| Siebe 的个人资料Siebe Tolsma日志列表留言簿 |  工具  帮助 |
Annoying spyware for MSN MessengerLately I've noticed an increase in spyware for MSN Messenger, which is.. well, quite annoying. Most of these spyware applications come with stupid programs that contain "free cool IM Names", "Free emoticons" (!!1!?1!1oneone1!), and Block Checkers. So now everytime a slightly computer illiterate person opens a conversation with me I'm promted with "I get my .... from ...." every time. Very very annoying. First let's look at the block checkers. There are no reliable block checkers! Don't be fooled people. Block checkers are something from the past, when Microsoft still had a glitch in their server software which allowed to reliable test for someones online precense. However, over two years or so ago (check this topic) this glitch was fixed. You can no longer check if someone is online or not with a block checker. Any software or person that claims they can is most likely wrong and is probably trying to earn a buck or two by bundling spyware/adware with faulty applications. Next up: Emoticons. Unfortunatly there are sites like Messenger-Blog *cough cough*I blog there myself, yes (but I certainly didn't place those ads there)*cough cough* which promote installing spyware/adware loaded emoticon packages, which is a shame. There are plenty other sites and applications that truely offer free emoticons, such as Customess by Mess.be. And finally we have IM Names. Why, why, WHY!? Someone please tell me why would you want to install an adware/spyware infested applications to get something so simple as a nickname?! I thought humans by their nature were quite creative beings... Make up your own nickname! Another advantage of that is that at least your nickname will be really original. So next time, before you install something, check whether it has bundled spyware/adware! Spyware is usually the nr. one cause of PCs getting slow and crappy., and are usually worse than virusses. Keep your machine clean, because it's really nasty stuff. And if you think you are infected with it, try out a program like Spybot Search & Destroy to clean out your PC. New properties (PRP) in MSNP13Just a quick blog, nothing that special. Below is
a list of all properties I found in the new 566 build of Windows Live Messenger.
I don't know what most of them mean, but I bet we're going to see some new stuff
soon (I know of some really cool stuff that is coming, keep it up guys!) that is
related to it all. If someone knows more, please help out! ;-)
Do you need more time?So, I got home today at like 3PM. Immediatly after I sign in Frans-Willem (TB) asks how long it will take me to get from my place to Amsterdam. About 3 hours with train I figured. He told me that Todd (from MSN Messenger) was over in Amsterdam for the DevDays on wednesday, and that it would be cool to meet up with him and Joost Bon (MSN Netherlands) again. First I thought he was joking, but alas, soon plans were made with two other guys (Juzzi and Jeroen) and I found myself, just 45 minutes later, on the train to Amsterdam. Sooo, after two and half hours of sitting in the train I arrived on Amsterdam CS, and met up with TB and Jeroen... Apparently Juzzi got stuck in traffic.. Or something with his train being too late. Whatever, I don't remember anymore =| We decided to head over the hotel where Todd was staying, something with a K.. Really, we couldn't pronounce it. Krashnapolsky or something. Either way, we waited outside for about 10 minutes for Juzzi to arrive (damn, its cold outside!!). After that Juzzi took the lead (he was actually the one who arranged everything), and we went inside. Todd and Joost Bon were already waiting for us (in a nice, very very VERY nice WARM lobby..) So we decided to just head over the bar. After some looking around we entered a bar that was actually um.. 10 meters away from the hotel (we actually dared Todd to take a taxi back to the hotel when we departed :-p). Either way, we talked about what not, a lot of Messenger & Spaces related things, but Live Domains was also discussed, and some new stuff we swore we shouldn't tell anyone about yet (but I can tell ya, its gonna be really, really cool!). Juzzi also got his VS2005 software package from Todd after winning the Worlds Best App competition earlier this year (a very late congratulations from me, Juzzi!). It was really cool to meet up with Todd & Joost again, hopefully we can do it some other time again, guys! (and bring Scott S. & James B. with you!! ;-). Then again, what am I complaining about.. I will be seeing them for a couple of months this summer anyway ;-) PS. If you are wondering where the blog title comes from: When heading back to the train station we decided to drop by McDonalds first, but alas, we didn't have money so we went to the nearest ATM machine.. But the stupid just kept asking "do you need more time?" ;-) Oh and remember, mind the gap! This just in..Okay, so I realized I owed you all a blog post,
still. I haven't talked about what I've been doing over at Redmond last week, so
here goes. Warning: Long blog
post ahead. For the best part, scroll down to the bottom of
this post! You've been warned.
Pictures? Clicky.
Thursday
Right, so I had my interviews starting at 11am.
Woke up around 8 or so, grabbed breakfast, checked my e-mail and then left for
Microsoft (by taxi). It's amazing how huge the place is (I'll get back to that
later). So anyway, I arrived around 10:30 at One Microsoft Way, Building 19. The
people there were very friendly -- I got my reimbursement "instructions", and my
shiny (well OK, I admit, it was just a paper nametag wrapped around in a plastic
holder, but still!) vistor badge. Around 11:10 a recruiter fetched me from the
waiting room and we sat down to discuss the day, and some warm-up questions (why
do you want to work here, what's the thing tht you think is coolest about
programming, what's your favorite project been etc).
First interview up was a lunch interview at 12pm.
