मनोज अग्रवाल: Blog

Reality about Software Development

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:13:07 GMT

Upcoming Webcasts (Aspiring Architects, .NET Framework 3.5)

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:08:10 GMT

Aspiring Architect Series 2008

June 16th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Introduction to the aspiring architect Web Cast series
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380836&Culture=en-CA

June 17th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Services Oriented Architecture and Enterprise Service Bus – Beyond the hype
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380838&Culture=en-CA

June 18th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – TOGAF and Zachman, a real-world perspective
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380840&Culture=en-CA

June 19th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Services Oriented Architecture (Web Cast in French)
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380842&Culture=en-CA

June 20th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Interoperability (Web Cast in French)
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380844&Culture=fr-CA

June 23rd , 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Realizing dynamic systems
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380846&Culture=en-CA

June 24th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Web 2.0, beyond the hype
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380848&Culture=en-CA

June 25th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Architecting for the user experience
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380850&Culture=en-CA

June 26th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Conclusion and next steps
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032380852&Culture=en-CA

.NET Framework 3.5: Create Connected Applications

MSDN Webcast: ADO.NET Data Services Overview (Part 1 of 2) (Level 100)
Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Beyond the Endpoints with Windows Communication Foundation with Juval Lowy (Level 100)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 10:00 A.M.–11:30 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: geekSpeak: Workflow Services in .NET 3.5 with Jon Flanders (Level 200)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 12:00 P.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Calling Services from Silverlight 2.0 with Jon Flanders (Level 300)
Monday, June 23, 2008, 9:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: ADO.NET Data Services Overview (Part 2 of 2) (Level 100)
Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation Integration in Depth with Jesus Rodriguez (Level 400)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 10:00 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time

MSDN Webcast: Windows Workflow Communication in Depth with Matt Milner (Level 400)
Thursday, June 26, 2008, 9:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M. Pacific Time

50 Ways to Help the Planet

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:13:00 GMT

1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
If every household in the United State replaced one regular lightbulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road. Don't like the color of light? Use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won't irk you as much.

2. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT
By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year. If you don't want to wait for your computer to start up, set it to turn on automatically a few minutes before you get to work, or boot up while you're pouring your morning cup 'o joe.

3. DON'T RINSE
Skip rinsing dishes before using your dishwasher and save up to 20 gallons of water each load. Plus, you're saving time and the energy used to heat the additional water.

4. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN
Unless you are making bread or pastries of some sort, don't pre-heat the oven. Just turn it on when you put the dish in. Also, when checking on your food, look through the oven window instead of opening the door.

5. RECYCLE GLASS
Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn't recycled it can take a million years to decompose.

6. DIAPER WITH A CONSCIENCE
By the time a child is toilet trained, a parent will change between 5,000 and 8,000 diapers, adding up to approximately 3.5 million tons of waste in U.S. landfills each year. Whether you choose cloth or a more environmentally-friendly disposable, you're making a choice that has a much gentler impact on our planet.

7. HANG DRY
Get a clothesline or rack to dry your clothes by the air. Your wardrobe will maintain color and fit, and you'll save money. Your favorite t-shirt will last longer too.

8. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

9. WASH IN COLD OR WARM
If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day. Only launder when you have a full load.

10. USE ONE LESS PAPER NAPKIN
During an average year, an American uses approximately 2,200 napkins—around six each day. If everyone in the U.S. used one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year.

11. USE BOTH SIDES OF PAPER
American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper every year, equal to 175 pounds per office worker. For a quick and easy way to halve this, set your printer's default option to print double-sided (duplex printing). And when you're finished with your documents, don't forget to take them to the recycling bin.

12. RECYCLE NEWSPAPER
There are 63 million newspapers printed each day in the U.S. Of these, 44 million, or about 69%, of them will be thrown away. Recycling just the Sunday papers would save more than half a million trees every week.

13. WRAP CREATIVELY
You can reuse gift bags, bows and event paper, but you can also make something unique by using old maps, cloth or even newspaper. Flip a paper grocery bag inside out and give your child stamps or markers to create their own wrapping paper that's environmentally friendly and extra special for the recipient.

