This year's TechEd in June will continue the practice/tradition of hosting community-driven Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) sessions. 

Never been to a BoF session?  BoFs are not the normal "eyes forward" sessions, rather, they are "eyes everywhere".  They're open discussions on a selected topic that foster interaction among the participants.  A moderator acts as emcee and guide, but never reads from a script or presentation, encouraging the group to provide their collective insights and experiences. 

Chances are there are plenty of people at TechEd who share your interests or face similar challenges and opportunities.  Here's your chance to find and interact with them.

BoF sessions are coordinated by INETA and Culminis, but driven by you, the community.  How can you help?

• If you're interested in moderating a particular topic, head to the Birds of a Feather session submission page. 
• Want to see which sessions have been submitted and vote for the ones you'd like to have accepted?  Go to the Birds of a Feather voting page.

Don't wait, submissions and voting for BoF sessions will close April 6th.

-Chris

I just posted the upcoming Northeastern regional events of interest to developers, but there also are some broader events coming up that you might consider:

5th Annual Microsoft Financial Services Developer Conference
April 25-26, 2007
Grand Hyatt, New York, NY
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032318224&Culture=en-US

Mix '07
April 30th - May 2nd, 2007
Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, NV
http://visitmix.com

Microsoft Healthcare & Life Sciences Developer Conference
May 21-22, 2007
Sheraton Atlantic City Hotel, Atlantic City, NJ
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032330657&culture=en-US

TechEd 2007
June 4-8, 2007
Orlando, FL
http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2007

PDC '07
October 2-5, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc

-Chris

Here's the latest recurring update of the upcoming events and user group meetings for developers in the Northeast.  Know of other events or user group meetings?  Please let me know!

Connecticut

March 21, 9-4 PM
Bob & Chris' MSDN Roadshow - Farmington, CT
".NET Framework 3.0"

March 27, 6-8 PM
Connecticut .NET User Group - Farmington, CT
"Features and Solutions in Office SharePoint Server 2007" - Brian Berry

April 12, 10:30 - 3:00 PM
Microsoft arcCouncil - Farmington, CT
"Microsoft and SAP Interoperability"

Massachusetts

March 20, 5:30 - 8:30
C# User Group of Greater Boston - Waltham, MA
"Understanding ASP.NET AJAX and the AJAX Control Toolkit" - Jason Beres

March 27, 6:00 - 7:15 PM
New England SharePoint User Group - Waltham, MA
"Office and MOSS Integration" - Mauro Cardarelli

March 31st and April 1st
Code Camp 7 - "Deer in Headlights!" - Waltham, MA
Join hundreds of your .NET community colleagues for a weekend of learning, networking, and fun!
Register to attend and/or present at TheDevCommunity.org

April 3, 6-8 PM
Western Mass .NET Users Group - Easthampton, MA
"Grokking C# 3.0 with C# 2.0" - Richard Hale Shaw

April 5, 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Beantown .NET User Group - Boston, MA
"Test Driven Development (TDD) and the GUI" - Steve Seymour, Rjae Easton, Robert Scott

April 5, 6:15 - 8:30 PM
New England Visual Basic Professionals - Waltham, MA
"Using the Amazon Web Services API" - Mike Culver, Amazon

April 5, 6:30 PM
Cape Cod .NET User Group - West Barnstable, MA
"Windows Mobile Applications" - Marcia McLean

April 12, 10:30 - 3:00 PM
Microsoft arcCouncil - Waltham, MA
"Microsoft and SAP Interoperability"

April 12, 6:30 PM
New England SQL Server User Group - Waltham, MA
"Reporting Services 2005" - Sunil Kadimdiwan

April 5, 6:15 - 8:30 PM
New England Visual Basic Professionals - Waltham, MA
"Introduction to InfoPath 2007 and Forms Services" - Barrett Simms

April 11, 5:30 - 8:30
Boston .NET User Group - Waltham, MA
1)  ".NET Technology Series" - 5:30 - 6:15 PM
2)  "Building Applications with Windows Workflow Foundation" - Michael Stiefel - 6:30 - 8:30

April 18, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Boston .NET Architecture Study Group - Waltham, MA
[Topic TBA]

