Entries for Robert Hess

PDC09: John Durant on newly announced SharePoint features

Robert Hess — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:13:00 GMT

John Durant just returned from the Microsoft SharePoint Conference where a number of new SharePoint features were announced. In this episode he shares some of those features with us and describes how they can help developers in a variety of ways.

John will be doing a couple sessions at PDC09 which will also cover some of these features:

And here are some PDC09 sessions based on some of the other topics we discussed:

PDC09 Workshop: Developing Quality Software Using Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010

Robert Hess — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:51:00 GMT

Visual Studio 2010 recently released a new beta of Visual Studio 2010, which includes a variety of improvements for a broad spectrum of developer needs. For PDC09, Chris Tullier and Todd Girvin will present a day-long workshop which specifically focuses on the use of Visual Studio Team System to manage software development tasks for teams of any size.

Chris Tullier joins me on today’s episode to discuss his upcoming workshop and share some details and insights on how Visual Studio Team System can promote and support better software development practices.

You can find more information about this workshop here:

Developing Quality Software Using Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010

as well as more details about Visual Studio 2010 here:

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2

Developing Windows Azure applications for PHP, Ruby, and Java, using Eclipse [Developing Windows Azure applications for PHP, Ruby, and Java, using Eclipse]

Robert Hess — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:57:00 GMT

In our previous episode, Vijay Rajagopalan shared with us some of the details about a session he did at MIX09 which showed how Microsoft was providing support for building Silverlight applications using Eclipse on either Windows or even on other platforms as well.

In today’s episode Vijay shares with us the details regarding some new interoperability support which will similarly allow PHP developers to use the Eclipse IDE to develop for and deploy to Windows Azure, and provide Java developers with a new Windows Azure SDK, making their life much easier when they use Windows Azure storage services in particular. He’ll also describe how Microsoft is working to make sure that Eclipse itself is a great Windows 7 application and how it will enable developers to write applications which can take full advantage of special Windows 7 features.

And you can find more information about these interoperability tools here:

in reply to Developing Windows Azure applications for PHP, Ruby, and Java, using Eclipse

Using Eclipse to build Silverlight applications in Java, PHP and Ruby

Robert Hess — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:31:00 GMT

As hard as it might be to believe, not everybody is using Visual Studio as their development platform. Then what if they want to develop a Silverlight application? Is notepad their only option?

Fortunately not. Vijay Rajagopalan did a session at MIX09 earlier this year which shows how we've been working hard to provide interoperability support for Eclipse users that not only allows them to use Eclipse as their development environment, but also allows them to integrate their Silverlight applications into PHP, Ruby, or Java.

And if you want more details, you can watch Vijay's MIX09 session here:

Build Applications on the Microsoft Platform Using Exlipse, Java, Ruby, and PHP!

And for additional information and downloads, you might be interested in the following:

Interoperability @ Microsoft

PDC09: Application Deployment with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

Robert Hess — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:04:00 GMT

As part of our lead-up to PDC09, I am joined today by Omri Bahat who is going to share with us some of the aspects of SQL Server 2008 R2 which will provide a more efficient way to develop, deploy, and manage applications which rely on an integrated data tier.

The session itself will be presented at PDC09 by Sanjay Nagamangalam and S Murali.

You can find more details about this session here:

Simplifying Application Packaging and Deployment with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

PDC09 Workshop: Microsoft Technology Roadmap

Robert Hess — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:28:00 GMT

For one of the day-long workshops at this years PDC, Michele Leroux Bustamante will be hosting a session where she'll walk attendees through a variety of Microsoft technologies and help them understand the value of each and how to use them to their fullest advantage.

In this episode, we have a special interview with Michele where she provides some details on what her workshop will be about. This workshop should be an excellent way to start the PDC off and help you be fully prepared for all of the seminars that will follow.

You can get more details about this workshop here:

Microsoft Technology Roadmap Workshop

PDC09 Workshop: Getting the Most out of Microsoft Silverlight 3

Robert Hess — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:56:00 GMT

It can be easy to get caught up in all of the fancy graphics, transitions, and video effects that are part of Silverlight, but that doesn’t mean you can’t write serious, business ready, applications that not only take advantage of Silverlight but are also better because of it.

