Mauro SantAnna

At Last a Very Good Cross Reference Tool for .NET

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:42:17 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I am managing a large health care application that was developed along the years...As it is now, there are very few DLLs (including a huge one) and it seems that each function calls every other one, without any layering and any order. I desperately need to break down the code in sensible layers...Take a look below at XPS file it generated. Inside VS 2010 you can drill down at each module, see classes and methods. This thing is simply Glorious..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

Silverlight 2 Expectations

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:07:31 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "...I hope .NET finally delivers the promise of “Smart Client” applications made by Bill Gates during PDC 2001 but never quite delivered by .NET 1.X or even ClickOnce. Smart Client applications are meant to deliver the ease of deployment of browser applications with the rich user experience of Windows apps. Compared with ClickOnce, Silverlight has some clear advantages:"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

PDC Speculation

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:53:05 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "It only happens when Microsoft “has something new to say”. Because of that, its contents are somewhat foggy; the real news is “saved” for the event itself.– as far as I can tell – will be “Extending the Platform to the Cloud”. From a developer point of view it seems it’s a new set of APIs..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Does Chrome Start the Browser War Again

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:01:31 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "...Google has some of the hottest Internet properties and gets a lot of money from advertising. If they managed to control the client, they can get some very clear benefits...So now it seems that Microsoft is indeed migrating to “standards based browser” while Google is going exactly the other way – and stealing your stuff in the process..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

The Perils on Outsourcing Projects

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:56:47 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "...Serious bidders *always* have the higher prices. There will always be somebody with a much lower price. No matter how much a customer likes you, it’s pretty much impossible to justify those prices differences. This situation has some interesting consequences:"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Mojave Experiment Crosses Over to Silverlight

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:41:37 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "...Microsoft now mended its ways and put up a new site using Silverlight...the site is now hosted under IIS7, running ASP.NET..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

3 Rat Holes to Watch using IIS with Network Storage

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:09:12 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I did some research and I concluded that although “change notifications” are fine with local storage, it’s a somewhat brittle mechanism over a network and you should avoid it whenever possible, either directly in your own code or indirectly, such as when you use IIS with network storage. This is why:"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Server
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

Data Access debate - sometimes ORM tools can do more harm than good

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:09:18 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I’ve been yet again involved in some discussion about ORM tools and data access architectures. Here is my take... There’s a lot of “religious” discussion when talking about ORM...This is what I have been doing so far with some success, in a nutshell:"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server

IE 8 Beta is better than IE7 Retail

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:01:36 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "My first impressions on IE8 Beta...still stand, but after using it for more than two months I do have some comments. I am quite happy with IE8, especially because it Is stable, fast and does not have my #1 IE 7 annoyance. IE7 doesn’t allow you to open more than about 30 pages at the same time...IE8 is fast and compatible with most sites. It has an “Emulate IE7” button..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Office System

Did Everyone Win the File Format War?

Thu, 22 May 2008 16:28:34 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Microsoft...will support ODF and PDF “out of the box” in the next Service Pack of Office 2007, which used OpenXML by default ....OpenXML has full compatibility with all the billions of Office documents out there. ODF is simpler but is less capable and isn’t fully compatible with Office documents. Maybe there’s even space for both formats – but I wouldn’t hold my breath: OpenXML is very capable and free; if I were to write software to create Office documents I would place my bets on OpenXML..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Office System
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

Soul Searching the old Borland

Thu, 08 May 2008 15:43:26 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "...Given the clear Delphi roots in the .NET Framework – Anders is the “father” of C#, I use to say that “Borland still lives…inside Microsoft”....If you want to know"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

HandyTen Pack of Almost Free Utilities

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:46:30 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I just bought a new laptop computer and replaced the failing hard disk of my old one.... Since I had to do two machines I decided to write a list of the shareware/freeware I would have to download and install. Here is the alphabetical list:"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

OpenXML how Countries Voted

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:33:47 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I just received a letter from the Brazilian standard body with the official announcement of OpenXML approval on ISO. Here is the tally by country:"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

