____________________________________________________________ C o v e r Y o u r A S P . c o m http://CoverYourASP.com/ ____________________________________________________________ Since I started using LiveStats to interpret my server logs at the end of January (94 days ago), my site code has been downloaded an astonishing 13,506 times! That's pushing some code, isn't it? Every week I come across more sites that are using some of it, and that together with the email from Dave Henry (Paradox to his friends) yesterday has spurred me on to the next stage in CYA - open-source. Paradox was brutally honest, but I've been thinking the same things: "Don't take this the wrong way but, don't you think the site is starting to stagnate? You seem to have lost the motivation that you are famed for, or maybe you have run out of things to do with classic ASP. I check the site every day for new content but it's not often that there is any. I understand that you are working towards CYA.net but you have such a strong following in the classic area that you could do more harm than good by neglecting your established followers of which I am one. Then again I'm a fine one to talk I havent updated any of my site for ages." True, very true. Althought the site traffic just beat the record again this month, I haven't worked on the site for months. I've done all I wanted to do, and it's been a lot of fun. We continued emailing throughout the day, and came up with a plan that Hakan Eskici of http://2enetworx.com would be proud - to open-source the site and get all you guys and gals more involved. That's right: OPEN-SOURCE. That's a Linux word isn't it? Trouble is, I have no idea what that really means, so your input starts now! I'm sure Hakan and many others will offer ideas, but here are some questions that I need answering: 1) How do the updates get posted back to the site? 2) Does the actual site get updated by everyone, or just the published zips? 3) Who does the quality control? 4) Who stops malicious code getting into the download? There are many more I'm sure, and I'm hoping for some volunteers to get a discussion going on on the CYA list at http://aspfriends.com/ASPFriends/ASPCYA.asp It could be exciting, and the next few weeks will certainly be educational for me... ____________________________________________________________ T H E C O N T E S T http://CoverYourASP.com/Contest.asp ____________________________________________________________ Bob Woodard of Tampa, FL won April's contest and a license for Hexillion's HexGadgets suite[1] and my favorite book from Sams Publishing[2]! [1] http://www.hexillion.com/refer.asp?id=cya11&dest=/software/ [2] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672320681/shawthingcom ______ REMEMBER - the contest is now monthly. The current contest will end on May 31st. The main prize is the too-cool iisCART2000 e-commerce component suite - worth $245. Check it out: http://www.iiscart.com/ ______ This contests book is yet again the best ASP.NET book published so far, and there are a lot! "ASP.NET Unleashed" by Stephen Walther Check out the reviews at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672320681/shawthingcom ______ Prize details at http://CoverYourASP.com/ContestPrizes.asp ____________________________________________________________ T H E D I A R Y The recent events at CoverYourASP http://CoverYourASP.com/ShowDiary.asp ____________________________________________________________ ______ 5 Apr ______ - I like Steve Schofield of ASPFree.com[1]. I met him for the first time at Microsoft recently (where we were visiting the .NET team) and he was one of the surprizes. You know how you imagine what the guys are like that run these big web sites? Well, most of them are just normal guys! We won't go into details of how he took me back to the hotel that night when I was so drunk I couldn't walk, or what I may or may not have done in his car, but suffice it to say that I made some good friends on that trip! [1] http://aspfree.com/ ______ 8 Apr ______ - Offering the Hexillion license again in this months contest reminded me that I don't tell you very often what an amazing resource their online utilities[1] are. I use them almost every day to lookup URL's and find out who owns them or what their IP address is. Whenever a site seems to be down I always check the Domain Dossier to check if it's just me, or if no-one can see the site. Very highly recommended... [1] http://hexillion.com/utilities/ ______ 9 Apr ______ - Local boy comes good! Well, he's not local, but Salman Ahmed has been an avid CoverYourASP member since we were at 60,000 page views a month (that's a long time ago!). He's finally taken the plunge and created his own ASP.NET web site to teach C# - CSharpFriends.com[1]. Go check out the work of another CYA alumni...and no comments about the orange... [1] http://csharpfriends.com/ ______ 10 Apr ______ - I just had to apply the latest