load of tosh https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/feed.xml a web mail developer Wed, 17 Apr 2019 03:27:28 GMT en-US hourly 1 History of Outlook Web Access https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/history-of-outlook-web-access Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:24:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2005/06/22/history-of-outlook-web-access/ My dev lead Jim has a nice history of OWA on the Exchange blog.  He talks a bit about the early versions of OWA and describes how XMLHTTP came into being for the Exchange 2000 release and how it came to be installed with IE.  Neat little piece of internet history.

https://blogs.technet.com/exchange/archive/2005/06/21/406646.aspx

]]> Opinions on Blogging Two Years Later https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/opinions-on-blogging-two-years-later Sat, 11 Jun 2005 01:21:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2005/06/11/opinions-on-blogging-two-years-later/ I noticed today as I was trying to work out why I was unable to log in to my work blog, that this day two years ago was when I made my first blog entry.  After one year I made an entry about what I thought of the blogging phenomenon after a year of trying to understand it.  I'll give my thoughts after two years now.

I read fewer blogs these days than a year ago, although I am subscribed to many more - 56 at last count.  This is still nowhere close to the hundreds that some people read.  It's easy to subscribe and never check back, but my agg. keeps pulling them down.  That said there are a few consumer blogs and personal blogs that I read regularly and expect to continue to do so.  I also write fewer entries than a year ago.  Certainly part of this is due to having less free time being a parent now.  There are some "blogs" that I just prefer to read in a web browser.  I think this was the same a year ago.

I produce atom and rss feeds for various personal web sites - hoops, baby page, and at least one of my family members has subscribed to the baby's feed.  I have written code for my sites to consume feeds exposed by other sources.  Hurray for RSS and XML. 

The term "blogosphere" is very common.  CNN has a television show of people reporting what other people write on their blogs.  The Daily Show had a bit making fun of CNN's show.  My non-technical mom knows what a blog is now.  This is probably a result of me, but no doubt she's heard it from other places.

I am convinced that you can make money from blogging.  Just look at Calacanis' and Denton's operations.  At this point, I think consumer oriented weblogs are a legitimate media form definitely capable of producing ad revenue.

I still use a standalone desktop aggregator, although I have an account with a web based aggregator.

I expect the popularity of blogging and the use of such terms in media to lessen or just fade into the background in the next year or so.  People will point to this proving blogging as a fad, but it will not go away.  I expect it will be less distinct from regular web based "columns" than it is today.  These days you see the blogs of staff writers on many sites, msnbc, news.com, nba.com, etc.  The only difference  between a blog and a column imo is trendiness.
 
 

]]> Outlook Web Access Customization TechNet Articles https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/outlook-web-access-customization-technet-articles Wed, 08 Jun 2005 14:14:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2005/06/08/outlook-web-access-customization-technet-articles/ There are a couple new TechNet articles on customizing Outlook Web Access.  These are two months old now, but given that I haven't posted in some four months, I'll consider them "new".  In any case, they deal with creating custom UI themes and changing the appearance of the logon page.  Sometimes our development team is forwarded screenshots of the OWA UI after it's been changed by customers and many of them are really fantastic looking.  If you're interested in giving OWA a look that is customized for your org you should have a look here:

Thanks goes out to Don Mace for his work with these!

]]> DirectSound Metronome https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/directsound-metronome Sat, 05 Feb 2005 17:21:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2005/02/05/directsound-metronome/ My former intern Albert has finished his metronome project that uses DirectSound and talks about some of the issues he hit on his MSN Space -- The Groove Yard.

It Works! Creating streaming, live audio is sorta easy! This opens the doors for all kinds of projects…(audio synth? Audio sampler?).

