Where it all began...

Some of you may know that I've been elected Microsoft MVP by the good folks at ACES, an honor that I take seriously, constantly reminding myself that there's still so much to be done to improve my code base and provide more efficient and thorough work so my team mates can become more productive. I owe a lot to our friends in Redmond who make the best flight simulator there is today - if not for them, our 737 and 747 products wouldn't have been so greatly acknowledged.

Focusing so much on the future, though, sometimes keeps me from remembering the past: Where it all began for me in flight simulation and who was responsible for my involvement in the business. I have a very warm place in my heart for the team which caused me to realize that flight simulation is so much more than just a game. That team was Terminal Reality and the Fly! developers.

The trip down memory lane was caused by an article I happened to read today, written nine years ago (already!). It describes a (real) trip I would have liked to have made myself, to meet at least some of the people I considered very important when I started my humble career in flight simulation development. One of them, in particular, who unfortunately is no longer with us. Fare well, Richard Harvey, I am sure I'll meet you one day in a different cloudless sky...

The PMDG 747-400 and Microsoft ESP

I've been feeling quite under the weather lately - turns out I caught the family flu bug and I've been going through the five stages (denial, etc.)

I can't code like this, so I'm taking a bit of time to say that I've successfully ported our 747-400 code base over to Microsoft ESP. For those of you who don't know what ESP is, it's the commercial simulation platform the good folks at Microsoft created to allow professional enterprises to bring previously games-based technology to training and learning, decision support, and research and development modeling for government and commercial organizations.

This means those entities who were previously running the PMDG 747-400 for training purposes, "bending the rules" a bit and ignoring the EULA which suggested it was "for entertainment purposes only", can now negotiate a specific license agreement which will allow them to run the platform on a different relationship basis.

No - we're not abandoning the entertainment market, so stop worrying! :-)

Why you NEED to install SP1 if using Vista

Mark Russinovich posted a very enlightening blog entry regarding file copying in Vista and how SP1 affects (actually: improves) this.

Those of you running Media Center and viewing files remotely are particularly interested.

Those of you running Flight Simulator X are also interested, due to a particular bug which calls for re-reading some base BGLs constantly (yes, we've alerted ACES and no- it can't be fixed for FSX).

You don't know... Jack.

I remember this game from back in the first days of the PC (IBM and compatibles)... I didn't know Jack back then either...

Do you know Jack?

TSA Blog - no lines to enter comment?

Well- not everyone might catch my double-meaning in the subject title, but I tried to be spiffy enough to suggest that the Transportation Security Administration (better known as TSA) - responsible for more than a gazillion hours in flight delays in the USA - has now started a blog where people can post comments, "since there is no time for agency personnel to answer passenger questions during the airport screening process".

The real question becomes: Do I have to wait long hours in line to enter my questions? :-)

Are you LinkedIn?

I don't know how late I am to the ball, but LinkedIn is the newest "cool thing" among my professional peers.

Check it out - and don't forget to add me as your "connection" once you are satisfied!

How to set folder permissions in C++ for Vista

Burhan, one of our customers requested this and here it is:

const char* g_strFSXPath = "g:\fsx";

void SetPathPermissions(const char* path)
{
// Set permissions for the folder
PACL pDacl,pNewDACL;
EXPLICIT_ACCESS ExplicitAccess;
PSECURITY_DESCRIPTOR ppSecurityDescriptor;
PSID psid;

// Get the current Security Info for the path
char szFileName[MAX_PATH];
sprintf(szFileName, "%s%s", g_strFSXPath, path);
GetNamedSecurityInfo(szFileName, SE_FILE_OBJECT,DACL_SECURITY_INFORMATION, NULL, NULL, &pDacl, NULL, &ppSecurityDescriptor);

//BuildExplicitAccessWithName(&ExplicitAccess, "Users", GENERIC_WRITE, SET_ACCESS, CONTAINER_INHERIT_ACE | OBJECT_INHERIT_ACE);

ConvertStringSidToSid("S-1-5-32-545", &psid);

ExplicitAccess.grfAccessMode = SET_ACCESS;
ExplicitAccess.grfAccessPermissions = GENERIC_WRITE;
ExplicitAccess.grfInheritance = CONTAINER_INHERIT_ACE | OBJECT_INHERIT_ACE;
ExplicitAccess.Trustee.MultipleTrusteeOperation = NO_MULTIPLE_TRUSTEE;
ExplicitAccess.Trustee.pMultipleTrustee = NULL;
ExplicitAccess.Trustee.ptstrName = (LPTSTR) psid;
ExplicitAccess.Trustee.TrusteeForm = TRUSTEE_IS_SID;
ExplicitAccess.Trustee.TrusteeType = TRUSTEE_IS_UNKNOWN;

SetEntriesInAcl(1, &ExplicitAccess, pDacl, &pNewDACL);
SetNamedSecurityInfo(szFileName,SE_FILE_OBJECT,DACL_SECURITY_INFORMATION,NULL,NULL,pNewDACL,NULL);

LocalFree(pNewDACL);
LocalFree(psid);

fileOut << endl;
fileOut << "User reset folder and Subfolders permissions." << endl;
fileOut.flush();

}

Diskeeper 2008

I used to be a big fan of OODefrag. In fact, their version 10 product is very good.

