One area of software development I'm really passionate about is Quality Assurance. Why? After all, if it compiles successfully, it's going to work, right? Besides, there's always time to fix it in the next release. Well, when you ship software that people...

Most of the time, I’m working on either a notebook or a desktop. So the whole multi-monitor thing is not something as fluent with me like it is with some of my friends. One my notebook, I’ve started to use a second monitor because I’m constantly working...

I just assumed the rumors were true that there was no upgrade path from Win7 Beta (Build 7000) to Win7 RC (Build 7100) and decided to use the trick the Win7 Dev Team wrote up on their blog entitled Delivering a quality upgrade experience . Sure enough...

This is probably old hat to a lot of you, but it's been a while since I've had to setup a Windows server, in particular one with POP3 and SMTP services. In the past, I always used an Exchange Server (especially if I was working working with the Small...

One of the pros to TFS you'll hear (or have heard) from Microsoft is the fact that its an integrated solution built from the ground up using existing Microsoft technology. When you see TFS demonstrated end-to-end -- being able to manage tasks, requirements...

Today we announced that Visual Studio Developer Edition and Database Edition (aka DB Pro or DataDude) are going to be one SKU as of October 1, 2008. This is probably one of the most common requests our product group has received since the DataDude was...

Hey kids, moms, and dads...what time is? Service Pack 1 Day for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5! And there was much rejoicing (<insert Tom Slick crowd cheer>yeah</>). Seriously though, like a lot of Service Packs we're shipping these days...

Tuesday is commonly the day the world changes. One of the most common changes is that new music and videos are released to stores on Tuesday. Historically, IBM released new products on Tuesday. There even use to be quote, "the world never changes...

A new year and a new set of Code Camps in Southern California . If you haven't heard of Code Camp before, they are great places to learn from other developers about a multitude of development technology. Code Camps are free events and happen over the...

It’s pretty much a default reflex that whenever I install Visual Studio on a demo machine/environment, I increase the font size so that people can see the code better when using a video projector. But when it comes to the other windows within the IDE...

Today, we announced that Office for Mac 2011 Home and Business and Communicator for Mac 2011 will be included in all Visual Studio Premium and Ultimate with Subscription Levels. This is the first time since I’ve worked with MSDN subscriptions (which dates...

In case you missed Brian Harry’s presentation at the Linked .NET Users Group on VSTS 2010, you can download the replay from their web site at http://www.lidnug.org/Presentations.aspx . According the LiveMeeting console, it showed that were 357 attendees...

My teammate, Kirk Evans , has a good blog about SharePoint development. Not just your typical stuff about using SharePoint Designer to create master pages and portals. His blog really covers it from a developers perspective because he’s really a .NET...

There are a lot of utilities out there that will allow you to burn ISO images to a CD or DVD like Nero and Power2Go . But if you don’t want to waste the time or plastic to make disc, your best bet is use a program that can mount an ISO just a like it...

I’ve been MSDN user since it was actually called the Microsoft Developer Network. But whether you’re brand new to the subscription or a long time user like me, it has always been beneficial to have a subscription. Well late last week, we just made it...

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak in Denver at our Visual Studio 2012 Launch Roadshow . If you don’t know what they are, check out my earlier blog post to find out when the next one is. It might be in your area. During one of the Q&A sessions...

A lot of operations folks I come across love the fact that TFS (Team Foundation Server) doesn’t require a full time administer to keep tabs on the environment, configuration, etc. With that said, the usually follow-up that statement with this question...

One of the aspects of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is that its about process. The other two being people and products. Part of the process is managing the portfolio of projects an organization is responsible for, manage the people that can work...

While up at Cisco’s Toolapalooza, we had a number of people ask us about Windows 7 , from how stable is it to how can I get access to the beta to when will it be available. I can’t attest for all the people using Windows 7, but on one of my test systems...

Crazy. As soon as I decide to write something about Beta to RC to RTM , the very same day we announce that a RC (release candidate) image will be available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers on April 30 . It will be more broadly available on May 5. I was...

I recently had a Windows XP desktop computer die on me a while ago, so I basically cannibalized the parts (memory, video, and hard drives). I couple of days ago, I was looking for some data and realized that it was on one of the hard drives from the dead...

My colleague, David Scruggs , recently did a MSDN Webcast on Integrating TFS and EPM . For those of you who are not with what EPM means from a Microsoft point of view, it stands for Enterprise Project Management and the related products associated with...

LINQ is really cool and is "baked" into the .NET 3.5 framework, so much so, that you don't have to add the LINQ to your References because its inlcuded with your project. When you create a new project, the System.XML.Linq is right there. Your fingers...

As you may or may not know, the 2008 Launch Wave Global Kick-Off event is happening on February 27th in Los Angeles, CA. This launch event will showcase Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008, and SQL Server 2008. This site has more information about...

A Microsoft partner, Timely Development , has created a migration tool, Timely Migration , to help you move your existing CVS or StarTeam information to Team Foundation Server. I haven't had a chance to fully review the product, but based on what I've...