http://blog.blanar.net nuggets from the 2005 PDC in LA en-gb Thu, 15 Sep 2005 15:28:05 .Planarchy - XML RSS Feed v1.00.81 plugin, by http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk Last night was the PDC Party at Universal Studios Hollywood--I didn't go. After a full day of sessions I wanted to collect my notes, organize the loot I've picked up so far, and catch up on some work stuff. It's a good thing I planned ahead and brought two suitcases--one fully empty--given the handouts, books, shirts (I think it's over 10 so far) and stuff I've purchases (DOH!). What can I say. Geeks like toys/i/b.Anyhow, off to more sessions today. Too bad I can't be in two (3, 4 or even 5) places at once. Here's what I'd like to be attending, but the items in font style="color:red"red/b/font are the ones I will most likely attend. I'll figure out how to cover those two at 3:45 somehow...IMG SRC="images/thursdayschedule.jpg" WIDTH="588" HEIGHT="533" BORDER="0" ALT="Thursday schedule"It's a very good thing that the DVD's from the conference (which should arrive in about 2 months) will have the video presentations from all sessions!_bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net After reviewing my notes, I realized that I forgot to mention the LINQ stuff.LINQ is language extensions to C# and VB.NET which provides SQL-query-like capabilities in managed code against standard objects!/b. After seeing the initial stuff, I was thinking "finally!". I can have a string array in memory and use a SQL-like query to select, sort any or all of the items from the array (yes, select a subset of the elements).Instead of me writing it up and getting stuff wrong (since I don't have the reference paper in front of me right now), read more at this article by Don Box and Anders Hejlsberg: http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/future/linq/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/linqprojectovw.asp"LINQ Project/a._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Of the PDC 2005 Session slide decks I've downloaded so far, I'm uploading them to my ISP for all of you to start reading. You can get the list of sessions with links to the files to download from my index_Sessions.htm"PDC Sessions/a page.Glad my hosting provider gives me 2GB of disk space to play with!!! (I hope the bandwidth limitation doesn't kick in!)Enjoy!/b_bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net I've been watching the PDC internal web site and pulling the files down as I find them. I've added about a dozen more slide decks to the 'Sessions' page listed in my prior post. The new ones are highlighted in a light orange._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Good expo party last night: free food, soda, beer, wine, goodies from vendors and lots of time to talk with vendors and other developers.I can't say that any particular vendors jumped out at me as new or someone that I hadn't seen before, but both Intel and AMD had very large booths practically side-by-side. This did give Gary B, Brian S and I the opportunity to settle an argument.I was describing how AMD Opterons/b and Intel Itaniums/b are the only true 64-bit processors/i used for mainstream Windows platforms today. I contest that Intel Pentiums & Xeons with EMT64/b technology are not 'true' 64-bit processors. Gary disagreed and quoted comments from one of our server hardware vendors. Thus, the fine folks at AMD we glad to show us some details and explains things.AMD's do have full 64-bit registers and because the memory controllers are built into the processors, the latency in addressing memory directly connected to a processor versus memory attached to another processor suffers only a minor 30ns performance hit. The memory controllers bypass the processor core when transferring data for inter-processor operations.Intel processors with EMT64 do not have full 64-bit registers and cannot address 64-bit memory addresses in a single memory request to the memory controller. Moreso, since the memory controller is off chip from the processor, memory transfers between different memory spaces goes through the processors cores as well as the memory controllers.Intel Itanium processors are more similar to AMD Opterons in architecture (where memory access is concerned) but, of course, do not offer both 64-bit modes and 32-bit modes which perform adequately and preserve 64-bit compatibility with 32-bit apps. In 64-bit mode the Itanium screams. In 32-bit mode, well, you may as well take a coffee break.This is why Itanium is an awesome processor for 64-bit systems which will