Things we are interested in

Design with intent

Seth Godin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:02:48 GMT

Neat idea, free PDF... will differently (definitely) make you think. HT to Lucas.

Whatever happened to labor?

Seth Godin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:07:54 GMT

Not Labor with a capital L, as in organized labor unions. I mean labor as in skilled workers solving interesting problems. I mean craftspeople who use their hands, their backs and their heads to do important work.

Labor was a key part of the manufacturing revolution. Industrialists needed smart, dedicated, trained laborers to solve interesting problems. Putting things together took more than pressing a few buttons, it took initiative and skill and care. Labor improvised.

It took thirteen years to build the Brooklyn Bridge and more than twenty-five laborers died during its construction. There was not a systematic manual to follow. The people who built it largely figured it out as they went.

The Singer sewing machine, one of the most complex devices of its century, had each piece fitted by hand by skilled laborers.

Sometime after this, once Henry Ford ironed out that whole assembly line thing, things changed. Factories got far more complex and there was less room for improvisation as things scaled.

The boss said, "do what I say. Exactly what I say."

Amazingly, labor said something similar. They said to the boss, "tell us exactly what to do." In many cases, work rules were instituted, flexibility went away and labor insisted on doing exactly what they had agreed to do, no more, no less. At the time, this probably felt like power. Now we know what a mistake it was.

In a world where labor does exactly what it's told to do, it will be devalued. Obedience is easily replaced, and thus one worker is as good as another. And devalued labor will be replaced by machines or cheaper alternatives. We say we want insightful and brilliant teachers, but then we insist they do their labor precisely according to a manual invented by a committee...

Companies that race to the bottom in terms of the skill or cost of their labor end up with nothing but low margins. The few companies that are able to race to the top, that can challenge workers to bring their whole selves--their human selves--to work, on the other hand, can earn stability and growth and margins. Improvisation still matters if you set out to solve interesting problems.

The future of labor isn't in less education, less OSHA and more power to the boss. The future of labor belongs to enlightened, passionate people on both sides of the plant, people who want to do work that matters.

That's what Labor Day is about, not the end of a month on the beach.

Your smile didn't matter

Seth Godin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:09:00 GMT

If you worked on the line, we cared about your productivity, not your smile or approach to the work. You could walk in downcast, walk out defeated and get a raise if your productivity was good.

No longer.

Your attitude is now what's on offer, it's what you sell. When you pass by those big office buildings and watch the young junior executives sneaking into work with a grimace on their face, it's tempting to tell them to save everyone time and just go home.

The emotional labor of engaging with the work and increasing the energy in the room is precisely what you sell. So sell it.

Sometimes, price is an attitude

Seth Godin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:06:00 GMT

Passed a store the other day. The sign read 99 CENTS! And the subtitle was, "Everything $1 and up".

The 99 cent store was never popular because there's some magical power about the price that is a penny less than a dollar. No, it's because it represents an attitude, that this stuff is CHEAP. Not absolute cheap, just relatively cheap. Not even a good value, just cheap. Cheap compared to its non-cheap competition.

At the other end of the spectrum, the prices at the Hermes store appear to be missing a decimal point or two. The attitude is, "wow, this stuff is expensive." It's not about what you get, it's about how it feels to pay that much.

Check-in, Chicken

Seth Godin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:45:00 GMT

One way to start every morning with your team is to have them check in. Go around in a circle and let people update and contribute. It's not a silly exercise, in that it helps people speak up and it communicates forward motion.

Another way, probably a better one, is to have each member of the team announce what they're afraid of. Two kinds of afraid, actually. Things that might fail and things that might work.

What are you, chicken?

Yes, we're chicken. We're afraid. The lizard has us by the claws.

So, tell us. What are you afraid might happen that would destroy, disintegrate, or dissuade--that would take us down? And what are you afraid of that might work, thus changing everything and opening up entirely new areas of scariness?

Launching the ShipIt Workbook

Seth Godin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:52:41 GMT

Six months ago, I put together a workbook that would help Linchpin readers ship.

After testing it out on hundreds of people, it's now ready for retail sale. [UPDATE on 9/2--yesterday, the workbook was so popular it went to the top 10 of all books on Amazon. And they sold all the warehouse could take. So it's sold out... I have shipped more to them, but they probably won't go on sale until the 8th. I'll update this post then. Thanks guys.]

You can find details here, or jump right to the buy page. The goal? To make you uncomfortable at the beginning of a project (and successful at the end).

Here's the core idea: it's weird to write in a book. When you do, you're making a commitment. You're combining the open-mindedness that reading brings with the physical action of writing. If you do that at every step in a project--and if your co-workers do too--the seemingly slippery decisions that get made appear a lot more solid.

The ShipIt workbook is designed to be worked on in groups (hence the five pack) and it delivers. If you can confront the mechanics or the fear that's slowing down (or even killing) your project, it's easy to fix it now, before it's too late.

There's no digital version, because without writing things down, it can't work. But there is an mp3 interview that will help you get your arms around how each page works. I'm pricing this first batch at $3.20 each in a pack of five just for the launch. [PS Amazon is having trouble shipping to Canadians right now. It may take a while to figure this out, and all I can do is apologize...]

I hope you'll give it a try.

Better than nothing (is harder than you think)

Seth Godin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:36:00 GMT

Most of the time, particulary in b2b and luxury sales, the competition is nothing.

"I will buy this treat or I will buy nothing, because I don't really need anything."

"I will buy your consulting services, or I'll continue doing what I'm doing now on that front, which is nothing."

None of the above.

"I will vote for you or I'll do what I usually do, which is not vote."

"I'll hire you or I'll hire no one."

While you think your competition is that woman across town, it's probably apathy, sitting still, ignoring the problem... nothing.

Stop worrying so much about comparing yourself to every other possible competitor you can imagine and start comparing yourself to nothing. Are you really worth the hassle, the risk, the time, the money? Or can't the prospect just wait until tomorrow?

Responsibility and authority

Seth Godin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:40:04 GMT

Many people struggle at work because they want more authority.

It turns out you can get a lot done if you just take more responsibility instead. It's often offered, rarely taken.

(And you can get even more done if you give away credit, relentlessly).

Just launched: Linchpin on the Vook on the iPad

Seth Godin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:49:26 GMT

The details are right here. Created by Vook, based on the hardcover.

Includes new video and interviews with some interesting folks...

The long tail challenge of the iPad store is getting more and more obvious to people. The ratio of "shelf space" to inventory is about the worst of any retail experience in the world. There are more than 24,000 apps listed in the iPad store, and yet the front window (equivalent to the window of a bookstore) shows the user six choices. The spotlight coverflow up top shows another sixteen, fairly randomly. Meaning there's a little worse than a one in a thousand chance that your app will appear in front of someone interacting with the store at the first level.

