I’m not really in the market for another bike, but I came across the Grasshopper fx today, which is a folding recumbent. One of the challenges of recumbents is how bulky they can be, making them hard to transport. (I can get my Burley Hepcat inside my 2008 Honda Element, but it is unclear how many more years I’ll be driving that car.) It also appears that the Grasshopper fx has same size wheels, which is a nice feature because it simplifies the tubes you need to carry. With my Hepcat, I need to carry two different tube sizes. And they even have an electric assist option, if I wanted to turn it until an e-bike. I didn’t even think that was an option for recumbents.

I’ve been riding my bike a lot this summer. I’ve created some great routes near my house that often feature trails with wood bridges that cross creeks. I’ve heard previously that these bridges can be slippery if they are wet. I found out first hand the truth of this yesterday. It wasn’t raining but it had the night before, and one long bridge in particular was still pretty damp. In fact as I entered the bridge I decided to change my line a bit to avoid some standing water, and apparently that was a mistake – the bike slid out from under me. Ouch! No permanent damage to my bike, and I seem to have escaped mostly unscathed. But it was not any fun, that’s for sure.

This piece by Ben Delimarsky is dead on about the ridiculous priorities currently in use at Microsoft for Windows. The UX inconsistencies are bad enough, but Ads in Explorer and requiring a Microsoft Account makes Windows 11 a non-starter for me, even if I wanted any of its “features”, which I don’t. In fact, their lack of focus on implementing anything I actually care about has left me wondering if I should switch to MacOS, and that is really saying something, given the fact that the software I write runs on Windows.

I spend a fair amount of my time as a freelance programmer gathering requirements. Also, with a few start-ups under my belt, I’ve seen how easy it is is to build the wrong thing due to a misunderstanding about potential customers and their needs.

It is always fascinating to me how many programmers want to debate whether or not 10x programmers exist. For the last several years, any post I’ve read on this question has been either a firm: no, they don’t exist, or even if they do exist, they will be vile people so don’t hire them.

I laughed out loud at this article that says most people don’t know about Windows 11, and the ones that do don’t care about it.

Apparently Mozilla has defeated Microsoft’s default browser protections in Windows. I’m sure Microsoft will respond, and it won’t be pretty. But what I found interesting is that apparently Windows 11 will make the process to set your default program even more cumbersome. Thanks, Microsoft!

This piece on ZDNet compares the Apple’s new “Why Mac” page to Microsoft’s page for guiding people to a PC. It is hilarious, and sadly accurate.

I see that there is some new drama around Microsoft’s decision to continue to include IdentityServer in some of their templates, despite the fact that IdentityServer is switching from OSS to a commercial model.

RemObjects VB.NET compatible language was released last week, which is good news for those of us who want to use the language on previously unsupported platforms like iOS and ASP.NET Core. Visual Studio Magazine covered the release here.