The guy I met with, Peter, was pretty cool (and young too, he had only worked
for Microsoft for 3 years!). We sat down over a cheeseburger, some fries and a
coke and discussed some general things, projects I've done, etc. After that we
headed to a free office in the Redwest D building and I had to solve some
problems (Insert() and Sort() for binary tree and a trinary tree).
After that I met up with .. Err, something with an
R.. Ra.. Yeah. Something like that (sorry I forgot your name!). Heh.
Anyway, he was cool too, asked some general coding/algorithm questions. He
wasn't interested much in syntax, but more at how I was thinking, going around
solving a problem. The first problem was a matrix with magic properties (a
column or row with a 0 in it would become completely zerofied). After that a
little brainteaser about a black/white disk spinning at x RPM, where I
had to figure out x by the nr. of readings the disk could do. After
that we talked a bit about regular expressions -- Piece of cake, I love RE!
;-)
I wasn't worried at all about these two first
interview, I felt like I pretty much "aced" them. After that I had a little
break (half an hour or so), after which I had another interview. This one went
OK, but not that good. Then again, I was pretty baffled by the interviewers
behavior, who simply went to check his email, sitting with his back towards me
while I had to finish another algorithm for a magic matrix (the matrix was
sorted in both columns and rows, and I had to figure out how many negative
numbers there were as effeciently as possible). I didn't get it at the best
performance, but at least I got a solution. At the end he talked me through two
more solutions for the problem that would be more effecient.
And then another break. Half an hour again, but
because the previous interview had finished early I had a 45 minute break (next
one starting at 4:30). Or well, that was the plan. Either way, I waited more
than an hour, something like an hour and close-to-a-half. I was just about to
call my recruiter to ask when he would show up, when they.. showed up. It's like
magic. Anyway, Greg (which was his name) took me to his office, and asked me
some questions about college, etc. What I would be doing if I couldn't be doing
CS (Economics!), etc. And then, of course, another coding problem. This time it
involved to double linked lists which had to be merge-sorted with doubles
removed. I got an implementation that would do just that.. But I wrongfully
assumed that the two lists itself would not contain doubles. Wrong. Oh well,
Greg had to run, because he had a last minute flight. It was roughly 6:30PM by
that time (lonnng day).
After that I was driven home by another Microsoft
employee. We talked a bit about languages, things I liked to do besides
coding, etc. It only took about 10 minutes to reach the hotel, though, so it was
only a quick chat. However, Greg did leave me a little note with Danny Glassers
number, saying he wanted to talk with me. Danny, as I soon would discover,
was actually Development Manager for Messenger. Pfew!
Friday
I actually didnt have anything planned for my free
day off, and I was going into Seattle, but I sent Scott & Todd (two
Microsoft employees I met with last year in Amsterdam) an e-mail, asking if we
could perhaps team up on friday. Scott missed my e-mails however until friday
around noon, and Todd was out of town. So anyway, I went watching a movie
(Chicken Little & Independence Day), tried calling Danny Glasser (who didn't
pick up his phone), when I figured I'd check my e-mail again. Scott
sent me a message, with his phone number and all that, so I decided to give him
a call. After a quick chat we agreed he would pick me up in 10 minutes.
Yay!
So, first we drove around campus a bit. That place
is huge. Really. All I could see was Microsoft buildings, and Scott told me they
were actually buying up buildings from other companies to get extra room. First
we went to the original Microsoft buildings, and Scott made a photo of me
standing over at the "original" Microsoft logo & flags. After that we
cruised over to the Microsoft Company Store. That place is awesome. They got ...
Everything. I got myself a teddy, an original MSN Butterfly, a pen, mug and some
other goodies. I'll definitely be visiting THAT place again :-D
Scott had already arranged for me to meet up with
some other guys from the MSN Messenger team (or, well, Windows Live, I
mean...). And.. Well, guys? I mean, dudes and dudettes. First up:
Leah. Yeah, she who blogs. She's pretty cool (and ssh, don't tell
anyone, but pretty good looking IRL... ;-). After that James Baker and his
colleage. James is an awesome super cool guy. So, yeah, anyway after dropping by
some more offices we took a stroll around the building to see if anyone was
still there. But, it was unusually quiet for a friday afternoon.
But, as we were walking around we suddenly heard
someone talking about BOT2K3. Wow! So, we stopped, walked
back.. And voila, a couple more Microsofties, including Danny Glasser.
Speaking of coincidence (and convenience ;-). Talked a bit
about BOT2K3, things in general, and Danny gave me his business card saying I
should send him an e-mail with my IM addy, so I did, later that evening when
Scott had dropped me off at the hotel again.
Saturday
After having spoken with Danny via IM, we agreed
it would be best that we would meet up saturday morning at 9AM. He picked me up
(he has a really nice car, too, I must admit) and we drove to a nearby
Starbucks (damn, do they have good hot choc or what?) and talked about a whole
variaty of things.. Ranging from BOT2K3, to some new things they are working on,
to how I got myself into this little MSN-world, etc. It was only a short
meeting, however (but still very cool nevertheless), seeing as I had to leave
around 10 to catch my plane back to Amsterdam.
And this just in...
And the best part is, I just
received an e-mail from my recruiter congratulating me because they had an offer
for me! Yes! I'm in! This is so freaking awesome. All the details aren't known
yet, we'll be working those out over the next week or so. But still, I AM
IN. YES. YES. YES! * Inky jumps up and down out of pure
excitement |
|
|
