October 2008 Entries

#PDC08 talk: WPF pixel shaders and WPF graphics future

David Teitlebaum. Why move to a new effect system? Old effect system: BitmapEffects. Talks about what was done with BitmapEffects to render to the screen. Doesn't play well with remoting, because too slow to render on target machine, go back to display machine, etc... Shows the old syntax for BitmapEffect. Software rendered, very slow, especially blur operations (such a glow, drop shadow, etc...) Actions: In SP1, they are marked as obsolete. Implemented HW acceleration for BlurBitmapEffect and DropShadowBitmapEffect ......
Print | posted on Posted On Thursday, October 30, 2008 10:50 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 talk: Microsoft .NET, CLR Futures

Joshua Goodman Joshua recaps the history and structure of .NET. Then talks about the difficulty to keep code compatible. Sometimes, making code faster creates bugs, because the previous slowness was enabling scenarios that speed doesn't. Of course the CLR gets blamed even though it's not their fault! Talks about the improvements made to exposing a native app to managed code. New tool will replace the need to write PInvoke to Windows. Calling native Windows code has never been easier. BigIntegers ......
Print | posted on Posted On Thursday, October 30, 2008 7:05 PM | Comments (1)

#PDC08 talk: .NET 4.0 Declarative programming using XAML

3 XAML vocabularies: UI, Workflow, XPS. Used in mutliple runtimes: .NET 3,0, 3.5, Silverlight 1 and 2. Many tools too (Visual Studio, Expression Blend). XAML Specds were published earlier this week, 600 page volume schema for all variations of the language. Lots of file converters exist, from SVG, Flash, Illustrator, WMF, etc etc etc. The list is impressive! Next version will be extended to support more XAML-only code. For example, support for generics. Investments will be done to catch XAML errors ......
Print | posted on Posted On Thursday, October 30, 2008 5:40 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 keynote (day 3, part 1)

Yesterday featured another day packed with sessions and started with a great keynote showing off the new Windows 7, what's coming onto us with .NET 4 and the new development environments (starring Visual Studio 10) as well as innovations in the field of Office (web office is going to allow editing and synching documents online). Let me tell you this: VS10 looks really great. I had the chance to talk to Scott Guthrie after the keynote and told him I couldn't wait testing the bits ASAP. Guess my new ......
Print | posted on Posted On Wednesday, October 29, 2008 6:10 PM | Comments (2)

Book signing: Silverlight 2 Unleashed at #PDC08

I will be doing an additional book signing today. I'll be signing Silverlight 2 Unleashed at the IdentityMine booth (in the expo area) today from 1PM. We are not allowed to sell anything on the floor (even my editor Sams is not allowed either because of MSFT regulations), so if you want me to sign it, stop by at the PDC bookshop today, just next to the registration area. I'll be happy to sign and to chat about the future of Silverlight!

Hope to see you this afternoon!!

Print | posted on Posted On Wednesday, October 29, 2008 4:48 PM | Comments (0)

New Silverlight controls suite delivered by Microsoft #PDC08

A few minutes ago, Microsoft released a brand new suite of controls for Silverlight. The list is impressive! From now on, you can download these controls, the documentation and samples, and start coding! This post will give you a first insight into these controls based on a preview version of the set. This should make you want to experiment more and to discover more by yourself! One interesting thing that the team mentioned is that the controls which don't exist in WPF yet (for example Chart) will ......
Print | posted on Posted On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 7:07 PM | Comments (5)

#PDC08 keynote (day 2, part 5)

Demo of new Office, including web applications

Web Office is made available, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote.

Collaborative work on Office document over the web. SHows presence of editors in documents on shared machines. Support for Firefox and IE.

Print | posted on Posted On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 keynote (day 2, part 4)

Note: The Wireless network at the keynote failed miserably, so this will be posted with a delay. Presentation of Windows Live Services. Windows Live ID is now an Open ID. Announcing the Live framework, provided as a way to access the Live Services. Works on PC, phone and web. Demo: how to enhance a Windows Application with the Live framework. Shows how to use LiveMesh framework API to synchronize pictures between two machines. "Mesh objects" allow to change metadata on some objects (for example applying ......
Print | posted on Posted On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 6:48 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08: A note about the Silverlight control toolkit

