Introduction to PowerShell - part 3 - Variable Scopes and Arrays

by Dmitry Kirsanov 19. March 2012 02:35

I’m continuing the series about the PowerShell for System Administrators and in this chapter we are talking about how PowerShell handles variables and the data stored in them, the life and times of variables, and ends with how to handle arrays.

More...

Team Foundation Server 2010 for Developers - part 8 - Test to Development

by Dmitry Kirsanov 14. March 2012 02:30

Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010Once your Team Foundation Server is performing automated UI testing on daily basis, it starts to check your code when needed. When Team Foundation Server finds that your software is doing something unexpected, it automatically creates the bug work item. This time we are going to talk about these bugs, how to get most out of them, and how to use that functionality to boost the effectiveness of your software development. More...

Team Foundation Server 2010 for Developers - part 7 - Configuring a Build

by Dmitry Kirsanov 10. March 2012 12:00

Team Foundation Server 2010 logoMicrosoft Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server has two most important features – the source control and the build automation. Although other features are very important as well, these two are pretty much enough to consider the purchase of the Team Foundation Server.

Today we are going to talk about the Build Management system of Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server. More...

Black SEO: Referral Spam

by Dmitry Kirsanov 27. February 2012 03:19

Google bannerWhen writing articles about SEO, it’s easy to fall into one of two categories. Either you will write something, that everybody knows, or something that is perhaps shouldn’t be revealed, as it will lose it’s value very quickly because of misuse.

So you don’t see many articles about the Search Engine Optimization here, mainly because I am trying to be original. However, I can’t count on everyone to study the subject and avoid traps, so part of my articles are like “Achtung, minen” sign for those, who focus on other areas of life than Informational Technology.

So, this article will be about so called Black SEO discipline named “Referral Spam”. What it is, how it works and why you should avoid it. More...

7 Rules of Building High Availability Kiosk Applications

by Dmitry Kirsanov 17. February 2012 11:19

RigasSatiksmeWhat could be easier, for a software developer, than to write a kiosk application? You set the rules, you have only 4 buttons to deal with and users just can’t do anything bad or unexpected. What could be wrong with such solution?

The absence of proactive thinking.

More...

How Musical Skills Affect IT

by Dmitry Kirsanov 16. February 2012 04:17

Music notesAs you know, I am a trainer, among other trades. As my Swedish colleague said – “your guitar has many strings”, and this string is of the most important ones. Among other benefits, this allowed me to meet many bright minds of IT scene and that way to get more material for analysis and correlations.

One of the most fascinating and unexpected findings for me was the fact, that musical skills are directly related with the ability of person to write better computer software. In other words, there were no bad software developers among those whom I knew or heard about and who also were good at playing musical instruments.
I am not even talking about composing of music, or singing, or dancing (which, at some degree, could be considered a musical skill, isn’t it?), just plain performing. More...

SEO Tips and Tricks 2012: Pretend You are Something Else

by Dmitry Kirsanov 15. February 2012 13:01

SEOHow about to own the official page of your country? No less! Create a page of your country (or state, city, district – whatever is more relevant to your country) and place huge banners throughout the city claiming something like “We have X and Y and now we have the Facebook page! What are you waiting for, like us!”. Instead of X and Y you can place what your country is known foremost and what your people are proud of. More...

Tags: ,

Analytics

Migrating Team Foundation Server 2010 Project Schema

by Dmitry Kirsanov 15. February 2012 09:36

Team Foundation Server 2010 logoWhat could be more tragic, than to realize that your team cannot into Scrum? Or any other framework, supported by Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server. One day you just wake up with a single most powerful desire – to end this pain, no matter what. And this “what” could be really painful as well, as it could mean migration, and if you are not scared yet – you should be, and I’ll tell you why. More...

Proactive Thinking as The Most Precious Ability

by Dmitry Kirsanov 11. February 2012 10:20

butterfly in a jar“You see, there is only one constant. One universal. It is the only real truth. Causality. Action, reaction. Cause and effect.”

Merovingian, The Matrix Reloaded

Sometimes I think that lack of proactive thinking is a root of all evil. Buzzwords aside, I am talking about the analytical skills and using them.

By coincidence or not, but for the last few months, when I am analyzing the cause of someone’s failure in any area, it appears that lack of analytical skills, or thinking 2 steps ahead, was the paramount part of it.

As a metaphor to understand what I am talking about – let’s take a car. Imagine, that someone has created a car without brakes. Because he was only thinking about taking off, and not about how his journey would end.

A friend of mine once left home with about 120$ in her pocket. She took a ticket to a plane and fled to England. No plans, no language, nothing at all. She was 15 years old somewhat naïve girl. I wish I could have a better example of real-life lack of proactive thinking. More...

SCCM For Poor - Windows Intune at Glance

by Dmitry Kirsanov 8. February 2012 05:00

imageHow many products of major brands float under your radar, unnoticed and unevaluated? Perhaps Windows Intune is one of them, but if you are Windows system administrator – that’s the one product you should know about, whether you’re using it or not. So this post is about Windows Intune.

More...