ORM vs DAL: Boils Down to Good Database Modeling

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:40:39 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "...."ORM” tools/philosophy starts from a class definition and then the go to the database; Hybernate and NHybernate are the most famous tools for that. “DAL” tools/philosophy starts from the database and go to a high-language layer to call the database. It’s interesting to see that ORM tools tend to attract a very particular crowd....There’s the “Vietnam ORM” controversy....I still want to know what people find so attractive about the ORM world. I have a tendency to put it down as an “excellent looking idea that doesn’t work” ...."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SQL Server
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

IE 8 First Impressions

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:03:22 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "At first I was excited because they implemented one of my formal requests: the possibility of turning on and off add-ins on a site-by-site basis....My other request, to treat stored cookies as if they were temporary cookies so I can login on sites that demand it (such as mail.google.com) without giving them tracking information is not there. Firefox has it though"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Exchange

Here's how to Dual Boot Vista and XP

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:13:16 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "....I needed to install Vista’s partition mechanism *and* make it “see” both OSs, preferably from Windows XP itself. Fortunately I found a free piece of software that does just that....You run it from Windows XP and it allows you to resurrect Vista’s boot manager and to manage the partitions, like changing the priority and the timeout."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Vista
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

Vista SP1 first look

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 18:06:09 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "....I did install it and to be frank I didn’t see many changes except for one: I used to have a frequent blue screen blamed on the ATI video drivers that so far has not happened yet...."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Vista

Fix for File Copy Under Vista

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:08:49 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "....still don’t know how Microsoft managed to botch file copy, something that can be accomplished in a few tenths lines of code, if that much. Fast and trouble-free file copy has been around since CP/M and DOS in the 1980s. I suspect that DRM has something to do with it, but I have no hard evidence. Anyway, I managed to find ways around those issues..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Vista

The US$100 laptop is officially available

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:09:15 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "....Microsoft has now some licensing deals for companies refurbishing computers. It looks like an “OEM” deal, but cheaper since the original computer is less capable and supposedly already had Windows before, even if using a non-transferable license like corporations usually have. You can check at:"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

News from TechEd Barcelona on VS 2008

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:55:22 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Additionally ....important of all is that Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 will release to manufacture in November....Other surprising news is that Microsoft “will change licensing for Visual Studio to allow partners to target other platforms”. I am not sure"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Visual Studio

Trouble at the ODF camp

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:31:49 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "The ODF document format, promoted by Sun and IBM is a competitor to Microsoft’s OpenXML. I think that both are substantially different and can coexist. However, the situation now became murky due to the rise of a third document format called CDF - “Compound Document Format”. To make things more confusing..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

F# and the move to Functional Languages

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:22:48 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "....now Microsoft is bringing some quite impressive changes in programming language....The idea is that functional languages are better not only for modeling scientific problems, but also for making it easier to write code that access databases, a notorious deficiency of today’s languages."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Changing Time with Vista

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:48:38 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Daylight saving arrived in Southern Brazil. We are told that we have to advance the clocks in one hour....My preferred one is to download a tool called TZEdit.exe from.... and adjust entry and exit of daylight saving....this tip does not work with Vista. Under Vista you have to request a “hotfix” from"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Vista

Example of "SQL where-clause" to CAML converter

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:40:29 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "CAML as used in Microsoft SharePoint is a “XML-based” query/update language. It’s my pet example of XML abuse....After having to use it to write queries as part of a Sharepoint project, I toyed with the idea of writing a “SQL where-clause” to CAML converter. So I could write a simple, SQL-like WHERE clause and it would generate the corresponding CAML expression...."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : SharePoint Server

Silverlight + WinForms

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 01:56:36 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Now that Silverlight is hot, an interesting phenomenon is happening: people want to write cool Silverlight applications, but the current implementation is quite limited. But it seems that from a Silverlight application you can “jump” into a full WinForms application....This is not such a bad idea, since most Windows installations already have .NET installed.... "

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

Hanging in the balance ECMA 376 and ODF

Sat, 12 May 2007 14:02:14 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I accepted an invitation from the main Brazilian Standards Organization (“ABNT”) to participate in a committee that is discussing the adoption of standard ECMA 376, a.k.a. “OpenXML” as an ISO standard....So this seems to be the question: should we kill ECMA 376 and impose ODF as a “good enough” format or also adopt ECMA 376 for its richness and let the market decide what to do? "

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Java Mobile Edition (JME) - who are you going to bet on?