only ever run Itanium-specifically-compiled code. AMD Opteron is awesome for 64-bit (x64) and 32-bit (x86) systems allowing 32- and 64-bit apps to co-exist and absolutely kicks butt with 64-bit memory performance. Intel EMT64 chips are nice for running x64-compatible 64-bit systems but you will suffer a performance hit for extremely large memory spaces since the memory address bus isn't a full 64-bit parallel bus. That's why Intel calls their stuff "EMT64"--standing for "Extended Memory Technology". They just added a few bits to the address bus.Yeah, it's extended but not all the way.Advantage: AMD/b_bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Today's general sessions covered lots of ground. I ended up taking 8 pages of notes on my Viewsonic/b tablet PC during the 2 hours. Like yesterday's posts, I'll first post a high-level summary and follow up with additional posts with more details.Visual Studio 2005/u* expect final Release Candidate by end of this week (Fri 16 Sept 2005)* Launch is November 7SQL Server 2005 (codename Yukon)/u* Launch is November 7WWF: Windows Workflow Foundation/u* added onto the WinFX architecture* will be common at the system level across toolsMicrosoft Expression/u* new tools for designers (since developers typically are not graphic designers)* "Acrylic" Graphic Designer* "Sparkle" Interactive Designer* "Quartz" Web Designer-- leverages the same project files and build system as Visual Studio 2005!Visual Studio Tools for Applications: VSTA (not vista/i though)/u* Essentially the .NET replacement for VBA* users can code in C# or VB.NETOffice 12/u* This is the big stuff for my Holy Sh*t!/b label/u* beyond the major UI enhancements from the keynote, huge developer advances* SharePoint IS/u/b the Office Server* WWF (workflow) integral to all Office productsInfoPath 12/u* designing a form is a much better experience* forms can be filled out using the InfoPath client, or via a Forms Server/b/i HTML form renderingSharePoint/u* again, SharePoint IS/u/b the Office Server* comprises Collaboration, Portal, Search, Content Management, Business Process and BI* many nice enhancements to lists, doclibs* RSS feeds available from any doclib or listAccess 12/u* Microsoft is re-commiting themselves to Access* many enhancements for users and developersSo, do you agree that this 2-hour session qualifies for the label I give it?_bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Windows Workflow Foundation/b (WWF) is Microsoft's lead into providing decent rules-based workflow capabilities in their core architecture, WinFX. It's intended to be used both for operating system tasks as well as other application workflows.The WWF designer is a graphical, process-flow diagram designer that runs inside the Visual Studio IDE. The object model is extensive (actually it seems very extensible at this point) to allow adding custom actions or advanced rules logic.Check out http://www.windowsworkflow.net"http://www.windowsworkflow.net/a.For debugging workflows, the Visual Studio IDE allows you to set breakpoints at workflow operations and even to step into the code behind the actions.Most Impressive/i/bOne thing I can think of that would be most helpful to Microsoft in making WWF take off in larger companies is this:brCreate a designer (user) tool that allows business folk to create the process diagram with the decision points using a similar graphical designer. Then, allow this design to be opened by a developer using Visual Studio to add the processing logic behind the workflow./i/bbrThis is essentially what Microsoft is doing with their Expression/b tools, Acrylic, Sparkle and Quartz. Makes sense to do it here too._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Expression/b is a family (not quite a suite yet) of tools that allows the graphical design work for Web and Win applications to be separated out from the coding work.Think about it this way: Today, to set up a web page a developer and a designer don't have an easy way to work together on their solution. The designer might use graphical layout tools or Adobe Photoshop to design the perfect/i branded web page.Then, the developer needs to recreate that design as best as they can in Visual Studio. This hasn't led to the best collaborative effort between graphic designers and code developers.Enter Acrylic, Sparkle and Quartz/i/b.Acrylic/i/b is a Graphic Designer tool for application solutions. Acrylic uses the same project files as Visual Studio, so a designer can start with the graphical design and then the coder can take over. Or, the coder can start the project