Katrien's MSDN Blog

Join the Belgian Experts and Microsoft Corp Product team for 12 hours of SQL Server 2012

Katrien DG — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:52:31 GMT

Join us for the 12 hours of SQL Server 2012, the next release of the Microsoft Cloud-Ready Information Platform that is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2012. During the 12 hours of SQL Server 2012 we'll offer you 12 webcasts over 12 hours starting 12:12 CET on February 24th (too bad February 12th is a Sunday).

Together with our 12 speakers, both local and international, we'll walk you through the all new innovations we're bringing to the platform, or as we call them "The Fantastic 12 of SQL Server 2012". Our speakers will dive into all the new things around Business Intelligence, Tier-1 Performance & Reliability, the Manageability enhancements and of course the Cloud readiness and integration of SQL Server 2012 and SQL Azure.

Make sure to Register Today and explore the next release of SQL Server 2012 together with us.

Agenda:

Timing	Title
12:12-13:12	Partially Contained Databases
13:12-14:12	An introduction to Data Quality Services (DQS)
14:12-15:12	Power View from the Data Visualisation Perspective
15:12-16:12	Building your first Analysis Services Tabular BI Semantic model with SQL Server 2012
16:12-17:12	What's new in Integration Services 2012?
17:12-18:12	Manageability Enhancements of SQL Server 2012
18:12-19:12	Building the Perfect BI Semantic Tabular models for Power View
19:12-20:12	SQL Server 2012 and Big Data
20:12-21:12	Extending your data to the cloud
21:12-22:12	Database Schema Management & Deployment using SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
22:12-23:12	Inside SQL Azure: Self Governing, Self-Healing, Massively Scalable Database Service in the Cloud
23:12-00:12	Performance and High-Availability at Scale with SQL Server 2012

Bring your idea to life- turn it into an app (Windows Phone development)

Katrien DG — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:05:09 GMT

Need some extra developer content on Windows Phone 7? My colleague David Hernie has setup a set of training sessions from deep dives to Blend training to take your skills to the next level.

Leveraging David’s post below:

Windows Phone 7.5 brings dozens of new platform features to Windows Phone. When you have previously built an application for Windows Phone, you might ask yourself, "How do I take advantage of all these cool new features in my existing Windows Phone application?" Well, there are 2 ways to get your question answered:

You prefer to have a real discussion with an expert and follow an intensive training ? Then this blog post is for you.
No, you don’t have the opportunity to release a couple of days or you want to do it at your space then I propose an online training.

19- 20 March– Windows Phone 7.5 Deep Dive in the Platform –English – 2 days

You are an experienced developer in Windows Phone or Silverlight. You want to go deeper and develop complex applications. This is the right place for you. No introduction, we suppose you are comfortable with the tools and technology. That means, no “Hello World”. That means no XAML introduction. But instead, we’ll dive in the features offered by the Windows Phone 7.5 platform. You’ll get your hands dirty while doing some hands-on labs, where you get the chance to apply your newly gathered knowledge.

Speaker : Gill Cleeren http://www.snowball.be/

Registration : http://micbru.fikket.com/event/windows-phone-75-deep-dive-in-the-plateform

Place : MIC Brussels http://www.mic-brussels.com

3- 4 April – Windows Phone 7.5 – Design – All about Microsoft Blend – English – 2 days

This training of 2 days will focus only on Blend Design almost not on writing C#

With Expression Blend for Windows Phone, it has never been easier to create the user interface of your application; simply drag UI elements to the design surface where they can be quickly customized and styled, import assets from tools such as Adobe Photoshop and turn them into data driven UI elements before finalizing your UI with transitions and animation that bring your application to life users navigate from screen to screen.

Speaker : Fons Sonnemans from Reflexion IT

Topics detail : http://micbru.fikket.com/event/windows-phone-75-microsoft-expression-blend-training

Place : MIC Brussels http://www.mic-brussels.com

16-17 April – Windows Phone 7.5 Project call - Français -2 Days

You are an individual, student or a company, your goal is to acquire a new competence This is for you - No marketing blabla - 2 days to learn how to develop, publish and market your Windows Phone 7 Apps. One day to go deeper in Windows Phone features like Second tiles or notification. You will receive a token, coaching, even a phone if you publish some applications

Speaker Christophe Peerens http://www.neomytic.be

registration : http://events.mic-belgique.be/event/appel-a-projets-windows-phone-75

Place : MIC Mons http://www.mic-belgique.be

4-5 June – Windows Phone 7.5 Project call - Francais -2 Days

You are a student individual or a company, your goal is to acquire new competencies This is for you - No marketing blala - 2 days to learn how to develop, publish and market your Windows Phone 7 Apps. One day to go deeper in Windows Phone features like Second tiles or notification. You will receive atoken & coaching

Speaker Christophe Peerens http://www.neomytic.be

registration : http://events.mic-belgique.be/event/appel-a-projets-windows-phone-75--2

Place : MIC Mons http://www.mic-belgique.be

You need more …. like Dev tokens, phone to develop & test, advise, visibility .. Just ask me dhernie@microsoft.com or just be curious – Follow David on twitter

TechDays 2012: Scott Guthrie for developer opening session and content updates

Katrien DG — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:37:37 GMT

Less than one month to go! As we approach TechDays 2012 be sure to secure your spot before we sell out! The full agenda is now available: we invite you to have a closer look and pick your favorite sessions.
Note: keep in mind minor changes to the agenda are still possible. Make sure to check online for the latest version.

As you can imagine, we’re very happy to announce that for our 10th anniversary edition we got a special gift ... Scott Guthrie (aka The Gu) will deliver the Opening Session for developers on February 14! That’s not all, you can enjoy two extra breakouts by Scott as well: a session on ASP.NET MVC 4 as well as “ScottGu Unplugged”. Come prepared with your questions!

Top Speakers

Join a mix of international third-party and Microsoft speakers paired with some of our local heroes. Some names are:

In the Developer track: Alex Turner, Brian Keller, Bart De Smet, Scott Guthrie, Gill Cleeren, Jeff Prosise, Maarten Balliauw, Matt Milner, Ben Riga, Steve Sanderson, Rob Miles, Tarek Madkour, Nick Harris, …
In the IT Professional track: John Craddock, Kurt Roggen, Ilse Van Criekinge, Adam Hall, Corey Hynes, Kim Oppalfens, Mike Resseler, Dan Holme

TechDays Full Agenda Now Available

This year promises to bring a lot of new content from Microsoft. Looking at the next versions of tooling, languages, OS and management you know this is not a standard TechDays event. Our content is split into current and upcoming technology. You can take advantage of filtering options on the website in order to build your custom agenda by adding sessions to your calendar through the export icon. By choosing a filter on the main themes you can have your Chinese sessions menu.

