The new Developer marketing boy.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Developer Training

2009-11-09T22:26:45Z

Check out this set of nifty Windows Server 2008 R2 training tidbits for developers:

New R2 Learning Center

Explore this significant Windows Server release via a self-paced training course of videos and hands-on-labs with a focus on performance, web, management, and other server solution scenarios. Learn about developing applications for “many-core” scale, enable efficient “trigger-started” services, explore new Windows PowerShell features, create integrated solutions with the File Classification Infrastructure, and build Web Platform extensions.

New R2 Developer Training Kit – Learning Center Edition

Download and share the Developer Training Kit. The kit includes self-paced hands-on-lab exercises with corresponding video resources on the new Channel9 Learning Center. Topics include:

“Many-Core” Application Scale
VHD and Hyper-V API’s
Designed for Efficiency
Extreme Web Services
The Extensible Web Platform

Hammer Time

2009-11-09T22:12:32Z

Today at 1.30pm (Sydney time) is HAMMER TIME. We will be holding our first LIVE Smooth Streaming event in Australia with MTV interviewing MC Hammer (who also appeared on Rove last Sunday).

Hammer is Down Under promoting the new Xbox game Lips featuring MC Hammer’s 1990 hit “You Can’t Touch This” as one of the tracks).

We have teamed up with MTV, the Xbox team, Akamai, Inlet Technologies, Viocorp, and Readify to take the feed direct from the MTV studio out to the web using Silverlight Smooth Streaming, Windows Server 2008 and IIS7 Media Services. The feed will also feature an overlay of what is happening on Twitter as Hammer is being interviewed, Hammer will be taking questions live from the Twitter stream. The overlays also include a tag cloud most popular words from the feed to get the mood of the event as well as a list of the top Tweeters.

To watch, please go to www.mtv.com.au/mchammer

Other times include:

US Seattle = 6.30pm Monday
US NY = 9.30pm Monday
UK = 2.30am (sorry) Tuesday
Singapore = 10.30am Tuesday

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Congratulations to the team for a great smooth stream and with twitter overlays (stream to the right + a ticker along the top).

Visual Studio 2010 Australian Road Show

2009-11-04T03:50:43Z

The developer solution team are visiting eight cities over the next couple of months to tell Australia about the new Visual Studio 2010. Register now as places are limited.

New look for Aussie MSDN Flash

2009-10-26T03:50:37Z

We published a new look for the MSDN Flash and I’d be interested in your thoughts: is this a useful resource for you? How would you improve it?

A lot of the feedback I received at TechEd was to make the newsletter shorter by making it a snap shot of what’s available via the MSDN site.

After sending last weeks Flash, about a dozen people asked for a bigger listing of events so we have included more of our user groups. If you have an event you would like listed, please contact me.

Click here to read previous versions of the Flash and to subscribe to the MSDN Flash click here.

As always, please let me know if you have any other suggestions or comments.

Harvey Norman Plan To Sell The World’s First Copy Of Windows 7

2009-10-21T00:55:03Z

Gizmodo have reported that Harvey Norman will be open at midnight this evening which makes them one of the first retailers in the world to sell a copy of Windows 7. Click here to find a store near you or visit their Windows 7 promo site.

You can even follow Harvey Norman on Twitter.

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 is Here

2009-10-20T00:23:00Z

Microsoft announced today the immediate availability of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Beta 2 to MSDN subscribers with general availability following on 21 October.

Check out and download Beta 2

Featured overviews and walkthroughs

Tell us what you think so far

Submit a bug

Ask our product manager a hard question

We also announced a simplified product lineup and pricing options for Visual Studio 2010 as well as new benefits for MSDN subscribers, including the Ultimate Offer, available to all active MSDN Premium subscribers at the official product launch on March 22, 2010.

What’s new?

New testing options will help ensure quality code
Enhancements to the integrated development environment mean that whether modeling, coding, testing or debugging, developers can use existing skills to deploy a growing number of application types
Built-in tools for Windows 7 and Microsoft SharePoint 2010
New drag and drop bindings for Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation
interoperability with innovative technologies (such as those for the database, ASP.NET model view controller, unified modeling language, Expression, and multicore) allow developers to bring their visions to life

But wait! There’s more:

With the .NET Framework 4, developers can experience immensely smaller deployments with up to an 81 percent reduction in the framework size when using the Client Profile. Other .NET Framework 4 developer benefits include additional support for industry standards, inclusion of the Dynamic Language Runtime for more language choice, new support for high-performance middle-tier applications (including parallel programming, workflow and service-oriented applications) and backward compatibility through side-by-side installation with .NET Framework 3.5.

