Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, cons- uhh, I mean ... ever wonder where that latin blurb people use comes from? You're probably smarter than me so you already know. Well, I went looking and found all sorts of neat info, as well as a "Lorem Ipsum" generator at http://www.lipsum.com. Check it out. Cool site!

Recently I made a small app called "Pixel Counter" and let it loose on all the images Nukeation Studios has published. Each image's pxiels (height x width) were counted. The result came down to over 78 billion! That's 78 followed by 9 zeroes, ie, 78,000,000,000. If put in a straight strip with a height of 1 inch, this would go on for more than 390,000,000 inches - that's 32,500,000 feet!

To celebrate this, a cool, custom made Nukeation T-shirt is available here. Usually a price markup is added, but this shirt is available at the base price (we don't make a single penny on it).

 

Get yours now! Free shipping is available until Dec 6th!! Enter coupon "FreeShip".

Okay, so I've gone far, but not far enough. This is gonna take me far enough. What you ask? A conversation with my best friend, Parvez, on MSN right now has convinced me that I should do this.

<drumroll>

I'm restarting the work on the long lost thesis on The Force. I started writing this a few years back. Now I intend to finish and publish it. I might even put it up for consideration for a literary or philosophical degree at some university even - not sure about that tho. But it will happen.

More to come on The Force: a thesis.

Take a look at this baby! My first "real" animation with Vue 5 Infinite. The wind feature of Vue is kriffin' fantastic!

Check out the whole WMV file at: http://shrinkster.com/9ey 

I tell my client that I mentioned him in a blog post (see Designer vs Developer post) and he writes me back saying:

I did see that and thought it was me!   --- out of all my witty and insightful comments/questions that's the question that get's me a blog post???

So, here I am trying to find one of those "witty and insightful comments/questions" to blog. Can't have good clients pissed at you, right? Right.

But the only problem is... I just went through like 20-30 emails ... and ...uhmm... can't seem to find the content with the specified criteria.

Seriously tho, I'd like to give a shout out to Andrew Eick - the cool dude who introduced me to SlideshowPro (which you will see in many of my upcoming sites) and told me that VS2005 was available for download on MSDN. He's also a very talented photographer. I will post a link to his site as soon as he updates it with the version I helped design.

As technologies converge and new frontiers are born, so are new roles. WPF (fka Avalon) is creating a new role for the designer in world of software development. Previously, the closest a designer would get to programming was if he or she was a Flash artist (or "Flasher").

The couple of weeks ago, I was helping a buddy of mine learn Flash (remotely via MSN!). Now, this guy is a pure designer. You give him a piece of paper and a pencil, or maybe even tablet and Photoshop, and he's the best. Now he finds himself in a new environment that requires him to script. No GUI tasks in that. And if you have done Flash you know its pure coding that makes it work. Not to make fun of him, but he found having to write stuff like...

stop();

on(rollOver){gotoAndPlay("Over");}

on(rollOut){gotoAndPlay("Out");}

... difficult. He almost gave up Flash because of it! He's now getting better at it of course.

Let's go over to the other side. A client of mine likes to dabble with Flash now and then. We were talking and he told me how dull and unproductive the Flash IDE (imho, it's hardly a DE, let alone IDE) was. He was asking me if it was worth it to upgrade to Flash 8. I doubt any "true" programmer (or !=0 programmer ) would be comfortable in a IDE that has only 600x200 pixels worth of coding area.

If you're familiar with the fantasy genre (no I don't play D&D) there are mages and there are warriors. Warriors fight with their senses and the "physical" world. Mages work with the abstract and create wonderous as well as horrible things. Warriors = logic, and Mages = abstract or intuitive. And thus, software developers are like warriors, while designers are like mages.

And as we know the both don't get along too well.

