Daryll McDade - The High School Guy : For Students

Visual Studio 2005 Express Announcement--it's staying FREE!

Daryll McDade — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:44:00 GMT

"We are incredibly excited to announce that effective April 19th, 2006, all Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions including Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual J#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer Express will be free permanently!"

This is very exciting for students and faculty--I'm just giddy! :) I'm especially excited about the Lego Mindstorms stuff and the Teacher Starter Kit. :)

KPL on Channel 9 again

Daryll McDade — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 03:36:00 GMT

In case you missed it check out 2/3 of the KPL team on Channel 9 (44 minutes). Lots of stuff on the next version--nice!

ASP.NET 2.0 "How Do I..." Video Series

Daryll McDade — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:08:00 GMT

Brian Goldfarb from the ASP.NET team just posted about a new series of "How Do I..." videos. I just watched the "Web parts and Personalization" and if it's any indication of the rest of the series, this is going to be EXCELLENT!

Enjoy!

Best Bill Gates interview yet

Daryll McDade — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 01:36:00 GMT

If you haven't checked out the "Seventeen minutes with Bill Gates" interview on Channel 9, I *highly* recommend doing so. Very open, honest, relaxed interview--really enjoyed it. Don Dodge has a nice Cliff's Notes summary here.

An hour of my time well spent...

Daryll McDade — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 01:29:00 GMT

It would be a good use of an hour of YOUR time as well to check out this Behind the Code interview with Anders Hejlsberg. JEEZ...that guy has done a LOT of interesting stuff.

Project Hoshimi Programming Battle for High School students!

Daryll McDade — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:23:00 GMT

I've been promising this for a while but it's FINALLY here! Here’s the quick scoop;

Info for students:
You will compete, directly online, with students all over the US to see who has the best programming skills. brings together an imaginative background story, comic-style graphics and fun programming challenges. Student will devise strategies and write code for navigating a team of nanobots through life-saving missions and objectives through a map of the human body. We'll provide the tools, you'll provide the smarts and your coding skills could win you an Xbox 360 console. Students who want to self-start there are several tutorials You can register at the Project Hoshimi site and get started with the Quickstart Guide. Be sure to check out the competition guidelines for info on how its structured and key dates.

Info for teachers:
We’ve posted a Project Hoshimi Programming Battle Teacher’s Guide on MainFunction. This guide points to two sets of Teaching Objects we’ve created to support this—one is a set for teaching fundamentals and a set created specifically for the Project Hoshimi SDK. Each Teaching Object includes;

-An in depth how-to article to familiarize you with the topic.
-PowerPoint slides to deliver the lesson to your students.
-Project files with sample code for you and your students to get started.
-Exercises to practice the skills and master the concepts.

You can check out this video to get a sense of what it's all about.

Good luck and GET GOING! :)

Mint Source for Express

Daryll McDade — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 22:38:16 GMT

Huh?

Mint Source is a cool tool from the UK Developer team--built by an intern actually--that let's you play around with Express to build a system tray RSS aggregator.

Fresh... :)

Visual Studio Express Editions are here!

Daryll McDade — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:39:43 GMT

Gosh, it seems like this took FOREVER! Glad that the Visual Studio Express Editions are finally here and REALLY glad that they are available FREE! :)

From Dan Fernandez’s blog:

I am proud to announce that today, November 7th 2005, we officially released the downloadable versions of Visual Studio 2005 Express on MSDN and they are free to download for one year!

Download Visual Studio Express
You can download Visual Studio Express from the links below:

Visual Web Developer 2005 Express
Visual Basic 2005 Express
Visual C# 2005 Express
Visual C++ 2005 Express
Visual J# 2005 Express
SQL Server Express

Express is free for one year. Until November 7, 2006, we are promotionally discounting the downloadable versions of Express to free. This doesn’t mean that the product turns off after a year, but rather that as long as you download the product before November 7, 2006, you can get it for free and you can use it forever.

Rewards for Registering
The other big news announced at the Visual Studio launch is the availability of the Visual Studio Express DIY Kit, which is a set of benefits you get for registering Express and includes:

250 royalty-free stock photography images from Corbis
Free Windows Icons from IconBuffet

Free eBooks including: Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition: Build a Web Site Now, Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition: Build a Program Now!, and Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition: Build a Program Now!

3rd party components from VSIP partners

And we have more benefits coming soon

Want More Information?
Take a tour of the newly revamped Visual Studio Express Edition Web site, read the Frequently Asked Questions, and as always, please tell us what you think :)

Looks like the feedback from the community is positive as well. For those students and teachers that want to burn to image disc, instructions here.