Thu, 10 May 2007 11:53:24 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "....in terms of hardware, a cell phone that runs this “new JME” can also run Microsoft’s Compact Framework (CF). There are technical differences, of course....I would bet on"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Mobile

New Outlook Feature Cancels Meetings Ahead of Time

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:45:19 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Outlook uses criteria such as multiple reschedules by meeting organizer, lack of an agenda, and use of terms like “hash,” “re-hash,” “hash out,” “consensus,” “brainstorm,” and “team building” in the description field to auto-categorize a meeting as unnecessary. Other features built into the meeting invite response buttons can predict the odds that a meeting will or will not happen..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
TechNetEventsBloggers.net : Topics : Server : Exchange
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Exchange
TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2007 : Tracks : Unified Communications
TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2008 : Tracks : Unified Communications

The smart client story and Microsoft's trance

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:16:22 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "While Microsoft is asleep not promoting their good smart client story (WinForms, ClickOnce and now WPF), Macromedia/Adobe has been at full steam with their Flash/Shockwave products. Now they have Apollo, that promises to raise the bar:"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

Apparent Google desktop hacked

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 00:40:32 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "This document describes an attack against Google Desktop....I didn’t check the paper claims, but it looks scary. I see this as a warning not only to Google users but to developers of browser plug-ins and this sort of applications."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Security
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Simultaneous conferences in Vegas

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 20:30:53 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes " Microsoft will do two simultaneous events in Las Vegas on April/May. One is “MIX”...The other one is the “Mobile and Embedded DevCon – MEDC"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Events

GrokTalks online

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:38:55 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "All the Grok Talks, each one of them in a different subject...."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

Hot off the press my co-authored book on SQL Server 2005: Database Essentials

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:08:26 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I wrote together with other mentors at SolidQualityLearning a book on SQL Server as part of the “step-by-step” series by Microsoft Press called “SQL Server 2005: Database Essentials”. I wrote about how to call programming objects (Functions, Stored procedures, both using T-SQL and CRL)."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Suggested Reading

Good/Weak thoughts on "Future Programming Languages" video

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:36:10 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I just watched a video on Channel 9 on “Future Programming Languages” at.... It had some good points and some weak points. Except for Anders Hejlsberg I noticed a lot of “academia thinking” less focus on the day-to-day challenges that most people have, like writing line of business applications for Web environments. The choice of a very extrovert “mathematical guy” for the role of the “user” didn’t help either. Who else cares for operator overloading? There was a lot of talk about concurrency and functional programming...."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : TechTalk

London Devweek 2007

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:04:49 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I’ve been invited to speak at the London’s DevWeek 2007....I will deliver two sessions there: Exceptions: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly....Hidden Issues about creating and deploying DLLs. If you are interested, it will take place from February 26th to March 2nd...."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Events

BI to be a new thing for years to come

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:06:08 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes " Right now I am in Redmond attending a BI (Business Intelligence) class ad I got a surprise: I’ve always thought of BI as being only a strategic tool used to analyze historic data in order to drive future initiatives. Well, that use is alive and well, but the use of BI has been going “down the food chain” and now affects even operational activities. For instance,"

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Business Intelligence

IE8 Wish List

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 20:42:44 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "was a bit disappointed because Internet Explorer 7 didn’t bring the new features I was hoping for. So here is my wish list for IE 8. Or FireFox, for that matter."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Office System

MSDN Wiki

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:34:06 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Microsoft has machine-translated the MSDN contents into Portuguese and set up a Wiki so as people can edit its contents. I’ve been involved in this project since its inception, gave many suggestions, helped translate the glossary etc. Last week the “pt-BR” traffic became #2, right after the English contents. I don’t know if I have cheer or to desperate because I’ve been promoted to be one of the editors."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : NET Framework

Piracy Helps Microsoft

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 21:39:13 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "The Harvard Business School published a paper called “Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows”. Its authors were interviewed in an article called “Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win?” The interview was about a complex economic model that analyzed the dynamics of Windows vs. Linux competition. En passant, they came to other conclusions about pricing, “natural monopoly” and piracy. The good people of “INFO Online”, one of the largest IT news bulletin in Brazil picked up this and published a clipping here - However, the title is “Study says piracy benefits Windows”. That reminds me of that old publishing saying “Dog bites man is not news; man bites dog is news”. “Windows vs. Linux” is not news; “Piracy helps Microsoft” is. "

