Microsoft

The End of a Decade's Work

Chip Lemmon — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:43:43 GMT

Well I guess I should be satisfied that I sustained a company for 10 years. But it is a bit anti-climactic. I've screwed up a lot, learned a lot and accomplished a lot since 1998. I like to think of it as a long MBA program based in real world experience. I wouldn't trade anything for the experiences I have gained over the past 10 years.

Nothing is more "real world" than being your own boss and running your own company. Nothing is more real world than not getting paid by a client for more than 90 days. Nothing is more real than being on the bench for several months watching your annual profits disappear. And yet nothing is more satisfying than knowing I did it for 10 years and did a damn good job at it.

I've seen a lot of crazy stuff. Crazy stuff other contractors do, crazy stuff clients do, crazy stuff client's employees do and crazy stuff partners do. I've been everything from developer to CTO. I've been a contract developer, business partner, CTO, Chief Architect, Sr. Developer, Project Manager, Advisor to a State Health Dept. and a member of a PMO.

I managed to survive more than 6 CTOs at one client and helped two clients when they sold their companies to other companies. I was once offered 0.5 percent, that's right one half of one percent of a start up as compensation for architecting their entire solution. Which by the way the company could not exist without as it enabled their entire offering. I even ran an off-shore operation for a while.

I was offered a job at just about every substantial client that I consulted for. I was laughed at of course when I told them how much it would cost to hire me. But that was okay because they just kept me on contract for a long time at my billing rate.

One side benefit I never expected nor planned for came around 2004. It was an introduction to the "community". I came across and subsequently hired a big personality in the .Net Community. We were friends instantly and I was immediately drawn into the community. I have met amazing people since that time from the typical .Net companies and some not so typical companies. I was given great opportunities to present to the community (which has probably fullfilled me more than those that attended my sessions.) While not as active as I once was I will always hold the .Net community in the highest regard and among some of the fondest memories over the past 10 years.

So why the long rant? Well because in March I decided to take a full time employment position and I actually enjoy it very much. And so to clean things up I have decided to close my shop. So in August 2008 I will close my company exactly 10 years after starting it. A company that has brought me joy and tears, excitement and fear. If you have ever run your own company, you'll get why this is such a big deal. If you haven't you should try it some time. It will certainly give you a different perspective on full time employement.

Maybe I'll be back on the independant side some day. But for now I've hung my hat at a GREAT company with huge opportunities. So while I focus on my new career this blog will probably fall silent.

Thanks,

--chaz

I can see the light -- Silverlight 2.0

Chip Lemmon — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:31:57 GMT

Silverlight 2.Oh My God! Shawn Burke posted about his endeavors with Silverlight 2.0 and he says one very important thing... "I'm having fun!" Man that is what it should be about. Programming should be fun and not a hassle. I am expecting some instant gratification from Silverlight 2.0.

Shawn also points to Scott Gu's blog. If you aren't watching that blog like a hawk already you really need to subscribe. Not to be overly dramatic, but coming from a thick client background, Silverlight 2.0 is going to change my world!!!!

--chaz

Do you WCF/WPF/WF/Silverlight?

Chip Lemmon — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:16:24 GMT

Okay so we've had an onslaught of new things hit in the Microsoft stack lately. I am curious how many folks are using WCF, WPF, WF (workflow), Silverlight, LINQ, etc. And for what types of problems you are trying to solve.

It would also be nice to know if you are using the P&P Guidance Packages and Ent Libs. Oh and which Visual Studio version are you mainly working with these days?

If you are not using this stuff yet why? Did you pitch it to your boss and they said no for some reason? Did they get it or not?

I consider this a reverse blog. It is probably better suited for a discussion board than a blog, but so be it. Talk back to me. I want to know which foundations are being embraced and which are being rejected.

Thanks for the feedback!!!!!

--chaz

Microsoft Sync

Chip Lemmon — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:20:28 GMT

If you've watched any TV lately you will notice an odd pairing of product brands. Intermingled in car ads recently has been the mention of Microsoft Sync. I thought hmm... that might be a pretty cool feature.

