Strategy and Architecture Council : Silverlight

Silverlight4 Beta Availability for Developers

dpeuswr — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:01:29 GMT

Silverlight 4 Beta Information

Earlier this week at PDC09 in Los Angeles we unveiled a Beta version Silverlight 4. This latest version delivers hundreds of features and controls that, when combined with the continued innovation in Microsoft’s world-class tools for designers and developers — Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Blend – present the leading edge in rapid, powerful application development. With printing support, rich reporting and charting, and integration with back-end systems and server products including Microsoft SharePoint, Silverlight is ready for business.

Read the full post on Raj Ramabadran’s blog.

Architect Cafe | November 2009 Series | Online Webcasts

dpeuswr — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:27:47 GMT

November 24, 2009 at 11:00am – 12:30pm PST
An Architect’s perspective on Silverlight 3
Tim Heuer
Many .NET developers are becoming more and more interested in the Rich Internet Application development space, and in particular Silverlight. In this session we will step back from a detailed implementation technology and take a higher level look at Silverlight from the architect’s perspective. We will discuss the types of applications where Silverlight makes sense and some scenarios where Silverlight may not be the appropriate technology. We will also delve into some of the architectural decisions that the architect must consider when writing applications for this platform and where some of the tradeoffs may lie.

Link to Register: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032432980&Culture=en-US

November 25, 2009, 11:00am – 12:30pm PST
Cloud-computing architecture – designing multi-tenant applications on Windows Azure
Joseph Hofstader
Cloud computing is one of the hottest topics in information technology today. With all the confusion surrounding acronyms ending in ‘aas’ like Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) it can be intimidating for even seasoned IT professionals. This presentation will briefly discuss the different types of cloud platforms and then address one of the key business scenarios for the cloud: Software as a Service.
Software as a Service is a business model for making applications available over the Internet. One of the key tenets of SaaS is multi-tenancy, or software designed to be used by multiple parties. Designing SaaS applications touches on many of the technologies that comprise the Azure platform: Processing, Storage, Workflow, Database and most importantly security. This presentation will discuss how each of technologies can be utilized to define a flexible architecture for multi-tenant solutions.

Link to Register: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032432981&Culture=en-US

For session recordings and content from the November 2009 series, please visit http://blogs.msdn.com/sac/pages/cafe-2009-11.aspx.

For information on other events part of the Architect Cafe series, please visit http://blogs.msdn.com/sac/pages/architect-cafe.aspx.

Patterns-Based Development with Silverlight Series

dpeuswr — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:08:49 GMT

Rob Bagby has started a new series (blog posts and screencasts) on Patterns-Based Development with Silverlight. The series illustrates various design patterns while building a sample application (see screenshot below). The patterns covered include the Repository, the Pipeline, the Service Agent and Model View ViewModel.

Netflix uses Silverlight & Smooth Streaming to stream the Wizard of Oz to America

dpeuswr — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:42:21 GMT

Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, and the re-release by Warner Brothers of an HD version of the movie, Netflix has launched a website to stream the movie for FREE to anyone in America on October 3rd.

Netflix also hosted a free, live concert and outdoor movie screening on Tuesday, September 29th, in New York City’s Central Park at Rumsey Playfield. The concert featured songs from “The Wizard of Oz” performed by Jennifer Hudson, Julianne Hough and Guestlove.

View the full article on John Stame’s blog at http://jcstame.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/netflix-uses-silverlight-smooth-streaming-to-stream-the-wizard-of-oz-to-america/

ARCast – Interview with Ward Bell on Silverlight for RIA at UFC Gyms

dpeuswr — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:33:15 GMT

I interviewed Ward Bell recently and we discussed using Silverlight for building Rich Internet Applications (RIA’s) for UFC Gyms and New Evolution Fitness.

Read the full post on John Stame’s blog at http://jcstame.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/arcast-interview-with-ward-bell-on-silverlight-for-ria-at-ufc-gyms/

Silverlight 3 FireStarter | Thursday 2009.09.17 | Redmond, WA or Online

dpeuswr — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:51:47 GMT

The FREE Silverlight 3 Firestarter sessions in Redmond, WA and available as online webcasts on Thursday September 17th include a keynote from Scott Guthrie and presentations from Tim Heuer, Brad Abrams, Karl Shifflett and other Microsoft community leaders. You'll learn what's new and noteworthy in the latest releases of Silverlight and Expression 3. We'll also give you a rundown on .NET RIA services, toolkit, and more.

