If you are a designer or a developer then make sure you make this SDDN event, tonight, Tuesday the 30th of June in Melbourne.
Blend 3 and SketchFlow absolutely rocks and it'll be time well spent!!
What's on?
Sketch Flow: Don't know what SketchFlow is? Then read this!. Okay, now tell me you dont want Shane Morris, Microsoft UX Evangelist, to run through it live!
Expression Blend 3 - What's new? Expression Blend 3 improves upon the goodness of Blend 2 SP 1 by providing a whole heap of new features and more importantly, the ability to create applications for Silverlight 3. The list of new enhancements is long - Lots of improvements to the way you use the tool, Improvements to how XAML, C# and VB.NET files are edited, Support for importing Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files, Skinning enhancements, Enhancements for animation, Sample data generation, etc, etc.
Mahesh Krishnan will run through these changes in a fast demo based session (without using Powerpoint!) The session is targeted at both Designers and Developers, so don't miss out
When and Where?
The date and time: Tuesday June 30 at 5:30 PM for a 6:00 PM start.
The venue is Microsoft Theatre, Level 5, 4 Freshwater Place, Southbank.
Attendance is FREE, but please RSVP by entering your details in the registration tool on the site (http://www.sddn.org.au) or send an email to info@sddn.org.au.
Pizza will be provided to keep those tummies from rumbling.
Who will this group interest?
The focus of the group is not just on developers. Traditionally developers have had great community support, whereas designers not so much. now that Silverlight 2 is out we plan to change this.
Silverlight is as interesting for developers as it is for designers. Due in part to Silverlight's excellent separation of design and development concerns we have new problems to solve around finding the best ways to work together.
To this end the SDDN will facilitate an ongoing discussion and promote the development of ideas and best practices for anyone who works with Silverlight.
To register interest head over to http://www.sddn.org.au. Use the registration tool in the header of the site. Registering your interest helps us organise the meetings (and order the right amount of pizza)!
Yeeh hah, the guys in Adelaide are pulling CodeCampSA together, it should be a great few days, so make sure you mark out the days in your diary and get along, meet new people, catch up with mates and learn a new trick or two!! The event is free of charge and is being held at UniSA's City West campus (Between North Tce and Hindley St, Adelaide, South Australia).
For more information keep an eye on http://www.codecampsa.com/
Cheers Dave
Hmmm, now a mate's mother got one of these calls from this organisation, so be sure to let friends and family know this is a scam, guessing it's mostly about identity theft!!
A company called 'SupportonClick' is randomly calling Australians claiming to know that the person's computer has a 'problem' that they can fix for at a fee. These callers also claim to be calling from Microsoft Support which is not the case. Please inform your family and friends of this scam and direct them to follow Microsoft's Protect Your Computer guidance so they can be confident that their computer is running smoothly. Protect Your Computer.
Microsoft is pleased to announce the public availability of the Beta release for the Windows 7 Software Logo Toolkit. The toolkit allows ISVs to submit and receive the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo for their products.
Improvements, including self-test for applications, instant approval of passing applications, and a streamlined waiver process dramatically speed up the logo testing and the submission process. Fees for logo submissions have also been eliminated.
As a valued logo partner, the "Compatible with Windows 7" program also offers a variety of benefits including co-branding, MS partner points, and premier placement on a variety of online consumer facing sites.
Here are a few simple steps towards getting started:
1. Download the Beta logo toolkit here: https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?SiteID=831&DownloadID=19072
NOTE: this link also includes the logo requirements document, toolkit release notes, a toolkit user's guide, and an overview of the submission process.
2. Submit the test report from the toolkit via: https://winqual.microsoft.com.
3. If a waiver is needed for a failing test case from the toolkit report, the streamlined waiver process can be initiated by completing the online form at the following link:
https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/CreateFeedbackForm.aspx?FeedbackFormConfigurationID=3419&FeedbackType=3&SiteID=831&wa=wsignin1.0
Some additional information you may find helpful:
· Logo artwork and marketing guides can be downloaded from http://winqual.microsoft.com immediately once the following has been completed:
o The passing logo report is submitted and the logo policies are accepted
o The Software Logo License Agreement is signed online
· Instructions on how to perform the two manual tests can be found in the release notes.
