brianjo (MP4) - Channel 9

Executive Caddie on Windows Phone 7

Brian Johnson — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:22:03 GMT

We met James Vertisan, the CEO of Executive Caddie, at a Windows Phone 7 Firestarter event last Fall. James was extremely impressed by the features and potential of Windows Phone 7, and set off on moving his successful iPhone application to the new platform. Four months later, Executive Caddie has a number of products in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, including Executive Caddie, Golf Rangefinder, Golf GPS, Golf Shot Tracker, and others.

I talked to James at his office in Tampa, Florida about bringing Executive Caddie to Windows Phone 7 and about his companies use of Microsoft technologies in building out a set of products and services that can help golfers get the most they can out of the game.

Resources for this post:

WPF Brings the Bible to Life

Brian Johnson — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:42:15 GMT

Immersion Digital is a BizSpark company based in Orlando, Florida that's bringing the Bible to life through WPF in their Glo Bible software. In this interview, I talked to Nelson Saba, CEO and Founder of Immersion Digital, about Glo and how they came to choose WPF to build the product.

Links:

Localytics on Windows Phone 7

Brian Johnson — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:41:47 GMT

BizSpark startup Localytics has made their real-time analytics platform available for Windows Phone 7. Localytics helps mobile application developers gain deep insights about user behavior to make smarter business decisions. This is a great example of a BizSpark company really meeting the needs of developers world-wide. And just in time for Windows Phone 7’s launch.

Abby Fichtner, Microsoft Evangelist for Startups, went to Dogpatch Labs Boston to meet with Localytics’ founders to talk about what Localytics does and to learn how developers can integrate Localytics into their own Windows Phone 7 applications.

Learn more in Localytics’ announcement.

Windows Phone 7 at Jibemix.com

Brian Johnson — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:55:00 GMT

BizSpark and 3D worlds startup Reaction Grid has been working with Microsoft on a unique customer experience for developers interested in learning more about developing for Windows Phone 7. They've built a virtual world where visitors can explore upcoming phone features, get access to the tools, and meet others who are doing the same thing. It all launches today at http://jibemix.com.

This weekend, I talked to Kyle Gomboy of Reaction Grid about the new site and about how developers can use 3D worlds to learn a little more about Windows Phone 7.

Case Study: DesignOurWebSite.Com

Brian Johnson — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:51:00 GMT

Great WebsiteSpark story I pulled from the Microsoft Evidence portal.

Alan Resnick, Owner of DesignOurWebSite.Com, a company that caters to individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations across North America, relied on a variety of open source software to develop Web sites for clients. Because of the Microsoft WebsiteSpark program—which offers visibility, support, and software to professional Web designers—Resnick began using Microsoft Expression Web to create standards-based Web sites more quickly and easily in a designer-friendly environment, and he hasn’t looked back. DesignOurWebSite.Com has taken full advantage of WebsiteSpark, including making connections through the program’s marketing and business network. For example, Resnick found a content management system offered by WebsiteSpark Network Partner ContentSeed that helps customers of DesignOurWebSite.Com update their own Web sites. This has added a welcome revenue stream.

Boston Startup Scene: Marsh Sutherland of SocialGrow

Brian Johnson — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:03:00 GMT

Boston Startup Scene is a new video series showcasing the amazing BizSpark startups of Boston, learning who they are, what they’re up to, and how Microsoft technology is helping them deliver the next generation of software.

Abby Fichtner, our new Developer Evangelist for Startups, kicks it off with Marsh Sutherland, President & Co-Founder of SocialGrow. SocialGrow helps you connect with people across all of your social networks from just a few clicks. They’ve been named Microsoft Startup of the Day, Mass HighTech Startup to Watch, and were one of 5 startups chosen internationally to participate in the Microsoft Windows 7 Incubation Week.

Abby spoke with Marsh about his company, how they got the idea for SocialGrow, what technology it’s running on, and how the BizSpark program has been for them. It wraps up with some advice from Marsh to others looking to start their own startups.

If you’re in the Boston area, you can meet Marsh and other awesome BizSpark startups at our monthly BizSpark meetups. We hope to see you there!

Links:

BizSpark Startup Linxter Launches Azure Based MonitorGrid

Brian Johnson — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:53:00 GMT

BizSpark Startup Linxter is launching a new product called MonitorGrid. It's a server health service that was conceived and developed as part of one of our BizSpark Incubation Weeks last year.

I was able to talk to Linxter CEO Jason Milgram today about MonitorGrid and about the future of the project.

http://monitorgrid.com
http://linxter.com

(Please excuse the audio issues on my side during this interview. Jason sounds very clear throughout.)

Perez Hilton, "The Queen of All Media", Launches IE8 Web Slice

Brian Johnson — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:48:00 GMT

Microsoft's Sean Seibel works with the top agencies in the world, helping them to take advantage of Microsoft technologies in the work they do. This is an interview with Ed Starr from BMF Media and Frances Calandra from Vectorform, sharing insights on partnering with Microsoft in building IE8 Add-ons. BMF Media is Perez Hilton's Media agency and Vectorform designed and developed the Perez Hilton Web Slice.

