Only pirates use RARrrr

Not long ago I received a RAR file containing some code for a co-worker who wanted me to look at it... unfortunately I did not have a RAR program installed and suggested that he resend it as a ZIP while sarcastically commenting "No one uses RAR."

A moment later, a near by co-worker commented that most of the videos he downloads are in a RAR format, to which I replied "So you are telling me only pirates use RAR," to which another co-worker chimed in in a piratish tone "Rarrrr."

There we have it... only pirates use RAR files!

Alan Cooper: Wow!

Yesterday over on Channel 9 we had the pleasure of seeing a video with Alan Cooper after his presentation at the recent Patterns and Practices Summit at Microsoft and gave a rather enlightening discussion on dealing with users.

One of my favorite lines of his was:

The thing is that the users don’t know, you can’t get blood from a stone, users are got a good source of software, you’ve got to have software built by experts, and you’ve got to have software designed by experts. Software is too complicated and too big and too costly and too difficult to let users have anything to do with it.

As it turns out... he’s got a few books, namely:

• About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design


• About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design


• The Inmates Are Running the Asylum : Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

I will need to pick those bad boys up before too long as I am quite interesting in hearing more of what he’s got to say.

70-552 Taken, results pending

This morning I had the pleasure (and pain) of taking the beta version of Microsoft exam 70-552 (MCAD Skills to MCPD Windows Developer by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework).

For obvious reasons I cannot say much about it, I will say this though, thank god it is over. 4 hours is given for the test and other related activities, with 3 hours actually devoted to answering ~90 questions makes for a painful, and eventually boring test session.

For the last 15 or so questions I found myself caring a lot less as I just wanted it all to be over with. Fortunately on only a couple of those finalquestions did I choose an answer before fully going through all of the possibilities.

I must say this as well... I am not known for my expert grasp of proper grammar and punctuation... but even I found a few typos on the test.

And now the fun part... waiting! According to the test, my results should be mailed out about 8 weeks after the beta closes on March 12th.

Heres hoping I did well, or at least passed. If I didnt, I at least got a feel for the new direction Microsoft programming tests are likely to go, and frankly, I like the change.