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SMS Deployment of Autodesk Buzzsaw

Lots of you IT types need to deploy Buzzsaw across your corporate network using Microsoft SMS (Site Management Server is what I think that stands for.)

This white paper will help you accomplish that. Do what it says and you'll have all your corporate drones hapless slobs valuable employees on the same page with the Buzzsaw client install in no time.

In other news, Autodesk Design Review 2009 requires Administrator rights to install. I'm still waiting on word from our product team on when that might change, or how you might work around it if you don't have those kinds of privileges on your machine.

Creepy Google Street View

I've seen some creepy stuff about Google's Street View - and some that are less creepy and more funny. But I happened to be "in" my neighborhood tonight on Google, and found that they had recently photographed my street! Ah, now we're getting serious. Google has come to Woodview Avenue.

Now some of you may know I am at the end of a very long house renovation project, so it was interesting that they caught my house while it was under construction.

But because I had been taking fairly regular photos of the house myself, and because the house happened to be in the framing stage in Google's photo, and changing quite daily, I was able to pinpoint the exact day they drove down my street to do the street view - October 25, 2007! It was a fine day, about 68 degrees and sunny in Austin. It was the 20th anniversary of the Minnesota Twins' win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, taking their first MLB championship. I could go on and on about how great October 25 is and why that's really the best day Google could have chosen to photograph my street. But I have packing to do...

Good game, Microsoft. Good game.

Many of you know that I am somewhat of a Mac OS X fan. One of the things I find really great about it is Spotlight, the little search tool that lives in the upper right of your computer screen all the time. I have grown dependent on having search available all the time, right at the click of the mouse.

Unfortunately Windows has been behind in this area for a few years now. I was suggesting to people that they use X1 or Google Desktop, because the Microsoft offerings always seemed to be ... ahem ... lacking.

Not anymore. I am using the new Windows Desktop Search and I'm pretty happy with it. It's fast, it's simple, the results are great, and it doesn't seem to slow down my computer (a MacBook Air running Windows XP). Good show, Microsoft. Get your copy of Windows Desktop Search here. Tell 'em I sent ya.