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You might want to think again or send this article to your CIO:

http://ayende.com/Blog/archive/2010/01/14/my-java-experience.aspx

 

If you are interested in added Bing.com maps into your web sites, check out the SDK's below:

Bing Maps AJAX Control SDK 6.2

This software development kit (SDK) provides programming reference and how-to topics for getting started with the Bing Maps AJAX Control.

Bing Maps Web Services SDK 1.0

This software development kit (SDK) provides programming reference and how-to topics for getting started with the Bing Maps Web Services

Bing Maps Silverlight Control SDK

This software development kit (SDK) provides the binaries and programming reference for the Bing Maps Silverlight Control.

 

If you are interested in learning how to use Visual Studio Tools for Office in Visual Studio 2010, check out this series of training videos on the Channel 9 web site: http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/office2010/

 

The November update of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit has been released. The Azure Services Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Windows Azure platform including: Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services. The November release includes new and updated labs in addition to information about Microsoft Codename “Dallas”.

To download go to: http://bit.ly/AzureTrainingKit

 

The Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework provides a source code library that can be used to access some new Windows 7 features (and some existing features of older versions of Windows operating system) from managed code. These Windows features are not available to developers today in the .NET Framework.

Click here to download.

 

Microsoft has announced with the release of Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2010 that the target release date is March 22, 2010. For the press release go to: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/oct09/10-19vsfinalstretchpr.mspx

 

Check out the new Windows Embedded preview! Now you can code embedded devices with VB.NET!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/default.mspx

 

Microsoft launched WebsiteSpark today. WebsiteSpark is designed for independent web developers and web development companies that build web applications and web sites on behalf of others.  It enables you to get software, support and business resources from Microsoft at no cost for three years, and enables you to expand your business and build great web solutions using ASP.NET, Silverlight, SharePoint and PHP, and the open source applications built on top of them.

For more info, click here.

 

Check out the new Visual Studio Gallery. Here you can find free, trial and paid products and extensions for Visual Studio. As of today here are the top 5:

• What I'm coding (Free)
• Copy As HTML (Free)
• Visual T# (Free)
• Current Line Highlighter (Free)
• WPF NotifyIcon (Free)

 

The Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework provides a source code library that can be used to access some new Windows 7 features (and some existing features of older versions of Windows operating system) from managed code. These Windows features are not available to developers today in the .NET Framework.

The individual features supported in this version (v1.0) of the library are:

• Windows 7 Taskbar Jump Lists, Icon Overlay, Progress Bar, Tabbed Thumbnails, and Thumbnail Toolbars.
• Windows 7 Libraries, Known Folders, non-file system containers.
• Windows Shell Search API support, a hierarchy of Shell Namespace entities, and Drag and Drop functionality for Shell Objects.
• Explorer Browser Control.
• Shell property system.
• Windows Vista and Windows 7 Common File Dialogs, including custom controls.
• Windows Vista and Windows 7 Task Dialogs.
• Direct3D 11.0, Direct3D 10.1/10.0, DXGI 1.0/1.1, Direct2D 1.0, DirectWrite, Windows Imaging Component (WIC) APIs. (DirectWrite and WIC have partial support)
• Sensor Platform APIs
• Extended Linguistic Services APIs
• Power Management APIs
• Application Restart and Recovery APIs
• Network List Manager APIs
• Command Link control and System defined Shell icons.

Click here for more information and to download.

 

Silverlight 3 released today. Lots of cool features! To get started go to: http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/

What’s New in Silverlight 3?

Fully supported by Visual Studio and Expression Blend, highlights of new features and functionality of Silverlight 3 include: major media enhancements, out of browser support allowing Web applications to work on the desktop; significant graphics improvements including 3D graphics support, GPU acceleration and H.264 video support; and many features to improve RIA development productivity. Also, in order to fully integrate all the .NET developer tools, Visual Studio 2010 will support a fully editable and interactive designer for Silverlight. New features in Silverlight 3 include:

