Chapura is offering an iPhone Task management application tied to an online "cloud" service.
If you're an Outlook user you can sync your tasks from Outlook to the "MyChapura" cloud service, and from the cloud service to your iPhone/iTouch -- even if you sync Outlook with Exchange Server. (Unlike MobileMe, which has been changed to no longer sync with Outlook when exchange server is involved.)
As far as I can tell the MyChapura cloud doesn't include any user interface for manipulating the Task data, it's strictly a store that gets around all the issues with syncing an iPhone to multiple machines and the inability to sync over the Apple calbe.
Grrr. Maybe I should have left all my PIM data in Outlook -- rather than moving it to the pathetically inferior OS X environment. (Only Address Book is in any way competitive to the Outlook PIM equivalent.)
So is Chapura going to go all the way, and add Calender, Contact and Memo/Notes support to MyChapura, with complementary apps on the iPhone? That would be a large project, but it's very much like their Palm KeySuite application.
I'm definitely interested; it's a shame Chapura doesn't have a blog I could track. Tasks synchronization alone isn't worth the risk of installing software into Outlook/XP (very unstable environments these days), but if Chapura goes further ...
Friday, November 28, 2008
Modern software development on the web
This is a well done essay on model-view-controller development that happens to also talk about the web: Advogato: Blurring of MVC lines: Programming the Web Browser.
If you want to catch up a bit on current programming styles (I'm a bit behind myself) the Wikipedia article on RESTful development is a good complement. This bit of the article is particularly helpful, especially if you know that "RPC" is often used to refer to SOAP services, that Dave Winer was a champion of SOAP and RSS alike, and that Atom was championed by Google over RSS (phew!) ...
If you want to catch up a bit on current programming styles (I'm a bit behind myself) the Wikipedia article on RESTful development is a good complement. This bit of the article is particularly helpful, especially if you know that "RPC" is often used to refer to SOAP services, that Dave Winer was a champion of SOAP and RSS alike, and that Atom was championed by Google over RSS (phew!) ...
I think of Jon Udell as a godfather of the RESTful world, but I had trouble finding a review essay of his on the topic; his early discussions are fairly brief. I've got a very good reference somewhere, I'll add it here when I find it....... It is possible to claim an enormous number of RESTful applications on the Web (just about everything accessible through an HTTP GET request or updateable through HTTP POST). Taken more narrowly, in its sense as an alternative to both Web Services generally and the RPC style specifically, REST can be found in a number of places on the public Web:
- The “blogosphere” — the universe of weblogs — is mostly REST-based, since it involves downloading XML files (in RSS or Atom format) which contain lists of links to other resources;
- The Atom Publishing Protocol for publishing to blogs is considered a canonical RESTful protocol;
- Various websites and web applications offer REST-like developer interfaces to data (e.g. Flickr or Amazon S3).
Note that WSDL version 2.0 now offers support for binding to all the HTTP request methods (not only GET and POST as in version 1.1).[6]
Missing JPEG preview icons restored by Onyx rebuild LaunchServices
This is probably not a new 10.5 bug, now that I know the fix I can find mentions of similar problem from five years ago.
OS X 10.5 Leopard will, like XP's thumbnail view, show a preview of a JPG, PDF or other image file in place of the large icon.
In theory.
In practice it's prone to losing the preview and just showing the generic icon. As per this discusison thread and an older thread that has the real advice the OS X launchServices database is fragile and often broken. (For example.)
One fix is to run a fairly complex terminal command that rebuilds that too fragile data source. Another is to download Onyx and run the rebuild launchServices and cleanup scripts (remove caches) then restart.
That restored my icon previews.
Another few hours lost to complexity collapse.
I'd really like to know why Apple hasn't either fixed this ancient bug or included a launchServices rebuild in the monthly maintenance script OS X runs.
I sent Onyx a $10US donation. I've used this app long enough to contribute something.
OS X 10.5 Leopard will, like XP's thumbnail view, show a preview of a JPG, PDF or other image file in place of the large icon.
In theory.
In practice it's prone to losing the preview and just showing the generic icon. As per this discusison thread and an older thread that has the real advice the OS X launchServices database is fragile and often broken. (For example.)
One fix is to run a fairly complex terminal command that rebuilds that too fragile data source. Another is to download Onyx and run the rebuild launchServices and cleanup scripts (remove caches) then restart.