· Windows 7 Logo Waiver/Exception Request: https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/CreateFeedbackForm.aspx?FeedbackFormConfigurationID=3419&FeedbackType=3&SiteID=831
· Only test results generated by the Beta release of the toolkit can be used to submit for the logo
· Additional frequently asked questions (FAQ) and the corresponding answers are maintained at the following location:
o Technical FAQ:
https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=11911&SiteID=831
o Business FAQ:
https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=11912&SiteID=831
Please note, now that we are now accepting officially logo submissions we are no longer accepting logo prequalifications.
We look forward to your participation in the Windows 7 Software Logo program.
We welcome any feedback you may have on the Windows 7 Software Logo program. Please use the following links to communicate with us:
Hey Mr Anthony Borton is running Application Lifecycle Management training centred around Visual Studio Team System, if ya interested in quality and rigour in your software development processes then you'd be pushed to find someone better qualified!!
| 
| Great new courses on Visual Studio Team System including; · VSTS Essentials · VSTS Essentials for Project Managers and Business Analysts · Essential Database Development with VSTS · TFS Admin Essentials |
Enhance ALM is offering the following public courses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane this month.
Each of the following courses have been developed to assist development teams gain the most from their investment in Visual Studio Team System.
1. VSTS Essentials
Duration: 2 days Cost: $ 1,195 Course outline
Dates: Melbourne (15 & 16 Jun), Brisbane (22-23 Jun), Sydney (23-30 Jun)
2. VSTS Essentials for Project Managers and Business Analysts
Duration: 1 day Cost: $ 595 Course outline
Dates: Melbourne (17 Jun), Brisbane (24 Jun), Brisbane (1 Jul)
3. Essentials Database Development with VSTS
Duration: 1 day Cost: $ 595 Course outline
Dates: Melbourne (18 Jun), Brisbane (25 Jun), Brisbane (3 Jul)
4. TFS Admin Essentials
Duration: 1 day Cost: $ 595 Course outline
Dates: Melbourne (19 Jun), Brisbane (26 Jun), Brisbane (2 Jul)
More Details
Secure online event registration is available at https://secure.enhancealm.com.au/registration/registrationwizard.aspx
Please direct any queries to Anthony Borton ph: 0408 302 173 or email: anthonyb@enhancealm.com.au
Ta da, finally the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit has shipped, well cool!!
Check out http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=20686a1d-97a8-4f80-bc6a-ae010e085a6e
The tool kit adds documentation, sample code, header and library files emulator images and tools to Visual Studio, so you can start building applications for Windows Mobile 6.5 and the new UI. You'll need the Windows Mobile 6 SDK to leverage the Gestures API & samples.
Interested in Windows Mobile Development then check out Windows Mobile for Australia and http://developer.windowsmobile.com/
Cheers Dave
Check out Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework (v0.85)!!
Cope and pasted summary:-
The Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework provides a source code library that can be used to access new Windows 7 features (and some related Windows Vista features) from managed code. These features are not available to developers today in the .NET Framework.
The features included in this version (v0.85) of the library are:
- Support for Windows Shell namespace objects, including the new Windows 7 libraries, Known Folders and non file system containers.
- Windows Vista and Windows 7 Task Dialogs.
- Windows 7 Explorer Browser Control supporting both WPF and Windows Forms.
- Support for Shell property system.
- Helpers for Windows 7 Taskbar Jumplists, Icon Overlay and Progress bar.
- Support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 common file dialogs, including custom file dialog controls.
- Support for Direct3D 11.0 and DXGI 1.0/1.1 APIs.
