Will Windows 7 be unveiled on 7/7?

There are many websites reporting that Microsoft is going to release the RC version of Windows 7 to the public starting May 5. And I think that it is going to be released on that date!

The thing that nobody noticed (at least on the websites that I visited) is that May 5 is the same as 5/5 in all the World’s countries. Microsoft is using these types of dates for the public to remember them easily.

If the marketing department continues to use these types of dates, there is a great possiblity that Windows 7 will be unveiled on July 7th or 7/7! Imagine the following banner:

Windows 7 coming on 7/7

What a great marketing campaign would it be! Kudos for the marketing department at Microsoft!!

New Windows Vista Ads – Number 1

Ok i’m a bit late on this but last week (on September 5) Microsoft unveiled its first ad from a series of ads. This first advert is about Jerry Seinfield moving around and finds Bill Gates shopping for a pair of shoes. Apparently Microsoft are going to tell the “story” progressively over many ads in the next few weeks. You can see the first ad after the break…

Internet Explorer 8 Features: Tabs

So i just installed the beta version of Internet Explorer 8 and I really like it! I’ll be reviewing some of the great and new features that this browser has.

I’ll start with the Tabs which were first introduced in Internet Explorer 7. In IE8 the Tabs get more useful… and even more ‘intelligent’. Next are some of the Tab features you’ll find in this review:

• Accelarators
• Color Scheme
• Reliability

Sync Outlook with Windows Live Calendar For Free!

During this last week, Microsoft released a new version of its Microsoft Outlook Connector. This happened to add support for the recent update done on Windows Live Calendar which is still in Beta.

With this update you can now sync multiple Windows Live Calendars with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Office Outlook 2007. You can now take advantage of Outlook’s great calendar and time management features and still access your schedule on the web anytime, and anywhere… and always for free (ok you need to buy outlook first… although there are other ways to get outlook… like… maybe some special… very special promotions… …!! )

For those that never used the Windows Live Calendar Beta, you can access it on this web address: http://calendar.live.com. It has a fast and functional Ajax user interface providing a rich experience on the web… supporting many new features making Outlook look even better!! For example, if you have multiple calendars (maybe one to use for work, another one for your events) or even shared calendars, each of them will sync with Microsoft Office Outlook always by using the Office Outlook Connector Beta.

Check out the How To? after the break…

New Windows Vista Ads – “Windows, Not Walls”

Microsoft is launching its new Windows Vista ads next September 4th which will cost Microsoft about $300 million. Apparently these new ads are going to be titled “Windows, Not Walls”, and will feature Jerry Seinfeld and also… Bill Gates (preview his audition movie after the break).

Personally I love Windows Vista… at home i use the Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition and let me tell you… it’s awesome! Till now… it never crashed, has a very fast startup… anyway let’s continue on the ads…

The new ads’ goal is to reverse the negative public perception of Windows Vista done by Apple’s Get A Mac ads  (and let me tell you… from my experience, most of those ads are not even near the truth… but most people beleive everything…). The new campaign is said to be one of the largest campaings in Microsoft’s History.

There is already an open DataReader…

Sometimes, when I try to get data from the SQL Server the following exception is loaded:

“There is already an open DataReader associated with this Command which must be closed first.”

This occurs when you have multiple DataReaders open concurrently on the same connection, ie you call SqlCommand.ExecuteReader but don’t close the SqlDataReader returned by this method before calling it again (either on the same command or another command on the same connection).

This is due to a change in the default setting for MARs (Multiple Active Result Sets).  By default, It used to be set as True but it was changed and was set to False by default post RC1.

So to remove this exception, you just need to change the following:

Leading Caps in Crystal Reports

When designing a report in Crystal Reports, a common problem is the text to retrieve from the database. Sometimes the text is all in Capital Letters, or Small Letters, and a few times it’s ok.

Crystal Reports can only transform the text either in Small Caps or All Caps. To have the text written in Leading Caps you have to do the following…