Our team currently has an opening for an experienced tester. We are looking for someone who has the ability to implement and execute a testing strategy for our team utilizing some of the latest Microsoft technologies (like team system and foundation server). Responsibilities would also include implementing and managing the build and release strategy for the team. For a full listing of the requirements and job description you can check out our web site. I’m not even sure a person with the diverse skill-set we need even exists but I think the opportunity here is an excellent one. You get to join our great team of developers (including folks like Ryan and Richard) working with the latest technologies at terrific company (best one I’ve ever worked at). In fact Trading Technologies was named the 3rd best place in Chicago to work by Chicago Magazine so it’s not just me who thinks it a great place to work. 
If you are interested drop me a note at ray.jezek AT tradingtechnologies DOT com or use the contact me link on the blog.
.NET, Misc
Peter has some excellent comments (he articulates what I feel exactly) about Betrands post about server callbacks and Ajax. A few weeks ago here at work we had a long “discussion” about Ajax and how it didn’t seem to fit very well with the current ASP.NET eventing model (or page lifecycle). We all seemed to agree that we liked the concept but it just didn’t provide us with an intuitive model to handle the interaction between front end and the code-behind (also seemed like maintenance would be a huge problem). I think it’s summed up well when Bertrand says, “we want simple events on simple controls”. It’s encouraging to hear that MS is going to bring a model to the table in the ATLAS framework that is more in-line with the current page lifecycle but still provide us with some of the goodness that Ajax has.
Misc
Ok this has to be one of the colest gadgets I’ve seen a LONG time. Keyboard innovations have been pretty poor in the past, but this concept just blows me away. Application sensitive keys… think about all the business apps that could use this single keyboard – airline resrvations, restaurants, traders, etc… I love the gaming context as well!
http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000740050460/
Misc
Well MSN has totally crashed today; messenger.msn.com is showing an error page an noboby seems like they can log in. I have theory about this outage.
Today is “patch Tuesday” and MS is supposed to have a number of fixes released today. Could these servers be configured to auto-update??
Think about it.
– couldn’t resist
Misc
Well since ryan took it I had to.
It’s actually about where i thought i would be. Just your average nerd.
Misc
This is very scary:
Dec 23 – Robert makes his 2005 predictions. They include the following statement:
11) There will be a major disaster in 2005 and mainstream media will use citizen journalists in a new way to cover the disaster.
Dec 26 – A major earthquake happens off the coast of Indonesia – This is THE worst tragedy to happen in my lifetime. If you haven’t yet, you need to donate some $$ to help out the people in need right now.
Dec 29 – AFP Article talking about how blogging has been critical in reporting the tragedy to the world.
I think im going to pay attention to Robert’s other predictions a little closer now…
Misc
I previously posted about not being able to get Cisco’s VPN client installed on my Windows 2003 server machine. Cisco says they don’t support the OS so they are absolutely no help whatsoever. However, Morten posted a comment on my last post which led me to the solution! He said that you have to use the NON-msi installer. So per his advice I tried to install install the 4.0.5(A) NON-msi install package… and walla! It worked like a charm! VPN client works perfectly. I’m not sure what the difference is between the two installers but the regular one worked just fine. The other crazy thing is, the VPN client works just fine too. Not any difference from when I used it on XP.
Thanks again Morten!
Misc
cisco, installation, vpn, windows server
I just installed Win2k3 server on my laptop – everything work just perfect except one thing. Cisco’s VPN client software won’t even install on the machine. It fails saying something about Virtual Adapter couldn’t install or something. Extensive searches of the internet turn up nothing. A visit to the Cisco site reveals that Windows 2003 isn’t supported! How can a company as big as Cisco not support Windows 2003!? Are they making the totally incorrect assumption that people won’t want to use VPN with Windows 2003? They can’t be that dense.
Maybe they just assume that since Windows 2003 has VPN built in I’ll just use that instead of their product all together?
Misc
cisco, installation, vpn, windows server
I have been a long time subscriber / supporter of Netflix. I absolutely hate the movie feeding frenzy that takes place at video stores. Endless walls of replica boxes that takes forever to sift through; people rummaging through return bins in hope that the movie they want is in there; not finding what you came to store in the first place to rent. Then you wait in a long line only to get to the counter to find out you have yet another late fee on your account. The moment I heard about Netflix I signed up and haven’t been to a blockbuster since! The efficiency of having a “rental queue” of movies just waiting to be sent to your doorstep is hard to beat. But with any Internet startup you wonder how viable their business model is and if they are able to be successful.
Well I just noticed today (who knows how long they have offered this) that blockbuster now offers an almost identical service as netflix! To me this pretty much validates their business model and proves that Blockbuster is feeling some of the effects of a superior rental company/methodology. The interesting thing about the blockbuster deal is that they offer you 2 free in-store rentals per month with your subscription. I guess they are trying to balance the fact that this new model will hurt their stores even more (I wonder if local blockbusters are franchised? – ouch).
I will most likely stick with netflix because they were the pioneers here and I want to continue to keep my money far away from blockbuster.
I wonder if you could rent video games in this same way?…..
Misc
Very cool video on high tech shopping in Germany. This is definately where the industry is going (or should go). I just wonder how much overhead is associated with this stuff. I mean, I think people (in the US anyway) still choose the store they shop at based on the quality/low price combo. Not sure many people would go to a store for these reasons…. but it’s very cool to see it in action!
Misc
