Mike Vincent's Blog

Community, Software Architecture, Application Lifecycle Management

May 2008 - Posts

UGTV (User Group Television) is online now

User Group TV launched yesterday. This is a great new media source to further extend our user group reach with great people and content for both the developer an IT pro communities.

UGTV is now live and online on Edge and Channel 9! 

Developer: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=406992

ITPRO: http://edge.technet.com/Media/UGTV-User-group-Television-for-ITPro-Debuts/

 

 

Show Details:

 

May

June

July

ITPRO

·      Introducing UGTV

·      Intro UG Members

·      Interview with Trisha Cardell

·      Demo with

·      Demo on Operations Manager with Barry Shilmover

·      Interview with John Martin (STO) on Community Platform

·         Intro UG Members

·         MVP Summit Recap

·         Interview with Culminis

·         Intro UGTV Cares Segment – call for content (The Doc Watson Show. This segment highlights the cool stuff that User Groups do in the community for charitable causes)

·         Intro UG Members

·         TechEd Recap (in depth)

·         Perhaps some sessions on film or more demos

·         UGTV Cares first contribution

Developer

·      Introducing UGTV

·      Intro UG Members

·      Interview with Trisha Cardell

·      Demo with

·      Demo on ADO.Net with Rob Bagby

·      Interview with John Martin (STO) on Community Platform

·         Intro UG Members

·         MVP Summit Recap

·         Interview with INETA

·         Interview with John Molloy

·         Intro UGTV Cares Segment – call for content (The Doc Watson Show. This segment highlights the cool stuff that User Groups do in the community for charitable causes)

·         Intro UG Members

·         TechEd Recap (in depth)

·         Perhaps some sessions on film or more demos

·         UGTV Cares first contribution

 

How to Engage:

  • Sign up  to be a roving reporter, submit interviews on film with your local User Group leaders. Please contact ugtvplan for details and guidelines on interview formats.

  • If you have technical demos for the developer or ITPRO audience that you would like to ensure the user group communities sees, please submit them to us via ugtvidea.

  • Blog about current episodes on TechNet Edge and Channel 9 so user groups in your region can easily find them.

  • Encourage User Groups to submit interviews or shows highlighting the charitable work they do in their region.

A big thanks to Michelle Fleming Toure and Alan le Marquand for making UGTV a reality.

 

Posted: May 29 2008, 11:02 AM by mikev | with no comments
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New VB 2008 Book from Bill Sheldon, et al

And, another local author, Bill Sheldon, has a new book out - "Professional Visual Basic 2008" co authored with Bill Evjen, Billy Hollis and Kent Sharkey. If you are a VB developer, this is the book for 2008. I'm planning on having Bill speak at one of our local OC user groups later this year.

Posted: May 29 2008, 10:52 AM by mikev | with no comments
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Tim McCarthy's new book on Domain Driven Design

Tim McCarthy finally reached the goal line on publication of his book ".NET Domain-Driven Design with C#: Problem - Design - Solution" last month. Tim has spoken many times at local SoCal .NET user groups and at the ITARC regional IASA Architecture conference last October on domain driven design as he continued work on his book. The book is filled with real world horse sense on satisfying both user requirements and systems requirements. Check it out.

Posted: May 29 2008, 09:58 AM by mikev | with no comments
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SoCal Code Camp June 28 & 29, University of California San Diego Extension

The next SoCal Rock & Roll Code Camp is set for June 28 & 29 at UCSD Extension

Code Camp is a place for developers to come and learn from their peers. This community driven event has become an international trend where peer groups of all platforms, programming languages and disciplines band together to bring content to the community. Here in southern California we add a little spice to our Code Camp by inviting great independent bands to entertain us!

As of today, there about 60 presentations registered. Hope you can join us. And hope to see you at my Dynamic Languages and the DLR session.

Posted: May 28 2008, 12:58 PM by mikev | with no comments
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Getting Ready for TechEd

TechEd 2008 is almost here. I'll be there for both the Developer and IT Pro weeks working with INETA to broaden our reach to the community.

