Cool add a 32 GB Solid State Drive to your Dell Latitude for around $550.  I would love to see windows and Visual studio running off of this little guy.

Link to Posts tagged Ssd at Engadget

Interesting ArCasts relating to Remend's SaaS Architecture

Remend Overview (14'38 video)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is simply the idea that instead of paying for the bits and running them on your server, you ought to be able to buy the service you want and let somebody else manage it. Of course, this is nothing new. You may have my website hosted by people you've never met. You don't care too much about the bits that actually run the server, you just want it to run and you don't want to think about it. In this case study overview we meet Remend one of the new crop of companies who are moving to a SaaS business model.

Architecture Overview (14'24 video)

When your business model in SaaS you have some interesting architecture challenges to overcome.  The goal is to add new customers who have varying architectural requirements with a low incremental cost.  The question is, how do you do it?  Well listen up because in this episode Armando Hernandez is going to provide us with an overview of how they are doing it.

Architecture Drilldown on Workflow and Services (29'21video)

Now that you've heard about the business model of a SaaS provider and the architecture overview I'm sure you are ready for the meat of this architecture. In this episode we drill into the workflow and services portion of the Remend on demand architecture.

User Experience (10'13 video)

Everybody wants to do things their own way. When it comes to SaaS this is most definitely the case. They want their own branding, they want extra fields, they want things to look a certain way. How do you support all of these requirements without resorting to mass customization of UI and business logic? In this episode we learn how Remend took on this challenge using .NET 3.0.

Database Architecture (9'12 video)

The classic problem for Enterprise Software has always been that of extensibility. Not only extensibility of behavior but also of data. The team at Remend calls this "Polymorphic data" and they make heavy use of XML to make this work. In this episode we chat with the Remend Database Architect Vadim Brusilovsky to find out how he does it.

Check out SecureLM's FAQ

How SecureLM works?

1. The software that is going to be distributed should be integrated with SecureLM. If you protecting your software using SecureLM Code Protector, the integration is almost done. In order to enable or disable GUI elements related to licensed functionality of software SecureLM API can be used. However, licensed functionality of protected software will not be executed without a valid license even if an attacker eliminates API checks.

2. Protected program requires a valid license in order to run. The creation and installation of a license for specific machine or USB hardware key is called Activation. The activation can be done online, via e-mail or via phone. A license is usually locked to machine, USB hardware key or USB flash disk. Non locked licenses are also allowed. Usually end user receives an activation key that allows software activation. SecureLM provides friendly user interface for software activation.

3. SecureLM server provides Web interface that allows performing operations like:

· Issue licenses

· Reissue existing licenses

· Perform e-mail and phone activations

· Increase number of allowed activations per license key

· Track issued licenses and online activations

· Define system configuration

· Much more.

 

What kind of software can be distributed with SecureLM?

Any Windows application or library can be distributed with SecureLM.

· .NET 1.1 or 2.0 Windows applications, services, or components

· ASP.NET 1.1. or 2.0 applications or components

· VC++/VB6/Delphi applications

I am just stumbling around their site it sounds interesting and worth a try.  Its nice to see another Giant in this market.  At least there is an alternative to MacroVision

If I knew enough I wouldn't trust my CPA, but I would like to highlight the fact that we do sometimes play Russian roulette with our money. 

Say you are an intuit Turbo Tax users just look at the mess that awaited you if you filed last minute.

Why you build for peak load,

Last-minute payers using Intuit software swamp e-filing servers,

TurboTax e-filing woes draw customer ire

Intuit Response #1- Not so good

I think Intuits vp is a little snippy when commenting on Dennis's Blog:

You are correct in that if you have zero capital gain/loss from the ESPP transaction, it is not showing on Schedule D. Although the calculations and tax liability are correctly computed, the fact that transaction is not reported on Schedule D may cause a reconciliation error at the IRS (difference between sales reported by broker and sales reported on Sch D). We believe this error crept in during one of our updates this season and we are tracking it down.

We will be providing an update as soon as possible to correct the reporting issue. I don’t have a specific date, but I know the team is working on it now.

Additionally, I’m skeptical that you would have no gain or loss on the sale of ESPP stock. In all the company plans that I’ve seen, employees normally have a nominal fee on the sale (something like a $5 fee). If you really don’t have any fees either on the sale or purchase, here is how I would suggest you workaround the issue. Simply enter sales proceeds $0.01 less than the actual amount(for example, enter $9,999.99 instead of $10,000). Or simply enter $0.01 in the box for purchase commissions/costs. This one cent difference will trigger the reporting and not have any impact on your tax liability.

I hope this information helps and I appreciate your bringing this issue to our attention.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax

 

Now I have to admit at least you could file,  If you had chosen Tango from H&R Block they have a minor bug, you cannot efile.  At least they offer a simple workaround, print out your tax return and mail it( how old school).

 Known bug: HRblock.com’s Tango cannot actually e-file my taxes!

albeit it this error message may have been the bug according to one commenter

Hi Mark…thanks for checking out Tango! This is – I’m the Tango product manager, and I wanted to follow up with you about your account. Your account, along with 6 others, experienced a hic-up in the e-file messaging that we communicated- basically the reject message you saw wasn’t the right message. I assure you that the file submitted to the IRS was exactly what you entered in the product, and the reject message was related to something else on your return. (So everyone knows…Tango is setup to e-file and just like most tax products almost all returns filed are accepted when e-filed…)

We recognized this issue and contacted all users who experienced this…unfortunately you beat us to the punch and called us first. My apologies that we weren’t better equipped to handle the case when you called in. This issue has been resolved. Since I’m sure you don’t want the details of your situation outlined here, I’ll contact you separately to walk through the specifics of your return.

I did want you to know that we saw your post and we really do take these issues to heart—everything you mentioned has either already been addressed or is in the pipeline for the next release. At H&R Block we’re passionate about our customers, what you have to say, and the experience you have! This is just the beginning for Tango—we’re already well underway on version 2. I promise that next year we’ll knock your socks off!

 Much more friendly then Intuits VP go figure. 

I don't see any thing for TaxCut but I just take that to mean they are over do for a nasty error report.  Seriously some times we expect far to much from our software.  100%accurate 100% of the time.  Keep in mind that these are an ever changing set of requirements so no two years are the same which so helps your bug regression.

Useful short cut when reading a book in Safari Books online.  In any browser that supports the <accesskey> HTML tag, you can use Alt-2 to get to the next page and Alt-1 for the previous page. If you use Mac's Safari browser, it is Ctrl+1/2.line

Check out Microsoft's free .Net Framework 3.0 Virtual Labs and if you take part in any TechNet or MSDN virtual lab or labcast  you could win.

I was having some trouble figuring out how to use the new ado.net entity framework in the last March Orcas CTP, but leave it to Scott to have all the answers.  Scott has posted a nice video covering

• new asp.net WYSIWYG HTML designer.
• create classes's from the ORM designer.
• Intellisense for LINQ.

full detailed blog post.  And you can find the video here.

You can find the updated LINQ samples for both VB and C# here

Mark Posted a nice walk through of adding a coderush feature to Highlight IDisposable locals that don't call Dispose.  While this just furthers his goal of 11 blog posts for the year, I find this blog format much simpler to follow then some of the CR screen cast videos.

Incase you missed it yesterday Soma announced the release of Orcas Beta 1, it can be downloaded here.