What have I been doing the last 6 days to only start downloading now?
If you are planning an interesting Multi Touch project (for instance with Microsoft Surface, Windows 7…) then check out this call for projects from the Microsoft Innovation Center (http://www.mic-belgique.be/default.aspx) in Mons.
Contact me if you want more info and I will put you in contact with the organizers at the MIC.
Cet appel à projet vise à encourager une dizaine d’entreprises à développer une ou plusieurs applications « Multi-Touch ». Les entreprises qui souhaitent s’y porter candidates doivent répondre aux critères suivants :
Le MIC met à la disposition des entreprises candidates une série de sessions d’encadrement et de formation, organisées selon le planning suivant :
Microsoft Surface Toolkit for Windows Touch Beta (NEW) This beta package includes the advanced Microsoft Surface controls, templates, and samples to easily create applications that are optimized for multi-touch interaction and that run on Windows Touch PCs. With the .NET Framework 4.0, Windows Presentation Framework 4.0 (WPF), and this toolkit, Windows Touch developers can quickly and consistently create advanced multi-touch applications for Windows Touch PCs. This toolkit also provides a jump-start for Surface application developers to prepare for the next version of Microsoft Surface.
Sharing some bits that I found interesting during the last week while reading about cloud computing.
A nice collection of tools and learning resources listed by Wintellect: http://www.wintellect.com/CS/blogs/pmehner/archive/2010/04/20/learning-windows-azure-platform-resources.aspx
Microsoft Townhall (http://www.microsofttownhall.com/) runs on Azure. It’s a tool for politicians and other public officials (among others) who want to host online social experiences that drive richer discussion around top interests and concerns with the American public.
Read about the interesting TicketDirect case here: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsazure/archive/2010/04/22/real-world-windows-azure-interview-with-matthew-davey-founder-of-ticketdirect.aspx
Visual Studio 2010 and Windows Azure best used together: http://cloud-computing.learningtree.com/2010/04/18/windows-azure-and-visual-studio-2010/?utm_source=AzureMagic&utm_medium=twitter
Also check out our Azure topic page on MSDN: Dutch, French
Hockey Stick Cloud Growth Ahead: http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224400787
Also read what Gartner predicts: By 2012, 20 percent of businesses will own no IT assets.
At Microsoft, we say We’re all In when we discuss Microsoft and the Cloud. A clear sign of that we got this week at the Microsoft Management Summit 2010: https://www1.mms-2010.com/public/home.aspx
Windows Intune: Managing your PC’s gets easier for small and medium sized businesses with this cloud service: http://www.microsoft.com/online/windows-intune.mspx
Use the Windows Intune cloud service beta to: Manage updates Protect PCs from malware Proactively monitor PCs Provide remote assistance Track hardware & software inventory Set security policies
Use the Windows Intune cloud service beta to:
System Center Virtual Machine Manager:http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/archive/2010/04/21/what-s-coming-up-with-the-next-versions-of-scom-and-vmm.aspx
Service lifecycle management, including creation, deployment and updates to cloud apps/services - Leverages app virtualization technology and service modeling to perform image-based service composition, deployment and updates. · Creation of private clouds - Enables “Infrastructure as a Service” for the enterprise datacenter and allows self-service scenarios; discovery and assignment of logical/virtualized network and storage pools to apps/services · Federation across clouds - Enables workload mobility between on-premises, service provider and public clouds (e.g. Windows Azure) in a secure manner
Service lifecycle management, including creation, deployment and updates to cloud apps/services - Leverages app virtualization technology and service modeling to perform image-based service composition, deployment and updates.
· Creation of private clouds - Enables “Infrastructure as a Service” for the enterprise datacenter and allows self-service scenarios; discovery and assignment of logical/virtualized network and storage pools to apps/services
· Federation across clouds - Enables workload mobility between on-premises, service provider and public clouds (e.g. Windows Azure) in a secure manner
Bye!
Hans
A couple of weeks ago we had a Windows Identity Foundation workshop in Belgium delivered by Vittorio Bertocci.
Frank Cornelis from FedICT was very quick to apply this knowledge and make it so you can now easily use the Belgian electronic ID cards with your ASP.NET applications.
Here’s how: http://groups.google.com/group/eid-applet/browse_thread/thread/1aeb06c82792273
Also a video was created. Very nice!
Thanks Frank and thanks Vittorio!