Developer week

Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions

My Dynamic Languages and the DLR BOF session  will be Wednesday evening at 6:30.

Meet people with similar interests and challenges in an open-forum setting that encourages discussion and interaction. Because the Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) sessions are led by third-party experts, attendees enjoy free-flowing dialogues about products, technologies, and solutions without necessarily focusing on Microsoft.

The BOF sessions at Tech·Ed Developers are organized and facilitated by INETA, a non-profit organization that supports developer user groups communities.

Save Wednesday Night! On Wednesday night, Tech·Ed and INETA invite you to enjoy close to 20 BOF topic discussions and dinner starting at 6:30pm in the North Hall session rooms. Bring your questions and great ideas…and be ready for a lively evening! BOF sessions also run during regular conference hours and as lunch sessions.

Check the Schedule Builder after April 17 or look in CommNet when you are at Tech·Ed for session titles, dates, and times. Stop by the INETA kiosk in the Community Lounge for more opportunities to get involved.

At Tech·Ed Developers, you'll meet people with similar interests and challenges in an open-forum environment that promotes discussion and interaction.

Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) Sessions are suggested and decided on by you. Topics are voted on by you, and then the most popular session submissions turn into BOF Sessions.

For Tech·Ed Developers, BOF Sessions are organized and facilitated by INETA, which provides structured, peer-based organizational, educational, and promotional support to the growing worldwide community of Microsoft .NET user groups.

Because the BOF Sessions are led by third-party experts, attendees enjoy free-flowing dialogues about products, technologies, and solutions without necessarily focusing on Microsoft.

Vote for Birds-of-a-Feather topics.

The BOF Sessions can be added to your personalized Tech·Ed Developers calendar when the Session Scheduler goes live in April.

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Partys:

Monday afternoon is INETA's get together from 3 - 6. If you are a user group leader of influencial, register and stop by to chat with other community folks from around the world as well as some of INETA's well know speakers.

Monday evening is Party with Palermo - lots of people signed up, will be fun.

Party with Palermo

 

Tweener events

No rest for the weekend , lots of good geeky stuff going on. Check out the link

http://www.devfish.net/articles/inbetween/

IT Pro week

Another Monday evening party - Doug Spindler's Party with the Pros http://partywiththepros.org/ again at the Glo Lounge.

Posted: May 23 2008, 04:51 PM by mikev | with no comments
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Keith Pleas speaking at SoCal .Net Architecture

 

Designing for Operations

Keith Pleas will be talking about management modeling, health modeling, the DSL language that was used in the just released Team System Management Model Designer Power Tool. The Team System Management Model Designer Power Tool is a productivity tool that helps architects and system designers to generate models of an application that contribute to minimized TCO. These models include configuration, instrumentation, health, and performance information. The Team System Management Model Designer Power Tool also assists developers to implement the required instrumentation, and create management packs for monitoring systems such as Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007.

Keith Pleas

Keith Pleas Keith Pleas is one of the founders of Guided Design and has worked for more than two years on the team developing the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET, and has worked with the patterns & practices team for 3 years. Keith is an internationally known writer and speaker and served as the Editorial Chair for VSLive. He is also a Contributing Editor to "Visual Studio Magazine", has developed Microsoft Professional Certification Exams. Keith was a founding board member of INETA where he also created the INETA Speakers Bureau.

Posted: May 15 2008, 10:07 AM by mikev | with no comments
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Jon Flanders on Rest at OC Connected Systems

Building RESTful Services Using Windows Communication Foundation 3.5

One of the key new features of Windows Communication Foundation 3.5 (WCF 3.5) is the Web Programming Model. The Web Programming Model enables developers to build Services using a RESTful architecture. The number of services implemented using this new architectural approach out in the wild is growing by leaps and bounds. In this session we cover the basics of REST versus SOAP/WS-*, and how to build Services using WCF 3.5 that are RESTful in nature. We also talk about adding Web feeds (RSS and/or ATOM) to our Services, which can enable easy access to enterprise data.

