November 2010
3 posts
Windows Phone 7 Development for Absolute Beginners
I just noticed this new C9 series yesterday and added it to my list of WP7 resources but think it’s worth a separate callout here. If you’re completely new to development (unlikely if you’re reading this) or you know someone who is but fancies getting started by writing an application for Windows Phone 7, then Windows Phone 7 Development for Absolute Beginners should fit the bill perfectly. ...
Linked.NET Virtual Meeting with ScottGu
This Friday (tomorrow!) at 10am PST (so that’s 6pm if you’re in the UK), LIDNUG (Linked.NET User Group) are holding their next virtual meeting with Scott Guthrie. In fact this is their 7th “Talking Shop” meeting with Scott and it’s understandably very popular. The event is held via Live Meeting so no need to travel anywhere and you get the opportunity to pose your burning questions to a man...
Cloud Evening - An Invitation
UKAzureNet is relaunching under the new name of “Cloud Evening”. The first event is on Thursday 11th November at Skills Matter in London. The agenda looks like this: 6:00pm-6:30pm: Registration 6:30pm-7:30pm: Real world experience of a startup using Azure (by @RossDScott) We’ve seen the demos, written the “Hello World” but is it really a good idea? This session will take...
October 2010
1 post
Hurrah - PDC UK Event Announced in Readingmond
Ever wanted to share in the joy of attending PDC but just couldn’t bear to be away from Twitter for the duration of the flight? Ever been curious what developer evangelists such as MikeT and myself get up to of an evening? Ever wanted the chance of a front-row seat for the Gu in 16:9 format? Ever just wanted to find somewhere warm and welcoming to go on a Thursday night? Your...
September 2010
2 posts
Windows Phone 7 - DDD Community Event, 7th October...
I’ll be attending the DDD Community event on 7th October up in sunny Manchester (at least MikeT’s promised it’s always sunny up there). Here’s the skinny: This event is all about Windows Phone 7. One day of demo-rich presentations where you can learn about developing Silverlight and XNA apps for Windows Phone. Come along and get ready to share in the excitement of the...
TechDays UK Windows Azure Online Conference - 8th...
The TechDays team here at Microsoft UK will be running an online Windows Azure conference on 8th October. You can find out all the details in Steve’s blog post but here’s the short-version skinny: Date / Time: 8th October 0930hrs Duration: 6 hours Format: 3 tracks - high-level / medium / deep Subjects: Windows Azure, SQL Azure, App Fabric, Case Studies, Guidance, Azure Tables...
August 2010
3 posts
Windows Phone Developer Tools Final - 16th...
A new post by Brandon Watson on the Windows Phone Developer Blog announces that the final version of the Windows Phone Developer Tools will be available for download from 16th September. The final build will include the Panorama, Pivot and Bing Maps controls that everyone’s been looking forward to. Marketplace ingestion (the process for publishing your application for Marketplace)...
Browser Upgrade Recommended
I accidentally hit the “compatibility view” button in IE8 while running HootSuite and was pleasantly surprised with the result - a gentle encouragement to upgrade, a clear set of options (with links) or the option to just carry on in the knowledge that the site won’t be as good as it could be. And with the HootSuite Dashboard visible in the background, it all feels like...
Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcut Posters
From ScottGu’s blog post. Given my inability to remember anything at all, this has to be the most useful thing I’ve come across this year. Available for printing in standard paper sizes (yes, not just Letter but A4 too) and in VB, C++, C#, F#. I’ll have one of each I think one for each wall
Posted via email from mikeormond’s posterous | Comment »
July 2010
7 posts
Windows Phone 7 Training Kit Updated
The download version of the Windows Phone 7 Training Kit has been updated for the recent Beta release of the WIndows Phone Developer Tools. I think the online version may still reflect the April Refresh version. Expect it to be updated shortly. Meantime, you can download the updated version here or go to the training kit home page and click the “Download Training Kit” link in the top...
Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta Available
Today at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, the Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta release was announced and made available for download. Get the Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta The release notes are available here. A couple of things to point out: Expression Blend for Windows Phone is now part of the install It’s now possible to unlock a device (if you’re...
