Today we launched in English, German, Simplified Chinese and Japanese, and we will follow with another 21 languages in mid-September.
So What's New?
The bottom line is that IE8 is faster, easier and safer. To get a feel for the new IE8 experience, check out the videos here, download the product, and try it out. Here are my 5 personal favorites:
· Accelerators - Highlight an address, click the blue button and hover over “Map” or try Right Clicking a Page and Choosing Translate with Windows Live. Check out the new IE Gallery that has cool accelerators and slices from Digg to FaceBook to Ebay
· Web Slices - Visit Live Search, search for “Seattle Weather” (or major city relevant to your region), hover over the rich search result and click the green button. Click it to add a Weather Web Slice to your Favorites Bar.
· Search Suggestions - Go to your Instant Search Box (top right) and type a search to see search suggestions in action.
· Navigation - Use the new Smart Address Bar to quickly find sites you’ve visited before. The Smart Address Bar searches your history, favorites AND feeds for pages that match what you’re typing.
· Security: IE8 has the best security features in the market today from its updated Smartscreen phishing and malware filter to domain highlighting to the industry leading cross-site scripting filter so I feel my machines, my identity and my family will be safer on the Internet.
Download IE8 Beta 2 here today!
Technorati tags:
IE8,
IE8 Beta 2,
Launch
This week I am attending Microsoft's internal technical readiness conference in Seattle, WA. It is a great opportunity for folks like myself who work in the field to ramp up on new, and especially emerging, technology. Let me just say we have seen some awe inspiring developments that we will be announcing at PDC 2008. I am especially excited about a number of developments we will be announcing with respect to computing in the cloud, but for now I'm sworn to secrecy.
If you are not familiar with Microsoft's preeminent event for developers and architects you can read more about it at http://www.microsoftpdc.com.
And if you want to be the first to learn of these key announcements consider subscribing to the PDC feed at http://blogs.msdn.com/pdc/rss_tag_PDC2008.xml.
Technorati tags:
Event,
PDC
Highlights from Wednesday
Allison Watson kicked off Wednesday with product announcements and demos from executives Simon Witts and Bob Kelly. Steve Ballmer expressed his commitment to driving product innovation and partner success in the coming year and talked about new opportunities with software-plus-services.
Missed the exec presentations or have staff back home who couldn’t attend? Check out Digital WPC to view the keynote presentations at your convenience.
Announcements
News Coverage
Highlights from Tuesday
Allison Watson kicked off the conference and invited Stephen Elop, Brad Brooks, and Andy Lees to discuss new products and opportunities for partners. Watson also featured her A-List. Missed the exec presentations or have staff back home unable to attend? Check out Digital WPC to view the keynote presentations at your convenience.
Announcements
Microsoft Online Services: New Business Model, Pricing Strategies
Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop further defined the Microsoft Online Services business model and announced its pricing structure. Learn more:
Microsoft and Partners Streamline the Customer Purchasing Experience
Learn more about Select Plus—a new Volume Licensing program designed for companies with multiple business units that want centralized purchasing. Read the press release.
News Coverage
In April and May I conducted a series of 7 Partner briefings across the East Region targeting the Microsoft ProDev Partner Community. Since arriving back from TechEd last week, I've been hard at work crunching the numbers from the event to help me better understand the most important initiatives Microsoft's Partners are focusing on today.
Of the 63 unique initiatives identified, It comes as no surprise that SharePoint tops the list as shown in the following table:
With some recent releases around TechEd Developers USA I wanted to update you on the latest in SharePoint Development resources.
SharePoint Development for .NET Developers
A new landing page for SharePoint developers with lots of new content. Everything from videos and online MSDN Virtual Labs to sample PPTs and Demos for presentations.
http://MSSharePointDevelopers.com
Visual Studio 2008 extensions for SharePoint
Provides project templates for SharePoint artifacts and F5 solution debugging on Visual Studio 2008.
Download Here
Visual Studio extensions for SharePoint User Guide
150 Page User Guide for the Visual Studio extensions for SharePoint including tool descriptions and step by step how to guide’s for each project template including workflow.
Download Here
Full Day SharePoint WebCast Wed June 11th
Although the Live event is full, you can still register for the Webcast.
Register Here
A getting started with SharePoint flyer
One side is for IT Professionals and the other side is for developers. Feel free to print these and leave behind on with your SharePoint customers.
Download here
SharePoint Developer and Programming Forum
The forum has assigned resources so customers and partners can get answers.
Access the forum here.
Technorati tags:
SharePoint
I was recently notified that a number of seats are available for the OnRamp training course titled Next Generation Web Development on the Microsoft Platform. To date, 10 sold-out sessions have been delivered across the U.S, with another 10 scheduled for June. As of this writing 5 of our June events are at or near capacity. However, if you are a Microsoft Partner located in San Francisco, Miami, Jacksonville or Columbia, MD, there are seats available, so consider giving this course a second look.
If you are not familiar with the OnRamp program, it is a 2-day instructor-led depth training course offered exclusively to the Microsoft partner community. The course fee is minimal, $199, as cost recovery for food, venue and equipment rental. Each session accommodates roughly 16 partner attendees so seating is quite limited. Our latest offering provides attendees with hands-on experience creating rich, interactive Web applications using the latest Web technologies from Microsoft. Attendees will use Visual Studio® 2008, Expression Web and Expression Blend to create Web content that leverages both new and existing technologies, including ASP.NET 3.5, ASP.NET AJAX, ASP.NET MVC, Silverlight and the Windows Live Platform.
To learn more or to register now go to: http://www.msreadiness.com/CourseDetail.aspx?id=9228
Bob Familiar, Jim O’Neil and Chris Bowen, Developer and Architect Evangelists in our New England District are at it again. They'll be heading out in May and June for their fifth Northeast Roadshow:
- May 22nd – Burlington, VT
- May 28th – Portland, ME
- May 29th – Waltham, MA
- June 10th – Rochester, NY
- June 12th – Farmington, CT
Topics for this series include LINQ (SQL & Entities), VSTO, Silverlight 2, and ASP.NET MVC.
Interested in joining them for a relaxed day of low-fluff, high-signal content for developers and architects!? Then check out out one of their blog for complete details on the event and how to register.
Over the past week I have traveled to New York City and Waltham, MA to deliver the first 2 ProDev Partner Briefings comprising a 7-city tour that I pulled together to meet with Application Development Partners up and down the East Coast. I am pleased to say that the events have been well received and given high scores. If you have not yet registered for one of the five remaining events, please consider doing so today by checking out the dates, locations and registration links posted earlier on my blog at ProDev Partners-Only Briefing - US East Region.
A number of partners have also expressed their gratitude for a cheat sheet of on-line resources I've shared with them during my presentation. In the spirit of helping as many partners as I can, I am making it broadly available to you now in the event that you can benefit from it as well.
http://partner.microsoft.com – Partner Program home page
https://partners.microsoft.com – Enrollment site for Microsoft partners
https://partner.microsoft.com/US/salesmarketingsection/smcampaigns - Ready-to-go campaigns marketing materials and services
https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40020720 - Where partners publish their solutions
https://solutionfinder.microsoft.com – Where customers find partners
https://channelbuilder.partners.extranet.microsoft.com/cb/Default.aspx - Where partners can network and collaborate with other partners by creating or responding to an opportunity
https://www.microsoftpartnerevents.com – Partner events portal
http://www.innovateon.com/ – Central resource to help you build, test, and market your solution based on Microsoft technologies
http://www.mspartneruniversity.upsellusa.com – Online sales training and incentive programs website
http://www.mspartnerdirect.com/ – Marketing services for partners
http://partnerblogs.com/ - Partner Blog Community
http://partnerblogs.com/blogs/partnercasts - Webcasts for the Partner Blog Community
http://www.isvinnovation.com/ - The home of Microsoft U.S. ISV training
http://www.phizzpop.com or http://phizzpop.visitmix.com - One-stop roadmap for web agencies
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15082395245 – An online social networking group for Microsoft’s Application Development Partners
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/partnersonpoint/default.aspx - SharePoint Partner Solutions
https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40032362 - Become a Microsoft Licensing Reseller
https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40028950?PS=95000124 -Basic Resources for Resellers
https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40017359?PS=3 - Microsoft Licensing Reseller Handbook
A colleague of mine recently published a 3 part series on the architecture and development of Rich Internet Applications using Silverlight 2.0. If you are into Silverlight, this may be worth a look.