This is a topic in which I'm quite well-versed. For you see, not to brag, but I'm one of the rare Warrior Mages. I've been programming since the age of 3 or 4. I've been designing/drawing since 3 or 4 - maybe earlier. There are others like Nathan Dunlap (www.designerslove.net) who used to be a designer only and is now getting quite good with .NET thanks to XAML and WPF.

I don't know if WPF (and /E) will be able to kill Flash or not, but it will certainly require all of us to learn how to better work with Designers. I suppose people who work in web development teams have a headstart on this.

As it will soon be announced on the official site, this month Nukeation passed the figure of 78 billion (that's 78,000,000,000+) pixels published. That is the count of pixels in the images we have used in projects. And it gives me great pride to say that more than 12 billion of those have been for software-based graphics. A few million from that figure belongs exclusively to Borg.

Software with great graphics are really more successful (provided they have actual functionality too). If you haven't tried XAML and WPF yet, go do it now. If you're a developer, start learning how to work with a designer. If you're a designer, start learning about logic.

In the game industry (which has the most active designer-developer interactions) there is a liason role - a person who knows about programming logic and design tactics. They help bridge the gap and help both parties work nicely with each other.

Unfortunately, this will not be probable or possible in the normal software development community, I think. Not at the budgets we (the "average" devs) work with - in terms of both time and money. Maybe Microsoft can afford it, but I think more than 90% of the industry would not be able to.

So the best thing for everyone is if they learned the "physics" of the other's work. If nothing else, just learn the limits of the technologies involved and what's possible and what's not. It migth save everyone a lot of time.

If you have any designer/developer stories, I'd love to hear 'em!

Happy cod(esign)ing.

I'm still trying to get the hang of this software. It's still better than Terragen at any rate. The EcoSystem and plants are the best! I might make a small animated video (2 minute max) around the holidays in my free time.

 

I got a copy of Vue-5 from E-On Software. This thing boggles the mind. If you're into 3D you have heard of either Bryce or Terragen - or both. I have used both and am fond of them, but I didn't know about Vue about until a few hours ago.

This thing has a powerful renderer as well as a feature-rich set of tools. Bryce becomes too "plasticy" at a point, and Terragen is too technical-sounding and not really that much fun to use - not to mention it is still not a full release yet!

If you are not into 3D, you don't know what a pain it is to create natural terrains and scenes in normal 3D apps like 3D Studio MAX, Maya, or Softimage. Paramount used Terragen 2 (TGD) for the Romulus opening scene in Star Trek X: Nemesis.

Vue has a more standard interface (with a fantastic skin!) that is found in most 3D apps. It has the best of Bryce and Terragen, and not to mention some seriously cool stuff of its own. I'll be blogging more about Vue as I go through the trees and other cool animation stuff. In the meantime, check out this link for a visual feast.

My first render on Vue:

Yes, I am now finally moving a faster pace. I got 512k DSL! For most of you out there, it may not be a big deal, but I spent slaving over a 115k modem for the past few years, so I am happy.

A wallpaper fashioned after this image is coming soon! Just trying to get my hand set on 3D MAX again.

As of November 8, 2005, I have read 117 Star Wars books - and retain over 80% of the material. As a side (or direct) effect, I now use exclamations such as "Sithspit!", "Sithspawn!", and "By the Force!". When subordinates don't work properly, I almost use a Force grip to choke them and say "The Force is with you, young one, but you're not a Jedi yet!"

A person I had delegated a project to said "If we don't deploy locally, we don't deploy at all." to which I replied "Only the Sith deal in absolutes!"

I even answered a client's IM by saying "What is thy bidding, my master?" Thankfully, he said "Rise, Lord Vader."

I even put an audio-clip in the Outlook alert for a particular powerful client that says on incoming mail, "I see you becoming the greatest of all the Jedi"

But even after all this, the Force still leaves me when I get up to find some snacks, sit at a different position, and forget that the remote is out of reach. I try to use the Force to reach the remote, but... well, the remote is too remote if you know what I mean. :-P

The Force is weird in this one.

