There are a number of third party offerings which provide a iPhone look and feel for the Microsoft development environment.  Such alternatives usually require that any deployment must run within the iPhone based Safari browser.  Unlike these third party offerings, Novell (a name from the past) is offering a product named Monotouch, which runs on a Mac along with the iPhone Development SDK (Cocoa Touch, Objective C, etc) and Monotouch wraps the iPhone framework APIs such that .Net C# can be used as the development language.  The Monotouch user must continue to be a member of the iPhone Development Program.

Not sure if all the effort of learning all the restrictions of interfacing .Net and C# as an iPhone Development SDK wrapper would be worth the effort, but clearly it is worth consideration.  After careful study it may be that the only reason for considering Monotouch would be for those in the Development community who are simply opposed to learning Objective C.

With all the positive visibility for the iPhone and the open-source Android OS, Windows Mobile from Microsoft continues to loose market share.  Only 7.9 percent of smart phones sold last quarter were equipped with Windows Mobile, down from 11.1 percent during the same period last year. According to the report, 3.2 million devices were Windows Mobile-based, compared with 4 million last year.  Read the entire article...

My play toy just happens to be 8GB of memory.

My 8GB of Kingston memory arrived today for my Thinkpad T61p (two 4GB cards).  I did realize a performance gain, and over the next few days I will assess whether multiple concurrent virtual machines perform faster and smoother.  As you can see in the left-most image, my T61p now has 8GB installed with a Windows 7 64 bit host OS.

As far as a performance gain, the right-most AFTER image shows the improved performance using the Windows 7 performance metrics. 

The right-most BEFORE image shows comparable performance before the Kingston memory installation.

• Replace original T61p hard drives with faster Hitachi drives; both primary and Ultra-Bay drive.  All VMs are on Ultra-Bay drive.
• Consider which virtual machine management software I want to use with Windows 7 64 bit host OS.  After a few problems, I realized that Microsoft had taken a significant step backwards with the Windows 7 version of Windows Virtual PC (WVP) support and I settled on using the new Windows 7 compatible version of VMWare Workstation; version 7.0. My biggest problem with VMWare Workstation was a problem in conducting an iPhone synchronization within a VMWare virtual machine; which ultimately was resolved as an iPhone data corruption problem.
• Replace my existing 4GB of memory with 8GB of faster Kingston memory.  The obvious goal here was to provide memory beyond the 4GB limit for 32 bit OSs, so that Windows 7 64 bit can freely use all addressable memory, thus hopefully realizing faster and smoother virtual machine performance.

With the above steps now completely realized, here is a sampling of the end result; four concurrent executing virtual machines.....from left to right....1) My old Vista 32 bit Development VM, now converted from VPC 2007 to a VMWare VMDK VM...2) My new 64 bit Windows 7 Development VM; loaded with VS.NET 2010 Beta 2 and all the newly announced products from PDC Nov-2009....3) My 32 bit Windows 7 Administrative VM; containing Outlook, Quicken, etc....and lastly... 4) A small Windows XP image containing IE6 and Firefox 1.5, which I use for legacy testing.  The 1st three VMs are assigned 2GB of memory each, while the Windows XP VM is assigned 256MB.   Of course, the host OS is 64 bit Windows 7.   Sure beats the COMPAQ arm stretcher portable I used to carry through airports in the mid to late 1980s.

Now....is this cool or what ?

After moving to VMWare Workstation 7.0 using Windows 7 64 bit as the host OS, the one remaining problem I had was the inability to backup/sync my iPhone in a VMDK virtual machine.  After opening a problem with VMWare and spending many hours testing various tests with VMWare the problem has resolved to being a problem with the iPhone firmware.  It appears that a corruption problem can occur when moving the iPhone firmware from version 2 to version 3.  The symptom of the problem is extreme slowness when backing up one's iPhone.

For me, the extreme slowness in backing up/syncing the iPhone showed up as the complete inability to backup/sync my iPhone within a VMDK virtual machine.  The iPhone backup/sync would come to a complete halt for some reason.

