Do you want to build on Messenger, Live ID…? There’s a bunch of new training content to be found here.
http://dev.live.com/training/
There are so many interesting trainings on the ISV Innovation site (http://www.isvinnovation.com/Directory/Search.aspx) it’s hard to pick out just a couple.
Let me highlight 2 of the many many courses anyway. The first one is about protecting your source code using obfuscation. The second is a 10 part series about WPF.
Visual Studio 2008 .NET Application Code Protection & Hardening: An Introduction
With the advent of .NET, reverse engineering code is as easy as 1-2-3. In this session, we will demonstrate how easy it is to reverse engineer an application and obtain its source code. Then, we will demonstrate obfuscation using the free Dotfuscator CE Edition built into Visual Studio.
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Web Seminar Series
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the latest generation user interface platform for Windows. In this series of short, code-focused videos you will see how to perform key tasks in WPF development.
Using Layouts in Windows Presentation Foundation (Part : 1)
Using Styles to Customize Windows Presentation Foundation Controls (Part : 2)
Using Templates to Customize Windows Presentation Foundation Controls (Part : 3)
Building Custom Controls in Windows Presentation Foundation (Part : 4)
Accessing Databases with Windows Presentation Foundation (Part : 5)
Accessing Web Services with Windows Presentation Foundation (Part : 6)
Data Binding with Windows Presenation Foundation (Part : 7)
Coding Windows Presenation Foundation with C# (Part : 8)
Coding Windows Presentation Foundation with Visual Basic (Part : 9)
Writing Components that Work in Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (Part : 10)
Here’s a nice extension to Visual Studio if you are learning how to program.
The Visual Studio Learning Pack 2.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0ce3cbbd-7fc7-410b-8c2c-e18d1c60a6cd&displaylang=en
The Visual Programming Flowchart certainly looks interesting enough to try it myself…
#1 | How Do I: Deploy a Windows Azure Application? (7 Minutes 24 seconds)
#2 | How Do I: Get Started Developing on Windows Azure? (5 Minutes 29 seconds)
#3 | How Do I: Store Blobs in Windows Azure Storage? (20 Minutes 24 seconds)
#4 | How Do I: Leverage Queues in Windows Azure? (12 Minutes 0 seconds)
#5 | Debugging Tips for Windows Azure Applications (7 Minutes 24 seconds)
#6 | How Do I: Store Data in Windows Azure Tables? (15 Minutes 37 seconds)
Great post by my colleague on Microsoft technologies that are very much in focus. So pretty safe to say these are here for the long run (up to you what ‘the long run means in IT).
http://blogs.msdn.com/katriend/archive/2009/02/15/net-developer-technologies-what-s-here-to-stay-what-can-you-focus-on-trends.aspx
The “Coming of Age with SaaS” ISV Webinar Series
Go to: http://www.comingofage-saas.com/ to watch the webcast and register for subsequent webinars in the series!
The S+S Readiness Self-Assessment Tool
This detailed online tool gives ISVs a free way to assess and rate their readiness to build and sell hosted software + services.
http://www.splussready.com.
Maybe we should revamp our partner network in Belgium too! Some people have been in one management or sales training too many :-)
Are you getting ready for S+S, thinking about or already deploying hosted solutions?
The Software-plus-Services Roadmap for ISVs
A new online portal specifically for your hosted ISV customers, providing easy access to S+S resources across all Microsoft online properties from a single location. http://www.microsoft.com/hosting/ISV/default.mspx
I’m going to be posting a series of blog posts about Azure/cloud/saas computing. Here’s a first one.
You want to explore Azure? There’s an updated Training Kit.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=413E88F8-5966-4A83-B309-53B7B77EDF78&displaylang=en
The Azure Services Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Azure Services Platform. The February release includes the following updates:
Virtualization seems like an easy enough concept at a very high level.
But as you start thinking about the four (5 if you add profile) types of virtualization (server, application presentation, desktop and profile virtualization) you quickly realize you need to make an effort to fully understand threats and opportunities.
Fortunately there is help. This ebook (400 pages) is available for free downloading: http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urmvs17u33
Hyper-V is the technology you use for server virtualization. I see already a lot of ISV’s deploying their server applications in VM’s and this technology comes into play there.
But how do I bring my application to the desktops in a way that keeps things manageable?
Certainly ClickOnce deployment is a step in the right direction but if you need more tools to manage this or need to integrate the applications perfectly into your System Center environment then App-V seems like a better approach.
Another option would be to not deploy your application to the user’s work machine at all but to run the application on the server and just send the presentation over the wire. This can be don with Terminal Services. Personally I believe that this is for many applications the least appealing one since you are really using the desktop as a dumb terminal with all the limitations as a consequence.
At our TechDays event there will be a lot of sessions which will also help you get a 360 view on Microsoft’s virtualization solution. You won’t often see me making publicity for IT Pro sessions but these are really interesting :-) See you there!