• Support for Higher Quality Video & Audio. With support for native H.264/Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) Audio, live and on-demand IIS7 Smooth Streaming, full HD (720p+) playback, and an extensible decoder pipeline, Silverlight 3 brings rich, full-screen, stutter-free media experiences to the desktop. New and enhanced media features in Silverlight 3 include:
  • Live and on-demand true HD (720p+) Smooth Streaming. IIS Media Services (formerly IIS Media Pack), an integrated HTTP media delivery platform, features Smooth Streaming which dynamically detects and seamlessly switches, in real time, the video quality of a media file delivered to Silverlight based on local bandwidth and CPU conditions.
  • More format choice. In addition to native support for VC-1/WMA, Silverlight 3 now offers users native support for MPEG-4-based H.264/AAC Audio, enabling content distributors to deliver high-quality content to a wide variety of computers and devices.
  • True HD playback in full-screen. Leveraging graphics processor unit (GPU) hardware acceleration, Silverlight experiences can now be delivered in true full-screen HD (720p+).
  • Extensible media format support. With the new Raw AV pipeline, Silverlight can easily support a wide variety of third-party codecs. Audio and video can be decoded outside the runtime and rendered in Silverlight, extending format support beyond the native codecs.
  • Industry leading content protection. Silverlight DRM, Powered by PlayReady Content Protection enables protected in-browser experiences using AES encryption or Windows Media DRM.
• Empowering Richer Experiences. Silverlight 3 contains new 3D graphics, animation features, hardware accelerated effects and text improvements that enable designers and developers to create next generation Web visuals. Additional features include:
  • Perspective 3D Graphics. Silverlight 3 allows developers and designers to apply content to a 3D plane. Users can rotate or scale live content in space without writing any additional code. Other effects include creating a queue in 3D and transitions.
  • Pixel Shader effects. These software based effects include blur and drop shadow. In addition, you can also write your own effect. Effects can be applied to any graphical content. An example would be to make a button appear depressed on rollover you could use a drop shadow effect on the pressed visual state.
  • Bitmap Caching. Silverlight 3 dramatically improves the rendering performance of applications by allowing users to cache vector content, text and controls into bitmaps. This feature is useful for background content and for content which needs to scale without making changes to its internal appearance.
  • New Bitmap API. With Silverlight 3, developers can now write pixels to a bitmap. Thus, they can build a photo editor to do red eye correction, perform edits on scanned documents or create specials effects for cached bitmaps from elements on the screen.
  • Themed application support. Developers can now theme applications by applying styles to their Silverlight 3 applications and changing them at runtime. Additionally, developers can cascade styles by basing them on each other.
  • Animation Effects. Silverlight 3 provides new effects such as spring and bounce. These make animation more natural. Developers can also now develop their own mathematical functions to describe an animation.
  • Enhanced control skinning. Silverlight 3 provides easier skinning capabilities by keeping a common set of controls external from an application. This allows the sharing of styles and control skins between different applications.
  • Improved text rendering & font support. Silverlight 3 allows far more efficient rendering and rapid animation of text. Applications also load faster by enabling the use of local fonts.
• Improving Rich Internet Application Productivity. New features include:
  • 60+ controls with source code : Silverlight 3 is packed with over 60 high-quality, fully skinnable and customizable out-of-the-box controls such as charting and media, new layout containers such as dock and viewbox, and controls such as autocomplete, treeview and datagrid. The controls come with nine professional designed themes and the source code can be modified/recompiled or utilized as-is. Other additions include multiple selection in listbox controls, file save dialog making it easier to write files, and support for multiple page applications with navigation.
  • Deep Linking. Silverlight 3 includes support for deep linking, which enables bookmarking a page within a RIA.
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Silverlight 3 enables users to solve the SEO-related challenges posed by RIAs. By utilizing business objects on the server, together with ASP.NET controls and site maps, users can automatically mirror database-driven RIA content into HTML that is easily indexed by the leading search engines.
  • Enhanced Data Support Silverlight 3 delivers:
    • Element to Element binding : UI designers use binding between two UI properties to create compelling UI experiences. Silverlight now enables property binding to CLR objects and other UI components via XAML, for instance binding a slider value to the volume control of a media player.
    • Data Forms. The Data Form control provides support for layout of fields, validation, updating and paging through data.
    • New features for data validation which automatically catch incorrect input and warn the user with built-in validation controls.
    • Support for business objects on both client and server with n-Tier data support. Easily load, sort, filter and page data with added support for working with data. Includes a new built-in CollectionView to perform a set of complex operations against server side data. A new set of .NET RIA services supports these features on the server.
  • Improved performance, through:
    • Application library caching, which reduces the size of applications by caching framework on the client in order to improve rendering performance.
    • Enhanced Deep Zoom, allows users to fluidly navigate through larger image collections by zooming.
    • Binary XML allows communication with the server to be compressed, greatly increasing the speed at which data can be exchanged.
    • Local Connection This feature allows communication between two Silverlight applications on the client-side without incurring a server roundtrip: for instance a chart in one control can communicate with a datagrid in another.
• Advanced Accessibility Features. Silverlight 3 is the first browser plug-in to provide access to all system colors, allowing partially-sighted people to make changes such as high contrast color schemes for ease of readability by using familiar operating system controls.
• Out of Browser Capabilities. The new out of browser experience in Silverlight 3 enables users to place their favorite Silverlight applications directly onto their PC and Mac, with links on the desktop and start menu—all without the need to download an additional runtime or browser plug-in. Further, the new experience enables Silverlight applications to work whether the computer is connected to the Internet or not—a radical improvement to the traditional Web experience. Features include:
  • Life outside the browser. Silverlight applications can now be installed to and run from the desktop as lightweight web companions. Thus, users can take their favorite Web applications with them, regardless of whether they are connected to the Internet or not.
  • Desktop shortcuts and start menu support. Silverlight applications can be stored on any PC or Mac computer’s desktop with links in the start menu and applications folder, and so are available with one-click access.
  • Safe and secure. Leveraging the security features of the .NET Framework, Silverlight applications run inside a secure sandbox with persistent isolated storage. These applications have most of the same security restrictions as traditional web apps and so can be trusted without security warnings or prompts, minimizing user interruptions.
  • Smooth installation. Because Silverlight applications are stored in a local cache and do not require extra privileges to run, the installation process is quick and efficient.
  • Auto-update. Upon launch, Silverlight applications can check for new versions on the server, and automatically update if one is found.
  • Internet connectivity detection. Silverlight applications can now detect whether they have Internet connectivity and can react intelligently including caching a users’ data until their connection is restored.

