Currently at Mix 11 in Las Vegas, NV.  Microsoft holds different conferences throught the year and I would put Mix in one of their web conference bags.  Reality is can't go wrong with Vegas for the conference since there are a ton of things to do and the facilities are pretty nice.  Let's dive into the Mix 11 day 1 recap:

Day 1 seemed to be focused on IE9 / 10 and Web (ASP.NET MVC, Web Matrix, Open Source Orchard).  Dean Hachamovitch kicked it off with presentations and demos of IE9.  There were some side by side comparisons between Google Chrome and IE9.  The samples on IE9 outperformed Chrome and showed how hardware acceleration really has an impact on user experience - which is good news for those HTML5 developers looking to take advantage of transitions in the future.  He also demonstrated IE10 and released a location to get the initial bits to play with.  You can download the IE10 Platform Preview. 

Scott Guthrie came on and based his talks and set up speakers to demo on the core web ASP.NET stack (MVC3, Razor, Web Matrix, Orchard, and NuGet).  There was an inside joke about #winning and Tigerblood that was pretty funny but we need to leave Charlie alone :)  Scott announced Entity Framework 4.1 and mentioned it was now available online.  Go through the web platform installer to download the new bits.  The update contains HTML5 support inMVC3 projects, JQuery 1.5, and Modernizer.

Scott Hanselman conducted a demo (Begin to End) on building the backend administration site using VS 2010 and EF 4.1 and the front end  using WebMatrix and Template Monster to pull down the theme.  Drew Robbins conduscted a demo with Microsoft's open source project Orchard.  This was pretty cool and showed a different flavor for building a CMS site.

Looks like they are leaving the Silverlight talk for tomorrow.  I know Silverlight 5 will be released today with new features for 3D, etc...  Will post a follow-up this evening or tomorrow.  I thought they could have done a better job explaining where the following products live (e.g. Web Matrix, Orchard, Visual Studio Express, and Visual Studio Pro or Enterprise).  After the keynote, I spoke to a few developers that were talking about doing some heavy development with Web Matrix.  I don't beleive that is the right product for some of the things they were looking to do.  I can see why they were confused but overall Day 1 had some good stuff.

You can watch the keynote here. 

Hope this helps,

Carlos

I have seen the PDC sessions and some great stuff is coming down the pipe from Microsoft with regards to their Cloud / Mobile / Web / etc... strategy.  Going through the different sessions from keynote to specific topics, there was great information shown with regards to HTML 5 and the headway IE9 has made in this space (from performance to possibilities).  That being said, there was also a lack of discussion around Silverlight in general as to how this technology is strategic to Microsoft's execution of their strategy and where this technology fills the gap.  Of course, there were sound bites and sprinkles across the spectrum, but I think the biggest mistake (to some folks) was not utilizing the Keynote to drive home its importance. 

 I have read some of the post discussions around what Microsoft is now doing with Silverlight.  Honestly, I watched the keynote and most of the sessions and kind of found some of these post comments pretty humorous.  They ranged from level headed discussions all the way to over the top (Silverlight is dead) and cited different pieces/ sound bites from the keynote.  I am the co-founder of the .NET User Group in Lafayette, LA and had one of our passionate members describe the end of Silverlight.  Won't go into detail about the discussion but the gist is there is no need to interpret the intent from Microsoft and I firmly believe that this technology will be around for a while.  What the future holds remains to be seen.  Reminds me of the recent Microsoft commercial - Thinking to myself (Really).

 Anyway, I was pleased to see some announcements from Microsoft clarifying their position on the subject (Thank You!). 

• Statement from Bob Muglia (President of the Server and Tools Division at Microsoft)
• Scott Gu discussing the state of Silverlight with John Papa
• Robby Ingebrestsen describing Silverlight and HTML5 and your Future
• Steve Ballmer - PDC Thoughts

Looking forward to the new features that will be coming out in Silverlight 5 and to new features being developed to standardize and push HTML 5 from its current infancy status to prime time in 2 or 4 or 6 years :)  All joking aside, I am excited about HTML 5 and what it has to offer to compliment other web technologies.

