Mark Downie

I work for :microsoft: as a Product Manager building debugging and diagnostics tooling for :visualstudio: :dotnet: and Azure.

I blog here: https://www.poppastring.com/blog

I also serve as the primary maintainer for one of the oldest .NET open-source projects, dasBlog :csharp:.

https://github.com/poppastring/dasblog-core

From 🇬🇧 now living in 🇺🇸. #614 #Columbus

I talk a lot about the #NBA

I'm searchable.

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npub1q8rjachnw8g9ql253q7hwcz3zyu35nwr3d8su42c48xtuwv6ugnsd2lylq

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poppastring@dotnet-social.mostr.pub

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Published at

2025-04-05T19:35:29Z

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Last Notes

2025-04-05 19:35:24

A post from the archive 📫:
Pivot
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/pivot
#musings

2025-04-05 02:13:38

Just published 🚀: Happy Birthday
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/happy-birthday
#microsoft

2025-04-02 19:35:29

A post from the archive 📫:
Debug

2025-04-02 18:05:32

"Microsoft is collaborating with Anthropic to create an official C# SDK for the Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP has seen rapid adoption in the AI community, and this partnership aims to enhance the integration of AI models into C# applications." #csharp #microsoft #mcp
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft-partners-with-anthropic-to-create-official-c-sdk-for-model-context-protocol

2025-04-01 01:42:35

debug-gym ... "They found that the best models could indeed improve their results by running pdb as a tool."
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/31/debug-gym/#atom-everything

2025-03-29 19:35:26

A post from the archive 📫:
AI mistakes are very different from human mistakes
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/ai-mistakes-are-very-different-from-human-mistakes
#artificialintelligence #musings

2025-03-28 01:27:52

**Bridging the Gap: The Future of Aspire**
"Aspire is a bet on better abstractions. It’s not just about spinning up containers faster — it’s about helping developers express what they’re building in a way that maps to how platform engineers run it."
#aspire #dotnet
https://medium.com/@davidfowl/bridging-the-gap-the-future-of-aspire-6eb421a92ab8

2025-03-26 19:35:26

A post from the archive 📫:
Kubernetes mutating admission webhook for dotnet-monitor?
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/kubernetes-mutating-admission-webhook-for-dotnetmonitor
#debugging #diagnostics #dotnet

2025-03-25 03:02:59

I was always nervous about this possibility.
"23andMe files for bankruptcy, putting customers’ genetic data at risk"
https://therecord.media/bankruptcy-proceedings-genetic-testing-company

2025-03-25 01:09:03

Just published 🚀: Selecting the right model for coding
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/selecting-the-right-model-for-coding
#visualstudio #artificialintelligence

2025-03-24 23:40:08

- reply

@nprofile…2e5c @nprofile…lv69 Thanks for sharing, I just subscribed too.

2025-03-22 19:35:30

A post from the archive 📫:
Curiosity unbounded
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/curiosity-unbounded
#musings

2025-03-22 02:37:11

The Official C# SDK for Model Context Protocol is now available! #dotnet #mcp
https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/csharp-sdk

2025-03-21 03:14:46

Has Search Become Just a Feature? https://om.co/2025/03/20/has-search-become-just-a-feature/

2025-03-19 19:35:26

A post from the archive 📫:
View the origin of a repeating call stack
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/view-the-origin-of-a-repeating-call-stack
#diagnostics #debugging #visualstudio

2025-03-19 00:35:55

249 miles (400km) of range from a five-minute charge is genuinely practical. #FastCharging #SustainableTravel
https://www.theverge.com/news/631552/byd-1000kw-charging-ev-han-l-tang-l-battery

2025-03-16 22:05:23

Just published 🚀: A simpler solution file format
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/a-simpler-solution-file-format
#dotnet #visualstudio

2025-03-15 19:35:24

A post from the archive 📫:
Unintended consequences
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/unintended-consequences
#musings

2025-03-15 02:26:21

It is incredibly hard to get anyone to notice a dumpster fire when the entire city is ablaze 🫠

2025-03-15 00:46:18

"Amazon is ending the option to not send Echo voice recordings to the cloud"
Data, data, data we cannot make bricks without clay! 🫠
https://www.theverge.com/news/630049/amazon-echo-discontinues-do-not-send-voice-recording-setting

