The Windows Embedded Team is reporting that Billg's keynote will be Webcast live on Tuesday.

Didn't come to MEDC? Don't fret, the keynote will be a live Webcast!
Bill Gates is giving the keynote speach to Mobile and Embedded Developers Tuesday. If you couldn't come (tsk tsk, maybe next year?), you can at least watch the webcast of the speech live from Las Vegas, 9am - 10:30am Pacific.

Keynote page link.

It looks like registration is now open for Meltdown, which is scheduled for July 26 and 27 in Seattle. (I'm bugging my boss now to let me go.) Here's the page with the details:

Meltdown 2005 - Gathering the Superheroes of Game Development
Join us at Meltdown 2005 in Seattle to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of DirectX. Prepare to usher in the next era of amazing gaming and graphics for Windows with two solid days of presentations and demos spanning five tracks. Learn what's under the hood of Visual Studio 2005, what new advancements are coming in Windows Graphics Foundation and what to expect from Windows codename 'Longhorn' that will make it the biggest Windows launch since Windows 95. Discover how the business of creating, selling and distributing games is maturing and how you can best prepare yourself, your titles and your company for the continued wave of innovation that only is found on Windows PC's.

Even if you're not interested in going, check out the site for the cool graphics. :)

We know that some people are having difficulty with the Visual Studio 2005 installation process and so we have some resource pages available right now. This weekend, we posted a tool to help clean up a previous installation (Beta 1 or CTP) before installing Beta 2. Here's the list of documents and tools currently available:

Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 Install Issues
This page contains links to the uninstall pages for both Visual Studio 2005 and for the express editions. In addition, this page contians a link to a new uninstall utility that can help you clean up if your uninstall didn't finish properly.

Uninstall Beta 1 Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions
This page contains the steps for uninstalling express. If you follow this in order, you should be set to go.

Uninstall Beta 1 Visual Studio Standard, Professional Editions
Same for this one. Follow the steps and you shouldn't have any trouble with your installation of Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2. If you do have trouble, see the Install Issues link above.

 

We've got a draft of the updated document that I'm planning to post Monday around using Visual C++ 2005 Express with the Platform SDK. There are a couple of issues that are tackled in the article and the workarounds should get you up and running.

First, there is an issue with the dialog box that lets you set the paths in the IDE. That will be fixed in the release version, but for now you'll have to follow the instructions in the article to change the paths. The second issue had to do with using the Win32 wizard to generate a Windows application. You'll be happy to hear there's a new workaround in this article that also fixes that problem. Here's the article:

Using Visual C++ 2005 Express Beta 2 with the Platform SDK

Please give this a try and leave a comment or drop me a note at brianjo@microsoft.com if you have any trouble making the instructions work for you.

Thanks!

Brian

Today we posted new content around .NET Framework version compatibility. Here's a link to the primary document:

Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 and 2.0 (Beta) Compatibility
The Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 builds on the success of the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 and 1.1 to provide the best runtime environment for Web and Microsoft Windows client applications. Microsoft's compatibility goal for .NET Framework 1.1 applications is that they should work smoothly on the .NET Framework 2.0 except for a set of documented changes. During the Beta 2 release, we have not yet achieved this goal and are seeking feedback on application issues that can be addressed before the release of the .NET Framework 2.0. This document discusses application compatibility scenarios and provides recommendations on best practices for different segments.

The other documents include Compatibility Testing Scenarios and the List of Breaking Changes.

Barak let me know that the Microsoft Component Installer Software Development Kit is live on the download center. ISVs can use this tool to make sure their customer's computers have the necessary Windows components installed. Visit the page here for more information:

Microsoft Component Installer Software Development Kit (Spring 2005)
Microsoft Component Installer Software Development Kit (Spring 2005) helps you deliver the needed Windows component to your customer in order to run your application. The SDK provides support for installing any or all of the following components (in the following order):

• Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.8
• Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
• Microsoft DirectX 9.0c Microsoft DirectX 9.0c for Managed Code
• Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 Language Pack
• Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1
• Microsoft ASP.NET Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1
• Microsoft Windows Installer 2.0
• Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1

The Windows Server 2003 Customer Preview Program site is now online. What is Windows Server 2003 R2? From the FAQ:

Windows Server 2003 R2, an update release of the Windows Server 2003 operating system, makes it easier and more cost effective to extend connectivity and control to identities, locations, data, and applications throughout and beyond your organization.

Here's a link to the new page with information about getting the preview:

Windows Server 2003 R2 Customer Preview Program
Be among the first to experience the upcoming version of the Windows Server operating system, which helps you extend connectivity and management throughout your organization.

I actually found this download via ActiveWin. Here's the scoop: The download "repairs access to .NET Framework Reference help content in Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition Beta 2."

Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition Beta 2 Help Fix
The Beta 2 Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions shipped with an issue that prevented the majority of the .NET Framework API reference documentation from appearing in the Table of Contents, Index, and Search Results windows for either Online or Local content. The source of the problem is faulty "filter" definitions. These issues have been fixed in later builds of the Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions.

CLR PUM Jason Zander has posted information about the availability of debug symbols for Beta 2. If you haven't used the symbol server before in your debugging, this post is a good introduction to getting started doing that. Check it out here:

Public Symbols for Beta 2 Now Posted
...The symbols posted are what we call "Public Symbols". They contain the function names and offset inside of the DLL's, but no line number or local variable mapping information. To see the difference, check out these two call stacks I did on regasm first without and then with symbols...

JD let Kent and me know that PAG has published some new guidance around threat modeling. Threat modeling is more difficult than it might seem at first, but this guidance makes it a lot easier by helping you narrow down what it is you need to protect yourself against.

Threat Modeling Web Applications
This guidance presents the patterns & practices approach to creating threat models for Web applications. Threat modeling is an engineering technique you can use to help you identify threats, attacks, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures that could affect your application. You can use threat modeling to shape your application's design, meet your company's security objectives, and reduce risk.