“Cloud computing will supersede traditional IT”, “SOA will enable business agility”, “my way or the highway”, etc. We’ve all heard this type of proclamations before, as many look to the “next big things” in technology to exact sweeping changes and solve many issues; truth is, technologies and tools aren’t as instrumental in influencing progress, as the design and discipline in applying them to specific issues. When used appropriately, technologies and tools can be powerful enablers that bring about change.
To address this, and trying to be a bit more green, our team is hosting a series of live webcasts at noon PST on June 9th – 11th, 2009, which will focus on guidance and patterns for some of today’s hottest topics. Just another excuse to have lunch at your desk (if your time zone is nearby)! :)
Patterns for Moving to the Cloud – June 9
Larry Clarkin & Wade Wegner
Building Silverlight & WPF Applications with Prism – June 10
David Hill
Patterns for Parallel Computing – June 11
David Chou
For more details and registration, please visit http://blogs.msdn.com/sac/pages/council-2009q2.aspx
Many new and interesting developments on the Microsoft Web platform were unveiled at the MIX09 conference last week, such as Silverlight 3, Eclipse Tools for Silverlight, .NET RIA Services, Web Platform Installer, IIS Smooth Streaming, Windows Web Applications Gallery, Windows Azure enhancements, Expression Blend SketchFlow, Expression Web SuperPreview, Internet Explorer 8, etc. Here’s a innovative service that was not highlighted during the keynote presentations.
Microsoft Translator, also branded as Live Search Translator, is a free language translation service that can take any text-based content (text strings, HTML pages, XML, etc.) as input, and translate it from one language to another, such as Arabic, Chinese (both simplified and traditional), French, German, Japanese, Spanish, etc. The service has been around for a while, and is very similar to the Google Translate offering.
Read the full article on David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/03/21/ajax-http-and-soap-access-to-microsoft-translator.aspx
You may have already heard about the many announcements made at Microsoft’s MIX09 conference this week in Las Vegas. One of the major announcements is the Beta availability of Silverlight 3 (and it does look like three’s the charm).
Fully supported by Visual Studio and Expression Blend, highlights of new features and functionality of Silverlight 3 include: major media enhancements, out of browser support allowing Web applications to work on the desktop; significant graphics improvements including 3D graphics support, GPU acceleration and H.264 video support; and many features to improve RIA development productivity.
Read the full article on David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/03/20/silverlight-3-beta.aspx
Team System “Big Event”
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How do you take an idea from conception to completion? How can you truly do more with less? Please join us for this unique, invitation-only event to discover how both product and processes help your organization succeed in today’s environment. We will explore how Team System assists teams across the board to be successful in today’s tough times. This “break through” event will not only provide you with best practices around development and testing, but will demonstrate key capabilities of both Visual Studio Team System 2008 and the upcoming 2010 release. It’s a day that promises to have something for everyone! SESSIONS Test Driven Development: Improving .NET Application Performance & Scalability This session will demonstrate how to leverage Test Driven Development in Team System. We’ll highlight both writing unit tests up front as well as creating test stubs for existing code. "It Works on My Machine!" Closing the Loop Between Development & Testing In this session, we will examine the traditional barriers between the developer and tester; and how Team System can help remove those walls. Treating Databases as First-Class Citizens in Development Team System Database Edition elevates database development to the same level as code development. See how Database Edition enables database change management, automation, comparison, and deployment. Architecture without Big Design Up Front Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010 Architecture Edition, introduces new UML designers, use cases, activity diagrams, sequence diagrams that can visualize existing code, layering to enforce dependency rules, and physical designers to visualize, analyze, and refactor your software. See how VSTS extends UML logical views into physical views of your code. Learn how to create relationships from these views to work items and project metrics, how to extend these designers, and how to programmatically transform models into patterns for other domains and disciplines. Development Best Practices & How Microsoft Helps Sometimes development teams get too bogged down with the details. Take a deep breath, step back, and re-acquaint yourself with a review of current development best practice trends, including continuous integration, automation, and requirements analysis; and see how Microsoft tools map to those practices. "Bang for Your Buck" Getting the Most out of Team Foundation Server Today’s IT budgets are forcing teams to do as much as they can with as little as possible. Why not leverage Team Foundation Server to its full potential? In this session we’ll highlight some capabilities of TFS that you may or may not already know about to help you maximize productivity. | ![clip_image002[4]](http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/socalarchitect/WindowsLiveWriter/BestpracticesfordevelopmentusingVisualSt_8A53/clip_image002%5B4%5D_thumb.jpg "clip_image002[4]")
REGISTRATION
Register for a date & location near you! Welcome: 8:00 AM Seminar: 8:30 AM-5:00 PM April 22, 2009 - Denver, CO Click here to register with invitation code: DD1A7F. April 28, 2009 - Mountain View, CA Click here to register with invitation code: 80D459.