April 19, 5:30 - 7:30
Team System Public User Group - Waltham, MA
[Topic TBA]

May 8, 5:30 - 8:30
Boston .NET User Group - Waltham, MA
1)  ".NET Technology Series" - 5:30 - 6:15 PM
2)  "Web Services in a Post Web 2.0 World" - Mike Culver, Amazon - 6:30 - 8:30

May 10, 6:30 PM
New England SQL Server User Group - Waltham, MA
"MS Access for he SQL Server DBA" - Dean Serrentino

MSDN Events:
May 22, 1-5 PM, Westborough, MA
June 7, 1-5 PM, Boston, MA
1) Next Generation Identity Management: Windows CardSpace  
2) Revving up Cross-Browser and Cross-Server Web Sites with the Microsoft AJAX Library 
3) Best Practices for Building Next Generation Web Applications Using Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX 

Maine

April 5, 1:30-3:30 PM
Maine Developer Network - Augusta, ME
"Developing with Windows Communication Foundation" - Chris Bowen

April 12, 6-8:30 PM
Maine Bytes User Group - Portland, ME
"Windows Presentation Foundation" - Chris Bowen

New Hampshire

April 4, 7:00 PM
New Hampshire SQL Users Group - Nashua, NH
[Topic TBA]

April 19, 6-8 PM
New Hampshire .NET User Group - Tyngsborough, MA (Yes, Massachusetts)
[Topic TBA] 

June 5, 1-5 PM
MSDN Event - Nashua, NH
1) Next Generation Identity Management: Windows CardSpace  
2) Revving up Cross-Browser and Cross-Server Web Sites with the Microsoft AJAX Library 
3) Best Practices for Building Next Generation Web Applications Using Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX 

New York (Upstate)

March 28, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
VDUNY - Visual Developers of Upstate NY - Rochester, NY
[Topic TBA]

MSDN Events:
May 8, 1-5 PM, Buffalo, NY
May 10, 1-5 PM, Syracuse, NY
1) Next Generation Identity Management: Windows CardSpace  
2) Revving up Cross-Browser and Cross-Server Web Sites with the Microsoft AJAX Library 
3) Best Practices for Building Next Generation Web Applications Using Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX 

April 4, 6:00 PM
Central New York .NET Developer Group - East Syracuse, NY
[Topic TBA] - Susan Wisowaty

Rhode Island

April 4, 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Rhode Island .NET Users Group - Bristol, RI
[Topic TBA] - Jason Beres

April 11, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Southern New England SQL Server User Group, Warwick, RI
"User-Defined Functions in SQL Server 2005" - Andrew Novick

May 2, 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Rhode Island .NET Users Group - Bristol, RI
[Topic TBA]

Vermont

April 16, 6:00 - 8:30
Vermont .NET User Group - Burlington, VT
"Introduction to 2D & 3D Game Development using the XNA Framework" - Griffith Townsend

May 14, 6:00 - 8:30
Vermont .NET User Group - Burlington, VT
[Topic TBA] - Don Kiely 

 

[Update 3/24 - Added Southern NE SQL Server Users Group meeting]

Two more stops made and one more to go on the first tour of Bob & Chris' MSDN Roadshow! 

Portland, ME

We visited the Portland, ME area and had a great audience brave the should-never-get-this-cold cold to come to the MESDA facility in Westbrook.

[Again, thanks to Bob for being Mr. Photographer!]

We're returning with the Roadshow in May, but I'll be back in the area on April 5th at 1:30 to speak with the Maine Developer Network user group in Augusta on WCF and again on April 12th to speak with the Maine Bytes User Group on WPF in Portland.

Manchester, NH

Two days later we were in Manchester, NH.  First of all, we had an amazing turnout.  The turnout was so amazing that we couldn't fit in the room!  If you weren't there, you missed out on Bob and I performing what we're now calling the ol' "Manchester Swap".  We had an overflow room where we each took turns repeating our sessions from the main room.

[Our Manchester Zune winner, Jason Hull!]

Rest assured that we won't be in the same facility for our next visit to New Hampshire.  Knowing how many of you are interested in attending, we'll find another place with plenty of room.

Thank you all for being good sports about the unusual logistics!

