Soma announced today that beta 1 of Visual Studio 2005 SP1 is out. Looking forward to this, although I doubt I'll install the beta. We've added a couple of hotfixes, but are still experiencing a variety of issues with VS 2005. Plus it will be nice to have Web Deployment projects and Web Application projects directly included in the product.
It's been interesting to watch the news, both external and internal, around Ray Ozzie's rise to prominence at Microsoft and this month
Wired weighs in on the subject. It's a pretty good article and fairly objective, considering Wired's often anti-Microsoft bias. While everythng I've read about Ozzie would indicate he's an effective leader and gifted technologist, this just seems like more of Microsoft's cult of the individual visionary. And that premise seems increasingly outdated in the current business climate. Don't get me wrong, companies need gifted leaders with vision to effectively implement their ideas and be successful, but I have a feeling that one person can only do so much to turn around a company the size of Microsoft. The culture is strong there, my friend, and not easily changed. And unfortunately some bad habits have crept into the mix, along with a bunch of unnecessary middle managers. However, there are still a lot of smart people there who want to see the company continue to grow and change for the better, so it will be interesting to watch what happens as Gates begins his withdrawal from the day to day operations of the company. The article isn't on the web site yet, but I would suspect it will show up shortly.