That restored my icon previews.
Another few hours lost to complexity collapse.
I'd really like to know why Apple hasn't either fixed this ancient bug or included a launchServices rebuild in the monthly maintenance script OS X runs.
I sent Onyx a $10US donation. I've used this app long enough to contribute something.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Using my business card as iPhone wallpaper
I have the world's dullest iPhone wallpaper -- my business card with my phone number and personal email written in big ink letters.
I used to have a photo of the dog (that way the kids don't accuse me of favoritism), but I realized that if the phone was lost there was nothing to point to me. I set the phone to lock after a few minutes without use, so anyone finding it can't get through to my phone list (for example).
Palm devices, and probably most devices, have a security option to show a user-defined text screen when locked. Not so the iPhone! [1]
So I used my Griffin Clarifi macro lens and took an iPhone picture of my business card, with annotations. Then I set the business card as wallpaper. I framed it so the key information would be easy to see.
So if my phone is lost, it's now easy for someone to return it to me.
I'll try making a better picture with my dSLR, but really the card picture is quite readable even in the wallpaper version.
[1] Yes, I too would like to lock the iPhone team in a room with a Palm Vx for a month until the good bits of that device/software package were permanently burned into their brains.
I used to have a photo of the dog (that way the kids don't accuse me of favoritism), but I realized that if the phone was lost there was nothing to point to me. I set the phone to lock after a few minutes without use, so anyone finding it can't get through to my phone list (for example).
Palm devices, and probably most devices, have a security option to show a user-defined text screen when locked. Not so the iPhone! [1]
So I used my Griffin Clarifi macro lens and took an iPhone picture of my business card, with annotations. Then I set the business card as wallpaper. I framed it so the key information would be easy to see.
So if my phone is lost, it's now easy for someone to return it to me.
I'll try making a better picture with my dSLR, but really the card picture is quite readable even in the wallpaper version.
[1] Yes, I too would like to lock the iPhone team in a room with a Palm Vx for a month until the good bits of that device/software package were permanently burned into their brains.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Has iPhone 2.2 created a new class of application update problems? Remote is broken now.
At first we thought 2.2 had fixed an old problem ...
Just like the old days, except now there's no application error.
Remote is no longer showing me controls for my remote airport express speakers. That's a slight improvement, before the forced restore it was just giving me an "unknown error" message when I tried to use it. I think that's tied to the airport express problem.
This is not looking so good.
If it is a return of the old horrible bug with application updates, I suspect the return may have root in Apple's broken identity management system. It broke with the .mac to .me transition for those who had been original .mac users but were not users at the time of the .me transition ...
Update: I remain suspicious that there's a new bug, or a twist on an old bug, with propagating app updates to the iPhone. On the other hand, the loss of remote speakers was due to my Airport Express going offline. When I power cycled it I again saw the remote speaker option.
Why did the AE go offline for the first time in a year or so? That's another question, maybe related to an update to my Airport Extreme, maybe coincidental.
Update: Yep, I can't sync my iPod now...
Update: Deauthorizing and reauthorizing my Mac had no effect. I found a slightly relevant discussion group thread. I rebooted the iPod to no effect, but then restarted my Mac and was able to sync all my devices.
Update 11/24/08: Rebooting the Mac solved the problem. Alas, that was too easy a solution for this to be entirely an Apple error. I have a bad feeling that the error was intracranial, that is, my user error.
For reasons too complex to bother explaining it's just barely possible that I was running a user account that points to a shared multi-user Tunes library.
I've also verified that at least one iPhone App Store update worked as expected and functioned without my having to remove and restore the app.
Gordon's Tech: iPhone 2.1 - unknown application 0xE800002E - A FIX!Now I've had to manually remove and reinstall 2 applications, MPR and Remote, to get them to work - partly.
...Update 11/22/08: The Nov iTunes and iPhone releases may have squashed this one. I can't speak from personal experience since I long ago fixed my problem, but I'm seeing positive reports....
Just like the old days, except now there's no application error.
Remote is no longer showing me controls for my remote airport express speakers. That's a slight improvement, before the forced restore it was just giving me an "unknown error" message when I tried to use it. I think that's tied to the airport express problem.
This is not looking so good.
If it is a return of the old horrible bug with application updates, I suspect the return may have root in Apple's broken identity management system. It broke with the .mac to .me transition for those who had been original .mac users but were not users at the time of the .me transition ...
