I've implemented an RSS feed for the Maine Developer Network.

Go to www.maine-devnet.org and look for the subscribe image on the left side of the page.

See you at our meeting this Thursday (don't forget to sign-up).

Over a 100 people have registered already. Great!

We only have room for 130, so sign up quick!

Go to: www.code-camp.nl. 

The very first Dutch Code Camp will be organised by a confederation of user groups. I love it when people come together to organize something great! Maurice de Beijer has taken the lead to get things started but with three user groups coming together it should be an excellent event!

Go to: http://www.code-camp.nl/

I found the following on Frans Bouma's blog, and I agree: recommended reading!

Jeroen van den Bos started a very interesting series of articles about software maintenance and software maintainability, what it does with your architecture, how to evolve implemented systems to contain new functionality etc. etc. Below the links to the articles which are currently online, more will follow soon. Highly recommended.

• How maintainable is your code?
• Evolution depends on architecture
• You can't measure architecture
• How does this work? Let's see the requirements
• Software maintenance estimation considerations

Here are the powerpoint and demo code from my session about developing for Windows Vista using .NET 3.0 at the Maine Developer Network user group meeting on the 27th of February 2007 in Augusta, ME.

WorkflowConsoleApplication1.zip (35.87 KB)

HelloWorldGadget.zip (14.31 KB)

02-27-2007_MDN_-_Developing_for_Vista_with_.NET_3.0.zip (417.06 KB)

[Updated: Fixed download link for powerpoint]

Individuals who have been in web development for quite some time, are now slowly converting to internet advertising. Working with tools for web design gives them an added benefit of course. They already have background knowledge on dedicated hosting. All they need is a cheap web hosting service and they can actually start an seo consultancy of their own. Usually pay per click and adsense does not agree with these people. More creative strategies like email marketing appeals to them.

Here are the powerpoint and demo code from my session about implementing application logic in .NET 2.0 at the Maine Developer Network meeting on the 27th of February 2007 in Augusta, ME.

UserManagement.zip (2.1 MB)

02-27-2007_MDN_-_Implementing_application_logic_in_.NET_2.0.zip (1.14 MB)

[Updated: Fixed download link for powerpoint]

SQL Server 2005 SP2 is available for download via MSDN subscriptions.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2) enables all editions of SQL Server 2005 to take advantage of the enhancements within Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System including SQL Server Analysis Services and Reporting Services improvements for Office 2007; increased interoperability; and enhanced manageability and data compression.

VirtualPC 2007 is out of beta and available for download.

Use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Switch between virtual machines with the click of a button. Use virtual machines to run legacy applications, provide support, train users, and enhance quality assurance.

Virtual PC lets you create separate virtual machines on your Windows desktop, each of which virtualizes the hardware of a complete physical computer. Use virtual machines to run operating systems such as MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2. You can run multiple operating systems at once on a single physical computer and switch between them as easily as switching applications—instantly, with a mouse click. Virtual PC is perfect for any scenario in which you need to support multiple operating systems, whether you use it for tech support, legacy application support, training, or just for consolidating physical computers.

Go to: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en#filelist

The SDN is holding its quarterly event on the 23rd of March in Bunnik, the Netherlands.

The session schedule is almost complete and looks once again to be very promising. Check it out below:

Sign up here.

C# sessies

• Enterprise E-Commerce met Commerce Server 2007 - Mark Willems
• Domain Driven Programming a Lego Mindstorms Robot - Edwin van Dillen
• Sharepoint solutions voor informatiewerkers - Frans Coenders
• Customizing Visual Studio Team System - René van Osnabrugge

Delphi sessies

• The Document Management Project - Olaf Monien (D)
• Introduction to IntraWeb 9.0 - Olaf Monien (D)
• Programming OpenOffice.org with Delphi - Bernard Marcelly (F)
• CodeGear & Delphi roadmap; office in Delphi for Win32 - Pawel Glowacki & Jeroen W. Pluimers

Chris Bowen (Microsoft Developer Evangalist for New England) and Bob Familiar will be touring New England with a roadshow about development on the .NET 3.0.

Roadshow Schedule and Registration

At the event in Portland, ME yesterday they showed a funny video of the WE-SYP program. A quick search on Google revealed that someone has uploaded this video to YouTube.

I spend the day in Portland, ME yesterday, helping out with the Microsoft Across America Launch Tour 2007. The event where Microsoft presents Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 across America.

Russ Fustino (http://www.russtoolshed.net/) invited me on the stage twice and allowed me to promote the Maine Developer Network (www.maine-devnet.org), our Augusta, ME based user group. Quite a few people in the crowd came from the Augusta area and did not know about our group, so that was great!

I also did a quick demo of Workflow Foundation. Without preparing it was a little haphazard, but people seemed to be okay with that. A great crowd! Come to my presentation on the 27th of February to see a better prepared session which will include WF demo's.

Microsoft is releasing a patch for Windows to update the behaviour of automatic daylight savings adjustments. This is necessary because DST dates in the United States will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November).

The .NET Framework uses the operating system to determine current date. So as long as you apply the Windows patch, your .NET application will automatically use the new DST rules.

Read more information in the Microsoft knowledge base: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/bb264729.aspx

My article on integrating Amazon Mechanical Turk into Windows Workflow Foundation has been placed on the Amazon web services developer connection.

Read it here: http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?entryID=635&ref=featured

Good news for all those that own the original iPhone (the one made by Linksys).

There is a Windows Vista driver available at:

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Download_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115417109934&packedargs=sku%3D1127783455701&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

I just ran across this little bit of humor in the Skype billing site.

I went to my bill for March (it is February now), I guess I cannot call into the future 'yet'!!!

In Windows Vista the Add/Remove Windows Components screen in Windows XP has been replaced with the Windows Features list.

Some of these option definately require a little more explaining than the tooltip info provided.

Luckily someone has figured out what every option means and posted quite a comprehensive guide on bleepingcomputer.com.

Go to: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial134.html

I finally updated my website some. I now use the RssToolkit from Dmitry Robsman to display my latest blog posts on the front page of my business website (www.develop-one.com).

The RssToolkit allows you to define an RssDataSource using drag-and-drop, just enter the url of the feed and create a gridview which binds against the RssDataSource. It's great!

The code has been updated since last year, but it runs like a charm!

Go to: http://blogs.msdn.com/dmitryr/archive/2006/03/26/561200.aspx

Update:
The project has been moved from Dmitry's blog to CodePlex. Go to: http://www.codeplex.com/ASPNETRSSToolkit.

My hosting provider send me an email today informing me that ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 is now available to all DiscountASP.NET customers. I guess I'll have to put some AJAX in my site, just because I can

The message did contain an interesting warning though:

Microsoft officially released ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 and we have installed AJAX 1.0 in the webserver GAC.
(More Info | KB Q10460)

Note: Microsoft has yanked out some features from the AJAX RTM and used the same version number for both v1.0 and the RTM. If you built apps with the RTM, they may not be backward compatible.