Cowburn)
• Microsoft Buys Search Company Lookout - This is all over the blogosphere this morning. Three comments come to mind. First, I'm delighted to see that a small .NET-based startup can cash out. Second, for me, Lookout has not performed as well as X1 on extremely large amounts of e-mail; I do hope that buying the #2 doesn't let Microsoft squeeze the #1 too much. Third, I note that the purchase was actually by MSN. Those expecting LookOut to be integrated into Outlook 12 are likely to be disappointed.
• 100% Managed Wizard Framework from Patterns & Practices - I'm not actually convinced that building user interface dynamically from an XML configuration file is the smartest possible way to go, but it's an interesting approach.

Information

• FAQ Regarding the .NET Framework 1.0 SP3 and 1.1 SP1 Technical Preview  - Useful info about the latest fragmentation in the .NET universe. (via frankred)

Mike Gunderloy is the lead developer for Larkware and author of numerous books and articles on programming topics.

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