http://dotnet.sys-con.com/ Latest articles from Patrick Hynds Copyright 2008 .NET DEVELOPER'S JOURNAL Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:22:00 GMT .NET DEVELOPER'S JOURNAL 10 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/531746.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/531746.htm Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Unless this is the first thing on technology you are reading in the last six months you will know that we are seeing a new server being launched by Microsoft. After the ups and downs of Vista (many love it and many hate it) I expect that Windows Server 2008 will be something we can all agree is a real bonus for .NET Developers. Whole issues can (and will) be done on the benefits that Internet Information Server 7.0 (IIS7) brings including really cool support for web farm (read highly scalable) and shared (read highly configurable) scenarios. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/497116.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/497116.htm Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:00:00 GMT Developers are increasingly working on systems that abstract the underlying mechanisms they depend upon. SharePoint was the catalyst for this observation as I increasingly see development implementations that just don't seem to work out as hoped, with misunderstandings or in some cases bugs causing the issues. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/478931.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/478931.htm Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:00:00 GMT Another version of Visual Studio is here and while there are many cool features, we can conclude a lot from the fact that it isn't a staggering release. The first Visual Studio that wore the .NET moniker was a paradigm shift and threw in many features such as Web services, which though immature was definitely a killer feature. Now we have interesting upgrades and improvements. I won't say that Visual Studio has jumped the shark because I do think it is on track and still relevant, but this is a sign that the platform has matured. Most of the cool technology is manipulatable in Visual Studio 2008, but isn't baked in as most of it was released earlier. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/461378.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/461378.htm Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:00:00 GMT When .NET first came on the scene, there was fighting over whether it was a platform or not. As I have said here in the past, those debates are over as .NET has proven itself a very useful and valuable platform, expanding into areas that people assumed it wouldn't and even couldn't in the early days. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/439148.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/439148.htm Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:00:00 GMT I feel as if there is a calm on the .NET waters at the moment and it's a rare and somewhat uneasy sensation. Most of the developers I know are playing with Blend and Silverlight and all the cool WPF stuff, even if their specialty is back-end database work. We all know there is another wave coming and it will probably be a big one, so you better get the exploring out of your system now while you can. The summer is also a time when most businesses and development shops rest and recoup, though our network and storage admin friends use this time to do major projects that are unthinkable near year end. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/406634.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/406634.htm Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:00:00 GMT Vista is getting some traction as a client OS now and that means developers are starting to see on the horizon that they should begin to support it. This is good and bad. Good because there are lots of cool things for developers in Vista, but bad because Vista changes the game quite a bit on developers relative to security. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/382408.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/382408.htm Wed, 30 May 2007 17:00:00 GMT This month, I want to talk about Windows Workflow and what it means for the state of .NET development (in my experience and, of course, in my opinion). Before the release of Window Workflow (WF for short because WWF means something else entirely already), there were several avenues open to developers to make things work with a workflow feature. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/377577.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/377577.htm Thu, 17 May 2007 14:00:00 GMT With the Microsoft MIX conference just ending last week and product announcements happening with greater and greater regularity, it's sometimes discouraging when you think of how much work it will be to just keep up with it all. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/367657.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/367657.htm Mon, 30 Apr 2007 13:00:00 GMT When Microsoft announced the technology that is now known as WCF, there was a lot of expectation and some skepticism. Expectation because it sounded great and would help us solve so many problems and realize so many things that were then very hard to make happen. Skepticism because it sounded great and would help us solve so many problems and realize so many things that were then very hard to make happen... http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/357251.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/357251.htm Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:00:00 GMT Usually in this space I like to summarize the contents of the issue and point out anything bearing in particular on our theme, but if you will indulge me, I would like to talk more long term and big picture this month. I am thinking specifically about security. Not a big surprise for those who know me and, if you were paying attention, you might have noticed that I used to be the security editor before taking over as editor-in-chief. Security is one of those pervasive things like error handling. You don't typically notice it until it fails you when you need it most. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/346911.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/346911.htm Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:00:00 GMT A lot is changing in .NET this year, but it all feels like progress. Now that Vista is released, we get to stop using Community Technical Previews (mostly) of things like WPF, WF, and WCF. The ASP.NET group has been busy bringing us AJAX tools that take a wild technology and pretty much turn it into point and click. I recall doing presentations shortly after Google Maps came out when the world was just discovering what AJAX meant and still wondering how it could be leveraged. In the demonstration on custom control development, I walked through the steps needed to build a control that updated behind the scenes with AJAX. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/319742.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/319742.htm Sat, 06 Jan 2007 15:30:00 GMT I am often struck by how good some ideas are and often wonder whether they are happened upon by accident (dumb luck), like the discovery of Teflon and penicillin, or whether there was just a really good idea that made it happen. I think what we are seeing in the evolution of .NET is a bit of both. .NET has arrived in my opinion. I base this on the really powerful community I see surrounding it, especially from where I sit here in the North East just north of Boston. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/314999.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/314999.htm Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:00:00 GMT In a cross-platform world where software giants nevertheless continue to vie with each other for developer mindshare, it is significant that only one major company has managed to synch up its release numbers with the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Microsoft is not resting on its laurels though, and the .NET Framework 2.0 is now going to be subsumed into the renamed WinFX, now dubbed the .NET Framework 3.0. So clearly the intention is to stay ahead of the curve. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/187526.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/187526.htm Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:45:00 GMT Storage is still one of the most costly and fastest-growing aspects of everyone's network and is likely to remain so for some time. Every network user is a storage user. We're all part of a community that shares the costs and the benefits of this expensive resource. Storage management can be a challenging task. There's so much hardware, so many alternatives, and so many issues that it's easy to get lost in the details and fail to see the forest for the trees. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/179916.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/179916.htm Tue, 07 Feb 2006 11:30:00 GMT 'I say we avoid criticizing organizations that take steps to improve systems,' says Informational Storage & Security Journal Co-editor in Chief, Patrick Hynds. 'To assume that Cyber Storm will produce a negative result is cynical,' he continues; 'I have participated often in security audits, some of which included overt hacking attempts. In every case, I am certain that the exercise has greatly improved the security of the organizations involved.' http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/159547.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/159547.htm Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:00:00 GMT Okay, 2005 is over. Let's get back to work...But first, let's look at what's new. Microsoft has taken WinFS, its new file system, out of the first release of its next operating system. The story is that WinFS will follow soon after the OS releases. For most of us, this is something we don't need to worry about for a couple of years, at least. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/130103.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/130103.htm Wed, 14 Sep 2005 13:30:00 GMT Storage always seems to come first in technical discussions and security seems to be the perennial afterthought. This can be considered reasonable given how we shop for things in general, namely finding the thing that meets our expectations and then ensure it has all the bells and whistles. The good news is that this seems to be changing bit by bit as our industry realizes that security is no longer a nice-to-have feature, but is actually a core requirement. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/129582.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/129582.htm Tue, 13 Sep 2005 13:00:00 GMT I am writing this from Bill Gates' opening keynote at PDC in Los Angeles. 'User experience' is definitely the message of the day. 'Windows Vista' is a clear indication of the Microsoft belief that if you build a better interface then they will come (or stay as the case may be). http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/112957.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/112957.htm Wed, 22 Jun 2005 09:00:00 GMT Last month we skipped the introduction to summarize some of the things we hope to bring to you in the coming year. This month we are circling back to our backgrounds in the hopes that this will help explain why we might be suited to fulfill the agenda hinted at last month. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/101580.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/101580.htm Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:00:00 GMT We (Patrick and Bruce) are new to ISSJ. In a future article, you'll learn more about who we are and why we are here. In this issue, we thought we would take a minute to frame some of the discussions that will go on throughout the year. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/97898.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/97898.htm Tue, 07 Jun 2005 10:00:00 GMT Every year at TechEd I make it a point to attend the opening keynote which is often delivered by Steve Balmer. This year Steve came out very hopeful and predicted that we are on the upswing of the IT cycle, while he is often upbeat he argued his case well. He said things like 'Exciting time' and 'Innovations like never before'. Also as I have come to expect from Steve, he covered a wide range of topics that mapped closely with the products that MS is most motivated to see increase their market share. This list includes Windows Server 2003 and beyond, Exchange, the set of mobile technologies as well as some other sundry tools. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/86220.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/86220.htm Fri, 20 May 2005 11:00:00 GMT This month we dedicate our issue to security. This is a topic I find developers either love or hate; there are few who can take a neutral stance on it. As the security editor of this publication, you can probably guess which side I come down on for the question of my feelings about security. I am standing in for Derek this week in the editorial department. I think about security all the time and find it is a very interesting subject, and it's a challenge to stay up to date about it. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/86227.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/86227.htm Fri, 20 May 2005 11:00:00 GMT In the early days of networked applications, application security was as simple as running programs on a 'hardened box' behind a firewall. As general developer security IQ improved, we learned to write safer code, code that checked identities and principals, code that filtered user input. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/37959.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/37959.htm Wed, 25 Feb 2004 00:00:00 GMT This session will show you how to use authentication, authorization, thread modeling, configuration settings, and secure database access to create secure systems, and will discuss common coding techniques for storing secrets, error handling, data validation, and code access security. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/39064.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/39064.htm Mon, 12 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT Last month (.NETDJ, Vol. 1, issue 12) we demonstrated a simple technique that allows you to avoid storing passwords in clear text, making your .NET applications more secure and safer should they somehow be compromised. In this article, we want to step back a bit and look at the big picture: application security from end to end. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/39044.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/39044.htm Wed, 10 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT It's a constant battle! Just when you think you understand security, someone or something reminds you of a whole aspect that you have been ignoring, usually at your peril. No matter how much you planned, prepared, worked, and worried about your plan of attack or defensive position, the job was literally never done! http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/39006.htmhttp://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/39006.htm Fri, 31 Oct 2003 14:07:00 GMT (October 31, 2003) - During Eric Rudder’s keynote on Tuesday, he said that 50,000 lines of code at various layers were required to write a secure Internet-based interaction using ASP.NET. This certainly is a feasible number if you have ever tried to roll your own custom Web service security, especially in the VS.NET 2002 timeframe. Eric went on to assert that by using WSE (Web Service Enhancements) you could bring this down to 27,000 lines of code - which is also realistic to me given my project experience. What was much more interesting was his Indigo demo that only required three lines of code!