with an unembellished form that provides the functionality and then the designer can add the graphical elements to spruce it up.Sparkle/i/b is an Interactive Designer that can provide animations and other effects to the graphic designer alongside Acrylic.Quartz/i/b is a Web Designer. So far, I haven't gotten much info on that.Here's another suggestion for Microsoft:brTo make the interactions between code developers and graphic designers more effective with these tools, why not add collaboration functionality, perhaps leveraging the SharePoint/u collaboration capabilities? This would allow for a better non-realtime exchange between developers and designers./i/b_bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net VSTA is VBA's replacement/b. Microsoft may not have put it in those terms, but it's pretty darned clear. VBA is going away. We know that. VSTA in Office 12 provides a similar experience to VBA in the previous Office editions, but it uses VB.NET or/u C# for the language.A demo of VSTA during the general session was done using an unreleased version of AutoCAD that has VSTA support. Open the 'macro' functionality and a code editor opens up allowing the user to add code to event handlers or code up whatever they want.So, how does VSTA compare to VSTO Visual Studio Tools for Office)? Here's how I see it: [Joni: I'll relay this to you directly in case you're not reading my posts]* VSTO is a developer tool for building solutions that leverage the Office suite of applications.* VSTA is a 'scripting'-type automation tool for Office and other applications. For example, if you need to add functions to an Excel spreadsheet, say, to call a web service to get some data, use VSTA.If you're a developer who has Visual Studio and you need to create an application that uses Excel behind the scenes or even for part of the user experience, use VSTO.The key here is that VSTA will be part of applications and will not require Visual Studio. VSTO is an add-on to Visual Studio._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Office 12: Wow, Wow, Wow.Aside from the user experience I posted about yesterday (which I still virtually drool for), today more details about Office 12 were made available.InfoPath 12/b is essentially "version 2.0" of InfoPath. Everyone jokingly admits that 1.0 products are typically suspect and not rock-solid. This was mostly true for InfoPath 2003. IP2003 left a lot to be desired in functionality and capabilities.IP2003 SP1 was a BIG improvement. Just being able to add drop-down lists that populate from SharePoint lists via point and click saved tons of coding.With IP12, InfoPath now 'comes of age'. A form can be created to be hosted in both the rich/i environment of the InfoPath client. That same form can also be served as a web form by using the Forms Server/b.-- Note that the web form can also be made available to mobile clients that have a WAP browser!/bThe Forms Server/b being talked about here is one of the new Office Servers. Essentially, it seems that Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) is the server side of Office and that certain functionality can be enabled or disabled on WSS installations. So, a WSS v3 install can be a Forms Server to provide the web experience for these forms.Another cool thing for InfoPath 12 is that it will be able to leverage the WWF workflows very easily.FrontPage 12/b is also being enhanced. Not too many details yet, but it seems that FrontPage will be kept in pace with the functionality offered in SharePoint. So, FrontPage will remain the advanced designer for SharePoint site templates. FrontPage will also be used to hook up WWF workflows with SharePoint doclibs and lists, but not much has been said about that yet.Access 12/b remains a user and a developer tool. Access 12 will futher integrate with SharePoint in some very interesting ways. Additionally, Access 12 can be a destination for InfoPath forms data, so that the data that users enter on forms can be stored into an Access database. This is a kind of reverse-mail-merge function that InfoPath and Access provide when used together._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net h3SharePoint!