With the introduction of Visual Studio 2013 and the unified Windows runtime, developers can now build apps that natively target both Windows 8.1 and Windows phone 8.1. There are two mechanism that enable this: Shared Project and Portable Class Library.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to make choices as to which one makes the most sense under certain requirements. Below are some things to know that will help you in making that decision.

SHARED PROJECT

Also known as Shared Folder allows for a structured approach to building universal Windows apps.

They have some advantages:

• Shared Folder enable the use of platform-specific APIs through the use of  conditional compilation
• Shared Folder also enable cases where the source is compatible, but the binary wouldn't be, as when APIs are in different namespaces.

And some disadvantages:

• They require sharing either the source code or multiple binaries, and this places part of the complexity on the consumer of the code.
• They require convention and discipline to centralize handling of divergent APIs so that the code doesn't become maintainable.

PORTABLE CLASS LIBRARY (PCL)

PCL has been improved to better support building universal Windows apps. this support goes from the WinRT to XAML controls to the VS Editor. Like Shared Project, it has advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

• It offers an extremely simply deployment and sharing model
• It scales well to large systems requiring multiple solutions, involving third parties or multiple programming languages

Disadvantages:

• Relies heavily on the fact that the targets have converged APIs
• Handling divergent APIs requires using higher-level abstracts, such as dependency injection or Inversion of Control containers.

The convergence of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 will lead to level of unification that will continue to simply the developer experience (productivity), and yield end-user experiences that would be hard, if not impossible, in the platform silo days.

Are you a Startup and interested in expanding your reach? drop me a note (joelrey@microsoft.com). Let’s talk about your business/technical goals and how you can tap into our capabilities for Startups.

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The future assets will be released under Apache 2.0 license. Importantly, we will continue to staff the project by the same Microsoft developers who build it today, and continue supporting it through the same mechanisms (a dedicated sustained engineering team and Premier Support).

WHY

The potential benefits for accepting community contributions are as follows:

• EntLib is a high-profile project with over 4M cumulative downloads and a huge user community. Making a contribution to something of this reach would be used by many thousands of people. This is quite an achievement !!!
• Development in the open, collaboration with Microsoft dev team and the ability to influence the direction of the project.
• More rapid code and guidance evolution.
• Better project decisions due to diversity.
• Bolstering your CV and proving your competencies.

ANNOUNCEMENT

• aka.ms/entlibopen
• Also, see the amplified message by MS Open Tech.

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Interesting points! Particularly the fact that your code is not just for compilers, it is for humans too.

Why does it matter?

1. You are an author
2. It’s foundational
3. Justify your technique
4. Reading is Hard
5. Technical debt is depressing
6. You’re Laze
7. Don’t be a verb

PRINCIPLES

• Choose the right tool
• Optimize signal to noise ratio
• Strive for self-documenting code

Read all about it here

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Foreword by S. Somasegar

Foreword to the 1^st edition by Scott Guthrie

1. Welcome to the Library
2. Much ADO about Data Access
3. Error Management Made Exceptionally Easy
4. Perseverance, Secret of All Triumphs
5. As Easy as Falling Off a Log
6. Logging What You Mean
7. Banishing Validation Complication
8. Updating aExpense to Enterprise Library v6.0
   Tales from the Trenches: First Experiences

The guide focuses on the following blocks:

• − Data Access Application Block
• − Exception Handling Application Block
• − Transient Fault Handling Application Block
• − Logging Application Block
• − Semantic Logging Application Block
• − Policy Injection Application Block
• − Validation Application Block.

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• Overview of Windows 8.1 Developer Platform
• What’s New in XAML and HTML Apps
• Bluetooth, USB, and 3d Printing
• Speech, Camera, and Mic
• Web App Template
• Embedded Scenarios
• XAML and HTML Performance

Register

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Visual Studio Online

A set of development services and offerings, integrated with Windows Azure to help development teams create, deliver and manage next generation applications. Visual Studio Online provides easy access to Application Lifecycle Management capabilities across teams to support continuous application delivery and fast iterations of applications through deep insights.

Visual Studio Online “Monaco”

“Monaco” is a lightweight browser-based coding environment using standard-based HTML and JavaScript. “Monaco” is an easy way for developers to get started and make changes to apps through any browser that complements the Visual Studio IDE. Monaco technology is leveraged in Napa for Office 365 app development and for SkyDrive. Stay tuned for additional scenario using this tool with Windows Azure websites.