Deep Dives (February 16)

Peter Himschoot and Jurgen Postelmans (U2U) will be delivering a full day deep dive covering all the latest and greatest in .NET 4.5, focusing on Web Development with ASP.NET (both WebForms and MVC), HTML5 and WCF. Come spend a full day with us to dive into next-generation web development.

Rhonda Layfield will be delivering a full day deep dive covering all the different tools and techniques to deploy Windows 7, she will also cover the upcoming Windows OS deployment tools.

Mike Resseler & Tom Shinder will deliver a full day covering private cloud topics, including Management and Operations of your private cloud infrastructure.

Please note that 1 day tickets for the Deep Dives Day are SOLD OUT. Other packages are still available: register here.

Entrepreneur Track (February 15)

New at TechDays 2012 is the Entrepreneur Track: a full day to learn from best practices in the industry, meet the owners of successful startups and learn from their experiences as an IT entrepreneur.

This track is organized in close collaboration with the Microsoft Innovation Centers – the MICs are supporting entrepreneurs and startups to boost their IT projects into a successful business enterprises.

It is possible to register separately for this track. MIC members should contact the MIC directly as there is an offering from the MIC.

Dynamics Sessions (February 14)

In an effort to broaden the topics of the conference there will also be 3 sessions about Microsoft Dynamics on the TechDays agenda. All 3 of them are scheduled on February 14:

10:45 – 12:00
Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 – Better Together
Wim Coorevits

13:00 – 14:15
Integrating on premise Line Of Business applications with CRM Online
Sam Vanhoutte

14:30 – 15:45
Extending the reach of your Microsoft Dynamics AX Application with the next-gen tools
Jeroen Doens

About TechDays 2012

Join our 10^th anniversary edition in a new location (Kinepolis Imagibraine - Braine l'Alleud) and learn about:

Tooling and languages with Visual Studio, C# and VB Futures (.NET 4.5 and Dev11)
Cloud development with Windows Azure Platform
Windows 8 Metro Style applications runtime and apps
Web development with HTML5, JavaScript and ASP.NET
Windows & Internet Explorer
Windows Server 8 & Hyper-V
Windows Phone 7 development
System Center 2012 & Windows Intune

Questions? Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or simply via e-mail.

Deadline approaching for student competition “The Imagine Cup 2012” (cross posting)

Katrien DG — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:27:00 GMT

If you are a student or a teacher, this is something you should make sure to read. My colleague Lieve Goedhuys has the full post on the Academic Belux blog.

Leveraging the information below:

The StudentsAppsVenture contest has just been closed, or another very renowned international competition is waiting for you : “Imagine Cup 2012”. In addition to the prestigious category “Software design”, there are 4 other very interesting competitions in which you can participate as individual student or in groups up to 4 participants.

Sign up for the Imagine Cup. It is an amazing experience!

What makes it so exciting ?

You work on a topic that interest you the most – though related to “millennium development goals” ( eradicate poverty and hunger, education for all, sustainability, improve maternal health, reduce child mortality, ..)
You will use all various skillsets : project management, technical development and communication skills
You discover in-depth the technology and will be encouraged to go the extra mile, via e-learning and or coaching
You will be able to network with peers ( participating students and academic coaches)
Big prizes : the best Belgian teams in each category will be able to join the international contest in Sydney from July 6-10. Travel and participation costs will be completely covered for you. On top of that, the best international team (being the winners of each category) can win a prize ranging from 3.000USD up to 25.000USD!

How can you participate ?

There are different categories, with focus on different technologies. You will certainly find the category that fits best your core skills/interest.

Have a look at the different categories, presented in a nutshell.

You can still register, but act now : select carefully your category and topic to work !

Category	Short description	Rules	DEADLINE for registration and 1st round
Software design	In this ultimate category, participants will develop innovative, dynamic and powerful software applications. It is the ideal competition to demonstrate your ideas and technical ingenuity.	info	March 13, 2012
Windows Phone Challenge	Develop a Phone App (Imagine Cup theme). Ensure it is a practical application with a strong content and an appealing look and feel.	info	March 13, 2012
Azure challenge	Use the Azure Cloud computing platform in an innovative way to develop a powerful web application that answers one of the challenges of the millennium targets.	info	March 13, 2012
Game design: Xbox/Windows	Create a “fun game” that illustrates the Imagine Cup themes. Above all, the game should be fun to play and illustrate how technology can impact positively the world in which we live.	info	February 14, 2012
Game design phone competition	Develop a creative and technically unique phone game in line with the Imagine Cup themes. Do not forget a high fun factor !	info	February 14, 2012

For all categories, except Software design, the will be a first and second round, managed completely by Microsoft Corp. Please read carefully through the info on each category to find out:

The different milestones
The selection criteria (and their importance in judging process)
Get additional inspiration from last year winners : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/academicbelux/archive/2011/11/08/irish-imagine-cup-winners-2011-on-visit-in-european-parliament-and-revealed-the-save-road-to-success.aspx
Should you have any further question, feel free to contact the Academic Program Manager or post your question on Facebook group : http://www.facebook.com/#!/MicrosoftAcademicBelux

Good luck.. and hope to see you and your teammates in Sydney !

PhoneGap now fully supports Windows Phone 7 (cross posting)

Katrien DG — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:57:11 GMT

My colleague David blogged about support for Windows Phone 7 in PhoneGap released last month.
Please find more information and resource below or head off to David’s blog.

Back in September, Microsoft joined Nitobi to announce a Beta of PhoneGap support for Windows Phone Mango, and at the same time committed to continue working with the PhoneGap Open Source project community to help bring full support.

PhoneGap by Nitobi is an open source mobile framework that enables developers to build applications targeting multiple platforms, by using standard web technologies (HTML5, CSS and JavaScript). This release extends the cross-platform capabilities of PhoneGap, giving more choices to developers in need of a programming environment allowing them to easily deliver the same mobile experience to their users across the various existing and prominent mobile operating systems.