14. RETHINK BOTTLED WATER
Nearly 90% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with tap water, a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health. The EPA's standards for tap water are more stringent than the FDA's standards for bottled water.

15. BAN BATHTIME!
Have a no-bath week, and take showers instead. Baths require almost twice as much water. Not only will you reduce water consumption, but the energy costs associated with heating the water.

16. BRUSH WITHOUT RUNNING
You've heard this one before, but maybe you still do it. You'll conserve up to five gallons per day if you stop. Daily savings in the U.S. alone could add up to 1.5 billion gallons--more water than folks use in the Big Apple.

17. SHOWER WITH YOUR PARTNER
Sneak in a shower with your loved one to start the day with some zest that doesn't come in a bar. Not only have you made a wise choice for the environment, but you may notice some other added...um...benefits.

18. TAKE A SHORTER SHOWER
Every two minutes you save on your shower can conserve more than ten gallons of water. If everyone in the country saved just one gallon from their daily shower, over the course of the year it would equal twice the amount of freshwater withdrawn from the Great Lakes every day.

19. PLANT A TREE
It's good for the air, the land, can shade your house and save on cooling (plant on the west side of your home), and they can also improve the value of your property. Make it meaningful for the whole family and plant a tree every year for each member.

20. USE YOUR CRUISE CONTROL
You paid for those extra buttons in your car, so put them to work! When using cruise control your vehicle could get up to 15% better mileage. Considering today's gasoline prices, this is a boon not only for the environment but your budget as well.

21. SECOND-HAND DOESN'T MEAN SECOND-BEST
Consider buying items from a second-hand store. Toys, bicycles, roller blades, and other age and size-specific items are quickly outgrown. Second hand stores often sell these items in excellent condition since they are used for such a short period of time, and will generally buy them back when you no longer need them.

22. BUY LOCAL
Consider the amount of pollution created to get your food from the farm to your table. Whenever possible, buy from local farmers or farmers' markets, supporting your local economy and reducing the amount of greenhouse gas created when products are flown or trucked in.

23. ADJUST YOUR THERMOSTAT
Adjust your thermostat one degree higher in the summer and one degree cooler in the winter. Each degree celsius less will save about 10% on your energy use! In addition, invest in a programmable thermostat which allows you to regulate temperature based on the times you are at home or away.

24. INVEST IN YOUR OWN COFFEE CUP
If you start every morning with a steamy cup, a quick tabulation can show you that the waste is piling up. Invest in a reusable cup, which not only cuts down on waste, but keeps your beverage hot for a much longer time. Most coffee shops will happily fill your own cup, and many even offer you a discount in exchange!

25. BATCH ERRANDS
Feel like you spend your whole week trying to catch up with the errands? Take a few moments once a week to make a list of all the errands that need to get done, and see if you can batch them into one trip. Not only will you be saving gasoline, but you might find yourself with much better time-management skills.

26. TURN OFF LIGHTS
Always turn off incandescent bulbs when you leave a room. Fluorescent bulbs are more affected by the number of times it is switched on and off, so turn them off when you leave a room for 15 minutes or more. You'll save energy on the bulb itself, but also on cooling costs, as lights contribute heat to a room.

27. GREENER LAWN CARE
If you must water your lawn, do it early in the morning before any moisture is lost to evaporation. Have a few weeds? Spot treat them with vinegar. Not sure if you should rake? Normal clippings act as a natural fertilizer, let them be. If you've waited too long, rake by hand — it's excellent exercise.

28. PICNIC WITH A MARKER
Some time in between the artichoke dip and the coleslaw, you lost track of your cup, and now there are a sea of matching cups on the table, one of which might be yours. The next time you picnic, set out permanent marker next to disposable dinnerware so guests can mark their cup and everyone will only use one.

29. RECYCLE OLD CELL PHONES
The average cell phone lasts around 18 months, which means 130 million phones will be retired each year. If they go into landfills, the phones and their batteries introduce toxic substances into our environment. There are plenty of reputable programs where you can recycle your phone, many which benefit noble causes.