/h3(Sorry, I just had to shout it out/i)SharePoint v3 looks awesome. Essentially, SharePoint is being made the hub of Office Server functionality including:* Business Intelligence* Collaboration* Portal* Search* Content Management* Business Process ManagementQuick Hits:/u* SP v3 gets RSS/b and Wiki/b functionality* the Portal is going ASP.NET 2.0, so (web) parts are parts* Search is a key element (they say that but I wasn't impressed by any notable improvements, which is very disappointing)* Content Management replaces today's CMS product and the CM functionality will be build on the WPF (Presentation Framework)* Business Processes are built on WFF and integrated with all the other SharePoint functions* BI: primarily Access and Excel on the client, SQL Reporting Services and Analysis Services on the serverSharePoint lists:/u* many new field datatypes, including a really cool "Business Data Link", which is essentially a computed field created by combining static string values with field values for that row (links to other apps built on the fly...Hmmm...we did that in SOX404 in code!)* all lists can be made available via RSS* new view type: Gantt chart for time-based lists* views can be created as Mobile views so that mobile devices can access and use that information.SharePoint document libraries:/u* drop-downs for sorting, filtering and other options* richer metadata capabilities and options* VERY COOL CONCEPT: "content types" (more below)* Workflow integration with WFF including approval workflows* Data retention, archiving and lifecycle policies can be set* Again, a recycle bin is built-in* Document updates are available via RSS feedsSharePoint content types are Very, Very cool. (can I say "very" any more?) Essentially, content types are objects which define properties, behaviours and policies for files based on their type.What this means is that although workflows and policies can be set on entire doclibs, it is also possible to have distinct policies and workflows (and properties) for different file types within a single doclib!! [think eMOC: being able to have slightly different workflows depending upon the value of a field in an InfoPath form]SharePoint as the Office Server:/uAccording to a 1-on-1 conversation I had with Tom D. from Microsoft today, it seems that we may not be having to worry about those bothersome cases where we have to consider installing Office onto a server to provide some kind of functionality. The example he gave was around using Excel computational power on a server in code called from a web service. WSS v3 is supposed to provide that capability.What's even cooler about this is that the Office functions will be server-optimized from a memory and threading perspective. So using this functionality won't be like running a full Office product on the server (which has a fairly large overhead), but rather more like assemblies which offer methods to be called from your own code. No PIA's needed!Another use of this capability that was actually demoed in the general session is that it will be possible to render a view of an Excel spreadsheet on the server so that the view can be displayed on a web page (such as in a web part). This isn't a control on the client machine that is loading the Excel file. No way. Here, the behind-the-scenes data stays on the server and only the data for the rendered view makes it across the wire. This has huge implications to mobile clients or clients with limited connectivity.So, after all this, can you agree with "Holy Sh*t!"?? I thought so._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Notes from Wednesday session OFF409: technical and functional details of SharePoint v3 (part of Office 12)presenter: Dustin Friesenhahn, Program Manager[audience of ~300 ppl, 60% seem to be using WSS today/i]ulliNew:ulliContent Types/liliEvents/liliCustom Field Types/li/ul/liliMajor functional enhancements:ulliRecycle Bin (personal recycle bin & admin/system recycle bin)/liliPer-Item permissions (items, folders, lists, sites)/liliFolders in all list types (also support custom properties on folders)/liliConsume data outside its containerulliCross-web lookup fields/liliCross-web list views/li/ul/liliExtensible file format supportulliFramework to support props from 3rd party files (promoted properties)/li/ul/liliVersioningulliMajor and Minor versioning/liliDifferent content returned based on permissionsulliChecked out/liliDraft/Minor/liliPublished/Major/li/ul/liliList item versioning (track metadata changes)/liliVersion limiting (limit the number of versions to keep)/liliVersion history UI to show the progress of versions and metadata/li/ul/liliCustom Column indexingulliUser/developer defined index on any column in a list/liliLike a SQL index; used for performance on large doclibs/li/ul/liliCross-List queriesulliQuery across a set of lists in a site collection/liliExtension to the query language/li/ul/liliManagement featuresulliContent types frameworkulliReusable definition of an item