I saw Avatar today, the much anticipated James Cameron 3D CGI extravaganza.  I have avoided reading any reviews since I did not want to taint my expectations anymore than the trailer already had.  I’m not a James Cameron fan boy by any stretch, but have generally enjoyed most of what he has created.  To cut right to the chase, an utter disappointment and a waste of my $6.50 matinee and $3.00 3D glasses rip-off racket.

Let’s break it down and start with the positives…

1. The CGI was amazing. Yes, utterly amazing.  But after being mesmerized for some of the early displays of computer animation magic, it starts to be overtly apparent that many of the subsequent sequences are nothing more than gratuitous “look at how cool the graphics are” filler.  Given the hype, I was a bit surprised I did not get lost more in the animation.  There were moments where you certainly did, but those quickly disappeared when the giant blue people were on the screen. 
2. As is typical with Cameron, his realization of the environment is incredibly detailed.  Portable displays, UI interfaces, the creatures, the jungle, you name it – and Cameron spent a lot of time focusing on the details.  Or at least, the people creating his world inside the computers did, and I am guessing Cameron told them to do it.

Well, that is about it for the positives.  After that, it was just disappointing.  Let’s get cranking on that list…

1. As my title suggests, my biggest problem with the movie is that is nothing more than a collection of stereotypes.  I will admit right now that the portrayal of the military set me off immediately.  Maybe I should give Cameron a pass on this since the “military” in the movie were supposed to be corporate mercenaries, but that is quickly lost after a fleeting mention in the opening couple minutes of the movie.  Having served in the military, having friends who are still in the military, and knowing more than a few people that have gave their lives serving this country, I’m tired of the “war, bloodlust, and if it moves I want to kill it without any thought or remorse” portrayal of military members.  Outside of the main character, Cameron’s story pushes the stereotype as hard as any film in recent memory.  Throw in some choice “politically correct zingers” at recent military campaigns and I was lost as not only a fan of Avatar, but maybe of Cameron as well.  It doesn’t stop with the military.  We have the evil corporate types, the “we are one with the land” native tribe, the “going native” hero, etc. and there is nothing original in any of this.  I know you need something to drive the story, but Cameron defaulted to the most one-dimensional, practically audience insulting stereotypes in his portrayal. It is all black in white in this super duper CGI animation.
2. Next, because of gross “show off the CGI” story line, this movie is easily an hour too long.  Clocking in at  two and half hours, you would not miss out on anything if you watched the first 30 minutes and the last 45 minutes.  The rest is nothing but “plod along filler” as far as story and action go.  I can’t believe I am saying this, but I had to fight to stay awake during  a matinee movie because things were drug out so long and at such a slow pace.  Ugghhh… it was awful.
3. 3D is a waste of a dimension.  This isn’t really a problem with Avatar per se, but I just am not a fan of 3D movies.  Besides adding to the cost to see a movie by charging a surcharge on twenty five cent glasses that you are asked to return at the end of the movie, I just don’t see the huge deal over 3D.  Now, if I watched this movie on IMAX, then I think it would have really been something.   I hear people talk about how 3D is supposed to immerse you into the movie more.  Well, it just looks like some better depth of field inside the big rectangle at the front of the movie theater.  You are still looking at a screen, so I don't get the “immersion” thing.  Again, probably amazing on IMAX, but not worth a premium in a regular movie theater.

So, there ya have it.  A yawner for me.  Won’t rent it when it comes available.  Not worth a second watch, and really wish I had waited for it on video since I could have fast forwarded to the good parts.

I know… it does seem odd that I would have a title of saying that Windows needs to be friendly to .NET developers.  Considering that .NET is THE development environment for Windows (no offense to my C++ or Mono friends), it seems a strange that I would have some “complaints” about Windows not being friendly towards .NET developers.  But it’s true.

It is not that Windows isn’t a good platform to develop on. Quite the contrary.  Great tools, lots of great OS features that are readily accessible, etc.  The problem is that the Windows team sometimes forgets that the vast majority of Windows development is now done in .NET.  I am sure many of you read that and said, “Duh! Of course.”  So what am I talking about?

