Random .NET Ramblings

I was just ordering some new Business Cards so I was checking out the web sites I have listed on the back of my cards and found this little tidbit An Easy Way to Create a Bootable USB Drive for Windows 7 from Channel 10. I can’t wait to get the RTM bits so I can test this utility out. For the RC of Win7 I spend 2 hours making two bootable USB drives (one 64bit the other 32bit) it took so long because the messed up the steps the first time. This will help make the process go faster and I hope get more people to use a bootable USB to install from as it takes sooooo much less time than from a DVD.

The Windows product group has launched a contest to get people  started with coding Windows. There will be several winners from around the world and everyone who submits something by 8/15/2009 will be eligible to win a $1000 gift card.

There are 7 guiding principles that the submitted applications need to address:

• Simplify My Life
• More Media, More Places
• Gaming
• Work from Anywhere
• Safeguard Your Work
• Applications for a Better Tomorrow

• Libraries
• Windows Touch
• Shell Integration
• DirectX 11
• Sensor and Location Platform

Check out the site for all the rules The Code⁷ Contest.

So go! I would suggest you get the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Beta 1 as there are some new Namespaces to help with new Windows 7 features.

I almost forgot you could get a free trip to the PDC

Good luck!

Steve Marx has created a nice video explaining Windows Azure check it out on his blog “What is Windows Azure?” (a Hand-Drawn Video). I have no clue how he managed to do the drawing and the voice over and sound so relaxed. There must have been chemicals involved ;).

I am happy to announce that I have a new job here at Microsoft! This will not change much about my involvement with many things I do today such as Code Camps, BarCamp etc. and it’s not a big change from the outside but inside a big company like Microsoft small things matter.

To recap where I am and where I have been, I was hired by the West Region Developer Platform & Evangelism Team (WRDPE). I started in the group that is now called the Audience Team where I was focused on talking to as many developers in SoCal as I could and making sure others that were talking to developers in SoCal got what they needed from Microsoft. This was a fantastic job and now Lynn Langat & Daniel Egan are doing a great job at it. Then last year about this time I was offered a job in the Customer Team for WRDPE where I would shift focus on enabling and highlighting the success customers have with the overall Microsoft platform and technology. So what's new? Now Microsoft has me focused on developers, ISV & consultants as well as software startups that are not currently using Microsoft products or technology to show the value, enable and highlight there success they can have with the Microsoft platform. I can see while it will be hard to get non-Microsoft developers attention once I get a chance to understand their goals I know I can show how and what Microsoft has to offer to help them achieve their goals.

So if you are or know any ISVs, consultant shops or startups that want to know more of what Microsoft can offer please put me in touch.