I have no doubt that as Apple sees revenue increase from this source, they'll do a much better job of crosslinks and browsing. But, once again, the lesson of the long tail is this: you can't count on the gatekeeper to do your promotion for you. Getting picked feels like a needle in a haystack, and the value of permission, of connecting directly to people who care instead of ceding control to a middle man, is at the heart of building an asset. Someone is going to be the gatekeeper, and it should be you.

The corporate conscience

Seth Godin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:49:00 GMT

There isn't one.

Corporations don't have a conscience, people do.

That means that every time you say, "It's just my job," or "My department has a policy," or "All I do is work here," what you've done is abdicated responsibility--to no one.

It's convenient and even comfortable to blame the anonymous actions of many working in concert on a evanescent brand or organization, but that starts you on an inevitable race to the bottom. Organizations have more power than ever before. They are better synchronized, faster, and possess more tools to change the economy and the people in it than ever before. And the only option available to the rest of us is for individuals to take responsibility (it's not given) for what they do and how they do it.

The very same tools that permit organizations to synchronize their efforts are now available to you and to me. I guess the question is: will we use that power to humanize the systems we've created?

PS It's not just about being a good citizen: when bad behavior comes back to hurt the company, it hurts you, too.

Professionals, amateurs and the great unwashed

Seth Godin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 02:50:00 GMT

If you want something done, perhaps you would ask a professional to do it. Someone who costs a lot but is worth more than they charge. Someone who shows up even when she doesn't feel like it. Someone who stands behind her work, gets better over time and is quite serious indeed about the transaction.

Or perhaps you could hire a passionate amateur. That's a forum leader doing it for love, not money. An obsessive in love with the craft. A talented person willing to trade income for the chance to do what he loves, with freedom.

Please, though, don't hire someone who just thinks it's a job. This category represents the majority of your options, and this category is what gives work a bad name.

Don't forget about color

Seth Godin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:07:00 GMT

The airport in Minneapolis is expensive and reasonably thoughtful in its design.

But the signs are monochromatic. As a result, the tired traveler wanders in circles, looking for her destination. Imagine how much easier it would be to find out where you were going if every sign with the word TAXI on it had it in yellow instead of white. Once you knew the color of where you were going, you'd just naturally scan for it.

Google and our text-based low-res online world seems to argue against color as a signal, but it's extraordinarily powerful. You don't need to make a big deal of of it, subtle is enough. Make the button you want pressed green on every page. Soon, your users will naturally gravitate to green buttons...

This works in Powerpoint presentations and even contracts. A little goes a long way.

A little out of sync

Seth Godin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 02:40:00 GMT

All those devices in your bag make it easier than ever to stay in sync.

You can reap what you sow in Farmville, keep up with your email, know what's going on on every important blog, be in the right room at the right time earning badges, etc. You can synchronized at all times.

And if you get a little out of sync, just a little, it's painful. One more reason you might want to stop reading this and check your feeds.

Building your success on being more in sync than everyone else is a sharp edge to walk on. You'll always be near the edge of perfect sync, but never there.

The alternative is to be a lot out of sync.

People who are way out of sync with the digital maelstrom of the moment aren't always bad followers. They might be great leaders.

Dispel the Online Learning Myths

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:57:49 GMT

Every year the statistics show that online learning (in all its forms) continues to grow at a double digit pace. As of this Spring, 4.6 million college students took at least one class online – that number is expected to increase to nearly 19 million in four years. 96% of traditional universities offer at least one course in an online only format. At the Techonomy conference earlier this month Bill Gates stated that in five years the best education will come from the web (we recognize that comment can be a bit self serving for Mr. Gates but still….)

So why is it that the vast majority of internet users have never taken a class online? It seems there are two hurdles for most people: fear that the technology is hard to use and a belief that classes taken online aren’t as interesting or effective as offline teaching sessions.

At Yamisee, part of our mission is to dispel these myths and bring online learning to the masses. We know, as do the growing number of Yamisee teachers and students, that live online learning is easy, fun and a great way to learn on your terms. So put aside your fears, sign-up for a class and jump in – we know that once you’ve experienced it you’ll be back again and again!

David Lynch ...

The blizzard of noise (and the good news)

Seth Godin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:07:11 GMT

As the amount of inputs go up, as the number of people and ideas that clamor for attention continue to increase, we do what people always do: we rely on the familiar, the trusted and the personal.

The experience I have with you as a customer or a friend is far more important than a few random bits flying by on the screen. The incredible surplus of digital data means that human actions, generosity and sacrifice are more important than they ever were before.

Senior management

Seth Godin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:22:00 GMT

A newly-retired executive takes a job as an adjunct professor and really shakes things up. Both the school and the students are blown away by her fresh thinking and new approaches.

A forty-year old internet executive who has been running his company for decades misses one new trend after another, because he's still living in 1998.

One thing that happens to management when they get senior is that they get stuck. (As we saw with the new professor, senior isn't about old, it's about how long you've been there).

If you've been doing it forever, you discover (but may not realize) that the things that got you this power are no longer dependable.

Reliance on the tried and true can backfire (Rupert keeps missing one opportunity after another, and keeps misunderstanding the medium he works in) or it can (rarely) pay off (Steve Jobs keeps repeating the same business model again and again--it's not an accident that Apple has no real online or social media footprint. Steve believes in beautifully designed objects, closed systems and evangelizing to developers and creatives).

Worth quoting--one of Arthur C. Clarke's lesser known three laws: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong."

The paradox is that by the time you get to be senior, the decisions that matter the most are the ones that would be best made made by people who are junior...

Sell the problem

Seth Godin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:52:52 GMT

No business buys a solution for a problem they don't have.

And yet, most business to business marketers jump right into features and benefits, without taking the time to understand if the person on the other end of the conversation/call/letter believes they even have a problem.

My friend Marcia (we've advised each other on various projects) has a very cool idea for large professional firms. As an architect, she realized the firms were wasting time and money and efficiency in the way they use their space. Roomtag is her answer.

The challenge is this: if your big law firm or accounting firm doesn't think it has a space allocation/stuff tracking/office mapping problem, you won't be looking for a solution. You won't wake up in the morning dreaming about how to solve it, or go to bed wondering how much it's costing you to ignore it.

And so the marketing challenge is to sell the problem.

(Interesting paradox: a lot of people aren't willing to embrace that they have a problem unless they also believe that there's a solution... so part of selling a problem is hinting that there's a solution that others are using, or is right around the corner.)

Imagine, for example, getting the data and publishing a list of the top 50 firms, ranked by efficiency of space use. All of a sudden, the bottom half of the list realizes that yes, in fact, they have something that they need to work on. If you knew that your firm was paying twice as much per associate as the competition, you'd realize that there's a problem.

