Pla.NET Southeast!

ARCast.TV special on designing multi tenant applications for Windows Azure

glengordon — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:41:00 GMT

Cloud computing really solidifies (is that an oxymoron?) the idea that ISVs can offer software-as-a-service (SAAS) in a reliable and scalable way. If this is your company's offering, one of the things you must consider is how to handle multiple customers, each with its own user base, data, custom screens, etc. Here's a great ARCast episode where the design considerations are laid out succinctly and clearly.

ARCast.TV Special - Designing Multi-tenant Applications on Windows Azure featuring Joseph Hofstader

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Just Got Easy

glengordon — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:34:47 GMT

Check out this great landing page all about the SEO toolkit for IIS. http://www.microsoft.com/web/spotlight/seo/?appid=10990002

This is an amazingly useful tool for analyzing your website and recommending changes. It was developed as a tool that integrates with the IIS control panel, but many people make the assumption that it can only be used to analyze websites built on IIS. In fact, it can analyze ANY website you want. It just needs IIS to run on your computer. Which means it works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Another thing people people assume is that the optimizations it suggests are only good for Bing. Actually, the optimizations are pretty universal and apply to Google and Yahoo as well.

It installs in seconds via the Web Platform Installer. There’s a great overview video on the landing page that illustrates how it works.

Enjoy!

Win a free ticket to the sold out WordCamp Atlanta on 1/8/2010

glengordon — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:33:00 GMT

I have 4 passes to this weekend’s sold out Atlanta WordCamp. (Microsoft is a platinum sponsor and we get passes in return for sponsorship).

Would you like one? I’ll tell you how to score one.

Simply go check out Microsoft’s Web App Gallery and the Web Platform Installer. The Web PI as it’s known is a dead easy way to get your Windows box set up for running all sorts of cool Web applications and platforms. Web PI lets you install and configure ASP.NET, PHP, SQL Server Express, MySQL, as well as blogs, content management systems, and more. It’s the easiest way to get WordPress running on IIS.

To score a pass, I’d like you to take the Web Platform Installer for a trial run by using it to install Wordpress on your computer. Start here: http://www.microsoft.com/web/gallery/WordPress.aspx

When you chose Install, and run the Web Platform Installer, you’ll notice all the prerequisites are included, like specific settings and modules for IIS, and the installation of MySQL & PHP (if you don’t already have them) and of course WordPress. It will look like this (more or less):

When you get through all the downloading and installing, you’ll see a screen for configuring WordPress options that looks like this:

Take a screen shot of that from your installation procedure. If you’ve already installed it, just run the Web Platform Installer again, choose WordPress, and you’ll be prompted with the same screen again.

Send that screenshot to glen.gordon (at) microsoft.com, and the first 4 people will get a pass to Atlanta WordCamp.

By the way I'll also be attending WordCamp so you can ask me about the Web App Gallery and Web Platform Installer there.

When you’re done, check out all the other cool stuff in the Web Application Gallery. Good luck! I’ll post the winners’ names in the comments.

CodeProject: Windows 7 "Windows @ Work" Article Contest – win an HP TouchSmart notebook!

glengordon — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:23:48 GMT

Here’s a cool developer contest:

Submit a great article explaining how you built an app for Windows 7 – complete with code - and if yours is selected as the best, you could win a fully loaded HP Touchsmart tx2z Notebook!

For full rules and to enter, visit the CodeProject contest page today! They are giving away 3 different PCs so you have a pretty good chance to win!

Alabama Code Camp is this month – register today!

glengordon — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:25:12 GMT

The next Alabama Code Camp is coming up soon, on January 23rd. This time around it will be held in the lovely city of Mobile! For those of you who don’t know, there’s a cool battleship to visit in Mobile!

Code camps are not only a learning opportunity, they’re a great chance to cut your teeth as a speaker. I’m always looking to nurture new speaking talent in the area, so why not sign up to be a presenter for code camp? You don’t have to be a rock star, just pick an interesting topic, be engaging, and have fun! I know there are still open slots to sign up for speaking at the Alabama code camp, so why not give it a try!

January geekSpeaks are open for registration

glengordon — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:16:51 GMT

MSDN geekSpeaks return in January with two fantastic guests.

Wednesday, January 6 – SQL Azure Under the Hood with Chris Rolon

In this episode of geekSpeak, Chris Rolon gives us a look under the hood of Microsoft SQL Azure to see how was constructed. Chris discusses the issues involving high availability, failure detection, automatic failover, and the distributed data fabric. Be sure to bring your questions about SQL Azure for Chris. This geekSpeak is hosted by Glen Gordon and Lynn Langit

Wednesday, January 20 – Migrating to Team Foundation Server from Visual Source Safe with Ed Blankenship

In this geekSpeak, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Ed Blankenship discusses migrating source code from Visual SourceSafe, including the history. There has not been a better time to migrate to the newest Microsoft source control offering, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server, because Microsoft Visual SourceSafe support is ending soon and Team Foundation Server will be part of Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscriptions in 2010. Ed discusses specific version-control features to help you become more productive like branching and merging visualization, annotate, shelving, and gated check-in. This geekSpeak is hosted by Glen Gordon and Brian Hitney.

