Random .NET Ramblings

[Cross posted with Strategy and Architecture Council blog]

Joe Shirey and I (Woody Pewitt) have recently concluded a series of Architect Councils titled The Importance of the Client. In 2 weeks and 1 day we did 10 events in 7 cities and while it is always great to meet customers working with our tools and technology due to the break neck travel involved we are happy it’s over!

We talked about what investments Microsoft as made and is making for web development including ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX, AJAX Control Toolkit and ASP.NET 4.0 AJAX Preview 4 as well as the work we have done on Internet Explorer 8. We talked about the commitment Microsoft has made with IE8 as far as browser compliance. We also showed some of they ways developers can extend the IE8 shell\chrome with Accelerators, Web Slices and Search.

We had several questions about IE8 and Group Policy and the complete information about Group Policy and Internet Explorer 8 are available but I am happy to say that the developers tools can be turned off. There are many other setting that are manageable via Group Policies in IE8 checkout the Internet Explorer 8 Deployment Guide for more information on how to get IE out to your users with the settings you wan to have for your environment.

If you are interested in the slides I presented I have put them out on my SkyDrive.

Some links that may be of interest were:

• What's New in Internet Explorer 8
• SilverLight Demos
  • Hard Rock Memorabilia
  • Kelley Blue Book Perfect Car Finder: Photo Edition
  • SnapFlow
  • Local Chess
• As an example of a ClickOnce once and rich visualization of data with WPF I showed Vertigo’s Family.Show application.
• For an example of an application that extends the reach of a web site I showed Slideshare’s SlideShare Ribbon that enables interaction with Slideshare from within PowerPoint 2007.
• As examples of extending on to the mobile platform I pointed out Pandora for Windows Mobile.
• I also talked about rich mobile applications with the example of PockeTwit.

For all of you who made it to the events thanks for showing up for those who did not sorry we missed you but we hope you all can make our next set of events witch will be on line. Stay tuned to this blog for details.

The West Region DPE Customer team (the team I work for) is just about to start our 3rd quarter Architect Councils. This Architect Council will be the last in person set of events our team will be doing this fiscal year 4th quarter will be all virtual.

This time around the topic is “The Importance of the Client” we will cover The Value of the Client, The Changing Face of the Web, Creating Powerful Applications on Computers and Devices and The Future of the Client. This is a topic that I am passionate about! Way too often software developers are now creating only online experiences for there users but ask a consumer I bet you often they don’t like the experience. Compare that to when the consumer gets a rich client application I will bet dollars to donuts they prefer the client application.

Locations

Click on the city name for details and to register

3/24/2009 – Bellevue, WA
3/25/2009 – Mountain View, CA
3/26/2009 – San Francisco, CA
3/31/2009 – San Diego, CA
4/1/2009 – Irvine, CA
4/2/2009 – Los Angeles, CA
4/7/2009 – Denver, CO

Local VSTS for Database Professionals workshop around SoCal…

Overview
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition provides advanced tools for database change management and testing and offers functionality to enable database developers and administrators to be more productive and increase application quality in the database tier.

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition delivers a market shifting database development product that provides a foundation for managed database evolution through the use of an offline, Visual Studio project-centered source code control system together with a suite of tools designed to help understand the impact of proposed changes. Schemas, DML and metadata can be versioned, code can be automatically reviewed using static analysis, unit tests can be created and executed to ensure quality, and comparisons can be made with test and production systems prior to deployment. Integration with Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server helps increase the productivity of the database professionals by enabling them to become an integral part of the application team.

Please join Microsoft and Adventos for this one-day course to learn how the Developer and Database editions of Team System work together in the application lifecycle.

Course Outline

I. Core Features of TFS

II. Team Projects

III. Source Control and Team Foundation Build

IV. Managing Databases in a Team Environment

Who Should Attend?

Database Administrators, Database Developers

The schedule for each event is:

Welcome: 8:30 PM

Seminar: 9:00 AM-4:30 PM

Los Angeles, CA
March 3, 2009
Click here to register with invitation code: 31A402

Irvine, CA

March 4, 2009

Click here to register with invitation code: E4995A

San Diego, CA

March 5, 2009

Click here to register with invitation code: 3B9F3B

To Register by Phone –

Call 1.877.MSEVENT (1.877.673.8368) with invitation code.

It’s been a long while but we finally have a MSDN event scheduled the cool think is that it’s all about stuff people have been asking about.