Regards,

Carlos

Windows 7 Phone devices will become available later this year. A few lucky people have received theirs for testing, etc… Still waiting on mine :-/

One way to get the Windows Phone 7 experience is by customizing your Windows 7 desktop to show the tile interface which is similar to the Windows Phone 7 application.  There is a popular freeware program on the web called Rainmeter that allows you to customize your Windows 7 desktop. 

This application seems to be pretty robust in its capabilities to change and customize your desktop.  It also supports different skins, themes, etc…  See the finished product in the image above.

Another nice component is the network monitor, office applications tile, and a host of other widgets.

If you woul like more information regarding documentation help and tips/tricks, view their documentation page here. If you would like to get the source for Rainmeter, you can download from here.

Step 1 – Download and install the Rainmeter software.  Here is a quick description from the Rainmeter website - “Rainmeter is a desktop customization platform.  Through Rainmeter, you can enhance your Windows computer with skins: handy, compact applets which float freely on your desktop, much like windows sidebar gadgets, or dashboard widgets for the Mac.”

Step 2 – Download and install the Windows Phone 7 Skin which is called the Omnimo UI. 

1st – Download the Omnimo Windows Phone 7 skin from the link above or from the image below:

2nd – Extract the zip file and run the Omnimo skin by double clicking on Omnimo (see image below)

3rd – Select the Express or Custom Install

 

That is all there is to it.  You should be good to go to start configuring the weather, mail, Office, Network, etc…  You can also modify the Panel, Skin, and Background colors by clicking the + button.

Hope this helps,

Carlos

twitter.com/cfemmer

I ran across a few issues when trying to get the new beta bits (July 12) Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta.  I had April CTP installed and tried to install the beta bits.  I got the following warning:

I made the mistake of uninstalling in the wrong order and got the Windows 7 Phone Developer Tools CTP wedged in a bad state.  The first thing you should uninstall is the “Microsoft Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP Refresh”.  When I finally tried to uninstall the CTP, it jumped directly to the install of the components I uninstalled previously.  Ultimately, I was left in a state where the CTP was not able to be removed.  I read a few forums where people uninstalled the OS, etc… (Crazy Talk).

I am currently attending the ESRI UC in San Diego so I took a break (In frustration) to get a cold beer.  The only reason I bring this up is I go get a couple of beers and brought them back to the room.  Have you ever tried to open a Corona without a bottle opener? 

Need to give props to Marriott Harbor in San Diego for the nice view from my room:

OK – I digress.  I can say the Corona helped ! 

I came across Aaron’s blog and he has instructions for running the XNA Game Studio Cleanup which has an option for cleaning up the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP.  Here are the steps I followed:

1.  Download and extract the tool (http://bit.ly/9WfGzV). 

2.  Run the tool and select Windows Phone Developer Tools

3.  Let the process complete.

4.  Download new beta bits from here (http://bit.ly/cuOTDx)

5.  Everything installs correctly.  I did find one artifact. I had to reinstall Silverlight 4 Runtime but this might be due to some of the uninstalls I previously tried.  Other than that, Up and running.

Hope this helps,

Carlos

twitter.com/cfemmer

PivotViewer, a nice control built by LiveLabs, is now released to the developemnt community.  This control offers a unique way of interacting with large amounts of data on the web.  It is a based on the idea of a collection and it lets you present this data in an informative, powerful way.

 Use Scenarios:

• Business Intelligence
• Intranet Navigation
• Living Info Graphics
• Academic Research
• Retail
• Image Galleries
• Others, the possibilities are endless

Developer Info: Overview

Collections combine large groups of similar items on the internet, so we can begin viewing the Web as a "web" rather than a series of isolated pages. As a developer, you can create collections of your own. New collections can be created with no code – it’s only data. 

 There is a pretty cool Netflix Demo located here - http://netflixpivot.cloudapp.net

To get started, download the control from http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/pivotviewer/

Hope this helps,

Carlos

twitter.com/cfemmer

Just ran across some interesting information. Sql Azure now supports spatial datatypes. 