I've been wanting to make my own hand-crafted lightsaber for a long time. That time is coming near. After successfully defeating Tavion and the spirit of Marka Ragnos on Korriban, I think I am finally ready for my own ligthsaber. This blue-bladed "adept" lightsaber will complete my training as a Knight.

All I need now is a Sith lord to chop up!

The idiot is back on the blog-wagon!

The first thing I noticed in Windows Vista Build 5219 was the sheer lack of performance. In Beta 1, the AERO interface effects worked nicely. Here, it's sluggish - often skipping frames or being stuck. And this isn't a low-end system either, I'd think 2 gigs of RAM, 15GB of Pagefile, and a Limited Edition of 128MB GeForce FX5700 AGP would be good enough.

Outside of the performance issue, I think there are some really nice improvements. The best of them all (for me) is being able to close the window by simply clicking in the top-right corner (even tho close button is a couple dozen pixels away).

After a bit of work, the sidebar was enabled and seems promising - although there isn't much there to see except a pretty clock, instant search, and an RSS reader. It's a lot user-unfriendly at the moment, but I can see where it's headed - and it's gonna be a real cool thing!

There are some nice improvements in the Explorer too. The progress of your current search or navigation is shown in the address bar. The text becomes virtually unreadable, but the idea is good.

I'm gonna try and install the TV Tuner drivers for my old card, and see if I can get the Media Center functionality to work. Initially, I was planning on installing this Ulimate Edition on my TC-1100 Tablet PC, but with this kind of performance issues, I'm gonna have to rethink it.

More to be posted as I dig in deeper.

Not exactly dying (sorry) but I sure feel like it. I have some severe problems in my mouth (too gross to write about) and the only way to solve it (according to the doc) is not to talk much - or preferebly not talk at all. While I feel miserable about it (not to mention the pain, oh the pain!) people are very happy that I'm not talking. Sure, I do tend to cause trouble with my words, but it's all in good natured humor. Is it my fault they don't have any of it? Am I sounding like Rory Blyth now? Well, I don't mind sounding like him, but being sick like him is a problem for me. Of course, from one point of view I am already sick like him.

In any case, I have less than 2MB [1.2 to be exact] of Vista CTP to download. This will provide some relief.

Oh, and for anyone reading this who has kissed me before and would want to in the future (really?! thanks!!) don't worry, my oral condition will be all cool in a few days. I also go back to work tomorrow.

Well, HOPEFULLY the last day.

At ~10kb/sec there are about 800MB and ~21 hours left. And this is where my DVD burner started giving me various errors (whilst ruining 2 perfectly nice discs). Sigh.

There wasn't much to see :-( it wasn't even a quarter eclipse this side of the planet, let alone a full one!

Total: 2802.3 MB

Remaining: 1478.2 MB

Speed: ~8.5k/sec

ETA: ~48 hours

User status: Agitated, possibly suicidal. Trying to forget by trying to work real hard.

See the world's most sophistacted skin design.

Current status: 1908.5MB (downloaded) / 2802.3MB (total)

Time remaining: ~80 hours

User status: Bored

Hopefully, some dental surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning (yes, the graceful person that I am, walked into a metal door, damaged a tooth, has to pulled out, expecting lots of pain) which will show me a more potent meaning of pain that will make waiting for Windows Vista to download somewhat less harsh.

Only 6 hours left before the solar eclipse starts. I intend to be on top of a hill with all my photo equipment. Will be posting pics and videos here later today.

I'm hoping that a digital camera's viewfinder will filter out UV rays. :-P

The pain, the anguish, the messed up bytes, the whole package! It's all starting again.

I've just started downloading Windows Vista CTP Build 5219 at a speed ranging between 5.9k/sec to 9.3k/sec.

I only pray that my broadband connection comes soon!