Update: I remain suspicious that there's a new bug, or a twist on an old bug, with propagating app updates to the iPhone. On the other hand, the loss of remote speakers was due to my Airport Express going offline. When I power cycled it I again saw the remote speaker option.
Why did the AE go offline for the first time in a year or so? That's another question, maybe related to an update to my Airport Extreme, maybe coincidental.
Update: Yep, I can't sync my iPod now...
Update: Deauthorizing and reauthorizing my Mac had no effect. I found a slightly relevant discussion group thread. I rebooted the iPod to no effect, but then restarted my Mac and was able to sync all my devices.
Update 11/24/08: Rebooting the Mac solved the problem. Alas, that was too easy a solution for this to be entirely an Apple error. I have a bad feeling that the error was intracranial, that is, my user error.
For reasons too complex to bother explaining it's just barely possible that I was running a user account that points to a shared multi-user Tunes library.
I've also verified that at least one iPhone App Store update worked as expected and functioned without my having to remove and restore the app.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Resolving the Windows Live Installer Catastrophic Failure bug
In the process of tracking down the root of my Outlook 2007 "missing manifest" bug I discovered that Windows Live Installer was failing with a "catastrophic error". (Love that! It's not as good as "Abort, Retry, Fail" but, for the anemic Microsoft of modern times it's not bad.).
I went down this root because the nature of the missing manifests suggested the bad behavior was related to either Office Communicator or Live Messenger. Installing Communicator didn't fix things, so Live Messenger was up next. Trying to install Live Messenger led to my "catastrophic error".
Others have run into this problem with Live Suite installs. That page pointed to the beta version of Windows Live apps as the problem. So it was with me. I used the Add/Remove control panel Windows Live Beta installer to remove all my Windows Live products. (Some had been updated to non-beta status by Windows Update, but it appears that wasn't enough.)
After that I was able to run the Windows Live Installer normally and to add them all back in.
So now on the Manifest bug ...
I went down this root because the nature of the missing manifests suggested the bad behavior was related to either Office Communicator or Live Messenger. Installing Communicator didn't fix things, so Live Messenger was up next. Trying to install Live Messenger led to my "catastrophic error".
Others have run into this problem with Live Suite installs. That page pointed to the beta version of Windows Live apps as the problem. So it was with me. I used the Add/Remove control panel Windows Live Beta installer to remove all my Windows Live products. (Some had been updated to non-beta status by Windows Update, but it appears that wasn't enough.)
After that I was able to run the Windows Live Installer normally and to add them all back in.
So now on the Manifest bug ...
Friday, November 21, 2008
Nice summary of browser anonymity and isolation measures
The VM sandboxing is especially interesting: The Real Blogger Status: Your Browser, In Anonymity And Safety - Browser Isolation.
You have to be sure your VM is really isolated though. Many OS X VMs provide VM clients access to the OS X file system. That's normally a feature, but it's a big issue if the VM goes rogue.
The furthest I go today is using FF with NoScript, or using Chrome. Mostly I just use plain FF and don't wander far from bright lights and the jostling crowd.
You have to be sure your VM is really isolated though. Many OS X VMs provide VM clients access to the OS X file system. That's normally a feature, but it's a big issue if the VM goes rogue.
The furthest I go today is using FF with NoScript, or using Chrome. Mostly I just use plain FF and don't wander far from bright lights and the jostling crowd.
iPhone 2.2 - reboot during a call.
My phone just rebooted in the middle of a call. The phone was charging via USB at the time.
Actually, I'm not sure it really rebooted. It may have hard crashed into the Apple logo. I had to force a full reboot.
It's never done that before.
I suggest waiting a while before updating to 2.2. If you do update, do a reboot immediately after the install.
Update 11/22/08: The phone hasn't spontaneously rebooted since the first event. The MPR App died with the OS update -- crashed on selecting a "channel". I deleted the app on the phone, checked for updates (none, I'd already updated it once recently), and reinstalled from iTunes. that fixed the problem.
Update 11/30/08: No further problems, updates working, no more intra-call reboots.
Actually, I'm not sure it really rebooted. It may have hard crashed into the Apple logo. I had to force a full reboot.
It's never done that before.
I suggest waiting a while before updating to 2.2. If you do update, do a reboot immediately after the install.