In addition to being able to leverage their HTML5 and JavaScript skills to target Windows Phone, developers can now enjoy a selection of PhoneGap Plugins that support social networks and a solid integration into Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone. The plugins are:

Facebook JS SDK
Twitter/LinkedIn/Windows Live status retriever
Bing Maps Launcher
LiveTile Update

This release includes many new features, and you can find more details here

Resources

The popular PhoneGap open source mobile framework support for Windows Phone 7.5 is complete and available for download: https://github.com/cordova/cordova-windows-phone
Additional PhoneGap plugins that support social networks - Facebook, LinkedIn, Windows Live, Twitter and mapping (Bing Map launcher) - are now available for download here.
Technical details from PhoneGap.com: PhoneGap for Windows Phone Dissected
http://www.risingj.com/archives/147
Get Started with PhoneGap on Windows Phone 7.5: http://PhoneGap.com/start#wp
Video published on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aqYKd5rxr8
Video published on Channel 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Interoperability
Series of tips posts on Glen Gordon’s blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/glengordon/
Jesse MacFayden’s blog (PhoneGap’s dev lead): http://risingj.com/

Other resources:

WP7 Porting resources and API mapping: http://windowsphone.interopbridges.com/
“Leveraging your iPhone development expertise to build Windows Phone applications” http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2011/04/29/leveraging-your-iphone-development-expertise-to-build-windows-phone-7-applications.aspx
“Leveraging your Android development expertise to build Windows Phone applications” http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2011/06/09/leveraging-your-android-development-expertise-to-build-windows-phone-applications.aspx

Join us for the first PHP & Windows Azure Hackthon in Belgium

Katrien DG — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:37:27 GMT

My second post of the day is another one about User Groups and communities. You’d think we only work with Microsoft-technology focused user groups? You’d be wrong

One of the user groups I’ve been working with in the past few years is the PHPBenelux. Since there are enough interesting touch-points around interoperability, MS’s increased support for PHP on Windows and of course support on Windows Azure platform there is no reason why we would not collaborate.

Some of the folks in the PHP community have been great to work with, and it’s a great pleasure to be sponsoring the PHPBenelux Conference again this year (27-28 January 2012). What’s new: with the help of Michelangelo van Dam (@dragonbe) and Maarten Balliauw (@maartenballiauw) we’ll be hosting a free half day Azure/PHP Hackathon on January 27th 2012.

When getting your ticket for the conference be sure to add the free hackathon and come hack away on PHP & Azure.

My thanks to the whole PHPBenelux community. We look forward to another successful PHPBenelux Conference.

Some references:

Maarten has been working on the PHP SDK for Windows Azure
Michelangelo started blogging about PHP and Zend Framework on Windows Azure

Call for C++ Community folks in Belgium – January 10th meeting

Katrien DG — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:16:08 GMT

Are you passionate about C++ and interested in finding like-minded people? Feel like coming together, setting an informal User Group in 2012? We’d like to support you in that and have a call to action for you.

Marc Gregoire, C++ MVP and author of the book Professional C++, 2nd Edition is one of the folks passionate about the technology and interested in starting up a more active C++ community in Belgium. Are you interested? Join Marc and us for an informal discussion at the Microsoft office in Zaventem on Tuesday January 10th 2012 at 6:30 PM.

Contact Marc through his blog, leave a note on this blog or reach out to me via Twitter and we’ll see you in January.

If you are looking for some of the other Microsoft technology communities we have the full listing here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/nl-be/cc196311.

As I’m sure I’ve said it before, developer communities are doing a great job in Belgium. With the end of year period I just wanted to make sure I give a special thank you for the motivation you give us at MSDN Belgium. Keep up the good work and looking forward to continuing the collaboration in 2012!

Azure Spotlight: Numeri’zik Robot Stream Goes Cloudy (cross posting)

Katrien DG — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:46:50 GMT

Leveraging an interesting post from my colleague Nick with a case on Numeri’zik’s project on Windows Azure.

Numeri’zik is a Belgian startup company that is involved in the digitization of media and new ways of communication. They are a member of the Microsoft BizSpark program, through which they have access to Microsoft software, support and a worldwide ecosystem of peers and partners.

Companies need to communicate to their employees about internal events, organizational changes, HR-related announcements, etc. Often email or other electronic communication is not appropriate and a more personal approach is needed. However, bringing all employees together in one physical location may not always be possible for different reasons.

Numeri’zik has built the Robot Stream application, which provides companies and institutions with an Enterprise Radio that gives them an innovative, fun and informal way to communicate with their employees. Through Robot Stream, you can integrate information messages in a music stream and target them at all or specific groups of employees, regardless of their location. Whether it’s in the coffee corner, during lunch in the cafeteria, on the PC or smartphone, you can reach anyone, anywhere in the organization.

With support from the Microsoft Innovation Center in Mons, Numeri’zik has developed the Robot Stream solution using Microsoft’s Cloud Computing platform. The streaming server is hosted in Windows Azure and which can communicate with an on-premise Robot Stream appliance (NumeriBox).

By leveraging Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Numeri’zik can offer its customers a solution that is highly available without having to invest in and manage a server infrastructure. At the same time, as the number of Robot Stream users fluctuates the platform can flexibly scale up or down, optimizing the operational cost.

Follow Numeri’zik:

Do you want to be the next one to feature your cloud application here? You can get started with the Windows Azure platform in 2 easy steps:

1. Setup an Account:

Set up an account and obtain a free subscription for accessing the online portals for Windows Azure an SQL Azure. You can sign up and get the free trial from http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/.
Note: With the new capping functionality available you are assured that no charging is happening once your trial offer has expired.

2. Create your First application and Deploy it on the Windows Azure Platform:

Download the tools and learn how to create an application using .NET, JAVA, Node.js or PHP and deploy it on Windows Azure at http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/overview/

When all steps are executed successfully you should have your first application running on the Windows Azure Platform. Let us know about it and maybe you’ll be in the spotlights!

TechDays 2012 Developer Content Update

Katrien DG — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:37:13 GMT

We’re almost ready to confirm 100% of the developer agenda for TechDays 2012, February 14th to 16th 2012. Take a look at the online session listing and speakers where you can see for yourself and have your preferred agenda in mind.
Just in time for the end of the early bird, ending today!

Top speakers

This year we are welcoming some regulars as well as some new faces to the event. Speakers like Jeff Prosise, Bart De Smet, Brian Keller, Wade Wegner, Tarek Madkour, Matt Milner and more. Alex Turner is also back after a few years away, as is Nikhil Kothari the creator of Script#. From over the English channel we are welcoming Steve Sanderson and Richard Finn for the first time, as is Rob Miles joining us for the second year.

Local speaker favorites and again a few new faces for TechDays: Gill Cleeren, Maarten Balliauw, Kevin Dockx and Sam Vanhoutte, and Peter Himschoot and Jurgen Postelmans for the post-conference deep dive.

As for the keynote: we still have an announcement to be made there once we are ready to confirm.

The big content themes

Our big focus is giving developers get a head-start on the platform and tools such as the next generation of Visual Studio Tools and Languages, the main patterns and paradigms to build applications leveraging cloud services and targeting multiple devices.
At the same time we also ensure there are enough sessions that go deep on current technology learning’s and real world architectures.

Post-conference deep dive

This year the developer deep dive on “Web Development Futures” is delivered by Jurgen Postelmans and Peter Himschoot from U2U. Peter and Jurgen prepared a full day of sessions focusing on Visual Studio 11 for web development, ASP.NET (4.5) Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC 4, HTML5 and WCF. If you are looking at how to leverage new tooling for HTML5 and JavaScript development, target multiple devices, take advantage of ASP.NET features you should not miss this deep dive.