When a prospect comes to the table and says, "we have a problem," then you're both on the same side of the table when it comes time to solve it. On the other hand, if they're at the table because you're persistent or charming, the only problem they have is, "how do I get out of here."

Moving on

Seth Godin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:39:27 GMT

Linchpin will be the last book I publish in a traditional way.

One of the poxes on an author's otherwise blessed life is people who ask, "what's your next book," even if some of them haven't read the last one. (Jeff did, of course). To answer your question, this book is my next book. I think the ideas in Linchpin are my life's work, and I'm going to figure out the best way to spread those ideas, in whatever form they take. I also have some new, smaller projects in the works, and no doubt some bigger ones around the corner. [PS the best analysis of this whole thing, particularly the punchline is by Mitch.]

A little background: For ten years or so, beginning in 1986, I was a book packager. Sort of like a movie producer, but for books. My team and I created 120 published books and pitched another 600 ideas, all of which were summarily rejected. Some of the published books were flops, others were huge bestsellers. It was a lot of fun. As a book packager, you wake up in the morning and say, "what sort of book can I invent/sell/organize/write/produce today?"

It took a year or so, but I finally figured out that my customer wasn't the reader or the book buyer, it was the publisher. If the editor didn't buy my book, it didn't get published. Here's the thing: I liked having editors as my customers. These are smart, motivated and really nice people who are happy to talk with you about what they want and what they believe. Good customers to have. (In all of those years, only one publisher stole any of my ideas, no check ever bounced, and no publisher ever broke a promise to me).

When I decided to become focused on being an author, the logical thing to do was to sell to that same group of people. And it worked. I've been lucky enough to work with some great editors, and my current publisher, Portfolio, has been patient, flexible and, did I mention, patient. Adrian Zackheim, who runs the imprint, is exactly what you'd hope for, even if the architecture of his industry is fundamentally broken.

Authors need publishers because they need a customer. Readers have been separated from authors by many levels--stores, distributors, media outlets, printers, publishers--there were lots of layers for many generations, and the editor with a checkbook made the process palatable to the writer. For ten years, I had a publisher as a client (with some fun self-published adventures along the way). Twelve bestsellers later, I've thought hard about what it means to have a traditional publisher.

Traditional book publishers use techniques perfected a hundred years ago to help authors reach unknown readers, using a stable technology (books) and an antique and expensive distribution system.

The thing is--now I know who my readers are. Adding layers or faux scarcity doesn't help me or you. As the medium changes, publishers are on the defensive.... I honestly can't think of a single traditional book publisher who has led the development of a successful marketplace/marketing innovation in the last decade. The question asked by the corporate suits always seems to be, "how is this change in the marketplace going to hurt our core business?" To be succinct: I'm not sure that I serve my audience (you) by worrying about how a new approach is going to help or hurt Barnes & Noble.

My audience does things like buy five or ten copies at a time and distribute them to friends and co-workers. They (you) forward blog posts and PDFs. They join online discussion forums. None of these things are supported by the core of the current corporate publishing model.

Since February, I've shared my thoughts about the future of publishing in both public forums and in private brainstorming sessions with various friends in top jobs in the publishing industry. Other than one or two insightful mavericks, most of them looked at me like I was nuts for being an optimist. One CEO worked as hard as she could to restrain herself, but failed and almost threw me out of her office by the end. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't heartbroken at the fear I saw.

All a long way of saying that as the methods for spreading ideas and engaging with people keep changing, I can't think of a good reason to be on the defensive. It's been years since I woke up in the morning saying, "I need to write a book, I wonder what it should be about." Instead, my mission is to figure out who the audience is, and take them where they want and need to go, in whatever format works, even if it's not a traditionally published book.

If you're among the majority reading this that has never bought one of my books in a bookstore, not much will change. But I thought I'd share with you this fork in the road. Thanks for reading, in whatever form you choose.

Little lies and small promises

Seth Godin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:56:00 GMT

"I'll be out of bed in five minutes," is not a true statement because it's a promise not meant to be kept. It actually means, "go away, I'm sleeping, I'll say what I need to get rid of you."

"Your call is very important to us," is not a true statement either. The truth is self-evident.

"I promise I'll tell the manager about this," is of course not a real promise either. It might be uttered with good intent, or might be designed to get an annoying customer to go away, but still...

You can already guess the problem with little lies. They blur the line, and they lead (pretty quickly) to big lies. The worst kind of little lies are the ones you make to yourself. Once you're willing to lie to yourself, you're also willing to cheat at golf, and after that, it's all downhill.

Companies that refuse to break small promises have a much easier time keeping big promises. And they earn a reputation, one that makes their handshake worth more.

Given that expectation and trust are just about all we have left to sell, it seems to me that little lies and small promises are at the very heart of the matter. And they're a simple choice, nothing requiring an MBA or a spreadsheet.

It all depends on what you want to stand for.

The secret of the Roush effect

Seth Godin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:55:00 GMT

When Gerald Roush died in late May, he left behind the Ferrari Market Letter. This newsletter, which he started and ran, had nearly 5,000 subscribers, paying him $130 a year for a subscription. Do the math! It's a good living--even without a fancy website.

The newsletter, it appears, was not just lucrative, it was a bargain. It chronicled the pricing, whereabouts and details of just about every Ferrari ever made. If you were a buyer or a seller, you subscribed. If you wanted to run an ad, you were required to include the car's VIN, which added to Roush's voluminous database.

The Roush effect involves extraordinary domain knowledge, a market small enough to understand and diligently earning the role of data middleman. The players in the market want there to be one clearinghouse, one authority who can connect the data, see the trends and publish the conventional wisdom.

It might be a newsletter, a conference or an online database. The tactics don't matter, but the role is indispensable. If you need examples to persuade you to try this, they won't be hard to find. One of my favorites is my friend Michael's role in the book industry. He's bigger and more important than the famous (but failing) trade journal.

Just about every tribe needs a Gerald Roush. And in many markets, they can afford to pay someone like him very handsomely.

Monitoring your internal monologue

Seth Godin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 02:46:00 GMT

One of the best ways we have to intuit the way others decide is to understand how we decide. We have a voice in our heads and we assume others do too. We don't like rancid cheese and we assume others don't either.

I've met two kinds of successful intuitive marketers. The first kind has absolutely no ability to describe why people do what they do. They just know. I talked with a famous fashion designer for two hours and came away believing that she has no idea whatsoever how or why purchasing decisions are made. She has no words for it.

The other kind is an honest witness of the decision-making that goes on every day inside. "Why did I just choose that?" "Why do I believe this? Is it because of something my dad said when I was three?" "Why did I give $100 to that charity? Why not zero? A thousand?" This self-insight is difficult and valuable. It means that you can't take things at face value, even things that you might be more comfortable leaving unexamined, as truths. Theologians wrestle with this dilemma all the time. How can you study an idea or a trend or a belief system if you also accept it as a universal, unquestionable fact?

