Last year (wow, has it really been that long), Matt Dyor contacted me because of my work with The Magic Folder. He had an idea for a type of application/file/anything launcher. We initially started off with a Windows Sidebar Gadget called My.Crocuts. However, Matt - a patent attorney and fellow Microsoft employee - had been recently working with some folks at Office Labs. They were looking for "grassroots innovators" in the company and he pitched the gadget we created to them. They loved it!

About 3 months ago we started working really closely with Office Labs and they assigned a team to our project and really helped us get it off the ground. Actually, they did a lot more than that... a lot. I would have to say that they took our prototype and turned it into a polished piece of professional work.

My.Crocuts was reborn as Speed Launch. You can download it from here and read an article about my partner and I here...and here. Have fun!

I have not had a lot of time lately to do much of anything. Two weeks ago I was in sunny Orlando for Convergence 2008. That was a FUN event, but quite tiring as I was manning the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) booth. Talk about a product that gets people excited...MOSS makes them crazy.

This week I am finalizing training material for the Troubleshooting and Supporting Microsoft Office 2007 in the Enterprise workshop [link coming soon]. In two weeks I deliver the workshop listed above to a customer here in Dallas and then two weeks later I will be delivering it again in Chicago. I am told from that point I will be delivering it about every 4 to 6 weeks.

Additionally, I have been working on a tool inside Microsoft for detecting add-ins in the Enterprise Environment (Microsoft Office System Add-in Scanner). When that tool is ready we will likely add it to the web somewhere with a white paper or something. Currently, the tool is still in beta and being used at about a half dozen customer sites.

The feedback from the tool and the workload with the workshop and my standard case load is keeping me buried at Microsoft. Oh, and personally I have a lot going on. My son is going to be 6 this summer, he is finishing up kindergarten and there is a whole book to talk about there - more on this later...

Anyway, you get the point... lots going on.

William Craig (5 y/o). 

More on Gadgets....

My latest gadget project (which I have eluded to in previous posts) is called "Mycrocuts." My partner (a fellow Microsoftie - Matt Dyor) and I are still working on tweaking the specifications and making some changes to the data structure and advanced features. We started work on this back in September 2007 and at the current rate it may be another month or more before we release it to the world...as I have more information I will share it. I am chomping at the bit to share this with the community, but we want to make sure we get it working JUST right before we release it.

It has been a little over two months since I have updated my blog. But I am still here.  

I have been and am still working on a new gadget that is a joint project with a fellow Microsoftie. I have been fairly hush-hush about it, but it is now in a trial phase. For now we are still keeping it quiet. I hope that in the next month or so we can open this up to everyone on the web.

Several months ago, a fellow employee who really liked the idea of The Magic Folder came to me with an idea to create a somewhat related gadget, but with a very interesting spin. We started working together on hashing out the specifications and then completed the first fully functional Beta this week...we even entered it into a Science Fair at Microsoft (held today).

While it did not win the Science Fair, it did draw considerable excitement. I cannot wait to share it with everyone. In closing, I will leave you with a screen shot of the gadget and a short blurb on what it is about:

It is a gadget that helps you keep track of things and spans the desktop and the network.

Stay tuned - more coming soon...

• I have been working on a joint project for a new Gadget. I cannot reveal any details at this point, and I know I have referred to it in the past, but it should be coming real soon.
• I am still collecting material for a Part 6 in my Developing Sidebar Gadgets series. I hope to post that in the next few weeks.
• I am also about a month away from another gadget I have been working on.

Finally, I have found some time to update ClipCollector to version 2.0. I have added the most requested feature and that is the ability to save the clips so that they will still be in your collection after a Windows reboot. And if you do not like this feature you can also turn it off in the Settings flyout.

Like any updates, it should be a day or two before it is live on the gallery so keep an eye out for it, update it and then let me know what you think.

It has been a long while since I updated The Magic Folder. I have made two really large additions to the Gadget:

1. New folder graphics. You ca choose from 4 different folder graphics styles (see below).
2. A "The Magic Folder" on your file system. This new folder appears in your C:\Users\<username> folder when you turn on the option. You can save file to this location and have them distributed by file extension wherever you want them.

