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You’re either not a nerd, or you’ve been caught under some shelving, if you’re finding out from me that Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 has shipped. It’s available for download if you’re one of the privileged few MSDN Universal subscribers, but if you’re one of the unwashed masses of developers, like me, you’ll have to wait for Microsoft to mail you a copy.

Click the first link, it’ll will show you a handy-dandy list on the right about the current build information; click on the Profession Edition link (or just click here), and what do you see in Release History? That’s right: included with VSTS. We have MSDN subscriptions at work: the downloads they offer are VS Standard and VSTS Suite. What I can conclude, and it’s only speculation, is that MS is foisting Team System on us for the Beta, letting us get used to the great, new features, and then coming out with VS 2005 Pro for the real release. Of course, I could be wrong; like Mike Gunderloy surmises, it could be that they’re waiting for SQL Server 2005 beta 3. At any rate, given the recent, justified (IMO) outcry about pricing for Team System, this just makes me feel a little off. Like I just got off the phone with my phone company’s customer service: Angry, but defenseless against the tyranny.

This is the downside of all that transparency that MS is giving us. All the bloggers give us cutting-edge info before the marketing wonks have figured out how to peddle it. When those two messages don’t jive, like they don’t with Team System, how quickly will it be before the blogs start being dismissed with mistrust? Most of the MS bloggers I read don’t really mention it, to be honest, but occasionally the Kool-Aid smells real bad. Guess I should just turn up my BS filter whenever there is a post about the future and quit complaining.

 

Eric Sink’s blog is one of the first I started reading way back in the summer of 2003. He’s a good writer, a legendary geek, and a successful entrepeneur. I’ve written before that he’s Joel Spolsky without the attitude, but that’s not quite accurate. I read Joel On Software over the Easter weekend. I couldn’t put it down. His essays are much better in book form. Everytime I read one of Joel’s articles online, I’d think: He’s got some good points, but what an asshole! After reading his book, I don’t think he’s an asshole. Joel’s a smart guy; he knows it but he’s not afraid to whack you over the head with it. Eric is smart and he knows it, but doesn’t whack you over the head with it.

Anyway, he’s had a column at MSDN for the last year and a half called the Business of Software. His latest column, titled the same as this post, is about the importance of listening to geeks in a software company. Actually, if this is the first you’ve heard of the column, read all his columns.

I just finished a similar article from Paul Graham, another guy that will whack you over the head, entitled Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas(in truth, this article’s ideas span a couple of Eric’s columns). He starts off well, but, about 3/4 of the way down, he makes such an absurd assertion about those who can write optimizing compilers that I didn’t want to finish the article.

Yet both Sink and Graham say the same thing: business people aren’t necessary when you’re starting out. Whose article do you prefer?

Here are a couple articles you should read, in the order I give them: 1) Hackers And Painters, 2) Dabblers and Blowhards