They're asking about Vista, even if they don't know it....

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2005/08/30 03:01 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2005/08/30/457814.aspx

People keep on using that Contact link to ask me questions that essentially either shouldn't be asked at all or should be asked in the suggestion box. Sigh....

Ok, I'm over it. Now here are some of those questions. And you, the reader, already know the answer, since it is right in the title!

Question #1:

Title: Longhorn

hi,

i looking for long time Windows Longhorn but i can find on the internet.

can you help me where i can get windows Longhorn?

greetings

Kire

Hi, Kire. The answer is Vista! More specifically, you have to get a copy of the Beta 1 release of Vista.

Now of course, you sent the message to me on July 18th (before the beta was available), so the fact that you were unable to find the product on the Internet is sort of understandable -- it was not yet available. And it is not available on the Internet now, unless you are on the beta of course. Your message did not say much about what in particular interested you about the product or what features you wanted to take a look at, though. Was it anything in particular to do with internationalization or globalization functionality?

Or did I just seem like a soft touch? :-)

Ok, what's next? Hmmm... question #2:

How to create calendar for Win32

I would like to create a custom Win32 calendar, a variation on English with different month labels. I want programs such as Excel to use this calendar.

Could you please provide some pointers?

Google hasn't found much other than your blog.

Thanks,

Eric

Well, Eric -- the answer one again is Vista! More specifically, if you use Whidbey's new custom cultures feature you can modify the month names and abbreviated month names. And if you create that custom culture on Vista, then it will also be a custom locale. And those month names will be used in the calendar and locale NLS functions provided in the Win32 API....

Another time I'll post the code you can use to do this, if you have Whidbey. And the unmanaged code you can use to take advantage of it, if you have Vista.

There are actually a few more questions I could post, but the answers are about things that I will not be able to talk about until Beta 2. So let's just put a bookmark here and I will answer more questions later.

And next time consider using the suggestion box, people....

 

# tzagotta on 30 Aug 2005 8:28 AM:

Don't mean to be too picky, but the product (trademark) is called "Windows Vista" not just "Vista."

# Michael S. Kaplan on 30 Aug 2005 8:36 AM:

Good point -- and not only that, but people may think I am talking about 'Vista Cruiser' station wagons, otherwise!

# Ivan on 30 Aug 2005 10:02 PM:

>And it is not available on the Internet now, unless you are on the beta of course
What? Isn't the beta a thing for MSDN subscribers only?

# Michael S. Kaplan on 30 Aug 2005 10:35 PM:

I believe there are others who are on the beta (like I doubt all of the members of the press have MSDN subscriptions!).

# craigrow on 31 Aug 2005 1:47 AM:

The beta is available to more than just MSDN subscribers. Everyone at WinHEC was given the opportunity to sign up for the beta. Microsoft partners such as OEMs and other hardware vendors are part of the beta.

Michael, let us know how the tone you take with your readers works. Poking fun at their English skills is probably not the best way to build readership.

# Michael S. Kaplan on 31 Aug 2005 1:59 AM:

Not sure I understand what you mean, Craig. I am not poking fun at anyone's English skills.

Now I was poking a little fun about someone asking for a copy of Longhorn when there are news articles all over the Internet and the blogosphere talking about how it would out any day?

In particular, if someone randomly hits the contact link and asks me for something but does not indicate any reason at all why they are asking me, then how can I know whether they are just clicking on everyone's link asking the same question? I mean, no info was included on anything in the request that would indicate something that would involve my knowledge or expertise....
Please consider a donation to keep this archive running, maintained and free of advertising.
Donate €20 or more to receive an offline copy of the whole archive including all images.

go to newer or older post, or back to index or month or day