And so the smart marketer throws away bias and stops cheering for one outcome over another and instead quietly takes notes on herself. Notes start shallow, but if you push, you can get deeper, stripping away layers of previously unexamined instinct. You can test those notes, see if they occur in other people when you vary the inputs. And it's this series of notes and tests that give you insight on how to share your next idea.

Your Great American Novel May Not Be A Novel

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:33:10 GMT

I've always had a dream, shared by millions I bet, to write the great American novel. Heck, I'd settle for a simple best seller or two. But then I realized that although I can write, I'm not a great writer.

What I also realized is that there are things I'm good at. Some very good at. I also realized that the great American novel, although admirable and enjoyable by many, is a dream given to me by society. It's almost tradition. But times have changed, and a novel may not be what the world needs or even wants most.

I can build my masterpiece, but it's just not going to be a novel. It will be a masterpiece built in my expertise.

I bet you are good at something. You may not even think about it. Perhaps you do it ever day by going to work. But it's gotten boring.

It's only boring because it's not your masterpiece. If you could do anything with your skill, what would it be?

Once you take what you're best at and decide you're going to build your masterpiece, it will be the most fun you have ever had.

Build your masterpiece. Share your expertise. Show the world what it looks like at its best.

Yamisee Administrator ...

mojoPortal Online User Group Meeting August 24, 2010

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:09:00 GMT

Don't forget to join us for the next mojoPortal Online User Group Meeting on August 24, 2010 at 7PM EDT.

Topic: How to integrate jQuery plugins in mojoPortal

Presenter: Joe Audette, founder of mojoPortal

Target Audience: Beginning to Intermediate ASP.NET developers

Not much of the content will really be mojoPortal specific, so this presentation should be useful for those doing any ASP.NET WebForms development.

What will be covered?

Wiring up the plugin script so that it loads after the main jQuery scripts
Wiring up instance specific javscript to create your instance of the plugin based on existing markup or control ids
Various ways to add the CSS needed for a plugin
Implementing Custom UserControls with jQuery plugins
Implementing Re-useable Server Controls that encapsulate plugins
Specific jQuery Plugins that will be examined: jQuery Cycle, jCarousel, EasySlider, jQuery UI Tabs and Accordion

Originally I was going to present on using ZedGraph, but there have been a lot of questions in the forums lately about using jQuery plugins so I think this presentation will be more helpful. I will do a presentation on ZedGraph sometime in the future.

Each month we have different presenters, so far we have had some really good presentations by David Dean, Joe Davis, and Steve Land. If you would like to present at a future meeting let us know, we'd love to have your help!

Mark your calendars, I hope to see you there!

UPDATE 2010-08-24

Looking forward to tonights meeting, it is completely booked, but in the past we've had a significant number of no shows. If you've signed up but aren't going to be able to make it please contact Yamisee so they can free up the seat for someone else. If you want to attend but were not able to reserve a seat, there is a pretty good chance that not everyone will show up. I'd recommend that you contact Yamisee right at 7PM when the meeting is to begin, if we have seats available at 7:10PM due to some no shows, we may be able to squeeze you in. I'm pretty excited about the material I will be presenting and think it will be very helpful.

UPDATE 2010-08-25

Thanks to all who attended the user group last night, especially David Dean of Yamisee for hosting the event for us every month. You can watch videos of previous sessions on this page at Yamisee. I've also created a .zip file containing the examples from my presentation http://download.mojoportal.com/tutorials/mojousergroup-20100824.zip

Joe Audette ...

Nominate mojoPortal for the 2010 CMS Award

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:14:00 GMT

Hi mojoPortal friends,

It is that time of year again, the 2010 Packt Publishing CMS Award has begun the nomination phase. Please nominate mojoPortal for the Best Open Source CMS.

Nominations end on September 17, 2010, and we need as many nominations as possible in order to make it to the next phase of the contest, so please take a minute and nominate mojoPortal.

Thanks!

Joe

Joe Audette ...

mojoPortal 2.3.5.1 Released

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:57:00 GMT

I'm happy to announce the release of mojoPortal 2.3.5.1, available now on our download page.

What's New?

jQuery UI Skin

This release includes a new skin based on jQuery UI, as described in my previous post, there is also a theme picker for choosing the jQuery UI theme. There are a bunch of pre-defined themes and you can roll your own with the jQueryUI theme roller, so this skin is like many skins in one.

A number of people have been asking in the forums about how to make menu items not clickable. Typically people want this when they are using a flyout menu like the jQuery Superfish menu or the horizontal menus used in Artisteer skins. Usually there is a parent page that is just a container for child pages that have the actual articles, and you may wish to make the parent menu item not clickable. If the user clicks it, it is the same as if they mouse over it, it just shows the child items and does not navigate to the page. This is now supported as described in the documentation article Un-clickable Menu Items.

Feature Setting Groups

This is something I've been meaning to do for a long time, when a feature has a lot of settings (like the blog for example), the settings page could become very daunting just because there are so many settings. By adding groups, we can organize the settings into logical groups that make it much easier for the user to digest because they can view one group at a time.

A Few Blog Improvements

As the screen shot shows, there are some new settings for the blog. You can now add extra content into the blog side bar in 2 locations. This is suitable for adding a blog roll or an advertisement or other content you would like to add to the sidebar of the blog.

There is also a new Tweet This link available in the blog, located in the Social Settings.

Limiting Available Features by Roles

This is another popular request in the forums, many users have asked about being able to filter the list of available features by roles. This is now possible from Administration > Advanced Tools > Feature Configuration, you will see a new link for permissions next to each feature and you can set roles allowed to use the feature. Note that it only controls what is available in the list when creating new content, it does not change a user's permissions on existing instances of a feature.

Other Stuff

Upgraded from TinyMCE 3.3.7 to 3.3.8
Upgraded from CKeditor 3.3.1 to 3.3.2
Upgraded to the latest MySql Connector
Updated Italian resources thanks to Diego Mora
Updated German resources thanks to Jan Aengenvort
the Extra Skins download file has a new skin contributed by Nitin Sharma

Bug Fixes

fixed a redirect bug when using the MyPage feature in folder based child sites
fixed an issue where the tabs did not work correctly on the user profile and manage users pages in folder based child sites
fixed a bug where consuming the aggregate feed from on feed manager into another instance of Feed Manager caused the page to hang
fixed a bug where the download link in shared files did not always work correctly in IE 8
a few other bug fixes and enhancements based on feedback in the forums and by email

Upgrade Notes

After the previous release, 2 people reported errors upgrading and were not able to upgrade. I believe this issue happens only with SQL 2005 if it does not have all the service paks installed. This is related to changes we made to consolidate the MS SQL layer so it could support SqlAzure. In making the needed changes we made a conscious decision to drop support for SQL 2000, so our MS SQL Data layer is designed to support SQL 2005/2008/SqlAzure, but it turns out that SQL 2005 only works if you have the service paks installed. I was already running SQL 2005 Express with all service paks, so I did not anticipate any issues with SQL 2005, but apparently there are problems if you are not up to date on service paks. As always, you should backup your site and database before upgrading, and if you are using SQL 2005 you should check whether you have the service paks installed before upgrading.