New Features in Expression Blend 3: The designer-developer workflow took another major step forward today with major innovations in Expression Blend 3 including: SketchFlow, a rapid prototyping capability that makes it easy to communicate design intent to stakeholders; design time sample data that enables the design and testing of applications without access to live data; direct import of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files; behaviors, extensible and reusable components that add interactivity to applications without writing code; a full code editor supporting C#, VB and XAML; and many more features that support an improved design and development experience. Features include:

• SketchFlow. SketchFlow introduces a new set of features designed to make it easier for you to experiment with dynamic user experiences and create compelling prototypes. SketchFlow also helps communicate design ideas to other stakeholders, and makes it easier to collect in-context annotated feedback. SketchFlow enables the navigation and composition of an application to be modeled in a very visual manner from a simple prototype that uses a series of sketches, to something much more evolved. A prototype can be made as real and interactive as it needs to be to communicate design intent and SketchFlow can leverage all the existing features of Expression Blend.
• Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator import. The powerful importers for both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator enable smooth integration with workflows the designer already has in place. The designer has freedom to view and import Photoshop files layer by layer. Layers can be easily regrouped and elements retain their original formats; layers, layer positions, editable text and vectors remain available for editing within Expression Blend.
• Behaviors. Add interactivity to your application, without having to write code. Behaviors can encapsulate complex design interactions into reusable components which can be directly applied to a user interface element in the application. Developers have access to a rich API that they can use to write their own triggers, actions, and behaviors for use in their Silverlight and WPF projects.
• Sample data. Design time sample data makes it easy to build data-connected applications without access to live data. You can generate sample data or import sample data from an XML file and is available to controls on the artboard at design-time. You can extensively customize your sample data details, and you can easily switch between using sample data and using live data at run-time.
• Improved design and development experience. Expression Blend 3 includes many features that improve the overall design experience including a brand new design surface making Blend more accessible to visual designers. Team Foundation Server support allows easier integration of the Blend user into Team System. Improved animation and easing functions, 3D transforms, visual effects and an improved visual state manager enable a great tooling experience.

 

Microsoft has finally release pricing for the October 22nd release of Windows 7. Prices range from $119 to $319. From now until July 11th you can order Windows 7 for a 50% discount. See blog link below for more info.

Click here for more information.