UW Student ROCKS the launch

Daryll McDade — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 00:48:00 GMT

Nice work by Brian Goldfarb and Carolyn from the University of Washington on their demo during Steve’s keynote speech at the launch kick off in San Francisco. Give it up for Carolyn—student gets on stage with SteveB to ROCK THE LAUNCH! :) I was very impressed at how she handled herself during the demo—believe me, an on-stage demo with Steve is NOT a low pressure environment (<smile>at least that’s what I hear </smile>)!

My favorite line of course was, “Let’s build a fan site for The Windows—our favorite band since 1995”. :) :) :)

If you missed the kick off in San Fran there are a BUNCH of Launch events planned across the US. Probably gonna hit Detroit, D.C. and Philly myself.

Visual Studio 2005 for the Web Developer

Daryll McDade — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 22:50:24 GMT

If you’re into application development, of course you know that today is a big day. Especially exciting, IMO, if you’re into Web development. Lots of things are updated;

-the Visual Web Developer Express (VWDX) page (I dig the purple—I may have to order this just to have the box!)
-the VWDX tutorial page (my personal favorite project—Windows Media Player collection)
-the ASP.NET Developer Center
-the ASP.NET 2.0 community site

Sheesh! LOTS of updates and I’m sure I haven’t caught them all.

I … am ... overloading …

Must … go … play …. now …

Orange County Choppers - proud users of Microsoft technology

Daryll McDade — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 07:37:10 GMT

Maybe you’ve heard of Orange County Choppers, which is the featured bike builder on American Chopper which airs on Discovery Channel. OCC are proud users of Microsoft technologies. They are definitely at or near the top of the list of “cool” companies running their business on Microsoft technologies. All I have to say is, “Mikey for President!” :)

Why go to class? Just get the podcast!

Daryll McDade — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 20:24:00 GMT

Not sure how many other universities are doing this but University of Washington is offering lectures via podcast. Missed class? No worries—just download it to your iPod!

“Lectures in Kane have often been videotaped for student viewing, but that means the student must go to the library to check out the video and view it there. With podcasts the audio portion of the lecture can be downloaded to a personal listening device such as an iPod and listened to anywhere.”

I think that this is EXTREMELY cool. Now, I’m not advocating missing class but the fact is that some times it just can’t be avoided. It’s great that you can get a “replay” of the lecture. Actually, that could be useful even if you actually made it to class—might cut down on some note taking? I am guessing that more schools will pick this up soon.

Daryll

It's baaaaack!! Imagine Cup that is.

Daryll McDade — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 07:07:00 GMT

Pretty excited that Imagine Cup is coming soon. What is Imagine Cup? If you don't know...

“Microsoft’s Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition. It’s an opportunity for top young minds from around the globe to use technology to solve some of the planet’s toughest problems. Imagine Cup contestants have the chance to give their ideas exposure, make critical contacts, and experience a true sense of friendship with peers worldwide.”

Last year's theme was "Imagine a world where technology dissolves the boundaries between us". This year's theme?...

"Imagine a world where technology enables healthier lives.”

“Health means different things to different people. For some, a medical breakthrough springs to mind. For others, health may be represented simply by a clean glass of water. This year’s Imagine Cup theme invites contestants to define health for themselves and decide how to use technology to make a real difference in the lives of people everywhere."

Couple of trailers to get YOU excited:
30 second version (4.2 MB)
2 minute version (11.1 MB)

Tags: [Imagine Cup], [Students]

Is Microsoft cool to students?

Daryll McDade — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 01:54:55 GMT

Apparently not.

The Saturday after PDC some of my colleagues on the Academic team met with a group students to discuss “digital lifestyle”. Chris Avis was there and took some good notes. A couple of things strike me about this;

1) Windows is not cool. These kids clearly don’t remember the world before GUIs for personal computing. Shall I walk you through what it was like to boot up my Commodore 64? :) Vista will change a lot of minds about this.
2) Office is not cool. Hmmm…business and personal productivity just isn’t “cool” no matter what the product is. What IS cool is being able to use tools like Office to blast through work that you HAVE TO do so that you can go do fun things that you WANT to do. That said, they clearly don’t remember a world when the kinds of apps that are in Office were a) non GUI based (Lotus 1–2–3 on an MS-DOS machine…enough said) and b) stand-alone with no interactivity.
3) Microsoft is for “grandma.” Grandma’s company and grandma’s operating system. Though I disagree with this, I think I’m ok with this. Windows works for grandmothers AND students—which is what it’s supposed to do. I wonder how many students’ grandmothers can use Linux? I would guess that is a small number.