Joe Audette ...

I'm Not Very Good With Computers

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:11:07 GMT

"I'm not very good with computers."

I've heard people say this for the last 15 years. In the beginning, this was not a surprising comment. Lately, however, I am surprised that I still hear this as much as I do.

Computers are different now. It used to be that you had to be a programmer just to use one. Now it's easy to do so many tasks that my surprise is that people are still afraid of them.

Add to that the number of people who use a smart phone, iPad or other device on a regular basis. These devices are computers and are often times it's more complicated to do simple tasks on a device than a desktop or laptop computer.

So next time you think "I'm not very good with computers," you may want to just give it a try anyway. You may find that it's a lot easier than you thought.

Yamisee Administrator ...

mojoPortal and jQueryUI ThemeRoller

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:58:00 GMT

I was recently reading the documentation for The jQuery UI CSS Framework, and it got me thinking about making it possible to style mojoPortal content instances using it. Then a user asked in the forums about being able to skin mojoPortal using jQueryUI ThemeRoller, and that got me thinking further, what if I could create a mojoPortal skin where the whole site is a jQuery UI widget and could be styled by jQuery UI themes? That would be kind of cool wouldn't it?

It doesn't take much to make a feature instance style as a jQuery Widget, skeleton markup like this will do the trick since the jQuery UI CSS is already included in the page:

<div class="ui-helper-reset ui-widget ">
<h2 class="ui-widget-header ui-corner-top">Heading goes here</h2>
<div class="ui-widget-content ui-corner-bottom">
  <p>
   This is styled with jQuery UI!
  </p>
</div>
</div>

So I just needed a way to make mojoPortal features render that kind of skeleton and it wasn't difficult to achieve given that I had already implemented a solution for rendering the special markup needed for Artisteer designs. I just added some more options to the rendering that can be configured from the theme.skin file in a mojoPortal skin. It took me maybe 10 minutes and I had it working for proof of concept. It was much easier than implementing support for Artisteer because we already had the needed markup structure, all we really needed was an option to render the CSS class names for jQueryUI. So I made a new skin and modified the layout.master to use the same widget skeleton for the site as whole so that the jQuery UI theme pretty much controls the look of the site. There isn't yet any themeable menu for jQuery UI, so I used the jQuery Superfish menu that we already had in a few other skins and used neautral colors and color inheritance to make it look reasonably well with all of the jQueryUI themes, though it looks better with some than others. It would be easy for users to copy this skin and change the menu colors to match better with a specific theme. The jQuery UI CSS framework doesn't have style for all purposes and features though, so additional CSS is needed for some features, and again I tried to make it use neutral colors so it would not clash with any of the jQuery UI themes.

I'm a ThemeRoller baby, bound to roll all over you...

ThemeRoller makes me think of James Taylor singing with a lisp! :-D

Once I had the new skin basically working it begged for a theme switcher so I could see the magic instantly of changing the jQuery UI theme. There are about 25 or so standard jQuery UI themes that can be loaded from the Google CDN (Content Delivery Network) which is where we load jQuery and jQuery UI javascript and CSS from by default. You can also make your own custom jQuery UI themes with ThemeRoller, but if you do that then you need to host the jQuery and jQuery UI files locally as documented here.

You can control the list of available themes in the theme switcher from a config setting, that you can override in user.config, and you can set the default theme in the layout.master file of the skin like this:
<portal:StyleSheetCombiner id="StyleSheetCombiner" runat="server" JQueryUIThemeName="eggplant" UseIconsForAdminLinks="false" />

The theme switcher can be removed from the layout.master or disabled or limited by roles if you don't want user to be able to change the theme. It is basically setting a cookie based on the dropdown choice, and then setting the jQuery UI theme based on the cookie.

Maybe it is too widgety looking for most sites, but it might be useful for some kinds of sites or web applications built on mojoPortal. You could easily add a div above and/or below the menu to make room for a banner ad or some other additional content.

Anyway, it was easy and fun to implement. It is in the source code repository now, but requires a build of the latest source code to work. It will be included in the next release. You can try it now on demo.mojoportal.com by going to Administration > Site Settings and choose the jqueryui-1 skin.

So basically the new skin jqueryui-1 is like many skins in one since there are many jQueryUI themes available and you can roll your own with ThemeRoller.

Here are a few screen shots showing a few of the jQueryUI themes.

So, look for this in the next release or if you are a developer you can get the latest code from the repository. I think this gives us one more useful approach to skinning mojoPortal and hope you find it useful.

Joe Audette ...

Yamisee Named "Company to Watch" by the CT Technology Council

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:26:17 GMT

For the 2nd year in a row, Yamisee has been named a 'Company to Watch' by the CT Technology Council.

We happen to agree...

Yamisee Administrator ...

mojoPortal SQL CE and WebMatrix

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:38:00 GMT

This is just a quick post in follow up to my previous post SQL Server Compact 4.0 and mojoPortal, to provide some updated information. We recently released mojoPortal 2.3.4.8, and I've updated the package for SQL CE recently to contain migration scripts so that it is easy to migrate to SQL Server.

I've also created some new documentation.

WebMatrix includes IIS Express web server which is much easier to use on your local machine than IIS but has all the features of IIS. Once you install WebMatrix, you can right click a folder in Windows Explorer and choose "Open as a Web Site with Microsoft WebMatrix". So you can just unzip the mojoPortal package and right click the wwwroot folder to launch a mojoPortal site on your local machine. If using SQL CE you don't need to even need to configure a database, it just works, but for other mojoPortal packages you would have to set the connection string for the database.

One could also use WebMatrix for light mojoPortal feature development, perhaps at some point I will make an article showing how to use the mojoPortal Hello World examples with WebMatrix. While WebMatrix is not designed to scratch the same itch as Visual Studio, it is a useful tool even for folks like me who really live in Visual Studio all day long. I encourage you to check it out, especially if you are interested in working with the SQL CE version of mojoPortal.

Joe Audette ...

SQL CE Support for Form Wizard Pro and Event Calendar Pro

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:55:00 GMT

I'm happy to announce the availability of new packages of Form Wizard Pro and Event Calendar Pro, that include support for SQL CE. Existing customers can download the latest package from their order history under the My Account link after signing in to the site.

I've also updated the SQL CE package for mojoPortal on Codeplex to fix a couple of bugs reported recently, and I've created documentation about using SQL CE with mojoPortal. In the near future I will also create documentation to explain how to migrate a mojoPortal installation from SQL CE to SQL Server using WebMatrix.

