A bug in Microsoft word: history and consequences

Anatomy of a Software Bug

The story of this problem begins with a basic design decision made when Richard Brodie was Word’s primary software architect. Brodie came to Microsoft along with Charles Simonyi after working at the Xerox PARC where he’d worked on Bravo—their version of the GUI word processor. A number of the ideas used in Word came from that early effort. Brodie joined Microsoft in 1981, began work on Word in the summer of 1982, and finished version 1.0 in October of 1983. You can read about much of the story in Microsoft First Generation by Cheryl Tsang.

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A fantastic essay. I'm subscribing to this guy's blog.

Word is about 22 years old. It has followed the usual path of software, reaching its apex of power and elegance by age 10 (1993) and then descending into senescence and beastliness. Even unto old age, however, it inherits the consequences of decisions made in its earliest days.

A fascinating discussion of mind mapping and productivity software

ResultManager - the GTD mind mapping tool

I have a longtime love of this type of software, but I look at file formats first. I don't like closed source file formats for data management.

Tricks of the Trade - for all trades

The Morning News - Tricks of the Trade

Juggler

With any routine under seven minutes (which is almost all of them), you only really need one thing: a good closer. And there are only two things you really need to know about a great closer. First, it needs to be impressive. That sounds obvious, but most beginning jugglers think “difficult” and “impressive” are synonymous. Your closer must look hard, but there’s no real reason it has to be hard. Secondly, you should intentionally blow your closer on the first two tries. If you get it on the first try it looks too easy, but if you “miss” it a few times it looks harder and builds tension.

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A few of these tricks are very specific to unusual trades, but most of them are either obviously useful (use a potato to remove the base of a broken bulb) or contain broader lessons -- such as the juggling example. Well worth studying!

The Elder Geek on Windows XP

The Elder Geek on Windows XP

One of a bazillion of reference sites. This one has useful entries such as this services guide.

Desktop access to Microsoft's indexing service

Google Groups: View Thread "Local query tools on Windows 2000 Professional?"

Are there any query tools I can use on Windows 2000 Professional
to query an IS catalog?

I find "My Computer / Manage / Services and Applications /
Indexing service / catalog / Query the catalog" somewhat clumsy.
Is there any way to make a shortcut to this query form?

I'm not running a web server, I just want to search for
documents on my own laptop. "Start / Search / For files or
folders" doesn't seem to actually use the IS catalog (it's
painfully slow).

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There are a number of great responses to this question. This is a rare find.

Exotic features in windows xp search engine: incorporating 3rd party filters (PDF)

Because of a change in the way filters are loaded in Windows XP,
third-party single-threaded filters do not load. The Acrobat PDF iFilter is
an apartment model filter. Here is a workaround, but make sure you backup
your registry before attempting this.

1. Click Start, click Run, type "Regedit.exe" (without the quotation marks), and then click OK.
2. In the left pane of Registry Editor, right-click HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and then click Find.
3. In the "Find what" text box, type "pdffilt" (without the quotation marks).
4. In the right pane, right-click the ThreadingModel key, and then click Modify.
5. In the "Value data" text box, type "both" (without the quotation marks), and then click OK.
6. Locate the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\systemcurrentcontrolset\control\contentindex.

7. In the right pane, right-click the DLLsToRegister key, and then click Modify.
8. In the list of DLLs, select pdffilt.dll, and then press the DELETE key.
9. Click OK to close this window, and then click the Close button.
10. Restart Indexing Service.
11. Force a full rescan of the directory with the PDF files.

Jack Blalock (MS)

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I haven't tried this, but it's worth remembering. Microsoft's indexing service is very raw in XP SP1.

Boing Boing: Bad moods boost memory

Boing Boing: Bad moods boost memory

... grumpy individuals expressed better critical thinking and communication skills

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I suspect the communication part applies only to didactic communication -- not persuasion.

Those who know me will appreciate that I am now awaiting their plaudits.