Allan's Best Week Ever

.NET Programmers in the Cloud

eek! Just a friendly reminder, join us (.NET Programmers Group on Facebook) for our session on programming the cloud with the Microsoft Azure Services Platform. It takes place on Tuesday, January 6th 2008 at 8 pm US Eastern Time. The abstract:

You may have heard that Microsoft recently unveiled its platform for cloud computing – the Azure Services Platform. In this session we will explore the platform, its architecture and programming model. Programming for this platform reuses skills built around .NET, ASP.NET and Visual Studio, so we will build services using familiar tools. At the end of this session you will understand all the resources to get started programming the Azure Services Platform.

If you'd like to join us but not join Facebook, that's ok too. Here is the link for the session.

Can’t make the session? Well get started with the Azure Services Training Kit and don’t forget your moments of Zen :)

• Moment of Zen part 1
• Moment of Zen part 2

My identity crisis - I didn't know Dick

eek! After catching up on my reading, I realized that I had an identity crisis - a deficiency in being able to explain digital identity in everyday language. Ugh. The good news is that I tend to read a lot of blogs that raise my IQ. Kim Cameron acknowledged Dick Hardt is joining Microsoft. I didn't know Dick, but I follow Kim, so I decided to take Kim's advice...

"There has never been a better presentation on identity than Dick’s presentation on Identity 2.0.  He has played a pivotal role as a catalyst and contributed great thinking and technical ideas to the identity community as an important figure in OpenID.   It’s exciting to think that we’ll be working together more closely - I have no doubt that Microsoft will be a good place for him to continue all the good work he has beein doing, as a key figure in moving user-centric identity forward as fast as possible."

Wow, I watched that presentation. What a treat! I feel I can now articulate digital identity...even to my wife.

So what's the deal with the Geneva Framework? Given a healthier understanding of digital identity and claims based authorization, I have a better appreciation for the resources on the Geneva Framework MSDN page - nicely laid out with links to blogs, videos and white papers. I like the David Chappell white paper - a must read imho.

P.S. If you don't get MSDN Magazine, check out these recent "Geneva" articles.

• A Better Approach For Building Claims-Based WCF Services - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd278426.aspx
• Building A Custom Security Token Service - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.01.genevests.aspx

Happy New Year from a Strange Fellow!

eek! It has certainly been a great year of learning for me and I wish you all the very best for 2009. If this is your first visit, here’s what I talked about in December. May you find a link that makes you think differently!

• Unwrapping my gifts – PowerShell V2 CTP3
• Join our .NET Programmers Group in the Cloud
• I saw Santa watching 10-4
• Psst, can I bug you?
• Publish like the pros!
• Go Gang Green!
• Haircuts and Budgets
• The CLR, Performance and the unruly child
• Live Framework and why should you care?
• WSRP in Cincinnati and the world with SharePoint
• Dear Friends with iPhones
• Azure Services Platform - your moment of Zen part deux
• Let's get Parallel, Parallel, I want to get Parallel...
• Windows 7 Developer Guide - updated
• SP2Beta4U
• Zune Love
• Resources from the Strategic Architect Forum 2008
• A new fan of tips and tricks for Web Developers
• Windows 7 Beta DVD for MDC Attendees
• I’m a Firestarter, Twisted Firestarter
• On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: IIS 7
  

If you have ideas or feedback on improving this blog, I’m all ears…actually if you meet me in person, you’d agree…I’m all ears :) Happy New Year, I wish you peace.

Unwrapping my gifts – PowerShell V2 CTP3

eek! Hope you scored big this holiday season. Me? I’m busy unwrapping my gifts left under the tree, for example: PowerShell CTP3 V2 is here. If you are around the Connecticut Area on January 13th, join me and a few of my friends as we discuss this gift.

“Automating the world one-liner at a time.”

Indeed!

Join our .NET Programmers Group in the Cloud

eek! Join us as we relaunch our .NET Programmers Group via Facebook in about a week. I'll be presenting on programming in the cloud with Microsoft Azure. Its on January 6, 2008 at 8 pm US Eastern Time. See you there!

Abstract:

You may have heard that Microsoft recently unveiled its platform for cloud computing - Microsoft Azure. In this session we will explore the platform, its architecture and programming model. Programming for this platform reuses skills built around .NET, ASP.NET and Visual Studio, so we will build services using familiar tools. At the end of this session you will understand all the resources to get started programming Microsoft Azure.

If you'd like to join us but not join Facebook, that's ok too. Here is the link for the session.

I saw Santa watching 10-4

eek! Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring as they were watching Episode 2 of the weekly video podcast of what’s coming in Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0.

Grab some eggnog and enjoy the show!

Psst, can I bug you?

eek! Can I bug you to read something? It is here; a short and insightful view into the Security Development Lifecycle at Microsoft and the mobilization to get MS08-078 out the door. And like me you'll probably hang around the SDL blog and discover these 2 gems:

• Microsoft Code Analysis Tool .NET (CAT.NET) v1 CTP (32 and 64 bit versions) - CAT.NET is a binary code analysis tool that helps identify common variants of certain prevailing vulnerabilities that can give rise to common attack vectors such as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), SQL Injection and XPath Injection.
• Microsoft Anti-Cross Site Scripting Library V3.0 Beta - AntiXSS 3.0 helps you to protect your current applications from cross-site scripting attacks, at the same time helping you to protect your legacy application with its Security Runtime Engine
  

Publish like the pros!

eek! Somebody just reminded me that my last post made mention of the Microsoft Architect Journal that is delivering a great WPF/Offline reading experience using the Syndicated Client Experiences (SCE) code base. Looking to publish like the pros? Now you can, with the recently released Beta 2 of the SCE starter kit. What does Beta 2 bring? Check it out here and start building.

