Kari Martin's .NET Blogette

Download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta!

Kari Martin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:39:00 GMT

It's easy to download the Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 beta here:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/download-office-professional-plus/default.aspx

Microsoft Office 2010 is the best experience across the PC, smartphone and browser. Try it out today! Let us know what you think!

Not able to attend PDC in person?

Kari Martin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:57:00 GMT

You're in luck... you can see the future of developer technology via live streaming broadcast powered by Silverlight / IIS 7 here: http://microsoftpdc.com/

Watch the live keynotes on Nov 17th & 18th at 8:30am PST.

11/17 - Ray Ozzie & Bob Muglia

11/18 - Scott Guthrie, Kurt Delbene & a special guest!

Enjoy!

Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta

Kari Martin — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:09:00 GMT

Microsoft Office Live Workspace is worth checking out if you want free access to your information anywhere on any PC without even having to install Office. No more having to email documents to yourself or use flash drives when you are not in front of your PC and need access to your documents from anywhere like airports or Internet cafes, etc. You can collaborate with up to 25 others at the site or document level and store over 1000+ docs! All you need to collaborate on work, school or personal projects is the other folks email addresses. You just need a Windows Live ID to sign up.

Check it out here...

http://workspace.officelive.com/

Facebook

Kari Martin — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 20:07:00 GMT

A lot of us at Microsoft are having fun connecting with friends, family and co-workers on Facebook!

Microsoft has created a Facebook Dev Tookkit. The kid includes C# and VB wrappers for the Facebook API. You can download it here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/express/bb510381.aspx

My favorite activities so far include listening to new music on my friend's sites and seeing everyone's great photos! I am also really enjoying the apps "Addicted to the Flight of the Conchords" and "Quotes from The Office".

My feature request is that I'd like to be able to write the same thing on multiple friend's walls at the same time so they can each see my comments within their own profile. For example, I might like to comment to all my family in Miami at the same time, but not everyone in my network. If someone knows how to do this, please comment!

Best, Kari

View "Best in Show" video interviews from Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2006

Kari Martin — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 23:55:00 GMT

Catch the latest ISV Connect “Best in Show” video interviews from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference show floor in Boston. I interviewed partners and Microsoft employees exhibiting on the show floor to find out what’s most exciting now around new solutions and recent product releases. Check out new offerings from Windows Vista Mobility, take a tour of the Microsoft Hosting Pavilion and also hear what’s new from some of our key solutions partners. I even caught up with Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners Group, Eduardo Rosini for a quick overview on what the business drivers for partners building on the Microsoft platform are and what the key messages were for the conference overall.

View the videos here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/bestinshow/WPC2006/default.aspx

Here’s a link where you can find more information including Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Allison Watson’s five key actions to help drive your business forward next year.

http://www.microsoft.com/partner/events/wwpartnerconference/

See you July 10-12, 2007 in Denver for Worldwide Partner Conference 2007!

Thanks! Kari

Innovating with 2007 Microsoft Office System

Kari Martin — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:47:00 GMT

I had the great opportunity this month to interview a few of our top executives here at Microsoft about what’s new in the 2007 Microsoft Office System and to discuss opportunities for Microsoft partners.

Check it out here: www.isvconnect.com

I hosted candid interviews with Chris Capossela, Corporate VP Business Division Product Management Group, and Kurt DelBene, Corporate VP, Office Business Platform Group, about the new look and feel, features, and functionality of the 2007 Microsoft Office System and how it enhances productivity and allows organizations to better capture and use information. I also interview one of our great ISV partners, Tom Jenkins, Chairman and Chief Strategist of OpenText, about how OpenText is making development innovations by integrating with 2007 Microsoft Office System. Hear about some best practices and how the market is changing and growing.

You can test drive the new version of Office here. Give us your feedback!

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/testdrive.mspx?showIntro=n

View "Best in Show" video interviews from AIIM 2006 Conference & Expo

Kari Martin — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:43:00 GMT

Catch the latest ISV Connect “Best in Show” video interviews from the AIIM 2006 Conference and Expo show floor in Philadelphia. We interviewed partners and customers exhibiting on the show floor where we captured a lot of buzz and excitement around new solutions and recent product releases. Check out new offerings from Kodak and my very first interview with a robot! (Plasmon)

Topics include enterprise content management, workflow, archive services for imaging, records management and much more!