 

Deep Zoom Composer is a tool to allow the preparation of images for use with the Deep Zoom feature currently being previewed in Silverlight 2. The new Deep Zoom technology in Silverlight allows users to see images on the Web like they never have before. The smooth in-place zooming and panning that Deep Zoom allows is a true advancement and raises the bar on what image viewing should be. High resolution images need to be prepared for use with Deep Zoom and this tool allows the user to create Deep Zoom composition files that control the zooming experience and then export all the necessary files for deployment with Silverlight 2.

To download click here.

 

Entity Framework samples have not been released in VB.NET! Check out the blog link below.

Full Blog Entry: http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2009/06/18/vb-entity-framework-samples-now-available-lisa-feigenbaum.aspx


 

If you are a web developer, then Firebug for Firefox puts a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page. Check it out by going to:

http://getfirebug.com/

 

As you might know I'm really picky when it comes to formatting code... heck, I event wrote a book on it! This even extends to T-SQL. I have worked at companies that had stored procedures that were formatted so poorly that I could not follow it at all. Thankfully I found a very cool web site called Instant SQL Formatter that does all the work for me... instantally! It will format T-SQL like this (generated by SQL Server Management Studio):

USE [Acme]
GO
IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].EventLog_DeleteOld') AND type in (N'P', N'PC'))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].EventLog_DeleteOld
GO

SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].EventLog_DeleteOld

AS
BEGIN
 DELETE FROM EventLog WHERE ([TimeStamp] < GETDATE() - 14)
END
GO

To this:

USE [Acme]

GO

IF EXISTS (SELECT *
           FROM   sys.objects
           WHERE  object_id = Object_id(N'[dbo].EventLog_DeleteOld')
                  AND TYPE IN (N'P',N'PC'))
  DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].eventlog_deleteold

GO

SET ansi_nulls  ON

GO

SET quoted_identifier  ON

GO

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].Eventlog_deleteold
AS
  BEGIN
    DELETE FROM eventlog
    WHERE       ([TimeStamp] < Getdate() - 14)
  END

GO

Very nice! There are lots of options (the T-SQL was formatted with just the defaults).

Tip Submitted By: David McCarter

 

Check out the new version of Visual Studio and .NET. Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 focuses on the core pillars of developer experience, support for the latest platforms, targeted experiences for specific application types, and core architecture improvements.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/dd582936.aspx

 

A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system running Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 and gain complete control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft.

To download, click here.

 

As part of the design phase of the SDL, threat modeling allows software architects to identify and mitigate potential security issues early, when they are relatively easy and cost-effective to resolve. Therefore, it helps reduce the Total Cost of Development.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/dd206731.aspx

 

Microsoft DreamSpark enables students to download Microsoft developer and design tools at no charge. Now, for the first time, Microsoft is giving its valuable software developer and design tools directly to students worldwide at no charge! This site enables students, like you, to download professional-level Microsoft developer tools to advance your learning and skills through technical design, technology, math, science and engineering activities.

DreakSpark

 

The Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight is designed to help you more easily build enterprise-level Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight client applications. It will help you design and build enterprise-level composite WPF client applications—composite applications use loosely coupled, independently evolvable pieces that work together in the overall application.

Click here to download.

 

If you are stuck using VB6 and .NET check out the site below.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-ca/vbrun/ms788241.aspx


 

Check out this site where you can download and install lots of cool extensions to IIS 7 that adds features like FTP Publishing Service, WebDAV, URL Rewriting and more!

http://www.iis.net/extensions

 

The Silverlight Toolkit is a collection of Silverlight controls, components and utilities made available outside the normal Silverlight release cycle. It adds new functionality quickly for designers and developers, and provides the community an efficient way to help shape product development by contributing ideas and bug reports. It includes full source code, unit tests, samples and documentation for 16 new controls covering charting, styling, layout, and user input.

Click here to go to the CodePlex site.

 

The Microsoft® Silverlight™ 3 SDK contains online documentation, online samples, libraries and tools for developing Silverlight 3 applications.

To download, click here.

Microsoft® Silverlight™ 3 Tools Beta 1 for Visual Studio 2008 SP1

This package is an add-on for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to provide tooling for Microsoft Silverlight 3. It can be installed on top of either Visual Studio 2008 SP1 or Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with SP1, and it provides a Silverlight project system for developing Silverlight applications using C# or Visual Basic.

