AprilR's WebLog

Fun C++ history

2009-10-08T23:11:00Z

Rico Mariani has quite simply become one of my favorite people, professionally and personally. Not long after I first met him, as we started working on the problem of fixing Visual Studio help, about a year ago, I would describe him to people as the "Energizer Bunny" and the Master of Analogy. His energy and confidence are contagious. His technical chops are top notch, in depth and breadth, and even at this great company, not often matched. His ability to talk straight is refreshing. He'll call anybody's BS, no matter who is in the room when he does it. I've seen him seize moments to inspire people, and push people when they aren't pushing themselves hard enough (met with mixed reactions, depending on his tactics, my only minor criticism which I have to mention lest this become a complete suck-up post ;)). He's one of the few people that I have seen master rapid context switching between the tactical and the strategic. At the same time, Rico isn't one of these engineers that unhealthfully dedicates their entire 24/7 life to code. He's a husband and father, and has hobbies that make great use of his creativity and gregarious nature (I'll let him disclose those!).

All of this said to point you to a group of recent posts about his long history with Visual Studio and dev tools in general. I thought I'd highlight this one post that includes some fun C++ history:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ricom/archive/2009/10/06/my-history-of-visual-studio-part-2.aspx

Enjoy~

AprilR

Surface Hardware - Closed System

2009-10-01T19:43:00Z

We get a lot of inquiries about upgrading this or that in the Surface tables. This is not supported, and as our hardware test guru mentioned, everyone should consider the table a closed system - like an XBOX. The software and hardware components are developed and tested with this in mind, so messing with any components or even unsupported drivers can cause your Surface to have errors, performance issues or even stop working altogether.

For questions about your Surface and table, make sure you are checking the Community site for information, especially before changing the configuration of your table.

http://community.surface.com/

New to Surface? Check out the partner site:

http://partner.surface.com/EN/Pages/default.aspx

AprilR

The Microsoft Surface Team developer contest!

2009-08-25T20:31:00Z

Win a Microsoft Surface!~

WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND HOW…..

Create the most innovative, next-generation application experience for Microsoft Surface and enter to win a Microsoft Surface developer unit! Partner companies who want to develop on the Microsoft Surface platform. First time using Microsoft Surface? Even better. The touch first challenge is a great opportunity to try the Microsoft Surface SDK Workstation Edition, so start developing and you could win the grand prize.

WHERE

On Facebook - check it out: http://www.facebook.com/pages/touch-first-developer-challenge/99041713561

WHEN

It’s happening, now! Enter today. The Challenge continues through Monday, October 12, 2009, at 5 PM PST.

Ten finalists will be selected and notified through a Facebook message on or around Friday, October 15, 2009.

HOW

1. Join the Microsoft Surface QuickStart program and download the Microsoft Surface SDK 1.0 SP1.

2. Design an application built on the Microsoft Surface platform. Submissions will be accepted on either the workstation or developer unit editions of the SDK.

· Application must be based on WPF or XNA to qualify.

· Entry must also apply to one (or more) of the following six industries:
Automotive, Retail, Healthcare, Financial, Hospitality, and/or Public Sector.

3. Create a short video highlight of the application in action. Upload the video to the Microsoft Surface Facebook fan page and complete the entry. Judges from the Microsoft Surface team will review the application alongside all other entries. The most innovative and creative application will win the challenge.

4. Upload and complete the Contest Submission Form on the Surface QuickStart site at:

https://partner.surface.com/login/signin.aspx

5. Email the form to surfacep@microsoft.com.

Have Fun!

Quick Poll: Importing Pictures - what do you use/do?

2009-07-24T19:47:00Z

Don't get overly excited, I'm not planning a feature here, but would love any feedback you stop to give here.

I consider myself a fairly savvy person, but I'm also impatient and a control-freak about some things. Even though Windows offers a nice photo-import tool that will nicely name and tag your photos for you, I always skip it and just open the folder. I copy the photos directly (in Windows Explorer) from the card or camera to the destination folder. I realized this the other day - I don't even stop to consider the option, I quickly open and go....

