Murray Gordon

NEW SCREENCAST – SharePoint Guidance for ISV Developers

Murray Gordon — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:56:01 GMT

I just posted a new screencast called “SharePoint Guidance for ISV Developers”

You can watch it here, or go directly to the Screencast.com link at http://www.screencast.com/t/DawjZ5l0B.

Here’s a quick abstract about the screencast:

With the growing presence of SharePoint 2007, more and more developers are looking to use SharePoint as an application development platform. Available guidance is provided by many sources and can often seem contradictory. We provide architects and developers with some help getting started with deployment, unit testing, and versioning. We also help with many common architectural decisions such as SharePoint list versus database.

Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Great New HowTo Videos on Windows Azure

Murray Gordon — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:42:25 GMT

There are some great new “How Do I” videos on Windows Azure and Live Services.

They are free, task-oriented, and “bite-sized” to get you up to speed quickly

Love that they are a great way to see the Azure Services Platform in action without the CTP

Here’s some more info that’s super helpful:

Azure Webcasts – microsoft.com/events/series/azure.aspx
Azure Training kit – www.microsoft.com/azure/trainingkit.mspx
Azure SDK - http://www.microsoft.com/azure/sdk.mspx
Sample projects to review – Check out codeplex.com, and search “azure”. There’s lots of great stuff on Codeplex.
Azure user groups – azureusergroup.com
Interested in getting access to to Windows Azure? Go to the Connect.Microsoft.com site.

Here’s the HowTo videos:

Leverage Concurrency in Windows Azure Table Storage?
Windows Azure table storage is designed to support many users at the same time. In this session, you’ll learn how Windows Azure table storage supports concurrency, and you’ll learn a few strategies to help you deal with any concurrency violations.

Use Paging in Windows Azure Tables?
To improve application usability, many applications need to support viewing data page-by-page. In this screencast, you'll learn how Windows Azure table storage provides a built-in mechanism that allows you to efficiently page through query results.

Sync Between Devices and the Cloud with FeedSync?
Syncing the cloud and a growing world of devices is a fundamental need in today’s world. In this video, you will learn how to use FeedSync feeds to synchronize Live Framework data between a device and the cloud.

Get Started with the Messenger Web Toolkit?
Making your application sociable is easy. In this screencast, Chris Parker uses simple code to add instant messaging to his Web site. In minutes he connects his Web site to 320 million Instant Messenger (IM) users on PCs, Macs, mobile devices and Xbox 360. These efforts can help bring new users to his application and retain them for a longer period of time through the use of cool features like chat, presence, contacts and profile information.

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

FREE Azure Platform Training at Atlanta MTC on July 7th

Murray Gordon — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:34:15 GMT

I just got notice about a FREE Microsoft sponsored training event on the Microsoft Windows Azure Services Platform.

The event will be provided by RDA Corporation.

You can read all the details below. Click the “Register now.” button or goto to this url http://info.rdacorp.com/forms/AzureTraining09

With the announcement of the pricing model right around the corner at the WWPC, this is a great opportunity to get up to speed on developing for the Azure Platform. The WWPC or 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference will be held in New Orleans, July 13-16.

Azure Platform Training

We are pleased to invite you to a complimentary day of intensive training on the Azure Services Platform for developing the next generation of enterprise applications in the cloud.

This Microsoft sponsored event is being offered at no cost to you. Breakfast, lunch, and free parking will be provided.

The event is targeted for developers and technical decision makers with a background in .NET development. No prior experience with Azure is required and this training session will provide enough background for software development teams to pilot cloud-based applications in their organizations. The training will be divided into multiple sessions to provide a comprehensive overview of the platform.

Agenda Topics:

Session 1 - Microsoft Azure Platform Business Overview

Session 2 – Azure Roadmap

Session 3 - Azure .NET Services Overview

Session 4 - Developing Applications for MS Azure and Azure Storage

Session 5 - Exploring Microsoft Live Services

Learn more about RDA's experience developing business-class applications:

· Architectural Guidance Capabilities

· Custom Development Expertise

· Custom Development Thought Leadership

· RDA Architectural Guidance Blog

Date and Time:

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST

· 8:30 a.m. Registration & Breakfast

· Lunch Served

· Free Garage Parking

Where:

Microsoft Corporation

1125 Sanctuary Parkway

Alpharetta, GA 30009

Cost:

There is no cost to attend this seminar.