To resolve the iPhone corruption problem, I removed all of my free iPhone applications, which number 20-30 such applications (I am too cheap to actually purchase many iPhone apps).   I then conduct a hard reset on the iPhone, after which I reinstall all of the 20-30 applications.  At this point, my iPhone backup runs in only about 5 minutes, which was taking over 2 hours with the iPhone corruption problem.

Working with VMWare on this problem was frustrating at times, however they did provide excellent support, even though the problem is with the iPhone.

Using VMWare for my virtual machine support along with a Windows 7 64 bit host OS has been an excellent combination.

My 8gb is on the way via UPS from California.  As you know from my prior blog posts the 8gb is part of the master plan in moving to a 64 bit host OS.   I should see some improved performance, especially when executing multiple concurrent virtual machines.

I gave a presentation last night on Facebook Integration using the Facebook Developer's Toolkit (FDT).  FDT is available on CodePlex and effective with FDT release 3.0 has been renamed to the Microsoft Facebook SDK.   Click HERE to download my Power Point presentation and sample C# projects from last night's event.

Facebook offers several ways to implement Facebook applications.   When integrated within the context of the Facebook web site, such applications are referred to as Facebook Canvas applications.  Canvas application take on two major flavors; IFrame constructed applications and Facebook Markup Language (FBML) applications.  External web sites can also enable Facebook users to use their Facebook login IDs within respective external web sites, referred to as the Facebook Connect feature.  Windows desktop applications can also be written to benefit from Facebook and gain access to Facebook data, either as Windows Winforms or WPF applications.

The Microsoft Facebook SDK wraps the Facebook REST API to simplify and facilitate ease of development of each of the above application/ deployment types.

Download the Power Point and code from the 1st paragraph to learn more.

-I have continued to test the following Windows 7 configuration. 

• Windows 7 64 Bit Host OS…with either Windows 7 Virtual PC (WVPC) RC support ....or VMWare 6.5 Workstation ...(both are NOT installed at same time)
• Vista 32 Bit Guest OS (VM # 1 )
• Windows 7 32 Bit Guest OS (VM # 2)

I was advised by MSFT support that for best overall Windows 7 virtualization performance I should disable the BIOS Speedstep setting in my BIOS Power settings.  These performance results reflect this BIOS Speedstep setting being disabled.

Performance results when comparing WVPC RC to VMWare are as follows…

1. With only VM # 1 active ... opening a web site project...WVPC takes 1 min 0 sec... VMWare takes 0 min 25 sec.
2. With only VM # 1 active.... a build of one of my typical web sites ... WVPC takes 3 min 42 sec....VMWare takes 2 min 10 sec.
3. With both VM # 1 and VM # 2 active... a build of the same web site ... WVPC takes 7 min 20 sec....VMWare takes 4 min 26 sec.

I find that boot-up time is roughly the same for both WVPC and VMWare.... regardless of number of VMs active....obviously boot-up time for two VMs at the same time takes longer....however WVPC takes roughly the same time as VMWare.

Considering the above performance results …I have decided to use VMWare for virtualization support as I migrate to Windows 7.  The following VMWare features are also quite compelling:

• Much better device support…reassignment of devices, etc.
• Ability to record and replay as a video of a VM's operations.
• Ability to suspend or take a snapshot of a VM….and resume execution.
• Richness of configuration options…such as number of CPUs to use within a VM.
• Ability to host 64 Bit guests OSs.

Next step…I upgrade my Thinkpad T61p memory to 8gb....and over time I migrate the virtual machines from 32 bit to 64 bit.

Given the problems encountered with Windows Virtual PC (WVP) support, rather than backing off to my Vista 32 Bit host OS, I have decided to back-off to a Vista 64 Bit host OS.  This will enable me to realize the memory relief I am looking for when executing concurrent virtual PCs.

Windows Vista 64 Bit does not provide the performance rating as Windows 7 but it will have to do for now.  I am ordering my 8gb of memory today.

I found a utility on the Internet called CrystalDiskMarkwhich provides meaningful disk performance statistics.  My new Hitachi SATA 3.0gb interface Thinkpad T61p hard drives provide a noticeable performance improvement when compared to the performance of the 5400RPM drives I had been using. 