At the upcoming PDC, one of the workshops being done on the day before is “Getting the Most out of Microsoft Silverlight 3” by Richard Griffin and Ian Griffiths. I’ve asked Mike Taulty to be my special correspondent and provide us with an interview with “the two Griffs” so we can get some insight as to what their day-long workshop will be like and who should be attending it.

You can get more details about their workshop at the PDC09 website here:

Getting the Most out of Microsoft Silverlight 3

Juval Lowy – The EnergyNet and the next Killer App [Juval Lowy – The EnergyNet and the next Killer App]

Robert Hess — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:06:00 GMT

Many people love to speculate on what the next Killer App might be. Juval Lowy will use his ideal killer app as the basis of his upcoming workshop at PDC09 on November 16th. He’d like to think that the EnergyNet (yeah… I called it “energyweb” in my intro) might provide such a cohesive blending of commercial and residential energy use, the devices which consume that energy and the resources that provide it, that this will become an important piece of our daily lives. It will save money, save energy, and perhaps even save the planet.

In his workshop, he is going to illustrate how the notion of an EnergyNet is made possible through technologies such as Windows Communication Foundation and the .NET Service Bus. I’ve asked special correspondent Bruno Terkaly to interview Juval and get some details on what you’ll learn about in this workshop.

You can get more details about this workshop here:

Software in the Energy Economy

You can get some more details on the EnergyNet in an interview that Juval did for ARCast.TV on Channel9 here:

ARCast.TV - Juval Lowy on The EnergyNet, the next software boom

And here is a set of links to articles that Juval has written for MSDN Magazine:

Juval Lowy in MSDN Magazine

in reply to Juval Lowy – The EnergyNet and the next Killer App

PDC09 Workshop: Developing Microsoft BI Applications - The How and The Why [PDC09 Workshop: Developing Microsoft BI Applications - The How and The Why]

Robert Hess — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:35:00 GMT

BI, or "Business Intelligence" allows businesses to make better use of their data, and resources in order to make better decisions related to how to grow and improve their business. For the PDC09 in Los Angeles, Andrew Brust and Don Demsak will be presenting a special day-long workshop on November 16th which will show developers how to easily leverage Microsoft tools and technologies to solve the BI needs of their companies.

I invited Andrew and Don to discuss their workshop with me, but since they live on the East Coast I relied on Peter Laudati, special correspondent for The Knowledge Chamber, to conduct the interview for me.

You can find more information about the workshop that Andrew and Don will be doing here:

PDC09: Developing Microsoft BI Applications - The How and The Why

And information about Microsoft BI technologies in general here:

Microsoft Business Intelligence

in reply to PDC09 Workshop: Developing Microsoft BI Applications - The How and The Why

John Durant – Developing Managed Applications for Office 2010 in Visual Studio 2010 [John Durant – Developing Managed Applications for Office 2010 in Visual Studio 2010]

Robert Hess — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:35:00 GMT

One of the recent sessions announced for PDC09 is one which will focus on some key advancements in Office 2010 as well as Visual Studio 2010, which will allow developers to take better advantage of the features and capabilities found in Office and SharePoint.

I’ve invited John Durant to join me in this episode to provide some highlights as to what he’ll be showing in his sessions, and some of the new features that developers can look forward to in Office and Visual Studio.

If you’re interested in more information about the session that John will be doing at PDC09, you can find it here:

Developing .NET Managed Applications Using the Office 2010 Developer Platform

in reply to John Durant – Developing Managed Applications for Office 2010 in Visual Studio 2010

Ade Miller and Patterns of Parallel Programming [Ade Miller and Patterns of Parallel Programming]

Robert Hess — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:06:00 GMT

While technically the PDC this year starts on November 17th, the day before that we will be hosting a set of day-long intensive workshops on several specific topics.