I can't hide the fact, though, that I am a changed man ever since I tried Diskeeper 2008 Pro Premier. Its defragmentation process is really smooth and the background service keeps defragmenting your disks continuously, but only when it detects that your computer is sitting idle (i.e. it doesn't interrupt or slow down your ever-important FSX sessions).

Three thumbs up for Diskeeper 2008!!! You can find it here.

You know you're getting old when...

Three out of seven of your friends who used to work for the ACES studio are no longer there...

Jason - you and I haven't been chatting much (other than in the bus, at DevCon 2005, going to that smelly brewery), but I always respected your artist's view and kept in touch with all you had to say in your blogs. You have a fan whatever you choose to do next! Keep it up!

(Please follow Jason Waskey's work through his blog here - it's really worth it).

Windows Live Messenger status

(Rant Mode On)

What does it mean when I put my Status as "Busy" on Live Messenger?

Is it perhaps an invitation to say "Talk to me, I am idle"?

Is it a sign that says "Taking a break, I prefer to chat about last night's Heroes episode"?

No. It means I am most likely either looking at a customer's problem, or coding like crazy on the next product or infrastructure.

It most certainly also means that I'd prefer not to be bothered, but I am there in case someone needs help that can't otherwise wait, like for example when our product cart server is offline or experiencing issues that require immediate attention.

I'd respectfully request those of you who have me on their Messenger contacts to please use email instead as I can concentrate better on your issue when I focus my attention to it, rather than when you interrupt me.

(Rant Mode Off)

How to get updates to my blog automatically

You may think that I am doing this to increase traffic to my blog but that isn't the exact reason. I was asked by no less than six people last week how it would be possible to receive my posts automatically in their Inbox.

I'll give you examples for Firefox and Thunderbird.

In Firefox, click on the "Atom Feed" link you see on your right. Then, use "Subscribe to this feed using..." and hit "Subscribe Now".

In Thunderbird, if you already have an RSS News & Blogs account, skip this step. To create one, go to Tools->Account Settings, click on "Add Account..." and follow instructions for "RSS News & Blogs".

Then, select "News & Blogs" and click on "Manage Subscriptions". In the popup window, click the "Add" Button and copy/paste "http://lkalamaras.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default" in the "Feed URL" edit box.

These two methods will allow you to automatically receive an update whenever I have a new article written in my blog (which HAS to be more often :-)).

Beyond Comparison...

Seems I don't post much, but when I do, it comes in batches... :-)

This post is about a wonderful little utility called "Beyond Compare". As a developer / code writer, it's very hard sometimes to keep track of changes that have occurred between file versions and bugs can creep into our products simply because of a file regression.

Beyond Compare helps prevent such problems by allowing levels of file and folder comparison in an intuitive, productive way that I had wished for a long time, but had never imagined existed.

Here's their web site. Well worth the $30.

Engauged Shared Cockpit

Susan posted a very interesting article about shared cockpit / multiplayer coding so I will be investing some time on making sure we can take advantage of this in future products (and by "future" I mean AFTER the MD11 ;-)).

The URL is here.

Back Home!

I am back home after having spent a very interesting week in Seattle. For those who are just catching up with the news, I attended the Microsoft Developers Conference (and I can't say much about it as all that stuff is under NDA) and the AVSIM Fan Conference (and that was NOT under NDA :-)).

While in Seattle, I saw old friends, acquaintances and rival developers (hi Daryl!), some of whom I had met before and some I was getting to meet for the first time and actually talk to (yes, that means you, Lou!).

During the FanCon, PMDG had the pleasure of more publicly revealing the now-in-alpha testing MD-11 (I had shown some of it during the 2006 Aerosoft Conference in Paderborn). Fans and customers had the opportunity to fly it for the first time and comment on usability and new features - I was amazed by how well it was received!!!

Michael Frantzeskakis and Bill Grabowski did a wonderful job in presenting it to the FanCon attendees, showing some of the newly programmed stuff (like the PMDG cursor standardization, variable lighting, overhead panel popups etc) - these guys are truly amazing!

I am now back home, working feverishly on finding a couple pesky problems with the FSX 747-400X and correcting them. After thousands of units sold so far, there's only a very limited number of customers facing issues, so pinning down the problems is hard... but we'll get to them!

Also working on finalizing the bits for our external hardware driver software (GoFlight, Engravity) modules so our customers can get to them too. Be assured, there will be a significant discount for those who've purchased the FS9 versions as well!