As you may or may not know, the .NET Rocks crew is hitting the road on the VS 2005 Roadtrip and doing a show almost everyday. I was in charge of the graphics and all, and as usual, went overboard with the branding while Carl and I were brainstorming. While the eccentric graphics won't show up anywhere near the show or the RV, I'm leaking the best one here for your pleasure. This shows the secret plan that Carl Franklin, a seemingly innocent person in the developer community, is really undertaking. After all, they did say that VS2005 is all about VB.

Thanks in advance for the hate mail that Mac, Linux, and C# fans will be sending me.

Select resolution: 1024x768  |  1280x1024  |  1600x1200

PS. The thumbnail does not show all the 'good stuff'.

Nukeation Studios is now offering full XAML and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) based design services. We will also provide appropriate updates and revisions as the runtime and framework changes.

For a limited time, we are providing free 2 hours of consulting with our WPF and Design experts on how you can make your projects in a WPF based front end.

For details, please contact info [ at ] nukeation [ dot ] com.

More information will be posted on www.nukeation.com in coming weeks.

I've been wanting to do this for a long time. My father and I will be making four Republic Commando helmets. Plaster of Paris, with appropriate color coats. 5" each. Dad's got a lot of experience in this kind of stuff - I prefer 3D polygons. But it will be great to learn such an art. I'll need to start doing "physically" connected things to avoid (more) psychological problems in the future. Sigh. I'll need to distance myself from my computers. :-(

If it goes really well, I might even make a 3 feet tall bust of Delta 38. I love the shape of the helmet. Next would be a wallmounted bass relief work of a Krayt Dragon stalking a Bantha on the Jundland Wastes. Or maybe a lightsaber. Oooh. Maybe I should do that! Ohhh .... or maybe VADER's helmet! Ohhh ... or maybe a small X-Wing... Or oohhhhh....

WPF or WPF/E are too weird and have too many hard syllables. Has anyone found a nickname yet? Or a better way to pronounce them? I suggest "Whippfee" for WPF/E. Makes it sound like an R2 astromech. WPF/E will need a better name if Microsoft wants to target it at the standard "everyone" market.

Avalon was a real good name. Everyone took to it quite nicely. If they're worried about trademarks, they wouldn't have a trademark issue if they just make it "Microsoft Avalon(tm)". Like Flash (which is actually "Macromedia Flash"), people will call it just Avalon.

While I don't usually critisize Microsoft, I think they've got this whole naming thing backwards. Me, I would've called it WPF inside the company. Then when released, it should take on the "codename" they usually give. "Codename WPF" sounds better than just WPF, and Microsoft Avalon sounds much better than Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation.

Sigh. That "official" name has more syllables than the entire works of Shakespear (even the ones that the monkeys wrote). If anyone finds a better name for WPF and WCF, please drop me a line. I'd very much appreciate it.

Sigh. You'd think that after almost half a dozen hurricanes, you'd get used to 'em. Well, I still get that knot in my stomach when I hear about an approaching storm.

A new one is expected to hit in 10 to 12 hours. We'll be without electricity for a day or more. I hope my aux power unit and Tablet PC last me long enough.

Here's the storm's satellite picture.

The place I've marked is Bhuj. My town. Also known as Lars Moisture Farm in select circles. The province is Kutch, aka Tatooine.

This is a cool tool for Web Developers from Microsoft! Couple this with IE7's tabs and you have yourself an extra arsenal.

Overview (from the link above)

The IE Developer Toolbar provides several features for deeply exploring and understanding Web pages.

-- Explore and modify the document object model (DOM) of a web page.
-- Locate and select specific elements on a web page through a variety of techniques.
-- Selectively disable Internet Explorer settings.
-- View HTML object class names, ID's, and details such as link paths, tab index values, and access keys.
-- Outline tables, table cells, images, or selected tags.
-- Validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS web feed links.
-- Display image dimensions, file sizes, path information, and alternate (ALT) text.
-- Immediately resize the browser window to 800x600 or a custom size.
-- Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies. Choose from all objects or those associated with a given domain.
-- Choose direct links to W3C specification references, the Internet Explorer team weblog (blog), and other resources.
-- Display a fully featured design ruler to help accurately align objects on your pages.