Joe Audette ...

Free mojoPortal Skins

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:40:00 GMT

Just a quick post to give a shout of thanks out to Andria of CrypticSites! She has made a bunch of cool skins for mojoPortal and is sharing them with the community. There are about 13 of them available, some thumbnails are shown below. I encourage you to check them out http://mojo.crypticsites.net/skins-4-mojo.aspx

Again, big thanks to Andria for making these available! They are all very cool, my favorite is Rustic Cabin.

Joe Audette ...

Improvements to the mojoPortal Visual Studio Projects and Solutions

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:46:00 GMT

Just a quick post to give a heads up to folks working with mojoPortal from the source code repository that the latest code in the repository has some significant improvements to the Visual Studio projects and solutions and I have updated some relevant documentation but wanted to bring it to your attention.

You can now use the Visual Studio Publish feature to package mojoPortal as described in the updated article Packaging and Deployment. I'm very happy about this because it has historically been one of those things that developers who are new to mojoPortal always stumbled with but prior to VS 2010 there was not an easy way to solve it. We've used the free UnleashIt tool to package mojoPortal since 2004 as we progressed from Visual Studio 2003 through VS 2005 and VS 2008, but improvements to Visual Studio 2010 and MsBuild made it possible to solve this problem easily so going forward will be able use Visual Studio 2010.

Also much nicer now for those who work with data layers other than MS SQL, you no longer have to change project references to use a different data layer. Now it is as easy as choosing the build configuration. I updated the old document "Setting the Data Layer in Visual Studio". I really love this since I'm always going back and forth working on different data layers.

I think the out of the box experience with working with the source code in Visual Studio is significantly improved.

Joe Audette ...

mojoPortal 2.3.4.8 Released

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:38:00 GMT

I'm happy to announce the release of mojoPortal 2.3.4.8.

Data Layer Consolidation

The primary focus of this release is consolidating our support for SqlAzure into our main MS SQL data layer so that we don't need to maintain a separate data layer for SqlAzure. For new installations that use SqlAzure, you should just use the package for MS SQL. If you have an existing installation using SqlAzure, you should follow these steps:

Upgrade using the mojoportal-2-3-4-8-sqlazure-net35-deploymentfiles.zip or mojoportal-2-3-4-8-sqlazure-net40-deploymentfiles.zip depending on whether you are using .NET 3.5 or 4.0
Copy your connection string from the SqlAzureConnectionString to the MSSQLConnectionString
Download mojoportal-2-3-4-8-mssql-net35-deploymentfiles.zip or mojoportal-2-3-4-8-mssql-net40-deploymentfiles.zip again depending on your .NET version.
Extract the files and copy the mojoPortal.Data.dll, mojoPortal.Features.Data.dll, and WebStore.Data.dll from the MS SQL package and replace them in the /bin folder your installation
Going forward we will no longer have separate packages for SqlAzure, so for future upgrades you will just use the MS SQL package

Important - We no longer support MS SQL 2000. Our MS SQL Data layer is compatible with SQL 2005/2008/SqlAzure

As I mentioned in my previous post, we also now have a package for SQL CE. I encourage you to give it a try. It would be really cool if someone out there could do some load testing of mojoPortal using SQL CE and then using MS SQL to get an idea of how well SQL CE can handle traffic. I would not expect it to do as well as MS SQL but I think it might hold up better than one might expect. My guess is it can handle more traffic than the Sqlite version of mojoPortal because Sqlite only supports 1 connection and SQL CE does have a connection pool and supports more connections.

In the near future I will be looking into using WebMatrix which is the tool that can be used to migrate from SQL CE to SQL Server. WebMatrix could also be used for light mojoPortal feature development for those who find Visual Studio to be a little scary. WebMatrix is also a pretty neat tool for trying applications from the Web App Gallery and it includes IIS Express.

New Date Picker

This release also includes a new jQuery DatePicker. You could still use the old one if you like it better by changing the default DataPickerProvider in mojoDatePicker.config in the root of the site.

I also added jQuery UI styling to the buttons in most of the included skins (except Artisteer skins since they already have button style). You can enable it in a custom skin from the theme.skin file by adding this:

<portal:mojoButton runat="server" UsejQueryButton="true" />

A Few Bug Fixes

fixed a bug where using Live Writer an error would happen when trying to open existing posts
fixed a bug in the blog where the rating was not shown even on the detail page if using excerpts
fixed a bug in the blog where the default comment allowed days was being ignored
fixed a bug in Feed Manager where the aggregate feed link did not work in child sites
fixed a few bugs in the Sqlite data layer where the paging logic was not correct

Updated Italian resources from Diego Mora

Updated Dutch translation from Bouke Bisschop

As always, it is a good idea to backup your site and database before upgrading.

Joe Audette ...

Online Courses - Live, Recorded and Somewhere in Between

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:19:50 GMT

Lately we've seen some studies and posts about online learning. Mostly, these posts assume that online learning is recorded. At Yamisee, we know that recording learning does not beat interactive and live learning and live classes.

Today, I saw the video on 'Milo.' This is Microsoft's Virtual Human that reacts to a live person's emotions, body movements and voice inflections. It a bit early, but this a great way to stimulate your mind into thinking about how online learning can evolve way beyond traditional live learning.

Imagine classes where students interact with both real and virtual humans in live environments. The virtual humans will be able to provide inputs and simulations unavailable today. Both the virtual and human participants will also be able to create collaborative learning opportunities that give unique ways to learn.

Check out the video here and then think about what the future holds for live learning.

We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Yamisee Administrator ...

Live Online Courses - Student and Teacher Interaction Critical

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:27:57 GMT

While reading last week's Newsweek, I saw an article highlighting the ongoing creation of "iColleges" - web based models of higher education at many established major universities. While this trend in and of itself isn't anything new, what was most interesting to me was the debate around how it is being executed.

The usual model is for the student to downloaded static content (course work, videos etc.) and review it on their own time, individually. The criticism from academic corners is about the lack of real time student/teacher interaction with the class material - I couldn't agree more. It's been proven through numerous studies that people learn best in live, interactive environments where they can ask questions of the teacher, hear questions from other students and carry on an active dialogue with those students while reviewing the class material. Live online classes and courses are intended to replicate that environment and all its benefits - but they need to be live online classes to do so!

There's a place for static class content distributed online but it shouldn't be confused with live online learning. That all important student/teacher dialogue is easily delivered through live online classes and courses - and everyone can be hanging out in their t-shirt and underwear, eating a bowl of cereal!

David Lynch ...

The Holiday is Over. Back to Work

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:19:51 GMT

Due to the July 4th holiday weekend, I ended up taking basically the entire week off. Funny thing is that I was able to do that without any hassle from work or the company. The reason is that due to the internet, the definition of work and company has changed drastically for me. Now I work unusual hours set by how much payback I am willing to work for.

