The second edition of Microsoft Webcafe is taking place at Combell in Gent. We are calling it the ‘Combell Café’ for the evening. Register for free.
Agenda
Confirmed speakers and sessions
Presentations during a Webcafe are short, informative slots of 10 minutes. We’re using a timer so when it runs out, the speaker runs out of time! We have a few confirmed speakers already:
Scaling in the Cloud Thijs Feryn
iRail Windows Phone 7 showcase
iRail provides mobile public transportation information, through an API, a mobile website, and several native apps. We provide NMBS/SNCB information, but we are working on adding more companies in the near future!
Kinect and prizes
In between the breaks we’ll have a few Kinect contests with some cool prizes. You are the controller, and maybe now you are the winner?
What is Microsoft Webcafe?
Microsoft Webcafe is a new free informal get-together for web and user experience professionals after work hours. The goal is to present a mix of news around Microsoft web related topics and give the opportunity for participants to present a project themselves. Check out the pictures of the first Webcafe on Facebook and join us!
Register for Microsoft Webcafe nr 2, and see you there. Follow us on Twitter (mswebcafe) and use tag #mswebcafe.
Not sure what Windows Azure AppFabric exactly is and what you can do with it? Check out the following blogpost here by the Windows Azure AppFabric Team.
If you haven't already taken advantage of our free trial offer make sure to click on the image below and start using Windows Azure AppFabric already today!
Register now with extended Early Bird pricing Discover new technologies and increase your knowledge about current technologies on April 26, 27 and 28 at Metropolis, Antwerp. Do you want to attend at a discounted price? We have good news for you: the Early Bird pricing period has been extended until February 28, 2011. Register now and save up to €125!
Why you should not miss this year's TechDays TechDays 2011 delivers more than 80 technical sessions presented by top national and international speakers. The 3-day conference covers overview to very technical sessions on .NET language, framework and tools evolutions including C# and Visual Basic futures, WCF, parallel programming, development practices, OData, VSTS, ...; new web and client development techniques and technologies like ASP.NET MVC 3, HTML5, MVVM, Silverlight 5, Windows Phone 7, XNA, etc; and of course the newest stuff covering the Cloud with the Windows Azure Platform. Further you can expect how to learn to write PowerShell scripts, how to lockdown your pc infrastructure with Applocker and Group Policies, how to build high available virtualization infrastructure, what VDI is and what the impact will be on your infrastructure. Finally you will also discover the vnext versions of some of the System Center product and the future of SQL Server.
Deep dives On April 28th we are organizing different deep dives. Deep dives are full day post-conference workshops delivered by industry experts. This year's Deep Dives are focused on Application Lifecycle Management, the Cloud (Windows Azure Platform), Direct Access and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. For the ALM Deep Dive we can also confirm that some of the speakers are Visual Studio ALM Rangers (check out this site if you don't know what the Rangers are). Top speakers Even more top speakers have been confirmed, out of which we can give you a few names including Vittorio Bertocci, Glenn Block, Brian Keller, Rob Miles, Jeff Prosise, Ingo Rammer, Clemens Vasters, Don Jones, Dan Holme, Jeremy Moskowitz, Dandy Weyn, John Craddock and many more… Keep an eye on the TechDays website as we will continuously announcing confirmed speakers and sessions.
If you want to understand the key improvements introduced in SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 from a developer perspective, this training kit is a great resource! It contains a rich set of presentations, demos, hands-on labs and videos that are perfect for self-paced learning or for conducting your own training.
This update includes a rich new set of content designed for developers who want to learn how to build their first Microsoft Business Intelligence solution with SQL Server 2008 R2. Microsoft BI solutions leverage your existing technology investments in .NET, SQL Server and Office to develop rich integrated reporting and analytics experiences that empower users to gain access to accurate, up-to-date information for better, more relevant decision making.