David de Backer Application Compatibility Blues : which one is the right pill to take? read more
Ever had application compatibility blues, application that you just couldn’t run on your OS, either because there was a conflict with another installed application or because the application itself was totally incompatible with your (maybe) new OS? Come to this session and learn how to make those problems a thing of the past. You will learn which solution is right for you on a case by case compatibility issue.
Jeff Wetlaufer Application Virtualization and Configuration Manager 2007 read more
With the release of Configuration Manager R2, the traditional Software Distribution feature has been extended to seamlessly integrate virtual application support. As part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, customers who have access to the Application Virtualization (App-V) capability, can now also use Configuration Manager to centrally manage their virtual application services. This session will demonstrate how the latest version of Microsoft Application Virtualization integrates tightly with System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 to provide a powerful solution to deploy and manage virtual applications across an organization's many distributed desktops. This session promises to be technical and full of lots of demonstrations.
Ronald Beekelaar Hyper-V: Notes from the field read more
In this session, we will look at some common best practices for running Hyper-V in all kinds of scenarios, including test, development and training. Topics include: Copying virtual machines (VMs) to other computers, best practices for using snapshots, automating Hyper-V operations by using scripting, configure networking, converting VMs to Hyper-V, and setting up Hyper-V permissions for delegation of control and remote connections to Hyper-V.
Nigel Cain System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008: Technical Overview and futures read more
This session will provide an overview of SC VMM 2008 and highlight some of the improvements and new features that will be available in Systems Center VMM 2008 R2
Steve Riley Virtualization and security: what does it mean for me? read more
Virtualization is the Next Big Thing™, and certainly you’ve at least examined it, and probably are using several virtualized servers already. How are you handling the security of your images? How are you securing the guest and host operating systems, and the applications you’re running? Virtualization raises certain unique security requirements, and provides some interesting security capabilities, too. Join Steve Riley as he explores the interesting aspects of virtualization and security.
Hardly any part of the business is immune to the crisis. That doesn’t mean there is no more work however!
Almost every ISV I’m meeting is telling me they are still hiring. In my opinion, an ISV is a great place to work as a developer. Some advantages:
- You get to develop a product with a real roadmap
- at an ISV, it’s all about software!
These are just the ISV’s I met these week that are looking for talent:
Prior to our TechDays conference we are also having a Student to Business day where we will welcome 800 students and a number of partners interested in recruiting.
http://www.microsoft.com/belux/studentstobusiness/home/default.aspx
Bottom line, the recruitment market might be slower but is far from dead!
Let me know if you are hiring too!
Hans
What a great video by Brian Gorbett!
It really explains in an easy to understand way what Mesh Applications are, how you can build and deploy them.
Luckily we have some local Mesh champs too. Here’s a great article by Peter Himschoot, Lieven Iliano and Wim Uyttersport from U2u:
http://www.u2u.be/Res/Article.aspx?ART=LiveMeshAndLiveFrameworkArticle
Peter Himschoot will actually be delivering a session on this topic at our TechDays which will be a great opportunity to find out even more!
Two days ago I had the pleasure to drive a across our snowy country to meet an ISV near Brugge. We discussed their solution and their development process and tools.
It became clear that we have a great agenda for developers at our TechDays. We really have sessions that talk to all aspects of developing a solution. The agenda mapped perfectly to the needs of the developers at that ISV.
Our preconference is great for our developers building solutions on Sharepoint. I said it before and I will say it again, there are not enough Sharepoint developers in the market! http://www.microsoft.com/belux/techdays/developers_preconf.aspx
The general days offers something for every developer: http://www.microsoft.com/belux/techdays/developers_conf.aspx
These are some of my favorites sessions on SCRUM, VSTS, Unit Testing, Authentication done right, Visual Basic SQL Server. See the full list at the other end of the link above!
Stephen Forte & Joel Semeniuk The Daily Scrum
Peli de Halleux Pex – Automated White Box Testing for .NET
Laurent Bugnion .NET continuum: ASP.NET, AJAX, Silverlight and WPF
Laurent Bugnion Live coding Silverlight and WPF
Kurt Claeys Building Workflow Services in .NET 3.5
Lisa Feigenbaum Future Directions for Visual Basic
Andrew Pardoe Silverlight 2 CoreCLR: Bringing the power of .NET to the net
Vittorio Bertocci Putting authentication in its place: claim-based identity, services and "Geneva"
Joel Semeniuk Lean Principles, Agile Techniques, and Team System
Scott Galloway ASP.NET MVC for Smart People
Lynn Langitt SQL 2008 For Developers
Bart De Smet LINQ in breadth - Querying everything everywhere
ISV’s, please check out this site. It will be the home of a readiness program supporting you in getting ready for Windows 7.
Windows 7 Ecosystem Readiness Program Get access to Windows 7 builds, application testing labs and toolkits that can help you ensure that your existing applications and devices will be compatible with Windows 7.
If you haven’t done so already DOWNLOAD the Windows 7 Beta 1 bits asap as the beta program will be closed any day now.
Cheers,