I've looked at used some of the online tools from 37signals, such as Writeboard, Ta-da List and Backpack, and so I was interested to learn that they've written a book about their philosophy and company ideas. The basic theme is how to start out in a new technology venture, using the contrarian approach of providing less, releasing early, and above all - staying small.

"All the cash, all the marketing, all the people in the world can't buy the agility you get from being small."

The book is available online here. You can also pay US$19 to get a copy in pdf or US$29 for a paperpack copy. The online content is exactly the same as the printed version, which I'm actually contemplating purchasing ... I always find it easier to make my notes directly in the book :)

"Keep it small. Keep it simple. Let it happen."

I've been meaning to look more into building a Sidebar Gadget in Vista for a while now. I just happened to come across a post from Nikhil Kothari's blog entitled Authoring Sidebar Gadgets in C#. I don't really have the time to the follow longer, in-depth tutorials you see around and was interested to see how his Script# project allowed the use of C# when building a Gadget. Worth a closer look I think.

As your solution grows, the number of assemblies you have will undoubtedly grow too. Updating the version numbers of all those assemblies by their projects AssemblyInfo.cs files can be a hassle. However, there is a way to change the version in just one file, but have that change affect all project assemblies!

By using a “link” file in your projects, you can include a file from a shared location that contains only the version information.

• Add a new file named VersionInfo.cs
• Add to this file only the version information from an existing AssemblyInfo.cs file
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• Add VersionInfo.cs as a solution item

Now, for each project that you wish to include this version information:

• Select “Add Existing Item…” on the project menu
• Browse to VersionInfo.cs file
• Click the down arrow on the “Add” button and choose “Add as Link”
  
  The file will have the shortcut icon when you look at the project files.
  
• Remove any version information from existing AssemblyInfo.cs

When then assembly is built it will essentially have the combined attribute values from the AssemblyInfo.cs and VersionInfo.cs file.

Now you only have to change the version in one place and all projects will get it