Why, Oh Powers that (V)Be? Why?

Just when I calm my tortured heart that VB 8 is almost in my hands. Just when I think one more month and I'll be releasing apps in 2.0. Just then... just THEN ... you show me VB 9.

Whhyyyyyy?

Stop blogging just for the sake of blogging.

"Take care of" neighbour with the stereo blaring at 1:54am.

PS. Destroy the Bangles CDs there as well.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.mspx

Check it out - looks WAY cool! I'm impressed (which is a rare thing when talking about Websites made by/for Microsoft). The last time this happened was with the Flash animated Corporate Section thing.

I know I'm gonna get some hate mail from the Anti-MS people out there, but I already get that, so I'm just gonna say it. I'm tired of hearing Big Bad Microsoft. Yes, you know who you are, mac.

For the past 4 or so years, I've been in touch with many people at Microsoft. And they've been so nice and helpful. I wasn't even a Microsoft Partner Program member back then, but they were still really nice to me. Till date there hasn't been an incident where I've seen any 'attitude' from any Microsoftie. I've always gotten good advice, good tools, and met some good people who are really passionate about their work. They've helped my business grow. They're good to me, so I'm good to them.

My ISV Buddy (a special contact inside Microsoft that participating ISVs are assigned) is a great guy and has been very helpful in many a projects and the general goals of my company. And even when Microsoft says "Beta versions are not supported", they still get you enough help that anyone with more than three braincells can get his problem solved.

So where does this Big Bad Microsoft image come from? Maybe its the lawsuits and all that legal stuff. While I don't know much about US Commerce and Trade Laws, I still think that forcing Microsoft to rip out all the good stuff from their OS (ie, IE or WMP) or trying to force them to reveal their code, is preposterous. I'm not gonna bad mouth Linux or any open-source communities and/or proponents. I say let them be. I have nothing against open-source. I just don't want to use it myself. I'll save my flames for the lawsuits for another post, and get back to the point.

People bitch about IE and Windows and Microsoft in general all the time, but they are still using Windows. I say, yell all you want, but it won't be a valid point until you shift to a Mac OSX or something else and then say what you want to say. I may or may not agree with you, but I will respect you. Boycott Microsoft, THEN TALK. Of course, then again, if you're not using MS products and still bitch about it, then you're insulting me and my choice - and that's personal, bub!

A good friend of mine (who'll probably kill me for blogging about this) said "Microsoft killed my beloved Netscape". Really? Did Bill Gates take a butcher knife and go slit Netscape's throat in a dark back alley? (Who is the head of Netscape, btw? I should find that out sometime). Maybe Microsoft Covert Operations (formerly codenamed "Cloak and Dagger") took a bunch of choppers and landed on Netscape's roof and killed people and set fire to their building?

What pisses me off even more is people who have not had any real connection to Microsoft saying bad things about it. That's just wrong. Judging Microsoft because it's CEO allegedly said "I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to [expletive deleted] kill Google." is wrong. Judge him if you want to. Maybe Steve Ballmer's attitude or business concepts are bad (tho it's not what I personally believe. Then again, I do find Ballmer a bit intimidating even tho I havent seen him in person), but it still doesn't qualify the entire entity to become a bad thing.

The simple truth is, people are making a choice. If the Microsoft opponents want to make a difference, they should spend their time publicizing their open-source OSes and programs instead of slagging Microsoft all the time.

A kind request to the Microsoft opponents, please, PLEASE, make POINTS. Give us some valid points. Not some competing grocery shops and free delivery service advantage anologies. Valid points.

And remember, Microsoft and it's competitors can peacefully coexist. They just have to keep up.

