MSDN Ireland News

Azure SDK Jan09 CTP now available!

Clare Dillon — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:05:00 GMT

If you are interested in Azure - check out the links below:

Download the Windows Azure Software Development Kit (January 2009 CTP)

The Windows Azure SDK provides developers with the APIs, tools, documentation, and samples needed to develop Internet-scale applications that run on Windows Azure. Also get the Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio (January 2009 CTP) which extend Visual Studio to enable the creation, building, debugging, running and packaging of scalable services on Windows Azure.

Internet Explorer RC1 now available!

Clare Dillon — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:36:00 GMT

If you do any web-related development and you haven't already got it - now is the time to download IE8 (now available as release candidate 1) and check for compatibility with your existing sites. You can get it at the Internet Explorer home page.

They also have a marketing summary of some of the new features (folks are really liking the Accelerator and Web Slice features). However, to get an even better overview of the new features and the interoperability changes, check out the IE8 Team blog.

Check out Windows 7 beta!

Clare Dillon — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:15:00 GMT

Earlier this month, Windows 7 Beta was announced at the Internation CES. If you are curious about what this new version of Windows brings to the table, you should check out the Windows 7 home page. You'll be able to download the beta from there.

If you want to learn more, a few other sites come recommended:

Engineering Windows 7 blog
Windows Client Developer Centre on MSDN
Watch the great videos on Windows 7 that have been posted to Channel 9

.NET Coffee Break - with Stephen Toub on Parallel Programming with .NET

Clare Dillon — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:24:00 GMT

Details of the latest .NET Coffee Break included below. It's on December 11th with Stephen Toub, Senior Program Manager on the Parallel Computing Platform team who will be broadcasting live from the US. Last one before Xmas!

Summary: Parallel Programming with .NET

With the Microsoft .NET Framework today, correctly introducing parallelism into libraries and applications is difficult, time consuming, and error-prone. However, as the hardware industry shifts towards multi-core and manycore processors, the key to high-performance applications is parallelism. The .NET Framework 4.0 offers solutions to help make writing parallel applications significantly easier. In this webcast, we explore Parallel LINQ-to-Objects (PLINQ), the Task Parallel Library (TPL), and new coordination data structures in order to provide a look at the next generation of parallel programming with .NET.

The show will be broadcast live on Wednesday 11th of December at 16:00 GMT (Irish Time!).

All the connection details to the show will be sent to you prior to the start of the webcast.

This event is free but you need to register by following this link

http://www.developers.ie/Webcasts.aspx

.NET Coffee Break - Josh Holmes on IronRuby in Silverlight

Clare Dillon — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:10:00 GMT

Developers.ie have a great new .NET Coffee Break show scheduled - Josh Holmes will be speaking on Leveraging IronRuby in Silverlight. More details from the site are included below. You'll need to register on the site to get the details of how to connect to the call.

Leveraging IronRuby in Silverlight

with Josh Holmes
3rd of December - 16:00 GMT (Irish Time!)

Summary:

Join Josh Holmes as he talks about his two favorite technologies – IronRuby and Silverlight. A perfect joining of two great technologies – IronRuby brings the dynamic abilities to your code that XAML gives your UI. From animations to logic to simple HTML DOM manipulation - it's all possible and a lot of fun.

This will be broadcast live on Wednesday 3rd of December at 16:00 (Irish time!)

All the connection details to the show will be sent to you a few days prior to the start of the webcast.

Cork User Group: Sharepoint on Dec 1st

Clare Dillon — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:58:00 GMT

And for those of you down in Cork - check out the next user group meeting on December 1st focusing on Sharepoint. You can read more details below and register here.

Date: 01 December 2008 19:00 - 21:00

Summary

Here is your chance to learn all about Sharepoint from two experienced professionals. Micheal and Martin will cover the basics of Sharepoint initially explaining what it does and how it works. They will then delve into how you can develop applications with Sharepoint covering such topics as

SharePoint Overview & Object Model
Extending SharePoint
Features and Event Receivers
Custom Workflows
InfoPath Forms Services
Web content management

Speaker(s)

Martin Fenton
	Martin is an experienced .NET and SharePoint Developer with over 5 years experience working with a range of tools and methodologies. He is currently working as a Microsoft Solutions Consultant for PM Centrix

Micheal O Sullivan
	Micheal is a SharePoint and .NET Consultant with 7 years experience. He is currently specializing in Document Management, Collaboration and Workflow Development applications, and has experience in deploying, administrating and supporting SharePoint Server in enterprise environments."