- Sensor Platform APIs
- Extended Linguistic Services APIs
Hey if you have been considering going to ReMIX 09 in Sydney then register quick as the "Early Bird" offer runs till May 21st and look forward to a day that covers a range of relevant and exciting technologies and tools to give you the edge!!
You can register at https://www.microsoft.com.au/events/register/home.aspx?levent=725411&linvitation
Oh and be sure to check out the Shane and Fin ReMIX Pillow Talk at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=99751155545# - nice concept Mr Kordsey!!
The agenda is as follows:-
- Keynote
Kick off REMIX09 with a bang. Be inspired by our Keynote presenter, a visionary thought leader who'll discuss the latest trends on the Web, and the experiences technology will deliver in the future. Following the Keynote, a number of household-name Australian companies will showcase recent examples of Web innovation.
- Session 1 - Creative Track: Create the User Experience you want in SharePoint
Bruce Furlong, Unique World
- Session 1 - Technical Track: Silverlight 3 Super Session
Jordan Knight, Readify
- Session 2 - Creative Track: What's new Expression 3 - Sketchflow
Matt Morphett, Amberdew Interaction Design
- Session 2 - Technical Track: Azure
David Burela, Readify
- Session 3 - Creative Track: The Next Level of Creativity with Expression Blend 3
Jose Fajardo, Cynergy Systems and Dave Glover, Microsoft Australia
- Session 3 - Technical Track: IE8 for Developers, Developers, Developers
Michael Kordahi, Microsoft Australia
- Session 4 - Creative Track: Introducing the Microsoft Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control CTP
Chris Pendleton, Microsoft Corporation
- Session 4 - Technical Track: Building great standards based websites for the big wide world with ASP.NET 4.0
Damian Edwards, Readify / Microsoft MVP in ASP.NET and Tatham Oddie, Readify / Microsoft MVP in ASP.NET
- Session 5 - Creative Track: The New Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit for Social Websites
John O'Brien, Soul Solutions and Bronwen Zande, Soul Solutions
- Session 5 - Technical Track: Real World S+S Architecture
Michael Baker, Incite
- Session 6 - Creative Track: Design in the Round. Creating Compelling User Experiences for Surface
Shane Morris, Microsoft Australia, Brady O'Halloran, Amnesia Razorfish and Iain McDonald, Amnesia Razorfish
- Session 6 - Technical Track: Sibling Rivalry or Love: Microsoft and Open source
Nick Hodge, Microsoft Australia
- Locknote
- Networking Event - REMIX09 Networking Event will be held "at the pub" : Oscars in Pyrmont
See ya there, Dave
Hey see there is an update to the Facebook application for Windows Mobile, check out http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2009/05/12/windows-mobile-facebook-application-update.aspx
It's actually a pretty cool wee app!!
Cheers Dave
Hey if you went to the Victoria.NET User group on Tuesday then you would have caught my Windows 7 session, you can find resources I mentioned at here, hope those that installed Win 7 on the night are enjoying and those that grabbed the DVDs have had a chance to fire it up!!
You can find resources from Tarn Barford's awesome session on Iron Python at http://blog.sharpthinking.com.au/post/2009/05/11/IronPython-Presentation.aspx - funny we both did our sessions on Netbooks!!
And Mahesh's session covering the Application Architecture Guide 2.0, tbh, I had lost track that version 2 was over on codeplex!! If you've not see this guide then I highly recommend you download it from http://www.codeplex.com/AppArchGuide/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=20586
There is great coverage of where technologies fit, from web, to services, data access, security, desktop and mobile along with recommended best practices and patterns, honestly take a break from your busy day to day busy existence and check it out, it'll be time well spent!!
Cheers Dave
Filed under: Windows Vista, Visual Studio, SQL Server, WinFX, ASP.NET, Mobility Dev, Community, Security, Services, Windows 7, Silverlight, Powershell, Windows Azure
I twittered this awhile back, but appreciating not everyone twitters I wanted to share this on my blog for those interested in building Windows Mobile Applications using the .NET Compact Framework.