Do you still work the same way people did 10 or 15 years ago? If so, ask yourself how the internet might change your job (for better and worse). And don't think you are not affected. Everyone is. Even doctors will be posed with the challenge of other surgeons performing surgery remotely. If that can happen, what can't they change about your job?

Think about it and start preparing now. The transformation is already under way. Don't be too late to join.

Yamisee Administrator ...

SQL Server Compact 4.0 and mojoPortal

noreply@mojoportal.com (Joe Audette) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:15:00 GMT

On June 30, 2010, Scott Guthrie blogged New Embedded Database Support with ASP.NET, announcing that SQL CE 4 (SQL Server Compact Edition) would soon be available. It was officially released as a public CTP (Community Technology Preview) on July 7, 2010 with an announcement on the SQL Server Compact Team blog in a post by Ambrish Mishra entitled Introducing SQL Server Compact 4.0, the Next Gen Embedded Database from Microsoft.

This little database is big news for mojoPortal

Today I am happy to announce a preview release of mojoPortal 2.3.4.7 for SQL CE 4 and ASP.NET 4.0. This package has a pre-configured database and can be deployed under Medium Trust with .NET 4 hosting.(*) This means it is easy to deploy and use even on budget shared hosting where Medium Trust security policy is almost always used. You can download the package mojoportal-2-3-4-7-preview-sqlce-net40-deploymentfiles.zip from the bottom of this page on Codeplex. It is an MsDeploy package, so it can be installed by importing it in IIS, or you can just unzip it and install manually.

When installing web applications like mojoPortal, often one of the more challenging installation issues is setting up the database, for non-techies this is the part that people really struggle with, and even people who consider themselves fairly tech savvy can find themselves struggling to get it working unless they have a background in working with databases and understand all the nuances of connection strings and permissions. Using SQL CE 4 eliminates this challenge completely because the database is just a file on disk. There is no database software to install on the server, so it does not depend on the host having it installed, it only requires .NET 4 hosting. Since we ship a database file already populated with initial data, it is basically zero configuration for the database, you don't have to do anything, it just works.

I'm sure some of you are aware that mojoPortal has supported Sqlite for a long time, and it is also a zero configuration, file based database that many people like a lot. However, it has never worked under Medium Trust and if your site traffic starts to grow there is not an easy way to migrate the data to a more robust database.

	SQL CE	Sqlite
Zero config deployment	yes	yes
Backing up the files backs up the database	yes	yes
Works in Medium Trust	yes	no
A supported migration path to a more robust database	yes to SQL Express/Server/SqlAzure	no convenient migration solutions that I know of

Now, I'm not yet sure yet how easy the migration of mojoPortal from SQL CE to SQL Server will be. Scott Gu mentioned that they will be shipping migration tools that will make it straight forward to migrate the tables and data from SQL CE to SQL Express, SQL Server or SQL Azure. However, since SQL CE does not support stored procedures and we do use them in the SQL Server data layer for mojoPortal, it means we will also need to make migration scripts available to install the latest stored procedures into the database after migration. So, in theory, the migration process will be to first use the tool that Microsoft will ship to migrate the tables and data, then run the scripts we will make available that contain the stored procedures for a given version of mojoPortal, then you would just deploy the mojoPortal version for SQL Server over your existing mojoPortal for SQL CE installation and set your connection string for the new database. Once the migration tools ship I will verify the process and create documentation with the migration steps.

In summary, I think that the SQL CE package for mojoPortal will make it easy for you to stand up impressive new web sites quickly and easily in budget hosting with the possibility to upscale to a more robust database platform later without too much difficulty. I would say that if you are putting up a site that you are expecting to grow traffic quickly, then you should probably just start out using SQL Express, SQL Server, or SQL Azure. But, how many sites that you put online for your customers really get a lot of traffic? If the answer is not many, then you may find SQL CE is the best choice for many of your projects, reducing costs and time to deployment.

Top Secret Early Access! :-D

Now you may wonder how I managed to have a version of mojoPortal for SQL CE ready so soon after SQL CE 4 was released. The answer is that I had early access to SQL CE 4.0 and access to a bunch of good folks on the IIS and SQL Server teams to help me with guidance and questions and was also able to give them feedback while they were working on this release.

Back in early March I was contacted by Jonathan Hawkins of Microsoft and was invited to an online meeting where they told me what they were planning for SQL CE and why it might be beneficial for mojoPortal to support it, I of course was very excited about it. At the time the alpha bits of SQL CE 4 were not quite ready but I was provided with good help and work arounds that would enable me to work on support for SQL CE using the 3.5 version so I could get started without waiting. So I went ahead at that time and implemented it for the core mojoPortal features (it took me about a week) and managed to get it working as proof of concept. Once that was done I moved on to work on other things not knowing how long it would be until the alpha bits of SQL CE 4.0 would be ready. Finally on June 2nd I got an email that the alpha bits were available, but I was knee deep in other projects right at the time, so it was around June 27-28 when I finally tried the new bits and verified it worked under Medium Trust. Then when Scott Gu blogged about it on June 30, I realized it was going to be public very soon so I scrambled to complete the SQL CE data layer for the rest of the mojoPortal features (except for WebStore and my Add On Products). It took about 1 week to finish that work and by Friday July 9 I was ready to produce a package but decided to wait until Monday to blog about it.

So here we are, it is Monday, and I've uploaded the package on Codeplex, at the bottom of our current release. I've done sanity testing of all the features but not exhaustive testing of every configuration of every feature, so it is possible and perhaps likely there are still a few bugs here and there in the data layer, after all this is our newest data layer and therefore the least tested of all our data layers at this point. That is why I'm calling it a "Preview" release, and I hope you will give it a try and report any problems you may encounter. I will fix them quickly.

I'd like to thank all the folks at Microsoft for giving me this opportunity to work closely with them and get early access to the technology, and I especially thank Jonathan Hawkins, Parasuraman Narasimhan, Radhakrishnan Srikanth, Mohammad Imran Siddique, Himadri Sarkar, and Ambrish Mishra for all their help. It has really been a great experience for me getting to work with these guys and do something with mojoPortal that fit well with cutting edge work these guys have done on SQL CE. I really think they have solved one of the long standing problems in ASP.NET web deployment. For low traffic sites or quick prototyping or proof of concept deployment, or just low budget web sites, this is really going to reduce friction and make it easy to put a site up in minutes.