type/liliIncudesulliSchema def (collection of fields)/liliDocument template/liliAvailable workflows/liliPolicy settings/lili3rd party behaviours/li/ul/liliNow, the "NEW" button is a drop-down to select the content type to create/liliForms to enter metadata for each document may be different based on type/liliHierarchy to Content Types (My Company definition versus My Team)ulliProvides for inheritance of properties & behaviours from parent types/li/ul/liliCreate content types via page UI in WSS/li/ul/li/ul/liliEventsulliEvents can be different based on content type/liliSupported on lists as well as doclibs/liliMultiple handlers are supported on a list/liliNew sync events: "before" update, delete, etc./liliIn an event handler, you now have the 'before' and 'after' metadata in case you need to trigger something based on a change!!!/li/ul/liliCustom Field TypesulliA new type with custom input and renderingulliASP.NET controls for edit, display and new form/li/ul/liliDefine complex server side data validation/liliExamples: ratings, Address field, external data lookup/liliNew type must be built on a base type (standard WSS type)ulliQuery/Sort/Filter will be dependent upon the base type/li/ul/liliXML definition is includes CAML rendering/liliParts:ulliField type class/liliField value class/liliField control (rendering on page)/liliField control template (Field.ascx)/li/ul/li/ul/li/ul.. http://blog.blanar.net This time from OFF310: WSS v3: Developing Collaborative and Tracking ApplicationsFeatures of v3 to enhance the user and developer experience.Mike Morton, Lead Program ManagerWhen surveying WSS users:/uDoclibs are #1 most-used item in WSSCustom lists are #2My notes from the session:/bulliGantt chart view: top is graphic display, bottom is list itemsulliIn the graphic part, you can drag/drop an item's bar to change dates/li/ul/liliWSS lists can RECEIVE email!!ulliData gets added to the list/liliCalendars process incoming iCals/liliDoclibs map attachments to documents/liliExtensible support for custom 'email handers'ulliCustom lists can support email by writing a handler/liliHandler is responsible for mapping email content to properties/li/ul/lili-- Think about this along with the RSS feedulliPostings can be generated via email; RSS distributes the info/li/ul/liliDoes not require Exchange for integration (must run it's own SMTP/POP3 mailbox system)/li/ul/liliWSS Site groups can have associated 'distribution list'ulliCreate distribution list for members upon site creation/liliWSS will talk with AD (+other DS) to create and manage the distribution lists/liliThis also has mechanisms to allow IT approval or code-based approval/li/ul/liliOutlook and Synchronization APIsulliCal, tasks, contacts, discussions and documents/lili-- Offline support/liliTrue 2-way support/liliChange Log APIs are optimized for synchronization/liliSync log is stored separately so using the APIs doesn't query the original data, just the change log/li/ul/liliAlertsulliCan use filters to pick items to alert on/liliDevelopers can create custom filters/liliAdmins can set up alerts for members of the site/li/ul/liliQuick launch is on every page, not just the homepage/liliRSS:ulliOutlook supports the feed: protocol/liliWSS provides the feed using this protocol syntax/li/ul/liliTarget release date is same as Office 12: 2nd half 2006/liliUpgrade paths:ulliIn-place upgrade/liliMigration upgrade by moving sites/li/ul/liliInteroperability with Office 2003ulliOffice 2003 functions will still work; no additional functionality/liliOffice 12 required for additional functions/li/ul/liliConflict resolution with SynculliGet conflict dialog in Outlook, user gets the choice to pick the one/liliFor web users, optimistic locking is used and a token is used to verify the item was not changed since it was opened/li/ul/liliExpect more info in the November timeframe when ITForum takes place in Europe (formerly the MEC)/liliSQL 2000 and SQL 2005 are both supportedulliAll functionality is supported on both SQL Servers EXCEPT some advanced BI stuff that Office Server will implement on top of WSS/li/ul/liliWSS SP2 will be out by the end of September to support tuning for SQL Server 2005/li/ul.. http://blog.blanar.net IMG SRC="images/office12server.jpg" WIDTH="653" HEIGHT="493" BORDER="0".. http://blog.blanar.net Hello all...sorry to be offline and not provide updates over the last 18 hours or so...Here's a synopsis of the happenings...Power/uYesterday, shortly after 1pm the power went out. YES, it was practically city-wide/b. According to the newspaper, a DWP (CA Department of Water and