To quote one of the rare movies about .NET, "Special Thanks to Microsoft for empowering slobs like us"

PS. FYI, I've been on the other side. I was there in the Java trenches, and the PHP compound, the whole "LAMP" thing. It wasn't that much fun. So dont bother saying I dont have a wide enough perspective!

"Hello everyone and welcome to the third session of the group. I'm Dr. Heinrich Applebaum. We have a few new faces with us, so why don't we start by introductions."

"Hi, my name is Vader... khhhhwwwww... sssshhh... I am a Chosen One."

*applause*

"khhhwwww....sssshhhhh. I turned to the Dark Side of the Force almost twenty years ago, and betrayed my friends. I'm hoping for redemption as I search for my son."

*applause* - Qui-Gon pats his back and tells him it will be ok.

 

"Hello, I'm Neo. And I am a Chosen One. -"

"Mr. Anderson, welcome back... we missed you!"

Dr. Applebaum: "Mr. Smith, please sit down! You have already introduced yourself. Thank you."

"- every cycle, I am born again to defeat the machines."

*applause*

"Mr. Anderson, why won't you just die?!"

"MR. SMITH! SIT DOWN!"

 

"I am no longer the person known as the Major, nor am I the program called the Puppet Master. I am a new life form, born as the Chosen One in the digital superhighways of the Internet. I want nothing more than to complete my destiny as any living being does."

*tentative applause*

 

"Hello, my name is Clark, and I'm a Chosen One."

*applause*

"I was born on Krypton, and I now live on this quaint little planet called Earth. I try to cope with having a secret identity, but it can be hard at times... *sniff*... and they recently took away my cape- *sob* I'm sorry. I ... i ... *sob*. That's all. Thank you."

*gentle applause* - everyone pats him on the back

 

"Hello, I am Peter. I am a Chosen One. My Uncle taught me long ago that with great power comes and great responsibility. And I try, y'know. I do everything I can. But I know I am also denying myself the simple pleasures all normal people have ... *choke* ... *sniff* ... Clarke, I know exactly what you mean."

*sympathetic applause*

 

An orange hazard suit wearing man with a goatee stands up next, but he just keeps looking at everyone and doesn't say anything.

Clark: "What's up with that crowbar in his hand? I hope he doesn't get violent!"

The man grips the crowbar tightly at the comment, but does nothing and just sits down.

*confused applause*

 

*knock, knock*

Dr. Applebaum: "Who's there?"

A weird looking man wearing a t-shirt with a large happy penguin sticks his head into the doorway. "Sorry, I am late."

Dr. Applebaum: "Mr. Torvalds, I told you before, this is the CHOSEN ONE room. You want the FAILED UNDERDOGS room, on the second floor."

Torvalds: "But I *am* the Chosen One. Even now my OS is spreading. The rebellion will rise. We will overthrow the evil Empire!"

Dr. Applebaum: "Mr. Torvalds, I will not say this again. You do not belond here. The panel chose Bill as the rightful Chosen One. Now please, we have a session going on."

Torvalds (dejected): "Sorry." *leaves*

Dr. Applebaum: "Ah. Please don't pay him any attention. It is much harder for people like him. Not that I mean it's not hard for you. Now, let's pick up where we left off last time... Ah yes, [consults his notepad] last time we were discussing the problem our friend from MarsSec here had with the SoulCube and his fingers being cut all the time with it..."

TO BE CONTINUED

A subtle, yet extremely important aspect of software branding will now finally be fulfilled with WFP. The Windows Presentation Foundation will allow you to create a "sub-theme" with application-level (or maybe even Form/Window level) scope.

 

"Sparkle" will allow you to modify themes and apply them locally to your app or form, as you can see in this screenshot. It will also be easy to create compound controls (think ASP.net UserControls on steroids). Visual subclassing has always been a pain - and Sparkle is the painkiller.

Companies like mine (Nukeation) will no doubt release theme packs for XAML based UIs.