Event Invite: User Experience Options with Microsoft - a full-day seminar

Clare Dillon — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:36:00 GMT

If you've been reading alot about Silverlight, WPF and all the various flavours of the Expression tools - you might be wondering about how they all fit together, and with more mature technologies like VB6 and WinForms. Well, this is your chance to find out! A free day-long seminar with Ronan, Martha and visiting expert Max Knor will be well worth it!

Where? Microsoft EPDC2 Auditorium, Microsoft European Product Development Centre, South County Business Part, Leopardstown (Bus tranfer available from Sandyford Luas stop - leaving at 9:40am sharp!)

When? Thursday, December 11^th. 10am -5pm (Doors open 9:30)

Register here!

Event Overview:

Over the years, Microsoft has provided developers with many tools and technologies for building UIs for their applications, from VB6, WinForms to WPF and Silverlight. Come along to this free day-long seminar to get a great overview of all your options. Learn which tools to use in which situation from Microsoft technology experts Max Knor (TechEd favourite and developer from Microsoft Austria), Ronan Geraghty and Martha Rotter (developers from the Microsoft Ireland Developer and Platform Group). If you are interested in delivering excellent user experiences, either in rich clients or on the web – this seminar is for you!

Sessions:

10:00 – 11:15 The Microsoft Client Continuum

The Microsoft Client Continuum : a continuous series of client platform technologies available from Microsoft ranging from the very "rich" functionality of WPF to the greater "reach" of ASP.NET and of course Silverlight. Learn how the technologies compare and which one is the right one to use based on your needs.

11:30 – 13:00 Introducing the Windows Presentation Foundation

The Windows Presentation Foundation is a new GUI framework for desktop applications. Shipping as part of .NET 3.0 it addresses a lot of issues, Windows Forms developers have been faced with for years. With WPF, the UI is defined in an own language called XAML, whereas the code beside (event handlers,..) are written in C#. This concept allows better separation of UI and code, so that you can change the visual representation without a need to touch the corresponding code. WPF provides you with the ability to restyle all controls (even the built-in ones) and apply themes to them to create a unique user experience throughout your entire application. Besides that, you can compose controls, e.g. easily include images, buttons and other controls within lists, with the help of the new content model. Apart from visual stuff, WPF introduces a powerful data binding engine, an included command model, routed events and much more. Join this session to learn how to create your own UIs with the help of the Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), how to apply styles, and leverage the new features of WPF!

14:00 – 15:30 Building WPF composite smart clients

Windows Presentation Foundation is a powerful framework for developing smart client applications. It provides functionalities as a rich data binding engine, styling of controls, a built-in command pattern and much more. That's great for flashy demos, but when it comes to real business applications, you are facing some problems: What if the application consists of different modules, which need to be independent? Such a modularity allows parallel development of modules and enables more flexible deployment, as additional modules can be added later, with no need to update the original parts. Other problems are the separation of data, visualization and logic or the reuse of views. Microsoft Patterns & Practices Group has collected some of these real-world problems and has built the "Composite Application Guidance for WPF" (the project formerly known as "Prism"), which provides a set of proven patterns and components. In this session you will see how to leverage the blocks of the guidance to ease the development of your own WPF composite smart clients.

15:45 – 17:00 Building Rich Internet Applications with Silverlight 2

Silverlight provides a powerful platform for building the next generation of rich interactive applications on the Internet. In this session, we take a deep look at the programming model and tools that developers and designers can leverage to build these true next-generation experiences for consumers and businesses, and demonstrate building a Rich Interactive Application (RIA) using Silverlight and Microsoft .NET. We cover how to use Microsoft Visual Studio to create applications, how to create UI using XAML markup and code, how to build a custom control and how to retrieve data from a Web service.

Event Invite: David Chappell coming to Dublin for seminar on Windows Azure

Clare Dillon — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:05:00 GMT

For those of you who haven't seen David Chappell speak before - let me assure you - it's a real treat! I am just back from TechEd in Barcelona, where I saw him deliver some of the content included below. It's a really excellent and entertaining session and I am really delighted he has agreed to come over and visit us here in Dublin for this free half-day seminar.

