Guess I'll wait for the service pack...

I had occasion to try Microsoft Access 2007 today. There's a trial of it on my computer along with the licensed small business edition that doesn't include it. I was idly curious about what the upgrade price might be - not that I want to develop anything in Access but its a great way to do SQL queries without having to actually write them. Drag and drop, switch views and there it is.

So from within Access it took me to a Microsoft website that asked what country I was from. When I told it, it came back with a custom error message that essentially said "there has been an error please start over" - but the URL showed that I was seeing a 500 error handler page.

Oops. Guess I'll wait for the service pack.

Access 2007 and the "new" office user interface are not at all straightforward either, but it got the job done.

chutzpah

Microsoft routes users to this page when Office crashes LOL. "Our software crashed your computer. Buy more."

H1-B visas, poor Intel and Microsoft, waah

Seems the folks at Micro$oft and Intel are in a snit about the number of H1-B visas to be issued in 2008.

I'd like to see even fewer of them issued. Most H1-B visas are issued to highly skilled technical people. This brings wages down for American workers because H1-B workers generally work for less money.

I've no doubt that there has been abuse of workers here on the H1-B visa. If they get hired by certain consulting companies they risk being taken advantage of for that bargain salary; after all if they don't like it and quit - they have to find another H1-B employer to sponsor them (not easy at short notice) or leave the country.

However, many employers hire H1-B workers with special incentives. The visa sponsor letter is written, the letter of the law is followed, a good salary is paid - as well as fees paid by the employer to an immigration attorney because the goal is a green card.

I'm not against immigration - but if you're here on a "temporary" visa (which is what the law says about H1-B) it should be just that.

Got the IE7 blues?

Microsoft has an obscure utility that will cloak Internet Explorer 7 in an Internet Explorer 6 brown paper bag.

The link below (where it says 'Click here in place of the monster URL') goes directly to it on Microsoft's site.

You have to do it from a computer running "genuine" Windows - the check on every download is akin to having the mechanic check my car registration and insurance when I go for an oil change.

Having a utility that allows IE7 to masquerade as IE6 is something like traveling abroad and telling every stranger who asks where you're from, "Canada. Yeah, that's it. Canada." That or keeping your booze in a paper bag as you consume it.

Click here in place of the monster URL.