To download, click here.

 

ILMerge is a utility for merging multiple .NET assemblies into a single .NET assembly. It works on executables and DLLs alike and comes with several options for controlling the processing and format of the output. See the accompanying documentation for details.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=22914587-B4AD-4EAE-87CF-B14AE6A939B0&displaylang=en

 

The Azure Services Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Azure Services Platform.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=130354

 

Below is an link to a very interesting article by Rockford Lhotka on how Silverlight is the future of .NET development, or development period.

http://www.lhotka.net/weblog/WhySilverlightIsTheFuture.aspx


 

Wally McClure has released some Windows Azure Basics Video Podcasts. Check them out:

http://aspnetpodcast.com/CS11/blogs/asp.net_podcast/archive/2008/12/22/asp-net-podcast-show-132-windows-azure-blob-storage-video.aspx

http://aspnetpodcast.com/CS11/blogs/asp.net_podcast/archive/2008/12/25/asp-net-podcast-show-133-windows-azure-table-storage-video.aspx

 

Did you know that with .NET you can use COM components without registering them? Well you can if you are using ClickOnce. Check out this article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165432.aspx

 

 

 

Small Basic is a project that's aimed at bringing "fun" back to programming. By providing a small and easy to learn programming language in a friendly and inviting development environment, Small Basic makes programming a breeze. Ideal for kids and adults alike, Small Basic helps beginners take the first step into the wonderful world of programming.

Check it out by going to: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/cc950524.aspx

 

Learn about the future of VB.NET!

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/vbfuture

Here is some of what is new:

* sub lambdas, and multiline sub/function lambdas

* sub lambdas, and multiline sub/function lambdas

* AsParallel. (well, this was a plinq feature rather than a VB feature, but cool as heck)

* DLR interop: invoke DLR methods from VB; create dynamic objects from VB; pass .net objects to DLR code; pass DLR objects to VB code. Note: unfortunately, this feature wasn’t ready in time for inclusion in the CTP.

* array literals, including inference of array structure (e.g. {{1,0},{0,1}} and {({1,2,3,4}),({1,2})}

* collection initializers: “dim x as new dictionary(of string,integer) from {{“hello”,1},{“world”,2}}

* auto-implemented properties, including initializers for them

* generic co- and contra-variance. Note: the VB support for co- and contra-variance was in the CTP. Unfortunately the covariant version IEnumerable(Of Out T) wasn’t ready in time for inclusion in the CTP, nor any of the other BCL classes. Also the CTP has a crummy bug that’s my fault which crashes when you use variance as part of overload resolution.

* line continuations (also www.unemployedunderscores.com!)

* No-PIA
 

Learn about the future of C#!

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/csharpfuture

 

Finally... Microsoft has released chart controls for .NET (only 8 years late). They include controls for Win and Web forms. To download go here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=130f7986-bf49-4fe5-9ca8-910ae6ea442c&DisplayLang=en

 

Available to MSDN subscribers: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx

 

The link below takes you to the Microsoft Express products like Visual Basic Express 2008 and SQL Server Express 2008.

http://www.microsoft.com/express/

 

Microsoft Sync Framework is a comprehensive synchronization platform for enabling collaboration and offline scenarios for applications, services and devices.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=C88BA2D1-CEF3-4149-B301-9B056E7FB1E6&displaylang=en

 

The download that installs the Visual Studio Tools for the Office system 3.0 Runtime, which is required to run VSTO solutions for the 2007 Microsoft Office system built using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 has been released.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=54EB3A5A-0E52-40F9-A2D1-EECD7A092DCB&displaylang=en

 

 

As you might find out the hard way, the .NET redistributable does not include the files required for the Reporting Services ReportViewer control. This is an issue for web servers when deploying ASP.NET applications that use this control. You can download the redistributable files below:

• Visual Studio 2005
• Visual Studio 2008

 

Ever wonder what all the shortcut keys are in Visual Studio? Well now you can print a poster of them:

• Visual C#
• Visual Basic

 

This project gives you access to the code for upcoming releases that the Microsoft ASP.NET team is working on. The project gives you a look at the design and lets you have a voice in it.

http://codeplex.com/aspnet

 

If you are a student at a university, you can get a free copy of Visual Studio 2008 Professional and other Microsoft software. Got to this link: https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/Products/Visual_Studio_2008.aspx

