VSTO v3 CTP & Stadium Arcadium

First, I have some info about our CTP release of VSTO v3, and then I blog about the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new double CD: Stadium Arcadium.

Microsoft Pre-Release Software Visual Studio Tools For Office "V3" - June Community Technology Preview (CTP)

The June 2006 Community Technology Preview of Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office "V3" is now available.

The primary goal of this CTP is to showcases several new important investments in the area of Office programmability. New XML-based file formats, a revolutionized and highly extensible Office user interface, and support for managed add-ins in Office applications not previously covered by Visual Studio Tools for Office provide an unprecedented number of new opportunities and challenges for Office solution developers. Visual Studio Tools for Office provides an easy to use, reliable, and secure solution development environment and infrastructure to help developers exploit these opportunities and challenges and take their solutions to the next level.

Note: This CTP requires you to have the beta 2 release of the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

Please click here for more information and download instructions.

Rock Thought for the Day: I'll cut to the nut: Stadium Arcadium will be an album eager musicians will be talking about and learning from twenty years from now. It's that great. As in "Dark Side of the Moon", "In Through the Out Door", "Revolver", or "Electric Ladyland" great.

Every aspect of the songs has risen to a level that will, if it has not already happened, lift this band comfortably into mythic status. The rhythm section has never been tighter and more inventive. The complex yet convincingly unforced interleaving of tempos from the bass, percussion, and guitar, with Anthony scatting and riffing from dimensions only Einstein has conceived is dazzling. Frusciante lets his creative side loose with the guitar as it leads us through sonic landscapes haunted by the ghosts of other guitar greats while leaving no doubt, at the end of the journey, that his own unique style surely belongs in such company. Kiedis takes many more risks with his vocals, and he explores voices, melodies, and harmonies that no one else breathing oxygen could pull off with the same persuasion. He is a vocal inventor, treating phonemes as notes on a piano with endless keys. Overall, the 27+ songs suggest that they actually had fun making this record, and it shows. There's only one thing that could possibly be better: seeing them do all of this live.

Rock On