Denny Boynton

Build a Cool Mashup Application with Popfly and Win!

Denny Boynton — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:16:15 GMT

The Popfly beta was announced this morning and, to incent to you get out there and start building cool mashu applications, we're running a contest. Check out the details on my personal blog:

http://blog.dennyboynton.com/PermaLink,guid,34d0dca1-43e9-41c9-b4d5-bbc607401e09.aspx

ANNOUNCEMENT: Microsoft Releasing Source Code for the .NET Framework

Denny Boynton — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:31:17 GMT

"AH, what?" you say? Well, it was announced a short time ago that Microsoft will be releasing the source code for the .NET Framework with Visual Studio 2008 later this year. And that's not all.

For the complete story, check out my complete post on the topic here: http://blog.dennyboynton.com/PermaLink,guid,79563190-ddd1-4eab-b583-f67d82eda94f.aspx

New Version of Live Search Deployed Last Night

Denny Boynton — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:59:30 GMT

The Live.com team released a new version of Live Search last night. Interested in how the search results compare to Google? I did a quick test and was impressed with the results. Plus, there is a very cool video search feature now.

Check out my review of the new Live Search on my personal blog.

Technorati Tags: LiveSearch, Google

Ron Jacobs of ARCast.TV in St. Louis on Tuesday, October 16th

Denny Boynton — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:44:03 GMT

If you're a fan of ARCast.TV and live near St. Louis, MO, you'll want to register for this very special event. Ron Jacobs is coming to town and will be giving a talk at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, October 16th. All the details, including the link to the registration site, can be found here:

http://blog.dennyboynton.com/PermaLink,guid,308390b6-3dbb-4341-88b5-16c488828afc.aspx

If you're interested in attending, register quick, because space is limited.

Technorati Tags: arcast, ronjacobs, stlouis

I've moved

Denny Boynton — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:19:18 GMT

GeeksWithBlogs has been a fantastic online home for the past year or so (thanks, Jeff and John!) and I will continue to advicate its use to folks I talk to who are interested in starting to blog.

I've decided to strike out on my own and try managing my own blog site so, from now on, I'll be posting at http://blog.dennyboynton.com.

Thanks, and see you all there.

Consolidating the Silverlight, Blend and "Orcas" Download Sprawl

Denny Boynton — Wed, 16 May 2007 18:34:34 GMT

I was holding an ArcCouncil meeting in St. Louis last week and one of the attendees expressed their frustration with the seemingly 43 places you have to go to download and use the Visual Studio "Orcas", the Silverlight tools and Expression Blend. So, I'll try to clarify this right here and now:

Visual Studio "Orcas": Here is the URL for the public download site: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F10FB5DF-E369-4DB4-B9A7-845DBF793368&displaylang=en. Unfortunately, this site requires you to download nine WinRAR files individually. Once you have the complete package downloaded, just execute the first RAR file and it will extract the rest of the files in order to put the files on your machine. Yes, this is kind of a pain I know, but please remember, it's still beta 1.

If you have access to an MSDN subscription, you can download "Orcas" from there as an ISO or you can get a VPC image as well.

Either of these download routes will get you everything you need to run and use VS "Orcas" and the .NET Framework 3.5. Be aware that there is no handy-dandy uninstaller for most of the stuff that gets installed and some of it will likely cause problems with Visual Studio 2005, so don't install this on a machine that is critical to your daily existence.

Silverlight: The URL for all things Silverlight is http://www.silverlight.net. There are some great resources available to help you get started building cool Silverlight applications. There are two versions of Silverlight you can download. First there is Silverlight 1.0 Beta and is available here:

Windows: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/eula.aspx?id=fbc0ab04-4ad9-664d-07f4-d4592dd8e157

Mac: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/eula.aspx?id=fe2cbe3f-e0bd-f4d2-bb74-f9ccff3c7e96

Second, there is Silverlight 1.1 alpha. This is the version that has the .NET CLR built into it. It is available here:

Windows: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/eula.aspx?id=e2c1a44f-0b5c-face-28c8-08a26f2e0b3c

Mac: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/eula.aspx?id=03d833f1-549b-dc3b-af75-f74b1ebb9351

Finally, you can download the ASP.NET Futures package that will provide server-side controls to enable you to build Silverlight into ASP.NET pages. You find that here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9323777E-FE78-430C-AD92-D5BE5B5EAD98&displaylang=en

Expression Blend: The ship date for Blend was April 30th. If you want to look at and use the 1.0 version of Blend, you can download a fully-functional trial at http://www.microsoft.com/Expression/products/download.aspx?key=blend. The site will provide you with a key that you can enter into the software that will enable the trial for 180 days.