30. MAINTAIN YOUR VEHICLE
Not only are you extending the life of your vehicle, but you are creating less pollution and saving gas. A properly maintained vehicle, clean air filters, and inflated tires can greatly improve your vehicle's performance. And it might not hurt to clean out the trunk—all that extra weight could be costing you at the pump.

31. RECYCLE UNWANTED WIRE HANGERS
Wire hangers are generally made of steel, which is often not accepted by some recycling programs. So what do you do with them? Most dry cleaners will accept them back to reuse or recycle. (Cue Joan Crawford.)

32. CHOOSE GLASS BOTTLES OVER ALUMINUM CANS
The energy required to produce a single 12 oz. aluminum can from virgin ore is enough to produce nearly two new 12 oz. glass bottles. So the next time you buy a six-pack of beer, opt for glass bottles over aluminum cans. The manufacturing energy conserved could power your television through two Sunday NFL games.

33. TELECOMMUTE
See if you can work out an arrangement with your employer that you work from home for some portion of the week. Not only will you save money and gasoline, and you get to work in your pajamas!

34. KEEP YOUR FIREPLACE DAMPER CLOSED
Keeping the damper open (when you're not using your fireplace) is like keeping a 48-inch window wide open during the winter; it allows warm air to go right up the chimney. This can add up to hundreds of dollars each winter in energy loss.

35. CUT DOWN ON JUNK MAIL
Feel like you need to lose a few pounds? It might be your junk mail that's weighing you down. The average American receives 40 pounds of junk mail each year, destroying 100 millions trees. There are many services that can help reduce the clutter in your mailbox, saving trees and the precious space on your countertops.

36. CHOOSE MATCHES OVER LIGHTERS
Most lighters are made out of plastic and filled with butane fuel, both petroleum products. Since most lighters are considered "disposable," over 1.5 billion end up in landfills each year. When choosing matches, pick cardboard over wood. Wood matches come from trees, whereas most cardboard matches are made from recycled paper.

37. LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE WALKING—ONLINE
Consider if you really need a paper phone book. If not, call to stop phone book delivery and use an online directory instead. Some estimate that telephone books make up almost ten percent of waste at dump sites. And if you still receive the book, don't forget to recycle your old volumes.

38. GIVE IT AWAY
Before you throw something away, think about if someone else might need it. Either donate to a charitable organization or post it on a web site designed to connect people and things, such as Freecycle.com.

39. GO TO A CAR WASH
Professional car washes are often more efficient with water consumption. If everyone in the U.S. who washes their car themselves took just one visit to the car wash we could save nearly 8.7 billion gallons of water.

40. PLASTIC BAGS SUCK
Each year the U.S. uses 84 billion plastic bags, a significant portion of the 500 billion used worldwide. They are not biodegradable, and are making their way into our oceans, and subsequently, the food chain. Stronger, reusable bags are an inexpensive and readily available option.

41. FLY WITH AN E-TICKET
The cost of processing a paper ticket is approximately $10, while processing an e-ticket costs only $1. In the near future, e-tickets will be the only option, saving the airline industry $3 billion a year. In addition to financial savings, the sheer amount of paper eliminated by this process is commendable.

42. DOWNLOAD YOUR SOFTWARE
Most software comes on a compact disc, and more than thirty billion compact discs of all types are sold annually. That's a huge amount of waste, not to mention the associated packaging. Another bonus to downloading your software is that it's often available for download at a later date when you upgrade to a new computer or are attempting to recover from a crash.

43. STOP YOUR ANSWERING MACHINE
Answering machines use energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And when they break, they're just one more thing that goes into the landfill. If all answering machines in U.S. homes were eventually replaced by voice mail services, the annual energy savings would total nearly two billion kilowatt-hours.

44. SKIP THE COFFEE STIRRER
Each year, Americans throw away 138 billion straws and stirrers. But skipping the stirrer doesn't mean drinking your coffee black. Simply put your sugar and cream in first, and then pour in the coffee, and it should be well mixed.

Determined to stir? Break off a piece of pasta from the cupboard. You can nibble after using it, compost, or throw away with less guilt.