One of these workshops will focus on the Patterns of Parallel Programming in order to help developers understand how the applications they are developing can, and should, be designed to take advantage of the multi-core processers which are now becoming common.

In this episode, Ade Miller stops by to share with us the importance of understanding parallelism and some of the issues which need to be considered and how it isn't just a "recompile" to make your applications ready.

You can get more details about this workshop on the PDC website here:

Patterns of Parallel Programming
with Richard Ciapala, Ade Miller, Herb Sutter, Stephen Toub

If you are planning on attending this workshop, feel free to post comments, thoughts, and issues to the discussion thread here so that Ade and the other speakers be sure to try to incorporate your needs in their training material.

in reply to Ade Miller and Patterns of Parallel Programming

PDC Classics - PDC 2003, Introducing Longhorn in Los Angeles [PDC Classics - PDC 2003, Introducing Longhorn in Los Angeles]

Robert Hess — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:38:00 GMT

It was at the 2003 PDC in Los Angeles that Microsoft gave developers a peek at some of the early builds of the version of Windows code-named “Longhorn”. This release represented a lot of big advancements for the operating system, and the developer audience was anxious to learn whatever they could. In this episode of PDC Classics, join Don Box and Chris Anderson as they fondly look back at this PDC which also gave them the first time to present together on stage. We’ll also see clip from the keynote where the “Red versus Blue” team shows us how important it is to attend the PDC, and Hillel Cooperman provides a brief demo of “Longhorn”.

If you’d like some more details of some of the other developer oriented technologies and products which were unveiled at PDC’03, you can check out this press release from October 27th, 2003:

Microsoft Details Next Wave of Software Innovation to Developers at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2003

in reply to PDC Classics - PDC 2003, Introducing Longhorn in Los Angeles

PDC Classics - PDC2000 in Orlando Florida [PDC Classics - PDC2000 in Orlando Florida]

Robert Hess — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:06:00 GMT

Orlando Florida, July 2000. This was when Microsoft announced the initial developer availability of the Microsoft® .NET Framework, as well as Microsoft Visual Studio.NET to allow developers to begin developing managed code applications for Windows as well as the web. In this episode of “PDC Classics”, join Robert Hess and Chris Anderson sharing some of their thoughts and insights as they look back on this ground-breaking PDC and how it set the stage for the future of development using Microsoft Platform Technologies.

For some more details about this PDC, here is a Press Release which we provided back on July 11, 2000:

“Microsoft Delivers First .NET Platform Developer Tools for Building Web Services”

in reply to PDC Classics - PDC2000 in Orlando Florida

PDC Classics - PDC 2001, Los Angeles California [PDC Classics - PDC 2001, Los Angeles California]

Robert Hess — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:06:00 GMT

Just one short year after introducing .NET Framework, we announced its release along with Visual Studio .NET. In this episode of “PDC Classics” join Robert Hess and Don Box as they reminisce about the events surrounding PDC 2001, and what it means to attendees. We’ll then take a quick look at the keynote where Rebecca Norlander, provides a quick glimpse of some new display technology being worked on, which will eventually evolve into WPF. And finally, we’ll join Bill Gates in a live feed from New York City where he is announcing the launch of Windows XP.

in reply to PDC Classics - PDC 2001, Los Angeles California

Chris Auld - PDC09 Architecting and Developing for Windows Azure [Chris Auld - PDC09 Architecting and Developing for Windows Azure]

Robert Hess — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:05:00 GMT

At the PDC, we typically have some additional "pre conference" workshops which provide very indepth and hands on access to a few select technologies. Chris Auld, Director of Strategy for Intergen, is preparing a workshop that will be diving deep into the capabilities of Windows Azure. In this episode of The Knowledge Chamber, he shares with me some of the details off what he is planning on covering and why he is so excited about Windows Azure.