The new Silverlight control toolkit comprehends many new controls distributed on Codeplex. The community will have the possibilty to contribute to these controls too. Chart TreeView DockPanel WrapPanel ViewBox Expander AutoComplete NumericUpDown etc... A little later today, I will publish a long blog post showing all these controls, with lots of screenshots and notes about their usage. Other members of the community are also publishing about these controls today, so stay tuned to learn more ......
Print | posted on Posted On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 6:33 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 keynote (day 2, part 3)

Note: The Wireless network at the keynote failed miserably, so this will be posted with a delay. Scott Guthrie about tools and app development New APIs for multitouch and other Windows 7 API. Note: Lots of attention put in Win32 development with C++. Mentions improvements made to .NET 3.5 SP1, such as shaders, performance etc... .NET 3.5 SP1 built in Windows 7. This week, a new WPF Ribbon control will be shipped. Scott demos how to integrate it and skin it. Nice demo of photo album application. Demos ......
Print | posted on Posted On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 6:27 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 keynote (day 2, part 2)

Note: The Wireless network at the keynote failed miserably, so this will be posted with a delay. Bringing together software + services Presents Windows Live Essentials and Windows Live Services. Using Windows Live Services is optional, so you can use your own services (pop for example) instead. Talks about the feedback they got after Vista went RTM. Funny moment as he reminds bad reviews from "a few bloggers here and there, oh and some ads too". Transition from Vista: Talks about the attention they ......
Print | posted on Posted On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 5:47 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 keynote (day 2, part 1)

Note: The Wireless network at the keynote failed miserably, so this will be posted with a delay. Here we go again, PDC day 2 also features a keynote. Expecting Silverlight news and demos :) The keynote starts with an impressive video of products built in .NET, mostly WPF and Silverlight stuff as far as I can say. Ray Ozzie's keynote Ray recaps what was presented yesterday. After cloud services yesterday, today will be more about front end. Nice video showing the evolution of PC from first consoles ......
Print | posted on Posted On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 5:13 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 Talk: Microsoft Silverlight, WPF and the Microsoft .NET Framework: Sharing Skills and Code

High level goals: building rich apps with same people, same skills, same workflow and common code. Shows how to decide when to use Silverlight and when WPF. Moving from Silverlight to full .NET is easier than the contrary. From Full .NET to SL: You need to "unlearn" many APIs. Shared knowledge, but porting code is not easy- Ian codes an application in WPF then copy/pastes to WPF, UI works pretty much the same way, same controls. Uses WebClient to make a request to Twitter. WebClient class is very ......
Print | posted on Posted On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 12:20 AM | Comments (1)

#PDC08 Talk: Developing for Microsoft Surface

After CLI (Command Line Interface) and GUI, Surface is a NUI (Natural User Interface). Challenges: Multi-user. Multi-Touch. Direct Interaction. Object Recognition. Presenting existing applications developed for Surface: ATT with an application allowing to visualize the coverage for a mobile. Bars such as Harrah with applications for social interaction. Sheraton has Surfaces in the lobby to encourage people to interact. Looking for a killer app for NUI. As of today, the Surface SDK is available, as ......
Print | posted on Posted On Monday, October 27, 2008 10:56 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 keynote (day 1, part 2)

Note: The Wireless network at the keynote failed miserably, so this will be posted with a delay. Next speaker talks about customer challenges: Stay up to date, lower predictable costs including IT resources, High security and availability. That's why software should be distributed as services "Microsoft Online Services". It is just a beginning, and in the future all of the enterprise software will be optionally distributed as an online service. List of customers already use this, such as Coca Cola, ......
Print | posted on Posted On Monday, October 27, 2008 8:31 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 keynote (day 1, part 1)

Note: The Wireless network at the keynote failed miserably, so this will be posted with a delay. Ray Ozzie talks about the future of software and Microsoft's take on new software foundations. Mobile platforms increasling important. New software and activation codes for new services will be made available. Talks about "the cloud" and the critics he read online in the past weeks. Virtualization is more and more important (and is coming back after it was already popular long time ago). Externalization ......
Print | posted on Posted On Monday, October 27, 2008 6:03 PM | Comments (0)