Resources for MSDN Roadshow – Parallel Computing

glengordon — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:17:39 GMT

In November and December 2009 I presented on Parallel Computing in the .NET Framework. Here are the resources for that event.

Downloads

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and .NET Framework Beta 2 downloads - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/dd582936.aspx

Note: Since the Parallel Extensions will be a part of the .NET Framework 4.0, the version for .NET 3.5 is no longer available. It had only made it to CTP status anyway, not a full supported release. For an unsupported release of Parallel Extensions compatible with the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, please see the Reactive Extensions release on DevLabs at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/ee794896.aspx.)

Samples for Parallel Programming in .NET 4 (updated to Beta 2) http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ParExtSamples

Blogs

Native Concurrency blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/nativeconcurrency
Parallel Framework Extensions team blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/pfxteam
Windows Server Performance Team blog - http://blogs.technet.com/winserverperformance/
Parallel Visualizer blog http://blogs.msdn.com/visualizeparallel/

Resources

MSDN Concurrency Dev-Center - http://msdn.microsoft.com/concurrency
MSDN Documentation – Parallel Programming in the .NET framework http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd460693(VS.100).aspx
Walkthrough: debugging a parallel application - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd554943(VS.100).aspx
Great article on Embedded.com – The end of Moore’s Law http://www.embedded.com/columns/technicalinsights/173402175

Is Windows Azure Right for Your Partner Business? Find out at this Atlanta event

glengordon — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:04:46 GMT

If you are a Microsoft Partner, specifically a system integrator who builds custom developed solutions, then you are cordially invited to attend a ProDev Partner Briefing on December 2nd. You will not just hear the usual, but you will hear new insights and points of views from Microsoft’s well-known industry experts and a perspective from a leading edge partner company on what the Windows Azure opportunity means for your organization. They will demonstrate how you will be able to change the face of your business and introduce new revenue streams for building solutions for our customers.

To register visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9694636

Technorati Tags: Azure,Compute,Announcements,Windows,Development,Microsoft,Partners,System,Integrators,Custom,Solutions,Partner,Executive,Technology,Liaisons,Decision,Makers,Architecture,Leaders

“Bring a Friend” to an MSDN Roadshow and you both get a free book

glengordon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:59:56 GMT

We have 2 more MSDN Southern Fried Roadshows in the Southeast in 2009 - Atlanta and Montgomery. Since it’s getting close to “the season of giving” we’ve got a nice giveaway for you.

Tell a friend about the event, if both of you show up, you both get a free Silverlight book.

Its EASY!

When you register for either a TechNet Event or MSDN Roadshow, simply type your friend’s name in the Referral Code field.

When you check in at the event, both you and your friend must be present and you will both receive a copy of the book.

Official Rules:

Government employees are not eligible for promotion
Both parties must be present to win
If onsite supply runs out book will be mailed to individual

FAQ:

Q. What if I already registered without the code, can I bring a friend?

A.Have your friend put your name in the registration field. Only one cross-reference is necessary for both of you to win.

Q. What if I can bring a friend at the last minute, and his name is not on the list?

A.If you both show up saying you brought a friend, we will still give you both a book.

Q. What events does this apply to?

A. All remaining events in East Region found on MSDNEvents.com and TechNetEvents.com

SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 Developer Training Course available now on Channel 9

glengordon — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:41:39 GMT

Paul Stubbs just posted a summary of some great new training available on Channel 9 for SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010.

Today we released a new SharePoint 2010 Developer Training Course on Channel 9. This training course contains 14 training units covering all aspects of developing solutions on the SharePoint 2010 platform using Visual Studio 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010. SharePoint 2010 provides the business collaboration platform for developers to rapidly build solutions using familiar tools while leveraging a rich set of out of the box features. Visual Studio 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010 make developers more productive and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server delivers support for application lifecycle management. Developers can integrate Line of Business data in SharePoint 2010 with read/write capability delivered by Business Connectivity Services. Sandboxed Solutions can be deployed to a shared hosting environment to limit the impact of unpredictable code to the other applications in use.

Check out the training kit and let us know what you think!

Murray Gordon on TechDrawl talking about BizSpark

glengordon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:17:48 GMT

My ISV Evangelist colleague Murray Gordon will be helping to run the BizSpark incubation week for Windows Azure next week. He got a chance to talk with the fine folks at TechDrawl about the event, the BizSpark program, and a little bit of Windows 7. Great interview, Murray!

The full text of the interview/article is here.

Southeast User Group Leadership Summit - Wrapup

glengordon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:53:00 GMT

This past weekend Microsoft and O’Reilly Media hosted the first (hopefully annual) Southeast User Group Leadership Summit at Microsoft’s Alpharetta, GA office. SEUGLS as we called it was designed to pull together the leaders of technology user groups around the southeast and allow them to brainstorm, network, and have fun. I was inspired to plant the seeds for this event from a similar event in the Northeast.

