This entire week has been concerned with Team Foundation Server (TFS) and Visual Studio Team System (VSTS). There are really a lot of interesting features in this product. Some are excellent (the source control system and the ability to share data in the development project) and some not excellent yet (i miss a lot of easy configuration stuff for msbuild for example). In short i like it. A lot. But the more i learn about TFS the more i want to use TFS to the full extend of the product. I have a hunch that it will rock more and more as you start to use more and more features. There are also a lot of interesting and useful stuff on the NET about it. Here are some introduction videos for example: http://teamsystemrocks.com/tutorials/ ps. Changed my mind - that link is GREAT. The first two videos i saw could have...

Really, really in a hurry right now. Cannot withhold these two great links with answers to some very common and annoying</span> problems with Visual Studio Team System (=”blsp-spelling-error”>VSTS</span>) and Team Foundation Server (TFS): How to run tests in a build without test metadata files and test lists (.vsmdi</span> files) Beware the Team Test VSMDI</span> file

Found this today http://www.codeplex.com/TFSGuide/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=6280 It’s one of those Patterns and practices document (why are they always so long, 496 pages… Come on!). It doesn’t seem to be quite finished yet but looks very promising.

Last week Miriam did it again. She held, all of her own, the weekend-evening devotional (well i am not sure of the word for helgmålsbön, but that will have too do…). Again she did it with a most visible easy and some very interesting thoughts. “God is bothering me…” who’ll ever knew that that would be the theme for one of those shows. Well - if you missed it, it’s about ten minutes of sharp-edge thinking. And you can see it again here (Click on “Se programmen i SVT Play” and choose the 15 sept show). Way to go Miriam you are honoring our prayer group on your mission trip to Norrland ;)

I’ve been looking for a long time for a tool that watches the builds of TFS for me, something that CruiseControl.NET does in a nice way. Now i found it - in a nice working version - here. It is open source so you probably need to compile it before it runs. I am also not sure if it starts up automatically or if you have to add it to Autostart maybe. However it looks nice and does the job to great satisfaction. Those green blobs are really gratifying.

Hmmm - another "Why does VB.NET hides so many useful things from me?" thing that adds to my determination to vote for C# whenever i get the chance. The case is as follows; you have a project that you want to strong name. However it references a assembly that not is strong named. That will give you the following error from the compiler: `Unable to emit assembly: Referenced assembly [...] does not have a strong name` So the solution (for us C#-junkies) is to go into the project properties and put your .snk file into the box for "Wrapper Assembly Key File" (under "Common Properties" and "General"). However if you use VB.NET then you're stuck! There is no box like that because the VB.NET-team of Microsoft thinks that is to hard for us to handle, or something. [Here is one solution](http://www.novicksoftware.com/TipsAndTricks/tip-vb-net-tlimp-strong-name.htm) which is quite hard to pull of if you...

Oh my God- this (http://www.middagsfrid.se/) is a thing that is tempting me right now. The concept is as follows: each week a bag of groceries are delivered to your home. It contains raw material and recipes enough for you to keep you and your family going for the week, dinner-wise. So in short - no more going to the store and not being able to find out what to do for dinner. You’ll get surprised with new recipes each week. But, i can only imaging the kind of uproar this will cause among our parents. And also - here dies the last hope of keeping home-cooking as an art… We’ll probably try it anyway…

OK, my guessing from last week blew up… Dyke didn’t make it three in a row by the narrowest margin as they ended up in second place. It also had to sting a bit extra since Cory (who won) are conducted by Robert Childs brother of Nicholas Childs who conducts Black Dyke. Now we will never know how the organisers had intended to solve the gold medal problem. It says in the rules (from the 185o’s) that if a band manages to win three times in a row the band cannot compete the following year - AND should also be rewarded a gold medal! That would have been something to see… 4BarsRest really outdid themselves with some marvelous coverage of the event, with live photos even. You could almost feel the tension through the site… So - now the contesting for the season is open.

This weekend is the first and maybe the greatest competition in the brass band year. It’s the prestigious British Open. My money is on Black Dyke who i think are playing marvelous at the moment, better than in many years. Also i like that they not cling to the brass band idiom but instead is going to a more modern and symphonic sound and approach. If they win it will be the third time in a row for them. That feat has not been done in a lot of years, so that will be exciting in itself. I can just imagine how tagged they are… Also there will be some great music, a brand new piece of Kenneth Downie. He is a great guy and a great composer writing lots of high quality music for every size and quality of band. We are right now playing a lot of his...

OK - I’ll make no fuzz about it. I am really excited about Scrum and what it can do. But now after two complete days with mr Scrum, Ken Schwaber, i am completely turned around. It was as closed to a religious wake-up as you will ever come without God. I can’t imagine how development can be done with certainty, speed and most of all FUN - in any other way… Also i am a bit embarrassed about the way I’ve counted and tried to predict everything in advance - just half a year ago. The big differences are also the easiest - things like that people can take care of them self, change will always (ALWAYS) occur. So as long as i have a say in the question i will always conduct my projects as Scrum projects from now on. There is really no other way if you want...