Featured Speaker(s):

Chris Schaich

Senior Project Manager

RDA Corporation

Damon Squires

Senior Software Engineer

RDA Corporation

Get more details about this event.

Learn more about RDA.

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

All About the Geneva Framework

Murray Gordon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:55:58 GMT

I’ve had a lot of folks ask me about Geneva lately. This post provides a quick summary of the different places I’ve looked to find out more about The Geneva Framework and Microsoft’s story for a building claims-based WCF services.

Please let me know if you have more suggestions for good content on the topic. I’m a big fan of Michele Bustamante’s writing style, so you notice there are a couple articles here from her. You can always check her out at http://www.dasblonde.net/

Here’s a quick summary of the story around Geneva:

"Geneva" Claims Based Access Platform
"Geneva" helps simplify access to applications and other systems with an open and interoperable claims-based model.

For developers: "Geneva" helps simplify user access for developers by externalizing access logic from applications via claims, and reducing development effort with pre-built security logic and integrated .NET tools.

For IT professionals: "Geneva" helps IT efficiently deploy and manage new applications by reducing custom implementation work, consolidating access management in the hands of IT, helping establish a consistent security model, and facilitating seamless collaboration between organizations with automated federation tools.

For information workers and consumers: Users can benefit from help navigating logins, managing different personas, and controlling how personal information is shared.

"Geneva" includes built-in interoperability via open industry standards and claims, and implements the industry Identity Metasystem vision for open and interoperable identity.
"Geneva" includes three components for enabling claims-based access. Beta 1 of the following components are now available for public evaluation:
"Geneva" Framework for building .NET applications that use claims to make user access decisions
"Geneva" Server security token service (STS) for issuing and transforming claims, enabling federations, and managing user access
Windows CardSpace "Geneva" for helping users navigate access decisions and for developers to build customer authentication experiences for users

Here’s some great resources fro reading up on Geneva:

WCF and claims-based security in Keith Brown’s Security Briefs column published in September 2007.

Windows CardSpace in "Identity: Secure Your ASP.NET Apps and WCF Services with Windows CardSpace".)

Geneva Framework white paper for developers written by Keith Brown and Sesha Mani.

This link contains a brief overview of Geneva and 3 different .pdf documents to download. This will provide you with an overview of the features in the Geneva Framework, as well as some background on claims-based security concepts, and explain how to enable these features in ASP.NET applications and WCF services, with an emphasis on the former.

Geneva Framework – Building A Custom Security Security Token Service by Michele Leroux Bustamante

Geneva Framework - A Better Approach For Building Claims-Based WCF Services by Michele Leroux Bustamante

History - formerly called "Zermatt."

Features:

Plumbing to build a custom Security Token Service (STS)
A mechanism to require federated authentication from ASP.NET applications
An object model that facilitates claims-based authorization for ASP.NET applications and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services.
Support for Windows CardSpace such as managed information card issuance and ASP.NET controls that simplify the creation of a Windows CardSpace login experience.

Geneva Framework spans the breadth of security features, but at its core is claims-based security. It is the new framework for building claims-based applications and services, and for implementing federated security scenarios.

WCF has always had native support for a claims-based security model.

The Geneva Framework:

Enhances and simplifies access to claims at run time.
Provides a mechanism to support claims-based authorization in a manner that is consistent with the role-based authorization principals already available in the Microsoft .NET Framework.

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

IIS SEO Toolkit Beta Now Available

Murray Gordon — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:19:06 GMT

Today, we announced the IIS Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Toolkit Beta – a free toolkit that helps Web developers, hosting providers, and server administrators improve their sites’ relevance in search results by recommending how to make them more search engine-friendly.

The SEO Toolkit Beta is available for installation via the Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 Beta.