A grab at some of the sessions

The Future of C# and Visual Basic (Bart De Smet)
Today's trend of connected, service-oriented, cloud-centric applications forces us to rethink everyday programming tasks such as I/O, ensuring responsiveness and scalability. Asynchronous programming is an essential tool in achieving those goals, unfortunately lacking language support.
With C# 5.0 and Visual Basic 11 this changes, thanks to the introduction of the new async and await keywords. Come and learn how to use those exciting new programming language features for a variety of asynchronous tasks, including the usage of new Windows 8 Runtime APIs.
After covering caller-info attributes - a little language feature introduced in this iteration of the languages as well - we'll have a look at project "Roslyn", turning compilers into services that can be leveraged to write custom refactorings, great IDE experiences, meta-programming, REPLs, and more.

Project Roslyn: Exposing the C# and VB compiler’s code analysis (Alex Turner)
Until now, the VB and C# compilers have been used as black boxes. You put text in, and you get out a binary file. In our long-lead project, codename “Roslyn”, we’ll be changing that dynamic by building an API that exposes our compilers’ analysis engines. In this session, we’ll give an overview of the Roslyn project and share our early plans for the future version of the C# and VB compiler and language services. We’ll look at object models that can be used for code generation, analysis, and refactoring, and upcoming support for scripting and interactive use of C# and Visual Basic.

Devices + Cloud: Using Windows Azure with Windows Phone, iOS, Android (Wade Wegner)
So, you’re building apps that span multiple devices apps and you’re curious about what the cloud can offer. Is it possible to deploy scalable Web apps and services on Windows Azure? How about storing data in the cloud? Is it possible to use the cloud for push notifications to the device? In this session, you'll learn how to build Windows, Windows Phone, Android and even iOS apps that are backed by scalable cloud services with the Windows Azure platform. This demo-focused session will cover the end-to-end experience and address how to tackle issues such as authentication, storage and notifications across a wide range of devices.

Developing HTML5 Applications with Script# Compiling C# into JavaScript (Nikhil Kothari)
Script#, a free C# to JavaScript compiler, brings the power of Visual Studio and .NET Tools to build a productive and familiar development model for creating, testing and managing modern applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript along with popular frameworks such as jQuery. This session provides a hands-on look at using Script#, shares success stories and experiences from real-world use. More information about Script# is at http://www.scriptsharp.com and https://github.com/nikhilk/scriptsharp. Come learn about getting started, and contributing to the project.

Windows Phone Fast App Switching, Tombstoning and Multitasking (Ben Riga)
With Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) comes the ability for users to switch quickly between running applications. This dramatically enhances the end-user experience and will be expected by end-users. In this session you'll learn how fast app switching works and how to prepare your application for this functionality. Finally we'll cover how to incorporate background tasks into your applications for notifications, file transfers and audio.

Silverlight, MVVM & WCF RIA Services: an architectural story (Kevin Dockx)
At the start of each project, you’ll have to lay out your solution architecture - and it’s very important to “get this right”. Silverlight, MVVM & WCF RIA Services work nicely together, but as with each architecture, the best solution depends on your application requirements. What are your options in this case? What are the pitfalls? How can you tie these technologies together to provide you with a solid foundation for your projects? This is an in-depth session, based on real-life experience.

Building services for your phone and tablet applications using WebAPI (Matt Milner)
The Web API is a new framework for building web services in .NET. In this session you will learn how to use this framework by example as we build a service and show how it can be consumed from mobile clients such as tablets and phones.

More details to be announced soon for the last set of speakers and sessions, we do have a few sessions under the covers that will make developers happy

So what’s your top list of sessions? I’ll aggregate some of the lists blogged by the community soon, so don’t hesitate to put up your list to be referenced.

See you at TechDays!

Note: schedule, speakers and agenda are subject to change.

JIT for Christmas, Lumia 800 for WP7 project call participants

Katrien DG — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:03:32 GMT

Some folks are getting an extra Christmas present this year
Read further what my colleague David Hernie has the pleasure to announce! And don’t hesitate to participate next time.
…

The Microsoft Innovation Center organized in 2011 four Windows Phone 7 project Calls. The objective of this initiative is to stimulate and support developer, student or company to develop innovative apps on the Windows Phone 7.5 platform.

The contract was simple –

Participate to the training,
Subscribe to the Marketplace,
Develop at least 6 applications before Dec 31
Tweet about it on #wp7be & #micbelgique.

I’m really pleased to announce

Matthieu Vandenhende
Glenn Versweyveld
Alice Cloquet
Bart Smets

A phone is waiting for you at the Microsoft Office at Zaventem – 9th floor – Reception Desk. (Available from Tuesday noon)- Please come with a valid ID

You want to participate to our next project call - Very simple

Follow David on twitter @davidhernie
Register the MIC newsletter Mons or Brussels
Register to the MSDN Newsletter

Save the date, the next one will be organized in February after the TechDays.

Quick tip: SkyDrive APIs for Docs and Photos, Hotmail calendars and more

Katrien DG — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:27:50 GMT

Last week the Windows Live team announced the availability of the SkyDrive APIs for Docs and Photos, so you can leverage the user’s free cloud storage in your own applications. There are several ways to integrate:

REST APIs for usage within any type of application or device such as websites, mobile apps, basically any application that can do a REST call.
Live SDK for Windows Phone, allowing you to integrate with SSO using a Windows Live ID and have access to SkyDrive, Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger
Live SDK with Windows 8 Preview: more details in this post “A preview of Windows Live for Windows 8”

In addition to SkyDrive the APIs also give you access to the user’s Hotmail contacts and calendars as well as integrating with Messenger via XMMP.

Take advantage of these features to give your users seamless access to their documents and photos in your applications. As the usage of cloud behind the scenes becomes more and more current users grow the expectations that their content is always available and synchronized from wherever they access your app. SkyDrive might be one of those options for you.

>> Official blog post: SkyDrive APIs for Docs and Photos—now ready to cloud enable apps on Windows 8, Windows Phone and more

>> Live Connect Developer Center

New Windows Azure Site and Features Available (cross-posting)

Katrien DG — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:09:45 GMT

Cross posting from my colleague Bart Vande Ghinste’s blog.