View the videos here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/bestinshow/AIIM2006/default.aspx

We also have posted links to great upcoming conferences and training opportunities for partners and developers on the page. You can check it out here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/bestinshow

Our team will see you at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Boston in July. Stop by our booth! Here’s a link for more info on WPC 2006: http://www.microsoft.com/partner/events/wwpartnerconference/

Thanks! Kari

Check out "Best in Show" video interviews from Microsoft Management Summit 2006

Kari Martin — Tue, 23 May 2006 21:11:00 GMT

Catch the latest ISV Connect “Best in Show” video interviews from Microsoft Management Summit show floor in San Diego. We captured the “buzz” by interviewing some of our partners and Microsoft experts. Topics include inventory tools and server management, software virtualization, network access protection, group policy, capacity planning, reporting, interoperability, Microsoft Windows Powershell and much more!

View the videos here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/bestinshow/MMS2006/default.aspx

We also have posted links to great upcoming conferences and training opportunities for ISVs and developers on the page. You can check it out here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/bestinshow

Our team will see you at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Boston. Stop by our booth!

Here’s a link for more info: http://www.microsoft.com/partner/events/wwpartnerconference/

Thanks, Kari

CA World v-casts & Upcoming partner conferences and trainings for ISVs and developers

Kari Martin — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 19:33:00 GMT

My ISV Connect team and I participate in a lot of great partner and technical conferences throughout the year. Everyone knows the experience of feeling the “buzz” of a great event. We wanted to try to capture some of that energy and great content and make it available post event to everyone, not just those who were able to attend in person.

We had a fun team brainstorm and created a new feature of ISV Connect calling it “Best in Show” where we’ve posted v-casts live from the show floor of our most recent partner conference, CA World 2005. We will have videos from Microsoft Convergence posted in the next week or so. (Post a comment if you think you know why we came up with the name “Best in Show”. :-) Click on the "CA World Overview" video and you'll be able to meet some of the team. The video opens with Jennifer Hall.

There are also 15 other interviews I conducted with CA Executives and technical leads on topics such as: Unicenter Management for Exchange, Unicenter NSM and MOM, Unicenter Job Mgmt and SQL Server Integration, Storage and Recovery Solutions, Smartphone Solutions and more here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/bestinshow/ca

We also have posted links to great upcoming conferences and training opportunities for ISVs and developers on the page. You can check it out here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/bestinshow

Let us know what you think and if you have an upcoming conference ISV Connect should cover. Thanks! Kari

Video - SQL Server 2005 technical overview (Taking BI to the next level!)

Kari Martin — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 02:19:00 GMT

Back in September 2005 I launched the ISV Connect SQL Server 2005 Broadcast featuring a high level overview of SQL Server 2005 and opportunities around this new release for our partners.

Over the past few months, I have received a lot of feedback from developers and partners looking for more in depth information on SQL Server 2005 …so by popular demand my team and I have just posted a 25 minute in depth technical discussion with Francois Ajenstat, Group Product Manager in Microsoft’s SQL Server Product Management team.

You can check out the video here: www.isvconnect.com , under our “Video Shorts” segment.

Ok... Francois would not want me to share this, but you might find it interesting to know that he is a child prodigy who graduated university at age 17! Francois is very passionate about SQL Server 2005 and how this new release can drive Business Intelligence forward. This is a must see video! Enjoy and I would love your feedback!

MIX06 Video Preview & Win a special edition XBOX 360 and free trip to MIX!

Kari Martin — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:41:00 GMT

I hosted a quick ISV Connect interview with Ray Winninger and Jennifer Ritzinger, both of Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism, for a preview of what MIX06 is all about and why anyone doing business on the web today should attend this 72 hour conversation in Vegas!

Watch the 5 min video here: www.isvconnect.com

Jennifer also tells us how developers can win a special edition XBOX 360! Find contest details here, preview other entries and register today! www.mix06.com

See you there! Kari

Ready to MIX it up in Vegas?