Cubano and Miami native Perez Hilton (www.perezhilton.com), the "Queen of all Media", is the internet's most notorious gossip columnist. Perez was named the #1 Web Celeb for 2007 by Forbes Magazine and has recently been tapped as one of the 15 most influential Hispanics in the US by People in Espanol.

Partnering with Perez's Media Agency, BMF MEdia(www.bmfmedia.com), Microsoft, and Agency Partner, Vectorform (www.vectorform.com) have delivered an IE8 Web Slice for Perez Hilton.

The IE8 Web Slice can be downloaded at:

http://www.ieaddons.com/en/details/bloggings/Perez_Hilton_Celebrity_Gossip/

Startup Interview with Silver Arcade

Brian Johnson — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:42:00 GMT

At the recent Mix10 in Las Vegas, I was able to sit down with Christopher Bennage of Silver Arcade to talk to him about Silverlight games, XNA, Windows Phone, and about the future of their gaming platform. You can visit Silver Arcade, play some games, and even publish your own Silverlight games at http://silverarcade.com.

Sean Seibel talks to R/GA Chief Scientist Greg Glass about IE8

Brian Johnson — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:39:00 GMT

Digital Agency of the Decade, R/GA (www.rga.com), has launched multiple IE8 Web Slices both externally and internally. Externally R/GA uses an IE8 Web Slice to allow users to have toolbar access to their breaking news, while internally R/GA uses Web Slices for business intelligence.

In this video, Sean Seibel, East Region User Experience Evangelist interviews R/GA's Chief Scientist, Greg Glass. Greg shares R/GA's use of IE8 Web Slices, insights on delivering innovation to clients, and his excitement for the release of Windows Phone 7.

The R/GA headline news Web Slice can be installed at:
www.rga.com

For more information about developing with IE8, you can go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie.

Adding Members to your WebsiteSpark Account

Brian Johnson — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:41:00 GMT

Quick video on how to add members to your WebsiteSpark account. This way your team members can all have their own login to download the software from MSDN. Each company in WebsiteSpark can have up to three members.

For more information about WebsiteSpark or to sign-up, just go to http://microsoft.com/websitespark.

MPN East Podcast - VS Launch, @Home with Azure, and more!

Brian Johnson — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:35:00 GMT

The MPN East Podcast highlights startup and partner activities in Microsoft's US East Region. In this first episode, we talk about the Visual Studio 2010 launch events, we meet our new Developer Evangelist for Startups, we talk about a new educational program for Azure called @Home with Azure, and we go over a couple of our blog entries from the week.

Show Links:

The Hacker Chick Blog
Visual Studio 2010 Launch Events
MSDN
@Home with Azure
MPN East Blog

This is our first podcast and we decided that rather than just doing this with audio, we would record our Microsoft Communicator Video as well. The show was recorded using Microsoft Expression 3 Encoder Screen Capture. We plan to tighten up the show going forward, but for now, this was our proof of concept. If you have any suggestions or comments about the show, please leave a note.

The Business Opportunity Behind Azure

Brian Johnson — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:52:00 GMT

We’ve all heard about the industry shift to the Cloud, but are you jumpstarting your Windows Azure business to be a part of it?

Wayne Beekman, co-founder of Information Concepts, made the decision early on that Cloud Computing was going to play an important role in the future of his company. Today he is a recognized thought leader and subject matter expert and has been featured in several technical publications for his work in cloud computing. In this session Wayne takes the opportunity to build on part 1 of our 2-part series, offering his perspective on cloud computing and Azure and his thoughts on how to engage in strategic discussions with your customers to uncover new opportunities to help grow your business.

Building an Azure Business Practice

Brian Johnson — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:17:00 GMT

Part one of a two part series on building your business on Azure.

Microsoft Partners, Have You Pondered the Business Opportunity behind Azure?

We’ve all heard about the industry shift to the Cloud, but are you jumpstarting your Windows Azure business to be a part of it?

Chris Rolon, an Architectural Consultant with Neudesic has been working with Azure since it was first announced at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference in 2008. As a senior thought leader and recognized subject matter expert in this area, Chris spearheaded early adoption at his company as well as having lead and completed several customer engagements. In this session Chris provides a soups-to-nuts overview of the platform, discusses the potential upside market opportunity for partners and presents his perspective on how to get-started identifying and developing Azure opportunities.

Helping Customers Move Forward with Azure – One Partner’s Perspective

Brian Johnson — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:24:00 GMT

With a couple of projects now under his belt, David Makogon, Senior Consultant at RDA and a Microsoft Solutions Advocate and Virtual Technical Specialist for Azure has the experience needed to help customers navigate the unchartered waters of cloud computing. In an interview with John McClelland, Partner Evangelist at Microsoft, David outlines the top 3 questions he hears from customers pondering a move to Microsoft’s Azure Services Platform. David shares his perspective regarding costs, security and readiness; building trust and mitigating risk in the cloud; and the benefits, pre- and post-deployment of a cloud solution.