Yesterday Microsoft released the new Windows Azure Website with improved billing, management and SQL Azure capabilities. The site is in English today with localized versions planned to roll out next year

A highlight of the new features include:

Implementation of “Spending caps” where you can eliminate the risk of being charged by setting a €0 cap or reduce risk of large bills from unexpected usage by setting a higher cap and receiving alerts as they approach the cap.
SQL Azure database size increased from 50GB to 150GB and lowered prices
SQL Azure also has a new sharding feature along with SQL Azure Federation that enables you to build applications that are virtually unlimited in size
Open Source Experience with an updated Java SDK, a new SDK for Node.js that makes Windows Azure a first-class environment and new limited preview of Hadoop on Windows Azure
Simplified billing/reporting experience that integrates directly into the Management Portal
ISO 27001 complaint (public certification coming next month)

On Tuesday December 13th after European Business hours, Microsoft will be holding a special Windows Azure event for developers. Join us LIVE from the Microsoft Redmond Campus to learn how to get started building applications for the cloud from Microsoft technical leaders Scott Guthrie, Dave Campbell, and Mark Russinovich. More details can be found here.

You can start building your application on it in some simple and easy to do steps:

1. Setup an Account:

Set up an account and obtain a free subscription for accessing the online portals for Windows Azure an SQL Azure. You can sign up and get the trial from http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/.

Note: With the new capping functionality available you are assured that no charging is happening once your trial offer has expired.

2. Create your First application and Deploy it on the Windows Azure Platform:

Download the tools and learn how to create an application using .NET, JAVA, Node.js or PHP and deploy it on Windows Azure at http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/overview/

When all steps are executed successfully you should have running your first application on the Windows Azure Platform.

TechDays 2012: 80% of agenda online and 1 more week to benefit from 15% discount

Katrien DG — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:37:40 GMT

Just 1 more week to benefit from a 15% discount on your ticket for TechDays 2012: the Early Bird pricing ends on December 21. Registrations are coming in strong, so be sure to secure your spot before we sell out!

Top Speakers

Developer Track	Alex Turner	Brian Keller	Jeff Prosise
IT Pro Track	Corey Hynes	John Craddock	Adam Hall

We are happy to confirm speakers like:

- In the Developer track: Alex Turner, Brian Keller, Bart De Smet, Gill Cleeren, Jeff Prosise, Maarten Balliauw, Matt Milner, Ben Riga, Steve Sanderson, Nikhil Kothari, Rob Miles, Tarek Madkour, Wade Wegner

- In the IT Pro track: John Craddock, Kurt Roggen, Ilse Van Criekinge, Adam Hall, Corey Hynes, Kim Oppalfens, Mike Resseler, Dan Holme

International speakers are teamed up with our local experts to give you a top content mix.

TechDays program: 80% of agenda is finalized

This year promises to bring a lot of new content from Microsoft. Looking at the next versions of tooling, languages, OS and management you know this is not a standard TechDays event. Our content is split into current and upcoming technology.

Deep Dives (February 16)

Peter Himschoot and Jurgen Postelmans (U2U) will be delivering a full day .NET 4.5 and Visual Studio (Dev11) Futures for Web Development Deep Dive covering all the latest and greatest in .NET 4.5, focusing on Web Development with ASP.NET, HTML5 and WCF.

Rhonda Layfield will be delivering a full day deep dive covering all the different tools and techniques to deploy Windows 7, she will also cover the upcoming Windows OS deployment tools.

Mike Resseler & Tom Shinder will deliver a full day covering private cloud topics, including Management and Operations of your private cloud infrastructure.

About TechDays 2012

Join our 10^th anniversary edition in a new location (Kinepolis Imagibraine - Braine l'Alleud) and learn about:
• Windows & Internet Explorer
• Windows Server 8 & Hyper-V
• Windows Phone 7 development
• System Center 2012 & Windows Intune
• Tooling and languages with Visual Studio, C# and VB Futures
• Next generation apps
• Cloud development with Windows Azure Platform
• Web development with HTML5, JavaScript and ASP.NET
• ...

> REGISTER NOW

Hope to see you at the TechDays 2012!

Questions? Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or simply via e-mail.

Xbox Companion App release for Windows Phone 7 (cross-posting)

Katrien DG — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:17:37 GMT

Have you seen the Productivity Future Vision video released a few weeks ago? May you think a lot of it is not more than science fiction. I look at it focusing on the overall trends and pieces of technology that are coming together more and more to move towards that vision.

Yesterday’s Xobx Companion App for Windows Phone release is an example of how things come together. You can control your Xbox through the app, learn more details about what you’re listening to or playing, get access to more content, and more.

My colleague David Hernie blogged about the release, so check out all the details in his post “Control Your Xbox with your Windows Phone Using the Xbox Companion App”.

>> Direct link: Download Xbox Companion App here, it’s free.

Before leaving you, a few screenshots to give you an idea:

Want to be that you can keep up on all the latest stuff from Windows Phone through the The Birdsflok website and @WP7BE Twitter handle.

Web & Phone UX Event: Recordings, slides and content now available

Katrien DG — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:15:16 GMT

In November we held the Web & Phone UX event in Ter Elst (Edegem), bringing a full day of sessions focusing on Web & Phone (WP7) Design and Development. Sessions included HTML5, Windows Phone Metro Design from thinking to building and refining, JavaScript habits and patterns, Windows Phone Mango development and Responsive Web Design. All of these sessions delivered by international speakers paired with some of the local experts: Arturo Toledo, Corrina Black, Elijah Manor, Gill Cleeren, Christophe Peerens, Bram Vanderhaeghe, Simon Coudeville and Thomas Deceuninck.

Further in this post you can find information about the recorded sessions as well as information on the several events and programs on Windows Phone Development in Belgium.
Scroll to:

Session content and slides
Getting started, programs and resources

Recorded content, slides and resources

All of the content was recorded and are now uploaded together with slides, top recommended resources and even some of the demos to the Channel9 pages.
Important note: due to some technical issues during recording the quality is not optimal and a few sessions are audio-only. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

If you missed the event now is the time to get into the content and learn more on Windows Phone 7 & Web user experience and development. We started off with a general session on Microsoft Design: Multiscreen experiences and the Future by Arturo Toledo. In this keynote you can learn more about Metro Design Language and Kinect gestures.
A detail page per session has been made available with slides, content and recommended resources:

	Keynote: Microsoft Design: Metro, Multiscreen Experiences, Kinect and the Future Speaker: Arturo Toledo
	Good JavaScript Habits Speaker: Elijah Manor
	DESIGN. Visual, Interaction, Motion and Best Practices Windows Phone Apps. Speaker: Arturo Toledo
	What is HTML5 and CSS3 and how can I use it today? Speaker: Elijah Manor
	REFINE: Best Practices. Speaker: Corrina Black
	Bite on the Mango: what’s new in Windows Phone 7.5 Speaker: Gill Cleeren
	Windows Phone Development Journey from Development to Publishing Speaker: Christophe Peerens
	6 Things Every jQuery Developer Should Know Speaker: Elijah Manor
	BUILD. Make it XAML with Expression Blend – Windows Phone Apps. Speaker: Corrina Black
	Responsive Web Design: Get Started Speakers: Bram Vanderhaeghe, Simon Coudeville, Thomas Deceuninck

Windows Phone and Web Development events and programs in Belgium

1. Windows Phone programs in Belgium to help developers become successful

Download the tools
Developer center
Developer offers: register for the Windows Phone Project call and get a free subscription to the marketplace and even be eligible to receive a free phone! For all the details see http://micbru.fikket.com/event/call-for-projects-windows-phone-75-alias-mango--2
Have any questions? Contact @DavidHernie

2. Web Development tools and support

Register for one of the free Web Camps Belgium: Hands-on HTML5 and Web Apps (planned on December 5 2011 and three more in January, February and March 2012)
Download the new WebMatrix v2 Beta with HTML5 and CSS3 support
Read about Internet Explorer 9 and HTML5 support
Visit the IE10 Test Drive
Have any questions? Contact @katriendg

Getting started

Download the Windows Phone developer tools
WIndows Phone developer center
Download new WebMatrix v2 Beta with HTML5 and CSS3 support
Kinect for Windows

Early Bird Pricing for TechDays 2012 Extended to December 20. Register now!