I had been using the slower 5400RPM drives primarily because it was what was available at the time (2007) for larger capacity drives.

Biggest drawback with not having Windows 7 64 bit as my host OS is that Windows 7 Virtual PCs support attaching a USB device to a VPC....however I am unable to do so with Vista 64 bit and the predecessor VPC 2007 product......so I am NOT able to sync-up my iPhone within a Vista 64 bit VPC.....and of course Outlook must be in the same VPC for the sync-up.

As we approach the official release date of Windows 7, I have been considering how I can extend the life of and improve the performance of my Thinkpad T61p (Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7800 @ 2.60 Ghz) which I purchased in Nov-2007 (pre-crash).  I have been considering using Windows 7 64 bit as my host OS and executing practically everything else in Windows Virtual PCs.  I have been a heavy user of Virtual PC (VPC) 2007 and its predecessor VPC 2004 product, however up to now I have limited my VPC use to development tools only.  My development VPCs include the following:

• Vista/ VS.NET 2008 development environment
• Windows XP/ VS.NET 2005 development environment
• Windows XP/ VS.NET 2003 development environment
• SQL Server 2005 - Enterprise test environment
• Windows Server 2003 test environment
• Windows Server 2008 test environment
• Windows XP DotNetNuke test environment
• Windows XP IE6 and Firefox 1.5 legacy test environment
• Windows XP IE7 legacy test environment

I also use what I refer to as my Day-to-Day applications heavily on the same Thinkpad (word processing, online banking, email, iTunes, archive, everything except development).  I also want to consider pushing these Day-to-Day applications down into a dedicated VPC.  One primary reason for this is security; when the Thinkpad needs to be serviced, which involves sending the unit off to IBM Memphis for depot maintenance.  Having Day-to-Day applications as well as development tools in VPCs makes it easy to send a skinny hard drive to IBM Memphis; eliminating the worry of whether my data will be compromised.  I have owned six or seven Thinkpads since 1992, and I usually have to send a unit to IBM Memphis at least once during a three year warranty period.

As a result of the inherit benefits of using a 64 bit OS versus 32 bit, a performance gain will no doubt be realized.  I also want to upgrade the hard drives to units which support a Serial ATA 3.0gb interface versus the current 1.5gb interface.  I considered some of the new solid state drives, however capacity is not what I need (usually caps out at around 128gb) and costs is prohibited at around $750 per 128gb drive.  On the other hand, the performance of traditional SATA hard drives have improved significantly.  Hitachi drives are available with a capacity of 320gb for less than $100 (a raw 2.5 SATA drive; no chassis; click on hard drive image).

My T61p currently has 4gb of memory (two 2gb memory cards).  Because of the 64 bit host OS, I want to consider getting two 4gb memory cards; thus providing total memory of 8gb for heavy VPC usage.   As a result of 64 bit CPU operations, I expect a performance improvement with the 64 bit OS alone, however the real benefit I am looking for from a 64 bit OS is the broader range of memory available.  With 32 bit, memory access is limited to 4gb total.  With 64 bit, I expect the 8gb memory to provide quite noticeable multiple VPC performance improvements. Click the Thinkpad image to see memory I am considering.

Before I embark on installing my Windows 7 64 bit host OS onto my new Hitachi drive, I first want to obtain performance measurements of my current Vista 32 bit environment.  I go to Control Panel/ Performance Information and Tools, where one can request a performance rating.  One should note from this 32 bit performance rating that 1) Processor calculations per second is rated @ 5.4.......2) Memory operations per second is rated @ 5.1.....and 3) Primary hard drive transfer data rate is rated @ 5.1.

The installation of Windows 7 64 bit proceeded without incident, with the exception of the need for a nVidia 64 bit graphics interface driver, which I located on the Internet.  Virtual PC support within Windows 7 has changed names to Windows Virtual PC (WVP).  WVP is available via a separate download, in release candidate form as of this writing.