AGENDA:

TIME	SESSION	SPEAKERS
8:45am – 9:00am	Event Kick Off	Mithun Dhar
9:00am – 10:00am	Keynote	Scott Guthrie
10:00am – 11:00am	Key Silverlight Scenarios	Tim Heuer
11:00am – 11:15am	Break
11:15am – 12:15pm	Expression 3 Overview (Includes Behaviors)	Janete Perez
12:15pm – 1:00pm	Lunch Break
1:00pm – 1:30pm	Sketch Flow	Shawn Oster
1:30pm – 2:30pm	Toolkit & Controls	Justin Angel, Shawn Oster
2:30pm – 3:30pm	RIA Services	Brad Abrams
3:30pm – 3:45pm	Break
3:45pm – 4:30pm	Building Silverlight UIs with XAML Power Toys	Karl Shifflett
4:30pm – 5:00pm	Q & A Panel	All Speakers

LIVE EVENT (Redmond, WA) | REGISTER >>
LIVE WEBCAST | REGISTER >>

For more information or to register, visit:www.msdnevents.com/firestarter
OR CALL 1-877-MSEVENT

Silverlight and Photosynth at Stargate Universe

dpeuswr — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:59:00 GMT

MGM and Microsoft partnered to build an application intended to give old and new fans of Stargate a first look at the main location of the new Stargate Universe show, an ancient starship called the Destiny. The sets for the Destiny are amongst the most sophisticated ever built for a TV show, accurately capturing the spirit of a spaceship that has been abandoned for millennia.

MGM wanted to give fans an accurate experience of what it would be like to walk around and explore the Destiny, and using Microsoft Silverlight and Photosynth were able to deliver an immersive 3-D experience.

Read the full post on David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/07/13/silverlight-and-photosynth-at-stargate-universe.aspx

UPDATE 2009.09.04 – a Microsoft Case Study and video has been published for this project. You can view the Case Study at http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=4000005102, and the video at http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/c0387435-dd01-4c5a-87c9-6e87cedeee15.

Silverlight and Live Messenger at Photobucket

dpeuswr — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:30:05 GMT

Photobucket has collaborated with Microsoft to build Photobucket Visual Search (http://photobucket.com/visualsearch), making use of Silverlight, Windows Live Services and Photobucket's Open API platform. Photobucket Visual Search uses Silverlight to provide a rich and entertaining search experience, by displaying photos and videos in an easy-to-browse interface. The experience shows up search results, as well as related terms, helping users to find images they might not have in the past.

Recognizing that photos are about sharing a social experience, Photobucket decided to use Microsoft's new Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit to socially enable this Visual Search experience. Windows Live Messenger has over 320 Million active users, with over 32 billion social relationships between them. Sharing an image with friends on Windows Live is as easy as a click of a button with Photobucket Visual Search.

Read the full post at David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/07/12/silverlight-and-live-messenger-at-photobucket.aspx

Embedded Database Engine for Silverlight Applications

dpeuswr — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:10:52 GMT

So far, rich Internet applications (RIA) don’t have to be concerned with data management on the client side, as most connected implementations are designed to be simply a visualization and interaction layer to data and services on the server side. In these cases, data is retrieved from the server as JSON or XML data types (or serialized binary objects for some platforms), then cached in-memory as objects and collections, part of the application, and eventually discarded as part of the application lifecycle.

But for relatively more complex applications that require larger and more distributed data sets, lower application latency, reduced chattiness, data relationships (even basic ones), the implementation starts to get a little complicated, and becomes more difficult with procedural languages like JavaScript. In that case, a simple and light-weight in-memory embedded database may become quite useful.

Read the full post on David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/07/11/embedded-database-engine-for-silverlight-applications.aspx

Silverlight 3 Released!

dpeuswr — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:48:03 GMT

Silverlight 3 is officially released into production today!