Rob Tiffany has a great blog on a concept pioneered by one of our partners, it's the MemMaker Pattern for optimising memory use, if you do any Compact Framework development then I strongly recommend you read Rob's blog it which you can find here!!
Then check out the PowerPoint presso at http://cid-d03fa499b14904f9.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Presentations/numbers.pps!!
Assume it's true.!!
Nice bit of trivia for the day:)
Cheers Dave
We’ve just opened the “Call for Content” for TechEd 2009 Australia and New Zealand, if you are interested in getting involved then check out Andrew’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/acoat/archive/2009/05/06/tech-ed-australia-and-new-zealand-call-for-content.aspx
Cheers Dave
Filed under: Windows Vista, Visual Studio, SQL Server, WinFX, ASP.NET, Mobility Dev, Community, Services, Windows 7, Windows Azure, Office
As per Mahesh's notice out we're pulling together some resources and fun items for the Windows 7 Install Fest as part of the Victoria.NET User Group meeting on Tuesday May 12.
We'll have DVDs (hopefully) and some bootable USB Windows 7 install keys available to install a fresh or upgrade your existing Windows Vista install.
If ya keen to give it a whirl then make sure you do a complete system backup first before the event, both to save time and potential tears (but I reckon it'll be smiles), but yeah just in case.
So we'll see ya there and I'll also do a quick intro, a few tips and tricks and cover off some useful resources to help ensure you are building Windows 7 compatible applications!!
Now am pretty darn sure the photo in the out of box Windows 7 backgrounds is the bridge/tunnel on the Melbourne Tullamarine freeway, does anyone know the tunnel's name??
For now some useful links:-
Cheers Dave
Attachment(s): Win 7 Logo - Alpha Toolkit Overview.pptx
Finally the Windows 7 Release Candidate is generally available and if you live in Australia then head on over to www.microsoft.com.au/windows7 and download a copy which will be available at least through June.
Ok in my household the Windows Media Center is sacrosanct only to be tampered with by the fearless or in my case the reckless. So as soon as I got my grubby hands on the Release Candidate I naturally wanted to install it on to the family Media Center. Now in fairness, I did do a Vista System image backup on the "working" system and I'd recommend you do the same to avoid any family reprisal and simply roll the system back if your experience is not so great!!
So as per my previous posting "Oh Yeah Finally built a Vista Media Centre with PAF" with exactly the system reference as outlined in that posting I set to work installing Windows 7 RC 64 bit Ultimate Edition. I updated to version 9.4 of the graphics driver (as of May 5th, 2009, cose the out of box driver is crap) for the integrated ATI Radeon HD3200-based graphics chipset and downloaded and installed the latest 64 bit driver for the DigitalNow TinyTwin Dual Digital USB Tuner. The I fired up the Media Center and set to work scanning for TV stations and setting preferences as I like them.
Stuff I really liked!!
The first is easy, over the air EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) finally just works for Australia, all the stations picked up their respective guides, fan-blimin-tastic, and hey you can even colour code the guide based on genre; news, movies, sports etc, cute!! - Built in Divx support rocks!!
- Media libraries make more sense and you can now specify UNC (eg \\server\media) names (plus credentials) for media you may have setting on a home server or NAS, very handy!!
- Ability to turn off pesty system notifications from the Media Center menus rather than hacking the registry
- Love the music media montage made up of all the music album covers, hmmm, looks hot!!
- It just works and has been doing so for about near a week and not an ill word uttered by anyone:)
Stuff I don't like.
- Honestly for now, nothing bugs me about it.
Go on, give it a whirl, you'll love it and well ya know you going to anyways, just wait till they've all gone to bed;)
Tomorrow I'll write up my experiences with Windows 7 Release Candidate and my ASUS Eee PC 1000H, basically it just worked, too easy, all drivers in the box only needed to install the latest ASUS APCI Driver and Super Hybrid Engine utility and was good to go.
Cheers Dave
