The Insider News

ZDNet[^]:

Microsoft's Office team has run like clockwork for at least the past decade. The 5,000 or so Office engineers delivered a new version of Office every 2.5 to 3 years without fail. But these days, two or three years between new product releases is considered an eternity. While it's all well and good for the trains to run on time, the trains need to run a lot faster. In addition, these days, the different Office client, server and services trains don't all need to be on the same schedule.

Netsparker[^]:

I personally do not agree with the myth that hackers are always a step ahead. I think that the IT industry is way behind from where it should be. I am using the results of hundreds of web application security scans performed with Netsparker web application security scanner as an example to show that the IT industry can do much better in terms of security.

tech2.in.com[^]

One of the most controversial changes Microsoft made to Windows in its latest iteration - Windows 8 - is the removal of the Start button and menu. According to The Verge, the company wants to bring it back with Windows 8.1, which is also known as Windows Blue. While the button will make its comeback, the Start menu itself will still be absent.

Richard Banks[^]:

In Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 (VS 2012.1) Microsoft delivered a feature for the Ultimate edition called Code Map with the goal of visualising relationships in code. In Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 (VS 2012.2) they’ve extended the Code Map experience to include debugging support and the ability to generate code maps on the fly as a debugging session is conducted. If you saw the announcement then you may have had one of the following reactions. Reaction 1 would be something like “Oh. It’s in Ultimate. I don’t have it. I’ll ignore it”. The second might be similar to mine: “Is this really going to be that useful?”. After ignoring it for a bit I decided to answer that question for myself.

betanews.com[^]:

It seems to be fashionable at the moment to be negative about Windows 8. People like to whine about how the Modern UI gets in the way and how the rest of it is just Windows 7 with some of the furniture rearranged. Some analysts are even blaming Windows 8 for poor PC sales. Well, I’m sorry Windows 8 deniers, you’re wrong. I’ve used every major version of Windows since 3.1, I’ve been using Windows 8 since the Developer Preview versions and I think it’s Microsoft’s best effort yet.

raywenderlich.com[^]:

A button is simply a device you can press to connect two pieces of metal together, allowing a current to pass. It’s extremely handy for all sorts of applications. This tutorial is for those who want to learn more about how electronics (like buttons) work. You’ll use an open-source micro-controller called the Arduino to make a LED light turn on and off.

Nick Knowlson[^]:

Tony Hoare, the inventor of null, has gone on record calling it his ‘billion-dollar mistake’. So what should replace it? Maybe, at its core, is a construct that allows programmers to move null checks into the type system, so they can be enforced at compile-time. Instead of forgetting to deal with a null check and finding out with an exception at run-time, you forget to deal with a null check and find out at compile-time, before anyone else even sees it! And that’s not just some null checks, that’s all of them, guaranteed!