I'm getting some feedback from users who own the Aerosoft Australia 747 MCP hardware who wish me to write driver software for FSX. So far, there's only 20 or so users who want this done and unfortunately, it means I can't readily justify time allocation towards that project, however if there are more of you out there, by all means - BE VOCAL! We need to know so we can allocate the time.

Still in the USA (now on business)

We returned to Athens, of course, after the trip to the USA, so how is it that I am now finding myself back in Seattle?

Well, I attended the Microsoft Flight Simulation Developers Conference and am now attending the AVSIM Fan Con which will last until Sunday (so those of you local in the Seattle area, do come visit our booth - we have some cool stuff on display!).

I met with some very interesting people here in Bellevue, had an opportunity to hook up again with some of the ACES people who I've come to consider good friends through the years (Z, yes, that means you!) and get to see familiar faces once again with whom we've shared some war stories.

A special thank you goes to a (will remain nameless) person who helps out continuously and without regard for those who might have the audacity to consider it favoritism (even though the help we receive goes public immediately afterwards). 'Someone', you know who you are and thank you!

There have been some awesome presentations (unfortunately, all of which are under NDA and as such, I can't disclose anything about), but suffice it to say it's been an eye-opener all around!

I am looking forward to the AVSIM conference - we have some cool stuff to show in our booth as I said already, so I am hoping that people will enjoy the weekend as much as we hope.

Trip to the USA, part... err... :-)

The terror! I had forgotten I was supposed to keep writing more about our beautiful trip through the USA last summer, so I guess I owe those of you who visit this blog an explanation:

I got preoccupied: PMDG released the long-awaited 747-400x for FSX, so it became a very important priority to get that out the door, and by the time that was done, my blog was stale.

I promise, I'll write more about that - in the meantime, do visit PMDG's site and take a look at our 747-400X product - it has some very cool features!

Visual Assist X (by Whole Tomato)

I am hoping that people won't mind a small plug here for a product that I have been using extensively throughout my Visual C++ coding years and I find indispensable. I am talking about Visual Assist, which is now in its tenth iteration (with thousands of in-between builds and continuous support by its creator, Whole Tomato).

It runs within Visual Studio (all versions) and converts a very good product (Visual Studio == a Volkswagen) into a Porsche.

Run, don't walk to your nearest URL site:

http://www.wholetomato.com

Trip to the USA - Part 1 (Washington DC)

Haven't written much the past month or so, but the reason was simple: I was on the road. Margarita and I decided to take advantage of a couple meetings I had scheduled overseas, so we combined business and pleasure to take a three week long road trip in the USA.

Our flight into the US was uneventful - if one ignores the absurdity of having to go through security measures TWICE while changing planes in London. Heathrow has now quickly climbed to first place in my "places to avoid" list - where else would you be subjected to an hour-long security checkpoint WHILE IN TRANSIT.

The first scheduled stop in the US was Washington DC, home of "I didn't vote for him, but he's still my president" (famous quote by a not so famous acquaintance of ours).


Thankfully, he was away on vacation (again?) together with most of the capital's residents, so there was almost none of the usual traffic that makes DC so likeable to tourists.

DC is always nice to visit, as it offers beautiful walking-distance tours that can be done in a day without that much pain. Starting at the Capitol, a round-trip to the Washington Monument offers a variety of museums and historical site stops which educate and entertain.


My favorite? The Air and Space Museum of course. While there are other significant sites in DC, I always had a soft spot for the place that hosts most of man's attempts to escape gravity, documenting and keeping track of events and vehicles that made it possible for people to realize how beautiful it is to soar in our skies.

Gotta be done with the 747-400X no?

We visited the Museum of Natural History as well - always a favorite for children and adults alike, although comparing it to its New York and London equivalents I found it lacking a bit, for no specific reason.

Dad and... extended family ;-)

Another favorite spot is Georgetown, with its restaurants and bistros that offer quality for different tastes depending on the mood. Our day trip happened to take place on a Sunday, so we got lucky with a nice Italian restaurant that offered an all-you-can-eat brunch for $14.95 - can't beat that deal!

We left DC for Seattle - which will be part 2 of the trip blog entries.

Jing project... would have been great!

Been getting some good comments from friends regarding The Jing project. So I tried it to see if I could showcase some of our upcoming 747-400 and MD11 for FSX new features. Unfortunately, when I applied it to the FSX window (which was 1024x768 pixels in size), Jing made the entire machine crawl to a halting stop...

Hopefully, newer versions might work better... in the meantime, Jing is benched until something makes me change my mind :-).

MVP status

It just occurred to me that I neglected to publicly thank Microsoft for awarding me MVP status for 2007 in the PC Games category.

I've always tried to do my best as a professional and as a hobbyist to support Flight Simulator newbies and experienced users alike, as a PMDG developer and as a VATSIM founder and previous Software Development VP, so I am very grateful that Microsoft recognized my contribution through the MVP award.

Thanks to everyone at ACES for pointing my way when selections were made! Hope I can continue helping in the future as well!