What about you? What do you do with your photos? Do you use the Windows feature or other software, and do you actually stop and take the time to sort and tag and merge into the right places?

I think for me it I am usually just in a hurry to dump the photos so I can back them up and get the card emptied for my camera. But as cards get so big, it is a long time between dumps which means lots of pictures are piling up waiting to be sorted and tagged, when I could have just tried to do that to start.

I do recall the one time I used the Windows feature, I wasn't overly confident, and didn't feel completely in control. For example, when sorting a large number of photos, it would be nice to remove the photos you already imported, but I get nervous saying "delete after import" when something good go wrong in the import and then the files would be lost. Okay, yes, I have photo recovery software, but you know what I mean....

Let me know -

April

One of My Favorite Things

2009-07-23T20:11:00Z

I just noticed myself smiling. This is one of my favorite things - the way I develop plans and proposals. I love doing the research: finding best practices, looking for the latest guidance, reviewing my old text books, reviewing notes from interviewing team and technology experts, and more. I love filtering all of this for the golden nuggets and combining it with my own knowledge and experience, making this plan or proposal better than it ever could have been before.

Too many times people rush to just do the way they think it should be done, or, asking someone else to tell them how to do it, or, just doing things the way they have always been done.

The start of a project is an incredibly busy time, but also the best opportunity to do your best to set it up for success. Don't miss the chance to pull from various sources to start it off on the right foot.

april

Getting my head around multiple users, multi-touch

2009-06-30T23:29:00Z

I'm nearly one week in to the new team and I've already absorbed a lot - from project issues and product planning, to people and processes. Part of my learning plan on the new team, however, is to also get to know the product itself.

This article came through my mail box today, which is good timing. I've been grappling with this myself the past week. I've been trying to think of all of the different things I do collaboratively, and not just in working with others in parallel or through divide-and-conquer. The value of Surface is in the ability for multiple people to work on something together - at the same time, on the same device. v1 of Surface already provides some digital forms of analog activities, like working on a puzzles and looking at pictures.

But what other types of applications would be valuable to a group of people wanting to do something together?

aprilr

Moving on again!

2009-06-16T23:10:00Z

Hey there blog readers :) Just a quick post to let you know that I am moving again - this time to Microsoft Surface

I have been in our Developer Division for 11 years; I have had a great time working on the development of Microsoft Help 3.0, and unforgettable times working on the Visual C++ team. I've enjoyed communicating with all of you over these past few years, too!

But, I am definitely ready to take on a new challenge. I'll be utilizing my project management skills and exploring application of recently learned skills from the UW Bothell MBA program in tackling a new product, business and customer base.

SO, if you want to keep up with the latest on Help 3, make sure you subscribe to the Help 3 team blog and if you use Twitter, follow @Help3! Soon we will be posting a great guide about the new "platform."

If you want to keep up with Visual C++, you probably already know about the C++ Team Blog.

Thanks for all of your comments and support. I hope you follow me to the new world of Surface, too!

April

Another cool new VC++ 2010 feature: the next generation of buffer overrun protection

2009-06-02T21:41:00Z

See this cool Channel 9 video with one of my favorite peeps - Louis Lafreniere - VC++ 2010 is shaping up to be quite a release!

http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/Going+Deep/Louis-Lafreniere-Next-Generation-Buffer-Overrun-Protection-gs/

Cool new C++ feature in Visual Studio 2010!

2009-06-02T19:15:00Z

Check it out this cool feature that my old team has - c++ squiggles!

Read Mitchell Slep's post all about it on the VC team blog -

http://blogs.msdn.com/vcblog/archive/2009/06/01/c-gets-squiggles.aspx

- April

Impact VS10 - Memorial Day Weekend Challenge

2009-05-22T23:59:00Z

The word is out - and so far, customer feedback is extremely positive about the MSDN low-bandwidth view. But what about you? You should have a say, too. So my challenge to you this weekend is to take a moment to check it out if you haven't already and then cast your vote!

A - LOVE IT AND WILL ALWAYS USE IT!