45. FIND A BETTER WAY TO BREAK THE ICE
When a big winter storm heads our way, most of us use some sort of ice melter to treat steps and sidewalks. While this makes the sidewalks safer for people, it may pose a hazard for pets who might ingest these products. Rock salt and salt-based ice-melting products can cause health problems as well as contaminate wells and drinking water. Look for a pet-safe deicer, readily available in many stores.

46. USE COTTON SWABS WITH A PAPERBOARD SPINDLE
Some brands of cotton swabs have a paperboard spindle while others are made of plastic. If 10% of U.S. households switched to a paperboard spindle, the petroleum energy saved per year would be equivalent to over 150,000 gallons of gasoline.

47. PAY BILLS ONLINE
By some estimates, if all households in the U.S. paid their bills online and received electronic statements instead of paper, we'd save 18.5 million trees every year, 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and 1.7 billion pounds of solid waste.

48. STOP PAPER BANK STATEMENTS
Some banks will pay you a dollar or donate money on your behalf when you cancel the monthly paper statements you get in the mail. If every household took advantage of online bank statements, the money saved could send more than seventeen thousand recent high school graduates to a public university for a year.

49. USE RECHARGABLE BATTERIES
Each year 15 billion batteries produced and sold and most of them are disposable alkaline batteries. Only a fraction of those are recycled. Buy a charger and a few sets of rechargeable batteries. Although it requires an upfront investment, it is one that should pay off in no time. And on Christmas morning when all the stores are closed? You'll be fully stocked.

50. SHARE!
Take what you've learned, and pass the knowledge on to others. If every person you know could take one small step toward being greener, the collective effort could be phenomenal.

Create your own passport size photos

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:08:01 GMT

www.epassportphoto.com lets you easily convert any of your digital picture into a valid passport size photograph.

You pick a country and then select whether you need the photo for a visa, passport or applying for a citizenship. Then upload the digital photo, crop and you immediately get a printable strip of 6-8 photographs for free.

Very useful, and time saving.

Side Effects of Tata's Nano Car

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:22:05 GMT

Download Free Visual Studio 2008 eBooks

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:23:09 GMT

Courtesy MS Press (Click on the following images to download)

Happy New Year

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:05:12 GMT

Another opportunity to certify for .NET 3.5 technology (Workflow) for FREE

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:00:57 GMT

Register for Beta Exam 71-504: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Workflow Foundation

You are invited to take beta exam 71-504: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Workflow Foundation. You were specifically chosen to participate in this beta because of your current Microsoft Certification status or previous participation with Microsoft Learning; this opportunity will not be offered to the general public. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. The 71-xxx identifier is used for registering for beta versions of MCP exams, when the exam is released in its final form the 70-xxx identifier is used for registration.

By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

71-504: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Workflow Foundation counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

•	Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): .NET Framework 3.5 Windows Workflow Foundation Applications

Availability

Registration begins: December 17, 2007
Beta exam period runs: December 19, 2007- January 11, 2008

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.

Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: 504B1.

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.

To register in North America, please call:

•	Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)

Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact:

•	Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp

How to Reset a Lost Windows Password

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:57:07 GMT

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

1. Download the iso
2. Burn to disk (cdburn from toolbox/win resource kit)
3. Boot from disk
4. Follow the prompts
    a. Semi confusing part at end-
        i. Exclaimation mark (“ ! “) is literally the exit command for the user update loop
        ii. Remember to say ‘Y’ es to write updates back
5. Reboot to normal windows
6. Admin password is now empty string

Technology Bubble :-)

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:07:37 GMT

Watch it full screen

WCF webcast series

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:39:15 GMT

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 01 of 15): Overview

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 02 of 15): Contracts

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 03 of 15): Contract Versioning

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 04 of 15): Exceptions and Faults

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 05 of 15): Bindings

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 06 of 15): Hosting

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 07 of 15): Messaging Patterns

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 08 of 15): Instancing Modes

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 09 of 15): Concurrency, Throughput, and Throttling

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 10 of 15): Security Fundamentals

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 11 of 15): Federated Security

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 12 of 15): Reliable Messaging

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 13 of 15): Transactions

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 14 of 15): Message Queuing

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 15 of 15): Extensibility

Courtsey Michele Leroux Bustamante

Microsoft Architecture Journal on S+S

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:43:58 GMT

What's Architecture Journal

The Architecture Journal is an independent platform for free thinkers and practitioners of IT architecture. New editions are issued quarterly with articles designed to offer perspective, share knowledge, and help you learn the discipline and pursue the art of IT architecture.