Update 11/22/08: The phone hasn't spontaneously rebooted since the first event. The MPR App died with the OS update -- crashed on selecting a "channel". I deleted the app on the phone, checked for updates (none, I'd already updated it once recently), and reinstalled from iTunes. that fixed the problem.
Update 11/30/08: No further problems, updates working, no more intra-call reboots.
iPhone 2.2: Why does only Google use the Safari databases?
After installing iPhone OS 2.2 [1] I was poking around settings and came across Safari's database settings.
They're probably old, but little remarked on. I found no hits for the string: iphone safari databases "talk asset cache".
Turns out iPhone/Safari has an interesting collection of database stores, but only Google seems to use them. I found one for Google Talk (suggests they might do something with it if Apple ever enables the #$@$! instant messaging function [2]), translate phrases and mail.google.com.
It's odd nobody else seems to use them.
--
[1] No problems, even though my network chose the update time to grind to a halt.
It may be coincidence, but power resetting my Airport Extreme seemed to clear up the problem. It was last reset when the power went out several months ago.
It is a bit weird how many glitches I get like that; that was my first network issue in months. Next time though I'd probably reboot the phone first to clear out gremlins and place it in airplane mode to prevent any incoming calls.
[2] If Apple had implemented their promised notification framework, AT&T and Apple would have lost a lot of SMS revenue. I don't think we'll see this notification framework until Apple and AT&T feel more competitive heat. Maybe the next generation of Android phones. The current BlackBerrys won't do the trick; their beautiful hardware masks an impressively lousy OS.
They're probably old, but little remarked on. I found no hits for the string: iphone safari databases "talk asset cache".
Turns out iPhone/Safari has an interesting collection of database stores, but only Google seems to use them. I found one for Google Talk (suggests they might do something with it if Apple ever enables the #$@$! instant messaging function [2]), translate phrases and mail.google.com.
It's odd nobody else seems to use them.
--
[1] No problems, even though my network chose the update time to grind to a halt.
It may be coincidence, but power resetting my Airport Extreme seemed to clear up the problem. It was last reset when the power went out several months ago.
It is a bit weird how many glitches I get like that; that was my first network issue in months. Next time though I'd probably reboot the phone first to clear out gremlins and place it in airplane mode to prevent any incoming calls.
[2] If Apple had implemented their promised notification framework, AT&T and Apple would have lost a lot of SMS revenue. I don't think we'll see this notification framework until Apple and AT&T feel more competitive heat. Maybe the next generation of Android phones. The current BlackBerrys won't do the trick; their beautiful hardware masks an impressively lousy OS.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Top Apps for iPhone - better than the App Store
I prefer this layout to the App Store: Apple - iPhone - Top Apps.
Second oddest iPhone omission: screen lock
The oddest iPhone omission is cut, copy paste.
The omission I am most disgusted by is an API that would allow Google to sync the iPhone calendar to Google Calendar over the air.
The second oddest iPhone omission is that you can't lock the touch screen during a call. I frequently tap the wrong button. I'd like a way to set the screen to 'swipe mode' so it was safe from errant touches.
Update: I just tested with iPhone 2.2. If I click the 'off' button during a call, it locks the screen just the way I want. I'd tried this with 2.1; it seemed to work but it on one test it disconnected me. So I gave up on it.
On the other hand 2.2 also rebooted during a call when I wasn't touching that switch, so I'm not sure I'd recommend upgrading just yet.
The omission I am most disgusted by is an API that would allow Google to sync the iPhone calendar to Google Calendar over the air.
The second oddest iPhone omission is that you can't lock the touch screen during a call. I frequently tap the wrong button. I'd like a way to set the screen to 'swipe mode' so it was safe from errant touches.
Update: I just tested with iPhone 2.2. If I click the 'off' button during a call, it locks the screen just the way I want. I'd tried this with 2.1; it seemed to work but it on one test it disconnected me. So I gave up on it.
On the other hand 2.2 also rebooted during a call when I wasn't touching that switch, so I'm not sure I'd recommend upgrading just yet.
Outlook manifest add-in bug and Windows Live Search - an Office Communicator uninstall bug
[see updates -- looks like Office Communicator is the culprit]
Lately, my XP experience goes like this:
The Word 2007 blog article says the problem is errant registry keys, and removing the references solves the problem. Sounds good to me, the Outlook add-in infrastructure is a gaping wound.
