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I was playing around with getting NAnt to build all of our VS.NET projects today - it’s much more pleasant to build 90+ C# projects using an XML-based build script than with VS.NET’s native build system.  I highly recommend anyone with more than a few dozen projects to consider using it!

It’s a bit of a pain to get around some of the VS.NET locking issues, but once you’ve got it figured out, you’ll be thankful.

I’ve decided to tweak my default stylesheet a bit to use some fancy features available in Firefox (and any other highly compliant browser).  As usual, I’ve designed the effects for Firefox and just made the site work with IE. 

Here’s a rundown of the stuff I did:

1. Added position: fixed; to the header above and navigation bar on the right so that they stay on the screen.
2. Added real transparency to the logo.
3. Added a transparent gradient background to the header, underneath the logo.

These effects are all available in any browser besides IE.  I’ve used the conditional comments to set the body class depending on whether the browser is IE or not:

Thanks for the response, Clemens.  I love a good debate.

After reading the response to my letter, I’ve finally discovered the argument that Clemens Vasters is trying to make.  It’s not that sharing is the problem - it’s that people are making money off the work of these duped open-source kids that get nothing in return. 

He’s hidden his point underneath a cloak of hatred for open-source evangelists and companies, calling the companies that profit off open-source the selfish ones.  Unfortunately, this is the result of not understanding the open-source ecology I mentioned before works whatsoever, despite his claims.

In response to “Where do you want to go, Aiden?”:

Dear Clemens,

I’ve never spoken with you in person, and probably never will, but I feel compelled to answer your public letter on behalf of your friend, Aiden.  I found it difficult to extract your argument from your letter, but I’ll chalk it up to not understanding exactly what open-source is, or why people would ever consider sharing the fruit of their time with others.

I have a simplistic view of open-source that might make sense to you:

I’ve finally figured out how to wire up an encoder (ie: a knob) to a keyboard emulator like the I-PAC.  Easy logic - a flip-flop, some AND and NOT gates.  Extra credit: redesign this logic to replace AND and NOT with NAND.

I knew that electrical engineering degree would come in handy at some point!  Here’s the waveform it produces: