Microsoft NZ MSDN Blog

Happy Holidays from the New Zealand MSDN Team

2009-12-22T04:02:00Z

2009 is almost behind us now and on behalf of the New Zealand MSDN Team, we would like to wish you a safe holiday season with your friends and family. Thank you for a great 2009. Looking forward to 2010, we have a number of new products, events and initiatives planned for release. We look forward to continuing to support New Zealand developers in 2010!

5 City NZ Unplugged Technical Training Tour Coming in December 2009!

2009-11-08T00:28:00Z

Get ready Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington Tauranga and Auckland! Microsoft Unplugged is coming to you for the last time for 2009 just before the christmas holiday season. During this tour, Mike Zeff, Ryan Tarak from Microsoft and John Daniel Trask will be covering Windows Azure and Visual Studio 2010. Kicking off in Wellington on Tue 1st December, the Unplugged Technical Training will start at 1:30pm and finish at 5pm in each city. Click here for full details and to register!

Counting down to PDC 09

2009-10-27T21:55:00Z

The Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) is a developer event focused on the technical strategy of the Microsoft developer platform. Since 1991, the PDC has been the epicenter of Microsoft's biggest platform annoucements including Microsoft .NET, Windows XP and Windows 7. This year, you will hear more details about our services platform, Windows, the Web, devices and our next generation of developer tools. Check out Channel 9 videos for new episodes of Countdown to PDC09 and Knowledge Chamber.

Windows 7, Check out the launch Day PhotoSynth in Auckland & Wellington

2009-10-24T00:37:00Z

Thursday 22nd October 2009 marked the launch of Windows 7 around the world. To celebrate, launch festivals were held in Auckland and Wellington to mark the day. In Auckland, the most famous NZ number 7 Richie McCaw bought the first laptop with Windows 7! You can bid for this laptop on TradeMe now! Also, a photosynth was taken of 200 Windows 7 umbrellas infront of the Britomart in Auckland.

There are four Photosynths in total published now

· The Auckland Moment (409 photos)

· The Wellington Moment (52 photos)

· The Auckland Lead-Up (341 photos)

· Auckland Combined Synth (736 photos)

Tech.Ed is now online @ Tech.Ed Online !

2009-10-04T05:56:00Z

“Developers! Developers! Developers!” Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer makes it clear that he sees helping developers be successful in innovating on the Microsoft platform as critical to Microsoft’s ongoing success. Supporting Balmer’s philosophy Tech.Ed New Zealand featured a wide range of development related topics. Amongst the highlights from Tech Ed, US based Sarah Ford, “queen of open source at Microsoft” was in town to talk about Visual Studio Tips & Tricks and you can also checkout what’s coming with Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4, both released early in 2010.

Tech.Ed is the largest IT conference in New Zealand. With over 2400 attendees, 128 breakout sessions, 10 tracks and a massive party, Tech.Ed is an intensive three days of training and networking. For many New Zealand developers who could not attend the conference – there is an opportunity for you to experience Tech.Ed online. Tech.Ed Online is a global online community, where you can explore video interviews with industry experts, view on-demand developer and IT professional breakout sessions and keynotes from Tech.Ed conference all around the world. Learn about the latest Microsoft technology solutions from our partners, community leaders and product managers.

You can access Tech.Ed Online today! As a guest, you will have full access to all interviews with industry experts plus a selection of breakout sessions to view. Plus, access to all presentation PowerPoint decks from the NZ conference. To access all breakout sessions, you will have the opportunity to purchase a 12 month subscription for USD $249.00 (limited time offer).

Tech.Ed Online offers you the chance to catch up on the latest Microsoft technologies from Windows 7 to Visual Studio 2008. Be sure to check out the valuable resource prepared by NZ and international industry experts.

Enjoy the content from Tech.Ed Online at the comfort of your place and time. Let us know your thoughts and feedback about the Tech.Ed Online portal on Twitter.

Tech Girls Dinner - Fun & Entertaining

2009-09-19T06:13:00Z

This year's Tech Girls Dinner attracted more than 160 IT industry professionals to the SkyCity Convention Centre. The dinner kicked off with the CIO of Air New Zealand - Julia Raue sharing some of her interesting stories from Air New Zealand including the re-vamp of their domestic service. After the buffet dinner, guests were entertained by the very entertaining Michele A'court. Four lucky guests walked away with a SkyCity Grand Hotel Package, Air New Zealand Domestic Travel, Trilogy Gift Packs, SkinCentral Gift Vouchers, and a Telecom XT Mobile Phone. Thanks to those who have attended the dinner and feel free to provide feedback to us!

Code Camp Auckland - by the community, for the community!

2009-08-31T01:25:00Z

The .NET Community in NZ will be offering session in .NET development, SQL Server and Developer Security at Code Camp Auckland 2009. Code Camps are non-profit, and oragnised by members of the local IT community. This year the Auckland Code Camp is the day before Tech.Ed (Sunday 13 September 2009). This will be the biggest code camp ever with over 14 hours of sesions across 3 streams from 10am-5pm.

For more information and to register, click here!

Exclusive HP MINI 5101 NOTEBOOK offer for Tech.Ed 2009 New Zealand delegates!

2009-08-20T01:16:00Z

Microsoft NZ, in association with HP, offers Tech.Ed 2009 NZ delegates an exclusive opportunity to purchase the latest release of HP Mini 5101 Notebook, powered by Windows 7 Ultimate for the special price of $699 (price includes GST). This represents a saving of over $500 of the recommended retail price!*. Click here for more information and please note special conditions apply. This offers ends on Friday 4 Sep 2009 (or earlier if stocks are exhausted).

TechFest 2009 Line Up Announced!

2009-08-18T00:24:00Z

TechFest 2009 is the biggest and best social and networking event at this year's Tech.Ed. Join us at the Auckland Town Hall from 6:30pm on Tuesday 15th Sep for a fun-packed evening of entertainment. The line up this year include Elemeno P, Katchafire, comedian Ben Hurley and our MC Oscar Kightley. Find out more here!

Imagine 2010 Poland

2009-08-15T03:12:00Z

Team Think took out the Imagine Cup NZ National Finals this April in Auckland and took up the challenge of competing with 70 Software Design Teams around the world in Cairo, Egypt in July. The 3 undergraduate students from Lincoln University competed fiercely and narrowly missed the top 12 finalists. The has now returned to NZ and is looking for partners and supporters to further strengthen their project. Check out their experience in Egypt on Facebook!

While the team is recovering from the WW Finals in Cairo, Imagine Cup 2010 has already begun! The WW Finals will be held in Poland in 2010! A number of enhancements has been made to the format and structure of this year's competition. Further details and annoucements will be made shortly. In the meantime, keep yourself up to date with all Imagine Cup NZ annoucements:

Join us on Facebook

Kick off Tech.Ed 2009 with Tech Girls Dinner!

2009-08-15T02:16:00Z

Tech Girls Dinner is a very special evening celebrating women working within the IT industry with inspiring speakers and fantastic networking opportunities. We are pleased to announce Julia Raue, CIO of Air NZ as keynote at this year's dinner. Plus we are also pleased to have Michele A'Court, NZ's Best Female Comedian 2003-2007. You are invited to join the celebration this year at Auckland's SkyCity Convention Centre on Monday 14th Sep 2009.

Tickets are $99.00 + GST each and it is complimentary for Tech.Ed 2009 NZ delegates to attend. But remember, you must register before 4 Sep 2009! For further information and to register, please click here!

Stay in the Know! Congratulations to the HP TouchSmart PC Winner!!

2009-08-15T02:07:00Z

Congratulations to Steve Foster from Jade Software Christchurch - winner of the recent MSDN/TECHNET Flash Newsletter Promotion. Steve is now the lucky recipient of the HP TouchSmart PC. Keep up to date with NZ developer and IT professional news via the Bi-Weekly MSDN/TECHNET Flash Newsletters. Click Here to subscribe!

Silverlight 3 Released

2009-07-12T22:49:00Z

Silverlight 3 Released

Silverlight 3 was released to the web on Saturday along with it a new release candidate build of Expression Blend 3 that includes SketchFlow.

Check out the new C9 Video – with Scott Guthrie & Christian Schormann

Tim Heuer has a great post on what is new and what has changed.

To install all the new bits take a trip over to http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/

For Deep Zoom there is a new version of Deep Zoom Composer which brings back source code and an updated version of RiaServices at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/RiaServices

Christian has just posted SketchFlow Concepts: An Overview and there is are new Blend 3 and Web 3 overview videos available.

Check out http://seethelight.com which is the official launch site that has recently gone live.

Also there are new landing pages for

Check out the Top Silverlight Features especially the new extensible media format support with RAW AV rocks!

It is great to see that the community has already started cutting code with the new bits!

There are a couple of great Silverlight 3 Out of Browser Examples that are great as well.

thirsteen23 – Silverlight 3 TED Video Player
sobees – social desktop aggregator (right click to go out of browser)

Stay tuned to the Silverlight and Expression Studio Virtual Press Room and Twitter for more updates!

Sign up for Tech Ed before 31 July and be in to win

2009-06-29T12:04:00Z

Don’t miss out on the IT Industry’s best technical training. As you probably already know Tech Ed is New Zealand’s biggest (and we think best) technical training event for IT pros & developers. Planning is well underway for Tech Ed 2009 – we have 14 tracks of content and are starting to lock down speakers. With Windows 7 and many other Microsoft products releasing over the next year, this is your best chance to learn about the new technologies, experience them hands-on, and connect with around 2,000 of your industry peers. You’ll probably have some fun too!

We’ve partnered with Canon to come up with a great incentive to sign up. Register for Tech Ed before 31 July and you will automatically go into the draw to win one of seven Canon IXUS 100 IS digital cameras. This is a great camera, with 12.1MP, optical image stabilisation, HD video, and a super-slim design.

If you’ve already registered, don’t worry, you are automatically in the draw to win.

Full details of the Tech Ed special offer are here.

Tech Ed New Zealand 2009

14-16 September 2009

SkyCity Convention Centre

Auckland City

www.microsoft.co.nz/teched

NZ Community SharePoint Conference: 2 - 3 July 2009

2009-06-19T04:30:00Z

Thu 2 July and Fri 3 July, Duxton Hotel, Wellington

SharePoint MVP's Chandima Kulathilake, Mark Orange and Debbie Ireland, are organising the first and biggest ever NZ SharePoint Event! See www.sharepointconference.co.nz to see further details. This event is supported by a great range of sponsors , wide expertise in speakers including 7 international speakers, 36 sessions divided into Business, Technical and Voice of Customer.

This conference has something for EVERYONE...from Business Managers, Technical Specialists, Architects, Developers, Project Managers, Executives and anyone looking to invest in SharePoint and End Users wanting to see more! Come for practical real world experiences and a chance to network with colleagues and companies. Register now!