Kari Martin — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:05:00 GMT

Have you heard about MIX? It’s a 72 hour conversation live in Vegas, March 20-22, to discuss with industry leaders high-fidelity commerce, media, services and security for the World Wide Web. The MIX conference is a LIVE conversation between web developers, designers and business leaders who create consumer-oriented web sites. Why is it called MIX? The event is not only a place where you can Meet, Interact, and eXplore with Microsoft and others about the web, but we are MIXing things up by having a conference for tech geeks as well as business professionals who help make decisions about technologies and strategies for your company’s customer facing web sites. When you attend MIX you’ll hear about Microsoft’s roadmap for the web, and learn the latest about IE7, Windows Media, Windows Live!, as well as "Atlas", Microsoft's new AJAX framework. You'll even hear from Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates!

Learn about the web’s next generation of content and commerce, plus the customer experience that is beyond the browser. Registration is open! www.mix06.com

Here's a little more detail...

At MIX:

Developers can dive deep into the latest Microsoft web technologies, including Internet Explorer 7, Atlas/AJAX, ASP.NET, InfoCard, the Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Media and others. Want to learn how to code pages for IE7 that render properly in other popular browsers? Interested in building AJAX sites quickly and efficiently?

Designers can learn how Microsoft’s platform technologies will allow them to create rich experiences that incorporate video, advanced typography, vector graphics, and 3D graphics. Explore new ways to differentiate your sites from those of your competitors, learn how to streamline the designer-developer pipeline and discuss strategies for improving your site’s usability.

Business Decision Makers will get a solid overview of how Windows Vista and the Internet Explorer roadmap can boost site revenues and unlock new business opportunities. Get the latest Vista and IE7 forecasts from Microsoft, discuss the business implications of RSS and pick up insights on how to better monetize your offerings.

What kind of content will be offered at MIX? Sessions at MIX will be focused on two main scenarios that will help you stay on the cutting edge of technology, while at the same time enable you to further monetize your web offerings!

Next Generation Content & Commerce

A plain old HTML experience is no longer good enough for your most frequent (and most valuable) users—AJAX is setting new standards for responsiveness and usability, visitors are expecting increasingly-sophisticated customization and personalization options, and rich media integration is unlocking new revenue streams. But building these richer sites can be difficult and expensive. Microsoft’s Dean Hachamovitch (General Manager, Internet Explorer team) hosts this exploration of how technologies like IE7, “Atlas” (Microsoft’s new AJAX framework), Windows Live!, the Windows Presentation Foundation and InfoCard can take your browser-based content and commerce experiences to another level and increase earnings, while minimizing development and maintenance costs.

User Experience Beyond the Browser

As web-based content and services become increasingly indispensable, users are expecting to interact with your offerings in new ways and in new locations. Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, Vice President, eHome division, hosts this overview of your options for boosting revenues by building “sticky” experiences that follow the user outside the browser, into the living room and on the go. Some of the specific technologies that will be discussed include: RSS, the Windows Sidebar, Office 12, Windows Mobile and Windows Media Center/Xbox 360.

You can view the MIX agenda and top session list at www.mix06.com. You can also subscribe to the MIX blog to get our regular updates and find out what is new and hot with MIX.

I’ll be hosting our ISV Connect lounge and have our film crew there as well. Please stop by and MIX!

See you in March in Vegas!

View ISV Connect interview live from CA World 2005!

Kari Martin — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 07:05:00 GMT

I had the opportunity to interview one of our great ISV partners, Laura McClure, Vice President of Strategic Alliances CA, together with Microsoft General Manager Worldwide ISV Group, Rob Bernard, on site at CA World 2005 in Vegas.

View the video here on the ISV Connect web site in the "Partner Spotlight" section: http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/

During the interview, Rob and Laura discussed the value of the Microsoft and CA partnership brings to their joint customers in Enterprise infrastructure and IT management solution set areas to help drive down costs, reduce risks and improve business agility. There was a lot of buzz and energy at the show! I’d highly recommend attending next year. CA even had Jerry Seinfeld on hand one evening to entertain everyone!

Here is a link to CA’s web site where you can find more information on products and solutions running on the Microsoft platform: http://www3.ca.com/partners/SpotLight.aspx?CID=30444

Windows Live and Microsoft Office Live Resources

Kari Martin — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 01:53:00 GMT

On 11/1/05 Microsoft Corp. announced two new Internet-based software services — Windows Live™ and Microsoft® Office Live. Windows Live helps bring together all the elements of an individual’s digital world. Office Live helps small companies do business online.

