Haircuts and smiley faces

Alex had his very first haircut today. He's lasted over three years without one.

Earlier on we were in Bunnings where he had his face painted. When asked what he wanted he said "A smiley face."

"Anything else?"

"No, just a smiley face."

XSS've coding

I had to rewrite one of my web applications yesterday to resolve a potential cross site scripting (XSS) issue. It was an interesting learning exercise, though ultimately the required changes were minimal. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) wiki proved to be a valuable resource.

No fun Microsoft

I had a lot of fun creating allrite@. There is something about learning and experimenting with a new programming language (Python) in Linux. As I trawled the web for instructions and tips there was a sense of participating in an enthusiastic group who took pleasure in contributing their knowledge to the greater community.

I never feel the same way about the Microsoft programming community. There is still a lot of enthusiasm, but it's a kind of bulldog enthusiasm, charging in and saying Microsoft is the way, the only way and get the f!@# out of my way. You want standards and interoperability? We've got our standards and interoperability between our own products: you don't need anything else.

Want some extra functionality? Somebody has a product/plugin for that. Now hand over your credit card details...

Microsoft's programming languages and tools may have a lot going for them and I certainly use their products on a daily basis. But it's not fun.