Session Follow-up

Some additional details from the week's questions and discussions:

• Choosing a WCF binding depends on a number of factors.  Here are some resources to help you decide:
  • System-Provided Bindings documentation on MSDN
  • Binding decision chart on Dennis van de Stelt's blog
  • Bindings and Security on MSDN  
• The WCF Service Trace Viewer always generates a lot of interest.  You may also want to check out the Live Service Trace Viewer which uses customized listeners to let you observe a WCF service while it is running as opposed to the after-the-fact viewing using the SDK's Service Trace Viewer.
• There were a number of questions about WCF instance management.  There's a great article on instancing, sessions, throttling, etc. on MDSN at http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/06/wcfessentials/default.aspx
• WCF's svcutil.exe tool (which we used to create client proxies) has more features than we could cover in the session.  Take a look the MSDN svcutil documentation for other options, such as service code validation, metadata document generate and other code generation options.
• There is an interesting article on Workflow Foundation (WF) performance at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Aa973808.aspx.

Roadshow Content

We're still working on a permanent home for the Roadshow materials and information, but we've gathered our content from the current tour and you can now download the presentations as a ZIP from the ArcStreamEast.net site.

Next Stop

We'll be visiting the Microsoft Offices in Farmington, CT on Tuesday (3/20) for our last stop until May.  Registration is actually "sold out" for the event and have been taking waitlist registrations!

-Chris

Microsoft's SoftGrid application virtualization team (based in Boston) is looking to expand!  They have posted the following opportunities:

• Group Program Manager - Boston, MA (US)
• Program Manager - Boston, MA (US)
• Project Manager - Boston, MA (US)
• Software Development Engineer - Boston, MA (US)
• Software Development Engineer - Boston, MA (US)
• Software Development Engineer in Test (QA Engineer) Sustaining - Boston, MA (US)
• Software Development Engineer in Test (QA Engineer) Sustaining - Boston, MA (US)
• Software Development Engineer in Test (QA Engineer) II - Boston, MA (US)
• Senior Development Engineer - Windows Internals - Boston, MA (US)
• Software Development Lead - Boston, MA (US)
• Software Engineer/Senior Engineer - Installer - Boston, MA (US)

If you have any questions or would like to apply, please contact Lauren Day:

Lauren Day

Microsoft

Staffing Consultant

27 Melcher Street 3rd Floor, Boston MA 02210

617-695-0336 ex. 101 EST

Home office: 978-686-2234 EST

laday@microsoft.com

It's great that with XNA, my job now officially lets me combine my hobby of gaming with my profession of software development.  With the announcements at the 2007 Game Developer Conference, the XNA Creator's Club Online site and the Dream-Build-Play contest site have moved into full availability.

XNA Game Studio Express is a free framework for (and I can vouch for this next word) easily creating both PC and XBox 360 playable games on the Windows platform.  (The also free) Visual C# Express is required to create games with XNA Game Studio Express.  PC deployment is free, but to play your XNA games on your XBox 360, you'll first need an XNA Creators Club license. 

The "Dream-Build-Play" contest is running through July 2, 2007 and if you create an original game with XNA Game Studio Express, you could win one of the prizes.

Some useful links for the game developer in you:

• XNA Developer Home
• XNA Creator's Club Online
• "Marblets" Starter Kit Game Sample
• Samples - Sprites, Mapping, Skinning, Animation, Fonts, etc.
• XNA FAQ
• XNA Tutorial Videos
• XNA Team Blog
• Dream-Build-Play Contest Site
• XNA Game Studio Express Download
• Visual C# Express Download

Now if only you can convince your boss that the next internal development support tool you write should have a gaming interface...

-Chris

P.S.  I'm planning to deliver a session on XNA-based game development at Code Camp 7.  ("Would You Like to Play a Game?" - Introduction to XNA Game Development.)  View the current list of CC7 sessions (and volunteer to give one if you'd like!)

[Perhaps old news for some, but I've found there's enough people I've bumped into who haven't heard of this to make it worth mentioning.]

In ADO.NET 2.0, there is a new class, SqlConnectionStringBuilder that can both create a connection string from strongly-typed properties or parse properties from an existing connection string.  It inherits from the base DBConnectionStringBuilder and there are other classes for different systems as well (e.g. ODBC and Oracle.)