Microsoft PDC10 Announced
In case you haven’t heard, today we announced PDC10. This year it’s in October (28-29) and is being held on Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington. There are a couple of unique things about this year’s PDC. Firstly, as it’s on campus, it’s possible to get access to facilities and labs etc that aren’t available anywhere else and it makes it possible for many...
MSDN Flash Poll #3 - If I knew then...
Flash Poll #3 is on a slightly more serious note; reflection and wisdom. If you were chatting to a young person considering a career in software development, what you say? Has it turned out to be all you expected? Did you pick this career or stumble upon it? How will it look in 10 years? Will it even exist in its current form? Let me know your thoughts and take a second to place a check against...
Masses of new PowerPoint templates just published
There’s a total of 165 in the set, 59 published so far. They’re designed for PowerPoint 2010 but will also work with PowerPoint 2007. Here are the relevant links:· Find out more· View and download the templates· More details on the templates and their features Posted via email from mikeormond’s posterous | Comment »
NxtGenUG Fest10 - Friday July 16th in Bournemouth
NxtGenUG are holding their annual “Fest” in sunny Bournemouth this year. On July 16th as it happens. From 9-6. [I once had a hotel room in Bournemouth with its own sauna but that’s not important right now. It wasn’t a flashy room. I was in the civil service at the time. We didn’t do flashy (unlike nowadays I suspect). It just had a sauna in it for some reason.] Here’s the current agenda to give...
Would you like to write for the UK MSDN Flash?
As technical editor of the MSDN Flash, I’m always on the lookout for great feature articles. If you have something in mind, or something you’ve already written related to development on the Microsoft platform, I’d love to hear from you. It could be about a specific product, feature, framework, pattern, methodology or best practice. Anything in fact that comes under the loose banner of “Microsoft...
June 2010
8 posts
IIS Express Announced
ScottGu has blogged about a new version of IIS, IIS Express that’s intended to deliver a mix of the ease of use of the ASP.NET Development Server and full-blown IIS. It’s lightweight, integrates nicely with VS, doesn’t require elevation, enables a full feature set and can be quickly launched to run a site from a folder on your machine. All in all it sounds just splendid. Expect to see a beta...
IE8 Feature Experience
Colleagues Mark, Martin and Steve have pulled together a fantastic document that outlines some of the of mechanisms for extending Internet Explorer 8 and showcases work they’ve done with a number of UK customers (eg NHS search provider, Sky News web slice, Play.com accelerator - these are just a few examples). The document includes a description of the features as well as an architecture...
BizSparkCamp: Windows Phone 7
On Tuesday I joined about a hundred other people at the BizSparkCamp WP7 event at Microsoft’s offices in Cardinal Place. I captured a few photos of the day and thought it might be fun to share them here. Everyone there shared a common interest in building great mobile applications on the Windows Phone 7 platform. At the end of the day was a pitch contest - Sara has a lot more detail...
IE9 Platform Preview 3 Now Available
Yesterday we released the latest preview of IE9 (Preview 3) with enhancements including HTML <audio>, <video> and <canvas> tags, (even more) improved JavaScript performance and increased standards support including ES5 and an improved Acid 3 score. We also submitted additional tests to the working groups at the W3C and published some new developer samples on the Test Drive site....
Readying myself for Windows Phone 7 "Hello,...
In wondering where to start talking about Windows Phone 7 (#wp7) development I thought maybe it’d be best if I started right at the very beginning. A very logical place to start. Whether I can go on till I get to the end ala The King’s advice in Alice in Wonderland remains to be seen. I’ve just paved a machine and want to get it set up for Windows Phone development using the emulator. Here’s what...
Having trouble getting the Windows Phone 7 dev...
If you’re trying to get to the http://developer.windowsphone.com/ site to download the developer tools (or for any other reason for that matter) but you’re seeing an error message, try this URL instead: http://developer.windowsphone.com/windows-phone-7/. That should tide you over until the homepage issue is resolved. The current public version of the Windows Phone 7 developer tools is still the...
