Internet Explorer 7.0 is now an update that comes through you Windows Update. I love IE7.0, but updating all my Virtual PC images is a pain :-(

Copied from www.netfx3.com:

"The .NET Framework 3.0 has officially been released!  You can download the .NET Framework 3.0 components here:

• .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components
• Windows SDK for Vista and the .NET Framework 3.0 
• Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (Windows Workflow Foundation)
• Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP

Note, if you are using Windows Vista the .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components are installed by default.

The Readme for the released version of the .NET Framework 3.0 is available here.  If you have a previous CTP installed, please be sure to review the uninstall instructions.   If you have questions about installing the .NET Framework 3.0, please post your questions to the .NET Framework Setup Forum."

I just received a copy of my book (MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-529): Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Distributed Application Development) through the mail.

Had to check on Amazon, yes they're shipping right now

Updated:
A friend just noticed that my book is also on Microsoft Learning: http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/authors/auth9984.aspx.

On MSDN there is a page with all the Visual Studio Release information. Go to: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/support/servicing/shipped_releases/

I just did some research on Visual Studio and Vista. Here is what I found:

It seems Visual Studio 2002 and 2003 will not be supported on Vista. Visual Studio 2005 will need Service Pack 1 to run on Vista, but is expected to have a list of known issues and workarounds.

Visual Studio 'Orcas' will be the tool you need to develop WPF applications.

Visual Studio 6.0 will be supported on Vista.

The recommended approach for maintaining .NET 1.0 and 1.1 applications on the Vista platform is to run Visual Studio 2002/2003 in a VirtualPC environment.

I guess from the various responses on the Internet this last point is causing some controversy, but really, this is the way to go. Why waste energy on supporting legacy software when you need to be making better newer versions? I just wish there was a version of VirtualPC which I could use to create a 'VirtualApp'. A tool, just like VirtualPC, setup with it's own OS, but excellent host integration, which I can setup to run exactly one application. Booting the application may take a little longer, but 100% backwards compatability can be guaranteed!

When using Visual Studio 2005 or Team Explorer to connect to your Team Foundation Server for the first time, you get to option to provide alternate credentials.

After doing this, there is no clear way to reset those credentials. There are two solutions:

a) Run 'ClearCreds.exe' which is part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK.

b) Go to 'Start|Run' and enter 'control userpasswords', next go tabpage advanced and choose  manage passwords, now remove the server which is your Team Foundation Server.

I'm very pleased to announce that the first book with my name on the cover is now available through Amazon.com!

Just click the image

Matthew Cochran wrote an excellent article explaining how to implement the provider pattern: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/rmcochran/providerPattern08102006110013AM/providerPattern.aspx

At the end of the month I'll be doing another session for the Maine Developer Network.
Hope to see you there!

Topic       : Implementing application logic in .NET 2.0

Speaker     : Mark Blomsma

Date        : September 27th

Time        : 10:00 - 12:00

Location    : Harlow Building in the AMHI campus, Augusta, Maine, USA.

Description : This session will be about implementing business logic in .NET 2.0.
We'll look at and discuss various architectural issues and how to implement design
patterns to help create a blueprint of our application. We'll look at choosing and
implementing an exception handling strategy and we'll look at various ways data can
flow through our application.

They're out!

MSDN subscribers can download Windows Vista via http://msdn.microsoft.com/.

If you're running Windows XP and want to try out the .NET Framework 3.0 RC1, then get the bits at http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/downloads/products/getthebeta/default.aspx

The .NET Framework download is available for everyone. Not just MSDN subscribers.

When I need to have my code write files to a unique folder, I often use the following trick.

string folderName = someRoot + @"\" + username + @"\" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString();

As long as I'm not writing code which runs multiple threads this will pretty much guarantee me of a unique folder name and it looks nicer than a Guid as a folder name. 

I'm working on a ASP.NET 2.0 web application right now, which uses a Visual FoxPro database. I want the database to sit in the App_Data folder of my web application and I also want my connection string to use a relative path to access my database.

