September, 2011

By now, many of you have probably s een the news that carriers around the world will start pushing updates very soon and through the next couple of months.  It’s exciting because many that have seen and used the Mango update for Windows Phone in its beta format have seen it to be a very usable, interesting and viable platform that rivals any of the mobile platforms out there today. Like you, I...

“We should make an app” , says your boss while playing with her new smartphone. This statement tends to can get very expensive and scary for developers since there are so many “app” platforms out there. Yet, it is a totally valid request from a product owner. Luckily for us, Microsoft has our back by giving us a solution that can make building multi-platform apps easier with HTML5 and Internet Explorer...

Even ten years ago, “experience” was not really something that was given much thought in building software. More often than not the primary goal of a piece of software was simply to display results, or data. How the data or results were displayed was more often a function of technical specifications than it was a matter of user-centric design. That is to say, while the user was often a...

One of the things that’s great about the team’s role is that we get to show developers, such as yourself, what’s possible with Microsoft technologies, making you aware of available training resources, and most importantly, ensuring that we, Microsoft, are there to help you be successful with your endeavours. So let us help you! 3 Resources To Keep Top of Mind The following are...

For many people taking an exam can be really stressful. In this blog post I’d like to see if I can take some of the fear away from taking that exam. This is the final post in my series on How to get certified. Before you take the exam you should complete the first 3 steps. Let’s be clear, I said before you TAKE the exam complete the first 3 steps. I recommend scheduling the exam as soon as you have...

This post is part of a discussion around transitioning applications, as well as development and operations teams, to the Cloud. Read Application Strategy and Training as Pre-requisites to Cloud Development >> Previously, we discussed needing to have a strategy in place to move applications to the Cloud, as well as ensuring that you have, and complete, a training plan in order ensure a successful...

WOW!   That’s all I can say to the response we received to our open call for sessions for TechDays 2011 !  We had almost 60 individuals submit close to 130 sessions to be delivered at TechDays 2011 in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.  This made the task of narrowing it down for a short list for your votes challenging to say the least but we were able to make it happen.  Now it’s...

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post referencing how you as a developer don’t have to be torn between building mobile experiences in HTML5 or native phone apps.  In fact, with the upcoming Mango release for Windows Phone, the “better together” story is a strong one that allows you to take advantage of great HTML5 goodness while harnessing that advantages that the native platform provides (like push...

It’s fall and that means back to school for kids, it also means time to start up and really get rolling on new projects, which means it’s a good time to think about the big picture: Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). Developing an application is about much more than just writing code . You have to collect requirements, you have to determine which requirements you will develop in each...

Come join me as I will be presenting this Friday in Ottawa on SQL Azure at CTE Solutions . I grew up on SQL Server, but it really isn’t that hard to get up to speed on SQL Azure. A lot of features are the same, but there are a few key differences you need to know. In this session I will be talking about what’s the same and what’s different. I’ll also provide some guidance on when to use SQL Azure vs...

I recently saw a post on Stack Overflow asking how do you copy specific table data from one database to another in SQL Server. It struck me I should share the solution to this with others because it is such a handy trick. Often I set up test data and want to quickly copy it to another table, or a co-worked wants a copy of my data, or I want to copy some data from production to a local database. ...

This October, .NET Saturday ( Samedi .NET ) will connect you with two Canadian industry experts who will help you get started with Windows Azure . If you’re familiar with web development with ASP.NET or MVC and you want to learn how to migrate your applications to Windows Azure, or you’re simply curious and want to better understand how to develop for the Cloud and the impact of the Cloud on your existing...

The most common question I get when talking about certification is what should I study ? Well, before you crack open a book, take the time to make sure you are taking the right exam , and figure out what you don’t know so your study time will be spent as effectively as possible. If you want get certified, there is a simple plan you can follow: Choose your certification goal/exam Figure out what you...