April 30, 2009 - Irvine, CA Click here to register with invitation code: A86389. May 5, 2009 - Portland, OR Click here to register with invitation code: 2DC0A9.
May 7, 2009 - Phoenix, AZ Click here to register with invitation code: 90BC47. To Register by Phone – Call 1.877.MSEVENT (1.877.673.8368) with invitation code. |
A Day in the Life of Scrum with Visual Studio Team System 2008 and Team Foundation Server
Please join Microsoft and Neudesic for a day in the life of Scrum with Visual Studio Team System 2008 and Team Foundation Server! Agile methods are a set of development processes intended to create software in a lighter, faster, more people-centric way. Many development teams have adopted "agile" methodologies to manage change and to improve software quality. These methodologies promote continuous integration as a practice to build and test software products incrementally as new features are included, bugs are fixed, and code is re-factored.
If you missed the first series of Agile & Scrum Essentials last fall; here’s your chance to attend the follow-on event where we’ll briefly revisit the basics of Agile and Scrum and provide a walkthrough of how to configure Visual Studio Team System 2008 and Team Foundation Server for Scrum. Participants will be familiarized with how key artifacts are managed within this popular process template for enacting Scrum in organizations.
Join us for this interactive event as we explore a “day in the life of a Sprint,” that will give you a practical perspective of how Scrum teams leverage Visual Studio Team System for end to end management of the planning, execution and control of Scrum projects. The day will end with an overview of what’s coming in Visual Studio Team System 2010!
Register for a date & location near you
Welcome: 8:30 AM
Seminar: 9:00 AM-4:30 PM
To Register by Phone –
Call 1.877.MSEVENT (1.877.673.8368) with invitation code.
April 2, 2009 - Bellevue, WA
Click here to register with invitation code: 46F263.
June 4, 2009 - Denver, CO
Click
here to register with invitation code:
02B7F8.
April 9, 2009 - Portland, OR
Click here to register with invitation code: ED7794.
April 7, 2009 - Salt Lake City, UT
Click here to register with invitation code: FF5466.
April 14, 2009 - San Diego, CA
Click here to register with invitation code: 1A8639.
April 15, 2009 - Irvine, CA
Click
here to register with invitation code:
808B1B.
April 16, 2009 - Los Angeles, CA
Click here to register with invitation code: A61EB4.
| Please join us for the 7th annual Microsoft Enterprise Developer and Industry Solutions Conference 2009 where you will learn about solutions in Microsoft technologies relevant to the Financial Services and Health & Life Sciences industries, as well as hear about the latest advancements in major industries. This two day event will be held in New York City on May 5th and 6th. The content is tailored for developers, architects, business decision makers, and technology decision makers in large enterprise organizations a clear roadmap of the Microsoft development platform. We will give specific examples of real world solutions using the best of breed technology to bring you from where you are today, to where you will be tomorrow. This is the only conference that will show case enterprise customer solutions directly from the mouth of developers that work in the enterprise industry space as well hear from Microsoft and their partners on topics such as Cloud Computing, Application Lifecycle Management and User Experience. Who Should Attend? Developers, Architects, Business Decision Makers, CIOs, CTOs, Development Managers and Technical Decision Makers. Registration Register today - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032402510&Culture=en-US. Accommodations: For your convenience, a block of rooms has been reserved at the Marriott Marquis at a rate of $299. You are responsible for your own reservations which can be made by calling (212) 398-1900 or 1-800-843-4898 to receive the discounted rate. Be sure to reference the Microsoft Enterprise Developer & Industry Solution Conference | ![clip_image004[6]](http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/socalarchitect/WindowsLiveWriter/MicrosoftEnterpriseDeveloperandIndustryS_14F10/clip_image004%5B6%5D_thumb.jpg "clip_image004[6]")
Marriott Marquis Hotel New York, NY Conference attendance is FREE. Breakfast and lunch for both days is provided as well as a welcome reception on the first night of the event. You are responsible for all other travel and hotel expenses. 