If you want to use Blend to build Silverlight applications, you'll need the Blend 2.0 May CTP which you can find here: http://www.microsoft.com/Expression/products/download.aspx?key=blend2maypreview.

Those are the essentials. Want some info on other technologies? Send me your feedback!

MIX '07 Kicks Off

Denny Boynton — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:37:14 GMT

Wow, it has been quite a day here at MIX -- I hardly know where to begin.

As Ray Ozzie started his keynote this morning, he talked about some new concepts in application categories that reall make a lot of sense. First, there is the idea of the "universal web application," or an app that lives solely online and is accessed via the browser. Then he talked about the "experience first" application, an app that runs on the desktop and can heavily leverage the resources of the desktop. So ok, we've given some new names to web and winform apps, or so I thought.

He then touched on SaaS and put a new context around it: Don't think of things as "software as a service," but "software plus a service," meaning that the most successful applications in the future will leverage the desktop to render a magnificent user experience while leverage services in the cloud to leverage the power of distributed computing. Now, this made me feel smart because I've been evangelizing this approach for years. The problem was that when people asked me how to do it with the current .NET stack, I couldn't give them a good answer.

Not anymore. Enter Silverlight and the Expressions Suite of products. Things are going to be very different from now on.

So here's a summary of the announcement made today:

Silverlight beta is available for download as of today. It's free. Go get it!
Expressions Suite shipped as of this morning. The demos that were shown of these new tool were amazing. They are tightly integrated with each other and Visual Studio "Oracs." The Suite consists of:

Web (self-explanitory)
Blend (WYSIWYG XAML design application)
Design (graphic design application, tight integration with Blend)
Media (a media encoding and preparation tool)

The .NET CLR will be fully supported in Silverlight 1.1 alpha. That is huge. You be able to run .NET on the client machine via a web browser, and not just on a Windows box. You'll be able to run it on a Macintosh as well in Firefox, Safari and Opera.
There are several features being built into Visual Studio "Orcas" that will make developing for these next-gen application much easier, including the ability to perform cross-platform remote debugging. You read that right. Scott Guthrie did a demonstration showing how you can set a debugging breakpoint, fire up the app on the Mac, attach to the process running on the Mac in "Orcas" and hit the breakpoint in Visual Studio. That was about the coolest thing I've ever seen. And it's working in the beta product!
Silverlight Streaming was also announced. This is a new service being offered in the Live stack. For the first year, you will be able to upload your streaming media files to the SilverlightStreaming service, store them there and access them in your applications. And get this, you'll get 4GB of storage for your media. For all the goodies on this, checkout silverlight.live.com. I'm going to start using this today!
Support for dynamic languages in the .NET CLR, including the new IronRuby. That's correct Ruby fans, soon you'll be able to take advantage of everything above and write your code in Ruby. Nice, eh?

Wow, there was so much more, but these are the big items. As this stuff starts to sink in, I'll be writing a lot more about it, especially after I've had the chance to play with it for awhile.

I highly recommend you check out www.silverlight.net and silverlight.live.com.

Here are a couple of pics from this morning's event. More to come...

Technorati tags: MIX07, Silverlight, Iron Ruby, Expression

MIX '07 Already Underway

Denny Boynton — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:55:51 GMT

Well, here I am in Las Vegas getting ready for MIX to start in the morning. I went over to the Venetian this evening to register for the conference. Got some decent bling and had dinner with an old friend.

I'm excited for the general session tomorrow morning. Some good stuff is going to get announced. I'll be blogging on MIX '07 throughout the conference. Anything you want to know? Send me some feedback.

Technorati Tag: MIX07

Virtual Lab Login for E-learning Online Training Program

Denny Boynton — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:50:56 GMT

I was glad to see so many people check on the free e-learning training program I posted about yesterday. This really is a great opportunity for you to get some excellent training for zero dollars.

I had a few folks contact me about the password to access the virtual machines that are part of the lab sections of the training sessions. I dug in and found out where you can find the login credentials.

Once you reach the lab section of the session, you'll see a screen like the one below. Click on the Launch button to begin the lab section.

Once your lab launches, you should see a page like the one below. You should read through all the items in the left navigation as it provides contextual information about the lab. The username and password for the virtual lab machine can be found under the Scenario link, highlighted in the red circle below.