Journal 13: Software + Services

This quarter's Architecture Journal features "Software + Services" and "Internet Service Bus", a key deliverable of the Oslo project.

Foreword
The Internet Service Bus
Architecture Journal Profile: Ray Ozzie
Project Astoria
Implications of Software + Services Consumption for Enterprise IT
Enterprise Mashups
Microsoft Office as a Platform for Software + Services
A Planet Ruled by Software Architectures

Download Zipped PDF

Architecture Journal Reader

AND, now you can read The Architecture Journal offline in Architecture Journal Reader. This new reader is a locally installed application that enables you to take every issue of the Journal into a searchable, immersive, and easy-to-read experience. The application synchronizes with Microsoft's content management services so that you'll automatically have access to the latest Journal issues without needing to download PDF files or checking online.
Download Reader

Free WCF Certification

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:22:47 GMT

Not valid in India, Pakistan, China

Following is more information from MCP Flash newsletter.

Register for Beta Exam 70-503: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Communication Foundation

You are invited to take beta exam 70-503: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Communication Foundation. You were specifically chosen to participate in this beta because of your current Microsoft Certification status or previous participation with Microsoft Learning; this opportunity will not be offered to the general public. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form.

By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

Please remember that participation in the beta process is completely voluntary and Microsoft makes no promises or guarantees regarding the beta exam process. You can expect to receive your score on the beta exam within 12 weeks of taking the exam, although in rare instances, beta exams may take longer to score and your results may be delayed.

70-503: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Communication Foundation counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

•	MCTS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Communication Foundation

Availability

Registration begins: November 14, 2007
Beta exam period runs: November 19, 2007- January 11, 2008

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.

Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: 503B1.

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.

To register in North America, please call:

•	Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)

Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact:

•	Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp

Test Information and Support

You are invited to take this beta exam at no charge.

You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.

Find exam preparation information: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-503.mspx

Frequently Asked Questions

For Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) help and information, you may log in to the MCP Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/mcp/ or contact your Regional Service Center: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/support/worldsites.asp.

•	What is a beta exam?
•	Where can I learn more about the registration process?
•	How do I prepare for this exam?
•	When will my beta exam results be available?
•	Where can I learn more about the new structure of Microsoft Certification?
•	Who do I contact for help with this beta exam or other MCP questions?

Update: Beta period extended to January 11, 2008.

Get your @live.com id

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:17:20 GMT

For all of you who’ve been eagerly anticipating the availability of @live.com domain accounts, registration is opened moments ago. Now’s your best chance to get the login name of your choice at http://get.live.com/getlive/overview.

These new Live IDs aren’t a replacement for the one you already have (hotmail.com, etc), but rather a great opportunity to add another Live ID.