Recently I was working on creating this custom drawn ListView effect (like the Vista ListView selection box) and I had to write about 70 lines of code (and rewrite it again and again by trial and error) and spent about 3 hours just to get it rigth. It's needlessly complex. Well, not needlessly, but you know what I mean. I for one can't wait for Sparkle.

I was told I was babbling "Xaaaaaml.... Spaaarkle .... Avalooooon" in my sleep last night. Occupational hazard.

I work Sundays. Yes. I have no life. I work from home whenever I can, and manage my team remotely. On Sundays, I also blog once in a while - even when working. Yes, blog addict.

It's damn cold here for my taste, but my massive CPU needs good air conditioning to run all it's processors and 3D apps and all. To save myself from a cold death, I donned my Mondays hoody. That thing has a nice large hood. But I also discovered something else. It's like those blinders on race horses. The hoody takes away your peripheral vision, therefore increasing your view of your monitor(s). With proper space between you and the monitor, you can encompass two 17" monitors, or one large 23", while keeping your focus on your work.

Try it. It's good.

I'm still too excited and my imagination is running overtime with the possibilties. I am just not able to put it into words ... not yet. I need time to heal.

But I will say this: UX - User Experience - is gonna be the new freakin' thing everyone wants to get their hands into. I am quite confident Microsoft WFP/E (or Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere) will replace Macromedia Flash in quite a large percentage (like ASP.net did PHP), and Flashers (not the lewd kind, but the people who make stuff in Flash) should start learning about XAML and WFP if they want to earn better. Flashers don't earn as much as programmers. This is where that gap can be closed.

I know, I'm inviting competition. UX is the very core of Nukeation Studios. That's how I made it. That's what I'm passionate about. We are already providing consulting services for those who want to get a head start. We did the same for ASP.net 2.0, and Windows Forms 1.0 before the days of .NET 1.0's rise. My team and I are quite confident that we will be enriching many a applications with WPF very soon. If you'd like to know more, just drop us a line at wfp [ at ] nukeation [ dot ] com.

For a limited time we are ready to provide up to 2 hours of free consulting about WFP and how to plan it in for your upcoming software or the next version of that software.

We will also be announcing new WFP services in the Developer Services portion of our website.

And lastly, better UX means more work, and more work means I need fresh blood.

Jobs @ NUKEATION

For WFP development we need people with basic knowledge of XAML, Flash, 3D Design, 2D Vector Design. Any single talent out of these (with a willingness to learn more), and an intense amount of creativity & imagination is what we're looking for. Take a look at our portfolio. If you think you can match our work, we would be glad to have you on board.

3 paid internships with the same specification are also available. Drop us a line at hr [ at ] nukeation [ dot ] com

Microsoft's Expression product line seems very impressive. When you take into consideration the cross-platform (WPF/E) power and the extreme flexibility of WPF/XAML, and not to mention the solid power of programmability (something Flash lacks in boatloads) WPF/E will most probably revamp the Internet itself!

If you don't know anything about all this, think power of the world's best programming language, mixed with futuristic Final Fantasy like software interfaces. The future is finally here. Where do I want to go today? I wanna go to the place where they store the bits of Sparkle in Microsoft!

If you've worked in Flash and if you've worked in .NET, you just KNOW that the possibilities are mind-boggling. I have half a mind to create a time machine and go to the release date!!

WPF/E supports portable devices, Mac OS X, and possibly Linux as well! This is one of those few (if not the only one) things Microsoft made that is cross-browser compatible to such extremes. Check out Sparkle's features.

Windows Vista will finally be that massive graphical step in a visually better computing world. Not to mention all the other stuff - but I'm a graphic guy so I don't see nothin' else! :-P

Also, check out the ATLAS page. I'm gonna get my hands dirty with all this this weekend!

I'm still shaking from excitement over Expression. I better stop trying to write my thoughts about it before I go completely nuts!

EXPRESSION ROCKS!!!