Here's a simple console-based sample:

  static void Main(string[] args)

  {

    //Compose and use a connection string

    SqlConnectionStringBuilder csb = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();

    csb.DataSource = @"LOCALHOST\SQLEXPRESS";

    csb.InitialCatalog = "SomeDatabase";

    csb.IntegratedSecurity = true;

    Console.WriteLine("Generated Connection String = " + csb.ConnectionString);

    using (SqlConnection cn = new SqlConnection(csb.ConnectionString))

    {

        cn.Open();

        Console.WriteLine("Connection is " + cn.State);

    }

    //Parse an existing connection string

    const string CONNECTION = "Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase;User ID=myUsername;Password=myPassword;Trusted_Connection=False;Packet Size=4096;";

    SqlConnectionStringBuilder csb2 = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(CONNECTION);

    Console.WriteLine("Server = " + csb2.DataSource);

    Console.WriteLine("Database = " + csb2.InitialCatalog);

    Console.WriteLine("User = " + csb2.UserID);

    Console.WriteLine("Password = " + csb2.Password);

    Console.WriteLine("Packet Size = " + csb2.PacketSize);

    Console.ReadLine();

  }

Also note that if you need assistance with connection string formats, ConnectionStrings.com is a good reference site with plenty of examples.

-Chris

We'd like to extend a big thank you to everyone who attended the first two stops of Bob & Chris' MSDN Roadshow!  Both events were well attended and, equally important, had active and engaged audiences to keep things interesting.  We spent each day covering the four technologies of the .NET 3.0 Framework - Windows Communication Foundation, Windows CardSpace, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows Presentation Foundation.

Our first event was held at the R.I.T. Inn just outside of Rochester, NY.  This being our first visit to the R.I.T. Inn, it turns out the facility is great and the location was very convenient, leading to a strong turnout of 60 people.

[Thanks to Bob for taking the pictures!  Bob also has pictures of our Zune winners in his posts (1|2).]

We got back on the road Wednesday, driving from Rochester to Burlington, VT in about 7 hours.  A great day for driving and some very beautiful scenery along the way, listening to tunes from Bob's Zune.

Thursday's event was held at the Sheraton in Burlington and it seemed that everyone knew everyone there.  I'm sure much of the credit for that goes to Julie Lerman for running the fantastic Vermont .NET User Group, which is celebrating it's 5th anniversary.  Congratulations, Julie (and thanks for the jar of Bove's sauce!)

Follow-up information from the events:

1. I showed how to enable tracing/logging in a WCF service and how to visualize the collected data using the Service Trace Viewer tool from the the SDK.  If you'd like to see/hear more on this, Scott Hanselman recently posted an episode on this very subject.
2. I mentioned that there were two excellent blog posts on enabling Workflow persistence and tracking.  They can be found here (Persistence) and here (Tracking).  The tracking post includes details on the Workflow Monitor SDK sample application I demonstrated (which is itself a great example of designer rehosting.)
3. In Rochester, I ran into a security dialog when running a sample WCF service.  A small change to my app.config was in order, as described in this blog post by Eric Johnson.

...and some random notes from the road:

1. Total number of errantly-thrown orange stress balls: 2
2. Chocolate-covered espresso beans and beef jerky are the Official Traveling Foods of the Roadshow.
3. The Dinosaur in Rochester is hands-down the best BBQ that Bob and I have ever had.
4. When navigating while Bob is driving, don't give him choices!
5. Bove's is still my favorite restaurant in Burlington.

Next week we're visiting Portland, ME (3/6) and Manchester, NH (3/8).  The final stop on our first tour is Farmington, CT (3/20).  If you're in the area, we'd love to see you there!

We're also working on setting the content for our next Roadshow.  Let us know what you'd like to hear!  We'll soon be announcing the dates and content for the next Roadshow, so keep an eye on our blogs.

-Chris

Lutz Roeder posts word that he's released version 5.0 of his (free) Reflector tool.  If you haven't heard of Reflector, it's truly one of the top 10 tools that every .NET developer must have.

Adding to the already indispensable functionality of Reflector are a number of great add-ins that are available on CodePlex.