The IIS SEO Toolkit Beta is a piece of the larger Microsoft Web Platform strategy, which enables developers and end-users to build great websites, experiences, and achieve success in the Web ecosystem.

The IIS SEO Toolkit can:

Improve the volume and quality of traffic to Web site from search engines
Control how search engines access and display Web content
Inform search engines about locations that are available for indexing

The IIS SEO Toolkit includes three modules that integrate with IIS Manager:

Site Analysis, which suggests changes that can help improve the volume and quality of traffic to your Web site from search engines;
Robots Exclusion, which makes it easier to control and restrict the content that search engines index and display; and
Sitemaps and Site Indexes, which can help inform search engines about locations that are available for indexing.

The IIS SEO Toolkit Beta can be installed with the Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 Beta.

For more information, visit: http://www.iis.net/extensions/SEOToolkit
For more information on the Microsoft Web Platform, visit www.microsoft.com/web

To follow Microsoft Web Platform on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mswebplatform

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit is Available!

Murray Gordon — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:36:50 GMT

I was very excited today about the release and availability of the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit!

Find it here on MSDN: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=20686a1d-97a8-4f80-bc6a-ae010e085a6e

The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit adds documentation, sample code, header and library files, emulator images and tools to Visual Studio that let you build applications for Windows Mobile 6.5.

For general information about writing software for Windows Mobile, please see the Windows Mobile Developer Center.

FYI - The Windows Mobile 6 SDK must also be installed in order to use any of the Windows Mobile 6.5 Gesture API or samples.

The Tool Kit also comes with the following Emulator Images:

Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Square Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional QVGA Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional WQVGA Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional VGA Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional WVGA Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard Square Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard QVGA Emulator

Here’s some more resources:

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Woz-Bing! Apple Co-Founder a "Big Fan" of Microsoft's New Search Engine

Murray Gordon — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:36:22 GMT

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/255750/Woz-Bing!-Apple-Co-Founder-a-%22Big-Fan%22-of-Microsofts-New-Search-Engine

Awesome feedback from one of the co-founder’s of Apple. Very cool.

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Upcoming Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week in Boston

Murray Gordon — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:04:00 GMT

Thought I would let you all know about a great event coming up for Startups.

The 2^nd CRM Incubation Week is being held at Microsoft Technology Center, Boston, MA from Mon 4/20/2009 to Fri 4/24/2009. This event consists of ½ day of training, 3 ½ days of active prototype/development time, and a final day for packaging/finishing and reporting out to a panel of judges for various prizes.

If you have, have thought of, or are currently thinking of building a CRM based solution and want to get your application to market quickly on Microsoft CRM, here’s your chance.

These events are great. You basically get all the support and help you would need from the experts to get your application up and running on the Microsoft CRM platform.

You can read more about how to get enrolled at the following link: Microsoft Dynamics ISV Architect Evangelism : Startups: Announcing 2nd Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Microsoft donates over $700K to The Georgia Aquarium

Murray Gordon — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:02:20 GMT

Awesome news!

The Microsoft Greater Southeast District has awarded The Georgia Aquarium, based in Atlanta, a software grant valued at $734,110!

The aquarium is the world’s largest aquarium featuring an array of animals in more than eight million gallons of water. Microsoft software grant will address much needed upgrades and improvements to the aquarium’s IT infrastructure. Maintaining a thriving venue locally in Atlanta is crucial to the aquarium’s success and strong community presence. Last year, the aquarium announced a new Dolphin exhibit, to be completed in late 2010. In the next two years, their goal is to increase attendance from 2.1 million guests annually to 2.5 million. To help with this effort, they plan to use Microsoft solutions and technology to drive this effort. Technology will play a key role in improving the guest experience, the launch of new membership programs, the growth of corporate sponsors, and the creation of a collaboration community for its members, guests, sponsors, and corporate event planners that utilize their venue.

The Microsoft solutions donated include: MS Exchange Server, OCS, SQL Server 08, Performance Point, Project Server, Windows Server 08, Windows Vista, and MOSS.

For more information on the Georgia Aquarium please visit: http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/

Such great news for the folks here in Atlanta!