Abstract
This series of articles takes a look at the current state of RIA development leveraging Silverlight 2.0. The series will focus on the architecture of RIA's, the use of XAML for user interface layout and design, Windows Communication Foundation for Web Services, Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Blend for the design/development environment and Windows Server 2008/IIS 7 as the deployment environment.
http://blogs.msdn.com/bobfamiliar/archive/2008/04/04/rich-internet-applications-using-silverlight-2-0.aspx
If you are not familiar with the OnRamp program, it is a 2-day instructor-led depth training course offered exclusively to the Microsoft partner community. The course fee is minimal, $199, as cost recovery for food, venue and equipment rental. Each session accommodates roughly 16 attendees so seating is quite limited. Our latest offering provides attendees with hands-on experience creating rich, interactive Web applications using the latest Web technologies from Microsoft. Attendees will use Visual Studio® 2008, Expression Web and Expression Blend to create exciting Web content that leverages both new and existing technologies, including ASP.NET 3.5, ASP.NET AJAX, ASP.NET MVC, Silverlight and the Windows Live Platform.
To learn more or register go to http://www.msreadiness.com/CourseDetail.aspx?id=9228
This event will offer developers, architects, technical and business decision makers in the healthcare industry a chance to learn how Microsoft is making a big bet in the enablement and delivery of Software + Services in Health & Life Sciences. The Health & Life Sciences Developer & Solution Conference will include a mix of keynotes, panel discussions, industry theme/technology discussions, and interactive breakouts sessions. Our overall objective is to offer a forum that will serve as a culminating exposure to Microsoft platform and technology innovations from a Health & Life Sciences Industry Solutions perspective. Come see how Industry themes & solutions aligned to technology themes & trends.
When: April 22-April24
Where: Sheraton Hotel, Atlantic City, NJ
Who: Developers, Architects, Technical and Business Decision Makers in the healthcare industry
Agenda: http://blogs.msdn.com/hlsdpe/pages/HLSDevCon2008Tracks.aspx
Register: http://www.hlsdevcon.com
The following information, forwarded to me by a colleague (Thank You Tara Walker), provides references to ALM training and/or resources that will assist you in developing a Microsoft ALM partner practice.
Understanding Microsoft ALM Partnership
Understanding Microsoft ALM with VSTS/TFS
- 200-level training: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=527E2A17-1DEA-4D0B-9484-6AE43D00E570&displaylang=en
- 300-level training: Remember that it is really designed for a classroom setting with a trained trainer. Please visit http://connect.microsoft.com.
- Click on "My participation" on the left.
- Login in with a valid Live Id (Passport)
- Click on "Available connections" also on the left
- Scroll to the bottom and click "apply" next to "Visual Team System Training Resources"
We are also in the process of uploading the 300 level content to the Partner Learning Center for Gold Partners and SIs. Go to http://www.msptr.com/PartnerTraining/Secure/HomePage.aspx and order #5233 from the Training Content Catalog.
| Join PARTNER HUDDLE Today - A private Facebook Group for Microsoft Partners delivering custom developed solutions on the .NET Platform |
I commented earlier today on a few IE8 features that were highlighted during the keynote session. I attended an afternoon breakout session and thought I'd share with you additional insight on our current release.
- ActiveX security
- ActiveX controls optionally enabled on a per site or per user basis
- Reliability
- Recovery after a crash - although we hope this never happens, we know it has in the past and may in the future. The nice part of it now is all tabs are restored on recovery - NICE.
