Next week Tuesday (8/14) in San Diego and Thursday (8/16) in LA from 1-5pm (FREE)*topics are LINQ, WCF and Silverlight.
Pre-register at http://www.msdnevents.com/lynn (includes detailed agenda and locations)
Lots of information, demos, resource DVDs, time to talk with other developers who are there, and, of course, giveaways! I am looking forward to seeing you there. As usual, I'll post even more resources after the events.
If you want a 'jump start' here's some information about setting up a development environment. I've tried to be inclusive - that is - you can go the 'virtual lab' route, the 'what can I do with VS 2005' route, or the 'I want Orcas (VS 2008) Beta 2 now' route. I'll be elaborating on this grid in my presentations next week as well.
Product or Tool
Current status
Pre-Release Date
Download
Notes
Virtual PC Orcas (base image)
Beta 2
July 2007
here
n/a
Virtual PC 2007
Final release
Feb 2007
free
Virtual Labs WCF/WF in .NET 3.0
CTP w/ VS 2005
March 2007
n/a - 90 minutes of use max
Virtual Labs .NET 3.5
VS 2008 (Orcas) March 2007 CTP
LINQ extensions for VS 2005
CTP
May 2006
LINQ included in VS 2008
*note w/VS 2005 SP1 and LINQ bits
WCF extensions for VS 2005
Nov 2006
WCF included in VS 2008
VS 2008 SDK
New WCF samples
Silverlight 1.0 runtime
Release Candidate
IE 6/7 + FireFox - separate download for Mac
Silverlight 1.0 SDK
samples
Silverlight 1.1 runtime
Alpha refresh
Silverlight 1.1 SDK
.NET framework 3.5
For WCF and LINQ
VS 2008 (Orcas)
Required for Silverlight 1.1. development
VS 2008 Silverlight 1.1 tools
Templates, intellisense, debugging, Blend integration
Silverlight media streaming server
Alpha
Currently free, 4 GB max storage, get SDK here
ASP.NET Futures
Silverlight server controls + more
Expression Blend 2
August Preview
August 2007
30 day trial
Expression Media Encoder
Preview Update