So, if you are interested in hearing about Windows Azure - this is one not to miss! The event is sure to fill up really quickly - so register here as soon as you can!

Where? Microsoft EPDC2 Auditorium, Microsoft European Product Development Centre, South County Business Part, Leopardstown (Bus tranfer available from Sandyford Luas stop - leaving at 9:40am sharp!)
When? Monday, December 8^th. 10am -1:30pm (Doors open 9:30)
Register here!

Description:

A half-day seminar by David Chappell to introduce Windows Azure (Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Platform): what it is and how to use it.

Cloud computing looks like the biggest change to hit our industry in many years. The advent of cheap, scalable computing power available over the Internet will affect almost everybody who works in IT. But taking advantage of this shift requires understanding this new approach and how to exploit it.

In this half-day seminar, David Chappell looks at the big picture of cloud computing, then focuses in on Microsoft’s new cloud platform technologies. The topics he’ll cover include:

A realistic look at cloud computing: Benefits and risks
The cloud context: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce.com, and more
Microsoft’s cloud platform technologies
Using the Microsoft cloud platform: Which technologies make sense for your applications?

The goal is to provide a framework for thinking about cloud platforms, make clear what Microsoft’s cloud platform technologies can do, then offer guidance on how to make good decisions for using them.

Dublin User Group Event: Visual Studio 2010 - this Friday

Clare Dillon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:42:00 GMT

For those of you who were disappointed that the Visual Studio 2010 half-day seminar is booked up - you might be able to head along to the latest Dublin User Group Event. The guys in MTUG.ie have arranged for Matt and Andy to do a condensed version of the seminar next Friday evening from 7-9pm in the Morrison Hotel in the city centre.

You can find out more and register here.

I've included the summary below - so hopefully see you there!

Where? The Morrison Hotel
When? Friday, Nov 14th - 7-9pm.

Matt Carter and Andy Fouche, from the Visual Studio team in Seattle, will be travelling directly from Barcelona to visit us here in Dublin. Come along to learn about the features of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0.

Here is an overview of the sessions, including the questions that will be answered:

Understanding the code (References & Hierarchies, Sequences, Class Dependencies…): What is the application architecture? What did the tester find? What is in the code?
Harnessing the power of C++ (All the features of Visual C++ 6.0, Windows 7 support…): Do I have to give up my favorite C++ tool? What if I have a lot of code? What about the new look and feel options? What about performance and debugging?
Building Web applications (Test-Driven Development, Integrated Silverlight tools…): What about rich content? Can I use the right pattern? How do I deploy this? What about my JavaScript? What presentation code should I use?
Creating Office Business Applications (Deployment Designer, Combined Client & Server packages…): What is where in my SharePoint Server? Can I work locally? How do I use the SharePoint features? What about deployment?

Speaker(s)

Matt Carter
	Matt Carter is Group Product Manager for Microsoft’s Visual Studio Professional Tools team, which is responsible for product management of Microsoft’s core developer tools. Matt’s group is responsible for the product planning and management for current and upcoming versions of Visual Studio, as well as Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) and Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO). Matt has worked with Microsoft developers for 15 years at Microsoft Press, Microsoft Learning, and MSDN Magazine, and in the community as a publisher of print and online developer information resources. Prior to that, Matt built back-office and desktop applications that connected airline mainframe systems to Windows desktops for the travel industry.

Andy Fouché
	Andy Fouché is the PR Manager for the Developer Division, Server and Tools Business. He is responsible for external and internal communications regarding Visual Studio, the .NET Framework, Silverlight, Commerce Server, Parallel Computing, and other developer tools and technologies.

BizSpark - Microsoft's New Programme for Start-ups

Clare Dillon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:28:00 GMT

So - if you were there at the launch last Thursday, you hopefully know all about the programme. But for those who weren't here is a quick overview including some of the questions we got asked on the night...

If you are interested, then check out www.microsoft.ie/bizspark or email the team - bizspark at microsoft dot ie.

About BizSpark

BizSpark is Microsoft’s new global program to help reduce costs for Software Start-up companies and help them grow. BizSpark gives Start-up companies with development and deployment software with no upfront costs, technical and business support and visibility on a world-wide stage. Check out www.microsoft.ie/bizspark for the full details.

