Justin Drerup's Blog

Quite a few of you who read my blog know that I’m quite interested in the Windows Live Mobile software that is available to sync your contacts and email with your Microsoft Live account.  When I was with Orange I had quite a few problems just getting the software (Orange removed it) and then when Microsoft made it available for download it wouldn’t work with my phone.

I’m now living in the UAE (Dubai) and it is one of the countries where the Windows Live for Nokia client is available. I can say that it works really well and I’m now using a Nokia as well as a Smartphone.  Just need to improve the reception in my high-rise apartment!

I spend quite a bit of time on trains travelling around and use my mobile phone as a modem with a 3G connection.  Problem is that you are constantly dropping in and out of data coverage resulting in intermittent connections.

Outlook is very good at dealing with this; it just lets you keep working uninterrupted and informs you with a discrete message in the status bar as to whether it is connected or not.

Outlook connector unfortunately keeps popping up a dialogue box saying it can’t connect.  I know it can’t connect and don’t need to be informed so intrusively each time.  It would be far better if it let me know with a discrete message in the status bar.

Above: The dialogue box that keeps popping up for the Outlook Connector

Above: The more discrete message from Outlook that it is connected or not connected.

Microsoft has recently released Windows Live for Windows mobile however as those who have been following my post will know it has a bug where it has num-lock 'stuck' on for some handsets.  As a result you can't enter any letters that also have a number on the same key.

For example, when I type the word 'Justin' I get 'Ju2in' because it seems to prevent the * (s) and t comes out as 2.

I've been in contact with Microsoft support and I was told to wait till the new release.  This came a few weeks later than they anticipated however I've just noticed it's available.  I hurriedly downloaded the latest version (10.6.0040.2801) however the problem is still there!

I have an HTC S710 (E650 from Orange Mobile UK).

Please look at this problem again Microsoft. Judging by the number of people coming to this post from Google I'm not the only one out there experiencing the problem.

So I have the pleasure of owning a new HTC-710 (or Orange SPV E650 for those in the UK) however the misfortune of having Orange as a mobile carrier.  For reasons unknown to me Orange have removed the 'Windows Live' installation from the OS. (some suggest this is a revenue issue but my thought is that I will use more data transfer if I have this product installed!)

The application synchronizes your Hotmail/Live Mail and Contacts with your phone.

Some people on the Internet (blogs) suggest that the software is only available to a closed group of testers however other 'standard consumers' I know who own the HTC-710 have Windows Live on their phone and it is fantastic!

Some people suggest that it is up to the carrier to control what is available. Michael Smuga states "unfortunately the carrier controls the image, and Windows Live for Windows Mobile is an optional component".  Why are the carriers removing this application then?

Does anyone know where I can get/purchase 'Windows Live'?

UPDATE - 8 April 2008:

Jason Langridge has posted some news about a new download available!

http://wl.windowsmobile.com

One slight issue though...

Not sure if it is just me however the application (version v10.6.0042.1900) seems to force num-lock on my keyboard.  I downloaded and installed without a problem however when I try and sign in I can't access any of the letters on keys that also have a number.

For example, when I type the word 'Justin' I get 'Ju2in' because it seems to prevent the * (s) and t comes out as 2.

There appears to be no option to cycle through T9, numlock, etc...

So far I can't login - how frustrating!

I have an HTC S710 (E650 from Orange Mobile UK).

Anybody else having this problem?

If you are like me you will have many applications and processes installed on your computer that you rarely need to use.

Found this handy little feature called MSCONFIG that allows you to easily stop a number of processes from running at start-up.  It seems to include a more comprehensive list than what I can see in my Services startup list.

I've disabled a lot of utilities that I rarely use and have noticed an improvement in my boot performance.

If you are a person who has multiple computers in multiple locations and you haven't seen this software then you are missing out.

Simple and powerful program that allows you to synchronise your files between computer (including Mac's!).

All that needs to happen next is integration with Skydrive and Windows Live ID (Passport).

More information here: https://www.foldershare.com/

I'm a big fan of the Outlook Connector that allows you to synchronise your Windows Live Mail (Hotmail) with Outlook.  Albeit, been receiving a strange error recently:

There is an error synchronizing your mail account. Please verify your account has been configured correctly by first accessing your mail on the web.
Error: 4104.

Some discussion on this page but there doesn't seem to be a clear solution..?

I can still access my mail at http://mail.live.com however would prefer to be getting it in Outlook!

I've removed the account completely from Outlook and tried adding it in again but still the same problem.

I've uninstalled the Outlook Connector and re-installed but still no luck.

Interestingly, on another computer Outlook is connecting using the Outlook Connector to the same account without any issues...

Update!

By the number of people coming to this Blog entry through search engines I can see that I'm not alone with this problem yet still I can't find a solution anywhere.

I thought I had found the solution: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889697 however this has not solved my problem.

Update - 2008-05-01

I have manged to resolve this by completely deleting the accounts, removing the OST files, and setting all the acounts up again.  Interestingly I'm not alone with this problem judging by the number of people turning up at this blog entry through search engines. Thanks for the tip from SortableScorpion.

So I think it is not debatable that Community Server is the world's leading blogging engine however I'm interested to see how Windows SharePoint Services is going to fare in the years to come.

With the development of the Community Kit to skin the WSS blog you have a cheap and simple blogging solution available.

This blog is actually a test so that I can see how Community Server aggregates this post using RSS.

Been interested in this topic recently and thought I'd just document some good links:

• Software Development: Art or Science?
• 10x Software Development
• Software Development: Science or Art? (another article)

Some good arguments discussed at these sites.  So, is it art or science?  I lean towards science yet that's not denying the creative elements to it.

I'm a regular Flickr user and almost entirely use the Flickr Uploadr tool for putting photos online.

As of yesterday I, somewhat randomly, get these errors each time I try and upload photos.

Here is the screen showing the image about to be uploaded:

The progress bar then gets to 100% and the following dialogue box pops up with "General upload failure" (not too much error information; a stack trace would help!)  I'm not the only one who is having this problem.

Sometimes I get this error which does seem to be fairly self explanatory and a lot more helpful.  The thing is that my general Internet connectivity seems to be very stable and I can browse the general Flickr site without any problems.  It may be that the 'uploadr' connects to a different server however I've had the same problem using 2 different computers from both my home and work Internet connections.

Is this a problem on the Flickr end?