 

The ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview is a preview of new features being added to ASP.NET 3.5 and ADO.NET.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=A9C6BC06-B894-4B11-8300-35BD2F8FC908&displaylang=en

 

 

Here is an excellent three part article on threading in C#:

http://www.albahari.com/threading/

 

This site has been designed by the SQL Server Data Mining team to provide the SQL Server community with access to and information about our exciting data mining features.

http://www.sqlserverdatamining.com/

 

Refactor! is freely available to all Visual Basic .NET 2005 developers and offers a comprehensive suite of tools that enable you and your team to simplify and shape complex code - making it easier to read and less costly to maintain.

Download by going to: http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/IDETools/VBRefactor/

 

Want to see what your site or others looked like in the past? Check out the Wayback Machine at: http://www.archive.org/

 

Want to make your friends or co-workers call for support on their computer for no reason? Secretly install this cool screen saver that fakes the Windows blue screen and reboot sequence. Loads of fun!

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/BlueScreen.mspx

 

Tools for Office download:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905533.aspx

 

Line and Shape controls, PrintForm component, and Printer Compatibility Library

 

The Microsoft website for ASP.NET Ajax:

http://www.asp.net/ajax/

 

Microsoft site for the Expression products:

http://www.microsoft.com/expression/default.aspx

 

Consistently delivering high-quality technology solutions on time and on budget is challenging for any business. The Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) provides people and process guidance—the proven practices of Microsoft—to help teams and organizations become more successful in delivering business-driven technology solutions to their customers. MSF is a deliberate and disciplined approach to technology projects based on a defined set of principles, models, disciplines, concepts, guidelines, and proven practices from Microsoft. MSF version 3.0 updates the Team and Process Models, introduces three new Disciplines (Project Management, Risk Management, and Readiness Management), provides new whitepapers (available online), a new course (1846A: MSF Essentials), public and private MSF newsgroups, and a suite of templates. Moreover, better integration with the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and industry project management standards plus a new MSF Practitioner Program strengthen Microsoft’s proven practices for delivering innovative technology solutions.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators/msf/default.mspx

 

The Microsoft code name “Acropolis” Community Technology Preview is a set of components and tools that make it easier for developers to build and manage modular, business focused, client .NET applications. Acropolis is part of the “.NET Client Futures” wave of releases, our preview of upcoming technologies for Windows client development.

Looks pretty cool. Check out and download the tools below:

http://windowsclient.net/acropolis/default.aspx

 

The Beta 2 release includes most of the products found in the Visual Studio product line. As with all prerelease software, we encourage you only to install these on a secondary machine, or in a virtual machine, as they are not supported by Microsoft Services support teams. MSDN Subscribers can also download these files from MSDN Subscriber Downloads. You can also go to:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700831.aspx

 

Resources for IT Professionals:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx

 

SQL Server Database Publishing Wizard enables the deployment of SQL Server databases into a hosted environment on either a SQL Server 2000 or 2005 server. It generates a single SQL script file which can be used to recreate a database (both schema and data) in a shared hosting environment where the only connectivity to a server is through a web-based control panel with a script execution window. If supported by the hosting service provider, the Database Publishing Wizard can also directly upload databases to servers located at the shared hosting provider.

Optionally, SQL Server Database Publishing Wizard can integrate directly into Visual Studio 2005 and/or Visual Web Developer 2005 allowing easy publishing of databases from within the development environment.

Download by going to: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=56E5B1C5-BF17-42E0-A410-371A838E570A&displaylang=en

 

Microsoft Web service and distributed systems technologies provide the means for software to connect to other software applications in order to build distributed, service-oriented systems.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/webservices/default.aspx

 

Here is a pretty cool web site that will monitor your web sites for free!

http://www.montastic.com/

 

At Microsoft Live Labs we bring scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and the online community together to think about and build a better online world.

http://labs.live.com/

 

The Web Service Software Factory (also known as the Service Factory) is an integrated collection of tools, patterns, source code and prescriptive guidance. It is designed to help you quickly and consistently construct Web services that adhere to well known architecture and design patterns.

