Tom's MSDN Belux Corner : Visual Studio Team System

Additional Benefits for MSDN Subscribers – Free & Discounted Products

tommer — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:37:00 GMT

MSDN Subscriptions are an excellent solution people needing a full development platform (including development tools, client applications, servers, etc…). As an active MSDN Subscriber, you can take advantage of special offers from Microsoft or other companies. The list of offers below is taken at the moment of writing and will change over time. To redeem the offer, make sure to sign in with the Windows Live ID that is assigned to your currently active MSDN Subscription.

Go to the MSDN Subscriptions Special Offers (only accessible to MSDN Subscribers with an active subscription)

Technorati Tags: MSDN Subscriptions,offer,benefit,MSDN Belux,Visual Studio,VS2008,VSTS

Microsoft's Security Toolbox for Development

tommer — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:12:49 GMT

An analyst report from Cascade Insights covers the Security Development Lifecycle applied at Microsoft. From the website:

This article is the fifth in the "SDL series" – a set of 8 articles investigating the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle. In this series, through extensive interviews and research, the authors pull back the covers on Microsoft's Security Development Lifecycle- a development practice upon which millions of users (and billions of dollars) depend.

Summary

Microsoft makes heavy use of tools throughout the Security Development Lifecycle. In this article, you will see how tools assist in threat modeling, code analysis, and penetration testing.

Included in this document

The Microsoft SDL

Threat Modeling Tools

Compiler and Linker Protections

Code Analysis Tools

Manual Code Inspection

Fuzz Testing

Benefits and Limitations

About the Authors

Technorati Tags: SDL,Security Development Lifecycle,Microsoft,security,MSDN Belux,threat,threat modeling

Visual Studio Team System 2010 Week on Channel 9

tommer — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:10:24 GMT

This week is Visual Studio Team System 2010 week on Channel 9! Brian Keller and friends will have 20 videos going live this week featuring interviews with the Visual Studio Team System product team including several screencast demonstrations of the latest bits.

Technorati Tags: visual studio team system,vsts,channel 9,microsoft,team system,team foundation server,alm,sdlc

Team Foundation Server integration with Dynamics AX 2009

tommer — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:59:18 GMT

A few weeks ago we released Dynamics AX 2009. Great news for Dynamics AX developers: they can now leverage Team Foundation Server for Version Control. Here is a preview video that was created before the final release on the version control features in MorphX, the IDE of Dynamics AX. And there is also a whitepaper available describing how to set up the version control system for Dynamics AX using Team Foundation Server.

Technorati Tags: tfs,microsoft,dynamics,dynamics ax,axapta,team foundation server,vsts,visual studio team system

First Public Release of Pex, Automated Exploratory Testing for .NET

tommer — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:41:00 GMT

Nikolai Tillman and Peli de Halleux announced the first public release of Pex (under Microsoft Research license). From the website:

Pex (Program EXploration) is an intelligent assistant to the programmer. From a parameterized unit test, it automatically produces a traditional unit test suite with high code coverage. In addition, it suggests to the programmer how to fix the bugs. Watch the screencast!

Pex generates Unit Tests from hand-written Parameterized Unit Tests through Automated Exploratory Testing based on Dynamic Symbolic Execution.

See the full-size image at the Pex Website

You can download Pex here. It's recommended to have Visual Studio 2008 Professional to try out Pex.

As you might remember, Peli de Halleux is a Belgian guy that moved to Redmond in October 2004 to work for Microsoft . Before that he developed the first versions of the MbUnit unit testing framework as a hobby project. And of course he was also known for the different Reflector add-ins that he built.

Technorati Tags: pex,unit testing,msr,microsoft,microsoft research,visual studio 2008,peli de halleux,nikolai tillman,program exploration,software development

Upcoming Visual Studio 2008 Community Launch Events

tommer — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:04:53 GMT

The Belgian Visual Studio User Group is organizing a set of Visual Studio 2008 Community Launch events in May:

VISUG - The ABC of Windows Communication Foundation
6 May 2008 - Merelbeke
13 May - Kortijk

VISUG - Team Foundation Server 2008 Overview
7 May 2008 - Zaventem
21 May 2008 - Kontich

VISUG - ASP.NET 3.5, AJAX and LINQ
14 May 2008 - Lummen
20 May 2008 - Schelle

VISUG - Introduction Workflow Foundation in .NET 3.5
27 May - Merelbeke
28 May - Kortrijk

Besides those community launch events, there are also other normal community events:

Belgian Community Day - hosted by 8 user groups
26 June 2008 - Keerbergen

ACCB.NET Brugge - XAML
30 April 2008 - Brugge

ACCB.NET Brugge - Hands-on workshop
7 May 2008 - Brugge
4 June 2008 - Brugge
1 July 2008 - Brugge

ACCB.NET Brugge - Expression Blend and WPF
28 May 2008 - Brugge

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: MSDN Belux,Visual Studio 2008,community launch,VISUG,VS2008,.NET Framework,event

Join us for the Belgian 2008 Launch and TechDays

tommer — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:32:24 GMT

You might already have heard about our 3 day launch experience:

On March 11 we'll celebrate the launch of Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008. During this day, you'll get to see a keynote from Bill Hilf and an overview of "what" those products can mean to you (in non-fluffy marketing speak that means level 100-200 content).
On March 12 and 13 you'll be able to get deep-dive technical information from industry experts at the TechDays 2008. You will have heard about this conference before under the name "Developer & IT Pro Days". But let's be honest, TechDays is a lot shorted and crisper as a new...

More information is available on our local Heroes Happen Here website.

Practical information:

Location: ICC, Ghent
Registration fee:

Launch on 11 March: free of charge, but registration is required
TechDays on 12-13 March: 289 EUR on or before 31 January, 340 EUR after 31 January (both fees are excl. 21% VAT)

Audience: developers, database administrators, architects, academics, system administrators, network administrators, IT managers

More info will follow later.

Technorati Tags: msdn belux,techdays,2008 launch,visual studio,windows server,sql server,heroes happen here,microsoft

Recording of "Introducing Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio Team System 2008" MSDN Evening

tommer — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:27:00 GMT

You can now watch the recording of the MSDN Evening on "Introducing Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio Team System 2008":

With Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft is continuing to invest in the market-leading Visual Studio Team System technology. Visual Studio Team System 2008 provides great support for managing the application life cycle and also for the critical interaction with the final users and managers of an enterprise application. In addition, it is designed to expand the collaborative benefits of the Visual Studio to more roles on the project team. During this session, you’ll get an introduction on how Visual Studio Team System is the perfect platform to support every aspect of the ALM (Application Lifecycle Management): better communication between teams, greater visibility in the project and ultimately better software.

Presenter: Yves Goeleven, Compuware Belgium
Duration: 1 hour 44 minutes
Recorded on Wednesday 19 December 2007

Technorati Tags: visual studio 2008,visual studio team system,vsts,vsts2008,alm,vs2008,microsoft,msdn belux,chopsticks,webcast

MSDN Belux Book of the Month: "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art"

tommer — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:27:32 GMT

In December Belgians and Luxemburgers can get 40% discount on the book "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art" by Steve McConnell. Often referred to as the "black art" because of its complexity and uncertainty, software estimation is not as difficult or puzzling as people think. When many software projects are failing, McConnell shows you what works for successful software estimation.

Get more information and request your voucher here.

Belgian MSDN Evening December: Introducing Visual Studio Team System 2008

tommer — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:06:15 GMT

Many have asked about it, so I'm happy to announce that the registration is open for the next MSDN Evening on 19 December:

MSDN Evening: Introducing Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio Team System 2008

With Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft is continuing to invest in the market-leading Visual Studio Team System technology. Visual Studio Team System 2008 provides great support for managing the application life cycle and also for the critical interaction with the final users and managers of an enterprise application. In addition, it is designed to expand the collaborative benefits of the Visual Studio to more roles on the project team. During this session, you’ll get an introduction on how Visual Studio Team System is the perfect platform to support every aspect of the ALM (Application Lifecycle Management): better communication between teams, greater visibility in the project and ultimately better software.
Please note that the purpose of this session is to give a general overview of Visual Studio Team System 2008 and the benefits for development projects. Attendees should have general knowledge about software development, but no prior Visual Studio Team System knowledge is required.
Date: 19 December 2007
Time: 18:30
Location: Utopolis, Mechelen
Registration is required

Belgian Post Office "De Post - La Poste" Cuts Stress Testing Solution Costs by 40 Per Cent

tommer — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:25:11 GMT

We've recently published a great case study from the Belgian post office, De Post - La Poste, on their Visual Studio Team System testing scenario where they are using the Visual Studio Team Test Load Agent.