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Editors Picks

Virtual Machine files on steroids

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 19:29:36 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Since VMWare came up with their virtualization software, I was hooked....If you start using VMs heavily, you will learn that their hard disks are actually files on the host machine. And those files grow and grow and grow. "

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Topics : Windows Server

The ten worst presentation moments

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 22:46:23 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "I just got this link from a Microsoft UK site about the “The ten worst presentation moments”....I can say that I’ve almost done #3. "

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
InDepthTalk.net : Events

Net Protector Phase II

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 05:10:16 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "The new phase of the Microsoft LATAM Net Protector campaign is online now at ... I adapted some material from DevDays 2004 and wrote some new stuff. I also narrated the Portuguese contents, but that is not on the air yet. This campaign is based on presentations and security-related quizzes. This second phase follows the very successful first phase that took place in early 2006, although I only translated and narrated that one. If you know some ..."

Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Topics : Security

"Gaming" the Xbox

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:01:48 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "This looks like a very smart move to me, and one that plays on Microsoft’s strengths: the online gaming infrastructure and its good knowledge of the developers, including its excellent development tools. "

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TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Community
TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Community : RD

Adobe Acrobat Reader replacement

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 15:44:35 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Are you are sick and tired of the time it takes for Acrobat Reader to load, its annoying and frequent updates and the incredible use of memory even to display the simplest of PDF files? Do you miss Acrobat reader 3.0? Check this software: FoxtiReader. http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php, recommended by a RD from Romania. It’s a small and fast pdf reader. It even has a ..."

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Bloggers : Mauro SantAnna
TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Community : RD

The end of the Computer Revolution

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:32:27 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "The “retirement” – of Bill Gates was widely announced last week. It explains Ray Ozzy’s “Bill Gates” keynote during TechEd opening last week. Now Ray is the “Vision” guy. Had BG announced his retirement in 1995, Microsoft’s shares would have tumbled. Not now. Microsoft has a good first echelon team and will survive and thrive without the day-to-day input from BG. Microsoft is much more of a “normal” company now, with ups and downs, hirings and firings and products doing well and flopping. So it’s no big deal for Microsoft. However, maybe in the future ..."

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TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Community : RD

TechEd: I hate Boston

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:46:40 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "...The drivers don’t give you a break: they don’t take you in outside a scheduled stop neither let you out. Everybody seems to have an attitude and wants to pick up a fight. Although the “Big Dig” highway project is done, downtown is still under construction. That’s maybe the reason why my bus from the hotel never took the same route twice. Or maybe the drivers are in a “slowdown” due to some labor dispute (see official Microsoft comment below). Ride time varied from 15 to 50 minutes, at the same time of the day and after the rush hour! Everything is expensive: hotels, restaurants and taxis. A ride from the convention Center to the hotel costs US$30-US$40. The airport authority charges cabs US$6.50 just for the privilege to pick up passengers in the terminal. Of course, they pass on ..."

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TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Community : RD
TechEdBloggers.net : Editors Picks

RD of the Year

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:42:43 GMT

Photos by Mauro SantAnna

Watching a World Cup Game during TechEd

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 15:42:38 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Today I watched the Brazil X Croatia World Cup game during TechEd. The setup was far from ideal: a flat-panel TV on the wall, uncomfortable chairs and no beer! Anyway, it was worthwhile. Not a spectacular game (1-0 to Brazil). But it was fun. In the middle of the game the Media Player PC that was feeding the signal showed a big popup screen during a few minutes, see picture..."

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TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Community : RD
TechEdBloggers.net : Editors Picks

Why not bring Bill Gates to open TechEd?

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 17:50:21 GMT

Mauro SantAnna writes "Why not bring Bill Gates to open this event, as it used to be? It’s the biggest Microsoft show in the year, target to techies. He is the “Master Techie”, the geek that changed the world. What amazes me is that BillG finds time to open events from the likes of RSA and Fawcette! I agree that Steve Balmer is not right for this audience. But BillG is *perfect*! Not to mention the need to put to rest rumors that say..."

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TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Community
TechEdBloggers.net : TechEd2006 : Community : RD