Interview with Hedgehog Development - Azure, the Microsoft Partner Network, and BizSpark

Brian Johnson — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:26:00 GMT

Hedgehog Development is a custom web and application development shop that provides consulting and development services for a range of different industries. They're also a former Microsoft Partner of the Year (2008) and a BizSpark Network Partner.

In this interview Microsoft Evangelists John McClelland and Brian Johnson talked to Hedgehog about the Microsoft Partner Program, developing a Facebook application with Azure, and about working with BizSpark startups.

A TELLUS Perspective on Cloud Computing

Brian Johnson — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:43:00 GMT

Dr. Petri Salonen, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of TELLUS International spends over 200 days a year traveling the world to meet with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to help them align their business with the Microsoft ISV ecosystem. When not traveling, Dr. Salonen and the TELLUS staff track and analyze the technology marketplace from the client perspective. In this interview, Dr. Salonen talks to Microsoft Partner Evangelist John McClelland about his perspective on cloud computing and he also shares advice to ISVs on getting ready for Azure.

Links:
TELLUS International
MPN East Blog

Neudesic Migrates Quark Promote to Windows Azure

Brian Johnson — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:30:00 GMT

In this interview, Chris Rolon, Architect Evangelist and Employee #1 at Neudesic, talks with Microsoft Partner Evangelist John McClelland, about his latest passion, Microsoft’s Azure offering for cloud computing. Chris discusses his experience migrating Quark Promote to the Azure Services Platform.

Chris describes how Azure storage solved 2 major design limitations, universal access to Quark Promote custom templates and scalability. Chris also talks about Neudesic's decision to become an early adopter of Azure and his recommendations for maximizing partner relationships with Microsoft.

Partner Interview: SummitCloud

Brian Johnson — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:14:00 GMT

SummitCloud is a BizSpark startup that produces analysis and compliance software used by suppliers and retailers. Microsoft Partner Evangelist John McClelland and I sat down with SummitCloud CEO David Leibowitz to talk about SummitCloud, BizSpark, and the Microsoft Partner Network.

This is an audio interview and I've just added a few slides to it so that it would be easier to view online.

You can find out more about SummitCloud by visiting their web site at http://summitcloud.com.

You can find out more about the community edition of SQL Scrubs here.

Interview: BizSpark Startup Linxter

Brian Johnson — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:54:00 GMT

Linxter is a BizSpark startup that's changing the way that developers think about traditional middleware. Last week I caught up with Linxter CEO Jason Milgram, to talk about the company, messaging, and the BizSpark program.

Here's the company description from the Linxter web site:

Linxter is an information broker that enables and governs message-based data exchange between any .NET applications or services that can connect to the Internet. Using your existing .NET skills and Linxter, you can quickly and easily connect distributed apps and integrate distributed systems.

Windows Azure and Partner Opportunities

Brian Johnson — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:56:00 GMT

What are the Azure opportunities for Microsoft partners? Mike Werner provides a high level overview of Windows Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing services. Topics covered include basic platform features and functionality, overall benefits, and the common scenarios for using Windows Azure. We will also discuss how the Azure Services Platform applies to the partner business by creating new services-based opportunities across the Microsoft partner and customer ecosystem.

Interview: BizSpark Startup Xobni

Brian Johnson — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:49:00 GMT

Xobni is an Outlook plug-in that lets users easily connect to their contacts through the various social networks. The program comes in two versions, one free and now a new pay version that ads enhanced features. I recently talked to Matt Brezina, one of the Xobni founders, about the product, about social networking, and about how being a BizSpark startup has helped Xobni build their product and their company.

Links:
Xobni
BizSpark
Microsoft Startup Zone

Coworking for Startups

Brian Johnson — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:42:00 GMT

One of the issues that new startups often face is the where to work question. Do we build in the garage/basement, or do we go after some office space? One new alternative that's catching momentum nationwide is coworking. Coworking allows community members to share the costs of an office space that offers meeting rooms, connectivity, printers, and other amenities.

I talked to Chris Shultz, the founder of Launch Pad in New Orleans, about the coworking movement, Microsoft BizSpark, and about their new space in The Big Easy.

Links:

Launch Pad - New Orleans
Coworking on Wikipedia
BizSpark Program
Microsoft Startup Zone

Azure Service Platform - Lightning Round at Cloud Camp DC

Brian Johnson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:21:00 GMT

Scott Zimmerman, Solutions Architect at Microsoft, presents a concise, 5-minute summary of Microsoft's Azure Service Platform during the Lightning Round at Cloud Camp DC Commercial in Reston, VA on June 17, 2009. For more information on Cloud Camp and a link to Scott’s presentation, visit http://blogs.msdn.com/usdevpartners.

Sayed Hashimi on MS Build

Brian Johnson — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:35:00 GMT

This weekend I visited the Tampa Code Camp, where I was able to talk to Sayed Hashimi. Sayed is the co-author of the upcoming MS Press book title, Inside the Microsoft Build Engine.

In this short talk, Sayed describes some of the features of MS Build and shows how MS Build can be used to deploy an app as part of the build process.

Inside the Microsoft Build Engine is scheduled to be released in January.