As you start getting into the back corners of the operating system, it suddenly feels like some Microsoft teams have never heard of .NET.  Example?  Windows Firewall.  I have been writing some peer-to-peer stuff and it would be nice to be able to set some firewall rules when an app is installed, or better yet, prompt the user at runtime to change the rules and dynamically set them.  Can you do that?  Sure, if you are writing in C++ or want to use a COM object and wrap it with .NET.  There is no .NET implementation out of the box.  Talk about a pain in the ass!  I have spent enough time playing with p/invoke and COM wrappers to know that I don’t want to go there unless absolutely necessary.

Peer to peer is another example.  Great team – good guys on it.  They have been fantastic helping me work my way through my learning.   The problem is, some of the coolest parts of their stack do not have a managed implementation.  Distributed routing tables? Absolutely wicked stuff but C++ only.  Peer Groups; C++ only. Peer Graphs; C++ only.  Double argghhh!

Even with the release of Windows 7, the problem continues.  The Windows API Code Pack certainly helped expose some of the new Win 7 features, but still no Windows Firewall support.  Peer to peer still missing.  Some other APIs are still native only.  Considering that .NET has been around for quite a while now, you would think that 100% of the Windows API would be covered with managed implementations by now.

Some day, my friends, some day….

This article and my workload today really got me thinking about how cool it would be to have Natal as a user interface for normal computing.  Today, I have spent a lot of time opening spreadsheets, reviews slide decks, moving different “views of data” from one monitor to another (excluding PowerPoint which really needs to get in the multi-monitor game when editing different presentations, but I digress).  The whole experience would have been much nicer if I had a Natal device reading my gestures.

• Need to move a spreadsheet to another monitor? Just “drag” it with your hand from one monitor to another
• Need to move to the next slide in the presentations? Just “wipe” the monitor
• Need to go from one email to the next in your Inbox, or maybe from one page to another in a Word doc? Just “turn the page”
• Open a new application?  Just point at the Start Orb and get a Natal optimized full screen Start Menu to easily navigate and start an app
• Just being able to point at my IE Link bar and have it launch a link would be pretty darn cool as I wander through my usual set of web sites I like to read

I am sure I could come up with lots of other ideas. It would be really cool.  A lot of the time, having a “lean back” back experience would be great.  No need to keep hands on a keyboard or mouse, just lean back in your chair, gesture away, and have the computer seamlessly do what you want.  It would be like the whole “Minority Report” experience minus the see-through glass displays (and Tom Cruise, so double bonus!).  Talk about really opening up a true family room computing experience.  If I could browse on my TV just by hooking my laptop up and then sitting on my coach and wave away – sweetness. Wow – a MediaCenter PC and not needing another remote – just gesture and enjoy.

Many will say, well, Multi-Touch is here today with Windows 7, quit your complaining.  Unfortunately, I am lukewarm on Multi-Touch for common usage.  Yeah, for some scenarios it will truly be killer.  But my screen gets dirty enough when I am not supposed to be touching it (not sure how it happens, but it does) so the idea of consistently putting my grimy fingers on my screen will certainly lead to some kind of OCD complex as I am constantly annoyed by a smudge laden screen.  And even if I can get past that, it still requires me arm’s distance of the monitor.  Not much better than working with the mouse or keyboard.  There are a lot of tasks where being able to sit back and be more comfortable would be great.

Internet rumors and articles say Natal won’t be out for the XBOX for a long while.  Even though some Microsoft execs have talked about Natal in the workplace scenarios, I am guessing (insert my mushroom-in-the-dark-I-don’t-know-jack-so-don’t-go-and-say-the-Microsoft-guy-said disclaimer here) that any chance of true Natal Office interface won’t arrive for sometime after that.  It makes me sad, but it is nice to see some really cool stuff come out of Microsoft Research!

I’ve been running some flavor of Win 7 for awhile now.  My problem still exists.  In fact, it has existed for as long as you have been able use plug-in-play drive devices.  You’ve probably experienced as well.  It has probably driven you a bit batty like it has me (along with a myriad of other things, many of which are not PC related).  I’ve submitted complaints, suggestions, bitches… you name it, but the problem remains the same.  You might have done the same.