Katrien DG — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:59:01 GMT

We have good news: the Early Bird pricing for TechDays 2012 tickets will be extended to December 20. If you register before December 21 you can benefit from a 15% discount off the full pricing. Registrations are coming in strong, so be sure to secure your spot before we sell out!

Top Speakers

Developer Track	Bart De Smet	Steve Sanderson	Jeff Prosise
IT Professional Track	Corey Hynes	John Craddock	Adam Hall

We are happy to confirm speakers like:

- In the Developer track: Bart De Smet, Jeff Prosise, Ben Riga, Steve Sanderson, Tarek Madkour, Wade Wegner
- In the IT Pro track: Corey Hynes, John Craddock, Adam Hall, Jeremey Chapman, Ilse Van Criekinge, Rhonda Layfield

Many more are to be announced soon, so stay tuned.

NEW: Entrepreneur Track on February 15

A full day to learn from best practices in the industry, meet the owners of successful startups and learn from their experiences as an IT entrepreneur. Learn more.

About TechDays 2012

Year after year thousands of technology professionals come together to network with peers and experts, while diving deep into Microsoft technologies and learning about the latest products and solutions. Microsoft TechDays is one of the premier technical events in Belgium & Luxembourg and not to be missed.

With more technology areas than ever to explore, TechDays 2012 is the perfect place to get up-to-speed on the latest Microsoft technologies and up-level your skill on the technology you use every day. Content will be delivered by industry experts and Microsoft product team members.

Join our 10^th anniversary edition in a new location (Kinepolis Imagibraine - Braine l'Alleud) and learn about:

• Windows & Internet Explorer
• Windows Server 8 & Hyper-V
• Windows Phone 7 development
• System Center 2012 & Windows Intune
• Tooling and languages with Visual Studio, C# and VB
• Cloud development with Windows Azure Platform
• Web development with HTML5, JavaScript and ASP.NET
• ...

REGISTER NOW

Hope to see you at the TechDays 2012!

Questions? Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or simply via e-mail.

StudentAppVenture, the Windows Phone 7 Developer Contest for Students : develop, submit and win

Katrien DG — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:26:46 GMT

My colleagues are launching a very interesting Windows Phone 7 developer contest for students in Belgium and Luxembourg. If you are a student check-out the offers below and participate! Here’s the main info:

Are you a student ?

Would you like to get a free Windows Phone ?

Microsoft announces a new contest for students called StudentAppVenture. The concept is very simple. Develop three Windows Phone applications, submit them to the marketplace and win a Windows Phone.

The first 20 students to publish 3 Apps before December 31, 2011 will not only receive a Windows Phone but will also see their name published in the “Hall of Fame” on this blog, the official Microsoft Academic blog.

START NOW

1. Visit the official contest rules first.

2. Register as Belgian student associated to your Dreamspark Account http://create.msdn.com. Contact your academic institution when you do not have access rights or alternatively, contact your Academic Program Manager.

2. Download the free windows phone developer kit http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27570 and develop three windows phone 7 applications (entry)

3. Submit each entry to the certification process, an entry is eligible only when it is published publicly and available on the marketplace. http://create.msdn.com. Only the publishing date counts.

When the entry is accepted we recommend you to tweet with the hashtag “#WP7BE” “#Lievegoedhuys” “#Davidhernie” or tweet @academicbelux. You can also add a comment on the blog post of the campaign or on the wall of our facebook page ‘Microsoft Academic BeLux’. For example, you might tweet: “Just created a great WP7 with the URL of your app @msacademicbelux #WP7BE”

There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit but each entry must be substantially unique and different. Updates are not considered as new entries. Multiple entries of the same applications will be disqualified.

4. Send an e-mail to lieveg@microsoft.com containing following information:

Subject line : Contest WP7
Content should contain your name, academic institution, name of your submitted App, acceptance of publication of your name on the list of winners (yes/no).

This information will only be used for the contest.

5. Add this Academic blog link to your browser favorites, as we will update the list of the lucky winners on a regular basis – and new student competitions might be announced there too.

Updated Windows Azure SDK & Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK Available

Katrien DG — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:03:53 GMT

Leveraging an announcement from the Windows Azure team with news on Windows Azure SDK (Tools for Visual Studio 2010), Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK and another update to the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit.

Please find the highlights below or read the official Windows Azure Blog post.

We are simplifying the development experience on Windows Azure with three updates—a new version of the Windows Azure SDK, a new Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK, and an updated Windows Azure Platform Training Kit. Whether you are already using Windows Azure or looking for the right moment to get started, these updates make it easier than ever to build applications on Windows Azure.

Highlights:

Windows Azure SDK (November 2011)—Multiple updates to the Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio 2010 that simplify development, deployment, and management on Windows Azure. The full Windows Azure SDK can be downloaded via the Web Platform installer here.
Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK— Works in conjunction with the Windows Azure SDK and includes modules and features to author high performance computing (HPC) applications that use large amounts of compute resources in parallel to complete work. The SDK is available here for download.
Windows Azure Platform Training Kit—Includes hands-on labs, demos, and presentations to help you learn how to build applications that use Windows Azure. Compatible with the new Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio 2010. The training kit can be downloaded here.

You can start building your application on it in 3 simple and easy to do steps:

1. Download the Tools:

Get Visual Studio Express and the Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio to start building and debugging applications for the Windows Azure Platform at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/sdk/
If you have already Visual Studio installed you can download the tools directly from http://tinyurl.com/toolsforazure.

2. Setup an Account:

Set up an account and obtain a free subscription for accessing the online portals for Windows Azure, SQL Azure and Windows Azure AppFabric. You can learn more about the accounts at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/learn/get-started/ or you can sign up directly and get the trial http://tinyurl.com/getazurefreetrial.

