Where have you been? Assuming I haven’t lost all my readers by now, due to my silence, this seems to be a reasonable question. Does anyone out there watch “ Lost ”? I ended up getting hooked in the beginning and now I can’t avert my eyes. As I wrote this blog, I felt the...

I wanted to thank all the ISV's, VAR's, and SI's I have spoken with and those who have replied to my requests for soliciting feedback on Client Application Development (e.g., Software as a Service (SaaS) and Rich Internet Applications (RIA) ). This release has a number of significant features and...

Earlier I posted a link to the announcement on ScottGu's blog about the framework source availiability for debugging. I wanted to follow-up with my experience using the reference source. I found the installation instructions on "Configuring Visual Studio to Debug .NET Framework Source Code" on Shawn...

It's official. We have released to manufacturing. I am personaly very excited about the Add-in addtions to the BCL, but you can also find over 250 new features in this release (e.g., LINQ). Check out the new release here .

We have modified the Soapbox video by moving the WPF on BCL Add-in model demo to the start of the video and we have posted this updated video to Channel 9 . The video will also be on the Channel 9 home page for a while. From James, “Several weeks back James Vastbinder was able to coax Jack Gudenkauf...

Visual Studio (VS) 2008 and .Net 3.5, code named “Orcas”, will be released in the near future. This release includes a number of new features and bug fixes. The release includes new major features such as LINQ , Cider (The VS WPF designer), “ Crossbow ” (WPF and WinForms interoperability), and my personal...

Last year, I did a webcast when I was attending an SI (Solution/System Integrator) Architect conference in Paris. Ah, Paris in the spring, love the Champs-Elysees and the Aviation club in particular. The webcast was done as part of an ISV webcast series. I blogged about this webcast previously but...

Another Paris Hilton, Pam Anderson, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, or Political video? Nope, Sorry. All business on this site. I was recently interviewed by James Vastbinder, an ISV Platform Strategy Advisor for Microsoft. We discussed the needs of ISV’s and what’s new in the pending Orcas...

VS 2008 and .Net 3.5 Beta 2 (code name "Orcas") is now available. Here is the link to download . I am extremely excited about this release due to a number of features that I have been passionately advocating on behalf of the customer for several years. For all those customers who have been...

We have gone through some naming changes with WinFX and .Net . And we have gone through a few on the MAF (Managed AddIn Framework), the WinFX AddIn model and System.AddIn. The previous are all terms we use to discuss the Add-In model in the broad sense. I admit, with my carpel tunnel, MAF is a lot easier...

The Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista addresses areas of Visual Studio impacted by Windows Vista enhancements.

In a previous post ( Extra, Extra – Read all about it! ) I mentioned an upcoming highly requested feature. Well, it’s here. Last night we released the Visual Studio, code name “Orcas” March 2007 CTP. In this release you will find a number of VS, Language, and Platform features. And the System AddIn library...

We recently published an article on the new CLR System.AddIn libraries in the February 2007 MSDN magazine . As I looked at the magazine cover I was *amused* by the coincidental irony of an issue that proudly announced not 1, but 3 separate Add-In solutions. 1. CLR Inside Out - .Net Application...

(5/16/08, Updated MSDN Link) Application Extensibility Back in February 2006, the Managed Add-In Framework charter and myself, moved over to the CLR team. See my previous post, “ The only constant is change ”. After the transition, I spent several months initially focusing on ISV/VAR/SI .Net concerns...

If you are using Visual Studio 2005, you may wish to get service pack 1 (SP1) which was just released. The beta for VS Windows Vista will also be released asap. Here are the links .

I want to thank all those who participated in the second of three ISV Webcasts series I have been involved in. This recent webcast on the VSTA product and WinFX Add-in model, backward and forward compatibility, and other subjects was very well attended. There were well over a hundred participants! I...

I receive several frequently asked questions on VSTA and the WinFX Add-in model, so I thought I would address them here. Q: What is Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA)? A: VSTA is a product and an SDK. At the PDC2005, Eric Rudder, referred to the product as the next generation managed...

This was my first webcast , so please be patient through the beginning. It gets much better there after. Participants polled, thought so :-) The primary theme of this webcast was to show how much the developer division has embraced the community through openness and solicitation of product feedback...

My job is to make your life easier My new role as a Software Architect on the Common Language Runtime (.Net), is currently focused on engaging with ISV/VAR/SI customers. I am interested in understanding your .Net architectural adoption issues and identifying desired platform feature requests and...

Announcing Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Applications (VSTA) CTP . CTP stands for Community Technology Preview. A CTP is part of Microsoft's continued commitment to delivering a product defined by our customers. The intent of the CTP is to provide an open, sharing, frequent releases prior to shipping...

For questions on Whidbey (2005) products such as Visual Studio, SQL, Languages, etc.. click on this link .

For q uestions on using Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System to create managed code solutions in Excel 2003, Word 2003, InfoPath 2003, & Outlook 2003. Click this VSTO Link .

Microsoft IntelliSense XML Files for Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System Overview Adds summary descriptions of types, members, and parameters to IntelliSense ToolTips in code and in the Object Browser for Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft...

Check out my previous post on VSTA . Check out the PDC05: Building Customizable Applications with VSTA . I believe this download will only be available for a limited time, so unless you attended the PDC 2005 event and you received the DVD, you better act fast.

MSDN subscribers can now download and install any one of the retail versions of the Visual Studio family of products from the MSDN subscription site. In addition, we are releasing the 32 and 64bit versions of the .NET Framework 2.0 and the .NET Framework SDK to the Microsoft download center for immediate...