Jon Flanders, Pluralsight

Although Jon Flanders spent the first few years of his professional life as an attorney, he quickly found chasing bits more interesting than chasing ambulances. He first worked at the University of Minnesota, building a financial reporting Web site using ASP and SQL Server, specializing in automatic integration between multiple data stores. Since joining the training industry in 1999, Jon has devoted his time to working on various projects while migrating from the world of ASP and COM to the world of .NET, ASP.NET, and Web Services. Jon is most at home spelunking, trying to figure out exactly how things work. Deducing the details and disseminating that information to other developers is his passion. Jon wrote "Essential ASP" for Addison-Wesley, and co-authored "Mastering Visual Studio.NET" for O'Reilly. His most recent technology interest is BizTalk 2006. He has been working with BizTalk since before its public release, authoring BizTalk courseware, articles, and utilities, as well as providing BizTalk consulting services. Jon has also been involved with Windows Workflow Foundation since its beta release, and currently has been working with Microsoft delivering jumpstart training for BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and BizTalk RFID.

Posted: May 14 2008, 10:13 AM by mikev | with no comments
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User Group Support Services pilot launched

In an effort to better support User Groups worldwide, Microsoft is rolling out UGSS User Group Support Services. We at INETA have been, and will continue to be, working closely with this team to better serve the user group community…

ugss.jpg
  • Please contact mfleming (Senior Online Community Lead) with any questions on this pilot.

 

Consistency and scale in the services we provide to User Group Communities has been a challenge and a source of consternation for all of us over the past years.

 

Microsoft is pleased to announce that as of last month's User Group Leadership Summit and based on global feedback, we have a model that delivers progress that can be universally appreciated and used by your local User Group Communities.  Our pilot, User Group Support Services, launches today May 8!

 

The pilot emerged from community feedback, efforts from UC and Windows and from work led over the past 2 years by the US Subsidiary with their rollout of Codezone in the US.  Thanks to their work and bolstered by the great feedback from the community, we have taken on the commit to build and sustain UGSS as a part of our global offering.  The pilot is available at this time for English speaking regions – but stay tuned as in early H1 FY09 we will have additional language offerings. If you wish to be among the first to pilot this program in your region, please contact mfleming.

 

WHAT IS USER GROUP SUPPORT SERVICES?

First of all, User Group Support Services (UGSS) does not replace local engagement and local investment. These tools enhance corp-to-user group engagement and have the capability to enhance your engagement with your local Microsoft field. UGGS is a  platform with an underlying framework which drives consistency in how we engage UGs across our Technical Audiences and enables the community to participate in a direct dialog with Microsoft.  The focus of this platform is on providing a process and a portal that helps improve the quality of content available to User Group Leaders for their events and tools that help them manage their groups.

 

This platform has two distinct offerings:

 

  1. Access to content built specifically for User Group events by Microsoft Product teams
    UGSS has partnered with Microsoft product teams to provide content built specifically for User Group events (demos, discussion presentations and other content). This content will be free to User Group Leaders and available through the UGSS Connect portal. In the future, User Group Leaders can access community led launch event content as well as explore other Beta Connect program opportunities.
  • How do I know what's available to me? A user group specific content editorial calendar is available through two interfaces:
    • Public planning interface for Developer through Codezone
    • Public planning interface for ITPRO Culminis – JUNE 2008
  • Where can I go to download the content? UGSS Connect portal (user group content download center) is accessible from:

 

  • Online user group tools wrapped in a consistent UI
    UGSS framework offers a free set of tools specific to user group management. In the pilot, these services continue to be surfaced through: Codezone (Developer & INETA supported), and for ITPRO will be released through Culminis – planned for JUNE 2008. These services include:
    • Speaker's repository
    • Sponsorship Repository
    • Event management & attendance tracking
    • Member management and communication
    • Consolidated User Group Management Interface
    • User Group Kits: Available in supported regions
    • Study Groups

 

ADDITIONAL USER GROUP BENEFIT

  • Free Live Meeting Accounts for User Group Leaders (contact Culminis, INETA or your local Microsoft evangelist for more details)

 

Some asks of you..

