Interesting news from the Compact Framework group: They are planning on releasing a subset of WCF on the Compact Framework (i.e. their mobile edition). This is quite interesting, not the least because a lot of their mobile devices are frequently used in a disconnected mode and only updated at scheduled times. One solution to the problems that arise with this mode of operation is the use of SMTP as a transport protocol for SOAP.

In a recent school shooting in Germany, a troubled and bullied kid went on a killing spree, wounding 37 and killing at least himself. He was apparently disillusioned by an economic situation that would have sent him straight from the school into unemployment. This is very sad and a horrible waste of talent that no modern society can really afford in an age of global competition.

Now, after the desaster, politicans across the board are trying to "understand" what happened, i.e. come up with lame excuses for their incompetence and offer rash, unreflected but popular strategies to address the issues. Germans - with their tradition of state control and a somewhat troubled history of civic freedoms - have an universal approach to this: Verboten! As such, it is not surprising that first-person shooters (such as e.g. Half-Life or Quake) are targeted for censorship.

I do not want to argue about the pedagogical value of such games. However, in a society where freedom is considered one of the fundamental values [1], censorship is not an option. I do think that access to violent computer games should be limited to adults and that children should be educated about proper use of modern media in school. But teletubbyfying entertainment is simply ludicrous.

The gravest failure lies with the parents, and to a lesser degree with teachers and local society as a whole - they are co-responsible for the failure to educate this young man and offer him a future. At the end of the day however, he pulled the trigger - so the primary responsibility lies with him - and certainly not with the game industry or with the Internet in general.

The proper questions to ask would be: Why did the parents allow him play FPS for such a long time? Why did they not recognize that he had social and academic problems at school and react accordingly? Why did the teachers not discourage bullying at an early stage? And finally: how long will Germany continue on its current trajectory, where qualified labor is desperately needed, but the structures in education and the labor market are so inflexible that talented young people do not get the chance to excel and pursue happiness?

[1] Germany national anthem begins with "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit ...", i.e. "Unity and Justice and Freedom ...".

After some extended time without any new entries, I am back. Besides being insanely busy with all kinds of work for the last couple of weeks, I am going through a somewhat stressful personal time: a close family member is going through liver cancer and it is not yet clear what is going to happen. In such times it is really reassuring to have colleagues that are quite understanding, so thanks to all of you.

On more technical side, I have been playing a lot with the (now released) Windows Communication Foundation.. congratulations to the entire Indigo team for delivering the product. Also, Windows CardSpace is occupying a lot of my time and last, but not least, there is the ASP.NET AJAX Beta 1 which came out recently, along with the production release of NetBeans 5.5, the official start of the Interop Vendor Alliance, open sourcing Java ... and so on.

I hope to be able to put down a few interesting things in the next couple of days - however, tomorrow and on Friday I will attend the Higgins face to face meeting in Cambridge, MA.