My thanks go to the following Australian partners, who are featured in this first Windows Azure catalogue:

• Artis Group: www.artisgroup.com.au
• Assessment Portal: www.assessment-portal.com
• Breeze: www.breeze.net
• ClickView: www.clickview.com.au
• CoolTrax: www.cooltrax.com
• Expanz: www.expanz.com
• FoodStorm: www.foodstorm.com
• Hands on Systems: www.handson.com.au
• Hyperlocalizer: www.hyperlocalizer.com
• Intelledox: www.intelledox.com
• Inzant: www.inzant.com.au
• Sweepshake: www.sweepshake.com
• M-Bytes: www.m-bytes.com; www.kineticeducation.com.au
• Mokom: www.mokom.com.au
• OneNimbus: www.onenimbus.com
• Open Windows: www.openwindows.com.au
• Resonate Solutions: www.resonatesolutions.com.au
• Saasabi: www.saasabi.com
• Tapit: www.tapit.com.au
• WebXact: www.webxact.com.au 

Download the book from: https://download.microsoft.com/documents/australia/azure/Windows-Azure-eBook.pdf
or https://aka.ms/azureebook

Let me know what you think…

We really hope you can join us to hear more about the future of the web. There’s plenty of content on developing for Windows Phone 7, Silverlight, Azure and and so much more.

Visit the REMIX site for more info on the event which takes you to the registration site here: https://www.microsoft.com.au/events/register/home.aspx?levent=829742&linvitation

Check out Jorke’s blog for a little more information or visit the Web PI home page.

Terms and Conditions of Windows 7 Green Light Application Competition

Instructions on how to enter form part of the Conditions of Entry.  By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Conditions.

1.       The Promoter is Microsoft Pty Ltd, 1 Epping Road, North Ryde 2113.
ACN: 002 589 460. (Promoter)

2.       Entry is open to Australian residents aged 16 years and over only. Entrants under 18 years should seek parental permission to enter. Employees of the Promoter and their immediate families are not eligible to enter.

3.       Promotion commences at 9:00am (Sydney time) on 26 March 2010. Entries close on 30 April 2010.

4.       Your entry must be sent by email to win7idea@microsoft.com and must include:

a.       First name and Last Name

b.      Address

c.       Contact Phone Number

d.      A short description of your application not exceeding 150 words.  Your application should work with Windows 7, and show the potential benefits of Windows 7

e.      No more than 10 screen shots of the application showing the various Windows 7 features being used

Failure to supply this information will invalidate your entry.

5.       All valid entries received via the above email will be judged and scored by the Promoter in accordance with the judging criteria as below:

a.       your application (scored on inspiration ) 33.3% of score

b.      how it would be implemented (scored on simplicity and ability to deliver - your "development time") 33.3% of score

c.       expected impact it would have (scored on extent of benefit as outlined in clause 4 above) 33.3% of score

6.       The entry with the maximum score will be adjudged the winner.  This is a game of skill.  Chance plays no part in determining winner.   

7.       The winner will receive a full price ticket to attend TechEd 2010 on 24 August 2010 to 27 August 2010 held in the Gold Coast worth AU$2,000. Travel, accommodation and expenses are not included in the prize and must be paid for by the winner. The ticket may be transferrable to any person working in the same company as the entrant.

8.       All intellectual property provided remains the property of the entrant.  As a condition of entry of his promotion, each entrant understands and agrees that by entering the competition, they license the Promoter to publish their entry and name (at the Promoter’s discretion) on the web site https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-au/default.aspx and in any other media, for an unlimited period for any reason including but not limited to future promotional, marketing or publicity purposes without any further reference, payment, or other compensation to the entrant.  The entrant acknowledges that Microsoft may edit entries before publication, without any infringement on the entrant’s moral rights.