Because this is a new program from a global perspective, we are looking for your help.

  • Evangelize these services in your region.  This includes: Event content, Speaker's Bureau, Sponsorship Repository, and UG Leaders resources
  • Help to localize User Group Event Content for your region and offer this for download through the UGSS Connect portal.
  • Help to localize the regional feedback into English for Corp to consume and act on

 

We will…

  • Advance the tools/framework based on your feedback
  • Provide new content from Product Groups based/impacted by your feedback
  • Aggregate your feedback from the interface to participating subsidiaries and product groups
  • Maintain UGSS as the one place from which to access all Microsoft content for Community Led Launch Events

 

FY09 Corporate Deliverables (planning)

  • Community Led Launch event kits/cycles:
    • Virtualization Deep Technical / H1/H2
    • SQL Deep Technical- H1/H2
  • Days to produce localized versions based on field commitments (plan in place July 15, 2008)
  • Editorial calendar detailing content to be delivered (see above)
  • New features, to include reporting functionality for User Group leaders, among others. The full set to be communicated in JUNE 2008.

 

THANK YOU!

We'd like to say a huge "THANK YOU" to you all for moving this effort forward, especially the following User Group Leaders:

  • Graham Jones
  • Lee Benjamin
  • Kaliyan selvaraj
  • Bill Wolff
  • Brendon Schwartz
  • James Johnson
  • Eric Selje
  • Matt Rigling
  • Michael Steinberg
  • Robin Edwards
  • Shawn Weisfeld
  • Stephen Swienton
  • Tim Rayburn
  • Mike Wells
  • Christopher Reed
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Posted: May 12 2008, 11:57 AM by mikev | with no comments
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Microsoft Program Managers Lisa Feigenbaum and Charlie Calvert at OC .Net

 

May 7, 2008 Meeting

Best Practices with the Microsoft Visual C# 3.0 and LINQ
and
Visual Basic 2008 IDE Tips and Tricks

Details:

This month we have visitors from Redmond for two great presentations on the latest and greatest technologies.

Our monthly meeting date and location have been changed to accommodate our presenters. We will be meeting at the Microsoft offices in Irvine and have a joined meeting with SoCal .NET user group. Here is the address:

Microsoft
Three Park Plaza, Suite 1600
Irvine, CA 92614

 

Presentations Abstracts:

C# 3.0...:
This presentation introduces a number of new language features such as query expressions, lambda expressions, extension methods, automatically implemented properties, local type inference and more. These are all features that can really improve the quality of your code. They also provide new opportunities for making mistakes. This talk focuses on both the good and the bad: how to use and how not to use the new features of C#. Each feature will be introduced with a small example, and you should be able to follow the talk even if you are not already familiar with the new language constructs. The talk will also explore the theoretical underpinnings of LINQ.

Tips & Tricks...:

In this talk, Lisa will show how to turn yourself into a Visual Studio 2008 guru with the new language and IDE features. Tips and tricks will include how to maximize your VB IntelliSense experience, leverage Refactoring features, and improve the performance of your query and XML code. She will explore integrated XML, and show how to navigate XML gotchas and express what you wish in fewer lines of code.

Presenters Bio:

Charlie Calvert is the Community Program Manager for the Microsoft C# team. While working on outreach and bridge building to both external and internal teams through the web and live events, Charlie focuses his technical energies on LINQ and core C# language scenarios such as generics. He has a degree in Journalism and Computer Science from the Evergreen State College. The author of ten technical books which have sold well over 100,000 copies, Charlie currently lives in the Seattle area where he enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, sailing and skiing in the mountains.

 

Lisa Feigenbaum is the program manager for the Visual Basic Editor and Debugger. She has been a member of the Visual Basic team since 2004. Her team is responsible for features such as intelliSense, error correction, edit-and-continue, and code snippets. You can find Lisa at various US & international conferences and user groups, watch her Channel9 webcasts, or read her posts on the VB team blog. Before joining Microsoft, she earned an M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.

 

Posted: May 07 2008, 10:10 AM by mikev | with no comments
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