Steve Lange @ Work https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/feed.xml Thoughts on DevOps, ALM, the Cloud, and all the related tools.. Fri, 19 Aug 2016 15:49:34 GMT en-US hourly 1 Bellevue Event: DevOps = Epic Applications https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/bellevue-event-devops-epic-applications Fri, 19 Aug 2016 15:31:18 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/?p=3905 DevOps Event Header Transform from Good to Great with DevOps! Microsoft’s Application Development team is hosting Gene Kim, Multiple Award winning CTO, researcher and bestselling author of the Phoenix Project to share how he’s helped companies take their organizations from Good to Great via the adoption of DevOps! Click to RegisterWe want to provide the behind the scenes look at how IT and Development can create the best efficiencies and go from “good to great” within this age of Digital Transformation.  Harnessing digital technologies for organizational success, we invite you to learn how Microsoft’s platforms and tools along with OSS can provide you efficiencies at scale.  Learn how supporting a holistic environment can succinctly deliver the most intelligent applications, streamlined operations, and an IT platform that allows you to create a new breed of applications. This is not your standard IT event…. Customers and employees quickly judge the health and relevance of organizations based on their application experience.  Because of this, it’s never been more important to ensure that the most stunning and insightful intelligent applications are being designed, released, maintained and continuously improved. This event will provide you with the insight to optimize your Development and IT Operations (DevOps) while enabling an application platform that can support your next generation of epic applications. Who should attend? Sr. IT and Development Decision Makers who are on point for improving their departments. If you are interested in identifying how you can move your organization forward by implementing DevOps practices, tools and adoption of the newest application architecture and functionality that can differentiate your organization from competitors, then you should attend. Please note:  This is ‘NOT’ a hands on lab boot camp, and is not intended for technical implementers. The Details When: September 1st, 2016 @ 9:00AM Where: Lincoln Square (700 Bellevue Way) in Bellevue, WA. You can find the full agenda, plus additional details about our excellent speaker, Gene Kim on the event registration page. We hope you will attend this Bellevue event.  Registration is on a first come first served basis, so please make sure to register as soon as possible!   Take a moment to register, and we hope to see you there!]]> A ton of new great content on MSDN for VSTS and TFS https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/a-ton-of-new-great-content-on-msdn-for-vsts-and-tfs Tue, 02 Aug 2016 21:54:26 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/?p=3825 Visual Studio Logo It's not just the Microsoft dev teams that work in sprints - so do the documentation teams! Take a look at some of the terrific new and updated content recently posted: There are plenty more which you can check out on the Content Updates page on VisualStudio.com]]> TFS "15" Preview is loaded.. https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/tfs-15-preview-is-loaded Mon, 11 Jul 2016 21:48:33 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/?p=3815 Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  It's been a crazy spring (and so far, summer), but luckily there are plenty of other bloggers around to disseminate content! TFS "15" Preview came out last week, and it's packed with all kinds of goodies that until now you could only find with VSTS!  Here are the top 3 highlights:
  • Code Search: Just like it sounds, a search box for finding code! You can search across projects, use filters (like code type), wildcards, and drill-down.  Check this page out for more details, including a video.
  • Package Management Service: Create, organize, and share NuGet feeds within your organization. And it plugs right into to your CI processes for easy consumption.
  • New work item form: This has been in VSTS for a little bit, and now it's landed in TFS. Aside from just looking cooler, it also supports a much-improved discussion experience, better build integration, and a cleaner look at history.
There are several other improvements of course (checkbox control, Kanban board filtering, new widgets, Git improvements), but these are the ones people seem to be noticing up front.
I hope you all are enjoying your summer, and I promise to blog more frequently!
 ]]> A Peek at Team Foundation Server 2015 Update 2 (RC 2) https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/a-peek-at-team-foundation-server-2015-update-2-rc-2 Thu, 03 Mar 2016 11:12:38 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/2016/03/03/a-peek-at-team-foundation-server-2015-update-2-rc-2/ I’ll let you read fo the full details on the Visual Studio site, but here are my highlights..

Work Item Deletion

Replacing the “Removed” state, you can now actually delete a work item.  Better yet, it goes to a recycle bin for recovery later if needed.

Deleting work items replaces the Removed state

Gated Check-in for TFVC in New Build

Enough said.. enjoy!