Silverlight has come a long way in the short time since its V1 launch in September 2007 and V2 release in October 2008. Each version brought very significant enhancements to the platform. My earlier post on the Silverlight 3 Beta has details on new features, adoption statistics to date, and a small list of interesting Silverlight applications.

Read the full post on David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/07/10/silverlight-3-released.aspx

Microsoft Silverlight 3 and Expression 3 Launch

dpeuswr — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:05:26 GMT

Microsoft Silverlight 3 and Expression 3 will be unveiled at a virtual launch event on July 10, 2009. Attend the event at www.seethelight.com on July 10 to watch the keynote sessions and see new in-depth sessions. Stroll through the customer and partner pavilions in the Exhibition Hall or stop by 'The Visual Kitchen' TV show and watch the chefs as they dish up digital designs and development entrees as part of this exclusively produced online experience.

Read the full post on Dan Willis’ blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/danlistens/archive/2009/07/07/microsoft-silverlight-3-and-expression-3-launch.aspx

Photobucket Visual Search Launches!

dpeuswr — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:21:48 GMT

One of the reasons why I love being an evangelist is figuring out how we get great projects done on our platform – this one has me particularly excited. I’ve been leading the project for the last 6 or so months, coordinating between our great clients at Photobucket and our fantastic design partner, EffectiveUI. Photobucket, the world’s largest photo website, is launching Photobucket Visual Search today, powered by Silverlight and Windows Live.

From the very beginning, Photobucket recognized that images are almost always social – it’s why they became the defacto standard for image hosting on MySpace and other social networking sites. Photobucket is always looking for ways to make the social experience more rewarding – in this case, they turned to Microsoft for help.

Read the full post on Will Tschumy’s blog at http://ux-strategy.com/2009/06/18/photobucket-visual-search-launches/

MGM Studios – Silverlight enables fans to explore the Stargate Universe and generates incremental Ad revenue for the Studio

dpeuswr — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:18:53 GMT

Stargate.MGM.com is the official site for the Stargate TV and Movie franchise. The Stargate franchise includes the TV Show ‘Stargate SG-1’, the longest running science-fiction series in US TV history.

On July 8th, the site will re-launch to promote its new TV show, ‘Stargate Universe’ (coming to the Sci-Fi channel in the Fall of 2009). Using Microsoft Silverlight and Photosynth technology, MGM and Microsoft brought the incredible detail of the sets from the show to the fans - using 3D and high-resolution photography.

The application innovates on traditional advertising by triggering Ads when the user moves from Synth to Synth. MGM embedded five-second spots that get the message across without pushing the user away. The first release of the site contains three advertisements on a rotating cycle. This first-of-its-kind formula enables incremental revenue without being obtrusive.

Read the full post on Kevin Boyle’s blog at http://blog.boilerproductions.com/2009/07/08/mgm-studios--silverlight-enables-fans-to-explore-the-stargate-universe-and-generates-incremental-ad-revenue-for-the-studio.aspx

Linerider.com – physics-engine powered game on Silverlight and Windows Live Services

dpeuswr — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:16:29 GMT

InXile Entertainment has collaborated with Microsoft to build a new version of the Line Rider game, making use of Microsoft's Silverlight technology and Windows Live Services. The new Line Rider uses Silverlight to provide a robust and intuitive game editing environment, and integrated Live Messenger provides a way for users to chat while editing tracks, and to share them.

Read the full post on Kevin Boyle’s blog at http://blog.boilerproductions.com/2009/06/22/lineridercom--physicsengine-powered-game-on-silverlight-and-windows-live-services.aspx

Over 30 Million Pages a day on ASP.NET, Windows, and SQL – Break.com

dpeuswr — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:12:14 GMT

As a popular entertainment site with an advertising-based revenue model, Break.com must support high traffic volumes while enticing Web site visitors to spend time on the site. The company handles up to 35 million page views per day with only two Web server computers.

"That's the thing that I don't think a lot of people on the LAMP stack realize. [...] I think you'll find that Microsoft technologies compare very well individually. But that misses the big picture: Microsoft has created a platform that simply lets me architect and build applications in a way that I can't on LAMP.”

Read the full post on Kevin Boyle’s blog at http://blog.boilerproductions.com/2009/06/22/30m-pages-a-day-on-net-windows-and-sql--breakcom.aspx