Once you've got your credentials and you've read over all the lab materials, simply click on the image in the center-top of the page and you're ready to begin your virtual lab.

You will likely get prompted to install several ActiveX controls during your first lab session. Don't worry about these. They're basically there to facilitate the virtual server session in your browser.

The other question I've got is: "Do I have to finish all my selected online courses before June 30th? The answer is, "No." You need to sign-up using the access code in yesterday's post before June 30th. Once you're signed-up, you have a year to complete the training before your account expires.

Please keep coming with the feedback and let me know if you have any problems!

Would you like some free training from Microsoft?

Denny Boynton — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:32:04 GMT

This is a really great offer. I have access to a limited number of free e-learning passes from Microsoft. This is a $159 value delivered to your desktop for free. If there is something that you've been meaning to brush up on and just haven't had the time to register for an instructor-lead class, this may be a great solution for you. The access code below is good through June 30th, so please hurry if you want to take advantage of this free online training. If you're interested, here's how you get access:

1) Go http://www.microsoft.com/learning/access
2) Input your access code: (The code is case sensitive) (and it is now correct, the training folk gave me the wrong number)
ACCESS CODE: 6691-USDPENC-9594
3) You will be prompted to sign-in using a valid Microsoft Passport ID (this will be the username and password you will use to access the site each time you log in). If you already have a profile on microsoft.com, use that Passport ID. If you do not have a Passport ID click "Register" to create one.
4) From the "Thank You" page, click on My Learning to see the list of available courses.
5) For E-Learning, click on a course title to launch the offering.

You will then be presented with a description tab and a content tab. Read all the course requirements and description.
Please note: Review the "system requirements" tab to be sure your computer is properly configured to access virtual labs.
From the "Content Tab", click on a lesson to begin training.

6) When you return to the site, please click on the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mylearning and sign in using your Microsoft Passport ID. Then click on "My Learning" to access content and continue your learning path.

If you have problems accessing the E-Learning, please contact the Microsoft e-learning support center at: 1-877-383-2829.

A Defense of Vista

Denny Boynton — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:58:00 GMT

Full disclosure: While my paycheck and livelihood comes from working for Microsoft, I want to make it clear that the following has nothing to do with that fact. I'm speaking strictly as a technologist trying to make his way in the world.

Like a lot of folks in the software biz, I get a lot of e-newsletters each day, and I try to at least peruse each one to keep current with what's happening in the industry.

The past week, one specific newsletter has contained so much vitriol about Vista and what a piece of crap it is that I felt compelled to put a post together on it. And keep in mind, this wasn't the only article that expressed this view point. It's just the one I decided to pick on. There is plenty of Vista-bashing material circulating out there these days.

The article was entitled, Patch Tuesday: Vista dinged again. The gist of the article was that Vista isn't living up to its promises on the security front. To quote from the article:

The carefully crafted image of Windows Vista as the most secure operating system of all time is beginning to take a beating.
For the second time this month, Microsoft has shipped a security bulletin with patches for a “critical” Vista vulnerability that puts millions of users at risk of code execution attacks.

It's half-baked, inflammatory comments like this that force me to spend so much of my time trying to convince people that Microsoft really is a responsible company that is trying to write software that people will want to use instead of helping them understand and implement technology better.

First of all, I don't recall anyone stating that Vista would be the "most secure operating system of all time," only the most secure version of Windows ever released, and without a doubt, it is.

And the fact that Microsoft has identified and released patches to its customers twice in one month should be grounds for praise, not disparagement. There are well over 100M lines of code in the Vista OS. The idea that a team of developers, no matter how skilled and careful, could produce a product of that magnitude bug and vulnerability free, is ridiculous.

There has never been a piece of software that wasn't initially released with some bugs and/or security issues. No matter how good you are, you aren't perfect and you probably don't have clairvoyance to foresee ever possible attack strategy that could come at your application. You do the best you can and respond as quickly as possible when issues are identified. And honestly, that is what Microsoft is doing.

Has Microsoft had problems with the security of their products in the past? Absolutely without a doubt.

Has Microsoft truly made security "job 1" in the development of its products? Absolutely without a doubt. And this is hardly new. BillG's so-called "Trustworthy computing" memo of January 15, 2002 really set the focus on security for all Microsoft product development going forward.

Being on the inside at Microsoft, I can attest that this isn't just marketing fluff. The security of not just Vista but all of Microsoft's products is taken very seriously by everyone. And it has actually yielded positive results, as is apparent in a recent article showing Symantec has rated Vista as the most secure OS on the market!

