Not new, but still great

Going through CDs and listened to an old favorite this afternoon. Santana's Supernatural is not new but it's still great. This is probably my favorite Santana album since the original, which by the way I still have on LP. (Yeah, I know... what the heck is an LP??) This guy is amazing: even after 35-plus years, still high-energy and cranking out some of the cleanest and most compelling guitar work around. Made my day.

Windows Installer 3.1 Redistributable Now Available

The redistributable for Windows Installer version 3.1 is now available. It is being released through this month's Windows Update service and can also be downloaded from here. KB article 893803 explains what's new. Windows Server 2003 SP1 already contains Windows Installer 3.1 and therefore does not need this update.

New Visual FoxPro Section on MSDN Forums

In my 4.8.2005 blog about Microsoft's new MSDN Forums, I noted there was no section for Visual FoxPro. I commented that I didn't see this as a cause for concern, but that it would nonetheless be a plus to see VFP in the mix there. Well, this morning I was pleased to discover that a Visual FoxPro forum has in fact now been added. Alex Feldstein noticed this first and blogged about it yesterday evening - thanks for pointing it out, Alex.

It remains to be seen how much activity this site will attract, but whether it's a lot or a little it's still gratifying to see VFP have an 'official' presence among the other, mainly .NET-related sections of the MSDN forums. For my part, I'll certainly continue on the Universal Thread, the FoxPro Wiki, and the other VFP sites I've used, contributed to, and relied on for years, but I'll be dropping in on the MSDN site from time to time, too.

Blog Stylesheet Revised

This morning I revised the stylesheet for my blog. I've always felt the original style was a tad on the large side, and I finally got around to changing it. I've tightened things up a bit and reduced the size of most elements.

The new style's been applied to the index page, but the archives are still the older style (for now, anyway). I think I did all this in such a way that the old stuff won't hit your news aggregators again, but if it does, my apologies.

If the new style doesn't look good in your particular browser, please post a comment and let me know.

MSDN Forums Beta Now Available

Alex Barnett blogs that MSDN Forums Beta is now available. Check it out at forums.microsoft.com/msdn/. It's organized around .NET, with sections for .NET Development, Visual Studio in general, individual Visual Studio languages, and others. If you do .NET development, this forum promises to become a valuable resource.

No, there is no section for Visual FoxPro. But then again, the VFP community has been setting the standard for community-based peer-to-peer support forums for a long time. With the rich set of community resources already available to VFP developers, the absence of a VFP section here -- although it would be welcome for the additional visibility and credibility it might provide -- does not place us at a disadvantage.

Google Local Adds Satellite Imagery

Google has added satellite imagery to its Google Local service. Google Local, which I blogged about on March 16th, is a city and state-specific search with a movable map display alongside the results. With the addition of satellite imagery you can now view a geographic image of the search location, too. Imagery resolution depends on location, with the major metropolitan areas having the highest resolution right now. Some of it is spectacularly detailed.

Try it out for yourself by zooming in on Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

1. Point your browser to www.google.com and click the Local link on top of the search box.


2. In the What box type Google, and in the Where box type Mountain View, CA. Then click the Google Search button.


3. In the list of results, result A should be Google. Click that link.


4. Under the small map, click View Larger Map.


5. You should now be looking at a larger map with Google's location marked and identified near the middle. Click the Satellite link in the upper right-hand corner.


6. You should now be looking at satellite imagery for the area under the map. Use the navigation and zoom tools at the upper left of the map to move around and drill down to the desired resolution.

For even more cool imagery, take a spin with Google's Keyhole product. It features the ability to 'fly over' an area and tilt the view so you can see things from different angles. With imagery resolutions of 1 foot in many places and even better in others, it's awesome.