"Does my 1.1-compiled software work if the user has Framework 2.0?" -- This has been a real FAQ for me, and I've been asked about different sorts of scenarios quite a few times since 2.0 was released. The short answer is "Yes, it works", and the long answer is "You should read the MSDN white paper on the subject". But truth be told, Microsoft did such a good job in providing runtime compatibility that these problems aren't particularly interesting - even to the point where I've seen the example of an ASP.NET 1.1 site accidentally being run under 2.0 without anyone even noticing.
That said, there are always issues that always surface when migrating. Also, version upgrades are the spot where you come into terms with all your past sins. One nasty example from the close past: you've always relied on the fact that you can get the filename of your .ascx control using typeof(this).Name. Well, that's what happened in ASP.NET 1.1, because "Foo.ascx" got compiled into something called "ASP.Foo_ascx". Well, Microsoft then fixed a bug that occasionally caused controls in different directories but same filenames to overlap with each other, and now "Foo.ascx" gets compiled to something like "ASP.MyControls_Foo_ascx" (if it resides in the MyControls directory). Changes like this are real headaches as they're not really documented - from Microsoft's perspective, this is certainly not a breaking change. It's just that you were wrong all along, trusting that class names have a relation to file names - an assumption that carries no validity when thought of independently, but one that probably made a lot of sense to the coder at the time.
When we get to the field of recompiling applications under 2.0, and web applications in particular, the Redmond-provided swamp gets far deeper. I hope to be back on the subject one day - there's quite a lot I wish to say on the suboptimal work Microsoft did on rewriting the web project model in Visual Studio.
Mind Mapping is an underestimated technique. Many have bad experiences and as a result, they are too focused on the techniques (or their lackings) involved. The true essence of mind mapping, i.e. the ability to quickly draw up association nets from your brain with little effort required in formatting, is often missed. Let me rephrase: mind mapping at its core is not a tool thing, it's about rolling the ideas out and sketching them up quickly enough.
The dislike towards the technique stems from a kind of perfectionism. Drawing a mind map with pencil and paper is hard (at first!), as you'll have a hard time figuring out the proper amount of space to reserve for a branch. As you do it more, you grow better - and learn not to care, using crossing lines and other untidy markings instead. There's much to be said for hand-made mind maps and quite a few arguments against computer-powered ones, but at least an electronic mind map doesn't suffer from the friction of reorganizing content.
Mind mapping software is often horrible in quality or expensive, possibly both. Due to my past experience, I wasn't really anxious about mapping some ideas on the screen, but decided to go for it anyway. And boy it feels good to be wrong - FreeMind is an excellent mind mapper! It is free and works well enough to be transparent - you don't really have to think about the tool.
While whiteboards and papers still rule, redistribution and editability may at occasions take precedence. Although I'd pick a good publicly visible whiteboard over email-transferred documents any day, the whiteboard concept tends to collapse with increasing distance. Now that I have a decent software tool at my disposal, both analog and digital maps are again far more appealing.
Ps. FreeMind also healed me from my distrustful attitude towards Java-based GUI applications. It's smooth enough to make one forget the Java 1.1 age software. And it's about time for that to happen.
Windows Live Writer is out, and it's another interesting innovation from the guys at Redmond. Being the dubious me, I was certain any offline blogging engine they could produce would certainly not integrate seamlessly with my years-old Movable Type installation.
Well how wrong could I be - here I'm writing this using Live Writer. The UI beats the web interface any time, and now we've also got some nifty features such as spell checking. But hey, why doesn't the spell checker recognize Redmond, rather attempting to replace it with Redondo instead.
On a serious note, a return to blogging has been overdue for quite some time. There is no foreseeable increase of available time, but the increase of things to say is making my head bulge. Perhaps this new toy will help. :-)