Go Gang Green!

eek! No, not the stumbling, bumbling New York Jets (although this fan is forever hopeful), I mean the Greening in IT. The latest issue of the Microsoft Architect Journal is focused on Green Computing:

• Environmentally Sustainable Infrastructure Design - A comprehensive understanding of environmental sustainability needs for IT infrastructure system design.
• Green IT in Practice: SQL Server Consolidation in Microsoft IT - This Microsoft IT case study offers useful guidelines for effective resource consolidation for environmental sustainability.
• Project Genome: Wireless Sensor Network for Data Center Cooling - Learn about a research project on an interesting adaptive cooling technique.
• Profiling Energy Usage for Efficient Consumption - This article suggests that tracking energy consumption at every level will become the factor of success for green architecture practitioners.
• Architecture Journal Profle: Udi Dahan- noted expert on SOA and .NET development, and four-time Microsoft MVP.
• Application Patterns for Green IT - A complete analysis on power-effcient applications design, considering tools that help the architect achieve scalability without deriving in energy waste.
• Green Maturity Model for Virtualization - The authors present a study on the maturity of virtualization practices and offer a sustainability roadmap for organizations planning a green agenda.

P.S. Don't forget there is a bit of a lag in getting this content in the WPF based reader (the previous issue on Distributed Computing is available via the reader as are older issues).

P.P.S. If you haven't seen the Software Enabled Earth blog, it goes deeper...

Haircuts and Budgets

eek! I’m hearing a new phrase these days: “everyone needs a haircut”. Given these difficult economic times, no one is immune. The following white paper: Simple Savvy Savings – 9 ideas to make anyone a Cost-Cutting Hero was making its rounds at work the other day.

“In times of crisis, CFOs invariably turn up the heat on CIOs, and although IT spending is a modest 3.1% of revenue on average, because IT is seen within most organizations as a cost center, it is usually at the top of the list for spending cuts. Unfairly, as prior times of crisis have proven, IT is cut proportionately more than most other business groups.”

It is 26 pages long and will provide several opportunities for discussions with co-workers. Example? Page 12 mentions:

“Leverage cloud computing to avoid over $15,000 per application per year”

What do you think?

The CLR, Performance and the unruly child

eek! Often times I’m asked to explain .NET concepts (garbage collection, serialization, reflection, etc.) that I take for granted because I’ve been around .NET for a long time. I’m forced to go back and refresh my memory on certain fundamentals. I found this refreshing session on performance and garbage collection from Frank Savage. Here’s the quote that kept me listening :)

"But you have to understand the pathology of the garbage collector. You can think of it as a very unruly child…"

That’s just too good!

The abstract:

This talk is for those who want to understand the inescapable performance consequences of the managed programming method: the things you cannot avoid and the things you can. Comparing and contrasting the consequences for the .NET Compact Framework and the classic .NET runtime, the talk explains the reasons for these overheads, the benefits they provide, and what practices minimize the associated costs. Additionally, we discuss some commonly occurring costs, such as boxing, that aren't inherent to all managed code, and we offer some tips for minimizing those costs.

I stumbled upon related sessions and other goodies I intend to review (e.g. Getting More from Multicore) at Microsoft XNA Developer Presentations.

Live Framework and why should you care?

eek! The Live Framework team recently published a short (but to the point) white paper entitled The Live Framework: What is it and Why Should I Care?

“The Live Framework provides a platform-agnostic, HTTP-based, resource-oriented programming model for accessing data. This programming model abstracts away the details of the File System, Networking APIs (for P2P and P2C), caching/storage APIs, serialization technologies, etc. and provides a consistent way to access data on all devices – PC, Mac, Mobile as well as (Windows Live) cloud. “

Contents include:

• From My Computer to My Mesh
• For what scenarios is the Live Framework relevant?
• What problems does the Live Framework help you solve?
• What is a cloud / client symmetric programming model?
• How do application developers benefit from the Live Framework?
• What is the programming model exposed by the Live Framework?
• What application types are supported by the Live Framework?
• What are the different flavors of Live Operating Environment available today?
• Do I need the Client Live Operating Environment for creating client side applications?
• What is the Live Framework Resource Model? How can applications interact with it?

Looking to jump in? This is what you’ll need to get started!

WSRP in Cincinnati and the world with SharePoint

eek! I have a mental block when I see WSRP, I think of WKRP in Cincinnati – yes I was schooled on US television. Silly me! Here is some exciting news from the SharePoint team for several of my customers who have existing investments in non-Microsoft technologies but who are investing in SharePoint: Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) Toolkit for Office SharePoint Server 2007. For quite a while, this has been a major request from customers and it nice to see Microsoft coming through. For a historical perspective, we’ve been routing customers to this blog post for details on WSRP and SharePoint.

Nice work imho. does this make your life easier?

Dear Friends with iPhones

eek! Yup Sumati, that means you! Check this thing from Microsoft available at the Apple App Store...it is very cool.

From the team:

"We will continue to experiment with bringing Seadragon to other platforms as we move forward, exploring different ways to use this functionality to improve the way users explore the digital world."

Azure Services Platform - your moment of Zen part deux

eek! And so I found yet another moment of Zen for the Azure set...if you recall, this 30 second snippet talked about what you may already know when approaching Azure. I found a new and funny way of telling the Azure tale via Sriram Krishnan, in his words: "isn't exactly accurate but it is so cool."

Enjoy the video at his site!

P.S. Sriram works on Azure, so I'd bookmark his blog for some information about internal workings and such. He has a good manifest of Azure related resources.