Here are some great resources for more information:

Microsoft's Announcement (Overview): http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/nov05/11-01PreviewSoftwareBasedPR.mspx

Try the latest Windows Live Beta Services: http://ideas.live.com

Windows Live Favorites: http://favorites.live.com/

Doc Holladay's View: http://isvchalktalk.com/default.aspx

Great new WM_IN show on Channel 9 (Women in Technology)

Kari Martin — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 17:56:00 GMT

There is a new series featured in the “Shows” area on Channel 9 that is of particular interest to me called WM_IN (women in technology). This new series features women at Microsoft who work in development, marketing, research, and evangelism who have interesting stories to share about their success in the industry and ideas on how to grow diversity in IT.

See the current WM_IN show featuring Microsoft Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Mary Snapp here: http://channel9.msdn.com

Mary is both a Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, running a group of lawyers and paralegals that support all things legal related to Windows and its set of platforms. Jennifer Ritzinger, the Channel 9 WM_IN correspondent interviewed Mary about her success at Microsoft, the interplay between Law and Product development and why Mary’s stayed at Microsoft for 17 years! Check out the video, Mary Snapp is an inspiration to everyone!

Check out ISV Chalk Talk... great video on Vista!

Kari Martin — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 22:17:00 GMT

Check out ISV Chalk Talk hosted by Doc Holladay! http://isvchalktalk.com

ISV Chalk Talk is a new blog community for ISVs looking for information around the .NET Platform and Microsoft development tools as well as other key technologies across Microsoft and the industry. Doc has been with Microsoft for over eight years and in the industry for over 20. He is someone most of us categorize as a “gadget guy” who’s always on the leading edge of technology. When you want to know what’s new and what’s cool, you ask Doc! His goal is to look across Microsoft and the industry and boil down key technology and business issues that apply to ISVs to help ISVs decipher what’s key to moving their business forward.

Doc recently interviewed Steven Goulet from the Windows team to talk about the different Windows Vista SDKs in the works. If you are interested in building applications for Windows Vista and need to navigate the many SDKs or need to know which are coming in the future, take a moment to watch this video and find out how to get started with this next gen platform. Also check out Doc’s other entries. He updates ISV Chalk Talk daily! http://isvchalktalk.com

Microsoft's Next Application Platform - News from the 11/7 Launch!

Kari Martin — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 04:05:00 GMT

Today I attended the launch event in San Francisco announcing the release of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, and Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006. Steve Ballmer’s keynote was full of energy as per usual and there was a lot of excitement and buzz at the event all day long! Lots of great partners were exhibiting their solutions built on the Microsoft Platform and my team had our ISV Connect booth there as well (www.isvconnect.com) to connect with partners. We had a lot of fun meeting the thousands of customers and partners who came by!

In his keynote, Steve communicated his vision for Microsoft’s next application platform. One of my favorite parts of the keynote was when Carolyn Homes, a junior at the University of Washington in the computer science department (Go Huskies!), got up on stage with Steve and demonstrated Visual Studio Express Edition which is available to anyone via FREE download here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

It’s exciting to see how this great development environment is making a difference for students like Carolyn who are just starting out in this amazing world of software in addition to seeing the impact Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 development environment is having for our awesome ISV partners driving world class Enterprise solutions.

Watch Steve Ballmer's Keynote: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/applicationplatform/launch2005/keynote.mspx

Need a buddy?

Kari Martin — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 20:43:00 GMT

Our Worldwide ISV team has a great program called the ISV Buddy Program where ISVs can connect directly with Microsoft employees. The Microsoft employee becomes your point person within Microsoft. Through this 1-on-1 relationship, your Microsoft buddy will be able to guide you to resources and help you succeed in building solutions on the Microsoft platform.

If your company is actively developing software solutions on Microsoft platforms/technologies for one or more external customers then you are eligible to participate in the program. You can get started at this web site… http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvbuddy/

You can hear more about this ISV program from Avi Sagiv via a short video also posted on the site. Let us know what you think!

Top 10 Signs That You Are In Need of A Blogging Intervention

Kari Martin — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 09:23:00 GMT

My team and I are new to blogging and have all gotten really caught up in it! We’ve noticed some new behavior blogging seems to bring on and decided to make light of it. Feel free to add your own observations via comments. We want to improve our list! :-)

Top 10 Signs That You Are In Need of A Blogging Intervention

10. You check your stats daily like an amped up fiend looking to get your fix and then bore everyone around you with the results any chance you get.