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032449971&Culture=en-GB
Event Overview
The “Microsoft Azure Self-paced Learning Course” is a free, interactive, self-paced, technical training course covering the Microsoft Azure platform – Windows Azure, SQL Azure and the Azure AppFabric. The course takes place over a six week period from May 10th – June 18th 2010, with weekly coursework assignments. During the course you will work from your own home or workplace, and get involved via interactive Live Meetings session, watch on-line videos, work through hands-on labs and research and complete weekly coursework assignments.
It’s a self-paced course, so you can work in your own time, and wherever is most convenient. There are weekly checkpoints to help keep you on track. The mentors and other attendees on the course will help you in your research and learning, and there are weekly Live Meetings where you can raise questions and interact with them. The course will require around 4 to 5 hours per week to complete the core elements, with the option for additional exercises and labs.
This is a technical course, aimed at programmers, system designers, and architects who want a solid understanding of the Microsoft Windows Azure platform, hence a prerequisite for this course is at least six months programming in the .NET framework and Visual Studio.
The course outline is: Week 1 - Windows Azure Platform Week 2 - Windows Azure Storage Week 3 - Windows Azure Deep Dive and Codename "Dallas" Week 4 - SQL Azure Week 5 - Windows Azure Platform AppFabric Access Control Week 6 - Windows Azure Platform AppFabric Service Bus
We have heard a lot on Windows Phone 7 since February. Today, there’s another interesting announcement made about Microsoft mobile solution for industries.
Up until now these two operating systems resided in different business groups at Microsoft. The Windows Embedded Business (WEB) has overseen Windows Embedded CE, while the Mobile Communications Business (MCB) managed Windows Mobile. That’s changing. To help us better meet current and future customer needs, today we’re announcing that handheld terminals and ruggedized devices will be part of the Windows Embedded Business. For our customers, this move provides them with closer connection between the Windows Embedded CE and Windows Mobile product line enabling Microsoft to respond to their business needs in a more unified way. WEB is adding this effort to its overall strategy and vision as we’re committed to help specialized device manufacturers deliver rich user experiences and seamless connections to the world of Windows.
Up until now these two operating systems resided in different business groups at Microsoft. The Windows Embedded Business (WEB) has overseen Windows Embedded CE, while the Mobile Communications Business (MCB) managed Windows Mobile.
That’s changing. To help us better meet current and future customer needs, today we’re announcing that handheld terminals and ruggedized devices will be part of the Windows Embedded Business. For our customers, this move provides them with closer connection between the Windows Embedded CE and Windows Mobile product line enabling Microsoft to respond to their business needs in a more unified way. WEB is adding this effort to its overall strategy and vision as we’re committed to help specialized device manufacturers deliver rich user experiences and seamless connections to the world of Windows.
Read more… http://blogs.technet.com/microsoft_blog/archive/2010/04/07/windows-embedded-business-aligning-handheld-terminals-and-ruggedized-devices.aspx
.NET 4 is coming to Windows Azure within 90 days of the RTM of .NET 4. In fact, you can read here that .NET 4.0 is already in the current Windows Azure OS but that it cannot not be used just yet for running your own applications. Exciting development nonetheless.
Windows Azure gives you high availability. When you deploy your application to 2 instances or more, your application will be deployed over 2 or more fault domains and upgrade domains. A very clear explanation about how this works can be found here: http://blog.toddysm.com/2010/04/upgrade-domains-and-fault-domains-in-windows-azure.html
Deploying applications to Azure is very specific and limited process. So how does this impact your development process? Read this article by Eugenio Pace for some insights.
CSC Offers Legal Solution Suite as SAAS on Azure. A very cool case. If you are an ISV, you need think SAAS first and then Cloud.
CSC believes that moving to Windows Azure will give it a significant competitive advantage with its Legal Solutions Services product. Local applications now behave more like job schedulers, handing off compute-intensive tasks to cloud-based worker services hosted on the virtual machines in the Windows Azure platform and brought online and offline as needed.
Tools and utilities:
Sorry, but you won’t be first on Azure anymore: plenty of cases can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsAzure/evidence/
Also, don’t forget to vote on the features you would like to see in the Windows Azure Platform: http://www.mygreatwindowsazureidea.com/forums/34192-windows-azure-feature-voting
Loads of books on Cloud Computing from a biz perspective already.: http://www.cloudbook.net/books
The future of Cloud Computing: Opportunities for European Cloud Computing Beyond 2010: The Future of Cloud Computing- Opportunities for European Cloud Computing Beyond 2010 Interesting for Europeans but there are better overviews elsewhere.
Security Risks of multi tenancy: http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=1007&tag=col1;post-1007 It’s a matter of doing it right…
Cheers,