Windows 7's cursed cursor bug

The cursor bug:This is the worst of the unfixed bugs in Windows 7. It must be quite well known to most Windows 7 users by this time (as famous as the blue screen of death). You are typing happily and suddenly you realize you are typing in another part of the screen. Sometimes while typing an email you suddenly realize your cursor has started placing letters in the subject line although you assume you are typing in the body. Todate there has been over 21000 posts complaining. Is Microsoft listening?
I don't think so. They should have had it under control by this time. BTW is the designer of this feature still works for Microsoft?
Search that does  not search:Besides this there is the problem of search not working very well. I have had this problem often enough to complain here. I had even have screen shots showing "it is not found" and juxta positioned with an actual directory view of the file (unfortunately I cannot find it now). I am referring to the Search box that shows up when you hit the Start button.

The search box next to the address bar at the top appears to work fairly well.

The creeping green line:One another thing I notice (which is frustrating) is the green filling while trying to bring up the control panel. Green color starts filling the bread crumb region ever so painfully slow you can only scream. This happens while searching as well.

Well there is also this constant 'Windows trying to find a solution' thing coming up often and often finds no solution.

These were all observed on my Windows 7 (x32) Ultimate on Acer Aspire desktop.

Is India a poor country?

The black money (http://www.iretireearly.com/1-4-trillion-indias-black-money-stashed-in-swiss-banks.html) in Swiss banks kept by corrupt Indians  ( these are the high and the mighty) is something unfathomable. No country is without corruption but some or better than others.

Estimated summary of Indian black money in Swiss Banks from an email I received recently,

Rs.910603234300000/40==$22,765,080,857,500

I often wonder whether Indians ever take any action against such atrocities, but unfortunately they are both the perpetrators and the victims at the same time. It used to be 'Mamool', the usual money that corruption demanded for any service, like scheduling a meeting with an official or get a priority position to get something done, get a contract, get some extra lighting for a wedding, anything at all etc. But over the years it must have grown into a full fledged operation applying modern methods of financial operations, the Internet, and political manipulations.

This money belongs to the people and should be returned to them.

This is a screen shot of a grass roots organization's bill to get rid of this pestilence.

I wonder,

Will it pass?

What kind of assurance is there that the business will not return to business as usual?

How can we be sure that these consolidated organizations will not be corrupt, because after all they grew in these conditions and they are conditioned?

Will India ever get rid of corruption?

RSSBus Data Provider for LightSwitch

Extensions are being created very fast to integrate external data with LightSwitch applications. The following link to the Video shows a demo. It runs very fast but you get the idea.

http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/lightswitch/extensions/rssbus

* You use the same LightSwitch wizard to bind to data
* The data provider provides you with data that look like SQL Tables
* Supports CRUD operations

The following data providers were listed:
1. QuickBooks Data Provider for LightSwitch
Should be great for those who manage money and the bean counters
2. Google Data Provider for LightSwitch
Mining the Google stuff
3. Salesforce.com Data Provider for LightSwitch
Use your competition to make money
4.PowerShell Data Provider for LightSwitch
This should be fun for the scripting guys.

Welcome, more extensions!

Note the comments in red are not from the above site.

Error messge regarding corrupted SQLEXPRESS database in Microsoft LightSwitch

The following message still shows up sometimes while creating and building Microsoft LightSwitch applications. This has not been rectified in the recently released RTM version as seen in the next paragraph.
.....................
Error    1    An error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server instance '.\SQLEXPRESS'.
Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance. The connection will be closed.    C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\LightSwitch\v1.0\Microsoft.LightSwitch.targets    157    10    BusinessTypeTest
.................................

However a work around exists which works very well. Here is the work around as suggested by Steven Hoag in his forum post.

• Stop SQL Express from Control Panel

• Close all LightSwitch apps

• Move to the following location:

C:\Users\jay\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS

• Delete all the files in the SQLEXPRESS Folder.

However when you come to the step of deleting the files you may still get an error, that the files are being used by the SQL Server (despite the fact that you stopped SQL Express in the Control Panel).

To remove them go to the task master (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and bring up the WindowsTask Master window as shown.



Click End Process.

Click End Process for sqlserver.exe in the next window.

Now you can delete all files in the SQLExpress folder

After this start SQLEXPRESS and the previous application which threw the error should build without this error.

This is an important link if you are working with SQL Servers

You often come across a problem in your interaction with SQL Servers and you may often wonder where to go for help. This link gives you a list of other links that points in the right direction. Google, Bing or Yahoo search may ultimately lead you to the correct place, but why not look this one up first.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlgetstarted/thread/da8c68a5-c1be-428d-a5c8-0bae67948aa3

On errors and mistakes, both public and private

The errors committed by various organizations, both public and private are quite appalling. Is it because the agencies (organizations) do not screen their employees? Is it because of corrupt databases? Or is it because off software bugs? Just watch one of the most popular TV (news) channels’, news that streams into your TV at the bottom of the screen and you can have a hilarious day with the type of mistakes they make. You wonder if they had too little time to edit them or what?

 The recent $2 trillion mistake (later corrected providing a reason) is only one of the many things that hit the headlines. There are property inspection reports that are erroneous, date of birth mistakes, mistakes in SSN, errors in bank withdrawals etc. In a recent application prepared especially for me, as the cover letter stated, my birth date was 9/2/3194 and of course the SSN was wrong too. I am sure you have found the errors in many of your transactions too.  

It is unbelievable that organizations can let this happen in this age of improved communications and streaming data at the speed of light.

SQL Azure: July 2011 Service Release

In order to improve performance and scaling an update is in process spanning all the global data centers. The upcoming enhancements are not released but will be announced towards the end of the year. This is an important release as it targets the underlying engine. It is also important as it provides a common ground for SQL Azure and the near future release of SQL Server 11 - presently known with the code name  'Denali'.

The new release will support multiple data base administrators (Ye! Windows Azure is not going taking away your jobs, you just need to upgrade your skills). Also much better support for spatial data types making it a perfect fit for location aware apps both mobile and immobile.

The one thing that needs to be done on your side is the following: you should get hold of the latest version of SQL Server Management Tools, because the version number will change. Many users of lower versions might have already noted this while trying to connect to 'Denali' from older versions. The links to get the latest updates available in SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 are:

    * SQL Server Management Studio (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26727)
    * SQL Server Management Studio Express(http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26729)

If you are using SMO (SQL Server Management Objects) then you should get the
Cumulative Update package 7 for SQL Server 2008 R2                                                              (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2507770)
When all is said and done your version of SSMS should have a version greater or equal to 10.50.1777.0 in order not to have connectivity issues.

This one is for SSMS that came with SQL Server 2008 R2: No good!

This one is for SSMS installed when CTP1 'Denali' was installed:

Clearly if I use the above I should not have any connectivity problems.

If you are a DBA trying to upgrade your skills to understand SQL Azure, my book is a must read. You could get a free copy by sending an email to me at mysorian@gmail.com with 'SQL Azure' in the subject line. Who knows you may be lucky and get a book or a ebook in the raffle.