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MOSS and SQL Server 2008 - Better Together (Webcast).pptx

Power-up on the latest in Application Platform from Microsoft!  Join us for the following 60 Minute Power Lunch Session Webcast presentation on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 and SQL Server 2008.

To be successful in today’s economic climate, organizations must be able to find ways to save money and look for ways to do more with less.  Ever since Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP1 introduced support for SQL Server 2008, companies have been discovering that they can benefit from the new features of SQL Server 2008.  Features such as backup compression, encryption, performance management, policy-based management and many more help reduce costs and reclaim time all while you improve operations.  Come and attend this session to learn how you can light-up your MOSS environment using SQL Server 2008.

Live Meeting Webcast: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SQL Server 2008 - Better Together!

The first thing I did was image it and then install Windows 7.  So my impression so far is “Very cool!”  It is a great laptop to take to Starbucks and do some light work.  It is perfect for surfing the web, connecting to email, and similar work.  Better yet, I can see it being my presentation laptop where I store all my slide decks and other customer related material.

What it is not is a laptop to do extensive editing on!  I will be working on another book very soon and I was hoping I could use it for that purposes.  Yes, I was dreaming when I came up with the idea to use a netbook to write a book on.  The fact is that this generation of netbook computers are horrible for editing purposes.  There are two main issues:  screen size and keyboard.  The keyboard is just too small.  The screen resolution of 1024x600 is an issue for some applications.  Notice I did not say screen size.  The screen is a 9 inch display and is perfectly fine.

So, my dream netbook computer is probably the Dell Mini 10 when they make all the accessories available.  At the moment Dell has not made all the features available.  Dell, your public is waiting!  :)

The absolute nirvana of netbooks would be a netbook with the following configuration:

64-bit dual core Atom processor, 4GB memory, 64-128GB Solid State Drive, 10.1” widescreen display with Multi-Touch and 720p, 802.11abgn wireless, Bluetooth, 1.3MP Camera (or better), 3 USB Ports, 1 HDMI Port, Gigabit Onboard Networking, a Fast SD Card Reader, Multi-Touch TrackPad, Mobile Broadband, Internal TV Tuner and Edge-to-Edge Keyboard

What is interesting is that all the parts for such a machine is available.  The Dell Mini 10 with the “Coming Soon” specs comes very close.  It is missing the 64-bit dual core processor and multi-touch display.  Also, they need to upgrade the memory, SD card reader, and onboard networking, but many can live with 2GB of memory, the existing SD card reader, and the 100MB onboard networking.

The selected teams will spend the whole week (April 20-24) at the MTC in Waltham, MA. The first ½ day will be spent in CRM training, and then each team will be provided with servers and one of our MTC development suites for 3½ days of hands-on development with the assistance of our CRM and .NET experts. The final day will be dedicated to packaging up each team’s solution (so they can keep and build on it), plus demonstrating solutions to a panel of judges for various prizes.

Here are some highlights…

• Learn and build next generation business solutions on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Platform (a rapid application development platform to reduce the cost and Go-To-Market time) with help of on-site advisors (Microsoft Dynamics CRM and .NET experts).
• Getting entrepreneurs coaching from a panel of industry experts (academic and angel investors)
• Generating marketing buzz for your ideas

Oh, did I mention the best part?  This event is a no-fee event (plan your own travel expenses) and each team can bring 3 participants (1 business and 1-2 technical).

All in all this promises to be a great week and an opportunity to extend your product’s reach by integrating with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. For details, please see Sanjay Jain’s blog.

Thanks!

We (Steve, Chris, and I) can finally say that Essential Windows Communication Foundation will be available soon.  It took almost two years to complete (yes, a very long time).  One major takeaway from the experience "Writing a book is extremely hard work."  I personally spent many days and nights at Starbucks in many different cities (Austin, Acton, Concord, Westford, New York, Seattle, Redmond, and many more) writing the book.  It was a great way to focus on the task at hand.  After all the time spent, we are happy that you will soon be able to get the book.  It is already available for pre-order on Amazon.

My goal is that everyone who reads Essential WCF will learn something new about WCF.  Steve had a great comment about the book.

"... we wrote it for people like you - who need clear explanations and straight-forward examples.   No theory, no futures; just the facts."

We are happy to be releasing it and think it will help many people write great WCF applications using both .NET 3.0 and .NET 3.5.

"Hosting InfoPath FormControl inside WPF Application" on CodePlex

One interesting aspect about this sample application is that it uses a Frame control to dynamically load in Page classes in a desktop application.  Commands are sent from the application shell to pages that get loaded in the Frame control.

Visit WPF RoutedCommand Example on CodePlex

1) The Book -> I am writing a book on WCF with a friend and colleague of mine, Steve Resnick.  In fact, as I am writing this I am finishing up chapter on the book.  This seems to be a great way for me to take a quick break.

2)  Technical -> Performance, Performance, Performance!  I love to help developers optimize for performance.  It doesn't matter what it is.  I have helped customers optimize performance for their applications built on top of .NET, ASP.NET, BizTalk, SQL Server, SharePoint, and more.  Actually, this should be restated as I like to be challenged.  If someone says it can't be done, I usually want to find if that is really true or not.  I usually prove that it can be done.  This usually takes the form of performance and capacity analysis of an application and then providing the architecture and implementation to fix the performance bottleneck.

3) Historical -> Prior to my Microsoft career, I have built many different types of applications including Internet scalability contextual messaging systems, legal case management systems, vehicle tracking system including call center and mapping technologies, and simulations for testing air traffic control systems.  I also had a very good run as an independent consultant.

4) Personal -> I love to do water sports like boating, fishing, and water skiing.  I also like to go rock climbing at rock climbing gyms.  It is a great way to get exercise.  Unfortunately I have let life get in my way too many times and haven't done any of these in a while.  Fortunately I can now do these with my kids.

5) Movies and TV -> Most Science Fiction!  I love to watch Battlestar Gallactica, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate SG1.  I am in love with my Media Center PC and now my XBOX 360 that connects to it.

Everyone I tried to tag right away was already tagged.  I will try and tag some people that I haven't kept in touch with.

1) Mine is completely reliant on .NET 2.0 Classes.  Therefore it gets the goodness that is .NET 2.0.  For example I use Generics for some of the features that I support.  This reduced the amount of code I had to write.

2) There are a number of features that IMHO opinion are MUST HAVES.  For example, my HTTP Compression Module supports compressing WebResource.axd resources, works with ASP.NET's DefaultHttpHandler, and does not break if you call Response.End from an ASP.NET Web Page or Handler.

3) I use the out-of-the-box .NET Compression classes.

   No licensing, no costs, and no GNU licenses issues!
   Fully supported by Microsoft!

NOTE:  There are better compression libraries that are available if you are willing to pay the money.  I prefer the Xceed Streaming Compression libraries.

4) I added some management and debugging capabilities that would allow administrators and developers to determine what is going on.  I hope to enhance this significantly in the future.