Before switching over to a Windows 7 64 bit host OS, I fully prepare my VPCs for the switchover.  I create the Day-to-Day VPC containing all of my non-development related applications and I use Windows 7 32 bit as the guest OS for this Day-to-Day VPC.  Immediately before the switchover I plan to start with two primary VPCs; my Vista 32 bit VS.Net 2008 Development VPC and my new Windows 7 32 bit Day-to-Day VPC.  Both are executing great with a Vista 32 bit host OS and Virtual PC 2007.  BTW...I did notice that VPC 2007 now has a Hardware Virtualization option; thus providing improved performance when one enables BIOS level Hardware Virtualization.  I am not sure when this Hardware Virtualization option surfaced in the VPC 2007 product.  As I move forward to a Windows 7 64 bit host OS and WVP, I am surprised that Microsoft requires BIOS level Hardware Virtualization if one plans on executing virtual machines un Windows 7.  I have read on the Internet that if one does not have a CPU with the Hardware Virtualization feature that VPC 2007 can be installed on Windows 7, however it is NOT a supported environment.  Considering the completeness of Windows 7, this restriction is surprising.

Everything is set to go; Windows 7 64 bit host OS is installed on faster Hitachi hard drive, however I have not yet purchased the 8gb of memory.  The 8gb of memory is primarily beneficial for multiple VPC performance, so I want to make sure everything works well first before making this investment.  I conduct a performance rating of the Windows 7 64 bit host OS and see these results.  Note the improved performance of  1) Processor, 2) Memory ...and 3) Primary Hard Drive, providing an overall performance rating of 5.8.

My general observations from copying quite large data files (VPCs) back and forth from backup USB devices is that that the Hitachi 3gb interface SATA drive appears to be about 40% faster than the 1.5gb SATA drives.

Regrettably, as I move forward to implementing the VPCs within Windows 7 WVP, I first install the new WVP Integration Components (the equivalent of VPC 2007 Virtual Machine Additions) and my WVPs work well for awhile, however after a short while the WVPs start consuming 100% CPU time for no obvious reason.  I actually spent four days working on this and I always encounter the same problem of the WVPs consuming 100% CPU time.   As a result, I can only conclude that the WVP release candidate is not ready for prime time.  For now, I am moving forward to replacing my drives with the faster Hitachi 3.0gb SATA drives (I have a primary and a secondary - VPCs on secondary drive), however regrettably my host OS will continue to be Vista 32 bit for now.  My VPCs are prepped and ready for the move to a Windows 7 64 bit host OS whenever I can find the time to work with MSFT to get the WVP problem resolved.  So, Windows 7 looks great and I am ready to purchase the 8gb of memory, however Windows Virtual PC (WVP) support does not look so good.... at least for now.

I have also noted that Norton Ghost version 14.0 is not supported in Windows 7.  I am not sure I want to move forward with a Windows 7 64 bit host OS if I have no means to take image copies of my drives.  I will have to assess who owns Norton Ghost at this point (Symantec I think) and see if a new version is forthcoming.

So, at this point the show stoppers for moving forward to a Windows 7 64 bit host OS is questionable Windows Virtual PC (WVP) support and Windows 7 compatible Norton Ghost support.

Here is one item from the attic that I simply could not part with.....my old IBM Selectric Typewriter. This was my sole means of personal productivity in 1979....used it to send out invoices, etc. This baby will probably be worth a fortune someday; I paid $500 for it used. This IBM Selectric along with my old IBM PC Jr. will have to stay as collector's items

Found this in the attic today....while tossing out 99.9% of my attic crap. As for the ENTJ....this does have some sentimental value. I had personality tests given to the entire staff in 1997....and this was the Myers-Briggs test result for me. I always found these results for the staff to be quite accurate. As for myself, I have mellowed a bit since this 1997 test.

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The DotNetNuke Corp. is acquiring Snowcovered.  Since 1995, I have used Snowcoveredas a Reseller for many of the ASP.NET components on my web site at Sanibel Logic.  Snowcovered has long filled a niche marketplace need for the re-sell of DotNetNuke specific skins and components.  In my case, the Sanibel Logic components work with native ASP.NET web deployments as well as with DotNetNuke deployments.  Click HERE to read the full Press Release.