2025-03-14 23:16:06

There is a new botnet that is infecting TP-Link routers
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/03/tp-link-router-botnet.html

2025-03-14 03:08:07

Apple innovation and execution
https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2025/3/13/apple-innovation-and-execution

2025-03-14 02:41:58

Introducing support for SLNX, a new, simpler solution file format in the .NET CLI #dotnet :dotnet:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/introducing-slnx-support-dotnet-cli/

2025-03-10 01:29:51

"$20,000/month for OpenAI’s specialized AI agents with "PhD-level" intelligence?"
Do folks with PhDs get paid this much?
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/would-you-pay-20000-month-for-specialized-ai-agents-with-phd-level-intelligence

2025-03-05 03:43:21

"The world's largest PC manufacturer just made the most niche laptop"
If Lenovo is willing to experiment like this there really is no need for Surface to try and be an Avante Garde hardware division.
https://www.windowscentral.com/hardware/laptops/the-worlds-largest-pc-manufacturer-just-made-the-most-niche-laptop-meet-the-new-lenovo-thinkbook-flip

2025-03-01 19:35:26

A post from the archive 📫:
Validate your identity on Bluesky with your GitHub account
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/validate-your-identity-on-bluesky-with-your-github-account
#musings #socialnetworks

2025-02-28 04:26:43

Initial impressions of GPT-4.5
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/27/introducing-gpt-45/#atom-everything

2025-02-26 19:35:25

A post from the archive 📫:
The return of WinDbg
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/the-return-of-windbg
#debugging #diagnostics #dumpanalysis

2025-02-25 04:55:25

Just published 🚀: Claude 3.7 Available for Visual Studio
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/claude-37-available-for-visual-studio
#copilot #artificialintelligence #visualstudio

2025-02-22 19:35:25

A post from the archive 📫:
Overly confident AI
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/overly-confident-ai
#musings #artificialintelligence

2025-02-21 03:12:25

"An #LLM trained to create backdoors in code"
Dynamically inserts backdoors into code 🤔
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/02/an-llm-trained-to-create-backdoors-in-code.html

2025-02-20 03:15:51

The #NAACP has announced the launch of the Black Consumer Advisory to help Black consumers stay informed on which companies promote diversity.
https://peopleofcolorintech.com/articles/naacp-responds-to-dei-cuts-with-new-spending-guide-for-black-shoppers/

2025-02-08 19:35:25

A post from the archive 📫:
What about Jevons paradox?
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/what-about-jevons-paradox
#musings #artificialintelligence

2025-01-22 03:31:36

Just published 🚀: AI mistakes are very different from human mistakes
https://www.poppastring.com/blog/ai-mistakes-are-very-different-from-human-mistakes
#musings #artificialintelligence

2025-01-10 02:22:58

My AI/LLM predictions for the next 1, 3 and 6 years, for Oxide and Friends #llm #ai
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jan/10/ai-predictions/#atom-everything

2025-01-09 03:17:35

Here's the official release of Microsoft's Phi-4 #llm now officially under an MIT license.
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jan/8/phi-4/#atom-everythinghttps://simonwillison.net/2025/Jan/8/phi-4/#atom-everything

2024-09-05 02:52:20

My nephew was in the same class as the shooter in Georgia.
The shooter got up, left the classroom, my nephew heard multiple gun shots, and then shooter attempted to get back in the classroom.
Someone my nephew shared a school bus with is dead. Our society continues to fail our children, and too many of us appear unmotivated to solve these issues.

2024-07-01 16:15:10

Closing of Sotomayor's dissent:
"Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law. Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity. If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop.
"With fear for our democracy, I dissent."

2023-08-09 03:21:50

Porcha Woodruff, 32, was eight months pregnant when she was arrested after facial recognition technology wrongly identified her as a suspect in a robbery and carjacking.
She is the sixth person, all of whom are Black, and the first woman known to be wrongfully arrested due to facial recognition technology.
#blackmastodon
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/business/facial-recognition-false-arrest.html

2023-07-12 02:00:56

"VC qanon" and the radicalization of the tech tycoons
via @npub1t8u…c7sk
https://anildash.com/2023/07/07/vc-qanon/