O’Reilly was a huge supporter of this event, sending lots of books to give away. Marsee Henon, manager of the User Group and Professional Associations program at O'Reilly Media, even made the trek down to Atlanta and helped out immensely!

There were quite a wide variety of tech groups represented. They included Microsoft groups but also many others like Ruby, PHP, Perl, Linux, Mac, and more. Many groups were from Atlanta, but we got a lot from Alabama & Tennessee, and even some from the Carolinas. The full list is at http://seugls2009.pbworks.com/User-Groups-Attending

The event kicked off with an engaging conversation starter activity based on the Retail Alphabet Game by Joey Katzen. I also scored some cool Microsoft lunchbox coolers for everyone. Then we solicited topics from the leaders, and had breakout sessions to discuss. At the end of each hour of breakouts, each group gave a summary to the others of their conclusions, salient points and next steps.

Putting the notes and summaries of the conversations on the wiki ensures that the information continues to add value to the leader of the groups. The wiki is at http://seugls2009.pbworks.com/ and hopefully will continue to be updated by this community of user group leaders.

The event concluded with a catered dinner, XBOX gaming, time on a Microsoft Surface table, and even Jenga!

Many, many thanks to the “organizing committee” including Marsee, Chris Spruck, Robert Cain, Cheyenne Throckmorton and Brendon Schwartz.

Photos are available via Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=seugls&s=rec

For me personally, this was a very energizing event. Everyone was passionate about running their groups, really shared their best practices, and had some eye opening realizations.It seemed to me to allow folks to forge some great connections. I’m hopeful that the community will want to do this event again next year!

MSDN Southern Fried Roadshow – Fall 2009

glengordon — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:34:00 GMT

Spend an afternoon with the MSDN Southern Fried Roadshow crew as they bring you up to speed on the latest concepts of interest to developers and architects. First, you’ll learn how to build new types of data services that are perfectly suited for today’s lightweight Internet applications. Next, you’ll discover how parallel programming using the new managed libraries in .NET 4 can make your applications fly. Finally, you’ll see how to write apps that capitalize on exciting new capabilities in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

To register, click one of the date/city links below. Please help us fill up these seats, so we can be assured of being able to continue the roadshow in your area!

11/4 - Greensboro, NC

11/5 - Raleigh, NC

11/6 - Columbia, SC

12/8 – Atlanta

12/9 – Montgomery, AL

Also, we have a new logo! Feel free to use it promoting our events in your blogs, to your friends, etc!

Also, if you've read this far, I'll let you in on a little contest we're running:

Be one of the Lucky 7!

The first seven people to register for any of our Fall 2009 MSDN Roadshows (and attend) with the Referral Code of WIN7 will take home a copy of the MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536): Microsoft® .NET Framework--Application Development Foundation, Second Edition (Approximate Retail Value - $45 USD).* And, if you miss the first 7 window of opportunity, don't worry - we'll have several more to raffle off at each event.
*Government employees and officials not eligible for contest. Must be present to win. Contest ends December 20, 2009

Learn about Windows Mobile Development at WinMoDevCamp Atlanta – October 30

glengordon — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:51:21 GMT

Interested in learning how easy it is to build applications for Windows Mobile? Want to know more about getting your app in the Windows Mobile Marketplace? Want to find out how to win a Microsoft Surface?*

Then join us on October 30th at the WinMoDevCamp Atlanta. This event is a little like a barcamp, a little like training, a little like a hack-a-thon. It’s what you make it to get the most from the day. I’ll be on hand along with Rob Cameron and some other experts on Windows Mobile development

*Note, you won’t win a Surface at this event, but if you submit an app to the Marketplace you might win this contest.

Microsoft BizSpark Incubation Week for Windows Azure @ Atlanta 09Nov09

glengordon — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:14:45 GMT

Here is an awesome opportunity for some enterprising startups to take advantage of what Windows Azure has to offer as a cloud computing platform. There will be many technical (and non-technical) experts available to you at this event. It’s 3 days of training & implementation and concludes with participants exhibiting their solutions, with prizes going to the best ones. To quote from the post below:

The current economic downturn is putting many entrepreneurs under increasing pressure, making it critical to find new resources and ways to reduce costs and inefficiencies. Microsoft BizSpark Incubation Week for Windows Azure is designed to offer following assistance to entrepreneurs.

Learning and building new applications in the cloud or use interoperable services that run on Microsoft infrastructure to extend and enhance your existing applications with help of on-site advisors and off-shore development team

Getting entrepreneurs coaching from guest speakers and a panel of industry experts

Generating marketing buzz for your brand

Creating opportunity to be highlighted at upcoming launch

For more information and to sign up, visit this post: Microsoft ISV and BizSaprk Startup Evangelism : Microsoft BizSpark Incubation Week for Windows Azure @ Atlanta 09Nov09