So, issues will be identified in Vista and Microsoft will continue to aggressively develop, test and release patches to address those issues. And Vista will continue to get better and better as a result. More patches isn't a sign of a "bad" product. It's the sign of a company standing behind it's product and taking its upkeep very seriously. How is this bad for users of our software? The answer is, "It isn't."

So, what do I think of Vista? Well, I've been using it for about four months now, and here are my opinions on the new OS:

The user experience is so much better than XP. It's subtle, to be sure, but if you start to focus on how you do things in Vista versus how you used to do them, you really develop a better appreciate for the attention to detail that has been paid in this area.
UAC is a good thing. This is one of the most contentious areas of Vista as far as I can tell. I found the UAC dings annoying at first, but given the choice between the system confirming that I want to do something and assuming I want to do something, I like that Vista errs on the side of asking me.
Windows Defender is a great addition. I used to have to re-pave my kids' laptop every two weeks because of the amount of malware that would get past my anti-virus program. Since upgrading them to Vista, I've had no issues. Between UAC (they have significantly decreased privliges on the machine) and Defender, the machine is as clean today as the day I set it up.
I have not seen the compatability nightmares we were supposed to have with Vista. I'm running all the software on my machine that I ran on XP. Granted, I had some problems getting some of it to run intially, but the compatability tools cleared those up. Also, the virtual file system and registry features of Vista work seemlessly. I didn't even realize how the OS was accomodating my older applications until I dug into the file structure on the machine a little deeper.
Device drivers have been the biggest issue in upgrading to Vista. However, I had device driver issues when I upgraded to XP. If the hardware manufactures are late getting drivers posted, that's not really the OS's fault.
Search. What else can I say.

I welcome a discussion or debate on this topic. Please post your thoughts.

Get Your Questions Answered on ASP.NET MVP Chat

Denny Boynton — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:55:00 GMT

I just read about this event on Javier Lozano's blog. It'll be on April 19th at 1:30 PM CDT. This is a great opportuntity to get your ASP.NET questions answered by a panel of MVPs. Javier has all the details about how you can join in on his blog.

Check it out!

Next ArcReady Event - "Architecting for the User Experience"

Denny Boynton — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:06:00 GMT

I'm pleased to announce that the next ArcReady tour scheudle is set and ready to go. Our subject for this go-around is "Architecting for the User Experience" and our guest speaker will be Chris Bernard, UX Evangelist for Microsoft. Read all about it and register at www.arcready.com. Remember, this is a free event and, besides the great content, there will be food and some great giveaways, include a copy of Expression Web.

We're really excited about the program we're putting together for this tour. We're going to have a great discussion around why technical architects should care about user experience and provide some practical guidance on how to actually accomplish this.

Do you have things you would like to see included in this discussion? Let me know if you do and I'll make sure we work it in.

VSTO WebCast Series Starting on April 19th

Denny Boynton — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 17:14:00 GMT

VSTO Product Manager Mike Hernandez has recently announced a webcast series called "VSTO Straight From the Experts" will begin on April 19th with Ken Getz. Check out Mike's blog for more information. You can also find these and future webcasts in the MSDN webcast calendar.

Here are the links to the webcasts for your convenience:

VSTO Straight from the Experts: Ken Getz

VSTO Straight from the Experts: Robert Green

VSTO Straight from the Experts: Tim Huckaby

These should be great webcasts, so if you're looking at building applications for Microsoft Office, you should put these on your calendar.

Lesser-Known Cool Vista Feature

Denny Boynton — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:19:00 GMT

Remember when you used to wish that the help featues in Windows were, well, helpful? I was recently trying to figure out how to change some settings in Vista and the new Control Panel menu wasn't being very helpful. On a whim, I open the new Help and Support link on the Start Menu and was really impressed.

First, help now is fully integrated with online help, so you not only get the information on your system that was there when you installed Vista, but you can now tap into the latest support information available online.

But here's the kicker: Vista help includes a guided tour as well.

Try this: While you're connected to the Internet, open help and type "show known file extensions" in the search field. Then click on the first item in the results list and it should look something like this:

If you click the "Do it automatically" link, Vista will just take care of this for you. If you're like me and want to actually learn how to make this happen, click on the "Show me step-by-step" link. The icon above will move through the UI and walk you through the process if finding what you need.

This is a simle example, but I've started to use the Help and Support on a more regular basis now that I've seen what it can do. It beats Google! :)