-Chris

Jason Haley posts that he'd like to continue with Code Camp tradition and hold a Geek Event over at the Westin after the first day of Code Camp.  I agree!  After the day of content on Saturday, head over to the bar at the Waltham Westin to unwind and gather with community friends and to make new ones.

Like doughnuts?  Jason also posted an idea to bring back a Code Camp 4 concept where the user group community got together to provide morning coffee & doughnuts along with information about upcoming user group meetings and events.  Jason can't do this one alone, so please let him know if you'd like to help.

Keep an eye on Jason's blog for more information and as we get closer to the event.

-Chris

Veteran speaker with something to share?  Looking to try public speaking for the first time? 

We have just opened the Call for Speakers for Code Camp 7 - "Deer in Headlights!" in Waltham, MA on March 31st and April 1st.

Code Camps are about .NET communities coming forward and sharing the latest in technology, practices, and experiences.  You can submit a session on any topic and any level you'd like.  If you want to talk about it, we'll give you a room for it!

Here's how to submit a session:

1. Create an account at http://TheDevCommunity.org
2. Log into your account
3. If you haven't already created a Speaker Profile, go to the Speaker Profile area and create one.
4. Go to the Code Camps page
5. (If you're logged in) you'll see a "Submit a Presentation" link under the Code Camp 7 entry.
6. Submit the session details and you're on your way to fame and fortune

Don't forget to register for the Code Camp itself!

Many thanks to Chris Pels for his great work on TheDevCommunity.org site!

-Chris

[Update 3/21 - Added missing step to create a Speaker Profile before submitting a session.]

It was great to see everyone in Nashua, NH yesterday for the Vista/Office 2007/Exchange 2007 launch event!  Though I was (and still am) under the weather, I had a great time - and hope attendees did too.

For those of you in the area, the Software Association of New Hampshire will be holding a Vista event next Tuesday (2/20) from 6:00 to 8:30 PM at the Courtyard Marriott in Nashua.  There are two main sessions:

• "What does Windows Vista bring to my business" with Ron Zuckerman from Microsoft and Thomas Murphy from Intel
• "What do I need to do to make my application Vista compatible?" with Microsoft SWAT Team member Caio Chaves Garces.

The event is free to SwANH members, and carries a $25.00 fee for non-members.

The SwANH site has details and registration.

-Chris

[Update - Corrected date to 2/20]

Learn all about the exciting new version of SharePoint!

Microsoft New England District
201 Jones Rd, 6th Floor, Waltham, MA

Next Saturday (February 24th), join Robert Holmes and select other presenters from 8:30 to 6:00 PM when they will be presenting all aspects of the new SharePoint products, Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007.  This Mini Code Camp will focus on the new aspects of the product line, however we will start with an introduction to Team Services (WSS), and work up from there, and the goal is for anyone present for the whole day will leave with the knowledge of what is possible with the product, and the ability to sit down and get started on a new implementation of a SharePoint solution, or extend an existing one.  You can review the schedule to see what specific areas are of interest to you, or else spend the whole day and learn all there is to learn.

Register at http://TheDevCommunity.org/CodeCamps.

It should be a great time!  Hope to see you there.

-Chris

Bob Familiar and I are busting out of our home bases in Massachusetts and taking our long-winded rants and questionable demos on the roads across the Northeast!  In the coming weeks, we'll be bringing the latest in developer- and architect-focused content to a town near you.

Join us for a full day of no-fluff deep technical content, plenty of code, 100% guaranteed-to-run demos*, and of course giveaways throughout with a chance to win a Zune at day's end!  [* We'll define "run" as we go.]

Roadshow Schedule and Registration

Event Agenda

For this tour, we're focusing on all things .Net Framework 3.0.  Here's the agenda:

08:30am – Arrive, check in, grab a nosh and a seat

 

09:00 – 10:15 – Windows Communication Foundation

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is Microsoft's unified framework for building secure, reliable, transacted, and interoperable distributed applications. Learn how to leverage the new features in Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to make a smooth transition to a service-orientation.  The capabilities exposed through this new addition to the .NET framework will enable the core building blocks of connected systems such as data & service contracts, security, reliability, administration, and management   

 

10:15 – 10:30 – Take a break and communicate

 

10:30 – 12:00 – Windows CardSpaces

Windows CardSpace enables users to provide their digital identities in a familiar, secure and easy way. In the physical world we use business cards, credit cards and membership cards. Online with CardSpace we use a variety of virtual cards to identify ourselves, each retrieving data from an identity provider. Don't struggle with usernames and passwords, just choose an information card! This session will delve into the architecture and implementation of CardSpaces.