BizSpark in Ireland and Northern Ireland

The local Bizspark team has recruited a large number of Network Partners including Irish Software Association, Momentum NI, Irish Internet Association, Digital Media Forum. Local BizSpark members can also avail of special offers from hardware partners such as Dell (up to 29% off high-end servers), training partners such as New Horizons and BT, and hosting providers such as Blacknight, C Infinity, Digiweb, Eircom, and Hosting365. We are continuing to add new Network Partners and the most recent list is available here.

Who is eligible?

Eligible companies will be privately-held building a software product or service, less than 3 years old with revenue of less than $1million USD. Companies are vetted and signed up by local Network Partners, who also provide business guidance and support.

How much does it cost?

The program has no upfront fee, but has a nominal USD$100 exit fee at the end of 3 years.

What happens after the 3 years?

Well, by then we hope that you will have a very successful business - so at that stage you will have to migrate your deployment licenses to our pay-as-you-go model (Service Provider License Agreement). If you are providing software as a service, it should only be a small percentage of your datacentre costs.

BizSpark Launch - thanks for coming!

Clare Dillon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:36:00 GMT

There was a great turn-out at the launch of Bizspark, Microsoft's new programme for software start-ups. We had over 130 attendees from 90 companies and after a few short presentations from Paul Rellis (GM, Microsoft Ireland), Cliff Reeves (GM, Microsoft Global Emerging Business Team) and Dr Jimmy Devins, Minister of State for Science and Innovation (whose speech is online here), and a really great panel discussion, we had a great networking session!.

I want to send out a big thanks to everyone who helped make the night so enjoyable - particularly those folks on the panel discussion (along with everyone who asked questions). It was the highlight of the night for me - and I am very sorry we didn't get it recorded. The panel included:

Cliff Reeves (as above)

Pat Brazel, CEO of Irish startup Zignals;

Brian Caulfield, Irish Venture Capitalist;

Pat Phelan, MAXroam, entrepreneur and winner of the IIA Net Visionary Award 2008

Anton Mannering, CEO of Irish Startup Udoogoo, Organiser of Digital Island Meetups, Network Facilitator All Island Digital Media Network at Digital Media Forum

Gren Armstrong, InvestNI

John O'Sullivan, CEO of Irish startup Tradefacilitate

Big thanks too to Anton, MoMoDublin and everyone involved in the Digital Island Meetup!

For those of you who want to find out more about the program - check out www.microsoft.ie/bizspark (or my next blog post! :)

.NET Coffee Break: Using JScript to build RIAs on Nov 19th.

Clare Dillon — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:47:00 GMT

Following on from the announcement of JQuery Javascript Library, developers.ie have scheduled one of their .NET Coffee Breaks with John Resig, creator and lead developer of the JQuery Javascript library, live from Boston.

Below are the details from the www.developers.ie site - and remember, you can check out past coffee break sessions here.

Using JQuery to build Rich Internet Applications.

Its an exciting time for web developers. Microsoft has recently announced that they will be shipping jQuery with Visual Studio going forward. They will distribute the jQuery JavaScript library as-is, and will not be forking or changing the source from the main jQuery branch. The files will continue to use and ship under the existing jQuery MIT license.

Microsoft will also distribute intellisense-annotated versions that provide great Visual Studio intellisense and help-integration at design-time.

jQuery is a lightweight open source JavaScript library (only 15kb in size) that in a relatively short span of time has become one of the most popular libraries on the web.

A big part of the appeal of jQuery is that it allows you to elegantly (and efficiently) find and manipulate HTML elements with minimum lines of code. jQuery supports this via a nice "selector" API that allows developers to query for HTML elements, and then apply "commands" to them. One of the characteristics of jQuery commands is that they can be "chained" together - so that the result of one command can feed into another. jQuery also includes a built-in set of animation APIs that can be used as commands. The combination allows you to do some really cool things with only a few keystrokes.

This is the chance to talk with the creator of JQuery directly! Don't miss this unique opportunity!

This will be broadcast live on Wednesday 19th of November at 15:00 (Irish time!)

All the connection details to the show will be sent to you a few days prior to the start of the webcast.