- Making Users More Productive
- An improved zoom experience
- Activities connect users to their exiting services from anywhere they may go on the web. Activities are defined through the OpenService Format. A couple of examples that are added to the browser include the ability to
- Look up an address or map with Live Maps
- Search with Live Search
- Webslices enable page publishers to webslice-enable partitions of a web page. Doing so allows the end-user to subscribe to the slice. The slice is registered much like a URL shortcut. The user can then hover over the registered slice to view and track information contained within the slice even after they have browsed away from the current page. Great examples where you may want to slice enable your page or experience the benefits of slice enabled pages include auctions, weather conditions, top news stories.
- Predictable Platform for Developers
- Predictable layout with complete CSS2.1 compliance. With IE8 we are taking a clean fresh layout approach by focusing on CSS2.1 compliance. This marks the end of hasLayout. And looking forward to CSS3, we are focusing on the box-sizing property and vertical text.
- Predictable CSS 2.1 Support - Microsoft is contributing 700 CSS tests to the W3C. They are available under BSD open license on MSDN . Check them out and give us your feedback. We need to validate interpretation of the standard so give us your feedback
- Predictable Programming Model - lots here and too much to cover in so short a time
- Developer Productivity - CSS, HTML and JavaScript debugger tools built into IE8. Any machine running IE8 has the tools since they are built into the browser.
- Optimizing for Performance
- Network performance is frequently the problem because we often use only 2 connections between browse and server. This has been increased to 6.
- JScript improvements are many including DOM object look up, garbage collecting circular references, and simply improving the execution speed of native JavaScript operations including the performance of array methods, string methods, and function calls.
- Innovation
- Integrating Ajax with Navigation for URL tracking and backup
- Querying the Element Tree by implementing CSS Selector API
- Leveraging local storage by implementing the sessionStore and localStore HTML5 Storage interfaces. IE7 extensions including checkRemainingStore and Clear
- Network connectivity is transient so we've added indicators to track when the network isn't there.
- Mashup Dilemma
- Some things shouldn't be mashed up like your bank account information
- We've implemented the Cross-Domain Request Object which requires mutual consent between the webpage and server to protect information, and Cross-Document Messaging
Download IE8 today http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie8 and provide us your feedback through one of the many facilities available to you:
And if you were wondering about the overall User Experience, there's not much to say at this time since User Experience is not the focus of Beta 1. More to come at a later time.
With 150-days to-go before the Olympics kick-off in Beijing, we had the opportunity to see an early preview of the Olympics.com site with Silverlight support. One word to describe it, UNBELIEVABLE. You will have the opportunity to view 35 sports and 2200 hours of content on line live for 17 days. Throughout the Olympics, the content will be re-racked for VOD. Here's a short list of some of the features you will experience on-line:
- 4 streams of live video
- Interactive, engaged, sports commentary and biographies of players, right along side the video
- Discover information, see what other people are watching or look-up the top video of the moments today.
- Picture-In-A-Picture online - so, so, cool, watch two events at the same time
- Rewind and review the play you just missed
- Email direct links to the clip you are viewing to share them with friends
- And much more..
Mark your calendars, set a reminder, tie a sting around your finger, whatever it takes to check out this site during the Olympics. You'll come away with a host of new ideas on how to create very cool, media enriched, interactive Silverlight applications to wow your customers moving forward. And you may just find yourself watching the Olympics in front of your PC this year.
MIX08 is underway at the beautiful Venetian Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas and the buzz is in the air everywhere. Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at Microsoft kicked off the event and shared with us his perspective on what drives and guides Microsoft in the design and development of software
3 Core Principles driving our software development today:
- The web as hub is comprised of a social, technology and device mesh. The web will be used across all our offerings as a hub.
- The power of choice in the enterprise impacts the business - Virtualization powered utility computing model is the wave moving forward.
- The need to embrace loosely coupled systems - Embracing Software + Services in all that we do.
Ray had much more to say but I'm just getting into a rhythm here to multitask, listen and blog. So my strategy going forward will be to send out mini-bursts of MIX08 information at it is made available to me and as I am able to catch it here on these pages.