The topics are:

Demystifying Azure - An Overview of the Azure Services Platform for Developers
Deepen your Debugging - Tips and Tricks for the Visual Studio 2008 Debugger
Developing for Windows Mobile Devices

All the details and more descriptions are at MSDN Events: Azure, Debugging and Mobility where you can register.

if you are you should consider going to the Dealmaker Media event Startonomics LA. This event looks like a great place to lean about the current ways startups are being evaluated by venture capitalists.

From the description of the event:

About Startonomics

Startonomics is a one-day workshop designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs on how to create simple, actionable metrics; and how to use them to make better product and marketing decisions for long-term growth and startup success.

I have been to several Dealmaker Media in Santa Monica and they are great events that everyone gets something good from.

We are hosting 2-day, technical in-depth training we are offering on Microsoft Live Platform in Los Angeles & San Francisco.

From the invitation:

Why Attend?

You should attend Jumpstart 2009 to learn all there is to know about the consumer components of Microsoft's Software-plus-Services platform.

• Learn the full breadth of the Live Platform in more than a dozen technical sessions
• Roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty in the hands-on labs
• Meet with Live Platform experts and get answers to your specific questions
• Hear best practices from your peers
• Experience the community of Live Platform partners and their interesting solutions
• Connect with Microsoft field
• Provide input on Live Platform technology direction

Los Angeles, CA

December 1-2, 2008
Microsoft Los Angeles Office
333 South Grand Avenue, Suite 3300
Los Angeles, CA 90071

Pre-register today!

San Francisco, CA

December 4-5, 2008
Microsoft San Francisco Office
835 Market Street, Suite 700
San Francisco, CA 94103

Pre-register today!

I will be attending the LA event so if anyone wants to train pool from San Diego let me know.

Wow we survived!

Last week was PDC in LA and we did The Underground @ PDC event, I had worked on this event for almost 6 months. We had a bunch of last minute drama around some of the speakers but it all went off without a hitch.

We had TechZulu there, they did about 15 interviews and streamed all the presentations live. Microsoft’s UGTV (User Group TV) was there as well and will be posting segments on TechNet Edge in about 2 weeks. We had two photographers who took some outstanding photos, see them on The Underground site soon and filckr.

I all we had 396 people at the event and the content should reach at least 30,000 people as it gets posted over the next 2 to 3 weeks. And all I can say was it was a hell of a lot of work but wow was it worth it not only was it a bunch of fun for everyone who came but many people who did not go to the PDC (or even know what PDC is) will get to see some information about the PDC announcements.

It’s back!

The new site is http://underground.socalcodecamp.com go signup!

Some Background: At the last PDC the team that runs the event was (as is appropriate) concerned with the attendees and the national press that was generated form the event. But they did not allow for any local community interaction so I did an event that was for the SoCal local developers. The catch was the PDC team did not want us to compete with the main event so we just tried to not let them know about the event so we called it PDC Underground. At the TechEd before the last PDC the Regional Directors had just done there Grok Talks so I asked them to come and do a Grok Talks live event at the PDC Underground. The event was great and everyone had a great time and learned a lot!

So here comes the next PDC back in Los Angels what do you think I am doing? :) That’s right but I lost the cool domain name and for internal reasons we have try to remove it a little from PDC so the name “The Underground” is being used. As for location we got what must be the coolest location a geek event has ever taken place in, it’s called The Edison. The Edison was the first private power plant in Downtown LA and much of the old equipment has been incorporated in to the venue. And it’s really under street level so it’s the perfect place to do the event!

I hope you all can make it there not much room at the event so signup quick!

Update: I for got to link to the WayBackMachine link to the old site so here it is pdcunderground.com.

Sorry for not getting this posted sooner! If you want to see to great speakers talk about some great new topics you need to be at the San Diego .NET User Group’s Fall Tech Day! Topics include TDD, DI, and SoC with ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET MVC in Action, Linq Overview & SQL Server 2008 for Developers. The speakers are Jeffrey Palermo & Daniel Egan they are both fantastic speakers I know you would learn a lot and have a great time!

Register Today

The West Region Visual Studio sales team and Neudesic are hosting 6 events where customers are invited to come see how Visual Studio Team System and Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 can be used to implement the Agile method known as "Scrum".

8/26/2008 - Mountain View, CA Register

8/28/2008 - Phoenix, AZ Register

9/9/2008 - Irvine, CA Register

9/10/2008 - Los Angeles, CA Register

9/23/2008 - Denver, CO Register

9/25/2008 - Salt Lake City, UT Register