This message is for me.  If you, the reader, like this list, you're welcome to bookmark either Scott's site or mine, but I need this link here to save me the 5 minutes of my life I lose every time I go looking for the list.  Scott's a prolific writer, and digging through his "Tools" tag isn't simple.

That was a horrible sentence.

Without further adieu, Scott Hanselman's 2007 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows.

After setting up a few different domains to use Google Apps (specifically Google Analytics and Gmail), I've found a few best practices and an order to make the process go a bit more smoothly.

Before we get started, I'm assuming that you have a domain name set up with the registrar of your choice.  If you don't have any preference, I'd suggest you use GoDaddy.  Their UI is horrific, but their prices are fantastic.  I've on occasion had to deal with their customer service, and they've been top notch.  I'm also assuming that you have the rights and the skills to edit DNS entries and add JavaScript to a website.  The latter isn't life-or-death, but you won't be able to use Analytics.

From here down, let's call your domain "mydomain.com".

1. Set up a new "root account" email  Even if you have an existing Gmail account, it's best to have an account dedicated to mydomain.com.  This is especially so if you have or maintain many domains, and are planning on moving them to Google Apps.  The big payoff for this is step #8 (below).  So,
   • Visit Google and sign up for a new Gmail account.
   • Hint!! Use [mydomain.com]@gmail.com as your Login Name.  This will keep things nice and tidy, and you'll never have to guess what your admin account name is.
   • Make sure to use a strong password and save it somewhere safe like VirtualKeyChain.com
2. Sign up for Google Apps  Creating your Google Apps account gives you access to all of the fun Google toys, like Gmail, shared calendar, and online spreadsheets among other features.
   • Visit Google Apps and pick the option that best fits your organization: small, enterprise, school, or family/group
   • Sign up using the "root account" email you created above, i.e. mydomain@gmail.com
   • For the Apps account, you'll need to create an administrator account login.  I suggest something very original, like admin@mydomain.com or administrator@mydomain.com.
   • Hint!!  It's easy to forget (or not notice) this, but you and all users can reach their shared domain Google page via http://partnerpage.google.com/mydomain.com
3. Verify your domain ownership  This step proves to Google that you are really who you say you are, and you do indeed have the rights to the domain.  Google has a good FAQ on what this is all about.  Follow the link at the top of your Google Apps dashboard that says "Verify your domain."
   • You can perform this verification by either creating an HTML file on your root website at mydomain.com, or by creating a CNAME record in your DNS entries.  Pick your poison, and follow the instructions.  Google will provide you with a unique CNAME or html page that you need to add to DNS or your website (respectively).  Hit 'Verify' once you're done.
   • The verification process may take 48 hours, especially if you use CNAME
4. Gather all existing email account information  This is important, as midway through the next step, you're likely going to lose access to your old mail server. 
   • If there is a way to export user names and passwords, do so.  If you can't do that, at least copy all of your email names to manually generate accounts in Gmail.
   • Send out a warning to all users to make sure to download/read all mail on their server
5. Activate Gmail  Before starting this step, make sure your client knows their email server is changing.  Once you set your DNS entries, the web will start propagating the change which will likely cause some confusion.  You'll notice that on your Google Apps dashboard, Email is the only application not activated by default.
   • Click on "Activate Email" and read the instructions for setting up your DNS entries for your MX records.  There should be around 7 MX records.
   • Go to your DNS manager and add those records as shown, making sure to delete any existing MX records you currently have.
     • You may not be able to set the priority exactly as Google suggests, but just get the order right, i.e. set ASPMX to the lowest (0, 1, 5, etc), then ALT1 & ALT2 to the next, and so on.
   • Click "I've completed these steps" and wait for Google to "see" your MX changes.
6. Add Email accounts
   • Using the information you collected in step 4 above, generate new users.  
   • Per RFC requirements, make sure to add postmaster@ and abuse@ addresses.  Because Gmail automatically (and quietly) listens to those accounts, you can only create these as "lists," but that's a preferable method.  When you create them, you'll see "Google Support" is already in the distribution list
7. Sanity Check: make sure you don't have any DNS issues  I'm a fan of the free DNS tools available on the web, my favorite being DNSStuff.com.  You can just type your domain in and get a report of all of the potential or real issues with your DNS records.  Since you just fooled with your DNS, it always helps to have a fresh check to make sure you didn't do anything "bad."
8. Sign up for Google Analytics  Outside of Gmail, Google Analytics is definitively the crown jewel in the set of domain applications.  What's very odd about this tool however, is a) Google does not include this application in it's set of applications for domains, and b) you cannot use a non-@gmail.com domain email address to sign up for Analytics!  This is why step #1 up above was so key.  You can now sign up for analytics using your mydomain.com@gmail.com account, and keep your stable of applications all together. 

Where are we now?  We now have a single Gmail account that serves as the home for all administrative communications on our Google Apps.  This isn't as simple as it sounds.  Although you could have used any old Gmail account, what happens if you want to give administrative rights to someone else you work with, or the client themselves?  You certainly wouldn't hand over your personal Gmail account login, but this is now an easily transferable object.

I sat up in bed this morning with a brilliant (read: retire-in-three-years) idea:

"A web site that allows you to exchange your unused gift cards for cash or another card!" I shouted out loud.

Quickly, I ran to my GoDaddy account and typed as if I was racing someone around the world for the same domain name...

"GiftCardTrader.com" I shouted.
"Taken.  Drats.  How about GiftCardExchange.com?!"
Uh oh.  0 for 2.

That last one sounded like a winner, but after visiting GiftCardTrader.com and finding nothing, I thought, just hoped, "maybe this hasn't been done!"  If GiftCardExchange.com wasn't taken, I might be on to something.

Whoops.  Damn.

Well, looks like in October of 2005, someone in the Midwest had the same idea and went live with what looks to be a great service, CardAvenue.com.  If you're like me and have a stack of cards that are to stores you have little interest in (really, who needs 3 gift cards to Red Lobster?), then give this service a whirl and let me know how it goes.

After all, it was my idea.

I'm running SQL 2005 client tools version 9.00.3042.00.  Every morning I connect to my dev server to run queries, analyze data, etc.  Despite checking "Remember Password," the MSSMS (horrible acronym, by the way) dialog refuses to remember the password.  This is by no means a show stopper, but it certainly is frustrating, especially if you use strong passwords.

If you're witnessing the same behavior, please tell Microsoft by voting "up" this bug, and they'll work the issue.

I do enjoy the NYTimes.  I also enjoy the NYTimes online site.  I don't however, enjoy having to logon, providing personal information just to get that content.  Two notes to online content creators:

1. if you think your content is very special, then make people pay for it and you'll see just how special your content is
2. if you think your content is kinda, sorta special, then don't make me provide you demographics just to get at your content

If you decide to lock down your content and make money, congratulations.  If you decide to collect demographics, you better make sure you test your users well, or at least check out BugMeNot.com to see if you're being gamed.

What's interesting is that the Times seemed to have a very special set of content, and I thought they would not stray from the pay-per-view model.  Interestingly, they decided to let their content go free tonight at midnight, realizing they will make more money from online advertising than pay-per-viewers**.

The best news is that they are also opening up their historical search tools.  Hooray!  I no longer have to keep the famous no-knead bread dough recipe in my safe deposit box.

**I wonder if the Times is going to start redirecting Firefox users who employ AdBlock extensions?

[Irony note: when I went to read the details about this article, the Times asked me to log on (see image).]