Latest News from .NET Developer's Journal

Flexing Your .NET 3.5 Skillset

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EDT

With the arrival of .NET 3.5, WPF and the RTM of Silverlight 2, .NET developers have more choices than ever for designing, developing and deploying compelling applications with rich user interfaces. However, there are other mainstream alternatives that don’t fall into the .NET camp. When it comes to the RIA world, technologies such as Adobe Flex and Flash may seem more foreign to some of us then driving on the left side of the road would be to an American.

Zoho Piggybacks on SharePoint

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:15:00 EDT

Google’s coming at Microsoft through Exchange; now Zoho’s coming at it through SharePoint. It’s rigged it so SharePoint users can use its online office suite, create and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations, then save the results directly to SharePoint in Microsoft Office-supported formats.

Hey, Mister, Wanna Remade Windows Cheap?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:18:00 EDT

Microsoft has priced Windows 7. At retail the Home Premium version will list for $200, Professional $300, and Ultimate $320. That’s the full kit and Windows rarely sells for list. The upgrade prices are supposed to run $120 for Home Premium, $200 for Professional, and $220 for Ultimate.

Likewise Software Named Among Top Finalists

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EDT

That makes six awards over the past two years, on the heels of the company’s best financial quarter in its history.

The Case For 3rd Party Software

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:15:00 EDT

If I had to classify the questions I get on a routine basis, among the first in the list would be “Why should I buy software for reason X when Microsoft has built it in free. X could be anything from firewall software for desktops through availability tools for SQL Server. It’s absolutely true that Microsoft builds a ton of great tools into their products these days, but that doesn’t mean you should rule out the need for 3rd-party solutions, and here’s why.

Microsoft Announces 2009 Partner of the Year Awards Finalists and Winners

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:01:00 EDT

Microsoft Corp. has announced the winners and finalists of its 2009 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards. The annual awards honor Microsoft Registered, Certified and Gold Certified partners for delivering exemplary solutions for their customers during the past year. Award winners and finalists were chosen from nominations from around the world.

Airvana, ip.access and Ubiquisys Align in Support of Femto Forum Femtocell Applications Efforts

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:40:00 EDT

Leading Femtocell Vendors Come Together to Advance Common Approach to Femtozone Applications. Femtocells sit at the intersection of multiple networks including mobile, Internet, home and office - all of which are fundamental to people’s lives. The intelligence within the femtocell, for example presence and digital content visibility, can be used by application logic residing in any of these networks. The SIG’s work will help the industry establish a framework that encompasses all of these options and establish a common approach.

Microsoft Bleeding from the YouTube Wars

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:45:00 EDT

According to CNET, the new economical Microsoft is scaling back its YouTube-competitive Soapbox web video service, meaning to limit content to categories covered by its online properties like finance and entertainment. It could just as easily give the venture up as a complete loss and shut it down. Microsoft VP Erik Jorgensen indicated that continuing with the YouTube approach is too costly in this economy.

Why Novell Kisses Microsoft’s Ring Every So Often

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:00:00 EDT

Microsoft and Novell decided to revisit their eyebrow-raising pact the other day, the one that was signed in November of 2006 to the outrage of the FOSS mob, and let it be known – na-na-na-na-na – that it produced upwards of 100 new customers in the past six months, double the rate of the first two years of their relationship.

Microsoft’s Free Anti-Virus Close

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:45:00 EDT

The next sound of wounded market share you hear will be coming from the direction of McAfee and Symantec. Microsoft says it’s testing a free PC anti-virus/spyware program dubbed Morro internally. A beta should be available soon on its web site. The company threatened to do this back in November when it announced that it would kill off the failed Live OneCare.

Book Review: Murach’s SQL Server 2008 for Developers

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Murach’s SQL Server 2008 for Developers is an upgrade from an earlier version that was written for SQL Server 2005. It employs the Murach approach of dual pages that repeat and enhance the concepts being presented on each page. As the authors have done with previous releases of SQL Server, this book serves as a good review and as an introduction to the new features added to SQL Server 2008.