How do I get “the Ultimate Offer?”

Active MSDN Premium subscribers will be transitioned to a higher-level Visual Studio 2010 with MSDN subscription at launch. This provides access to an unprecedented amount of resources, including test and development rights for Microsoft server software (including Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008), Microsoft Office, and premium Visual Studio tools.

What’s the new line up look like?

In the next version, customers will be able to choose from three main versions of Visual Studio 2010:

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN
The comprehensive suite of application life-cycle management tools for software teams to help ensure quality results from design to deployment
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Premium with MSDN
A complete toolset to help developers deliver scalable, high-quality applications
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional with MSDN
The essential tool for basic development tasks to assist developers in implementing their ideas easily

Also today, Microsoft unveiled new benefits for MSDN subscribers, including these:

Unlimited access to Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 (upon release)
a server product that drives down the risks and costs of developing software by enhancing team collaboration
Azure Development
which enables MSDN Premium subscribers to develop on the Windows Azure platform (Microsoft’s cloud services platform) with compute hours, storage, data transfers, SQL Azure databases and .NET Services
Complimentary e-learning
up to 40 hours per year, per subscriber to help developers access the wealth of online resources in a more streamlined fashion, Microsoft has also updated the MSDN Web site, which now features an updated user interface, a faster version of the MSDN Library and more community resources.

Video from our PR statement:

Next steps:

Want to be the first to know?

Get the Visual Studio 2010 datasheet

This 11-page datasheet gives you an insider's view of the next generation of Visual Studio.

Download now: XPS | PDF

Follow Jono

Jono Wells is twittering away about what’s going on with Visual Studio 2010.

Follow @onojw on Twitter

#vs10 RSS

New look for MSDN

2009-10-15T01:08:29Z

Beth’s blog has some really good discussion about the new look for MSDN just around the corner… the Visual Basic Developer Centre is a good preview of what’s to come...

The current look:

What’s new?

New colour – from red to blue…
Better layout on the home page for easier navigation.
Essential resources are centred right in the middle with a rotator of sorts that allows you to pick a tab on the left to hone in on the content you want on the right.
You’ll see featured articles and library content, VB team and MVP blog posts, our Channel 9 videos, and VB samples & projects on Code Gallery and Codeplex all right there in the middle of the page.

Beth also blogged that we added ratings and comments on the videos a while back + a video scroller that lets you browse the most popular videos with ease.

I received a lot of feedback from TechEd Australia about finding the right information and how to engage with communities… there’s a lot in the pipeline but please give us your feedback in the MSDN feedback forum where folks from MSDN will be participating. Of course, you can always tell me your thoughts here as well.

3 weeks to submit your AIMIA Amy nomination

2009-10-13T11:22:43Z

AIMIA is calling for entries into the 16th Annual AIMIA Awards, which celebrate the very best examples of digital media in Australia and New Zealand. Known affectionately as “The Amys” by the industry, the awards showcase work undertaken by Australia’s Interactive Media and Digital Content sectors across a broad range of consumer, business, government and not-for-profit categories.

There are loads of categories including 3 new ones:

Best Sport: Given to the best sports-based interactive media or digital content which demonstrates best practice, innovation and excellence in promoting and covering a sport, sports brand, product, service or event.
Best Online Video: Awarded to the entry that shows appropriate, relevant and best use of digital video as a creative and distribution medium in the application.
People’s Choice: This award is voted for by AIMIA members. The most voted entry from the total pool of 16th Annual AIMIA Awards category finalists will determine the winner of the category.

Awards are now open and close at 5pm AEST on Wednesday 4 November 2009. Finalists will be announced in mid-January. Entries must be submitted via the AIMIA website. For more details and entry criteria, please visit www.aimia.com.au/awards.

Visit www.aimia.com.au/awards or email awards@aimia.com.au for more details!

