VS2010 Beta 1, and the annoying bug it has created

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I have had VS2010 Beta 1 since Tuesday, and its brilliant, it seriously good, and i have been working on my twitter client in it. 

But all this good has been destroyed by one little annoying bug (my Microsoft Connect bug report). 

Basically when i access a menu item in any of the following applications (List Growing) Live Writer, Explorer, IE8, Live Mesh. The Menu Item will not disappear, but it will persist. Now here’s the weird bit, to clean the menu item i just need to close Media Center or Media Player. 

Its very weird and very annoying when its in the middle of the screen. 

I know its beta and i should expect bugs but MS please patch this ASAP!!!

Windows 8 my wish list

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Windows 7 is finished, and its very good, and very polished, and it introduces a lot of new very good features but you can always add more, and can always improve so here’s my wish list for Windows 8.

  • User mode file system interface.
  • More emphasis on .Net and WPF. It should be used in all the utility applications in Windows, (Paint, Notepad, WordPad, Calculator).
  • Aero Snap to corners. So 4 windows on the screen, one in each corner.
  • Make MSI(Large Installations) and Click Once(Small Utility Installations with auto update) the default and only way to install Software. This helps provide a more consistent setup interface, and should also get rid of the problem of faulty installers.
  • Release a Free “Visual Studio” Edition for creating MSI and Click Once installers to make the above point easier for developers to achieve, (especially for those who are not already using Visual Studio for Development).
  • Built in PDF/PS reader.
  • SVG Support.
  • Update WMP Interface, take tips from Zune Player
  • Add Extensions to .Net to cover Windows Specific Elements like Jump lists and etc(This could happen with .Net 4.0). This make it easier than having to use Windows7Integration and Vista Bridge Interop Code.
    Chances are i will follow this post up but for now its all i can think off. It was really hard work to come up with this list… Windows 7 is just that good.

IE8 and Why i use it.

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Now i am often asked to explain my reasoning for using IE8 especially as I’m doing computer science, i am often ridiculed for it, but i continue to use it and i have 2 simple reasons:

Firstly IE8 has a decent UI the only thing that is slightly better is Chrome (but i will come back to why i don’t use Chrome), i personally find that Firefox has a ugly and cluttered interface, and that its default theme is crap. Yes, by default IE8 does have a slightly cluttered interface but as soon as you turn of the favourites bar, it is perfectly fine, nice and tidy. The chrome UI is even simpler and tidier. Safari 3 is as ugly as iTunes is, it ignores any native UI components its just terrible, yes Safari 4 is an improvement, but it still as bad as Firefox.

Secondly the features. IE8 has built in developer features that are almost as good as firebug, but i don’t use them that often so they are not a killer feature. What i do like is my RSS feed manager at a key press away, a feature i have yet to find in Firefox (standard install I’m not counting 3rd party plug-ins). Chrome just doesn’t seem to have any features.

So in conclusion while Firefox has the better set of 3rd Party plug-ins, BUT it has a dreadful interface, and a lack of a decent RSS manager. Chrome has a slightly better UI, but has a complete lack of features.

That’s why i use IE8, its fast, its responsive, it has a decent UI (could be better though), it has a brilliant RSS Manager, and very good built-in developer tools.