by Paula Ladenburg

Spring Fever

Updated March 30, 1999

If you haven't noticed already, things are looking a little different here on MSDN News Online. We're excited to be part of the big remodel of the MSDN site. What do you think of our new look for spring?

Our basic structure hasn't changed though. You'll still find all of the current issue's articles available from this page. If you check out the Voices Archive, you'll see that we've kept the past three issues there, for quick access. The "centerfolds" for all those issues are available along with the articles, too. For older issues, check out the Periodicals bin of the MSDN Library Online.

Welcome to the Masthead

With this issue, I'm happy to welcome Paul Johns to the MSDN News masthead. In becoming the official technical editor, Paul makes formal what he's been doing on an informal basis for a while—that is, keeping me from revealing myself too clearly as an English major in a Computer Science world. Besides being a very patient person, he's been a great source of advice when I'm having technical difficulties with my computer or software. He still hasn't, however, convinced me to give up my Mac!

In This Issue

Once again, it's a whopper. There's just so much we want to tell you about.

To start, check out Rick Anderson's cover story about Smart Alerts. Follow Rick's instructions and you'll never let your computer run dangerously low on resources again. Remember: forewarned is forearmed.

Also, Steve Hoag pleads the cause of mousers everywhere (and no, he's not referring to your cat Fluffy) and shows you how to implement drag-and-drop in Visual Basic.

Our Human Factor columnist, Scott Berkun, introduces the first steps in the process of creating good user interfaces.

Rick Anderson is back with another article, this time the follow-up to his article in our last issue about Windows NT Performance Counters. We're beginning to suspect that Rick is a little obsessed with monitoring his programs. We'll start to worry, though, only when he starts writing about how they're monitoring him.

He's baaaack. Keeping Ken Lassesen from creating great object models for the centerfold is like keeping one of his Welsh Corgis from looking cute. This issue, Ken maps out ActiveX Data Objects 2.1. If you have suggestions for future centerfolds, by the way, send them to me at msdn@microsoft.com and we'll try to oblige.

And finally, bringing up the rear, we have an overview of the Island Hopper News sample application. It was created by the folks in Visual Studio, not the MSDN team, but we still think it's pretty cool.

Letters

From the MSDN mailbox came this familiar question:

What is the recommended way of disposing of old MSDN subscriptions. In other words, I have over 300 CD-ROMS that I don't want to simply put in the trash to pollute a landfill somewhere. Is there a way to recycle these?

Unfortunately, we still don't know of any recycling facilities for CD-ROMs, but you might want to consider this clever suggestion, from subscriber Bill Hensley, Consultant, Advanced Control and Optimization Division, Aspen Technology, Inc.:

Dear MSDN,

This past Christmas our office staff had a decorating contest. Since our floor is filled with programmers we naturally had to do some sort of techno-geek Christmas decorations. I was able to put some of my old MSDN CDs to good use. The attached picture shows what became of my MSDN CDs from '94, '95, and '96.

Thanks for providing such a wonderful resource!

Glad to oblige, Bill. And what a beautiful tree!

Well, it's too late for Christmas, but perhaps this can inspire others of you to your own creative uses for outdated CDs. For example, I've heard tell of people making clocks, lamps, and even dresses out of them. If any of you out there get the bug and make something cool, send me a picture. I'll run it and your name in future columns.

Happy Spring!