Technical Notes

It turned out well that I waited for SQL CE 4 before implementing all the mojoPortal features. When I implemented the core features I only had SQL CE 3.5 to work with so in places where I needed to select a page of data, I was having to use some awkward SQL syntax to make it work, it did work but it was difficult to read and write. One of the coolest new things in SQL CE 4.0 is the new syntax for selecting a page of data like this:

SELECT * FROM mp_GeoCountry ORDER BY Name OFFSET 10 ROWS FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY;

It would be great if someday SQL Server supports an easier paging syntax, as it is still awkward to get a page of data efficiently in SQL Server, though it is a little easier than SQL CE 3.5 since SQL Server at least gives us stored procedures which provides a few additional strategies for getting a page of data. Anyway, you can guess I like this new syntax, it is much more convenient. Probably since I've worked with so many open source database platforms in mojoPortal, and have learned the major syntax differences between them, and really most of them have had easier ways to get a page of data than SQL Server for a long time, I'm glad to see something that makes a bit more sense. In a nutshell, MySql, PostgreSql, and Sqlite all support the LIMIT x OFFSET y syntax, Firebird has an interesting twist with SELECT FIRST x SKIP y, and SQL Server has always had the SELECT TOP (x) syntax but no equivalent to OFFSET, and this makes us have to jump through syntax hoops to get any efficient way to grab a page of data. So at the moment, in my view, SQL CE 4 has at least one cool syntax thing better than its big brother SQL Server even if it is not as capable in handling large traffic.

The above screen shot shows that the built in mojoPortal query tool can be used with SQL CE.

No need to install it in the GAC

One of the interesting things to me is that it seems like SQL CE 4 must be all managed code, that is, I think it must be implemented purely in .NET. The reasons I think this is because it seems that the database engine must be completely contained in System.Data.SqlServerCe.dll, and this dll just needs to be in the /bin folder, it doesn't even need to be installed in the GAC (Global Assembly Cache). The main reason why Sqlite doesn't work under Medium Trust is because it does some P/Invoke against a native dll written in C. To be allowed to do that the managed dll for Sqlite would have to be installed in the GAC. Since SQL CE can work without being installed in the GAC, I can guess it does not do any P/Invoke and is all managed code. Someone asked about this in the comments of Scott Gu's post, and while he did not specifically answer it, he did mention in comments that they are looking at enabling use of SQL CE in Silverlight which I think lends more evidence to it being fully managed code. I could be wrong though, possibly there are changes in code access security in .NET 4 that makes it possible to use without installing in the GAC.

The idea of being able to use SQL CE as a client side database in Silverlight is pretty compelling to me, so I'll be keeping my eyes open for future announcements. I had once done a proof of concept where I managed to use Sqlite as a client side database in Silverlight via Google Gears, but it had a few issues because database calls had to be marshalled back and forth from javascript to Silverlight via the Html Bridge. It would be much nicer to be able to use SQL CE directly from Silverlight. That would enable some really interesting client side scenarios.

(*) Actually I think SQL CE 4 could probably be used under 3.5 .NET but not under Medium Trust, it requires .NET 4 to work under Medium Trust, and the mojoPortal package for SQL CE is only going to be available for .NET 4.

Consolidation of Data Layers

At the moment we have a separate data layer for SqlAzure, SQL Server, and SQL CE. Back in March when I first began work on SQL CE support in mojoPortal, I blogged Anyone Still Using SQL 2000?, to guage how many people still use it. Going forward we are dropping support for SQL 2000 and then the MS SQL data layer will be modified to make it compatible with SqlAzure, and then we will eliminate the separate data layer for SqlAzure. I "think" the previous release of mojoPortal 2.3.4.5 was still compatible with SQL 2000, but the latest code in the repository is not compatible because we have changed from ntext to nvarchar(max) which is not supported in SQL 2000. So the next release of mojoPortal for sure will not be compatible with SQL 2000. Going forward we will support SQL 2005/2008/SqlAzure and SQL CE.

Joe Audette ...

Finding More Productive, Unproductive Time

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:35:02 GMT

I've spent way too much of my time watching TV. A few years back I started migrating my TV time to make-stuff-for-me time. What I did was transfer my TV time to time on the Internet. But I didn't just surf or watch internet video. Instead I consciously set out to build things.

I started with a blog. Then a small web site. Another blog. I spent time building my online marketing knowledge (through other blogs, interacting with others and testing). I learned how to drive traffic to sites, how to make graphics (poorly), how to connect to Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

I eventually made a career out of what I learned.

The best part of all of this? I did it all expecting to get the same payback I got from watching TV. Nothing.

Along the way I realized that building things is a lot more fun than watching others build things (or tear them down as so often happens on TV). My first blog still has very few readers. I still update it. The satisfaction I get from those few readers makes my decision to skip another 30 minutes of TV to write the post a no brainer.

What could you build in your unproductive time. With no stress and no anticipation of getting something back? Without the pressure it becomes just fun.

Yamisee is one site where you can indulge your passion to build and share. There are many others.

Who knows? You may eventually start earning real money. And remember, by doing what you love, eventually you may never have to work another day in your life.

Yamisee Administrator ...

Online Learning does not always Mean Recorded Learning

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:05:00 GMT

The National Bureau of Economic Research recently released a study comparing online learning to "traditional, live lectures." In the study, David Figlio, Orrington Lunt Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University and primary author of the NBER working paper released this month stated:

"We didn't test whether Internet courses are good or bad per se," said Figlio, who teaches in Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy and is a faculty fellow at its Institute for Policy Research. "But we did find modest evidence that live-only instruction results in higher learning outcomes than Internet instruction."

The problem with the study is that it assumes that online learning = recorded learning. At Yamisee, we've always believed that the best learning is live learning. But there is nothing that says online learning can't be live.

Next year, let's see the same study, but don't group all Internet learning into the recorded category. We think that the findings may be very different. That learning in a live, online environment has benefits that you can't get with in-person learning. Actually, we believe that as live, online learning tools continue to advance, live online learning will provide opportunities that greatly surpase the in-person learning experience.

Yes, live-learning is the best. And it may be best to experience your live learning online.

Yamisee Administrator ...

Where to Submit Your Resume for Online Teaching Jobs

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:02:43 GMT

Where should you send your resume for a new online teaching job? Why don't you submit it to no one and no where?

Why do you want to give control over your teaching career to someone else? What value are they going to provide to you? Is that value worth what you will have to pay for it?

The Internet and Web have changed industries at a speed that was unimaginable 20 years ago. It will change others at speeds unimaginable today. One of these is the education industry.

The web gives power to the teacher and students, and removes it from the institutions and administrators. It's still early, but knowing that you may no longer need a teaching organization to "give you a job" may change the way you approach looking for a teaching job - be it online or off.

So where are you going to submit your resume? How about to yourself. Hire yourself now and get started with your online teaching career right away. At least get started while your waiting for an administrator to tell you if they think you are good enough based on a piece of paper.

You can do it on Yamisee or on several other sites (yes, there are others like us, we're just trying to be the best).

Good luck.

Yamisee Administrator ...