2003/03/24

A couple of the monthly columns I’ve been doing for the Programmer’s Paradise catalog are now on the web: a review of VMWare and a column on data modeling with ERwin. Coming up: a five minute introduction to user interface design, and a look at my experience using the profiler in CompuWare's DevPartner Studio to speed up CityDesk.

750 words doesn't give me much of a chance to really review things in depth, but I do have a policy for writing reviews: I only review products that I actually want to use in my daily work at Fog Creek. Unlike trade magazine reviewers, I still spend about 50% of my time doing software development, and I’m happy to try the latest toys if I think they will help. For example, this week I’m going to try to implement a basic image editor into CityDesk using LeadTools.

In other news, we have signed the lease for our new office space, and the architect came up with a groovy floorplan with parallelogram offices.

My new book is here! Apress has just published a new collection of 36 essays from Joel on Software, aptly named More Joel on Software. Get yours today! Available from Amazon.com or wherever fine cheese is sold.

About the Author: I’m your host, Joel Spolsky, a software developer in New York City. Since 2000, I've been writing about software development, management, business, and the Internet on this site. For my day job, I run Fog Creek Software, makers of FogBugz—the smart bug tracking software with the stupid name, and Fog Creek Copilot—the easiest way to provide remote tech support over the Internet, with nothing to install or configure.

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