Click on the picture below to see a live demonstration of Microsoft Surface
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On Thursday, March 26, 2009 - Microsoft is hosting a day long free training event for all Developers and IT Pro’s interested in learning more about Internet Explorer 8. You can read about the speaker line up, sessions and get a feel for the agenda by registering for the event.
Note that this event will be broadcasted online as well. So, if you are not in Redmond, you can watch the entire event online via Live Meeting. Be sure to register for the Online version. All the sessions will be recorded and made available post event.
Register to Attend In-Person (Redmond, WA): http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032406308&Culture=en-US
OR
Register to Watch the event online: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032408665&Culture=en-US
For more details, you can contact Mithun Dhar (Developer Evangelist)
We look forward to seeing you at the event!
MAXIMIZE THE IMPACT OF TEAM FOUNDATION SERVER WITH FREE LIVE WORKSHOPS
There is continual pressure for IT departments to accomplish more for the business with fewer resources. Make sure your business application development projects are advancing with the greatest possible efficiency, consistency, quality, and time to market with free ALM Catalyst Live Workshops.
ALM Catalyst Live Workshops are a series of two-hour interactive workshops; repeated over a period of sixteen weeks giving you the flexibility to fit with your schedule.
The ALM Catalyst Live Workshops are designed to enable development teams and achieve these key goals:
· Understand the potential of Team Foundation Server in the enterprise
· Identify gaps in current use of Team Foundation Server
· Create higher-quality, applause-generating software—with less time and stress
Topics covered include:
1. Keeping Projects on the Rails (Reporting)
Status reports shouldn’t be time sinks for teams to create and understand. This topic will demonstrate how Team Foundation Server reports can be easily prepared, keep a project on track and serve as critical decision-making tools to deal with inevitable project changes. Finally, this section of the workshop will feature a few typical “disasters,” preventable with TFS.
2. Avoiding Unpleasant Surprises (Deployment)
Software deployment should not be a dreaded task in the development process. By utilizing automated builds in Team Foundation Server, participants will better understand the health and organization of applications throughout the project, preventing the end-of-project surprise (the “bad kind”). This topic will demonstrate the benefit of automated builds and the calamities they can avert by dynamically assessing build quality.
3. Quality Matters (Testing)
Quality is everyone’s responsibility. Development teams should integrate quality checks throughout every phase of the development process rather than relegating it as the final, pre-deployment task. By utilizing Visual Studio Team System to manage testing tasks, test types, test automation and test results, quality is always front-of-mind with all team members. This topic will demonstrate how to fully integrate the software development lifecycle with quality assurance.
4. Making Process Stick
Strong process speeds development and increases software quality. When implemented properly process enables development teams and minimizes “workarounds” and inefficiencies. This topic will demonstrate a smoothly implemented process methodology in Team Foundation Server, customized for an organization and embraced by the development team.
These workshops will help you understand and implement Team Foundation Server (TFS) to help simplify and accelerate the software development process and improve quality for teams of all sizes.
LEARN MORE AND REGISTER FOR FREE LIVE WORKSHOPS AT:
www.almcatalyst.com
The intended audiences for these workshops are software development leaders and team members who want to maximize the impact of their current Microsoft Team Foundation Servers and Team System projects
Windows 7 search can help you find and act on documents anywhere in the enterprise, not just those indexed on your local computer. Any server compatible with the OpenSearch standard such as Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 servers can now be searched directly from Windows Explorer. All you need to do is install a "search connector" pointing to the server location before you can search it. Best of all, search results in explorer get all the normal functionality of files in explorer like drag & drop, preview, open, print, and e-mail.
