Today's swear words are reserved for Microsoft, which managed to break one of its products with another. The Microsoft eLearning Library (MELL) CDs are clobbered by the version of the XML parser that is distributed with SQL Server Express 2005, that is, msxml6.dll. The symptom is an error message box with the text:

A solution is to unregister the new parser's DLL. At the command line, type "regsvr32 -u msxml6.dll". A commenter on Chris Webb's blog suggests what SQL Server uses in the new DLL. So perhaps this is a short-lived celebration, and the SQL Server installation that I did yesterday has been crippled. But I'm calling it a win. Your mileage may vary.

Believe it or not, I picked up the trail that led to this solution through a forum thread in Polish.

Euaarcghkgh! Now if I can only figure out how to manage file sharing between Mulligan and Dedalus, threading through the two software firewalls I have installed. Sneakernet with an SD card is not an optimal solution.

posted: 6:06:26 PM  

Looks like a good place for a side trip the next time I'm in Cincinnati: Columbus, Indiana, showcase of 20th-century architecture. The town of 40,000 features a Robert Venturi fire station, as well as works by I. M. Pei, two Saarinens, and Harry Weese.

posted: 3:12:18 PM