The Daily Grind 853 by Mike Gunderloy Tuesday, April 4, 2006

A few people recently have asked for some sort of official logo they can use to link back to Larkware. Well, thanks to the site redesign, there's now a page full of them. Feel free.

• Omea 2.2 (code name Frascati) EAP is open! - It's another version of Omea Pro (and Reader) - see my older review here. The software isn't under the world's most active development these days, but it's still moving along.
• Virtual Server 2005 R2 - Enterprise Edition - Microsoft has made Virtual Server free, in what seems to be an obvious reaction to VMware's Virtual Server. Still, it's nice to have the free choice. They're also officially supporting Linux virtual machines now too.
• Localizing OnTime - The Axosoft guys have been doing localization, and as a result you can download a VS add-in that makes it easier to find duplicate resource names, and then use Google to do quick-and-dirty automatic translations.
• DataWindow .NET - 4GL RAD tool for .NET from Sybase, featuring data driven application and business rule support. Trial download is here.
• WinRAR 3.60 beta 1 - New version of this major alternative compression software includes multithreading, UI improvements, and other goodies. Download it here.
• VMware Server Beta - Beta 2 of this free product is out. Download it here.
• ActiveBPEL Enterprise for .NET - If Business Process Execution Language interests you, here's a beta program you might want to enroll in.
• DotNetBar 5.7 with updated Office 2007 style released - DotNetBar is still keeping up with changes as fast as the Office 2007 team can make them.
• BizTalk Server 2006 Trial Software - Another 180 days of fun from Microsoft.
• Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access AJAX Service SDK 1.0 - This AJAX stuff is showing up everywhere.
• Clover.NET 2.0 - This commercial code coverage tool now supports VS2005 and .NET 2.0. Trial download here, pricing from $250/user. (via ComponentBlog)

• Quick Debugger Visualizers in Visual Studio 2005 - Have you considered debugger visualizers for one-off throwaway use? In this Developer.com article, I suggest that perhaps you should.
• Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for Developers - Free e-book, newly revised for the released version of the software.
• Virtual Machine Disk Format (WMDK) - VMware has released its file format as an open specification.
• XenSource Licenses Microsoft's VHD As Format War Begins - I'm betting that a format you have to license loses out to one that's being given away for free, and XenSource ends up being a distinct also-ran in the virtualization market.
• Microsoft Agrees to Acquire ProClarity, Enhancing Business Intelligence Offering - This represents a major strengthening of Microsoft's offerings in BI. Check out the existing ProClarity site if you don't know them already.
• Apress betaBook Program - Apress will now sell you early access to drafts of books in progress, together with a copy of the finished eBook. I dunno, I've seen this sausage being made. But could be worth it if you're desperate to be on the bleeding edge of a particular technology.

• C# Trivia Quiz Part 1 - Annoying questions from Eric Gunnerson.
• RetroNET - Project to simulate the entire ARPANET on a single PC. Well, there are worse hobbies. (via Grady Booch)

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