Read the full article on David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/03/06/federated-search-in-windows-7.aspx
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| Overview
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition provides advanced tools for database change management and testing and offers functionality to enable database developers and administrators to be more productive and increase application quality in the database tier. Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition delivers a market shifting database development product that provides a foundation for managed database evolution through the use of an offline, Visual Studio project-centered source code control system together with a suite of tools designed to help understand the impact of proposed changes. Schemas, DML and metadata can be versioned, code can be automatically reviewed using static analysis, unit tests can be created and executed to ensure quality, and comparisons can be made with test and production systems prior to deployment. Integration with Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server helps increase the productivity of the database professionals by enabling them to become an integral part of the application team. Please join Microsoft and Adventos for this one-day course to learn how the Developer and Database editions of Team System work together in the application lifecycle. Course Outline I. Core Features of TFS II. Team Projects III. Source Control and Team Foundation Build IV. Managing Databases in a Team Environment Who Should Attend? Database Administrators, Database Developers |
Register for a date & location near you! Welcome: 8:30 PM Seminar: 9:00 AM-4:30 PM Los Angeles, CA March 3, 2009 Click here to register with invitation code: 31A402 Irvine, CA March 4, 2009 Click here to register with invitation code: E4995A San Diego, CA March 5, 2009 Click here to register with invitation code: 3B9F3B To Register by Phone – Call 1.877.MSEVENT (1.877.673.8368) with invitation code. |
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Microsoft just announced a new service intended for mobile devices, called Recite. In short, it allows people to record voice notes using their mobile devices, and then use voice again to search against saved “notes”, then Recite will “recite” the identified note. More details can be found on the Recite blog site.
Watch the video below to get a better idea of what Recite does:
<![CDATA[<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:1cf330f0-7863-401a-ba91-c3013ed1e03c&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="Microsoft Recite">Video: Microsoft Recite</a>]]>
This is the latest deliverable in a series of mobile applications from Microsoft:
- Live Search – local search, maps & directions (Virtual Earth), gas prices, movie showtimes, weather, etc.
- Microsoft Tag – interactive mobile bar codes
- Seadragon Mobile – Photosynth viewer on iPhone
- Recite – voice notes as a service
- Voice-driven search – still in the works
Over the last couple of years, there has been a lot of innovation around of technologies that make it easier for the end user of an application to interact with systems. This innovation has been a boon for the end user because it has provided them a more natural interface with systems that span the web, computer, and phone. However, this has caused the complexity of systems architecture and development to increase. The focus of this session will be on how to prepare and manage this complexity within your organization.
Facilitated by Microsoft, the premise of this event is to provide an open forum where architects can meet to discuss technologies with their peers. This forum will provide first-hand experience and best practices that will enable its members to learn from each other and transfer knowledge. Please join us for this great opportunity to learn, share and network with your peers and other company leaders.
EVENT SUMMARY
The Value of the Client – In the past, the choice of how an end user interacts with an application has been dictated by IT and often without regards to the usage. Recently, as the population has become more tech savvy and are experiencing interactions on the web, computer, and the phone their expectations have increased tremendously. Many organizations now have to support multiple standards and technologies to accommodate their user base. We will discuss the opportunities and challenges this presents.
The Changing Face of the Web – The web has changed from a static collection of data to an application platform. In many cases, JavaScript and AJAX have enhanced the experience to enable more advance application scenarios. In other cases, the Rich Internet Application using technologies such as Silverlight and Flash can bring the experience to a new level. In this session we will discuss the web and in particular the investments Microsoft is making in this technology.
Creating Powerful Applications on Computers and Devices – The web has been a boon to application development and deployment, but it doesn’t always fit every scenario. There are certain classes of applications which provide a better experience when running on a device and utilizing local hardware. The ubiquity of the mobile device has also extended the expectations of users with anytime/anywhere access.
The Future of the Client – The pace of change in client technologies over the past few years has been tremendous and is expected to continue to evolve. From support of new device types such as tables and walls, to continued improvements in interactions on the web, client, and the phone the client will become more and more important from a technology perspective and more strategic to the organization.