New Fixed Telstra Data Plans

2009-10-12T04:11:29Z

Choose from two plans:

Mobile email plan for businesses with Exchange Server 2003 SP2 or higher (with 100MB of WAP/modem usage per month)
Mobile services plan, for businesses with System Center Device Manager 2008 (or SCMDM) which covers push email and data traffic through your SCMDM VPN.

Now I need to find a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone and upgrade the plan :)

Don, just so you know, I have my eye on the new Touch Pro 2…

New blog design

2009-10-11T11:24:39Z

Over the weekend I thought I would reskin the blog… and thought borrowing Scott’s would be a whole bunch easier… I need to play around with the colours a bit but I thought it’s a great head start. Thanks Scott, I owe you a beer :)

And welcome home…

My new role…

2009-10-09T16:34:20Z

I have realised my long term goal in joining the Developer Platform Evangelism group (known as DPE). My new role is the Developer Marketing Manager previously held by Finula Crowe who returned to Ireland. Fin has left some pretty big (and high) shoes to fill and I’m slowly learning all the amazing things she did around the business.

If you have any ideas, suggestions or any other feedback to help me find my feet, please get in touch, I’d love to hear from you.

Otherwise, I look forward to working with you :)

My new favourite thing

2009-07-23T10:12:58Z

In the spirit of Oprah’s new favourite thing, the ability to join a conference call from the mobile version of Communicator is just awesome… no more fiddling around trying to write down access numbers; pin numbers or participant codes as OCS will call you back and sign you into the conf call… fantastic.

Download Microsoft Office Communicator R2 for Smartphones and Pocket PC.

Of course Johann has already blogged along with some other pretty screen shots and other hot fixes… I need to start saving for a 6.5 phone now.

Homescreen support for new homescreens in Windows Mobile 6.5+ phones.

Integration within the phone dialer for Windows Mobile 6.5+ phones.

Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 now recognizes when the phone is roaming, and by default does not sign in to roaming networks.

Additional support for joining conference calls from a Windows Mobile appointment. To do this, press Menu, and then press Join Conference.

Enables users to log on with a username of the format user@example.com, in addition to domain\user.

When placing Call via Work calls, callbacks are now automatically accepted.

Microsoft Installer (MSI) installation on Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) fails. In this situation, users should install Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 by using a .Cab installation.

AT&T FUZE devices set for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) connection cannot handle voice and data at the same time. This causes Call via Work calls to fail unless the device is reverted to 3rd Generation (3G) by disabling HSDPA – surely this isn’t a problem for Telstra?

Going to TechEd Australia? Look for Dave…

2009-07-22T04:31:16Z

Coatsey has pulled some quick stats from the TechEd09 registration report… looks like the most popular name attending the conference this is year ‘Dave’. The most popular female name is Simone, which I reckon is a simple spelling mistake.

One stat missing is the HUGE number of partners going… probably because of the Australia Partner Conference being at the same venue the week before. My team (the now called Partner Technology Advisors – more on that later) have put together 6 cool reasons why TechEd is cool for partners… and quite frankly anybody who works with technology. My top reason (over and above the netbook) is probably #3 as Andy says, it’s all about the community… keep up-to-date with the Twitter account (@auTechEd), for the breaking news and the hashtag #auteched.

There is a whole bunch of other social networking options on the TechEd Connect page as well as some other useful info over on Andy Coates, Nick Hodge’s, Andrew Dugdell’s and Jorke’s TechEd backstage blogs… whilst you’re there, check out the menu.

Look forward to seeing you there.

6 Reasons As To Why Tech Ed Is Cool For Partners

View more presentations from chlong.

Receive kudos for being you

2009-02-16T11:40:33Z

I’m sure you’ve heard this via the normal channels… the Worldwide Partner Conference is open for award submissions from tomorrow.

Nominate your Solution for a 2009 Microsoft Global Award!
The Awards program is designed to recognize your innovative solutions built on Microsoft technologies. Successful partners in the Awards program will benefit from:

Recognition- be recognised in front of your peers and customers, along with photo opportunities with Microsoft Executives – woohoo – seriously though, this is great for PR and for your desk at work
Customised Promotions- receive personalised logos, web banners, and custom PR identifying you as an elite Microsoft Partner.
Exclusive Access- take advantage of an opportunity to meet with Microsoft executives at an award winner’s luncheon.

