This post originated from an RSS feed registered with .NET Buzz by Peter G Provost. Original Post: Geek Notes 2004-03-01 Feed Title: Peter Provost's Geek Noise Feed URL: /error.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/Rss.aspx Feed Description: Technology news, development articles, Microsoft .NET, and other stuff... Latest .NET Buzz Posts Latest .NET Buzz Posts by Peter G Provost Latest Posts From Peter Provost's Geek Noise

So after much hemming-and-hawing I finally decided to do some pruning on my RSS feed list. I just couldn't keep up. And boy did it make a difference. For the first time in months, I actually got completely caught up in NewsGator. Wow. What a feeling.

Oh and I want to apologize for my last post where I incorrectly said that it has been eight years since the last leap year. As Darrell Norton pointed out in my comments, if the century is divisible by 400 then it is a leap year. So 1600 was, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years. And then 2000 was a leap year again. Oops. My bad.

• Debug and Retail Builds on the .NET Framework - Brad Abrams is looking for some input regarding whether MS should release Debug builds of the framwork. I think I agree with him... the cons outweigh the pros.
• FreeTextBox 2.0 - The best free Rich Text Box for .NET just went 2.0. New features include cross browser support (WOW!), localization, external javascript, and more. Sweet! [via Scott Waterwasysk]
• Defending YAGNI - In Extreme Programming, we have a saying that goes "You Aren't Gonna Need It" aka YAGNI. Many developers argue that it is wrong, that you really should build in all those things that you might need later. In this excellent post by Charles Miller, he defends why YAGNI is right. Please read this if you have a tendency to put things in "just in case".
• Ebay Auctions and You - In this excellent post Tim Russel explores the kind of due dilligence you should perform before making a purchase on eBay. Don't assume everyone selling is reputable.
• Microsoft Offline Application Block - I helped review the early documentation for this block and it is a pretty good design. I haven't used it yet, but if you need to support an offline cached model for a Smart Client application, this is a good place to start.
• WinZip 9.0 Released - Its about time! Finally a zip tool that handles really big files (like 5GB VPC files).