3. Create your First application and Deploy it on the Windows Azure Platform:

First learn how to create a simple ASP.NET application in Visual Studio for Windows Azure and deploy it on Windows Azure at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/learn/tutorials/getting-started-web-tutorial/

When all steps are executed successfully you should have running your first application on the Windows Azure Platform.

Announcing first ISV Cafe event: join and get your free copy of Forza Motorsport 4

Katrien DG — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:08:51 GMT

It looks like my colleagues are a fan of some gaming. Join them for the first ISV Café and spend an interesting evening on Dec 6th around Windows Phone Mango, SQL Server 2012, business sessions and partner cases. Full information follows below.

Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of the very first edition of ISV Café, where networking meets Microsoft technology in a thrilling Forza Motorsport atmosphere. The event will take place at the beautiful ‘Espace Del Goutte’, located in Ophain near Brussels.

In the presence of Joe Wilson, Sr. Director of the Developer and Platform Group at Microsoft Western Europe, we race through a series of 15’ sessions, providing you a mix of business and technology topics. Joe will kickoff the event and talk about the value of the ISV-Microsoft relationship.

For the technology-minded, we first take a look at Windows Phone 7 ‘Mango’: what’s new and what are the opportunities for ISVs. In addition, we give you an overview of the next version of our data platform, SQL Server 2012 and highlight the licensing changes.

But also for those interested in the business perspective, there is plenty to look out for. We first have a great session on how to enter the SaaS business: how does this impact your business model, financials, licensing, etc. In a second session, Tri-Vizor presents their experiences in building a business in the cloud, resulting in winning the Supply Chain Partner Award!

Of course as you all know, we never forget about the fun part here at Microsoft, closing everything off with a drink, where you’ll have the opportunity to network with other ISVs and the Microsoft ISV team.

On top of that, the first 50 to race towards that registration button get a free copy of Forza Motorsport 4 on Xbox 360! So don’t hesitate and register immediately.

Practical Details

Date:	December 6, 2011 15:00 – 18:00

Location:	Espace Del Goutte Rue de Bois-Seigneur-Isaac 40 1421 Ophain

Agenda

15:00 – 15:30	Welcome
15:30 – 15:50	Key note: The value of the ISV-Microsoft relationship Joe Wilson, Sr. Director of the Developer and Platform Group at Microsoft Western Europe
15:50 – 16:05	Windows Phone 7 ‘Mango’ David Hernie, Developer & Platform Evangelist / Jeroen Van Hees, Mobile Business Group Lead
16:05 – 16:20	Break
16:20 – 16:35	Introduction to SQL Server 2012 Christophe Van Mollekot, ISV Partner Account Manager
16:35 – 16:50	Partner Azure case: Tri-Vizor “Supply chain award winner” Alex Van Breedam
16:50 – 17:05	Starting up SaaS business: knowledge, practice sharing Ben Piquard, Director Microsoft Innovation Center asbl
17:05	Closing drink

Windows Azure Platform Training Kit – October 2011 Update now available

Katrien DG — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:33:22 GMT

The October release of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit (WAPTK) is now available as a free download. The Windows Azure Platform Training Kit includes hands-on labs (HOLs), presentations, and samples to help you understand how to build applications that utilize Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and the Windows Azure AppFabric. Download the full training kit including the hands-on labs, demo scripts, and presentations here. Browse through the individual hands-on labs on MSDN here.

The October 2011 version of the training kit includes the following new and updated content:

HOL: SQL Azure Data-tier Applications NEW
HOL: SQL Azure Data Sync NEW
HOL: SQL Azure Federations NEW
DEMO: Provisioning Logical Servers using Cmdlets NEW
DEMO: Parallel Computing on Windows Azure - Travelling Salesman NEW
SQL Azure Labs and Demos with the new portal and tooling experience UPDATED
Applied several minor fixes in content UPDATED

Also available is an updated preview of our web installer, which enables you to select and download just the hands-on labs, demos, and presentations you want instead of downloading the entire training kit. As new or updated hands-on labs, presentations, and demos are available they will automatically show up in the web installer. Download the training kit web installer preview release here.

You can start building your application on it in 3 simple and easy to do steps:

1. Download the Tools:

2. Setup an Account:

3. Create your First application and Deploy it on the Windows Azure Platform:

When all steps are executed successfully you should have running your first application on the Windows Azure Platform.

Quick tip: Expression Encoder SP2 released

Katrien DG — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:21:45 GMT

The Expression team has announced Service Pack 2 for Expression Encoder 4. With this Service pack you get over 300 bug fixes and some new features:

Encoding features like support for 1 and 2-pass VBR for offline H.264 encodes, support for more AAC audio options (Pro only), ...
Live features such as Live crop, Support for Live H.264 VBR 1-pass, ...
No more screen capture 10-minute limit, template improvements, new SDK samples, including a thumbnail generator and more

Note there are two versions of Expression Encoder, a free one and a Pro one. Some of the features are only applicable to the Pro version.

Quick links:

Download Expression Encoder 4 Service Pack 2
Official blog post by the Expression team
White paper complement: GPU Encoding in Expression Encoder 4 SP2

Web Camps Belgium: Hands-on HTML5 and Web Apps announced

Katrien DG — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:01:00 GMT

Web Camps are back! This time you can register for any of the four confirmed one-day events to learn more about using ASP.NET, open source web apps and get to some practical HTML5 coding.

What are Web Camps Belgium: Hands-on HTML5 and Web Apps?

Web Camps Belgium are free full day training events where you get to get your hands on the technology and build something. If you are wondering how to take advantage of HTML5 and CSS3, use a free open source app like Umbraco, Orchard, Drupal, or others or simply want to program your own website, then this event is for you.

The morning section is presentation time while in the afternoon it’s time to get coding on HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, ASP.NET and web apps. You will be able to choose from a more basic to a more advanced tutorial depending on your interests. The trainer will be available the full afternoon to help you build your app.

Are you a camper?

Practical details

Dates (choose your preferred date and click to register)
Because these events are hands-on seating is limited.

Location:
Microsoft office
Da Vincilaan 3
Zaventem

Agenda of the day

Morning – Theory and demos
9:00 – 10:30	Web Platform Overview and open source Web Apps Get a good overview of the Microsoft Web Platform, free tooling like Visual Studio 2010, Web Developer Express, IIS web server and a peek at what’s coming in Visual Studio 11 and ASP.NET MVC 4. After the general introduction we’ll show you around Orchard CMS, Umbraco and other open source CMS apps using WebMatrix.
10:30 – 11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30	Practical HTML5 This session kicks off with a good overview of the different elements in HTML5 that make up this umbrella term. We’ll go over standards HTML, new CSS3 specs and font usage and web app specs. Most importantly, the session will also address how you can start taking advantage of new features in the specs while still supporting older browsers through the use of polyfills and frameworks like Modernizr. To finish you’ll learn how to make your website shine on the Windows 7 taskbar through site pinning.
12:30 – 13:30	Lunch
Afternoon – Hands-on labs
13:30 – 17:00	Hands-on labs The afternoon is hands-on, the perfect timing to apply the learning from the morning session. Labs include creating a website using a web app by leveraging, practical HTML5 and CSS3 labs addressing Canvas, WOFF, CSS3 layout features and more. At the end of the session you’ll have a good practical feeling on how to use and customize open source web apps as well as leveraging the best in HTML5 today.
17:00 – 17:15	Closing, discussion, top recommended resources

Speaker: Kris van der Mast
Kris is an MVP since 2007, ASP Insider, board member of AZUG user group. Kris is a real community person who enjoys running, reading and seeing new places all over the globe and getting to know the local culture.