9.       Each entrant warrants to the Promoter that each entry submitted is an original literary and development work of the entrant that does not infringe the rights of any third party. The entrant agrees to indemnify the Promoter against all costs and claims by third parties arising from a breach of this warranty. All entrants acknowledge that the Promoter, its associated business and bodies corporate, and third parties, will continue to create software in the future, and any similarities with any entries to this competition are co-incidental

10.   An entry may NOT contain, as determined by us, in our sole and absolute discretion, any content that:

a.       is sexually explicit, unnecessarily violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group; profane or pornographic;

b.      promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing) or a particular political agenda;

c.       is obscene or offensive;

d.      defames, misrepresents or contains disparaging remarks about other people or companies;

e.      contains trademarks, logos, or trade dress (such as distinctive packaging or building exteriors/interiors) owned by others either without express written consent of the rights holder(s) or a reasonably apparent lawful basis for your use(s);

f.        contains copyrighted materials owned by others (including photographs, sculptures, paintings, and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media) either without express written consent of the rights holder(s) or a reasonably apparent lawful basis for your use(s);

g.       contain any material that infringes a third parties intellectual property rights;

h.      contains materials embodying the names, likenesses, voices, or other indicia identifying any person (other than a member of your family or community for whom you have received consent) including, without limitation, celebrities and/or other public or private figures, living or dead either without express written consent of the rights holder(s) or a reasonably apparent lawful basis for your use(s);

i.         contains look-alikes of celebrities or other public or private figures, living or dead either without express written consent of the rights holder(s) or a reasonably apparent lawful basis for your use(s);

j.        communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which we wish to associate; and/or violates any law;

11.   The Promoter reserves the right, at any time,  to investigate and verify or reject outright any tendered entry (including an entrant’s identity, age and place of residence),  and to disqualify any entrant who submits an entry that is not in accordance with these Terms and Conditions or who tampers with the entry process. Failure by the Promoter to enforce any of its rights at any stage does not constitute a waiver of those rights.

12.   All entries are deemed to be received at the time of receipt into the promotion database and not at the time of transmission by the entrant.

13.   The winner will also be notified by email on 30 May 2010.

14.   In the event that 2 or more ideas are similar, only 1 entry will be accepted. The judges will make a decision on which entry is original and accepted based upon:

a.       Submission times of all similar entries (Email received  time)

b.      Content of all similar entries.

15.   The Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

16.   No responsibility is accepted for entries not received by the Promoter.

17.   If a winner of the prize is under the age of 18 years, the prize will be awarded to the winner subject to the prior written consent of the winner’s parent or legal guardian.  The Promoter may make such inquiries as it deems necessary to satisfy itself that such consent has been obtained.

18.   If a winner can’t be contacted by the Promoter, the next best idea would be chosen.

19.   The prize winner must, if required by the Promoter, sign a legal release in a form determined by the Promoter in its absolute discretion.

20.   By entering this competition, the entrant warrants that they have considered their personal employment situation and that, by entering this competition, they are not in breach of any of their employment obligations.

21.   Subject to any applicable law which cannot be excluded, the Promoter and its related bodies corporate shall not be liable for any loss, (including, without limitation, indirect, special or consequential loss or loss of profits), expense, misadventure, accident, personal injury, death, damage or claim which is suffered or sustained (whether or not arising from any person’s negligence) in connection with:

a.       Undertaking any travel as a result of the competition or improper use of the prize won;

b.      Any act or omission (whether negligent or not) of the prize winner, or any person associated with them; or

c.       Any circumstances outside the Promoter’s reasonable control.

22.   The Promoter reserves the right to verify the validity of entries and to disqualify any entrant who the Promoter believes either has tampered with the entry process or has submitted an entry that is not in accordance with these Conditions.

23.   Any costs associated with entering the competition and accessing the website are the responsibility of the entrant.

24.   Details from all entries will be collected and used for the purposes of conducting this promotion (which may include disclosure to third parties for the purpose of processing and conducting the promotion) and for publicity purposes surrounding this promotion. By entering this promotion entrants consent to the use of their information as described. Entrants may access and/or change their data by following the procedures in the Promoter’s privacy policy which is available at www.microsoft.com/australia/privacy. The Promoter will only use your personal details for marketing purposes outside those described above if you “opt in” to join the mailing list when prompted.