How do I do submit something?
Take this unique opportunity to showcase your innovative solutions. You can enter for an award using a web-based tool, between February 17th and April 2nd, 2009. The entry tool and detailed information about the 2009 Awards program can be found here. Winners and finalists will be announced on June 15th, and Partner of the Year awards will be presented to winning partners at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.

Save the Date: July 13–16, 2009, Worldwide Partner Conference
Microsoft is pleased to announce that the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 will take place in New Orleans, on July 13–16, 2009. Registration Opens in March (details will be coming soon).

Find full details of the Worldwide Partner Conference here.

I’m sure Sarah Arnold will be publishing some more info soon and there’s always our local Australia Partner Conference to look forward too.

Happy New Year and New Job

2009-02-16T11:21:24Z

Where has 2009 gone so far? I can still remember Christmas lunch looking at the Easter Eggs on the supermarket shelves. Bad news for the waist line as I still haven’t lost the extra weight from having the baby… unlike my wife.

Just before Christmas, I accepted a new job in the Partner Technology Specialist (PTS) team and started mid-January. I’m focusing on our Information Worker technology, such as SharePoint and Unified Communications. Another new chap to Microsoft, Jason Clarke is responsible for our Core Infrastructure products & solutions. Together we cover the “North” with our main remit being to help mid-market customers understand our respective technology set as well as helping making Partners more successful.

I really enjoyed my time as an ISV Marketing Manager and in many ways will be really sorry to leave it. This new role though will allow me to closely with customer and partners though which I’m really excited about.

Top 10 things I’ll miss:

Working with our agencies – together we created a new brand for ISV communications, to help make it stand out from the crowd. We still had to use Partner Program orange though in some of our work. Small steps…
Partner-TV – our partner video blog which I’m still going to be dabbling with…
ISV Royalty Licensing – we signed up many new partners to the program this year allowing ISVs to integrate our technology into theirs and really saw some success.
Communities, including the .NET Clusters. Huge thanks to Ellen, Alastair, Eddie, Faith, Ian and Martin for their support :)
Innovation Day Tour across Australia – I did two of these and saw most of the country’s capital cities. Huge thanks to the DPE boys for the comedy… you know who you are. The team used Mesh to pull our presentations together and for backups… Mr Kordahi though used the power of Mesh against me. I didn’t appreciate that with Mesh you give other people the power to make changes and during the last presentation, an ‘extra’ slide was added to my deck. As I turned to look at Michael & Andrew, I was faced with a camera. A great end to a successful road show.
Australia Partner Conference as the ISV track owner… although I’ll still be involved this year from a PTS angle.
Web Agencies and Partners – Silverlight is still on my radar though as it integrates with MOSS :)
Software + Services – I still get the play with our online services which is great for demonstrations.
BizSpark for startups – working with David Sajfar providing tools + software to start up companies.
Working with the various virtual teams, including the other Partner Marketeers, DPE, Hosting guys; Partner Account Managers, the Regional teams, Corporate and many, many others.

Prep for the new role:

It’s been fun developing my knowledge which a month ago was about the 100 level for most of our stuff. I’m going deeper and should be around 250 by the end of the month… our partners are truly the experts though as they make all this stuff work.

I attended the electronic version of our technical training event in Seattle
The day before I officially started, I delivered a 3 hour presentation on what is SharePoint to the Large Account Resellers… poor guys
I have been involved in a number of partner and customer workshops articulating the value of our business productivity stack
I’ve been playing with the “Demo show case” which I remember my old colleague, Chris Parkes, was a huge fan of. Pretty cool resource of virtual PCs for partners, rather having to create your own
UC learning paths to learn more about the latest release of our unified communications offering
What’s coming in the future: Office 14
I’ve learnt so much about customer’s really opinion is of us, which is really refreshing and eye opening

It’s been great fun so far learning about this new side of the business and I look forward to working with you with my new hat on.

Finally, a huge thanks to Julia; Nick; Sarah; Sarah; Sarah; Mike and Kim (save the best to last) for their advice; support; humour and leadership.