TechEd Europe 2010
This year TechEd Europe is returning to Berlin from 8th to 12th November. As usual, if you register early you can make a significant saving on your registration fee (€1395 before 5th July, €1895 after that date). There’s a total of over 370 technical sessions split over 17 tracks: Application Server & Infrastructure, Architecture, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing & Online Services,...
Radio silence for a bit
I’m heading off on holiday for a week so things’ll be quiet round here and on Twitter for a while. Back in a jiffy… Posted via email from mikeormond’s posterous | Comment »
May 2010
3 posts
jQuery Primer
Note: Cross posted from Mike Ormond’s Blog.
Permalink
I�ve eventually managed to get my jQuery Primer deployed � apologies for the delay. It�s a good place to browse if you�re starting out learning jQuery and you want an interactive overview. You can find it at http://ping.fm/YOA9V I�ll expand on the last page (specifics about ASP.NET) in a separate post. Just use the Next / Previous...
TechDays Presentations on ASP.NET and jQuery
Note: Cross posted from Mike Ormond’s Blog.
Permalink
It�s taken me a while to get around to this � apologies for that � but below are my PowerPoint decks from UK TechDays. I�ll also publish the app I used to demo jQuery (most of my jQuery session was based on the app so the PowerPoint below is quite short). I should get that done in the next hour or so� Microsoft UK TechDays - ASP.NET...
Moving from Visual Studio 2010 RC to RTM
Note: Cross posted from Mike Ormond’s Blog.
Permalink
I�ve just been doing a bit of housekeeping before moving to VS2010 RTM, in particular removing VS2010 RC and the Phone tools. I wanted to get things as clean as possible before installing RTM. It surprised me a little was that the RTM readme didn�t tell me how to remove the RC, you need get hold of the RC readme. So just in case you�re...
March 2010
6 posts
What if I can�t upgrade to IE8?
Having spelled out the virtues of IE8 and how I like to configure it, the question remains, what if IE8 isn�t an option. Do not despair! If for some reason you�re not yet able to move off IE6 or IE7 (or, perish the thought, some *other* browser) there is still hope. And no, in case you�re wondering, �I find change unsettling� is not a reason to stick with any old browser version� Some of the...
Make IE8 the best dev browser
As a developer you spend a fair amount of time in a browser. If you�re a web developer your probably spend more time than is healthy in one. I use IE8 as my primary browser for reasons I�ve covered before. In this post I want to talk about optimising your browser, and specifically IE8 for development tasks.
Lose some extra pounds
First thing I like to do (and this applies to the OS as well as the...
Make IE8 the best dev browser
As a developer you spend a fair amount of time in a browser. If you�re a web developer your probably spend more time than is healthy in one. I use IE8 as my primary browser for reasons I�ve covered before. In this post I want to talk about optimising your browser, and specifically IE8 for development tasks.
Lose some extra pounds
First thing I like to do (and this applies to the OS as well as the...
Is IE8 your default web browser?
If not, why not? I�ve heard them all (actually, I probably haven�t but it feels like I have :)). For the record here�s where I stand:
IE8 � Installed on my laptop. Default browser. Used 99% of the time.
Firefox 3.6 � Installed on my laptop. Used mainly for testing.
Safari � Never (knowingly) installed it on any device.
Opera � Never installed on my laptop. Installed on my Samsung Omnia...
I didn�t think I was that sort of person
The sort that Viral describes over here as �the type of person who likes to stick random devices in your USB port�. I consider myself pretty cautious. But I do happen to have one of those Energizer chargers. When I read there as a backdoor vulnerability in their software I didn�t think too much about it as I�ve rebuilt my laptop at least twice since I installed their application (it was,...
ORMs � A Developer�s Dream, A DBA�s Nightmare?
Note: Cross posted from Mike Ormond’s Blog.
Permalink
I caught up with Simon Sabin (@simon_sabin), organiser of the SQL Bits conference, at DDD8 (a community organised developer event held at the Microsoft Campus in Reading) to ask him about Object Relational Mapping (ORMs) from both a developer and a DBA�s perspective. Are developers to be trusted with a loaded gun? Or...
