Darryl Burling @ Work

Register here - details below :-) The NZ community rocks!  As you probably know, we've got three big products coming out in the  new year (Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008) and the community is preparing to do a major...

James A has written a great article on Firefox and Microsofts attitude to open source . I cant help but respond :-) I agree with James that Firefox has added a bunch of features that IE didn't have at the time (tabbed browsing for one), and yes...

I was looking at the inquirer (which is unusual for me) and saw this article that talks about an organization called "Linux Australia" that has been commissioned to get companies that are using the Linux name to pay AU$5000 to continue using it. Huh...

Today we released the latest update of the Orcas CTP. This is a much fuller release than the last one. Some general highlights: LINQ to Objects API (query arrays, generic lists and other .Net collections using LINQ) Partial C# 3.0 support...

Over the last few weeks Chris and Jeremy have been working away behind the scenes to prepare the content for the road trip that will be coming in a few weeks time to a location near you. This morning they did the first complete run through to an audience...

Next week my User Group Tour kicks off. This is the first one since last year , and I have more user groups to go to now too. I'm presenting on Visual Studio 2008 which is due to RTM late this year and launch next March. Title: A Lap around Visual...

I thought I'd put up the details of the specs of the boxes we will be using and giving away at the end of the Summer Road Trip . To re-iterate - if you want to win this - you'll need to register and turn up and fill in an eval form on the day to be...

Sometimes it feels like we just live from one event to the next. So while we’ve now got the launch events out of the way, there is more coming – and we need your help to make them the best events they can be First up – we are getting underway with our...

Just announced (this was supposed to be announced next week, but...) that Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 will be available for download tomorrow (see below). Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 continues Microsoft’s investment in market leading development...

I just went to a session at Tech Ready on MSN Architecture. After the session I had a chat with the presenter and asked him one of the questions I often get asked: "Why can't I change my Passport/Spaces/MSN email address?". The news is all good...

I haven't spoken to anyone who didn't enjoy the Tech Fest last night. That means I've either spoken to very few people or everyone enjoyed themselves. Hopefully the photos speak for themselves...

Hot off the press. We just released Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2008. Soma has all the details . Check the Channel9 Video too. This is a very cool product - I've been learning about some of the new features this week. I'll be doing a user group tour...

We are kicking off a series of events for anyone interested in getting an update on new tools, technology and platform advances. We are calling these "Microsoft Unplugged". Nathan kicked these events off last week with an overview of Windows Server...

I've just finished the keynote presentation for the Christchurch Technical briefings . Phew! Great to have that out of the way. I can now go back to normality ;-) The last few weeks have been great in many ways. I've now done my first ever keynote series...

I've spent today tidying up the Tech Ed speaker and session list - if you are attending Tech Ed you should already have a login to Comnet . If you do - you should see a lot more sessions published now complete with abstracts. Pretty much all the sessions...

In a previous life - specifically the one I had before I joined Microsoft, I found that blogging was fun. It was great to get my thoughts out there and see what everyone else thought about it. However, since I started at Microsoft, I've been in a rut...

Today is the last day of Early Bird registration for Tech Ed 2006 and we’ve sold the event out. Yup – 8 weeks prior to the event and you will be hard pressed to get a ticket if you haven’t already. I think this reflects the excitement around some...

If you've been frustrated by the sheer number of DVD's or CD's in your MSDN Subscrition, I've got some interesting news for you. We are taking some products out. As an outcome of the agreement between Sun Microsystems and Microsoft, products containing...

Dan Fernandez has announced he's changing jobs , which is of course interesting in its own right - but at the bottom of his post he's put up some interesting stats. These stats were published internally a couple of months ago, and Dan got permission...

I'm starting to think through speakers for Tech Ed 2007 and I'm interested in getting your help. If you could get any technical speaker in Microsoft to New Zealand who would it be and why? I'm expecting lots of requests for Bill Gates, but assuming we...

Last week I installed Internet Explorer beta 1, here are my thoughts. Its stable. I've had no crashes or odd sufferings at all since I installed it. Tabbed browsing - without MSN Search toolbar and with a much nicer implementation Search is...

I was just considering watching a videocast that I'd downloaded but I've got other things to do and don't want to devote myself to just watching the video. On my computer I've got the sidebar set to always on top (I've got a 20" wide screen monitor...

After Tech Ed, a number of technical women decided that they wanted to get together a little more regularly, and so they decided to build a community around girly geeks - the term used in the UK for similar events there. I've had a bit of mail sitting...

The Women in Technology dinner went off really well. The team did a fantastic job and everyone was engaged as soon as they walked in the evening - and the chatter began. The panelists did a fantastic job. Here's who they wer e and how they related to...

If you have been hanging out waiting for Tech Ed registration to open, well, the wait is over! Yesterday we opened registration for Tech Ed 2008.  This year Tech Ed is September 1-3. The other bit of good news that has "leaked" over the...