NOTE: With option #2 you can also add to your right-click Send To folder option to now move files to this location and allow it to be a catchall for all your file types.  I will share more on this in an later blog posting - so stay tuned.

Here is a look at the new folder types:

These styles are (from left to right): Magic, Default, Sideway and Skinny.

I have a few other plans in store for this gadget, namely adding an option to allow you to specify your own default location for "The Magic Folder" on your file system. Also, I am probably going to clean up the new images a little, I just do not feel 100% good about them yet. Finally, and ability to add Internet Folder locations (HTTP and FTP folder locations).

IMPORTANT: As is usual, the update was placed on the site around 3:00PM CST. It takes anywhere from 6 to 48 hours for the gadget to be approved and posted. As soon as it is live you should get prompt from the Gadget itself that the update is available.

Let me know what you think about it.

I know this is unrelated to gadgets, but it goes to my experiences in dealing with companies that care very little about the customer and more about their bottom line. Home Warrantee companies are notoriously cheap (and crooked). If they can they would allow a vendor to fix your A/C with bubble-gum and saran wrap - IMHO.  Well, recently, First American took the cake:

• In early August our A/C started to leak. It is located in the attic above the kitchen, so you can imagine the mess it made of the ceiling, walls, floor, etc. So we had to turn the darn thing off in the hottest of Texas months to avoid more damage to the house.
• We called First American to get a repair person out ASAP.
• After a ton of headaches and a lot of calls, two days later we found they had a backlog and NEVER faxed our claim to a vendor. After talking with a manager they called one of their "side" people on a special "because the customer is pissed off list."
• The vendor came out to our place 2 hours after the talk with the manager, walked up to our attic, looked at our A/C unit, got our description of the problem and then threw up his arms and said he was not going to do the work, and then even asked us for our $50 check for making a service call. I kicked him out the door...
• Calling back to First American, they refused to send out another vendor until the first vendor filled his report. WTF!!!! 
•  I was livid by this time, 3 days of NO A/C in the hundred degree days of August!!! So after getting to another manager they scheduled us another visit in 2 days. But to make the "pain and suffering more bearable" and because we had a five year old in the house, the promised us a $150 refund to buy a portable A/C unit.
• We promptly bought the portable A/C unit and set it up in the smallest room in the house - where we hunkered down for 2 days.
• We followed the paperwork requirement to get the refund from First American - fax receipt and a special form confirming the purchase of the unit.
• Two days later the A/C repair man came out and fixed the flooding problem with the A/C and everything was cool again. First American even waived the $50 fee usually associated with such work since it took so longer to get a competent vendor to our home.
• However, here is is over two months later and we sill have not received our $150 check. After five follow-up calls to managers we keep getting the same story:
• The first manager approved the $150 which sent it to a special refunds department.
• The refunds department then awaited our fax - they got it and confirmed everything was on the up and up. They then sent it to Accounting for approval.
• Accounting received it and then forwarded it back to the approving manager for final verification - this is where it has been stuck for 6 weeks.
• Next, it goes back to accounting where they will validate the managers approval, sent it to a special processing department where they will then proceed to cut and mail the check.
• From there it will take 7 to 10 business days for the check to arrive.
• Ok, but we still cannot get a manager to approve our refund. Honestly, I think they wanted us to buy the portable unit to shut us up while we wait. The promise for the $150 is very likely a red herring. Because here is the real kicker:
• In the last 8 weeks we have received three follow-up calls from First American verifying that our issue was resolved and that they were closing our ticket.
• Problem is: not once did they ever mention our refund.
• When notified of that fact they all say: "Oh, I see that in the notes here, let me get your request forwarded to the right department."
• This implies that none of the above process has even taken place.

Anyway, I wanted to get my experience out there - maybe others have a similar experience. The important thing is that I will NEVER be choosing First American as a Home Warrantee company ever again and I strongly suggest if given the option to choose another - although I am of the opinion this entire industry is run by a bunch of crooks anyway.

Anyone know of a good warrantee company?