Inmagic Launches Presto 3.1 with Microsoft SharePoint Compatibility

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:30:00 EDT

Inmagic has introduced Inmagic Presto 3.1, the latest version of the company’s Social Knowledge Management platform with new Microsoft SharePoint interoperability capabilities. The compatibility allows users to augment and leverage existing infrastructure and technology investments—extracting additional value from systems already in place, without compromising access to content or straining time, budget, or human resources. Other new benefits in Presto 3.1 include improved collaboration, information discovery, and content management functionalities driven by customer and market demand.

Bing Creates Mini-Surge

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:30:00 EDT

The initial response to Bing, Microsoft’s new 10-day-old search engine, is favorable. According to comScore, Microsoft’s share of U.S. searches was up two points from 9.1% to 11.1% after a week and Microsoft’s penetration of daily searchers went from 13.8% to 15.5%. Now the trick is to keep it up. It could be just curiosity piqued by Microsoft’s huge ad budget. Google however was supposed to do an executive review of Bing Wednesday. Google CEO Eric Schmidt is already carping about the Windows monopoly being used to advance Bing.

ECIS Accuses Microsoft of Fudging Numbers

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EDT

The European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), which wants to nail Microsoft’s hide to the barn door, told the European Commission that Redmond “substantially understated” its share of the European browser market in an effort to blunt the regulator’s determination to crucify it for allegedly illegally tying Windows and Internet Explorer together.

Microsoft and Third Party Software

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:39:00 EDT

This post summarizes my online publications looking at how Microsoft products mesh with third party software. Well, you may also call this the work of a Virtual Microsoft Evangelist. I am using virtual evangelist in the sense of not being connected with or paid for by Microsoft in any way (except my familarity with its products). In here, I Iist the articles I wrote for a number of years on Microsoft products and how they connect with third party software.

Microsoft Unloads IP Service on Start-Up

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:00:00 EDT

Microsoft’s Software Licensing and Protection (SLP) Services operation, which hasn’t sought any new customers since late last year, has been spun off into a Dublin start-up called InishTech.

MailBee.NET Outlook Converter Reads and Writes .MSG Files

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:19:15 EDT

If you ever encountered a problem with incompatibility of Outlook .MSG files with the standard RFC822 .EML format which is used everywhere outside Microsoft realm, there is some good news for you.

ASP.NET MVC For Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 Released

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EDT

Microsoft released ASP .NET MVC for Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1, you can find the installer on CodePlex. Many of the new Visual Studio 2010 features intended to support the TDD workflow fit very nicely with ASP.NET MVC, which ScottGu will describe in an upcoming blog post.

Code Contracts in .NET Help Distributed Software Development Teams

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EDT

Code Contracts are very useful under any circumstance; however, they are particularly useful in helping distributed software development teams increase team efficiency, improve product quality, and mitigate against risks associated with team dispersion.

Webinar: Hard Real-Time in a Standards-Based Platform for Manufacturing

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:45:00 EDT

Exceed expectations for reliability, performance, and hard real-time while reducing production costs and time-to-solution by standardizing on one technology platform, from sensors to servers. With one development framework, Windows Embedded brings the ease and familiarity of Windows to the development and use of industrial devices and systems.

Aster Opens MapReduce to .NET Developers

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:15:00 EDT

Aster Data Systems, the coming data warehouse company, has leveled the playing field and made it possible for .NET developers – what it calls the “other half” – to leverage the vaunted MapReduce programming model popularized by Google to write native “Big Data, Rich Computation” applications.

Two-Factor Authentication Secures Microsoft SharePoint and Outlook Web Access

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:15:00 EDT

"If you want to make SharePoint and Outlook Web Access available via the Internet -- you have to secure it, and two-factor authentication is the best way to do it," said Comodo's CEO, Melih Abdulhayoglu. "When you are accessing Sharepoint or Outlook Web Access from inside the office, you are using the physical security of being on your local network. Yet, once you want to access the services from outside of your company's local network, security becomes an issue. To ensure security, you must either use a VPN connection, which may be costly and hard to manage, or securely authenticate the user. Leaving it unsecure can result in the information being publicly accessible."

Russian Regulators Investigating Microsoft: Reuters

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:15:00 EDT

Russia must need pin money. According to Reuters, its anti-monopoly police are investigating Microsoft because supplies of XP have dried up and it thinks Microsoft violated its laws by cutting deliveries of the operating system to the country, both the shrink-wrapped kind and bundled in boxes.

Windows 7 Due October 22

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EDT

Microsoft says Windows 7, its new Vista-replacing operating system, will be generally available on Thursday October 22, a month ahead of Black Friday, the traditional holiday shopping kickoff in the states and three months ahead of its supposed schedule.

Iron Speed Designer Version 6.1 Released

Thu, 28 May 2009 16:15:00 EDT

Software development tools-maker Iron Speed, Inc. has released Iron Speed Designer Version 6.1, the latest version of its Web 2.0 application generator. Iron Speed Designer generates rich interactive data entry and reporting applications for .NET. The new source control file detection in Iron Speed Designer improves team usability of the product. This along with the enhanced page layout editor and support for Microsoft IE8 helps IT departments generate robust, productivity-enhancing applications out-of-the-box.

Microsoft Abandons its Search Engine for a ‘Decision’ Engine

Thu, 28 May 2009 16:09:00 EDT

Microsoft did as expected and unwrapped its remade, rebranded search engine when CEO Steve Ballmer turned up for a chat with PC maven Wall Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference in California Thursday. Live is now Bing, the widgetry that was code named Kumo during its creation.

SL Announces Support for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:05:00 EDT

SL Corporation has announced that the new release of SL-GMS Developer and Custom Editor for .NET supports Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). Software vendors delivering specialized editors for real-time displays to the manufacturing industry are now able to provide drag-and-drop access to sophisticated WPF visual objects – including those provided by third parties – without programming. The advanced visualization enabled by these software vendors embedding SL-GMS for .Net technology helps to enhance productivity of their end users.

Azure Commercially Available from November

Fri, 22 May 2009 04:15:00 EDT

Microsoft is set to deliver Windows Azure to the public by the end of this year, with an imminent announcement at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles on November 17, 2009.

Autonomy Interwoven Delivers Livesite for Microsoft .NET

Tue, 19 May 2009 04:00:00 EDT

Autonomy Corporation plc has announced that Autonomy Interwoven LiveSite, a next-generation dynamic content delivery engine, is now available to Microsoft .NET customers. By deploying LiveSite with Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), Microsoft customers can now tap into the unequalled capabilities of Autonomy's unique meaning. Based Marketing approach to transform their web presence and their business.

Microsoft to Attend Its EC Hearing

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:15:00 EDT

Despite last week’s report that Microsoft wouldn’t even show up, it’s now said that it’s going to its antitrust hearing in Brussels next month. It’s reportedly going to paint Google, which is one of the complaints, as the boogeyman to spook a European Commission already worried about Google’s power to try to deflect it from ordering Microsoft to package alternate browsers – like Chrome and Firefox – in the Windows operating system as a remedy for having tied its own Internet Explorer browser to Windows.

It’s Official – Windows 7 Here for the Holidays

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte confirmed at TechEd Monday what everybody has long since figured out: Windows 7 will make it into the stores in time for the holiday sales cycle. But Microsoft needs to make it to the shelves for back-to-school sales; it needs the money. Enter Steven Sinofsky, the head of Microsoft’s Windows business. He blogged that “If the feedback and telemetry on Windows 7 match our expectations, then we will enter the final of the RTM process in about three months.”

Microsoft in a First Sells Billions in Bonds

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:30:00 EDT

This is a year of firsts for Microsoft: its first wide-scale layoffs, its first drop in quarterly sales and earnings, and now its first debt offering. It sold five-, 10- and 30-year bonds Monday and raised $3.75 billion on the strength of its Triple-A credit rating from both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s at negligible interest rates, barely more than government bonds fetch. It could have sold $10, according to Reuters.

SYS-CON.TV Virtualization Expo Power Panel

Fri, 15 May 2009 10:54:00 EDT

Virtualization is changing IT and making it more efficient, more dynamic, and more streamlined. But why exactly has it proven itself to be so crucial a technology for Enterprise IT in particular and what is its trajectory in the future? Jeremy Geelan leads a high-level SYS-CON.TV Virtualization Power Panel discussion with the CTO of Rackspace, John Engates, the CEO of appzero, Greg O'Connor, and Sun's Chief Security Architect, Glenn Brunette.