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Microsoft Rolls Out 'My Phone' Syncing Service - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Murray Gordon — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:26:05 GMT

Very exciting news!

Microsoft has formally introduced My Phone, a free service that enables users to sync content between their Windows smartphones and the Web.

My Phone, backs up a phone's contacts, calendar, text messages, media, Office documents and tasks once daily or on demand. It also lets you edit your PIM information or upload photos to your phone using the Web. On your phone, you can select which items you want to back up.

Bottomline - My Phone helps you manage your phone, sync your information, back it up, all to the Web.

Here’s some screenshots of Windows Mobile 6.5:

View Full Album

Here’s the details:

My Phone is NOT a hosted e-mail server – it just syncs data. My Phone users get a 200MB online space for their data. For now, My Phone (which is in a private beta) is free.
Microsoft sees My Phone as an easy way to upgrade from one Windows Mobile phone to another, as the service can turn two phones' data sets into copies of each other.
Microsoft wants to work with cell-phone carriers and manufacturers to make sure they accept My Phone as a universal service on Windows phones, Microsoft product director Scott Rockfeld said.
"Microsoft is a mobile operator and OEM friendly company, so we're always looking at opportunities," he said. My Phone doesn't bring together Microsoft's various syncing services and online data stores, though. For instance, it doesn't sync with any Windows Live services. That's a goal for the future, though, Rockfeld said.
"This is a beta, not a final version. For version 1.0, I would love it to sync with all the online assets that we have," he said.
My Phone is based on technology from Microsoft acquisition Mobicomp, so it doesn't use the Danger syncing technology that Microsoft paid $500 million for last year. Danger's service, as seen on the Sidekick phones, syncs a phone with the Web in a moment-by-moment fashion—there's always a live copy of a user's content on the Web. My Phone is more of a backup program.
"We're absolutely using [the Danger] investment and it will be, in the future, across a number of products," Microsoft marketing director John Starkweather said.

My Phone is available by invitation only at the moment. Here’s the link to the site: https://sn1-p3.myphone.microsoft.com/mkweb/Start.po?mkt=en-US

Check out the original article at PCMag: “Microsoft Rolls Out 'My Phone' Syncing Service - News and Analysis by PC Magazine”

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Order Domino’s on TiVo?

Murray Gordon — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:02:13 GMT

Yes you can…

The wave of software + services is starting to pick up momentum.

It’s amazing the level of integration that can happen when you start thinking about what your customers need or better yet, what they want.

Don’t even need to leave your couch or put down your TiVo remote to order your pizza now.

I’m guessing you will be able to do the same soon on XBox Live.

I love it!

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Martin Luther King Live Search… Very appropriate for today. Bravo!

Murray Gordon — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:17:06 GMT

If you haven’t been to Live Search yet today to do a search, take a second and check it out.

There’s some great hotspots on the Live Search landing page.

Great picture and awesome info!

Here’s the landing page (http://www.live.com/)

Here’s the hotspots you can check out:

Hats off to the folks on the Live Search team. Great info and a powerful picture.

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

Morro to replace Live OneCare

Murray Gordon — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:00:08 GMT

I’ve always been a big fan of Windows Live OneCare for all my personal machines. That’s why I was surprised to hear that Microsoft Windows Live OneCare is going away in the 2009.

Fortunately the key piece I used it for is being replaced by Morro, basic protection from malware—including viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojans.

Here’s some more detail on the announcement from Michael Cherry at Directions on Microsoft:

“In order to increase the number of Windows computers with basic protection from malware—including viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojans—Microsoft will release a free antimalware product, code-named Morro, in the second half of 2009. Once Morro is generally available, Microsoft will discontinue Windows Live OneCare, its all-in-one solution for systems health management, performance improvement, data protection, and security. Morro could enhance overall security by making antimalware software more widely used. However, OEMs who ship OneCare will have to turn to suites from other providers, who may find that Morro eliminates demand for bare-bones antimalware products.