I found that SQL Express supports this, but the documentation suggests that it'll only work for the AttachDB value in a SQL Express connection string. Luckily this is not true. As shown in the sample below. The "|DataDirectory|" element can be used to point to the App_Data folder of your webapplication. I assume this will work for any database connection string.

<connectionStrings>
 <add name="Develop-One.Framework.Properties.Settings.ConnectionString"
      connectionString="Provider=VFPOLEDB.1;Data Source=|DataDirectory|UserData"
      providerName="System.Data.OleDb"/>
</connectionStrings>

Just some info that reached me via email, but I think will be useful for everyone.

MSDE will not be supported on Vista. In most cases you can best migrate to SQL Express.

• Please upgrade your MSDE applications to SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Express) at the earliest opportunity, if Windows Vista compatibility is essential for their businesses.
• MSDE mainstream support (on Operating System releases before Windows Vista) will continue until April 8, 2008 (extended support until April 8, 2013).  Also, no new MSDE redistributions will allowed after June 30, 2007. As ISV, you can sign up for royalty-free redistribution rights for SQL Express.
• Like MSDE, SQL Express is free to download, deploy, and redistribute.  There are several significant benefits to upgrading MSDE applications to SQL Express. Benefits include increased maximum data base size of 4 GB, removal of the workload governor, a free, integrated management tool (SQL Server Management Studio Express), SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and importantly serviceability with Windows update.
• Technical guidance and migration resources are available at www.microsoft.com/sql/express.

• Microsoft is working on a whitepaper which will clearly articulate when to use SQL Server Express and when to use SQL Server Everywhere.
• For now – SQL Express Everywhere is a lightweight in-proc database (a set of dlls that an ISV can embed in an application, <2MB in size). It provides the SQL programmability model (ado.net, oledb provider) and one can use SQL Server Management studio to administer. It is therefore ideal for single user desktop applications or mobile applications that need a local data store (up to 4GB in database size). 
• To keep its lightweight nature, some of the database features like stored procedures are not supported by SQL Server Everywhere. If the ISV needs a local datastore that needs these rich features, they should use SQL Express. 
• Here are some links for additional information:
  o www.microsoft.com/sql/everywhere (there is a brief comparison of express and everywhere here)
  o www.microsoft.com/sql/express
  

Microsoft and Citrix have released a press release stating that they will be working together closely to use WANScaler technology to improve Application Access and Address Branch Office Complexity.

Citrix acquired WANScaler technology recently, adding WAN Optimization to their Application Delivery Strategy, by the take over of Orbital Data.

MRA Group is EMEA Gold Partner for both NetScalar as well as WANScaler technology.

On the 15th of September the Software Developer Network, a usergroup of Dutch software developers, will be hosting it's quarterly event. We have a great line up of sessions, see below. The conference will be held in the Reehorst in Ede in the Netherlands.
Registration has opened! Go to: http://www.sdn.nl/Default.aspx?tabid=247

Speakers and sessions:

Ron DeSerranno writes about a new type of webapplication that he has seen that was build using .NET 3.0. He describes a bookstore that is presented to the user in a 3D environment and where the user feels like he or she is in the store.

The part of .NET 3.0 that makes this possible is largely XAML. A new markup language which in it's basic form is simple enough that it may replace HTML and is at the same time extensive enough that it can take on Flash.

Personally I feel that AJAX is a step back in time. And tooling like ATLAS is really just IDE enhancing technology to generate code that has at it's very core still the JavaScript engine which has seen no improvements in the longest time. So while AJAX aims to use the technology available to the full 100% it is based (and limited) on technology from years back.

XAML offers technology which is not looking back, but instead offers a new platform language, using the .NET Framework as it's platform, which aims to use today's hardware to the max. Much more interactive and 3D content is at our fingertips.

Writing this entry I just thought of a great feature for Word 2007. What if you could save a Word document as XAML instead of HTML. I just checked this isn't possible right now, but I think I'll submit a feedback report to Microsoft on that.

Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2003 Service Pack 1.

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=dc455c5d-2c99-43cc-ad71-4e0beb71bfa7&displaylang=en

For a list of bugs that were fixed in this service pack go to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;918007

One minute I'm learning stuff about Orbital applicances, the next Orbital Data has been purchased by Citrix. Read more on the Citrix website.

I know I was impressed with Orbital, but here are the reasons why Citrix thinks they're great:

1. Best Ease-of-Use. Unlike alternative products that can be difficult to deploy and manage, Orbital Data offers several unique capabilities that make it virtually “plug-and-play,” a critical advantage for under-staffed IT departments in remote branch office locations. Its AutoOptimizer™ technology automatically applies the best combination of performance-boosting techniques for each data flow to match the application, the data and the network conditions without requiring configuration or management changes. Orbital Data is also the only solution on the market to feature true “network and application transparency,” meaning that network monitoring tools, firewalls, routers and applications need no modification when the Orbital solution is deployed. Just plug it in, and it works. This advantage will help drive faster adoption throughout the existing Citrix installed base and will make the Orbital solution an ideal fit for the extensive Citrix channel.
2. Best Solution for Small Branches and Mobile Users. Orbital Data was the first company in the industry to deliver a compact, software-based version of its branch appliance technology that can be deployed directly on a remote user’s PC. In contrast, most alternative solutions are delivered only as appliances, limiting their value to employees who are physically located in a large branch office. Solutions that do offer software clients are limited to accelerating only a narrow class of applications. Orbital Data’s software client addresses both of these limitations, accelerating all TCP-based applications to all remote users, including employees in small “micro branches,” home offices or on the road. This client capability also provides an ideal strategic fit with Citrix’s end-to-end strategy, extending application delivery from the datacenter to the desktop.
3. Best Acceleration over Long Distances. The Orbital Data solution excels in some of the most problematic branch office application delivery scenarios, most notably file sharing and bulk data transfer applications that deliver large files over long distances. With the growing importance of business requirements such as disaster recovery, outsourcing, digital asset management and collaborative engineering, these advantages can be significant to many large enterprises.
4. Best Acceleration of Citrix Presentation Server. Orbital Data also offers the best solution to further accelerate applications delivered by other Citrix products, most notably, Citrix Presentation Server™. In internal tests, Orbital Data has been shown to improve the performance of Presentation Server by as much as five times for end users, especially for remote printing and local file save tasks that necessitate the transfer of large volumes of data over the WAN. This capability gives Citrix an ideal opportunity to leverage its installed base of more than 160,000 Citrix Presentation Server customers and presence in enterprise WANs across the globe.
5. Highly Extensible Architecture. Orbital Data also offers a highly-extensible architecture, making it easier for Citrix to add innovative new capabilities, including tighter integration with other elements of the Citrix end-to-end application delivery infrastructure.

The Software Developer Network (in the Netherlands) will organize their quarterly conference next month. A sneek preview as to who will be speaking in the C# track:

- Peter van Ooijen: Het web als infrastructuur voor applicaties, hoe gebruik je dat
- Dennis Vroegop: Community Server
- Erik van de Ven: WCF Security
- Raimond Brookman: Altas
- Alex Thissen: ASP.NET 2.0 caching

Keep an eye on www.sdn.nl for more info.

Yesterday I had a training from Spyro Papademetriou from Orbital Data. I now know all there is to know about accelerating Wide Area Network's using the Orbital appliances.

It's tremendous what they can do in optimizing your connection. Up to 4600 times faster connections. At first I didn't quite believe it, but now, understanding the underlying technology and having seen the demo: I'm a believer!

The demo showed a 4MB powerpoint taking about 3 minutes (=180 seconds) to download from the States to the Netherlands over a WiFi connection in the conference area. Using the Orbital appliance it went down to about 15 seconds. After changing the powerpoint and the uploading of the same file back to the server only took 9 seconds. Cool!