February 2010
4 posts
The Jeff Stelling Accelerator
Yes folks, it�s the big one; the one you�ve been waiting for. After months of hard work, I�m very pleased to announce the Jeff Stelling IE8 Accelerator! If you�ve ever wished you had you very own Jeff to act as guide and counsel, this one�s for you. Experience the soothing feeling that comes from knowing Jeff is just one click away at: http://ping.fm/TrSx9 Expect a lengthy series of future...
UK Tech Days � Registration Open!
Note: Cross posted from Mike Ormond’s Blog.
Permalink
A full week of activities for both Developers and ITPros from 12-16th April. From the dev perspective, days are themed as: VS2010 Launch VS2010 and .NET 4 The Essential MIX Windows 7 Applications Windows Phone All the Microsoft events take place in London at either the Vue Cinema Fulham Broadway or the Vue Cinema...
Introducing .NET 4.0 (the book that is) →
Last chance for your MIX10 discount →
January 2010
10 posts
A Silverlight, Deep Zoom and Smooth Streaming...
Dean Gifford has a great post about a new Silverlight ad on MSN UK for Mass Effect 2. The ad uses Smooth Streaming (the video looks gorgeous even over my terrible ADSL connection) and Deep Zoom to create a really immersive experience. A great ad in itself for Silverlight’s capabilities. Posted via email from mikeormond’s posterous | Comment »
Catching up on some reading →
Supersonic freefall - are they mad?
Quite possibly, yes. http://redbullstratos.com/. Apparently over 600mph has already been achieved (in 1960!). (The event will be broadcast live using Microsoft Silverlight) Posted via email from mikeormond’s posterous | Comment »
Good products are one in a million
Liked this from Andy Budd on why good products are one in a million. My ambition is to get beyond Point 3… Posted via email from mikeormond’s posterous | Comment »
PHP on Windows Training Kit
I hadn’t spotted this before (and it’s been there a while). There’s PHP on Windows training kit download on ms.com/downloads that has some great content including migrating PHP apps to IIS, troubleshooting and also taking advantage of the unique media capabilities in IIS from PHP. There’s SQL Server content on there too; Reporting Services and Geo-Spatial as well as the essential getting...
Visual Studio 2010 Launch is 12th April...
…which just happens to be my birthday. What a lovely present MS! On the downside, you’ll probably want me to work that day… L VS2010 Home Page VS2010 Download Page Posted via email from mikeormond’s posterous | Comment »
Migrating from Silverlight Streaming to Windows...
We announced some time ago that the Silverlight Streaming service was to be discontinued and an alternative Windows Azure-based service would be available. David Sayed has created a series of posts that detail how to setup and publish video content to Windows Azure as well as how to retrieve existing content from the Silverlight Streaming service. Provisioning Windows Azure Setting up...
BMW's hastens rollout of Windows 7
Interesting piece about the accelerated rollout of Win7 at BMW as a result of the positive reception from users. http://www.cio.com/article/512814/BMW_Calls_Windows_7_Rollout_Smooth_Driving_So_Far Posted via email from mikeormond’s posterous | Comment »
[Video] Spark View Engine Part 3 →
Here’s the final part of the video series covering my Spark view engine posts. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. This one covers a slightly more complex view page using some strongly-typed…
Xbox 360 Gets Most Use
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10426467-17.html Very interesting article. At home we have both a 360 and a Wii (well. I have a 360, my wife has a Wii). The difference in the games is astonishing. I unwrapped Forza 3 last night and played it for the first time. A game like that (or Modern Warfare or FIFA10 – my other Christmas presents) is just inconceivable on the Wii. In most Wii games I’ve...
December 2009
31 posts
[Video] Spark View Engine Park 2 →
Here’s part 2 of the short video series covering the Spark view engine posts. Part 1 is here. Part 3 will have to wait ‘til the new year I’m afraid as I’m *officially* on holiday doing…
[Video] Spark View Engine Part 1 →
I decided to make a short video series covering the Spark view engine posts I did here, here and here. This first part is about installing and configuring Spark in an ASP.NET MVC project…
Extending ASP.NET MVC - Replacing the View Engine... →
One of the many benefits of ASP.NET MVC is its extensibility. It’s possible to replace / add functionality for most of the major components. In this video we’ll take a look at replacing the…