Among the myriad of reasons why I like employing Scrum for software development, I think the main reason is the frameworks ability to remove what is often called Technical Debt (TD) or Design Debt. Ward Cunnigham was the one who coined the term and simply...

Hey everyone! Yes yes, I do realize it's been forever since I've posted, but hopefully you haven't forgotten about this humble little blog-the thing about the ADM role is, it's never a guarantee when things are gonna start popping up like tulips in spring...

If you’ve been using Team Foundation Server (TFS) combined with Visual Studio (VS) then most likely you’ve installed the TFS Power Tools. Prior to this latest incarnation, it provided quite a bit of functionality and was almost not an optional...

I’ve created a few posts on Windows Server AppFabric as well as Windows Server AppFabric Logging as it provides fantastic functionality if your organization wants full control of the environment and is not ready to move “to the Cloud.”...

“Keeping up the Joneses” is generally associated with materialistic goods (i.e. your neighbor purchases a new car so you do as well) but now that same metaphor can be easily related to technology. In today’s ever increasingly connected...

While the Team Foundation Service (previously known as TFS Azure) is still in preview mode that doesn’t mean that guidance and best practices should not be addressed. I’ve created quite a few blog posts on the features and capabilities that...

If you’ve ever used an instant messaging (IM) client then you’re probably familiar with the functionality that such software provides. What you most likely don’t know is that Microsoft has released a new enterprise-ready unified communications...

Zafar Kapadia is back with a new blog post on synchronization between an on premises SQL Server and SQL Azure. The sample code illustrates how to successfully implement this functionality via the Sync Framework and is a great starting point if you're...

Zafar Kapadia who is a Technical Account Manager here at Microsoft has created a fantastic blog post showing, as the name implies, exactly what steps need to be completed to migrate an on-premise database from SQL Server to SQL Azure using SSIS. ... read...

It seems nowadays that nothing ever goes down but rather quite the opposite. So when I learned that not only Windows Azure pricing was reduced but also Office 365 I just had to spread the good news. That said, Microsoft has halved the price of its entry...

Even though the Team Foundation Service can be updated more frequently than a typical boxed product (current updates are scheduled approximately every 3 weeks), there were some gaps between this service and Team Foundation Server. One of which was building...

If you’re doing a lot of Windows Phone (WP) development then you’re certainly going to be happy to know that the release of the Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update is now available for immediate download on the Microsoft Download Center. ... read...

The Visual Studio Beta has been released and if you think it’s just a new skin think again. I’ll leave it to the VS team’s blog to list all of the new features although I will provide my color commentary on some of them. ... read more

Visual Studio ALM Rangers always produce some incredible content and this latest round is no exception. 70 v olunteer Rangers worked together with product group members to create 20 Ranger solutions. This number broke all their past records and is a great...

I enjoy learning by doing as opposed to a lecture based format so having access to a free lab environment via Microsoft Virtual Labs is too good to pass up. Combine this with SQL Server 2012 and it’s the perfect time to learn about some of the new...

The wait is over and the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (CP) is available and can be downloaded. The Developer Preview (DP) which has been available since last year made a tremendous impact at the Build conference and now the CP continues that momentum with...

If you’re a developer who has been trying to get your organization on the TFS band wagon and the stumbling block has always been cost/budgetary constraints, nirvana is almost here. With the soon to be released Visual Studio (VS) / Team Foundation...

Over a year ago the Microsoft patterns & practices (p&p) team released the Windows Phone Developer Guide as part of a series on Windows Azure service and client application development. The guide described a scenario concerning a fictitious company...

For those that aren’t familiar with ASP.NET Web API it represents the joint efforts of the WCF and ASP.NET teams to create an integrated web API framework. You can get the bits and find articles, tutorials, samples and videos on the new ASP.NET...

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first part of our ALM Series! If you're just joining in on this series and you want to know more about ALM, check out my introduction post here. Let's go ahead and get started with the first phase of ALM. But first...

I remember when creating reports were a daunting task and one that I generally left for last to complete. I think almost every developer I’ve come in contact with throughout the years is under the same impression (although there are exceptions to...

Greetings once again, folks! I've realized that while a lot of you can go and quickly look up code snippets and watch tutorials on different technologies, there are some aspects of development that you can't get without living it first-this is also a...

Microsoft has not so suddenly introduced the Metro style user interface (UI) to the masses via the Windows Phone, updated Xbox menu navigation and the soon to be released Windows 8 CTP (the developer preview is available here). ... read more

Cirrus clouds are certainly beautiful but “the cloud” within technology is truly a wonderful thing. It offers so much versatility and almost limitless possibility that it’s now become a focal point when talking about development (new...

Being in the ADM role, or any role in Microsoft for that matter, requires some knowledge of the different technologies that Microsoft offers. I've recently been studying a lot to better serve my customers, and one piece of technology that has captured...