Apple is readying the iPhone for deployment in China…shall be interesting to see if this helps the Apple stock (AAPL) to continue its march forward.

One of my favorite new iPhone applications is the new National Public Radio (NPR) application.

As a Web Designer/ Software Developer, IE6 is a browser that is difficult to avoid if you have a web site where the world is your audience.   There are so many non-compliance issues with IE6 that it is difficult to maintain a comprehensive list of known problems.  The most annoying problem with IE6 is the non-support of PNG24 images.

In any event, I saw an article in CNN this morning where web designers are starting a movement to get rid of IE6.  I would not expect the demise of IE6 anytime soon, however this can only be good news.

The problems with IE6 can become so overwhelming that I wrote a special ASP.NET custom control for one project that conditionally injects special HTML code where appropriate for IE6.  It works sort of like this...

   1:  <slcms:InjectBrowserHtml runat="server">

   2:      <DefaultTemplate>

   3:          <img src="/Themes/Images/ShipMyLuggage/Your-ticket-to-ease.png" 

   4:              alt="Your ticket to ease of convenience" />

   5:      </DefaultTemplate>

   6:      <IE6Template>

   7:          <div style="filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(sizingMethod='scale',

   8:                      src='/Themes/Images/ShipMyLuggage/Your-ticket-to-ease.png'); 

   9:                  width: 478px; 

  10:                  height: 149px;">

  11:               

  12:          </div>

  13:      </IE6Template>

  14:  </slcms:InjectBrowserHtml>    

And of course, all over the web are articles about how to fix the most noticeable IE6 problems....such as 10 Fixes That Solve IE6 Problems...

IE6 ?....Good riddance...

I acquired an eFax telephone number several years ago for inbound faxing.  I think the area code for my eFax telephone number is in Utah somewhere, however for inbound faxing, the service has always worked well.  For outbound faxing, eFax has always required a monthly fee.  I have recently discovered www.pamfax.biz for outbound faxing.  One can conduct on-demand outbound faxing without needing to pay a monthly fee.   Pamfax can also use your Skype credits for payment. 

Cost per page is only about 15 cents per page, and Pamfax works well with sending PDF documents.  One simply uploads the documents to be faxed and selects and fills in a fax cover page.

Interesting how we have all read about the evils of Microsoft over the past decade, starting with the Justice Department's efforts in 1999.  However, when one takes a close look at the behavior of many companies, doing what is necessary to be competitive is common practice.  Take Apple for example.  After the market crash, during the Fall of 2008 Apple shares dropped to $90 per share, and Apple is now at $165 per share and riding high.  On the other hand, Apple is clearly not what one would call an "open company".  The Macintosh product line and the OS X operating system is built on top of Intel based processors, yet don't dare try to run OS X on a Dell Intel based processor, or for that matter an Intel based processor from anyone other than Apple.

When I started iPhone software development I searched the Internet long and hard for a means to run the iPhone SDK and Objective X (XCode, etc) and OS X within a Microsoft Virtual PC (VPC).  I found one hacker who spent hours trying such and was moderately successfully, however no doubt he violated numerous license agreements along the way.

And then there is the Apple iPhone App Store.  My previous blog posts support my view that the iPhone product line is a revolutionary product line, however it is clearly not what one would call an "open product line".   The Apple iPhone App Store places Apple into the role of King-Maker.

Here is an interesting article from this morning's Wall Street Journal that may suggest a reversal may be forthcoming in Apple's behavior.

On a recent flight between Raleigh and Sanibel I could not help but notice the "WI-FI Enabled" logo as I was entering the aircraft.  I figured this would be a good test for my new 13" MacBookPro laptop.  The WI-FI service is powered by www.gogoinflight.com.  After researching GoGoInflight, I learned that it is available on multiple airlines, so evidently some entrepreneur has been quite creative in developing a WI-FI capability that can be airline-neutral and provide a great service.

So...I tried it out and it worked great, and I was flying coach class.  I was able to text message using Google Voice and Skpe.   I was also able to conduct voice calls using Skype.

Technology has come a long way since Charles Lindbergh.