SolitaryGeek

I received a mail from Microsoft today morning about Windows 7 expiration. Here is the essence of the mail:

It’s time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate

While most people who tested Windows 7 have now moved to the final version, some are still running the Release Candidate. If you haven’t moved yet, it’s time to replace the RC.

Starting on March 1, 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Your work will not be saved during the shutdown.

The Windows 7 RC will fully expire on June 1, 2010. Your PC running the Windows 7 RC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won’t be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You’ll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn’t genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.

To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you’ll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you’ll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data. For more details about replacing the RC, see the Knowledge Base article KB 971767. For more information, visit the Window 7 Forum.

Thanks again for helping us test Windows 7.

The Windows 7 Team

This sounds very unprofessional and disappointing. Why shutdown the operating system every 2 hours? Why change the wall paper to “a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop”?. Why display “periodic notifications that Windows isn’t genuine”?. Did we cheat Microsoft by running Windows 7 RC? Why not just expire gracefully with some friendly reminders.

What do you think about this?

You can get more information about Windows 7 RC expiration from Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Quite some time back, I read an article titled “20+ Free Look and Feel Libraries For Java Swing“. I have evaluated most of the libraries mentioned in that article. Personally, I  prefer the System look and feel that is bundled in the JRE. However, I like Substance, PGS and JGoodies as well. Which one do you use? Curious to know.

 Loading ...

Recently I read the article “Free UML tools” which explains about the various free UML tools available. That article made me think “What UML tool do people actually use?”. Over the years, I have used tools like Microsoft Visio, ArgoUML, NetBeans UML, StarUML and finally settled with JUDE. How about you? What UML tools do you use? Some of you might use more than one tool (at work, at home etc), so feel free to choose all the options applicable.

 Loading ...

Do you use Subversion as your version control system? Then, please share with us what is your favourite Subversion client.

 Loading ...

Introduction

Continuous Integration is a software development practice where members of a team integrate their work frequently, usually each person integrates at least daily – leading to multiple integrations per day.
- Martin Fowler

Hudson is a popular open-source continuous integration server used by many organizations like Redhat JBoss. Though there are many well known and well established open-source projects like CruiseControl, Continnum and some commercial offerings like Bamboo, what makes Hudson special is it’s powerful yet easy to use web interface, it’s simplicity and it’s extensible architecture with many plugins.

Read more…