Like Chris, I think that these kinds of session are the best part of this job—there’s nothing better than listening to customers. But I would say that Microsoft doesn’t get credit for some things that are very cool. I predict that the next year will tell a different story however…

Microsoft employees reaching out to Katrina victims

Daryll McDade — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 08:35:38 GMT

Microsoft’s VP of Human Resources, Lisa Brummel, sent out a note about this past week that truly humbled and inspired me. The note highlighted some of the contributions that teams and individual employees have made to Katrina victims doing what we do best – using technology to solve problems and help improve people’s lives. These efforts by Microsoft employees are what make Microsoft a special place to work. Here are a few examples;

Jim Carroll, a database architect from Birmingham, Alabama, and a half-dozen other Microsoft engineers from California, Florida, Alabama and Texas, worked virtually nonstop for four days to develop katrinasafe.com, an online tool being used by the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas, and by relief agencies to help evacuees find family members separated by the crisis. Since the site went live on Sept. 5, information about tens of thousands of evacuees has been registered on the site, and it’s being updated continuously with information from relief centers across the affected region.
Murali Krishnan, a group program manager in MSN, led an effort of about 100 Microsoft employees to build a secure Web site hosted by MSN to accept donations for the Red Cross. Krishnan’s team built the site – donate.msn.com – in just 20 hours. At last check, the MSN Web site has already generated more than $3 million in donations for the Red Cross.
Dawn Gagnon, a mobility solutions specialist in Houston, arranged for the delivery of Microsoft Smartphones to 30 doctors at the main Red Cross medical triage site in Baton Rouge, and 150 Texas National Guard command post leaders being deployed to Louisiana to help with relief efforts. With land lines and switching stations down throughout Louisiana, the Smartphones were a top priority of the Texas National Guard to keep command leaders in touch. A makeshift assembly line of friends, family and neighbors at Dawn’s house worked for 12 hours to activate and charge the phones and make up waterproof bags that included car chargers and extra batteries.
John Morello, a senior Microsoft consultant in south Louisiana, saw the need for an e-mail system that volunteers could use to help evacuees connect with people they’d been separated from. The Microsoft Hotmail team created the accounts in under four hours, and this has already helped reunite dozens of families. Suresh Babu, group program manager at Hotmail, then orchestrated a cross-team effort to help tens of thousands of evacuees set up and use free Hotmail e-mail accounts to let friends and family know they’re OK, check in with employers, contact their insurance companies, even keep in touch with other victims of the hurricane.
Todd Ellison, a technical account manager in the Houston office working to assist local officials in relief efforts, walked into a wholesale computer parts distributor and asked if they would donate two laptop computers needed by the chief information officers of the City of Houston and Harris County, Texas. Five minutes later, Todd was out the door with two new machines.
Bill Steele, an Indiana-based Microsoft developer evangelist and private pilot, has been using his own twin-engine plane to shuttle food and supplies to areas of need. Flying out of Baton Rouge, Bill has delivered 17,500 MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), mostly to the lower part of Mississippi.
Steve Lough, an account manager in our federal sales office, led a team of senior Microsoft technologists working in partnership with Intel, Cisco and SBC at the Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C. to help create a communications infrastructure for relief shelters, establish computer kiosks for evacuees and Red Cross workers, and dispense financial assistance broadly. Microsoft also worked with the Red Cross to establish a solid core data infrastructure to meet the huge increase in demand on the agency’s IT system.
Blacks at Microsoft (an internal special interest group) is allocating funds to assist displaced students at historically black schools affected by the disaster, including Xavier University, Dillard University and Southern University of New Orleans.
In Redmond, a group of employees is putting together 200 boxes of sanitation and first-aid kits – about a ton of supplies. They’ll be shipped to the Microsoft office in Houston where Microsoft employees will pick them up and take them to a local airport, where four private planes are at the ready to fly the supplies to Baton Rouge. From there, they’ll be picked up by local charities and dispersed to those in need.
The folks at Bungie Studios, a Microsoft subsidiary that developed the Halo games for the Xbox, used the Web to sell more than $100,000 “Fight the Flood” charity T-shirts online. The proceeds will go to the Red Cross, as will royalties earned from other Bungie Store products sold in September. (I got 3 of these)
Three of Microsoft’s Across America trucks, fully equipped with communications systems and advanced technology, are on their way to Red Cross relief operation centers in the Gulf Region to provide vital coordination capabilities.
Groove is being used by the Red Cross and the Army Corps of Engineers as a collaboration tool to enable communications for multiple partners in the relief effort, and Groove has employees helping on site at the Red Cross.

I’m sure that there are SEVERAL other examples but even these few are tremendous. I won’t talk about what I’ve done because it isn’t as impactful as these—but I’ve certainly tried to make some contribution. But looking at these examples has inspired me to renew my thinking to do something creative and impactful. I’m very proud to work alongside such great people.

Tags: Katrina