• Microsoft announces the SQL Azure Development Accelorator Core.  This will be available August 1st and will contain a promotional discount for partners and customers.  It states that you can subscribe to a larger SQL Azure database size at a 25% discount savings.  The limit has also been extended to 50GB.  SQL Azure Database

• Spatial Data Support : Sql Azure is offering support for Geometry and Geography data types as well as query support in T-SQL.  I have been waiting for this feature for a while.  Nice to see it is currently available.

• Data Sync Service : This is a cool feature I was not aware of.  It allows for flexible control over data by deciding which data components should be distributed across multiple datacenters in different geographic locations based on the business needs of an organization.  It is only available as a community technology preview at the moment.  http://www.sqlazurelabs.com

• (SSWM) Sql Server Web Manager : This is a new management tool for SQL Azure databases and designed for web debelopers to develop, manage and deploy their data driven applications to Sql Azure.  Will be available as a community technology preview later in the summer.

• Access 10 now supported in Sql Azure : Access 10 now offers native data connectivity.  This offers the ability for office applications to access cloud based data.

The current state of Sql Server 2008 R2 seems like it has a ways to go when dealing with Sql Azure.  I tried several different ways of exporting data to load into Sql Azure and after several attempts, I have documented what I needed to move data over.  Here is a quick and dirty way of moving data from Sql Server 2008 R2 to Sql Azure:

The first thing I did was generate scripts from my local sql server 2008 R2 database.

 Next, you will have to go through the wizard steps of selecting what you would like scripted out:

The following step requires a a few checks.

• Make sure Convert UDDTs as Base Types = True
• Script Extended Properties = False
• Script Logins = False
• Script USE DATABASE = False
• Types of data to script = Schema and data (Note: If you already applied the schema, then you can choose data only)

SQL Azure currently does not support windows authentication, USE statements, extended properties, or user-defined data types.

 You now have a generated sql file. 

 Next, Open the sql file generated by the script and delete the following statement from the generated CREATE TABLE statement ( "WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]" )

Also, delete the ( "ON PRIMARY]" ) clause from the create table as well.

Now we are ready to connect to SQL Azure and run the script.  Make a connection to SQL Azure.

Follow Step 1, 2, and 3 below.

On connect to database, select the target database from the drop down list.

 Once connected, open Query menu and load the generated sql file.  Press F5 to execute the script.

I am porting a windows azure project over to the new build of Visual Studio 2010 RC.  I had an older project which referenced Microsoft.ServiceHosting.ServiceRuntime (which does not exist in the released version).  I went through some trials and tribulations to figure this out.  Also, I wanted to test the Bing search to see if I can research this problem completely using only Bing.  Here we go.

 The first issue when I opened and converted the project was the missing assembly references.

After doing some digging in Bing, I found the new service reference was now called -- Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.

You will also have to replace the using statements from the class files.  I did a quick replace across the entire solution to replace with Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime:

After trying to build it states that the RoleManager does not exist. It needs to be replaced with RoleEnvironment. Be careful if you intend to use the quick replace. 

Next you have to replace IsRoleManagerRunning with IsAvailable:

Next, I got an error stating the role does not contain a definition for "GetConfigurationSetting".  It needs to be replaced with GetConfigurationSettingValue

Next, Error at catch(RoleException).  You need to replace with catch(RoleEnvironmentException).

Basically these are the main items that would need to be changed.  If you implemented other features of Azure (e.g. Diagnostics), then you would also have to change out to support the new version.

In Summary -

I was able to use Bing to find the information I needed :)

Updating the information was trivial.  Just had to take one error at a time.

I created a new OS using Boot to VHD.  I set up my C partition to equal 10 GB and made it dynamic.  When I booted into my system, I noticed I only had 3 GB left. I needed another 3 GB to install VS 2010.  Here i a quick tutorial of expanding the disk volume within your new OS (Boot to VHD OS).

First we need to find out the disk volume.