What do we offer?

Training and content, labs
Drinks and food (yes free)
A good and free wireless connection

Pre-requisites

In order to follow the hands-on labs you need to bring your own laptop, packed with the following free tools:

Bring your own laptop!
Browsers:

WebMatrix

Go to WebMatrix Download
Click the green button Install WebMatrix button to install WebMatrix

Visual Web Developer 2010 Express

In Web Platform Installer, scroll to Visual Web Developer Express 2010 SP1 and click the button Add to install the Visual Studio Express tool.
Or go through this link: http://www.asp.net/vwd
After you have successfully installed Visual Web Developer Express, you should see an Installed status.

Optional: Visual Studio Web Standards Update: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/webdevtools/archive/2011/06/15/web-standards-update-for-visual-studio-2010-sp1.aspx

Register now for TechDays 2012 and benefit from 15% Early Bird discount

Katrien DG — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:52:54 GMT

Starting today (November 2, 2011) registrations for the Belgian TechDays 2012 are OPEN!

About Microsoft TechDays

Year after year thousands of technology professionals come together to network with peers and experts, while diving deep into Microsoft technologies and learning about the latest products and solutions. Microsoft TechDays is one of the premier technical events in Belgium & Luxembourg and not to be missed.

With more technology areas than ever to explore, TechDays 2012 is the perfect place to get up-to-speed on the latest Microsoft technologies and up-level your skill on the technology you use every day. Content will be delivered by industry experts and Microsoft product team members.

Register now

Join our 10^th anniversary edition in a new location (Kinepolis Imagibraine - Braine l'Alleud) and learn about:

Tooling and languages with Visual Studio, C# and VB
Cloud development with Windows Azure Platform
Web development with HTML5, JavaScript and ASP.NET ...
Windows & Internet Explorer
Windows Server & Hyper-V
Windows Phone 7 development
System Center 2012 & Windows Intune

Kinepolis Imagibraine

After 3 great years in Metropolis Antwerp we’re moving TechDays to a new location: Kinepolis Imagibraine in Braine l’Alleud (Eigenbrakel). The movie theatre is easily reachable both by car and via public transportation.

If you’re coming by train: the Braine l’Alleud train station is very well connected with major cities in Belgium:

- Antwerp: direct connection from Antwerpen-Centraal taking approx. 1 hour
- Ghent: 1 hour trip from Gent Sint-Pieters, switching trains once at Brussel-Zuid
- Brugge: 1,5 hour trip switching trains once at Brussel-Zuid
- Hasselt: 1,5 hour trip switching trains once at Brussel-Zuid
- Leuven: 50 min trip switching trains once at Brussel-Noord
- Mons: 1 hour trip switching trains once at Brussel-Zuid
- Namur: 1 hour trip switching trains once at Charleroi-Sud
- Liège: 1,5 hour trip switching trains once at Brussel-Zuid
- Brussels: 15 minutes from Brussel-Zuid

There is a direct bus line (bus 67 from the TEC company) running from the Braine l’Alleud train station to Kinepolis Imagibraine, taking about 10 minutes.

Coming by car? Kinepolis Imagibraine is just 5 minutes from the R0 highway (exit 24). Driving directions are available here.

Microsoft Webcafe on November 23rd in Leuven–register and join us!

Katrien DG — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:53:31 GMT

The next Microsoft Webcafe is taking place at the M-Museum in Leuven, on November 23rd.
Join us for another informal event with partner, Microsoft and Web community presentations.

What is it and what to expect?

Webcafes are informal, after the hours tech meetups for industry updates, cases, networking and exploring something different. We invite a few partner cases to present short cases or projects, sharing learning’s with attendees. The events are free, open to everyone with an open mind, and there is always lots of networking. Check out the pics from past events on our Facebook page to get an idea.

Topics on the agenda:

Microsoft and Nokia, just get to it! - Koen Speelmeijer from Gadget Review
Is my website a web application? - François Remy @FremyCompany
Nivario Circus – Websockets in HTML5 - Sven Huijbrechts @toSvenson
WebMatrix 2.0 Preview: HTML5, extensibility, web apps - Katrien De Graeve (@katriendg)

What’s in a café?
This is Belgium after all, a café without beer does not exist… So chances are you’ll get to do some tasting in between the more serious stuff.

Practical details

Date: Wednesday November 23rd 2011
Timing: 18:00 to 22:00
Registration: MS Webcafe page
Location: M-Museum
Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28
3000 Leuven

Ten reasons to attend Web & Phone UX Tour on November 3rd

Katrien DG — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:14:37 GMT

On Thursday November 3rd you can attend the Web & Phone UX Tour event in Belgium (at Ter Elst in Edegem). It’s a full day full day encounter of web, phone, user experience and development content. Whether you come from the design and user experience angle or a more technical one, two tracks are there for you to choose. You can register for one of them and switch tracks as desired during the day itself.

I just heard we have a few seats left, so maybe you need a few reasons why not to miss it and register. First come-first serve.
Here’s my top ten why you should not miss the event:

Top speakers and content: do we really need more than this reason?
A general keynote from Microsoft Design: Metro, Multiscreen Experiences, Kinect and the Future. Delivered by product team members Arturo Toledo and Corrina Black.
Do I really need to go further in this list?
HTML5 will no longer be a confusing umbrella term for you: learn how to use HTML5 and CSS3 today
Focus on User Experiences and the Metro Design Language: your Windows Phone app will never be the same
Learn how to take advantage of new ‘Mango’ Windows Phone 7 features with speakers like Gill Cleeren and Christophe Peerens
Learn how to take your JavaScript to the next level with the right patterns usage
In the same way, learn how to take your jQuery skills to a more professional level, learning from the expert Elijah Manor.
Learn about one of the of new concepts to address multiple screens with Responsive Web Design (learn folks actually implementing it: Bram, Simon and Thomas)
Networking with your peers, Microsoft product team members, the speakers and local experts
It’s free! Yes, free as in beer. And this is Belgium so there might actually be some beer at one time or another…