Visual Studio

Stop by the Microsoft "Ask the Experts" area and ask me some technical questions about Windows Server 2008. I don't know if I will have anything to give out for prizes, except for nuggets of information.

Just keep in mind, I'm not a sales guy. I'm more well versed in telling you about configuration scenarios for Hyper-V than what the licensing cost would be. I can also tell you the technical reasons for upgrading to Server 2008 and not standard marketing phrases of "Easier to manage" or "Reduced TCO". Those are all valid reasons but I'd rather tell you about the technical aspects, like SMB 2.0 and Read-only Domain Controllers.

I'll also be at the CDW/Berbee booth from time to time too, since we are one of the partners at the event.

More information on the event is here.

I'll also be at the Grand Rapids event a few months from now.

If you go to the Server 2008, SQL 2008, and Visual Studio 2008 launch event in your area, it looks like you will be getting some Not-For-Resale goodies.

1. Windows Server 2008 Enterprise RTM (64 and 32 bit) with a product key
2. Visual Studio 2008 Standard RTM
3. SQL Server 2008 CTP 5.0 with a voucher for a RTM copy when available

If you happen to go to the Grand Rapids, Michigan or Detroit, Michigan event, I should be in the "Ask the Experts" section with Microsoft, if everything goes as planned.

I have heard rumors of discounted TechNet Plus subscriptions too, so those are always nice too!

Details originally spotted here.

Good to have around when Visual Studio 2008 applications start coming out in full force.
Download: x86 / x64 / ia64

Service Pack 1 for .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0 is out.

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 provides cumulative roll-up updates for customer reported issues found after the release of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. In addition, this release provides security improvements, and prerequisite feature support for .NET Framework 3.0 Service Pack 1, and .NET Framework 3.5.

Download 2.0 SP1 x86 here.
Download 2.0 SP1 x64 here.
Download 3.0 SP1 here.

On the heels of the RTM of VS 2008, here is a training kit:

The Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 Training Kit includes presentations, hands-on labs, and demos. This content is designed to help you learn how to utilize the Visual Studio 2008 features and a variety of framework technologies including: LINQ, C# 3.0, Visual Basic 9, WCF, WF, WPF, ASP.NET AJAX, VSTO, CardSpace, SilverLight, Mobile and Application Lifecycle Management.

If you are just interested in .NET 3.5, which builds on top of what was already in .NET 3.0, go here.

If you are interested in Visual Studio 2008, and anyone that develops for .NET should be, check out the new landing page here.

If you are looking for the offline DVD image for the Visual Studio 2008 Express suite, go here.

For individual product web downloads for Express, go here.

Grab the VPC here and read about the feature set here.

To be usable, crank up the default RAM size from 384MB to something higher.

Never thought I would see this, but MS has released the BDD 2007 managed source code that is used to build the MMC parts of the BDD. A good way to learn!

Check it out here.

Read more about it here and download it from here.

Noteworthy changes:
New processor support (e.g., Core Duo) for code generation and profiling
Performance and scale improvements in Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server integration with Excel 2007 and Project 2007
Tool support for occasionally connected devices and SQL Server Compact Edition
Additional support for project file based Web applications
Windows Embedded 6.0 platform and tools support

This sounds like it will be a nice gathering of developers that care about results more than what language a solution is programmed in.

They describe it better than I can:

CodeMash is a unique event that will educate developers on current practices, methodologies and technology trends in variety of platforms and development languages such as Java, .NET, Ruby and PHP. Held January 18-19, 2007 at the lush Kalahari resort in Sandusky, Ohio, attendees will be able to attend a world-class technical conference amid Ohio's largest indoor waterpark. So nobody will frown if you show up in shorts, sandals, and your loudest t-shirt. You might even win a prize for doing so.

CodeMash

I probably won't be there, so I don't think I can win the Zune for blogging about it, but I figured it was worth a mention anyway.

Apparently over 200 bugs and suggestions have been submitted to the VS 2005 SP1 beta since it opened up. Although I have had limited time to install and test it, so far VS 2005 SP1 seems a lot more stable, especially in the IDE, than VS 2005 RTM. I know a lot of people thought VS 2005 RTM was a bit rushed and it showed with the amount of strange bugs people ran into.

Keep an eye on this blog for ongoing VS 2005 SP1 news.

This is just a personal pet peeve that I see more and more programs doing. It is typically done by programmers that either didn't have time to come up with a decent icon or didn't know how to change it within Visual Studio. When I see programs that use defaults in their resources like 'Form1' and such, it just gives me the impression of sloppy coding, even if I haven't seen the underlying code.

Sure, you could use a resource hacker program to insert your own icons but I wish more programmers would not use the default icon sets.

Here is an example of what I am talking about if this isn't making any sense to you:

This made me crack up for some reason today.
Unintended insults, from autogenerated code.

[snip]

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'
' This code was generated by a tool.

[/snip]

HEY!
That's not very nice to call someone.