What am I talking about? That FREAKIN’ (I would use another word that begins with F but this is a family blog) dialog box that pops up when you want to disconnect a removable hard dive that says that you can’t remove the device because some other process/application is using that drive.  Well, that is nice to know, but you you please tell me what F’ING application is so I can close it.  When I have 20 different windows open, and some may or may not or maybe did but are not currently using that drive, it is a PIA figuring out which one it is.  God forbid the app is actually a system tray app that Win 7 now conveniently hides the icon for.  ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can’t the OS say something like, “Sorry, but the DoofinSchwark application is currently using this device.  Close this application if you wish to remove the device.” or something equally helpful.  It’s the little things….. like knowing how to merge onto a busy highway.  Yeah, I’m talking to you jack @$$!!!!

I have no idea what to make of this commercial for SongSmith from Microsoft Research.  I am hoping, as in down on my knees hoping, that some how, some way, this turns out to be a fake.  This is bad, I mean really, really, really, REALLY bad.  I hate to knock on my boys from MSResearch, but whoever approved this should be fired.  Horribly casting – the ‘Dad’????  Wow! If he was my dad growing up I think I would asked for a retroactive vasectomy.  The “my band needs a new song” dude?  What kind of band has a dork like that in it?  The boss lady?  Ugghhhh, don’t even get me started. 

Microsoft seriously needs to get a new marketing firm.

Yes, today was the day that DirecTV came and took my old Tivo HD DVR and replaced with a DirecTV HD DVR.  Sniffle...

Background:  DTV has launched several new satellites that has expanded their HD channel lineup considerably. I am sure you have seen their commercials proclaiming that very fact.  These new satellites use MPEG4 for sending down the HD signals.  Problem is (was), my Tivo HD DVR came out long before those satellites went up and was built using MPEG2 compression - in the hardware no less.  So I have been unable to watch some of the newer HD channels on DTV like the Big Ten Network, SciFi, and more.

The Story: DTV called me a few days ago and said that they were going to actually move some of the existing MPEG2 channels to MPEG4 (in particular ESPN and ESPN2) so I was going to get the double whammy unless I moved on to new equipment.  To DTV's credit, they did replace both my DVR and my satellite dish (need one of the slightly bigger ones now) for free.

Well, I have been up and running for a couple of hours now and I have to say that all in all the DTV DVR experience is better than I thought it would be (read a lot of early complaints online), but I already miss my Tivo.  Two big things jump out right away. 

The first is truly a WTF issue.  On the old Tivo, had dual live buffers meaning I could pause live TV on one channel then switch to the other channel and watch it live, pause it, go back, etc.  The DTV DVR has dual tuners but not dual buffers so you have to record two shows and use a cumbersome menu process to switch back and forth.  The live buffer thing is a big deal once you have used it a few times since it can be sooooo convenient in a lot of situations.  A glaring omission on DTV's part and one I miss badly.

The second issue is one of preference, but I really like the Tivo Guide layout much better than the DTV one.  Tivo let me go to the History Channel for example, and see what would be on for the next 10 hours or so.  It was great to be able to find the one-off show and tell Tivo to record it.  DTV forces you into the scroll channel by channel and see the programming for the next hour or so.  To see what is on the History Channel 5 hours from now requires a lot of scrolling and then scrolling back.  Not slick.

I haven't had it long enough to comment on its reliability, scheduling, etc.  But it looks like it has the basics covered.

Can I get an "Amen"? ;-)

Silverlight and WPF development would be so much more fun (it's pretty fun already) if I could do any kind of cool design work on the UI.  I have finished scaffolding out all of the stuff I want to do to get SlickthoughtTV up and running (access in one place to all of my screencasts) and by extension for DeveloperMinute.Com (coming soon).  But I absolutely suck at doing cool graphic design for UX.  I have some neat ideas, but I just cannot execute them worth a damn.  Not sure how you build those skills since I think a fair amount of it is just "artistic sense".  I'm sure I am a bit limited in my muddling around with tools like Expression Blend and Expression Design, but even if I was a master at those tools I wonder if I could still get colors, shading, etc. correct.  Maybe, but I am not convinced. 

Alright, I know that this represents a small part of the $5B+ that Microsoft spends on R&D, but coming up with automatic background music for singers?  Seems to me a few more important things could be focused on or maybe more effort on getting some of that stuff out of R&D and into products.