]]> Outlook Web Access Development Openings https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/outlook-web-access-development-openings Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:26:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2005/01/31/outlook-web-access-development-openings/ I finally found a moment to breathe last week and come up with some text for a job posting for position in our group.  We're looking for talented developers who have experience with ASP.NET.  If you are or know someone who someone who might fit the bill, get in touch.  We have several positions for both full-time and contract positions.  Here's the post:

Web-based mail is hot.  Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook Web Access...  They're all making headlines and showing off the richness of the web.  The Outlook Web Access team is looking for solid ASP.NET developers to help build our next version.  We're looking for people with top-notch development skills, who have worked with C# and ASP.NET in the past and have a solid understanding of HTML, CSS and script.  We're looking for people who want to take web applications to the next level of richness while also offering a blazing fast client.

OWA uses a wide variety of technologies.  Candidates must have experience with C#, C++, JavaScript, DHTML, XML and ActiveX.

Right now we are looking for both full-time and contract team members so if you are interested, email your resume to owajobs AT microsoft DOT com, or submit your resume for here.  We want to hear from you.

KC also wanted me to mention some of the cool things about working here to show the balance of hard work and fun.  Last Friday we had a wine & cheese party with just the OWA team.  We also have an Exchange get together with snacks, soft drinks and beer every few weeks, dubbed MAPI Beers.  I don't know by whom.  There's also some things listed in Wired magazine this month about MS "perks" (February issue - page 34).  And I talk about some of the other fun stuff that didn't make Wired's cut on my personal blog here.

 

]]> RE: InvariantCulture and DateTime.ToString() https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/re-invariantculture-and-datetime-tostring Thu, 06 Jan 2005 01:51:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2005/01/06/re-invariantculture-and-datetime-tostring/ Hey Omar, regarding this entry...  Your comments are closed so I thought I'd let the trackback do the talking.  I just wanted to say I have been bitten by this kind of thing before as well.  This would work too.

get
{
return DateUtc.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) + ".dayfeedback.xml";
}

]]> Looking for .NET Forum Control https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/looking-for-net-forum-control Sat, 18 Dec 2004 01:07:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2004/12/18/looking-for-net-forum-control/ I think thinking about incorporating forums into my pickup sports sites - InfiniteHoops.com and InfiniteSoccer.com - and although I am tempted to write my own forum code, the fact is I have so little time and this is something I think there are several implementations in .NET already.  Anybody using a .NET forum control or app that they like and would recommend?  Let me know.  Thanks. - T -

]]> Scrollable Resizable Datagrid https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/scrollable-resizable-datagrid Wed, 15 Dec 2004 21:24:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2004/12/15/scrollable-resizable-datagrid/ The Code Project has a project by Pedro Maia Costa based on an HTC we put out for a Web Team Talking article a couple years ago.  NIce job, Pedro.  For me one of the great benefits of writing on the web in a developer community like blogs.msdn.com is that you often get good feedback from developers running into the same sorts of problems as you.  And many times you'll discover a solution that's pretty elegant.  I think the best solution to make column headers fixed on an HTML table in IE is this one by SlingFive.  No HTC, no script save a simple CSS expression.  Simple, nice.]]> CSS Quiz https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/css-quiz Sat, 11 Dec 2004 01:35:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2004/12/11/css-quiz/ Here's a little CSS quiz that I found courtesy of the CSS weblog (yes, there is such a thing).  I got a 19 out of 20.  Apparently I messed up the index of the left and right padding values.  No doubt the result of years and years of writing symmetric web pages -- so that right-to-left languages like Hebrew and Arabic look good in OWA.]]> Blog Reorg https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/tmeston/blog-reorg Fri, 10 Dec 2004 00:48:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmeston/2004/12/10/blog-reorg/ Since the US beta launch of MSN Spaces, I made up my mind to focus more random interests posts to my space and leave this one for posts focusing on Outlook Web Access, .NET or general programming.  More eclectic posts like those on best Seattle mochas, robots, hoops and various opinions on industry happenings will be on my space.  Feel free to subscribe as that's what this blog thing is all about.  I enjoy looking through referrer logs and links left in comments by the people reading my stuff.  I don't plan on cross-posting or migrating old content.  This change will just be for future posts.

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