myShoggoth

IE 7 Beta 2

I've just installed IE7 Beta 2 on my development machine to try it out and see what all the fuss is about.  So far I'm pretty impressed, I love the tabbed browsing and the RSS support.  If it keeps going well I'll install it at home, too.

And I just tried the Quick Tabs, and that also is very cool.  Not sure how useful it will be (it gives you a thumbnail of the pages in each of your tabs so you can select them based on what you're looking at rather than on pure page titles), but it looks great.

Messenger builds a number of features on the HTML rendering engine that IE is based on (often referred to at Microsoft as 'Trident').  One reason we install these pre-release versions is to make sure we find any imcompatibility issues early and get them addressed before we or they release.  For instance, the tabs are basically hosted HTML controls navigated to specific pages.

I just looked at a couple of tabs and the MSN Today popup and they both look fine, so I'm not worried (at least, not about this).

Messenger Beta New UI

Our UI lead developer on the Windows Live Messenger team recently made a large number of visual changes to the client, and man it looks gorgeous.  I wasn't terribly happy with the visual direction we went for the most recent beta build you all have, but I really like what I'm seeing now.

I can't say if/when we'll get a new build out there for all of you to play with (possible someone else has announced it, check the MessengerSays blog), but I'm really excited to get this out to you all to try out.

Want a job?

Marty has posted yet another gem about Messenger, in this case the fact that we're hiring.  A lot.  MSN in general is planning on hiring quite a few people, so if you have the knowledge, skills, and passion, follow his instructions and let us know about you.

If I actually know you, get ahold of me directly if you're interested.

Lastly, is it just me or do the comments for the posts on MessengerSays seem to go in really strange directions?

Spaces are fixed!

The last major upgrade of MSN Spaces caused me some serious issues because I run Windows XP 64 bit at work and at home.  Some of the controls they have (especially the photo gallery slideshow thing) hung horribly running inside the 32 bit IE on 64 bit XP.

I just tried it again this morning and they appear to have fixed it, so now I can get back to posting more often.  Glee.

Chicago Ahoy

For an extended weekend we're in Chicago to see friends.  So far we've seen the Art Museum, wandered around a bit, and are now eating sandwiches and drinking coffee at Cafe Ballou, which is also providing the free wifi I'm using to make this post.  Good coffee, nice sandwich.

We're basically out here for two reasons, the first is to go to RandyCon, which is hosted by someone (Randy, natch) my wife and I have known from over a decade ago, and second (which is somewhat mixed in the first) is to see other people we know in the area.  Some of our friends are going to RandyCon themselves, others aren't.  In fact, the plan is that tonight while my wife goes to the con I'll be heading to play a home poker game with other friends I've known for quite a while.

Should be fun, with the additional bonus that I can watch the Superbowl with friends.  Left to my own devices I'd probably have it on in the background at home, barely pay attention, while playing computer games or some other thing.