#PDC08 pre conference: WPF Code and Concepts by Charles Petzold

According to Charles Petzold, WPF is the main platform for Windows programming nowadays. The only reason why one might still want to program WinForms is if you want the app to run on a maximum of machines. Petzold says he was resistant to XAML when he came to it first. But now, over the years, he is very comfortable with it and uses it a lot. You should give a chance to XAML. Interestingly, he took in his talk the exact opposite approach from his book: Starting with XAML only, and then only moving ......
Print | posted on Posted On Sunday, October 26, 2008 10:56 PM | Comments (0)

A moment of pride at #PDC08

Print | posted on Posted On Sunday, October 26, 2008 6:23 PM | Comments (1)

Blogging and twittering at #PDC08

PDC is starting today (well, the pre-conference is, and the conference starts tomorrow) and I reached Los Angeles last night. The trip went well, even though we started (and arrived) one hour later than planned. Yesterday I joined Mike Brown and Bill Reiss for dinner, and then called it a night. Of course with the jet lag I woke up quite early today, but it's usual. Later I will head to the LA Convention Center and attend the pre conference. I am especially looking forward to Charles Petzold presentation ......
Print | posted on Posted On Sunday, October 26, 2008 2:48 PM | Comments (0)

My schedule at #PDC08

Difficult task: Choosing the sessions I am interested in for PDC08... Difficult because there are really many session that are very attractive to me, and also because I need to include side activities and meetings with members of the WPF and Silverlight community. I still have a few conflicts, and I will decide at the last minute which session to follow. Note that as usual with Microsoft conferences, all the sessions will be filmed and put online rapidly after the conference, so this is how I will ......
Print | posted on Posted On Friday, October 24, 2008 8:08 PM | Comments (0)

Silverlight 2 Unleashed in Stock at Amazon.com

Things are going really fast in the moment. My book just hit Amazon.com, and it went from "pre-order" to "in stock" a few minutes ago. I really can't wait to get reader feedback ......
Print | posted on Posted On Thursday, October 23, 2008 3:45 PM | Comments (5)

Silverlight 2 Unleashed Online Content

There is a lot of online content available for Silverlight 2 Unleashed! Errata One thing that I am particularly sensitive to is the correctness of the information I put in the book. Because of time constraints, some *very* last minute changes by Microsoft didn't make it to the book. Other minor errors managed to slip through multiple review rounds (and believe me, many people did review this book with utter care and attention). I listed the Errata (a dozen so far) on my site, and the list will also ......
Print | posted on Posted On Thursday, October 23, 2008 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

Silverlight 2 Unleashed hard copy - Two thumbs up!

Apparently I received my first hard copy of Silverlight 2 Unleashed at home! Because I am in the office, I can't see it yet, but according to my daughters, it's two thumbs up!!

Two thumbs up for Silverlight 2 Unleashed
Print | posted on Posted On Wednesday, October 22, 2008 1:40 PM | Comments (5)

Redesigning my website with the help of Expression Blend

I decided to completely redesign my website www.galasoft.ch (yes, it's about time, I know). For this process, I decided to inspire myself (loosely) from my good friend Robby Ingebretsen's site, which is both simple and beautiful. In order to get a better idea of what I want to reach, I decided to work like most web designers and to create a mockup first. Instead of creating a static picture, however, I used Expression Blend, a tool I am fairly proficient in, to create a WPF application demonstrating ......
Print | posted on Posted On Sunday, October 19, 2008 9:53 PM | Comments (2)

Imagine, Silverlight 2...

Imagine if you could have taken part to the development of the first version of Adobe Flash, and helped to make it a better product. Imagine that for the Mosaic web browser. Or the development of HTML and the web... Imagine if you could have been part of an adventure that will change how people see and use the Internet This is how I feel today. Silverlight 2 will being released during the course of Tuesday, the 14th of October. Given the time difference, it's possible that we Europeans only get it ......
Print | posted on Posted On Monday, October 13, 2008 8:57 PM | Comments (1)

Converting and customizing XAML to PNG with server-side WPF

One Tweet by Oliver Sturm (http://twitter.com/olivers) the other day got me to thinking. He was asking about the possibility to host graphics for a web site in XAML format, and the best way to render it. Currently, there are 3 possible ways that I know of to render XAML in a web browser Loading the XAML file directly in an IFRAME will trigger Windows Presentation Foundation on the client (if available). The IFRAME can be positioned in the page so the it "blends" with the HTML page. That's only for ......
Print | posted on Posted On Friday, October 10, 2008 12:48 AM | Comments (23)

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