So I may yet hack the registry, but since the errors only occur once on startup, and since everything seems to work ok otherwise, I'm going to see what else I can learn. I tried using the outlook /cleanprofile switch but it didn't work.
That's where, for the very first time, Windows Live and Yahoo! Search have an advantage over Google search.
Both Live and Yahoo support search feeds. So, for example, this Live search has a feed ...
PS. My prime suspect is Office Communicator 2005. I think it's evil and I'd uninstalled a few days ago. However, reinstalling it didn't fix the problem.
Update: New hunch. Maybe it's a botched installation of Windows Live Messenger that may have occurred when my attempt to reinstall Microsoft LifeCam was aborted by .NET stack corruption. I'll try an install/uninstall of Messenger.
Update 11/20/08: This is promising. I try installing Windows Live Messenger via the LifeCam install and I get this "Windows Live Installer" error: "There was a problem with this installation ... Catastrophic failure". Hey, so now I know where to focus my dark suspicions. I'll try installing from Windows Live and see what happens next.
Update 11/24/08: I resolved the Windows Live Catastrophic Failure bug, but installing Live Messenger didn't fix the dangling registry references that cause the Outlook 2007 FormRegions (Manifest) bug. I uninstalled Messenger and Communicator (terrible software both) and then, as advised by Word 2007 Bible Blog I deleted the Outlook FormRegions references from my registry. I made sure to exit Outlook first and checked that I didn't have a persistent Outlook process running (known Outlook 2007 problem related to Microsoft's insane Add-in infrastructure.
My money for the source of this bug is Office Communicator. I say this becauseOffice/Outlook/Addins in my registry contains OcOffice.OcForms which has the description "Outlook 12 add-in to support Communicator custom forms" and a FriendlyName of "Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Add-in" (note our corp is on Communicator 2005!). The dangling FormRegions were pointing to something called an "OcForm".
I'd also put a little money down on Newsgator, which I'd tested with Outlook 2003 as a news reader before giving up on it -- just because the only web hit on "OcOffice.OcForms" appears as an incidental entry in a Newsgator forum posting.
Lately, my XP experience goes like this:
Born down in a dead man's townFor today's installment I have a bug reported by precisely one web site ...
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up...
Word 2007 Bible Blog: Form region manifest specifies an add-in that is not installedThere are some usenet hits, but nothing terribly specific. This one is closest "Form region cannot be opened".
... Form region manifest specifies an add-in that is not installed: "For the past few months, I’ve had a perplexing mystery in Outlook 2007. During an Outlook session, the first time I clicked the Actions menu item, I got four Microsoft Office Outlook OK boxes in succession. The first said:
The form region IPM.Note.Microsoft.Conversation.Region cannot be opened. The form region manifest specifies an add-in that is not installed.
Then I got three more, identical except for the region specified:
IPM.Note.Microsoft.Conversation.Voice.Region
IPM.Note.Microsoft.Missed.Region
IPM.Note.Microsoft.Missed.Voice.Region...
The Word 2007 blog article says the problem is errant registry keys, and removing the references solves the problem. Sounds good to me, the Outlook add-in infrastructure is a gaping wound.
So I may yet hack the registry, but since the errors only occur once on startup, and since everything seems to work ok otherwise, I'm going to see what else I can learn. I tried using the outlook /cleanprofile switch but it didn't work.
That's where, for the very first time, Windows Live and Yahoo! Search have an advantage over Google search.
Both Live and Yahoo support search feeds. So, for example, this Live search has a feed ...
Outlook manifest add-in not-installed "IPM Note Microsoft Conversation Region " - Live SearchI've added feeds for this search to Google Reader for both Yahoo and Live. I'll see what comes up. Maybe I'll just have to wait for Office 2007 SP2.
PS. My prime suspect is Office Communicator 2005. I think it's evil and I'd uninstalled a few days ago. However, reinstalling it didn't fix the problem.
Update: New hunch. Maybe it's a botched installation of Windows Live Messenger that may have occurred when my attempt to reinstall Microsoft LifeCam was aborted by .NET stack corruption. I'll try an install/uninstall of Messenger.
Update 11/20/08: This is promising. I try installing Windows Live Messenger via the LifeCam install and I get this "Windows Live Installer" error: "There was a problem with this installation ... Catastrophic failure". Hey, so now I know where to focus my dark suspicions. I'll try installing from Windows Live and see what happens next.
