Microsoft on Pieter Viljoen's Blog

Looks can be deceiving

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 05:28:00 +0000

It has been almost two weeks since I switched to using Blogger’s new dynamic template.

Browsing the site with the new template works really well; it uses most of the available browser real estate, it looks good on an iPad, it feels nice and fluid, but it also has problems.

For some reason my AdSense integration stopped working, and the AdSense site said my account needs to be verified. AdSense was working fine in the old template, so something in the new template, or switching to the new template, must have triggered this. I’ve had AdSense for almost a year, and in that time I’ve not even made enough for Google to trigger a payment. In order to verify my account, I had to enter a PIN they mailed me on a postcard, enter the amount of a test transfer in my bank account, and enter a PIN read to me on my phone. Two days after the verification steps were completed ads started showing up again.

Blogger Dynamic Templates

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 06:17:00 +0000

I just switched to the Blogger Dynamic Template.
You can read about what it offers readers here, and what Blogger wrote about it here.

I am still on the fence about keeping it, or switching back to my old custom template, or adopting one of the standard templates.

It is much easier using standard Blogger templates vs. using custom templates; the template designer keeps up with new Blogger features, or Blogger changes. With custom templates there is always manual CSS and HTML editing involved.

Rotation confuses face recognition

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:44:00 +0000

I have around fifty thousand digital photos in my library, and it has become impractical to browse through them looking for some event, or some place, or some person. So other than archiving, there really is no value in collecting photos if you can’t go back and find the ones you are looking for.

A few years ago I switched to using Image Ingester Pro and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to import and catalog my photos. Now one of the first things I do after importing photos, is to add keywords describing the event, the place, and the people. But, I still have tens of thousands of photos that have no keywords, and there is no easy or automated way to add keywords to these photos. One thing that can be automated is adding people keywords to photos based on automated face recognition.

How to install SQL Server 2008 on Windows Server 2008 R2 RC

Thu, 14 May 2009 20:44:00 +0000

I was trying to install SQL Server 2008 on Windows Server 2008 R2 RC.

But, when I launch SETUP.EXE, Windows warns me that SQL Server is not compatible with Windows Server.
If I ignore the warning, the install proceeds but then fails to install .NET 3.5.

After a little searching and experimentation I found a way to install without any problems:
1. Create a slipstreamed SQL Server 2008 SP1 install, follow the instructions here.
I set my PCUSOURCE=".\PCU" and that worked fine.
2. Add .NET 3.5 by going to server manager and adding the .NET 3.5.1 feature.
3. Install by running SETUP.EXE.

Google Email Uploader on Vista x64

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 04:17:00 +0000

I am currently importing a few thousand email messages from Outlook 2007 to my email account hosted on Google Apps. Google provides an Email Uploader utility, and it is easy to use, but getting it to work with Outlook 2007 on Vista x64 was less than trivial.

The utility installed fine on my Vista x64 system, but it found no mailboxes to import. A little research showed that several other people using Vista x64 and Outlook 2007 have exactly the same problem.

Getting Vista to go to sleep

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:03:00 +0000

I noted my troubles with the Intel GMA drivers, the Intel DG33TL motherboard, and Vista SP1 blue screen crashing in my earlier post.

Since I was running the 15.8 version of the Intel GMA drivers, and Microsoft KB948343 indicates that, based on the driver version numbers, these newer drivers should not be affected by SP1, yet the crash details were clearly the same, and no new driver was forthcoming to correct the blue screen crash, I decided to take the GMA drivers out of the picture.

Installing Vista SP1 with an OEM key

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:45:00 +0000

I received my new Lenovo ThinkPad T61 notebook, pre-installed with Vista Ultimate, but also with 3rd party software I did not care for.

I wanted a clean Vista install, and that is exactly why I made sure to order the recovery media with the notebook, thinking that this would include an OS install DVD. It turns out that the recovery media is six CDs, I don’t know why not a DVD, regardless, the recovery media does not include a Vista install DVD.

Microsoft Expression Media / iView Media Pro to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom converter

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:08:00 +0000

This article was originally posted here.

Introduction:

Because of severe performance problems I experienced with both iView Media Pro and Microsoft Expression Media, I decided to switch to Adobe Lightroom.

Unfortunately Lightroom does not understand catalog sets nor does it understand people tags, so the transition is not that simple.

After I could not find a simple, or even complicated solution, I decided to write my own conversion application.

This application will convert hierarchical catalog sets into keywords, and will add people tags to keywords.