I've just got back from a weeks skiing in Val d'Isère. This is the first time I've been and have to say I'm hooked. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be or maybe the ski school (Oxygene) was suited to my preferred learning style.

The first few days were very sunny so the slopes got a little icy in the afternoon but on Wednesday the snows came and we had fantastic powder to fall into. By the end of the week I was actively seeking out blue runs and even got onto the odd red.

See the photos for more... I'm the guy with the red and black jacket on - thanks for the loan Craig; I guess I need to hit the sales and get my own for next year.

OK, the cat is out of the bag. I'm leaving Exony to join Microsoft as an application development consultant. The decision to leave Exony was extremely difficult given the interesting work they do but the offer presented was too good an opportunity to pass on. I would just like to thank everyone for making Exony such a cool place to work for the last 6 years. I wish you all the best in the future.

Well worth a download:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/downloads/books.mspx

...and it looks like this:

There is plenty of drag and drop, right-click menus and background updates. All in all very nice but it'll take a lot to shift Gmail from my daily life...

Now playing: Storm - Time To Burn

I've just logged into Hotmail to pickup my e-mails before closing up shop for the holiday and was greeted by a message asking if I wanted to join the Live Mail beta. Now I can't resist a beta... So I clicked, agreed and was presented with:

 

Service Unavailable

We're sorry, but the Mail Beta is currently unavailable. We apologize for this inconvenience and are working to restore service. Please try to log back in soon.

The Mail Beta Team

... and now I can't pick up my mail and can't go back so I guess their legal disclaimer was warranted.

Now playing: Taiko - Taiko / Echo Drop

But before you force your kids to eat all their Brussels sprouts, just remember that a quarter of the population are supertasters and have genes that cause them to find the taste of such vegetables very bitter. So don't torture your kids this Christmas; why not try broccoli sprouts instead - just as healthy with none of the bitter taste.

(The inspiration for this post came from a real doctor who now feeds me useful information like this - thanks and Merry Christmas Claire...)

As I mentioned in an earlier post we have been putting the finishing touches on the latest version of our reporting and analytics product. I'm pleased to say we have now set it free into the wild to fend for itself. Many thanks to the developers that worked on the project - Ant, Ezzat, Gautham, Jon, Koan, Richard, Ryan, Scott, Tom and Vikram. The company press release is as follows:

Exony 4.5 Reporting and Analytics increases visibility, control and reporting for contact centre managers

Exony has launched Exony 4.5 Reporting and Analytics, a software tool designed to increase visibility and control of the overall customer interaction process and of contact centre performance. The tool will enable contact centre managers to further improve the customer experience, as well as increase productivity and efficiency. Exony is the leader in communications software solutions for contact centres and IP communications.

Exony 4.5 Reporting and Analytics builds on the success of the Exony MI suite by addressing the key problems of business users in complex customer interaction environments. Specifically, Exony 4.5 Reporting and Analytics has been developed in close co-operation with major enterprise customers in the UK, Continental Europe and the USA, in order to improve the end-user experience and empower both operational and strategic decision-making.

Analyst group Gartner estimates the market for contact centre technology sales in Western Europe to be $607m, with a massive rise in IP communications forecast*.

Ian Ashby, Chief Executive Officer of Exony said: “Exony 4.5 Reporting and Analytics is a big leap forward in empowering business users to manage customer interaction processes more effectively. The feedback from both customers and prospects has been extremely positive to the enhanced integration capability, improved analytics engine and business user-friendly tools. We believe the new product will make a big impact on productivity and efficiency, particularly in large enterprise and hosted contact centre environments.”

[Please excuse the gratuitous linking but I've got this blog setup to auto-link to Exony and a press release contains more than it's fair share of the word.]

VistaDB 2.1 database for .NET has been released
This 2.1 update includes over 60 improvements, including new support for .NET 2.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2005. VistaDB is a small-footprint, embedded SQL database alternative to Jet/Access, MSDE and SQL Server Express 2005 that enables developers to build .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0 applications. Features SQL-92 support, small 500KB embedded footprint, free 2-User VistaDB Server for remote TCP/IP data access, royalty free distribution for both embedded and server, Copy 'n Go! deployment, managed ADO.NET Provider, data management and data migration tools. Free trial is available for download.
- Learn more about VistaDB
- Repost this to your blog and receive a FREE copy of VistaDB 2.1!

Disclaimer: these are their words and not mine. I'll let you know what the product is like as soon as I have my free copy and am able to try it out.

Scott Adams has a blog.... It's at http://dilbertblog.typepad.com (rss).

A new delivery from Hard To Find Records has given me the chance to record a new mix. This one is a bit interesting because it's got Deep Purple, Gene Kelly and Stevie Wonder. Not often you get those three on the same compilation. Track listing is as follows (with cue sheet at the end):

• Angello & Ingrosso - 82-83 (Extended Mix)
• Basement Jaxx - Do Your Thing (Robbie Rivera Juicy Summer Mix)
• Disco Darlings - Rush Me
• Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water (2005 Remix)
• Gene Kelly - Singing In The Rain (2005 Remix)
• Kings Of Tomorrow - Thru (Part 2) (Junior Jack Remix)
• Studio B - I See Girls (Tom Neville Crazy Legs Remix)
• Ministers De La Funk - Believe (DJ Flex & Sandy Wilhelm Remix)
• Osunlade - Pride (Remixes Part 2)
• Stevie Wonder - Signed Sealed, Delivered (2005 Remix)
• Stanton Warriors - Pop Ya Cork
• DJ Flex - Hardware

Now playing: James Snape - Mix 2 (66.4 MB) and Cue Sheet (1.38 KB)

A mixed bag of stuff...

• Introduction to Reporting Services webcasts
• Microsoft Project solution starter for Scrum
• New Windows error reporting feature (click the title to see the video - very funny)
• Client side code syntax highlighting (dp.SyntaxHighlighter)
• Top ten blog design mistakes (Jakob Nielsen)
• E-mail your blog to your readers (Feedblitz)

A large proportion of the staff at Exony conveniently have birthdays in the same week. A meal followed. Scott has the pictures plus a big thanks to Ez for organising the evening.