You can find more details about this workshop on the PDC09 website here:

Architecting and Developing for Windows Azure

Since Chris is still working on the content, you have a chance to let him know things that you'd specifically like to see featured. If you're planning on attending his workshop, please drop a note in the comments and let him know what you'd like to see.

in reply to Chris Auld - PDC09 Architecting and Developing for Windows Azure

Gestalt - Nishant Kothary and Joshua Allen [Gestalt - Nishant Kothary and Joshua Allen]

Robert Hess — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:55:00 GMT

Not all Microsoft technologies and projects come out of large development teams with huge budgets and equally huge objectives. There are in fact a variety of very useful technologies which are fairly low-key and the result of small development efforts.

"Gestalt" is a technology that allows web developers to easily include ruby, python, and even Silverlight code directly within the html of their websites. No fancy tools are necessary (or available at the moment). It also work cross platform and cross browser. The end result is rich and powerful web applications which are exceedingly easy to develop and deploy.

In this episode I'll be talking with Nishant Kotharny and Joshua Allen to find out exactly why Gestalt is so cool, and after seeing their demo, I dare you not to want to check it out yourself.

You can download Gestalt and kick the tires here:

Gestalt - A MIX Online Lab

in reply to Gestalt - Nishant Kothary and Joshua Allen

Yavor Georgiev - Using WCF with Silverlight 3.0 [Yavor Georgiev - Using WCF with Silverlight 3.0]

Robert Hess — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:37:00 GMT

WCF (Windows Communication Foundation), provides a clean way to develop connected, service-oriented applications using the .NET Framework. Yavor Georgiev joins us in this episode to show us more about WCF enhancements in Silverlight 3.0, and how it might be able to help you out in your applications.

For some more details on WCF in Silverlight 3.0, you might want to check out this session from MIX09:

Consuming Web Services in Microsoft Silverlight 3
presented by Eugene Osovetsky

And here are a couple more links you might find useful:

in reply to Yavor Georgiev - Using WCF with Silverlight 3.0

Yochay Kiriaty - Windows 7 Developer Training Kit [Yochay Kiriaty - Windows 7 Developer Training Kit]

Robert Hess — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:13:00 GMT

Windows 7 introduces some new UI enhancements, as well as a few additional features that developers should be looking at incorporating into their applications. Yochay Kiriaty joins us to talk about he and his team have been working on creating the Windows 7 Training Kit for Developers. This special training kit not only explains what many of these new features of Windows 7 are, but also includes coding labs to help you figure out how to use them.

And here are some additional links that you may find useful as you get your applications ready for Windows 7:

in reply to Yochay Kiriaty - Windows 7 Developer Training Kit

Phil Haack - ASP.NET, MVC, and Ninjas On Fire [Phil Haack - ASP.NET, MVC, and Ninjas On Fire]

Robert Hess — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:28:00 GMT

Phil Haack had a session at MIX09 who's name caught my eye: "ASP.NET MVC Ninjas on Fire Black Belt Tips", which I suppose was part of the intent.

I asked Phil to drop by and share with us some of the details about what MVC is, how it can help you develop websites.

After watching this brief glimpse (sans ninjas) you might want to check out his full session from MIX09:

ASP.NET MVC Ninjas on Fire Black Belt Tips

And for even more details you can also check out:

in reply to Phil Haack - ASP.NET, MVC, and Ninjas On Fire

Scott Hanselman - NerdDinner.com [Scott Hanselman - NerdDinner.com]

Robert Hess — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:39:00 GMT

Scott Hanselman did an interesting session at MIX09 called "File|New -> Company", where he essentially started with a blank screen, and using Visual Studio, ASP.NET, Ajax, and Model View Controller he created an entire website called "NerdDinner.com", which is a social networking sites for... well... nerds, to allow them to coordinate with their friends what restaurants to go to and what to eat.

While we didn't have time in this episode to let Scott repeat this feat, we did get a chance to talk with him about how the various technologies he utilized worked with the tools in order to make it possible.