Update 11/24/08: I resolved the Windows Live Catastrophic Failure bug, but installing Live Messenger didn't fix the dangling registry references that cause the Outlook 2007 FormRegions (Manifest) bug. I uninstalled Messenger and Communicator (terrible software both) and then, as advised by Word 2007 Bible Blog I deleted the Outlook FormRegions references from my registry. I made sure to exit Outlook first and checked that I didn't have a persistent Outlook process running (known Outlook 2007 problem related to Microsoft's insane Add-in infrastructure.
My money for the source of this bug is Office Communicator. I say this becauseOffice/Outlook/Addins in my registry contains OcOffice.OcForms which has the description "Outlook 12 add-in to support Communicator custom forms" and a FriendlyName of "Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Add-in" (note our corp is on Communicator 2005!). The dangling FormRegions were pointing to something called an "OcForm".
I'd also put a little money down on Newsgator, which I'd tested with Outlook 2003 as a news reader before giving up on it -- just because the only web hit on "OcOffice.OcForms" appears as an incidental entry in a Newsgator forum posting.
Update 1/3/09: It took a while, but my search feeds turned up a report that implications Office Communicator. Looks like both Office Communicator 2005 and 2007 share the same incomplete uninstall bug.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Outlook 2007. Don't. Use. New. Features.
I switched my work machine to Office 2007 a few months ago.
Sweet mother. Who the Hell coded the new features of Outlook 2007? Was it outsourced to Latveria? Did someone fail to tell the engineers when code cut-off was?
They fixed some old bugs, but almost all the new capabilities, like RSS feed sync with IE 7 or the internet calendar subscription or the calendar publishing ... or .. well ... everything new ... is basically horked.
Oh, and I think they got the new menuing system half done and then gave up. Every item seems to have its own peculiar menu structure.
Categories now have color assignments? Good luck reading your purple colored Notes (Memos)!
If you're on Outlook 2007 in a corporate Exchange environment I implore you -- don't try any of the new features. Just stay with the old stuff, it's not too bad.
You've been warned.
Update: Ok, so Microsoft knows Outlook 2007 sucks. Waiting for SP2 prior to installing Office 2007 is definitely recommended.
Update 8/20/08: Never, ever subscribe to internet calendar sharing. You won't be able to remove them. Official recommendation - try "/cleanprofile" then wipe and start over. I suspect the bug is triggered by larger calendars.
Update 8/21/08: I may have a lead on the 'unable to unsubscribe to internet calendar sharing bug'. The story is that even after deleting the various data files, subscription settings, and even the .PST files where the data is stored Exchange sync will still report errors and Outlook will recreate the data file and subscription references.
A clue is that even after deleting these settings, if one looks in the Send Receive Settings:Define (Ctrl-Alt-S) one will see 'Internet calendars' as a persistent member of the Send/Receive group.
Microsoft's engineers forgot that if one removes an internet calendar subscription, it must also be removed from the send/receive group.
- Excel - minimally changed. Mostly better.
- Word - big changes. Maybe they fixed their ten year old broken formatting model, but the new model requires .docx files so I can't tell. Mostly annoying, esp the asinine shortcut bar UI, but it's ok.
- PowerPoint:
improved. Update: It's bloody awful when used in PPT 2003 compatibility mode. Beyond that I cannot say. - Access: yech. Some old bugs fixed, some new bugs added, some old functionality lost. A real pain to re-learn. Still, good Sharepoint integration -- that counts for something.
Sweet mother. Who the Hell coded the new features of Outlook 2007? Was it outsourced to Latveria? Did someone fail to tell the engineers when code cut-off was?
They fixed some old bugs, but almost all the new capabilities, like RSS feed sync with IE 7 or the internet calendar subscription or the calendar publishing ... or .. well ... everything new ... is basically horked.
Oh, and I think they got the new menuing system half done and then gave up. Every item seems to have its own peculiar menu structure.
Categories now have color assignments? Good luck reading your purple colored Notes (Memos)!
If you're on Outlook 2007 in a corporate Exchange environment I implore you -- don't try any of the new features. Just stay with the old stuff, it's not too bad.
You've been warned.
Update: Ok, so Microsoft knows Outlook 2007 sucks. Waiting for SP2 prior to installing Office 2007 is definitely recommended.