Promoting Free Antivirus

The planned Morro antivirus software will be free, but will not be included in the Windows OS. Design goals for Morro call for a smaller footprint that uses fewer computing resources, so that it will work over low bandwidth or with less powerful PCs. The free availability and low hardware requirements are particularly meant to increase malware protection in developing countries with high PC growth, such as Brazil, where Microsoft says many consumers lack a credit card or the resources to pay for antimalware software, and where the company says malware infestations are rampant.

Some Microsoft partners already offer free basic antimalware utilities, and others charge between US$20 and US$40 for an entry-level antimalware product. If Microsoft offers Morro for free from its download center or Windows Update, it could become widely used. Although this may mean that there could be fewer infected computers wreaking havoc on the Internet, it also means that some Microsoft partners that offer entry-level antimalware products may be forced to offer their entry-level products for free, or abandon the base-level product category in favor of suites combining a number of utilities, including antimalware, backup, disk imaging and defragmentation, Registry cleaning, and general PC health and monitoring capabilities, many of which OneCare included but that Morro will not.

OneCare, Equipt Discontinued

OneCare will continue to be sold at retail through June 30, 2009, and online sales from Microsoft will be phased out when Morro becomes available. The latest version of OneCare (version 2.5 was released in July 2008) provides virus and malware protection as well as remote management and centralized backup of PCs on home networks. The product also provides online backup of photos. OneCare is sold as a subscription at US$49.95 a year for up to three computers, with 10GB of online backup for an additional US$50 per year.

Windows Small Business Server 2008 includes a specialized edition of OneCare for protecting Windows Server 2008. This edition of OneCare will eventually be removed from Small Business Server. Microsoft Equipt, a solution that includes OneCare and subscription-based versions of several Office applications, will be removed from the retail channel in the first half of 2009.

Microsoft will ensure that all current OneCare customers remain protected through the life of their subscriptions—that is, new signature files will be available and serious bugs will be fixed, but no enhancements will be made. Microsoft also indicates that current online backup subscribers can continue to back up copies of photos using the Online Backup feature, although this feature might eventually be migrated to another service, such as Windows Live SkyDrive, which offers 25GB of free storage.

The Windows Live OneCare Team Blog, which contains more information about the decision to discontinue the product, is located at windowsonecare.spaces.live.com.”

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

How to check out the content of SOAP exceptions in Silverlight 2

Murray Gordon — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:44:12 GMT

Today someone asked me about a challenge they are facing in Silverlight 2.

Here’s their question and the answer.

QUESTION:

“We have an issue with Silverlight 2 and SOAP exceptions. Silverlight doesn’t like to let you look at the content of the SOAP exception in the messages. How do I get the content of the SOAP exceptions?”

ANSWER:

You can find a detailed answer here:

Eugene Osovetsky's Blog: Faults and Exceptions when using Web Services in Silverlight 2
(Here’s the url: http://eugeneos.blogspot.com/2008/09/faults-and-exceptions-when-using-web.html)

The short answer is

Silverlight 2 does not support this. Exceptions propagate back to the client as SOAP Faults which are 400/500 level status codes. Due to the browser’s limitation and security reasons, we only return 200 codes that indicate something went wrong. If you are simply trying to debug, you can use fiddler to sniff the wire.

Also, Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog

MacWorld MacDull: Is Apple's Innovative Era Over? | Newsweek Daniel Lyons | Techtonic Shifts | Newsweek.com

Murray Gordon — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:51:12 GMT

What a Scathing review from Newsweek about MacWorld. Wow. Never thought I would see that from MacWorld.

An opening quote like this is a rough as it gets:

“At the annual Macworld trade show in San Francisco today, Apple put on an excruciating 90-minute keynote that may go down in history as the worst Apple event of all time. In brief: for the first time in recent memory, Apple has nothing interesting to sell. And the company's remarkable decadelong run as the hottest company in consumer electronics may be drawing to a close.”

Check out the article yourself: MacWorld MacDull: Is Apple's Innovative Era Over? | Newsweek Daniel Lyons | Techtonic Shifts | Newsweek.com

Thanks for checking out this post!

Cheers,

Murray Gordon
ISV Architect Evangelist
Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/MurrayG
US ISV Team Blog
My GeeksWithBlogs Blog