This event is free but you need to visit our Webcasts section to register!

Event Invite: Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0 Half-day Seminar

Clare Dillon — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:51:00 GMT

*** UPDATE - this event is now full ***

However - there is a user group meeting covering some of the same content scheduled for Friday evening, 7-9pm, Nov 14th in the Morrison hotel. Click here for more details and to register.

Disappointed to have missed TechEd Barcelona? Here is your chance to catch-up on all the news about the next planned release of Visual Studio!

Where? Microsoft European Development Centre Auditorium (EPDC2), South County Business Park, Leopardstown.
When? Friday, November 14th; 1-4pm.
Register here!

Matt Carter and Andy Fouche, from the Visual Studio team in Seattle, will be travelling directly from Barcelona to visit us here in Dublin. Come along to this free half-day seminar to learn about the features of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0.

Here is an overview of the sessions, including the questions that will be answered on the day!

Understanding the code (References & Hierarchies, Sequences, Class Dependencies…): What is the application architecture? What did the tester find? What is in the code?
Harnessing the power of C++ (All the features of Visual C++ 6.0, Windows 7 support…): Do I have to give up my favorite C++ tool? What if I have a lot of code? What about the new look and feel options? What about performance and debugging?
Building Web applications (Test-Driven Development, Integrated Silverlight tools…): What about rich content? Can I use the right pattern? How do I deploy this? What about my JavaScript? What presentation code should I use?
Creating Office Business Applications (Deployment Designer, Combined Client & Server packages…): What is where in my SharePoint Server? Can I work locally? How do I use the SharePoint features? What about deployment?

And here are the bios for the speakers:

Matt Carter is Group Product Manager for Microsoft’s Visual Studio Professional Tools team, which is responsible for product management of Microsoft’s core developer tools. Matt’s group is responsible for the product planning and management for current and upcoming versions of Visual Studio, as well as Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) and Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO). Matt has worked with Microsoft developers for 15 years at Microsoft Press, Microsoft Learning, and MSDN Magazine, and in the community as a publisher of print and online developer information resources. Prior to that, Matt built back-office and desktop applications that connected airline mainframe systems to Windows desktops for the travel industry.

Andy Fouché is the PR Manager for the Developer Division, Server and Tools Business. He is responsible for external and internal communications regarding Visual Studio, the .NET Framework, Silverlight, Commerce Server, Parallel Computing, and other developer tools and technologies.

Don't forget to register here!

Start-up Networking Event - Dublin, Nov 6th

Clare Dillon — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:31:00 GMT

Lots of economic doom and gloom out there at the moment - but, if you want to hear some good news, come along and join us for a Start-up Networking Event on the evening of November 6th in The Four Seasons hotel in Dublin. We have some exciting news about a new program specifically designed for Start-ups (designed to give software, support and visibility to accelerate Start-up success :).

Where? The Four Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin
When? Thursday, November 6th. 6:30pm.
Register here

Paul Rellis (Microsoft Ireland's GM) and Cliff Reeves (GM of Microsoft's Global Emerging Business Team) will start off proceedings with some brief presentations about the new program. That will be followed by a panel discussion on how we can foster start-ups and innovation in Ireland today. The panel will be formed of local Start-ups, VCs and some reps from industry bodies.

The Digital Island Meetup schedule will then kick off - with some presentations from MoMoDublin and Open Demo, a chance for local start-ups to show off their wares and get some feedback from the community.

It should be a great event - so if you are involved with a start-up (or even just thinking about it) - do register and come along!

Martin Woodward's build bunny wins PDC2008 ShowOff Competition!

Clare Dillon — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:48:00 GMT

I've just heard that one of our local MVPs, Martin Woodward has won the PDC2008 ShowOff competion with his video on 'Brian the Build Bunny'. This video on how you can use TFS has always been one of my favourites (who can resist such a cute bunny??? ;) - so it's a well deserved win! Congratulations Martin!! :)

Check it out here!

Description:

A talking, robotic, wifi fuelled rabbit - just what every office needs to keep those pesky developers in check to make sure the Continuous Integration build is working. In this video we introduce you to Brian the Build bunny, and explain how he is connected to Team Foundation Server to notify you of developer check-ins and changes in the condition of your builds. Remember, keep those builds working. You don’t want a hot cross bunny.