If you already have an application that uses Microsoft SQL Server, don’t forget to register it on the Microsoft Platform Ready site and run the Microsoft Platform Ready Test Tool to assess for compliance with Microsoft-recommended requirements and test cases. Using the Microsoft Platform Ready Test Tool, you can:
To get started with Microsoft SQL Server, check out the following links to get your version of the product:
More learning resources are available from the SQL Server Developer Center on MSDN here.
Microsoft has developed the Productivity Hub to help support your ongoing end user training efforts. The Hub is a SharePoint Server site collection that serves as a learning community and is fully customizable. It provides a central place for your training efforts, and includes training content from Microsoft’s core products. Microsoft also provides ongoing and updated content packs. The Hub uses SharePoint Server’s social networking capabilities, such as blogs and discussion groups. In addition, it offers the Coach program, a change management feature to help you train end users to self-help, reducing the burden on your training and IT staff. The Coach program impacts productivity in a collaborative and positive way. The 2010 version of the Productivity Hub includes a quiz feature, a section called ‘Get it Done’ that offers training for tasks such as email management and collaboration, and also features Silverlight. There will be a non-Silverlight version of the 2010 Hub delivered in late June. The 2007 Hub contains 2007 content only (v2) with 2010 content added in v3 (to be released in June 2010). You can also add 2010 content packages to your current Hub. Watch for more document on migration from your 2007 Hub to your 2010 Hub. What the Productivity Hub is:
You can download the Productivity Hub 2010 here (registration required).
The Portable Library Tools Visual Studio add-in may be interesting if you’re writing applications that run on multiple .NET platforms. It allows you to create libraries that run on a variety of .NET platforms (.NET, Silverlight, Windows Phone, Xbox 360) without recompilation.
Check out this blogpost by the BCL (Base Class Library) team to find out all the details.
Microsoft Learning hosted the second new and exclusive “Jump Start” virtual training event on December 15-17, 2010. The course was titled “Building Cloud Applications using the Windows Azure Platform” and included 12 hours of expert-led training tailored for application architects and developers interested in leveraging the Cloud.
We are now pleased to announce that the professional videos recorded during the online class are available on Channel 9.
Who is the target audience for this training?
What’s the high-level overview?
Sessions:
Once completed you can start building your application on Windows Azure 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 http://tinyurl.com/learnaboutazure. 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 http://tinyurl.com/getazureaccount or you can sign up directly http://tinyurl.com/signupazureaccount.
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 on your local machine http://tinyurl.com/localazureapplication. Once successfully created, learn how to deploy this application on the Windows Azure Platform http://tinyurl.com/deployazureapplication.
When all steps are executed successfully you should have running your first application on the Windows Azure Platform!
In November 2010, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a survey study of 150 North American software development influencers. The purpose of the study is to understand the current state of application security development practices and identify key trends and market directions for application security.
The key findings of this study are the following:
Therefore, organizations that desire to improve their application security competency should treat application security strategically, not tactically — integrating security practices throughout the development life cycle, adopting industry-recognized methodologies, incentivizing and measuring developers for security, and tying security to overall business objectives.
Definitely worthwhile reading this, so download the full paper here. Where would you position your organization?
By the way, did I already mention that there are a lot of resources out there to help you?
In a previous blogpost I already mentioned that you can move your relational data into the cloud by leveraging Microsoft SQL Azure. Some day, however, you may realize that you also need this same data to be available on-premise (for example, field reps may need a local copy on their laptops). Enter Microsoft SQL Data Sync CTP2, which makes this scenario easy to do.
Check out the following TechNet article here which describes the above scenario end-to-end in detail
Last week, Microsoft released more than six new or upgraded products! All these free products enhance developing for the Web, from professional developers with ASP.NET MVC3 and NuGet to novice users with WebMatrix.
