The Daily Grind 1066 by Mike Gunderloy Monday, January 29, 2007

This issue dedicated to the memory of the Norman Conquest.

• Xceed FTP for .NET 3.3 - Xceed got a lot of press last week for their WPF DataGrid, but they also improved some of their other products at the same time. The FTP gets folder sync and new "quick" classes for one-line coding, while Xceed Grid for .NET 3.5 adds Vista theme support.
• slimKEYS 1.0 - Universal hotkey manager with plugins that can serve as a program launcher, password manager, screen grabber, and more. Not freeware, but you can pick your own purchase price - anything from $0 on up.
• DynamicPDF ReportWriter v4.0 for .NET - PDF based report writer with GUI designer and ADO.NET integration. Pricing from $499.
• VMware Workstation 6 Beta - Registration - If you want to use VMware with Vista, now's your chance to see the new version.
• SharpSpell 3.0 - AJAXy spell checker for your ASP.NET applications. Trial download is here, live demo is here, pricing from $239.
• Copilot 2.0 - Fog Creek has upgraded their remote connectivity software and dropped the day pass price; more details at Joel's weblog.
• Sync For SQLServer - Schema and data migration tool for SQL Server. Supports SQL Server 2000 and 2005. Trial download is here, $299 to register.(via Programmers Heaven)
• msfeedicon version 2.1 released - Another feed notification utility for IE7.
• Web.UI 2006.2 for ASP.NET - ComponentArt's controls for use with the release version of ASP.NET AJAX.
• Paint.NET 3.0 -- Final Release now available! - This free graphics app just marches along.
• SQL Server Express - Pre-Built Database Designs and Publish To Hoster Wizard - There are times that I think SQL Server is trying to grow up and become Access.
• MySQL Tools for Visual Studio 1.1.0 Alpha released! - Plugin for working with MySQL from Visual Studio.
• Window Clippings 1.5 - Screen capture utility with support for Vista (which most other tools lack).
• openWYSIWYG 1.0 - Free cross-browser text editor to replace those textarea tags. (via Scott Watermasysk)
• DotNetNuke 4.4 - New release of this framework focuses on performance and scalability.
• VMware Converter 3.0 - Convert physical to virtual machines for free. (Or convert Microsoft or other VM formats to VMware format)

• .NET Cheat Sheets - Format strings, ASP.NET page lifecycle, Code snippets, and links to others.
• The final Software Development Kits (SDKs) are available for download now - For SharePoint 2007, that is.
• Ka-Ching! Windows Vista's real cost - Alan Zeichick deconstruct's Microsoft's glowing press releases about the revenue potential of Windows Vista. It continues to amaze me that Microsoft is even putting those releases out. Someone in their PR department needs to get out into reality. (via Larry O'Brien).
• VMTN - The VMware Technology Network has revamped its homepage to show the latest happenings more clearly. I just with they'd add an RSS feed of the latest virtual appliances.
• Office 2007 Guides - More help for your possibly failing intuition:
  • Word 2007 Guide: Word 2003 to Word 2007 interactive command reference guide
  • Excel 2007 Guide: Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 interactive command reference guide
  • PowerPoint 2007 Guide: PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 interactive command reference guide
• .NET Compact Framework 3.5 included in Orcas January CTP - And here's a list of the improvements.
• Smart PropertyGrid.Net 2.1 - Is discounted 50% on full site licenses for Larkware readers this week (from $4975 to $2485). Contact Nicolas Cadilhac and include the word "larkware" in subject or body if you're interested.

• Visual Studio: Developers Speak Up - Redmond Developer News collects some feedback. (via dzone)
• Step 1 of 25 to Building a Micro-ISV: Register a Domain - Leon Bambrick kicks off his promised series on world domination via micro-ISV.
• you don't bury survivors - A rather cynical look at the state of coder interviewing.

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Mike Gunderloy is the editor of Larkware, the daily .NET newspaper of record.