B - It's OK, I'll use it when I'm on a slow or expensive connection

C - YUCK I CANNOT USE THIS.

Post your VOTE here - comment that you are in bucket A, B or C. Get your friends to vote. And, if you have them, make suggestions on what to include/not include/change for the offline help view in the next VS10 pre-release.

C'mon, bring it on! You have three days to take 5 minutes to shape the product help experience in the Visual Studio 2010 product.

- AprilR

Help 3 is getting its Social on

2009-05-21T02:15:00Z

In case you missed it below - the help 3 team is keeping you up to date and providing resources for help 3 through modern means:

Twitter - Follow @help3!

Join the MVPs on Facebook - there is a Help 3 page and a Help 3 group - there are also groups for Visual Studio 2010

And, all new! Watch the new Help3 blog for a first post tonight! http://blogs.msdn.com/help3team

Enjoy!

- aprilr

Early Parts of Help3 come to life in Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1!

2009-05-18T22:09:00Z

Soma has announced the release of the first Beta of the next version of Visual Studio is available to MSDN subscribers. In this release, you will see that product documentation is only available online. While you are using that, do us a favor and try the new low-band view! It's clean, simple and FAST! Check it out and give us your feedback - simply visit the MSDN library, or take your favorite short cut, Live Search or MSDN Search to get there, and click on the 'switch on lowbandwidth view' link.

April

What does DITA mean to you?

2009-05-13T00:01:00Z

SO, I realize, it has been over a month since WritersUA, and still, no really helpful posts about what-it-is and how-to-use-it for Help 3.0, but, this is only because there have been a few MORE changes that are being finalized. In just a couple more weeks we'll be free to share all the fun details with you....it is all good, though, so don't worry too much!

BUT, in the meantime, whilst the team toils away on this release, I've got my mind a bit further out - on 3.1 to be exact. Yes, THE 3.1 release, the one that we expect to support all ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) on Windows. The BIG one. So, one of the things I'm looking at is the various connections between authoring tools and publishing pipelines and the point where the content gets on the box, where Help 3.0 actually sits.

One topic I hear coming up again and again is - what does this mean for DITA (http://dita.xml.org/book/dita-wiki-knowledgebase)? Well, from the little research I have done, I think that DITA and Help 3 are fundamentally compatible.

What I want to hear from you all, though, is, what does DITA mean to you? Take the question for whatever it is to you - post a comment or e-mail me directly.

Thanks!!

aprilr

Help3 @ WritersUA

2009-04-01T19:55:00Z

Monday I presented the latest news on Microsoft Help 3.0 at the 2009 Software User Assistance conference hosted by WritersUA! We've made a lot of progress and many design decisions and changes since PDC back in October. We had originally expected to be ready Visual Studio's next Beta release, but now we plan to show off our bits in Beta 2. Over the next month I'll be writing several posts about the ins and outs of Help3 and at the end of April I will be back on Channel9 with some demos and any updates.

As our team has grown, and we've been getting MVPs and VSIP partners up to speed, so you'll be able to keep up with Help 3 in a couple of new ways:

A new Facebook Help 3 page run by our beloved Microsoft Help MVPS -

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=70197449895

On Twitter - Search on #Help3 or follow me, Lirpa, or Help3

- April

Help 3 @ the PDC

2008-09-26T07:55:00Z

When I last wrote, we had just kicked off our user group tour and the team was just getting going. Since then, we have staffed all but one position, vetted an architecture and decided on the 'v1.0' set of features for our new help platform. We also created rich prototypes - nearly end to end. I've been talking to internal and external customers and partners and everyone agrees - this is going to be cool. We've been able to keep our design simple and straightforward and used existing technology where we could. So, when can you see it and when can you learn more!?!? Well, I'm using this post to both kick off a series of informational posts and to let you know that myself and a few others will be at the PDC next month! You'll find us at the Windows SDK and MSDN Library booth. We will also be looking for your feedback there - the first couple hundred responders to our live survey will get some cool swag. Hope to meet you there!

Stay tuned!

April