9. You begin stalking and devising crafty ways to get other prominent bloggers to link to your site without shame.

8. You have determined what are the best times of day (or middle of the night) are to blog to keep your entry on the RSS feed longer.

7. You know the vacation schedules of your favorite bloggers and are annoyed that they didn’t think to take their machine on vacation to blog while away.

6. You give yourself a nickname that no one really calls you in real life to drum up interest or to assign yourself perceived expertise. E.g. – “Wizzard”, “Professor”, or “Doc”

5. You are willing to view over 60 minutes of video because at the very end of the second download you are mentioned on your favorite blog.

4. You randomly work in the names Bill Gates and other high profile people into your blog entry with little or no association to your topic with the sole purpose of getting more undeserved hits.

3. You call your blog something like “Notes From The Field” as if it’s some remote hot spot no one else will ever have the opportunity to go and you are a field reporter on caliber with Geraldo Rivera.

2. You begin referring to your blog as “My Precious” and believe it has magical powers.

1. You don’t even know what Clipster is, but you know you’ll find it useful because it’s hosted on Channel9, “The Mother Blog” - http://channel9.msdn.com (Refer to #9)

What is Microsoft’s Smart Client Strategy?

Kari Martin — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 19:43:00 GMT

My inaugural ISV Connect broadcast covered Microsoft Smart Client Strategy and features an expert interview with long time Microsoftie, Scott Garvey, Microsoft Regional Technology Director. Scott boils Smart Client dos and don’ts down to give you a clear understanding of the value and approach to Smart Client development and implementation.

I also had the great opportunity to interview one of our Gold Certified Partner Executives, Ashif Mawji, CEO, Upside Software Inc. about how they’ve had incredible success developing on the .NET Platform and with creating a Smart Client for their UpsideContract solution. http://www.upsidesoftware.com

You can either watch the video online or download the audio to any device. Click on “Smart Client Broadcast” next to my ISV Connect graphic ad here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/isvconnect/ or if it’s easier to remember: www.isvconnect.com

Watch the ISV Licensing and Royalty Program Broadcast to decide which program is best for you! (13 mins)

Kari Martin — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 05:05:00 GMT

I work in the Developer and Platform Evangelism team at Microsoft in the Worldwide ISV Group where we spend all our time focused on our great ISV partners (Independent Software Vendors). As part of the ISV Connect program I manage, I recently interviewed three of our top licensing experts at Microsoft to provide a high level overview of the Service Provider Licensing Agreement Program, ISV Royalty Program, and the Open License Program to make it easier for partners to decide which Microsoft licensing program fits their needs best. I had a lively interview with Hosting Manager, Elliot Curtis, regarding the Service Provider Licensing Agreement Program (SPLA), Program Manager, Debbie Aarvig, to overview the ISV Royalty Program she manages, and Product Manager, Gordon Gazaway, for a high level overview of the Open License Program. It’s a lot of fun to be able to sit down and meet the folks behind the scenes who make these programs a success. If you want a good high level overview on these programs, go to http://www.isvconnect.com and click on this graphic

Click on this graphic:

ISV Connect SQL Server 2005 Broadcast featuring Sr. VP, Paul Flessner

Kari Martin — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 04:45:00 GMT

One of my favorite programs I drive in my role here in DPE ISV Marketing is ISV Connect! ISV Connect launched at WPC 2005 and is a great resource for our ISV partners. Earlier this month I had the opportunity to interview Paul Flessner, Microsoft Sr. Vice President, Server Applications for my most recent ISV Connect Broadcast highlighting SQL Server 2005 which launched at PDC 2005. You can check it out at http://www.isvconnect.com Anyone who's interested in a high level overview of SQL Server 2005 would enjoy this broadcast. I also interview one of our lead Group Product Managers, Francois Ajenstat, who drills in a little deeper on the value of SQL Server 2005. It's interesting to hear from Microsoft experts, but I was even more excited to have an opportunity to interview one of our great Global ISV partners, Bob Lokken, CEO and President, ProClarity on how ProClarity is developing great enterprise-ready reporting and analytic solutions on this new platform. It's our partners who really make our products sing!