I typically have a lot of applications open at once. A dozen is typical, two dozen is not uncommon. A few years ago, I went on a quest to find a virtual desktop application to make that a bit easier to manage. I've tried many of them, and I think I have finally found my winner.

One of the things I've learned is that you have to figure out what you want from a desktop. Many people want to be able to hover their mouse at a screen edge and automatically pan into the next desktop over. I find that annoying. Many people seem to find it natural to think about desktops directionally: go up, go left, go right. I did not find that natural. I want to organize my desktops by function (e-mail desktop, web desktop, project A development, project B development). When I want to go to my e-mail desktop, I don't care where I am right now.

I started out with jsPager, which is freeware. I have included a link, but it no longer works. As near as I can tell, the author and home page have now evaporated from the face of the earth. jsPager presents your virtual desktops as a rectangular array, from 1x1 to 3x3. It allows mouse edge panning, but fortunately it can be disabled. It allows definable hotkeys to move left, right, up, and down, which I found useless. It does put up a miniature map of the entire universe, with mini versions of all of the windows in their relative locations, and allows you to click on one to switch to that desktop. I found that very natural. However, it did not have the ability to assign a particular hotkey to a particular desktop. I had to use the mouse.

jsPager works by moving the window coordinates. Windows on non-visible desktops have negative or large positive coordinates, placing them well offscreen. This works well with most apps, although it does not work for Microsoft PowerPoint.

One of the side effect of this is that ALL of the windows on ALL of the desktops always appear on the task bar at all times. Clicking on a taskbar icon was usually the quickest way to change desktops, although the taskbar does get a bit crowded.

I did get used to jsPager, and I have been using it at work for about 3 years, despite a crash here and there. However, for some reason, it does not work for me at home. I work rather differently at home; most of my home work is monitoring newsgroups and surfing. At home, I tried the Microsoft Virtual Desktop powertoy. This uses an entirely different philosophy, using the more obscure Windows XP "desktop" feature. It has a minimalist feature set. It always creates exactly 4 desktops, no more no less. It adds tray icons to select one of the four, and creates (fixed) hotkeys to switch directly to them. It has been working well for me at home, where 4 desktops is enough.

This week, I encountered goScreen. I have fallen in love. I have uninstalled jsPager and turned off the Microsoft PowerToy. goScreen is shareware -- about $29 -- but it is worth every penny. The author, Andrew Guryanov, has done a fabulous job with the details in this app. The program is extremely configurable, so that you can make it work like almost any of the other tools. It allows up to 40 virtual desktops. It u can display its window map either as a docked (and hideable) toolbar at a screen edge, or as a rectangular map like jsPager. Or, if you prefer, it can show the universe as a simple listbox. It uses a simple hide/show paradigm for switching desktops, which seems to be faster than either of the other choices. It also supports the assignment of specific hotkeys to specific desktops. It allows you to "lock" certain applications to certain desktops. It allows you to have some windows that always appear on all desktops. It allows you to change window locations by dragging and dropping, or by using a simple right-click on the window map.

It even has some weird features that might be useful to some people. One of the problems with a full stack of apps is that it can be difficult to pick the app you want. goScreen has a feature called "packing", in which it rearranges your windows so that the title bars are all visible in a neatly spaced stack. When you click on one of the apps, the windows rearrange themselves so that the other title bars are still visible. I had not seen this in a desktop manager before.

I strongly recommend goScreen.

One of the other quirks in my personality is an excessive fondness for office supplies, and especially for writing instruments. I have more pens than a person could possibly use in a lifetime. All kinds of pens -- rollerball, felt tip, fountain, ball point. My favorites change over time, but I nearly always carry 4 pens in my pocket.

In fact, one of my disappointments this year was that none of the major pen manufacturers (Pentel, Shaeffer, Pilot, RoseArt, Bic) really introduced anything new for the back-to-school season. Usually, there is something really interesting to try out in August and September, but not this year. One of the more disturbing trends this year is that all of the major office supply stores (Office Depot, Staples, Office Max in our area) have come out with their own private brand of writing instrument. This can only mean a continued slide in quality, as these cheap-as-possible knockoffs take up the shelf space that used to be occupied by better pens.

I own a number of fountain pens as well, from an expensive Mont Blanc down to affordable European pens from AW. One of the things I've learned is that "more expensive" does not translate to "better writing". (For me, "better writing" means "smooth and quiet without skipping".) I'm carrying two fountain pens right now that cost me less than $30 that are among the best I've ever used. Ironically, the best writing pen I own is a cheap, plastic pen from AW in Germany with a thin, steel nib.

I'm also carrying a Pilot Precise V5, which is among the best of the rollerball pens. It's too bad the pen manufacturers don't have "beta test" programs, like software firms do. I could be a valuable resource.

I'm pleased as punch to announce that I've been named a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) again this year, for the 11th consecutive year. I'm an MVP in the "Windows DDK" area. That stands for "driver development kit", which is what I use to write device drivers.

The MVP award is given to folks who help propel Microsoft towards its goal of world domination, either by writing books, by giving lectures, by leading user groups, or by answering questions in newsgroups and web forums. My specialty is the latter; I have a disease which renders me unable to prevent myself from answering questions in technical newsgroups.

It's an honor, because you can't "apply" for membership; you can only be named an MVP if other MVPs nominate you for the award. The toys are pretty cool, too; I get a free copy of MSDN Universal, access to private MVP newsgroups, and a $150 shopping spree at the Microsoft company store.

So, thanks very much, Microsoft. I appreciate it.

President Bush is entirely within his rights to nominate a Supreme Court Justice who has never been a judge. In fact, they need not even be a lawyer, although that would be unusual.

However, I sincerely hope Mr. Bush does not expect his nominee to be rubber stamped into her office-for-life. The fact that there is no record of rulings and opinions makes it even more important that the Senate explore her beliefs and opinions, and critically important that she answer those questions, unlike Judge "Dodge 'Em" Roberts.

This is a job interview. Stonewalling by Ms. Miers should be answered with the same action one would get in a job interview: "no thank you".