AGENDA
12:15 PM Arrival
12:30 PM Lunch and announcements
01:00 PM The Value of the Client
01:45 PM The Changing Face of the Web
02:45 PM Creating Powerful Applications on Computers and Devices
03:45 PM The Future of the Client
04:15 PM Raffle and close
SPEAKER BIO
Joe Shirey
Senior Architect, Developer & Platform Evangelism
Microsoft Corporation
http://www.joeshirey.com
Joe Shirey is a Senior Architect Evangelist for Microsoft based in the Denver area. In this role, Joe works closely with customers and the community to help them understand where Microsoft technologies fit into the architecture of their solutions. Prior to joining Microsoft, Joe was a Vice President at Interlink group where he was responsible for service and delivery for Interlink's Denver market. In the past, Joe was a Microsoft Regional Director, a member of the Microsoft Architect Advisory Board, and sat on the .NET Partner Advisory Council. Joe has more than eighteen years of hands-on technical and functional experience in project management, systems analysis, design, development, and implementation. Joe attained his Microsoft Certified Architect award in 2005.
Woody Pewitt
Technology Evangelist, Developer & Platform Evangelism
Microsoft Corporation
http://blog.pewitt.org/
Woody is a Technology Evangelist with Microsoft in Southern California. He gets to work with all kinds of people who are interested in Microsoft development technologies. He is an experienced teacher/trainer and is a part-time instructor at University of California San Diego.
Before joining Microsoft in 2005 he worked for as a Principal Engineer for a Microsoft partner, InterKnowlogy. He has been involved in software and system architecture, code, development and infrastructure reviews and analysis of several fortune 500 companies for salability, security, performance and standards & practices. He is also an accomplished author, having written Microsoft Official Curriculum and has authored several published magazine articles.
Locations
Click on the city name for details and to register
3/24/2009 – Bellevue, WA
3/25/2009 – Mountain View, CA
3/26/2009 – San Francisco, CA
3/31/2009 – San Diego, CA
4/1/2009 – Irvine, CA
4/2/2009 – Los Angeles, CA
4/7/2009 – Denver, CO
“Are you a PC?”
Get a FREE “I’m a PC” black, cotton t-shirt by taking a short survey…honest, it’s less than 10 questions! Click here to take the survey and get your t-shirt.
[UPDATE 2009.02.04]: Our apologies – the response has been overwhelming and the supply of t-shirts allocated for this survey are all gone already. We will definitely let you know when there are more opportunities to get freebies!
Check out MSDN for all the latest on Windows®
Legalese:
Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy. Your personal information such as name, e-mail address, postal address, and phone number may be collected if you choose to register to complete the survey to receive the incentive. It will be used for fulfillment of the incentive. Your responses to this survey will not be linked to the contact information previously collected by Microsoft. Your answers will be reported in aggregate with those of other respondents. This survey does not use any cookies or other technologies to track your responses to the survey. Please note that this privacy statement applies only to the [I'm a PC T-Shirt Giveaway] survey. It does not apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, surveys, products or services.
Please contact jolarter@microsoft.com if you have any questions concerning collection and use of your personal information.
Offer good only to residents of the 50 United States (including the District of Columbia) who are 18 years of age or older and are professionals or hobbyists engaged in the field of technology development. Limit one gift per person. This offer is non-transferable and cannot be combined with any other offer. This offer is while supplies last, and is not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the recipient. Any gift returned as non-deliverable will not be re-sent. Please allow 6 - 8 weeks for shipment of your gift. We will try to accommodate your shirt size request and will send the next closest size if unavailable.
© 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This is an ongoing series of posts and studies on cloud computing and related concepts, and the Microsoft platform and strategies. This post will serve as an index of related posts on this blog, and will be updated periodically.
Read the full article on David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/01/13/series-cloud-computing-and-microsoft.aspx
It has been a couple of months since I wrote about cloud computing and Microsoft’s plans and strategies. Now that Azure Services Platform has been unveiled at PDC2008, and after having the opportunities to discuss it with a community of architects from major enterprises and startups via the Architect Council series of events, I can talk about cloud computing from the perspective of the Microsoft platform, and the architectural considerations that influenced its design and direction.
Read the full article on David Chou’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/dachou/archive/2009/01/13/cloud-computing-and-the-microsoft-platform.aspx