Join us for this MSDN Book Club to discuss “Building on the Windows 7 User Experience to Delight Your Customers”

When? Friday 26th March 2010 @ 12-1pm Sydney time. Click here to add the event to your diary

Join the meeting

Chosen video to review? click here to watch the TechEd video before the Book Club and come armed with questions for the team

What’s the Book Club?
A regular LiveMeeting community discussion on a chosen presentation or video. This time we’ll be joined by Dave Glover, Joseph Cooney and Tatham Oddie to discuss "Building on the Windows 7 User Experience to Delight Your Customers" on Friday 26th March 2010 @ 12-1pm Sydney time.

Agenda:

• 5 minutes: Speaker Introduction
• 40 minutes: Discussion (with 3 potential points being):
  • How do I take advantage of the Windows 7 platform
  • What are the new features in VS2010 and .NET Framework 4 that allow me to light up my application on Windows 7
  • What are 3 steps to application greatness?
• 5 minutes: Feedback and vote for next topic

Resources:

·Video Link: https://www.noisetosignal.com.au/chlong/bookclub/dev360/default.html

[UPDATE] I have just added this discussion topic to the MSDN Forum: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-AU/bookclubau/threads 

·LiveMeeting not installed? Download it here: https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101733831033.aspx

To join a meeting from your phone, dial in using the following information:

Phone: +61298702923 [English (Australia), English (United Kingdom)]

Conference ID: 203791917

Our Azure Lead, Greg Willis, was busy last week with the Australian Launch Event on Tuesday 23rd here in Sydney!  

Our keynote speaker, David Chappell, delivered an excellent presentation on cloud platforms in general which was very well received by the crowd in both Sydney and Melbourne. David was followed by Dianne O’Brien, with a review of our commercial models, SLA and promotional offers. Dianne also announced the commercial availability of Windows Azure in Australia for next month (April 2010) so watch this space for promotional offers and MSDN benefits.

Gianpaolo Carraro wrapped up the day by showcasing some early adopters, including appearances by adslot, ajiliti and Joomla!   We also highlighted the strong early support we have from customers and partners here in Australia who are working with us on Windows Azure, from the likes of MYOB and ninemsn:

We’re looking forward to the commercial release in April. In the meantime, visit www.windowsazure.com for everything you need to start building apps on the Azure Platform.

We hope you can join us for our second MSDN Australia Book Club.

What’s the Book Club?
A regular LiveMeeting community discussion on a chosen presentation or video. This time we’ll be joined by Vijay Rajagopalan to discuss Developing Windows Azure Applications for PHP Ruby and Java using Eclipse" on Friday 5th March 2010 @ 11.30-12.30pm Sydney time.

Please click here to watch the Channel 9 video before the Book Club and come armed with questions for Vijay.

Agenda:

· 5 minutes: Speaker Introduction

· 40 minutes: Discussion (with 3 potential points being):

   o What's the latest on Windows Azure in Australia?

   o What’s the new interoperability support to allow PHP developers to use the Eclipse IDE to develop for Windows Azure

   o How is Microsoft working to make Eclipse itself a great Windows 7 application?

· 5 minutes: Feedback and vote for next topic

Resources:

· Video Link: https://channel9.msdn.com/shows/The+Knowledge+Chamber/Developing-Windows-Azure-applications-for-PHP-Ruby-and-Java-using-Eclipse/

· Interoperability s blog: https://blogs.msdn.com/interoperability/

· LiveMeeting not installed? Download it here: https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101733831033.aspx

Click here to add this event to your diary.

Where? University of Sydney: New Law School Auditorium

Who? Developers who are interested in hearing Robbie Bach’s (President, Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division) view on the future of technology and entertainment

How do I register? Click here to RSVP

Optimise for and more!

Microsoft announced today a new extension for IIS: the SEO Toolkit.

Once installed, you can review your website via the IIS Manager to make tweaks fast. The SEO Toolkit includes detailed analysis and search engine friendly suggestions which may help to improve the relevance of your website in search results.

The SEO Toolkit will help you to:

• Increase website traffic and revenue
• Influence and update search engines
• Improve customer experience

For more information or to download, visit the SEO Toolkit page.

PS – visit Jorke’s blog for more info on the Web Platform Installer