"The Belgian Post Office De Post—La Poste (DPLP) is currently undergoing extensive modernisation to meet the challenge of increased competition and deregulation. DPLP has worked with Microsoft in designing a Web-based end-to-end solution for improving its post office counter services. After a recent evaluation, DPLP replaced its industry standard stress test product for testing its Web application with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Load Agent and Microsoft Visual Studio Team System development suite. As a result, DPLP has reduced the total cost of ownership of its stress testing solution by more than 40 per cent. It no longer incurs an annual maintenance charge, which was around 20 per cent a year on top of the original cost. The time taken by its developers to carry out its stress test cycles for postal counter service products has been reduced by up to 30 per cent and quality has been improved."

Solution

After an evaluation of the market, De Post - La Poste chose Microsoft Visual Studio Team System with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Load Agent.

Benefits

Total cost of ownership cut by 40 per cent
Productivity rises by up to 30 per cent
Quality of stress testing improves
Better customer service

You can get more details and download the full story at http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000000935.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, MSDN Belux, Visual Studio Team System, VSTS, TTLA, testing, public sector, software development lifecycle, ALM, SDLC

PowerPoint Presentations Of Belgian Community Day

tommer — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:56:04 GMT

The PowerPoint presentations of the sessions delivered at the Belgian Community Day are available for download:

Keynote
Discovering Software Development Life-Cycle using Visual Studio Team System
SharePoint tools
Discovering Unified Communications
ASP.NET AJAX
biTunes

The Belgian Community Day was an initiative of 5 Belgian user groups: VISUG, BIWUG, SQLUG, Pro-Exchange and IT Talks. It was great to see the Belgian community do this effort and to feel the community vibes there. Nice job, folks!

Visual Studio appearing in several Xbox 360 and PC games

tommer — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:07:16 GMT

Gamers amongst you might have already noticed it: there are Visual Studio ads appearing in several games. With the Defy All Challenges campaign, we're informing developers how the Visual Studio development environment helps them to defy their challenges while developing applications and websites. The campaign consists of several traditional components, including pretty cool advertisements in magazines and bannering on websites. One of the less obvious components is the advertising that is displayed in several Xbox 360 and PC games.

In order so see these advertisements, the computer or Xbox 360 of the player must be connected to the internet, the player must be identified as Belgian and have at least an Xbox 360 Live Silver Membership account (for the Xbox games).

Here are a few screen shots of some of the games, displaying the advertisement (in English and French):

And here is a picture I took, displaying the ad, while playing Need for Speed Carbon on Xbox 360. Since I'm no good photographer, the pictures are not really clear. But then again I suppose a regular CRT television screen is not the best object to take a picture of.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, MSDN, Visual Studio, Defy All Challenges, Massive, Digital Advertising Solutions, games, Xbox

ROI Case Study for Visual Studio Team System at KBC Bank

tommer — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:22:25 GMT

Recently Nucleus Research published a ROI case study for Microsoft Visual Studio Team System at KBC Bank (Belgium). This is the top outcome of their research:

ROI: 89%
Payback period: 1.12 year

More details, such as the financial analysis, average total cost of ownership, etc, are all available in the downloadable case study.

If you understand Dutch, you can also read this interview with the KBC development team on their project that was recently published in the .NET Magazine.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, Visual Studio Team System, ROI, Nucleus Research, KBC, case study

Video Of Scott Guthrie's Newest Presentation: 'First Look At Visual Studio "Orcas"'

tommer — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 09:42:00 GMT

Last Thursday, Scott Guthrie visited Belgium for the first time. Throughout the day, he had several meetings with customers, partners, MVP's and the developer VIP's and a journalist. In the afternoon he gave 2 talks for the Belgian Visual Studio User Group. Needless to say that the user group was very proud to host the world première of Scott's newest presentation where he gives a first look at the new features in Visual Studio "Orcas" for web developers. There were about 250 attendees at the event, but I can imagine more people will be interested in this presentation. As the VISUG board did a tremendous job in getting everything arranged for this event in an extremely short time (less than 2 weeks!), I decided to help them as a community member, took my digital camera with me and recorded the entire session. And thanks to MSN's Soapbox, you can now view it here...

Enjoy!!! (PS. If you want to skip the intro from VISUG, start the video at approx 5:00.)

Update 7 February: I've been talking with the people of Soapbox and they are analyzing and trying to fix the issues causing the crash. Meanwhile I've asked the local MSDN Belgium webteam to provide streaming hosting for this video. You can watch the video recording of Scott's presentation here (you can also find the stream so that you can view it in Windows Media Player directly).