Support for Marketplace Extensions

If you use VSTS, then you know what I mean.  You can now browse, download, and install extensions from the Visual Studio Marketplace.  These extensions enhance and augment capabilities in TFS!

Test results in build

There are a ton of new ways to visualize and analyze test results that were run as part of a build.

image

 

Again, there are plenty of other fun enhancements for you to check out.  Enjoy!

]]> Don’t forget to Connect()! https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/dont-forget-to-connect Tue, 03 Nov 2015 08:45:08 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/2015/11/03/dont-forget-to-connect/ Heard of Connect()?  If not, you need to know about it!  Mark the date on your calendar:  November 18-19.

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If you’re not headed to New York to attend in-person, be sure to watch it online!  Join us this year to hear directly from Scott Guthrie, Brian Harry, and Scott Hanselman on what’s next in our journey. Get deeper insights into our exciting announcements with over 70 on-demand sessions. Interact with the engineering team members behind Microsoft tools and technologies to help you get started.

Speakers include:

See the full lineup of sessions here.  At the bottom of the page you’ll find links to save the dates on your calendar.  Don’t forget!

]]> Roadshow: Re-architecting your apps for the hyperscale cloud https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/roadshow-re-architecting-your-apps-for-the-hyperscale-cloud Thu, 10 Sep 2015 14:34:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/2015/09/10/roadshow-re-architecting-your-apps-for-the-hyperscale-cloud/ Check out this upcoming roadshow from our friends at Northwest Cadence, rolling through the Northwest!

Re-architecting your apps for the hyperscale cloud

making the most of Azure IaaS & PaaS

 

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Your apps are good, but can they scale when they need to?  Your apps need modernization and Azure has the answers.  Azure PaaS allows you to grow vertically and horizontally - it actually gives you extreme scalability - when you need it. Then, scale PaaS back down when you don't. It's really just that simple. Are you ready to take advantage of the hyperscale cloud?

 

when does scalability matter?

Some customers are seeing 40% reduction in costs through on-demand scaling! Application loads vary over time. By auto-scaling PaaS applications in Azure, you only pay for what you actually use, not for your spare capacity. If your seasonal spike requires a massive server farm, why pay for that all year? 

 

how do I evaluate the cloud?

Choosing an application to put into the cloud isn’t always an easy undertaking. We’ll discuss which metrics are most important to measure, what types of apps make the transition easily, and where you can get the most ROI for your development and operations spend.

what are the PaaS gotchas?

 

There is power, flexibility, and ease of PaaS in Azure. And there are also a few gotchas. Join us in a city near you for the latest tips, tricks, and traps on Azure PaaS.

 

Schedule:

  • breakfast: 9:00-9:30AM
  • discussion: 9:30-12PM
  • lunchtime Q&A: 12-1:30PM

 

Be sure to register soon!  Space is limited..

Bellevue, WA | October 06 | Register Now

Mountain View, CA | October 21 | Register Now

Portland, OR | October 27 | Register Now

Anchorage, AK | October 28 | Register Now

Boise, ID | November 11 | Register Now

 

I hope to see you there!

 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Northwest Cadence (425.455.1155)

image]]> Events in LA & Irvine: PaaS & the Cumulus Cloud https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/events-in-la-irvine-paas-the-cumulus-cloud Mon, 06 Jul 2015 15:55:33 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/2015/07/06/events-in-la-irvine-paas-the-cumulus-cloud/ Hey there!  Check out this upcoming event series from our friends at Northwest Cadence!

“Cumulus” means heap or pile in Latin, and cumulus clouds are typically the beautiful, white puffy clouds with a flat base and puffy rounded towers. PaaS is like the cumulus cloud <pun intended>. PaaS allows you to grow vertically and horizontally – it actually gives you extreme scalability – when you need it. Then, scale PaaS back down when you don’t. It’s really just that simple.

when does scalability matter?

Some customers are seeing 40% reduction in costs through on-demand scaling! Application loads vary over time. By auto-scaling PaaS applications in Azure, you only pay for what you actually use, not for your spare capacity. If your seasonal spike requires a massive server farm, why pay for that all year? 

how do I evaluate the cloud?

Choosing an application to put into the cloud isn’t always an easy undertaking. We’ll discuss which metrics are most important to measure, what types of apps make the transition easily, and where you can get the most ROI for your development and operations spend.
what are the PaaS gotchas?


There is power, flexibility, and ease of PaaS in Azure. And there are also a few gotchas. Join us in a city near you for the latest tips, tricks, and traps on Azure PaaS.