When looked into Sync a little closer I had the feeling, I've seen this trick before. Like, connect your cell phone to your car via Blue Tooth to make calls etc. But there is more. Like the ability to read and send text messages verbally. Coincidently I saw on Fox News last night how kids are being wiped off the planet and injuring and killing others because they are texting and driving at the same time. So now I think this isn't only cool, it is a life saver.

With all of that said, there are a couple of additional features coming like getting a health report from your car's on board computer. But the ultimate convenience for me would be to allow my Windows mobile device (or even Blackberry) to connect to my car via Sync. And each time the two paired have Sync identify that there are appointments on my schedule or pending messages in my in-box and allow me to interact further with my calender or e-mail verbally. A pleasant voice saying ("Good afternoon Chaz. You have 3 pending appointments and 22 unread e-mails in your in-box.") after you get in your car would be cool. Then at my leisure to say "review appointments". Yeah that would be something!

I think we have entered the Jetson's age with this innovation. I'm looking forward to the continued enhancements of this product line for safety and convenience. And come on man, it is just cool to text hands free. And for old timers like me (36) it should reduce the length of time it takes me to text 5 words from 15 minutes to just a couple of seconds. I may never get out of my car again ;)

Here's a link to the Microsoft Sync site.

--chaz

FireStarter NYC

Chip Lemmon — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:20:18 GMT

I will be presenting on the interaction of ASP.Net, ASP.Net AJAX, and Silverlight 1.0 this Saturday at Microsoft in NYC. I'll also be showing off a small bit of Expression Blend 2 December Preview.

It is amazing how easy it is to pull all of these technologies together. Some of what I will be showing this Satruday is just a bridge until Silverlight 2.0 is released. But it is all relatively simple and once you've done the work once it is very re-usable.

Hope I'll be seeing you there.

--chaz

Philly Code Camp Registration Open

Chip Lemmon — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:16:49 GMT

Registration for the Philly Code Camp on January 12th is now open. I will be presenting "Entry Level Event Models". It is a part of my "Entry Level" series that will attempt to get "the willing" up to speed on fundamental architectural, design and development practices.

I'm psyched to kick off 2008 with a code camp presentation. This should be a good one, so go register now!

--chaz

Dear ALT.Net Attendees:

Chip Lemmon — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:12:44 GMT

This is an open letter to the attendees of the upcoming ALT.Net gathering in Austin TX.

Dear Friends,

Sadly I will not be able to join you at ALT.Net due to some poor planning on my part. I regret missing out on the opportunity to surround myself with some of the brightest minds in our industry. If I were to attend ALT.Net though, my goal would have been to represent the "marginal developer". The developer who gets it, but doesn't practice it in the work place due to circumstances beyond his/her control. Or the developer who wants to get it, knows he should get it, but just doesn't.

My biggest fear is that the top 1% of the class is getting together and they will come up with things that will leave the "marginal" developer behind. Please remember to check your egos and agendas at the door and do what is best for the community. There are countless developers out there that look to you guys to blaze the trails. So long as your final message is not condescending or too abstract you will set the pace for others to follow.

To be clear about this what I mean is that there is a tendency to feel as though we are all unworthy to call ourselves developers right now if we are not an Agilest. Even if that is not the intent, it is the perception. And we all know that perception is reality. Please don't let that happen from the ALT.Net effort. You guys are on to something here.

If there is one thing I have learned from ALT.Net already, it is that a namespace is not something to take lightly. From the countless posts about what ALT.Net really is one might say that our industry is jam packed with anal retentive literalists. Let's move past the term ALT.Net already. Just don't change the namespace to ShoveItDownMyThroatLikeAgile.Net ;) Oh, just kidding, lighten up!