Learn more: continue directly to the announcement blog post by Scott Guthrie: Announcing release of ASP.NET MVC 3, IIS Express, SQL CE 4, Web Farm Framework, Orchard, WebMatrix
With the upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (see my previous post here), you may want to check this excellent white paper here that provides guidance on how to build line of business applications using CRM 2011 and the Microsoft Platform. For technical decision makers, it is a valuable resource to understand what the xRM Framework, which underpins Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, has to offer.
With the CRM 2011 release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we remain committed to providing customers and partners with a choice in how they elect to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Today, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is available to customers in a variety of subscription or ownership models:
Learn more about Dynamics CRM 2011 here.
As you may already have heard, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 launch is just around the corner. The local Dynamics CRM team at Microsoft is organizing a launch event on Tuesday, January 25th to learn more about this new release. Join us at this exclusive event, with:
Register now here and maybe you’ll win a helicopter flight for 3 persons!
Can’t wait until the 25th to learn about CRM 2011? On Thursday, January 20th Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer will introduce Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 at the global virtual launch event. Learn how it is designed to help you boost sales, improve marketing, enrich customer service interactions, and accelerate line of business application development through xRM.
Check out the following site here to find out the details for registering for this free event.
With the release of Windows Azure SDK 1.3 and the December Labs release of ACS, a whole bunch of new functionalities were made available to developers on the Windows Azure platform. We have now updated the FabrikamShipping SaaS sample scenario to make use of these new capabilities, and at the same time added some new application functionality.
For those that do not yet know this FabrikamShipping SaaS, it is a sample application that demonstrates how to use the Windows Azure platform for exposing an application as a service. We provide you with an online demo, but also the source code.
For more details about this release, check out the following blog post here from my Microsoft colleague Vittorio Bertocci. If you’re interested in security in the cloud, make sure to follow his blog and definitely try to go see one of his talks (suggestion: PDC 2010 Session on Identity and Access Control in the Cloud).
Microsoft Web Camps are free events that allow you to learn and build on the Microsoft Web Platform. Good news: Web Camps are coming to Belgium!
The Belgian Web Camp event on 24th of January 2011 is a full-day event where you will hear from Microsoft experts on the latest components of the platform, including ASP.NET MVC 3, jQuery, HTML5, OData and WebMatrix. Scott Hanselman is doing a two-hour keynote together with James Senior, which is then followed by three sessions delivered by Gill Cleeren and Katrien De Graeve.
If you can’t make it to the Web Camp Belgium in-person, you might get a free breakfast delivered to your company/community to watch the keynote and sessions via live stream.
Check out Katrien’s blog here to find out all of the details!
Check the following blogpost by Alik Levin here for a bunch of interesting videos on Windows Azure Security Essentials. Both business and technical decision makers may find them useful.
With the Windows Azure platform, moving your application to the cloud is not an all-or-nothing story. The flexibility of the platform allows you to gradually move your application into the cloud (Software as a Service) or extend your application with new functionality (Software + Services).
In a first step, you may decide to move only your relational data into the cloud using Microsoft SQL Azure, and leave the rest of your application untouched. This approach allows you to take advantage of the cloud-computing platform with relatively little effort and impact on your existing on-premise or hosted applications. Start small, benefit big.
Not convinced about the advantages of Microsoft SQL Azure, check out this analyst report from Forrester Research, where they interviewed 26 companies using Microsoft SQL Azure to find out about their implementations: SQL Azure Raises The Bar On Cloud Databases.
Still not convinced and want to try it for yourself, know that you can try Microsoft SQL Azure for free. Visit here for more details.
With a new year comes a new blog! The purpose of this blog is to provide information that is relevant to ISVs (Independent Software Vendors), and more precisely ISVs located in Belgium and Luxembourg. If you're an ISV but you're not located in this region, you may still find information that is relevant and of interest to you, so don't run off immediately :)
In this blog I will cover multiple technologies of the Microsoft Platform, which are relevant to ISVs. If you're interested in getting in more in-depth information for a specific technology, consider also visiting any of the other MSDN or TechNet blogs.