Tag Archives: Microsoft

Microsoft says “Boo” to Yahoo

By Gary Burge | Published: February 11, 2008
Microsoft responded today to Yahoo’s non-answer with a snarky reply that probably has all the remaining Yahoo developers sending their resumes to Google and Facebook. The breathtaking Microsoft answer, which sounds personally handcrafted by Steve Balmer: “It is unfortunate that Yahoo! has not embraced our full and fair proposal to combine our companies. Based on conversations with [...]
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“Generating user instances in SQL Server is disabled”

By Gary Burge | Published: November 30, 2007
Today I compiled a Microsoft ASP.Net code sample downloaded from a programming website. This error message was displayed: “Generating user instances in SQL Server is disabled. Use sp_configure ‘user instances enabled’ to generate user instances.” Being a Microsoft SQLServer novice, I wasn’t sure of the solution. I executed the command “sp_configure ‘user instances enabled’” but nothing changed. Still [...]
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The sad state of ASP.Net programming

By Gary Burge | Published: November 30, 2007
I have been doing some Microsoft ASP.Net programming over the past few weeks. Compared to my beloved Linux – Apache – MySQL – PHP – HTML – Javascript platform, programming in Visual Studio is a lot like flying a modern jet airliner: it’s all done with wires. I call it “programming by holding your mouth right”. You [...]
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Thank you, Microsoft, for helping me to understand Facebook

By Gary Burge | Published: October 25, 2007
I read glowing accounts in
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Microsoft’s stealth Windows update

By Gary Burge | Published: September 13, 2007
Update: Microsoft has acknowledged the update, but says unannounced, non-consensual installations are standard procedure. See “Microsoft responds to stealth update issue” by ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Then read Adrian’s analysis of Microsoft’s statement here. Microsoft may have already overwritten files on your PC without your permission or knowledge, even if you have “automatic updates” set to “off”. Several [...]
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  • About Gary Burge

    I am a graying web programmer, techno-activist, romantic idealist, who never quite left the sixties, even though I became quite successful in the Internet space.

    My business philosphy is different now than when I toiled in the bigco world. About a decade ago I experienced a life-altering epiphany: I was sacrificing my personal life and health to feed a corporate monster.

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