patch[1] to my server - sorry if you noticed the reboot... By the way, my host EverPlanet[2] would have course have done this for me, but they were going to wait until my traffic died down in the evening. I did it because I didn't want to be vulnerable for even a few hours. ;-) [1] http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS02-018.asp [2] http://EverPlanet.com/ ______ 12 Apr ______ - I really wish I had the time and energy this guy[1] has! He spends his time suing spammers that send him junk - and he wins! [1] http://www.smallclaim.info/ - CafePress[1] have come up with some cool new items in my store - this basketball hoop and some cool tile coasters are just two examples. I can't resist getting this stuff and giving it away at the local ASP.NET user group[2]! [1] http://www.cafepress.com/CoverYourASP [2] http://aspusergroup.com/atlanta/ ______ 19 Apr ______ - I'd love to know why the traffic peaked so much today. Apparently someone linked to my AllContent page, and generated nearly 10,000 extra page views. As I write this (at 10:15pm) I saw over 26,000 today! If anyone wants to give me a clue, please drop me a line. Mystery solved! Scott McCain[1] let me know that an article of mine went out in a WebDevPro newsletter - links from an email don't show up as referrers, so that explains why I couldn't track it down from the log... [1] http://thescottie.com/ ______ 23 Apr ______ - Many of you have received email from "me" recently - unfortunately it's just a clever scam by the W32/Klez.h@MM worm[1]. When someone is infected the worm sends itself out to everyone in their address book, using one of the addresses as the From address. So, if you know anyone infected that has me in their address book (and lots do) there's a chance you'll get an email looking like I sent it. Look at the email headers though and you'll see another From header - that's the real culprit. ;-) [1] http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=99455 ___________________________________________________________ T O O L S I U S E ProposalKit 5.0 *JUST UPDATED 4/2002* http://www.proposalkit.com/affdir/1461.htm ____________________________________________________________ If you are a web site designer, and you want to steer clear of the pitfalls out there, come armed with professional looking proposals and "close the deal", then this product is for you. It's guaranteed for 30 days, so that means you don't even have to make a decision. Just download the product and start using these tools in your web design business, and you'll be playing in the big leagues, without the learning curve that's normally associated with setting up a design business. You get $800-worth of free legal documents too, including: US, Canadian and English law web contracts Subcontractor agreement document Web hosting agreement document Short form web development contract CD-ROM/Flash development contract 28 different contracts and agreements ___________________________________________________________ S T I L L L O O K I N G ! http://CoverYourASP.com/Snippet.asp?snip=50 ____________________________________________________________ I'm currently considering job offers, both full-time and contract work, in the North Atlanta, GA area. I'm qualified for two types of jobs: ASP/ASP.NET or C++/Windows. I can go in either direction and am equally suited to both. I have worked on PC applications using C/C++ for 15 years now, but I've also spent considerable time and effort in the last 4 years using ASP and 1 year with ASP.NET. Probably not a surprise since you're subscribed to my very popular ASP site newsletter! I'm looking for a Developer or Senior Developer/Team Leader position. I currently lead a team of C++ developers, but I work equally as well as a team member. Team leadership is not necessary for me - I'd like to spend most of my time developing, but wouldn't we all! You can view my resume at ShawThing.com[1], or contact me to discuss any employment opportunities you feel may be suitable. [1] http://shawthing.com/resume/jrs.asp ______ By the way, summer is unofficially here - my kids and I were in the pool last week! I just love it when it's so hot and humid that the ride home from work has you diving into the pool when you get home. I knew the time had come when I drove home at 55mph (officer) with all the windows down and the wind was HOT. "Crank up those Beach Boys Ma." Thanks Guys! Speak to you later. Warmest Regards, James Shaw james@CoverYourASP.com 885 Woodstock Road, Suite 430, #108 Roswell, GA 30075-2247, U.S.A. http://CoverYourASP.com/ Download it. Run it. Learn it. http://ASPRSS.com/ Publish ASP with RSS XML http://ShawThing.com/Consult.asp Doing it right the first time ____________________________________________________________ S U B S C R I P T I O N S Do you want to subscribe or unsubscribe? http://CoverYourASP.com/Subscribe.asp ____________________________________________________________