Wednesday, July 11, 2012 | 12:00 PM ET | Add to Outlook >>

Note: For this month only, D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE will air one week later than the regularly scheduled time.

ZDNet’s All About Microsoft blog editor and frequent commentator on all things Microsoft, Mary Jo Foley, gives an industry take on the Developer Opportunity made possible with the recent announcements for Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Azure, and Visual Studio 2012. Plus: Mary Jo answers questions from the discussion on the Canadian Developer Connection LinkedIn group. All live and interactive.   mjf%20in%20color 

The sun and the heat are definitely worth getting excited about. However, with the last few weeks of announcement after announcement, the wave of new products and technologies are where the real excitement is.

In case you haven’t had a chance to keep up with everything that’s going on, here’s a rundown:

  • Windows 8 is now in Release Preview, with new hardware bringing new app experiences, and developers like you filling up the Windows Store with exciting Canadian apps.
  • Windows Phone 8, announced on June 20 at the Windows Phone Summit, is set to bring better performance, more features, and unleash a new wave of apps and games, while apps for Windows Phone 7.5 continue to grow the Windows Phone Marketplace. Check out these Canadian apps in the Developer Movement App Gallery.
  • Windows Azure ties the two together and it, too, has some new bells and whistles. Brand new into the platform are some long-awaited and some new features including virtual machines and networks, as well as managed web sites. Together with the fresh set of new tools that now work just as well on a Mac as they do on a PC, Windows Azure will certainly be the platform of choice for all of your apps - .NET, PHP, Node.js, Java, Ruby, and more. Check out the videos from the Windows Azure Toronto DevCamp to learn more.
  • Visual Studio 2012, now available for download as a Release Candidate, is the toolset that makes all of the above possible, simplifying the end-to-end process of transforming ideas into apps.

On the last D³: LIVE & INTERACTIVE, I sat down with Richard Campbell and chatted about how change is a developer’s opportunity. Of course, at that time, most of the above was not yet known and so we spoke about change in general. Now that we know what’s coming, I thought it would be great to continue the conversation and get an industry opinion on the Developer Opportunity.

D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE    
In case you haven't heard about the show, Developers, Developers, Developers: LIVE & INTERACTIVE (D³) is a monthly show hosted by yours truly. The show airs live every first Wednesday of the month at 12:00 PM ET and features the latest updates on what's new and exciting in the world of development; featured presentations; and guests. LIVE and INTERACTIVE means that you'll be part of the show – You're invited to interact with us; ask questions and get them answered; and share your thoughts and opinions.

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