Oh and my final word on the ALT.Net thing. It makes me laugh when people argue that this is a movement against the Microsoft tool set. It is especially comical when non .Net or anti-Microsoft developers comment on how bad and evil Microsoft is. And how the horrible empire is following its own vision and not ours. Shut up already with this crap. Bottom line is that this is not a Utopian society. Microsoft is trying to make a buck on its efforts. And here is a dirty little secret... So are all of us. So use their tools, or use somebody else's but don't throw your hate around anymore, because it is just old.

Yes a lot of us do things for free to better our profession. But if we were all honest we do this because it puts bread on our table and not for the betterment of man kind. So great, there are languages out there that are grass roots, that don't come from an "evil empire". If that's your thing, go ahead and use it. But just stop the Microsoft bashing non-sense. I don't love MS but I don't hate them either. I think I have a practical perspective on what they are and how they help me do what I need to do for a living. In the end they are a business like any other. So enough already!

Well I guess that was a bit more than a final word, but I had to get that rant off my chest. It has really been killing me.

So ALT.Netters, have fun, keep it real and bring home some good ideas!

--chaz

WPF Starter

Chip Lemmon — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:26:25 GMT

A great post from Karsten Januszewski should help you get started with WPF. I like this not only because Karsten points to great resources, but because it is oganized into a nice 5 day self paced course. Really cool!

--chaz

User Interface Smackdown 2007

Chip Lemmon — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:01:00 GMT

As I had mentioned in my review of the NJUX meeting the User Experience movement seems to still be in its infancy stages. So I am psyched to see things like Josh Holmes' blog about the User Interface Smackdown 2007. These are exactly the types of meetings and conversations that need to happen to bring more momentum and attention to the User Experience.

It was also great to see that the attendees were cross vendor (Microsoft & Adobe). This is a reaffirmation for the NJUX that we need to be cross vendor and cross discipline.

--chaz

NJUX Re-cap

Chip Lemmon — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:01:00 GMT

The NJUX meeting was a great event. Thanks to everyone who turned out! A big lesson learned is that South Orange may not be the most ideal location to get to. We'll need to figure out a new location when the time is right.

There was some really meaningful dialog about just what a "User Experience" group should focus on. The consensus seemed to be that User Experience (especially in the Enterprise) is still in its infancy. So that will bring some challenges to the group. Some of the ideas that came from the meeting follow;

The group must engage the designer & developer communities. Presenters will be challenged to address both communities.

The presentations (at least for the first year) should be at Level 200 (aka introductory).

WE NEED TO BE VENDOR NUTRAL. I will always evangelize Microsoft technologies because that is my background and how I have made a living for countless years. But, when it comes to the User Experience there are vendors like Adobe that cannot be overlooked!

There will be a lot of UX news coming out of the upcoming Mix '07 Conference in May. This will give us plenty to cover as we kick off the group in a more formal meeting location. KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR MIX, IT IS GOING TO ROCK!

The overarching message for the group will focus on designers and developers working closely together. Similar to Agile's paired programming I think we have to realize that the User Experience isn't a singular responsibility. Better User Experiences will come from collaborative work between the developer and designer. A major challenge for us is to figure out how to get the designer community to come out and join the group. If anybody has any recommendations please post them here or e-mail me through this blog.

A really great discussion we had Thursday night is about how to make the User Experience relevant in back office Enterprise applications. The challenge for the design & development community is to show stake holders that a significant ROI may be appreciated by well designed back office applications as well as customer facing ones. And as someone had pointed out just putting a pretty UI on a terrible application will not make the application any better. So as User Experience creators we need to challenge ourselves not to masquerade crappy architectural practices with pretty UIs.

NJUX will take a pause while we watch for the news from Mix 07 and watch Adobe’s Apollo mature (still in Alpha release). Then we will plan and collaborate to put together some great content that will get folks excited about UX technologies.

Who knows, we may even look to host some sort of kick-off event to show off some of the best stuff from Mix. The event will embody the true spirit and purpose of NJUX.

Keep watching this blog for more on NJUX!

--chaz