If you really want to see him take on this challenge, you can watch his session from MIX09:

File|New -> Company: Creating NerdDinner.com with Microsoft ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC)

And if you want more details about Scott, NerdDinner.com or Model View Controller, here are some additional links:

in reply to Scott Hanselman - NerdDinner.com

Chris Pendleton - Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control [Chris Pendleton - Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control]

Robert Hess — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Virtual Earth continues to evolve and support a very robust programming model which allows developers to create unique and interesting mapping applications. One of the most recent developments is that there is a brand new Virtual Earth Mapping control which uses Silverlight for rendering. This provides for a far richer control which gives the developer almost unlimited potential in what they can do. In this episode I've got Chris Pendleton on hand to help us understand some of the benefifts of this new control and show us some of its capabilities.

To see more about this control, you can check out the video of Chris' presentation at MIX09 here:
MIX09: Introducing the Microsoft Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control CTP

And here are some additional links you might find handy:

in reply to Chris Pendleton - Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control

Mark Wilson-Thomas: WPF and Silverlight Development in Visual Studio 2010 [Mark Wilson-Thomas: WPF and Silverlight Development in Visual Studio 2010]

Robert Hess — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:07:00 GMT

Recently, Mark Wilson-Thomas did some sessions at MIX09 in which he provided details and demos of how Visual Studio 2010 will provide better support for rich development of WPF and Silverlight applications. I asked him to stop by and provide us with some of those details, and look under the hood of the next version of Visual Studio. We also got him to show us a special sneak preview of how Visual Studio 2010 will allow you to create drag/drop DataGrid's for WPF and Silverlight as well.

For more details, you can check out his MIX09 session, which are available online here:

And if you happen to be going to TechEd, be sure to check out his sessions there:

May 11 @ 4:30pm:
[WUX304] Building Rich Business Clients in WPF: New Tools and Controls for Windows Presentation Foundation
May 13 @ 10:15am:
[WUX01-INT] Building Rich Business Clients in WPF: Feedback Session

in reply to Mark Wilson-Thomas: WPF and Silverlight Development in Visual Studio 2010

Tim Aidlin - Glimmer, a JQuery Interactive Design Tool [Tim Aidlin - Glimmer, a JQuery Interactive Design Tool]

Robert Hess — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:01:00 GMT

We welcome back Tim Aidlin to the show so he can share with us some details and information on a tool he and Karsten Januszewski have been working on. It provides an interactive way for designers (and developers) to add amazing animations and effects to their web pages.

Glimmer has just been released, and is available here:
http://www.VisitMix.com/lab/glimmer.

in reply to Tim Aidlin - Glimmer, a JQuery Interactive Design Tool

Keiji Kanazawa - Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit [Keiji Kanazawa - Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit]

Robert Hess — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:15:00 GMT

Social Networking remains one of the key features that helps to not only drive a sense of "community" amongst web users, but also helps to drive visits to sites. In this episode, I meet with Keiji Kanazawa - Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger - to discuss the new Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit. It allows you to very easily add very flexible support for integrating social networking into your site, while at the same time leveraging the huge install base of Windows Live Messenger users.

If you want more details about the Web Toolkit, you can check out Keiji's MIX09 Session:

<3 the New Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit for Social Websites

And you might also want to check out the MIX09 Sessions of some of the other folks on his team:

Five Killer Scenarios for the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit
with: Chris Parker

A Shot of Windows Live Messenger and a Pint of Microsoft Silverlight
with: Jordan Snyder

And you can access the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit Here:

http://messenger.mslivelabs.com/

in reply to Keiji Kanazawa - Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit

Mike Swanson - XAML Plugin for Adobe Illustrator [Mike Swanson - XAML Plugin for Adobe Illustrator]

Robert Hess — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:24:00 GMT

Both of us freshly back from MIX09, Mike Swanson stops in to show us a plug in that he wrote which allows users of Adobe Illustrator to export their designs as XAML for either WPF or Silverlight.

Working Smarter means taking advantage of both the tools and the training that you already know. By using a plugin such as what Mike is illustrating here, it allows Adobe Illustrator users to continue to use their favorite tool while also moving into the world of XAML.

You can download the plug in from Mike's site here:
http://www.mikeswanson.com/xamlexport/

in reply to Mike Swanson - XAML Plugin for Adobe Illustrator