Shift Happens

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 06:10:00 GMT

| View | Upload your own

Brain Teasers and Games

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:55:26 GMT

Fun experiments on how our brains work

1. Do you think you know the colors?: try the Stroop Test.

2. Can you count?: Basketball attention experiment (Interactive).

3. Who is this?: A very important little guy (Interactive).

4. How is this possible?.

5. Take the Senses Challenge (Interactive).

6. Are there more brain connections or leaves in the Amazon?.

Attention

7. How are your divided attention skills? check out "Inside and Outside" (Interactive, from MindFit).

8. Can you walk and chew gum at the same time? try "Two in One" (Interactive, from MindFit)

9. Count the Fs in this sentence.

10. What do you see? can you alternate between 2 views?.

Memory

11. Easy one...draw the face of a penny, please.

12. Proud of your visual short-term memory? Give a try at "Picasso". (Interactive, from MindFit).

Pattern recognition and planning

13. Planning is not that easy: Towers of Hanoi (Interactive).

14. What's the missing number: Pattern Recognition Brain Teaser.

15. Brain Puzzle for the Whole Brain: The Blind Beggar.

16. Find the missing number in The Empty Triangle.

17. What about Tipping the Scales.

18. Don't be misled by this brain workout.

19. Please find the missing number here.

Visual workouts

20. Test the limits of your peripheral vision with this challenge (Interactive).

21. How many...: Train your Frontal and Parietal lobes.

22. Is a circle a circle?: Visual Perception Brain Teaser.

23. Mental Imagery and Spatial Rotation challenge.

24. What piece fits here?.

25. Can you mentally build this box?.

Visual Illusions

26. The Muller-Lyer Illusion (Interactive).

27. Don't try this with your partner, or you may fight.

28. How many colors do you see in The Hermann Grid.

29. This is less obvious than it may appear.

30. Is this a circle or what?.

31. The limits of our perception-and perfection.

32. Are these 2 rows parallel?.

33. What do you see.

Logic

34. Who's the eldest?: Reasoning Skills Brain Teaser.

35. Join this Party For Polyglots.

36. Solve Dr. Nasty's Giant Cube.

37. Which way is the bus heading?.

With a Corporate angle

38. Collection of Stress Management exercises.

39. Some Google/ Microsoft Brain Teasers used in interviews.

40. A few guesstimations like the ones asked in McKinsey interviews years ago.

41. More guesstimations.

42. Your last Aha! moment?.

43. Can you read these faces.

Math puzzles

44. Choose the right Fork in the Road.

45. Find the the Really, Really, Really Big Number.

46. Hard: The Unkindest Cut of All, Part 1 of 2.

47. For geniuses: Concentric Shapes or The Unkindest Cut of All, Part 2 of 2.

Tough to categorize

48. Clinically proven Stress Management tip.

49. Enjoy this Sunday Afternoon Quiz.

50. Can you write a haiku describing your experience doing some of the previous teasers? The simple rules: write 3 lines, which don't need to rhyme, containing 5,7, and 5 syllables. You can leave your haiku as a comment for extra points...

No More Catalogs, Please

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:10:23 GMT

A new not-for-profit website called Catalog Choice just launched today that lets you opt out of getting Catalogs in mail on a catalog-by-catalog basis. The site contacts companies sending out the catalogs for you.

Clear out your mailbox and save some trees while you are at it.

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Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:52:40 GMT

Interview Puzzles

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:29:46 GMT

1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

2. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

3. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

4. How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?

5. Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.

6. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?

7. You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?

8. Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?

9. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?

10. In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. if they have a girl, they have another child. if they have a boy, they stop. what is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?

11. If the probability of observing a car in 30 minutes on a highway is 0.95, what is the probability of observing a car in 10 minutes (assuming constant default probability)?

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?

14. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present including you and the friend. your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find that has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds that does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. would you accept the wager?

15. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

16. You have eight balls all of the same size. 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?

17. You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in order to maximize his share but live to enjoy it? (Hint: One pirate ends up with 98 percent of the gold.)

(via Tihomir Nakov)

Happy Independence Day!

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:57:42 GMT

Wishing all Indians a Very Happy Independence Day!

This video says it all about "Hum Hindustani".

But this one is really cute, it brings back some vivid memories from childhood.

Perfect Timing Doesn’t Exist. Stop Waiting For It

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:31:18 GMT

Courtsey LifeReboot.