Comodo Announces LivePCSupport for Businesses

Wed, 13 May 2009 16:04:47 EDT

Comodo's LivePCSupport for Businesses allows PC users to open a chat window with an expert technician. The Comodo expert can address many PC issues online, day or night, even weekends and holidays. If the browser balks when a small business owner is researching an important proposal, if malware menaces when the bookkeeper is performing the month-end close, one untimely hitch in one computer can do serious damage to the business's bottom line. With Comodo's new LivePCSupport service, business owners can cross, "Become computer expert," off their to-do lists.

Axcess Integrates Micro-Wireless into Microsoft BizTalk Server Environment

Tue, 12 May 2009 09:50:00 EDT

Axcess International has announced that it successfully implemented its patented Micro-Wireless system into the Microsoft BizTalk Server platform. BizTalk Server 2009 provides a solution that allows organizations to more easily connect disparate systems, and then process the composite of information through pre-defined rules to automate new areas of business operations. The collaboration between Axcess and Microsoft Corp. will enable the collection of previously unavailable real-time business activity information through Axcess’ “active” RFID system which wirelessly enables assets, personnel and sensors.

EC Expected To Fine Intel between $600m & $1.6b

Tue, 12 May 2009 08:41:00 EDT

It's all just a guessing game right now but on Wednesday the European Commission is expected to levy a capital fine on Intel of somewhere between $600 million and $1.6 billion, possibly the largest single penalty the EC regulators have ever exacted, more than the combined fines Microsoft had to pay. Bloomberg, however, says the EC uses 2006 guidelines to calculate fines and that the formula could be 30% of Intel's European sales last year or $2.1 billion times the number of years that the violations have existed.

The Importance of Cloud Abstraction

Tue, 12 May 2009 06:15:00 EDT

My colleague, Peter Palmieri, just penned a blog post about Microsoft’s recent announcement that the Azure platform will offer extensive and familiar relational database features via SQL Data Services (SDS). In his post, Leveraging Skills, Peter discusses the fact that .NET developers will be able to leverage their existing SQL Server database skills when developing against the Azure platform.

EC Sets Date for Hearing but Microsoft May Be a No-Show

Sun, 10 May 2009 08:00:00 EDT

A hearing date of June 3–5 has been set for Microsoft to offer oral arguments against the European Commission’s browser accusations that bundling IE with Windows is a prima facie antitrust violation. Paidcontent.org, however, says Microsoft may skip the hearing and simply bend its neck to the inevitable axe. It said Microsoft said it only asked for the hearing to preserve its right to one. It filed its written response to the anticompetitive charges last week.

Windows 7 RC & XPM Beta Out

Fri, 08 May 2009 13:45:00 EDT

Microsoft has posted both the public release of the Windows 7 Release Candidate and the beta XP Mode (XPM) add-on, the virtualized rendition of XP that Microsoft made so users of the new operating system can run XP apps, well, so at least the premium SKUs of Win7 can, provided they have processor-based virtualization support (which threatens to be another hurdle for Microsoft since not all new chips have it).

Microsoft’s Public Datasets

Fri, 08 May 2009 07:47:00 EDT

I was wondering when Microsoft will announce the equivalent of Amazon’s Public Datasets. Well, it’s here, although with strange name. I hope they wouldn’t do this just for government agencies. The Open Government Data Initiative (OGDI) is an initiative led by Microsoft Public Sector Developer Evangelism team. OGDI uses the Azure Services Platform to make it [...] Related posts:

Microsoft Web Sandbox Goes Open Source We talked before about Microsoft’s web sandbox here. Web Sandbox is...
WCF REST Starter Kit Released. Source Code Included. The WCF REST Starter Kit is a set of .Net...
Open-Source Clouds Joyent Inc. today announced the signing of an agreement to acquire...

Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate Now Available For Download

Wed, 06 May 2009 09:00:00 EDT

Buried under the buzz around Windows 7 RC release, here’s an important update from Microsoft - Windows Server 2008 R2 release candidate. Windows Server 2008 R2 is the first Windows operating system to be offered for only 64-bit processors. And Windows Server 2008 R2 can now support up to 256 logical processor cores for a single operating system [...] Related posts:

Windows 7 Release Candidate Is Available From Microsoft Today Microsoft Corp. announced the Release Candidate (RC) of Windows...
Why Microsoft Won’t Release Windows Azure This Year … But They Should. Some time ago I had a bad feeling about Windows...
Azure Services Training Kit available for download The Azure Services Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of...

Microsoft Fires Second Round of Softies

Tue, 05 May 2009 23:00:00 EDT

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent out an all-hands e-mail Tuesday morning saying that the company was about axe more of the 5,000 people that it said in January it would lay off by the middle of next year. When Microsoft announced its first wide-scale layoffs ever, it immediately cut 1,400 people, leaving the rest to fret about whether they would be one of the remaining 3,600.

BakBone Software Announces Acquisition of Assets from Asempra Technologies

Mon, 04 May 2009 06:33:00 EDT

BakBone Software has announced that it has acquired certain assets from Asempra Technologies, Inc., a privately held company based in Santa Clara, Calif. Asempra develops real-time data protection and recovery solutions for Windows applications and file system data. Under the terms of the agreement, BakBone has agreed to issue 3,846,154 common shares and to pay cash consideration of approximately $350,000, plus accrued royalties.

Windows 7 Release Candidate Is Available From Microsoft

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:02:00 EDT

"Listening to our partners and customers has been fundamental to the development of Windows 7," said Bill Veghte, senior vice president for the Windows business at Microsoft. "We heard them and worked hard to deliver the highest quality Release Candidate in the history of Windows. We have more partner support than we've ever had for an RC and are pleased to say that the Windows 7 RC has hit the quality and compatibility bar for enterprises to start putting it through its paces and testing in earnest."

Microsoft's MVP Award Program

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:01:00 EDT

Microsoft recently announced the quarterly recipients of the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award, which recognizes exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who foster the free and objective exchange of knowledge by actively sharing their real world expertise with users and Microsoft. Nearly 1000 outstanding individuals were recognized for their contributions to the technical community.

SYS-CON Webcast: Porting .NET Applications to SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EDT

This educational webinar from Novell will provide .NET ISVs with an overview of how to port .NET-based applications to SUSE Linux Enterprise. Mono is the open source, cross-platform .NET application framework. Sponsored by Novell, it provides all the necessary software to develop and run .NET client and server applications on Linux.

Why Microsoft Won’t Release Windows Azure This Year … But They Should

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:28:00 EDT

Some time ago I had a bad feeling about Windows Azure. The reaction to the article was mixed - some agree with the “cloud” confusion and the lack of release dates, others (mostly Microsoft guys) asking for more time so the technologies will evolve; and last but not least people trying to explain how I don’t really understand Windows Azure and related technologies (to those, actually that was one of the points of the article - too much confusion). Related posts:

I Have A Bad Feeling About Windows Azure After more than two “azure” months, with lots of new...
Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio As Ray Ozzie was announcing yesterday during the Microsoft Professional...
Windows Azure SDK Jan 2009 CTP doesn’t work on Windows 7 Beta In a post on windows azure forums, a Microsoft employee...

Windows 7 To Launch Publicly May 5

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:45:00 EDT

The official Release Candidate of Windows 7 will be available for download by MSDN and TechNet subscribers from April 30, according to the Windows Team Blog, but public availability won't begin till May 5th.

Sun & Oracle Surprise Microsoft, IBM

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:45:00 EDT

In Moscow when the Oracle-Sun news broke, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Reuters that he was “very surprised” and that having just heard about it, he needed to think about it. Evidently they didn’t warn him ahead of time. Having thought about it for a couple of days, he told the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo that “I have no idea why a software company would buy a hardware company.

Microsoft Revenues Down 6%, Profits Down 32%

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:59:00 EDT

Microsoft's in some amount of pain that it blames on the recession and deteriorating spending and says it doesn't expect things to get better this quarter, maybe longer, maybe into the next calendar year, a forecast it's made before.