Schedule:

  • breakfast: 9:00-9:30AM
  • discussion: 9:30-12PM
  • lunchtime Q&A: 12-1:30PM

Register Now!    LA on August 19   |    Irvine on August 20

]]> Activating Visual Studio 2013 on an Offline Machine https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/activating-visual-studio-2013-on-an-offline-machine Tue, 02 Jun 2015 14:32:05 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/2015/06/02/activating-visual-studio-2013-on-an-offline-machine/ (File this under “I already know that”, but I get asked this question quite frequently..)

Visual Studio 2013 likes to go online every so often to validate that it’s being used by a licensed user.  That’s all well and good, but what if that user is working in a permanently offline environment? 

Fear not.  As an MSDN subscriber, you can download a “static” activation key to use.  Here are the steps:

  • Go to http://msdn.microsoft.com from a computer that has internet access.
  • Click on “MSDN Subscriptions” link toward the top right.
  • Sign into MSDN with a valid MSDN subscriber account (Microsoft Account, formerly Live ID)
  • Click on “My Product Keys”

image

  • Scroll down to the VS 2013 edition you have installed.  You should see the term “Static Activation Key.”  That is the key you need to enter into Visual Studio to turn off the internet activation check (which normally runs every 30 days).

image

 

Make a note of that key, and head over to your offline computer.

 

  • Launch Visual Studio 2013
  • Go to Help->Register Product

image

  • Click on “License with a Product Key”

image

  • Enter the static key you noted from MSDN.

image

  • Click Apply, and you should be set!
]]> Woot! Visual Studio 2015 Product Line Announced https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/woot-visual-studio-2015-product-line-announced Tue, 31 Mar 2015 10:43:58 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/2015/03/31/woot-visual-studio-2015-product-line-announced/ Visual Studio

I’ll refer you to the official Visual Studio blog post for more details, but just a heads up that the lineup for Visual Studio 2015 was announced this morning!

Again, full details on the VS blog, but here are the highlights:

  • Visual Studio Premium and Ultimate are condensing into a single, awesome product.  Meet Visual Studio 2015 Enterprise! 
    • If you have 2013 Premium or Ultimate today, you’ll automatically get upgraded to VS Enterprise whe it’s released.
    • The full comparison of features for the VS 2015 lineup are now available here.
    • Go here for more information on the Visual Studio 2015 product line, including pricing (and yes, Enterprise will be much cheaper that Ultimate!)
  • Are you using VS Professional or Test Professional?  Take a look at the offer that will be coming out in May.  Upgrade from Visual Studio Professional with MSDN or Visual Studio Test Professional with MSDN to Visual Studio Premium with MSDN for 50% off the regular list price and get a free upgrade to Visual Studio Enterprise with MSDN automatically when we release Visual Studio 2015.

    This exclusive offer is only available for 2 months!

 

All in all, Visual Studio 2015 is going to add tremendous value!  Not just to the product itself, but MSDN as well.  Look for more information about this upcoming release as it becomes available (I’ll try to post more as well!).

]]> March Webinars from InCycle Software https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/slange/march-webinars-from-incycle-software Fri, 13 Mar 2015 12:05:05 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/slange/2015/03/13/march-webinars-from-incycle-software/

Our friends at InCycle Software have some great webinars coming up this month.  Take a look!

Webinar March 17th @1pm (PST): Update to Microsoft Development Tools and Platforms in 2015

Join us for a super charged session showcasing the top Visual Studio features that increase developer productivity. Learn first-hand how easy it is take your skills and team to the next level. 

http://www.incyclesoftware.com/?events=update-microsoft-development-tools-platforms-2015

Webinar March 19th @11 am (PST): Moving Your Business to Azure

During this webinar, we'll discuss a planning and decision making framework focused upon leveraging PaaS for successful application migration to the Microsoft Azure.

http://www.incyclesoftware.com/?events=moving-your-business-to-azure

Webinar March 26th @11am (PST): Best Practices on Migrating Your Application to Azure

Migrating applications and services to the Microsoft Azure can offer a number of attractive benefits. During this session, we'll discuss best practices for the migration of applications to the Azure platform.

http://www.incyclesoftware.com/?events=best-practices-on-migrating-your-application-to-azure

 

 

Keep updated on other events and webinars from InCycle by visiting their events page.

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