It bothers me when I hear people describe a personal set of conditions that need to be met before they can make the next move in their life.
Most often, they’re just making excuses — creating obstacles that aren’t actually there, placing the blame on some outside force they can’t control, and choosing to let day after day of inaction turn into many years of waiting for their cosmos to align.
In other words, they stay where they’re comfortable until it’s the perfect time to move on.
“Once I find a better job, then I’ll leave this one.”
“Once I save enough money, then I’ll stop living at my parents’ place.”
“Once I’m out of this stressful period of my life, then I’ll quit smoking.”
What’s even worse are the people who connect their obstacles in a way that makes their current situation circular, like a trap they will never escape:
“I can’t pursue my dream career unless I leave my job, but I can’t pay the bills unless I stay at my job.”
Then there’s also the people who have a thousand complaints about their life. They typically don’t even explain any connections between their obstacles, they just rant about anything that’s causing them stress, but do nothing to correct any of it. They’re so overwhelmed they don’t even know where to begin, and their easiest option is to give up.
If any of this sounds familiar, then my advice to you is this:
Stop waiting for that “perfect time” to make your next move. Perfect timing doesn’t exist. It’s fictional. You’ll wait forever for it.
There will never be a perfect time to leave your job, move out of state, and start from scratch. Similarly, there will never be a perfect time to get married, have a baby, or have another baby. That’s because no matter when you make these choices, they will involve risk — and it’s the risk involved that makes choices like these easier to put off until another day.
What you often fail to realize is you’re not just waiting, you’re stagnating. You stop growing, hinder your advancement, and basically become dull as a result of your choice to keep life on pause.
If your current job is holding you back, then you should quit.
Seriously. You can quit your dead-end job today. Just walk straight up to your boss and say “I quit.” Leave and don’t come back. The place won’t crumble without you. They’ll find a replacement and be just fine.
Then hop in your car and drive across the country just to see that you can. Just for fun. Just to help you remember that you have a choice.
No car? Hitchhike.
Not your thing? Walk.
I’m sure you see my point: You have more freedom than you realize.
So if you want to create change in your life, then stop waiting. Let go of perfection and act. Once you have, you’ll only regret you didn’t start doing it sooner.

Houses in Unusual Places

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:11:45 GMT

This is the famous "house between the rocks" located in France, along La Côte de Granit Rose in Brittany near Plougrescant. (Additional photographs of this house can be viewed here.)
This is actually an unusual "treehouse" restaurant located in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. The eatery is not actually up a tree, but rather is perched in a concrete stand constructed to resemble a tree; patrons access the restaurant through an elevator in the "trunk." (Additional photographs of the restaurant can be viewed here.)
This is a very old mill (believed to date from the 16th century) that lies straddling two piers of an ancient bridge over the Seine River near Vernon, France.
This is the Dar al-Hajar in Yemen, a rock palace built as summer residence for the Imam Yahya in the 1930s.
This is the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, a 19th century structure located in Chesapeake Bay, south of Annapolis, Maryland.
This is the early 20th century lighthouse of Westerhever, located on the Eiderstedt Peninsula in Germany's Schleswig-Holstein region.

Microsoft TechEd 'Back to the future' parody

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:16:31 GMT

This was shown at TechEd

http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0706/29992/teched_.asx

कोशिश करने वालो की हार नही होती

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 18:41:30 GMT

An inspirational poem in Hindi written by Harivansh Ray Bachhan.

लहरो से डरकर नौका पार नही होती
कोशिश करने वालो की हार नही होती

नन्ही चीन्टी जब दाना लेकर चलती है
चढती दीवारो पर, सौ बार फिसलती है
मन का विशवास रगो मे साहस भरता है
चढकर गिरना, गिरकर चढना अखरता है
आखिर उसकी मेहनत बेकार नही होती
कोशिश करने वालो की हार नही होती

डुबकिया सिन्धु मे गोतखोर लगाता है
जा जा कर खाली हाथ लौटकर आता है
मिलते नही सहज ही मोती गहरे पानी मे
बढता दुगना उत्साह इसी हैरानी मे
मुठ्ठी उसकी खाली हर बार नही होती
कोशिश करने वालो की हार नही होती

असफलता एक चुनौती है, इसे स्वीकार करो
क्या कमी रह गयी, देखो और सुधार करो

जब तक ना सफल हो, नीन्द चैन को त्यागो तुम
सन्घर्ष का मैदान छोडकर मत भागो तुम
कुछ किये बिना ही जय जयकार नही होती
कोशिश करने वालो की हार नही होती

- हरिवन्श राय बच्चन