Update 8/20/08: Never, ever subscribe to internet calendar sharing. You won't be able to remove them. Official recommendation - try "/cleanprofile" then wipe and start over. I suspect the bug is triggered by larger calendars.
Update 8/21/08: I may have a lead on the 'unable to unsubscribe to internet calendar sharing bug'. The story is that even after deleting the various data files, subscription settings, and even the .PST files where the data is stored Exchange sync will still report errors and Outlook will recreate the data file and subscription references.
A clue is that even after deleting these settings, if one looks in the Send Receive Settings:Define (Ctrl-Alt-S) one will see 'Internet calendars' as a persistent member of the Send/Receive group.
Microsoft's engineers forgot that if one removes an internet calendar subscription, it must also be removed from the send/receive group.
Where did my Window go? The XP dual monitor lost window bug and workarounds
I use a corporate Dell laptop at work and at home. In both cases I use an external monitor, so it usually runs in a dual monitor configuration. The external monitors are somewhat different resolution, but most importantly they're physically configured differently.
At work the external monitor is to laptop left, at home it's to laptop right.
Ok, so now the answer to an old problem of mine is obvious to you.
For months I've had the experience of some application windows being inaccessible. I can only access them by right clicking on the app's taskbar icon and zooming it to full screen.
Very annoying.
Today it occurred to me to change the monitor settings by moving the icon representing my home display to the same side as my work display.
Window found. I dragged it back to my laptop monitor and then returned to my usual configuration.
XP Dual Monitor support inherits some very old designs that never considered the possibility of very high resolution displays; it's also very buggy at several levels.
There are apps that are supposed to help find lost windows. This review of one such app lists a technique that I will start using (emphases mine) ...
I hope Windows 7 will do better. OS X, of course, manages this stuff very well.
At work the external monitor is to laptop left, at home it's to laptop right.
Ok, so now the answer to an old problem of mine is obvious to you.
For months I've had the experience of some application windows being inaccessible. I can only access them by right clicking on the app's taskbar icon and zooming it to full screen.
Very annoying.
Today it occurred to me to change the monitor settings by moving the icon representing my home display to the same side as my work display.
Window found. I dragged it back to my laptop monitor and then returned to my usual configuration.
XP Dual Monitor support inherits some very old designs that never considered the possibility of very high resolution displays; it's also very buggy at several levels.
There are apps that are supposed to help find lost windows. This review of one such app lists a technique that I will start using (emphases mine) ...
Recover Hidden & Off-screen Windows with this Simple Tip and Freeware Program ForceWindowVisible | Pro Reviewer (My Free Review)I'm not going to install the ForceWindowsVisible app (corporate XP desktops are very unstable these days, I don't like to add new things), but it's good to know I'm not alone.
... Sometimes Windows just disappear off of your computer monitor. There are several reasons why this may occur:
* Changing Screen Resolution
* Using a Single Monitor after using a Dual Monitor Display
* Corruption of Registry or “ini” file data
* Programming Errors
* Program Conflicts
... Sometimes you will see the “lost” window in the Taskbar and right clicking will allow you to carry out the normal windows functions. What has happened is that the coordinates the system has for the window (for whatever reason) make the system think the window should be displayed somewhere off of your actual monitor screen.
This standard Move function tip is available from many sites offering advice, hints and tips – this is what you need to do:
Right Clicking on the Taskbar Icon [for your app then] ... Click on Move and the move cursor will be displayed in the middle of the title bar for the window (although obviously you can’t see it on an offscreen window).
The important thing now is to press one of the cursor (up/down/right/left arrow) keys on the keyboard to attach the window to the mouse. If you don’t do this you can move the Move cursor onto the visible screen and click with the mouse but nothing happens ...
When you click on any one of the arrow keys it attaches the Window to the mouse cursor and you can drag it back to the visible area. Of course if you don’t know where it is and it is a long way off your actual screen this can be a bit of a hit and miss process.
Actually when you hit the arrow key it also moves the window in the direction of the arrow so you can use the arrows to get the window back but this can be even more long winded and frustrating if you don’t know where the window is in relation to your screen.
Using ForceWindowsVisible
This is a very simple, very small portable executable file which will list all the windows currently created on your PC by the operating system and the programs you are running....
I hope Windows 7 will do better. OS X, of course, manages this stuff very well.
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