12:00-01:00 – Grab a lunch and ponder your identity

01:00 – 02:15 –Workflow Foundation

Workflow Foundation (WF), a component of the .NET Framework 3.0, enables you to quickly and reliably implement workflows and business rules in your applications.  WF provides a framework for constructing sequential and state-machine based workflows for any .NET application or service and includes tools to effectively manage and modify those workflows.  In this session, we'll introduce the major concepts and purpose of WF, demonstrate the creation and maintenance of workflows with Visual Studio 2005, and show the potential uses of workflows within your applications. 

02:15-02:30 – Take a break and go with the flow

02:30 – 03:45 – Windows Presentation Foundation

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is Microsoft’s new strategic User Interface technology designed to provide richer, high-fidelity, applications using an optimized developer/designer workflow.  Learn how to leverage the new features in WPF such as XAML to create visually stunning interfaces to enhance capabilities and user experience of your applications. 

 

03:45 – 04:00 – Zune Giveaway

Register using the links in the schedule above.  Looking forward to seeing you out on the road!

-Chris

Early-bird registration for TechEd 2007 is now open until April 7th.  TechEd will be held in Orlando on June 4th-8th.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2007

There is also a special VIP Sweepstakes.  Register by March 8 and be entered to win:

• A 6-day, 5-night stay in a hotel suite with priority check-in
• VIP treatment at the Tech·Ed 2007 attendee party
• Front-row seating at the keynote session

Attendee registration has just been opened for Code Camp 7 - "Deer in Headlights"!  Go to TheDevCommunity.org and reserve your slot!  Thanks to Chris Pels for his great work on the site!

As I mentioned earlier, Code Camp 7 will be on March 31st and April 1st at the Microsoft office in Waltham, MA and is always a fantastic opportunity for learning, fun, and networking.

Look for speaker/session registration to be open in February.  UPDATE - Speaker registration is now open!

-Chris

[Update (1/25):  Added registration links for Code Camp 7 and SharePoint Mini Code Camp.]
[Update (/126):  Added Maine Developer Network meeting] 

Here are some upcoming events and user group meetings for developers in the Northeast.  Know of other events or user group meetings?  Please let me know!

Connecticut

January 23
Connecticut .NET User Group
"Developing with Windows Presentation Foundation" - John Pelak

February 12, 10:30 - 3:30 PM
Microsoft arcCouncil - Farmington, CT
"Web 2.0 & Microsoft"
"Applying Web 2.0 Patterns & Best Practices"

February 22
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Cromwell, CT

Massachusetts

January 24
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event
Boston Convention Center

February 1, 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Beantown .NET User Group
"Implementing SOA Design Patterns with .NET" - Rob Daigneau

February 1, 6:15 - 8:30 PM
New England Visual Basic Professionals
"Introduction to Workflow Foundation" - Susan Wisowaty

February 6
Western Mass .NET Users Group
"Little is Big Again - Writing a Managed Mobile Application in .NET" - Steve Hawley

February 8, 6:30 PM
New England SQL Server User Group
"Developer-Centric SQL Server Topic [TBA]" - Adam Machanic

February 12, 10:30 - 3:30 PM
Microsoft arcCouncil - Waltham, MA
"Web 2.0 & Microsoft"
"Applying Web 2.0 Patterns & Best Practices"

February 13, 5:30 - 8:30
C# User Group of Greater Boston
"SharePoint Development with C#" - Robert Holmes

February 14, 5:00 - 8:30
Boston .NET User Group
".NET 101" - 5:00 - 6:00 PM
"Building Applications with Windows Workflow Foundation" - Michael Stiefel - 6:30 - 8:30

February 15, 5:30 - 7:30
Team System Public User Group
Topic TBA, but a copy of Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite will be raffled away!