Visual Studio Online Application Insights

Available in limited preview (invitation only).  Application Insights builds on our DevOps vision enabling teams to support agile application delivery by providing visibility into how an application runs and is being used by customers. Application Insights collects live telemetry data across development, test and production environments and captures availability, performance and usage data, providing development teams with a 360-degree view of an application’s health.

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• Download Visual Studio 2013 (also available on MSDN subscriber downloads)
• Save the date for Visual Studio 2013 Virtual Launch on Nov 13th
• Read the VS 2013 release announcement by S. Somasegar: Visual Studio 2013 available for download
• Read the Windows 8.1 release announcement on Blogging Windows: Windows 8.1 now available!

more info

• Learn about What’s New in Visual Studio 2013.
• Get started with details on System requirements and Platform compatibility.
• Read Dev Tools blog posts by
• BHarry,
• VS Team,
• ScottGu,
• Windows App Builder,
• .NET Team,
• C++ Team,
• Python,
• Web Dev,
• ALM Team,
• Apps for Office & SharePoint, LightSwitch Team,
• Entity Framework,
• WCF Data Services, and
• TypeScript.
• Visit the Visual Studio and Windows Developer Centers.
• Reference MSDN library docs, including What's New and Project Compatibility.

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DESCRIPTION
We all know how important User Experience is to a company, whether it's a mobile app, service, software, or hardware. While large companies have the ability to put significant resources behind creating a great user experience, at Microsoft, we know that most startups, like you, don’t have the luxury to do so.

That is why we are offering you this free webcast with Jacqueline Stetson Pastore, the founder of UXRD, a User Experience design firm exclusively for the startup community.

In this webcast, you will go through six core UX exercises that every startup should be focusing on in order to reach the best user experience. Examples to include:

• Why UX is so important
• How do you create a compelling user experience
• What are some best practices and things to look for when evaluating a product's experience before launching it to your user base?
• Good UX is the end result of many different activities.

You will also learn about the wealth of resources Microsoft has available to startups. For instance, Microsoft BizSpark – this is a program designed to provide startups all the resources they need to build successful companies and connect them with a community of experts.

GUEST SPEAKER/BIO
Jacqueline Stetson Pastore, UXRD

User Experience expert focused on UX strategy, user research, and interaction design with industries/field experience in startups,  communities, eLearning, intranet, venture capital, finance, banking, retail, ecommerce, customer service, pharma, real estate, jobs, art, client portal and fitness.

DATES/TIMES (click to register)            
Dec 11th, 2:00PM EST
Dec 18th, 2:00PM EST

AUDIENCE
Startups Worldwide

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Co-founder with PHP Developer Experience, Did you know?

• Azure Web Sites run PHP by default.
• Azure Web Sites can be launched with WordPress, Joomla, MediaWiki, CakePHP, and Drupal pre-installed.
• On Windows PHP developers can use the free yet fully functional WebMatrix IDE to edit PHP, HTML, and JavaScript.
• All of Azure’s primary services and storage API’s have PHP libraries.
• The Azure developer portal has a landing page specifically for PHP developers.
• Windows Azure runs MySQL. Azure subscriptions get one free MySQL Database.
• PHP developers can use their $150 per month Azure benefit to run production web sites built in PHP and run them as Azure Websites, or Virtual Machines running Windows or Linux.
• Example: A Startup can run its blog on WordPress, its developer portal on MediaWiki, and host a custom PHP mobile API using the Azure benefit.

Co-founder enthusiastic about cutting edge frameworks, web sockets, and JavaScript, Did you know?

• Azure Web Sites run Node.js and have the Node executable pre-installed and ready to use.
• Azure’s own mobile services are built on Node.js, and custom event coding in Azure Mobile Services uses Node.js style JavaScript.
• Azure’s own command line tools are delivered as Node.js packages ( % npm –i –g azure-cli ) allowing them to run on iOS, Linux and Windows.
• The $150 Azure benefit is more than enough to run 10 Node.js web sites 24/7 (Azure Web Site in Standard mode, with custom domain mapping).
• Node.js may also be run on Azure Web Roles, Azure Windows VM, or an Azure Linux VM.
• All of Azure’s primary services and storage API’s have Node.js libraries.
• The Azure developer portal has a landing page specifically for Node.js developers.
• Azure Web Sites support GIT publishing, either from github or a local repository.

Startup develops iOS Games and supported with JSON api’s

• Azure Mobile Services are JSON based.
• The $150 Azure Benefit would pay for more than 50GB of SQL data stored behind your mobile services api.
• Azure Mobile Services support the iOS notification service.

Want to build or port your Startup solutions to Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and/Azure? Let’s Talk!

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