For more info, go to: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480534.aspx

 

To download go to: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5559918

 

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnvs05/html/newdtastvs05.asp
 

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6yhbs0ya.aspx
 

If you aren't using tracing in your applications... you need to!! The real power is extending them to send emails and more. Here is a great article on how to do that.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc300790.aspx

 

Microsoft Office InfoPath developers' home on MSDN:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905434.aspx

 

Great article on generating docs for your VB.NET Application:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Aa289191(VS.71).aspx

 

Here is a great article on doing bit shifting:

http://atrevida.comprenica.com/atrtut03.html

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1b6acf93-147a-4481-9346-f93a4081eea8&displaylang=en

 

 

Is homepage layout effective? ... What effect do blurbs on the homepage have compared to headlines? ... When is multimedia appropriate? ... Are ads placed where they will be seen by the audience? Find out: http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/main.htm

 

The Power Pack controls consist of:

• BlendPanel. This provides a background for a form where the color fades from one shade to another.
• UtilityToolbar. This is a toolbar whose look and feel is similar to the Internet Explorer toolbar.
• ImageButton. This is a button that displays a graphic over a transparent background.
• NotificationWindow. This displays text and graphics in a pop-up window (commonly known as "toast").
• TaskPane. This is a container that provides collapsible frames for displaying additional information on a form.
• FolderViewer. This displays directories in a hierarchical format.
• FileViewer. This displays a list of the files in a specified directory.

For more information, go to: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dv_vstechart/html/vbpowerpack.asp

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b352eb1f-d3ca-44ee-893e-9e07339c1f22&displaylang=en
 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/using/building/web/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnaspp/html/viewstate.asp
 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=62830f95-0e61-4f87-88a6-e7c663444ac1&displaylang=en
 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnaspp/html/aspnetscal.asp
 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/03/02/cuttingedge/
 

Microsoft has invested heavily in Visual Studio .NET extensibility. This is an important part of Visual Studio .NET because it lets customers easily tailor the tool to their personal working style and enables them to accommodate team practices. You can simply capture several steps in a regular process (for example, for check-ins, creating new projects or forms, or updating code) and make that process available as a single command to invoke. Independent software vendors (ISVs) can implement entirely new features (including groupware, profiling tools, work flow, or life-cycle tools) that fit into Visual Studio .NET 2003 as seamlessly as if they were built into the shipping Visual Studio .NET product.

These code samples show you how to build VSMacros projects, add–ins, and wizards to make your teams more productive and to bend Visual Studio .NET 2003 to the ways you like to work. Look for more samples, as well as some white papers and overview documents, in the future.

All of these samples use the Visual Studio automation model, which is free and publicly distributed with Visual Studio .NET 2003. The Visual Studio .NET automation model is four to five times richer and more powerful than any automation model that shipped with a previous version of Visual Studio.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3ff9c915-30e5-430e-95b3-621dccd25150&displaylang=en

 

This Toolkit offers functionality similar to the MSDN SOAP Toolkit sample, which has been available for several months, but is a fully Microsoft supported product. This Toolkit replaces the old MSDN SOAP Toolkit.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=147ed727-0be8-48a1-b1da-d50b1ea582cb&displaylang=en

 

SOAP Toolkit 2.0 Redistributable Files:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d4490e52-5f6e-4127-9dc7-88b7c8f83b74&displaylang=en

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnaspp/html/aspnet-globalarchi.asp
 

http://www.pocketsoap.com/
 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c42e27ac-3409-40e9-8667-c748e422833f&displaylang=en
 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnaspp/html/aspnet-pageobjectmodel.asp
 

These controls aren't supported anymore, but still are useful. You can download them my going to: http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/samples/internet/asp_dot_net_servercontrols/webcontrols/Default.asp
 

To download, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=94d7bf61-327e-43e7-888b-bc20a7e7f978&DisplayLang=en
 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8a2643c1-0685-4d89-b655-521ea6c7b4db&displaylang=en

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/browser/webbrowser/reflist_vb.asp
 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=45f13070-f2f1-4b51-af91-b14425ff7745&DisplayLang=en

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=62d91a63-1253-4ea6-8599-68fb3ef77de1&DisplayLang=en

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetsec/html/openhack.asp
 

http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/nhp/default.asp?contentid=28001369

 

 

Microsoft patterns & practices are Microsoft's recommendations for how to design, develop, deploy, and operate architecturally sound applications for the Microsoft application platform.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/practices/

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/device/compact.aspx