February 21, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Boston .NET Architecture Study Group
[Topic TBA]

February 24
Microsoft Office SharePoint Mini Code Camp
Waltham, MA
Register at TheDevCommunity.org

March 31st & April 1st
Code Camp 7 - "Deer in Headlights!"
Waltham, MA
Register at TheDevCommunity.org

Maine

February 13
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Portland, ME

February 27
Maine Developer Network, Augusta, ME
"Implementing Application Login in .NET 2.0" - Mark Blosma
"Developing Windows Vista Q&A" - Mark Blosma

New Hampshire

February 7, 7:00 PM
New Hampshire SQL Users Group
[Topic TBA]

February 15
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Nashua, NH

February 15
New Hampshire .NET User Group
[Topic TBA] 

New York (Upstate)

January 24, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
VDUNY - Visual Developers of Upstate NY
"I Don't Know Where to Start..." 

February 7, 6:00 PM
Central New York .NET Developer Group
"WPF Overview" - Greg Smalter

February 13
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Rochester, NY

February 15
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Albany, NY 

Rhode Island

February 7, 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Rhode Island .NET Users Group
"Building Web Applications with AJAX" - Stuart Jones

Vermont

February 12, 6:00 - 8:30
Vermont .NET User Group
VTdotNET's 5th Anniversary!
"Data Driven Websites with LINQ to SQL" - Julie Lerman

I recently received a small package from Wiley.  I opened it to find a copy of my book (Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System.)  Only this copy seemed... different.  Why is Anaya Multimedia also listed on the cover?  Why is "Professional" spelled "Profesional"?

It turns out our friends at Anaya in Madrid have been at work translating the book into a Spanish language edition.  Very cool!

Everything from the chapter content, screenshots, and code comments, to the bios and acknowledgements have been translated.  Need a chapter on unit testing?  Try "Preuebas unitarias con el framework de pruebas unitarias"!  Test case management?  "Administracion de un caso de prueba".

It's a strange yet interesting thing to see your words when they aren't your words.

Hasta leugo! 

-Chris

[Update - Attendee registration and call for speakers are now open!]

I'm happy to announce we've finalized the dates for the next round of the Code Camp that started it all! 

New England's Code Camp 7 - "Deer In Headlights" will be held the weekend of March 31st and April 1st at Microsoft's Waltham, MA office.  Look for some changes to "the usual" this time around!

Haven't been to a Code Camp before?  They're free events, held outside of work hours, that are a chance for regional .NET communities to gather and to learn from each other.  High signal, low marketing.  Code aplenty, slides afew.  Check out the Code Camp Manifesto for the brief list of the Code Camp guiding principles.

The relaxed atmosphere of Code Camps is also a great way to break into practice of public speaking.  If you've been considering giving it a try, this will be the perfect opportunity. 

Mark your calendars and stay tuned for event registration and speaker submission details!

-Chris

Okay, I'm the last of Andy Beaulieu's group of 5 tagees to blog five things that people probably didn't know about me.  So, to curtail any further guilt (and to replace it with shame?), here we go:

1. I'm a very big fan of craft beer.  I love checking out the latest offerings from Dogfish Head, Avery, AleSmith, Rogue, Stone, etc.  In fact, if you're in the Boston area, check out the Extreme Beer Fest.  I'll be there on 2/10 and sleeping on 2/11.
2. My older daughter (age 7) and I are reading through the Harry Potter series together.  Of course, when you read in 15-20 minute chunks at bedtime, it takes a while.  Halfway through book 4...  Go Gryffindor!
3. Unusual skill that I'm not particularly good at - glassblowing.  I have a collection of misshapen cups and random whatchamicallits to prove it.
4. I started programming as a wee lad in 1979.  "101 Basic Games" was one of the first books that sped me on the way.  Ah, the fun of Boxing and hunting the Wumpus in full text-based glory.
5. I can bend my left thumb back so it is parallel with my index finger - pointing the other way.  Good for entertaining audiences when my demos fail.  Used frequently.

Well there you have it.  I'll try to find time later to come back and tag five other people who haven't been tagged yet, but I wanted to get this post up now to complete Andy's group.

-Chris