Power) worker accidentally cut the wrong wire somewhere, which caused a cascade of overloads followed by shutdowns as the system tried to protect itself. [For you PA/NY/NJ/OH/Canadian readers: Remember the power outage from a few years back where a spike in one part of the grid took out large parts of Eastern Canada, and states in the Ohio-New York band? Essentially, same deal.]Side note: Interesting that CA combines water/b and power/b in the same department. Typically, these things don't play nicely with each other. ;-)/iAnyhow, even though the official grid outage was something like 1 hour long, the Wilshire Grand hotel had additional issues. Apparently, one half the building had power, the other half didn't (guess which half I was in!). That power didn't come back until some time around 11pm last night. That's why I didn't provide any updates...PDC Keynote/uBill Gates was here to officially kick off the PDC for 2005. After all the traditional hoopla (including a really stupid 'funny' video for this year), we got into the good stuff. I'll publish that info in another entry...PDC "The Good"s/uGot the conference disc pack after the keynote. Latest builds of Visual Studio 2005 Team Server, Windows Vista, Longhorn (server). Seems like the expected stuff. Alas, the Office 12 bits were not included, but I expected that.PDC "The Incentive"/uA really cool offer was extended to PDC attendees...more on this in another entry.Expo Hall/uStarting collecting goodies (shirts, hats, buttons, toys, software, etc.). More to be collected later...That's all for summary now...Hopefully the utilities & services are done being "tempermental"._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Some bullet points from PDC slides:ulliLargest PDC ever/liliSoftware milestones:ulli1975: Microsoft starts/lili1985: PC, MS-DOS mainstream/lili1995: Windows 95, Office 95/lili2005: Internet, .NET, XML/li/ul/liliVolume of Tablet PC sales has doubled in the last 18 months/liliCameras are becoming a standard peripheral on phones, laptops, tablets, PDAs/liliSOA is key/liliXML is being implemented at the core of all Microsoft products/liliAtlas/b/i is Microsoft's approach to AJAX/liliPrimary drivers to new software: RSS/b & Rich Media/lili2003 PDC was the kick-off for WinFX concepts, 2005 is the realization, 2006 shipping/liliWinFS is being positioned as the Universal File System (this was the 'web store' in Exchange 2000 and SharePoint 2001 until SQL just could perform on it)/liliWindows Vista tagline: Confident, Clear, Connected/li/ulI hope this tidbits in themselves get some of you thinking "hmmm...". Whether that means "Oh, crap. More changes!" or that means "Very cool. So what?", or "SO COOL! When can I have it!", all are perfectly understandable responses. Yes, Microsoft is not standing still. They seem to be trying to innovate somewhat while also evolving with new trends (RSS and AJAX). It's good to see the fundamentals of WinFX offered in PDC 2003 are still the same from an architecture standpoint, only changing with revisions which are really improvements.Demos included Windows Vista and Office 12.From the home perspective, Vista is "Good" and Office 12 is "Nice". I consider Vista more important to home users than business users given what I've seen so far.From the business perspective, Vista is "OK" and Office 12 is "WOW!". More on Office 12 shortly..._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Well, that about sums it up.brThe tagline for Office 12 is "Results-Oriented Interface". The UI, while still looking like Office 2003, has taken what I consider HUGE leaps in productivity enhancements. One anecdote that stood out to me is this:brliOffice 1.0 had something like 100 functions/liliOffice 2003 has over 1500 functions/liliWhen Microsoft asks users for new functions they'd like to see in Office, 90% of today's requests are for things that already exist in the software but the users were not aware of it!/b/liThis point speaks volumes. It's obvious that Office has become so big and complicated that most users simply can't master it (let alone use it sometimes). This is why the tagline above was introduced. The core changes are around making the UI (moreso the functions available to the user) dynamic/i depending on the current action context/i of the user. This is done by introducing a new "menu & toolbar" system.The new "menu & toolbar" system is hard to put in words, but think of it this way: This thing looks like it came straight out of Microsoft Research. Top level menu items no longer cause drop-down menus to appear, but rather, the toolbar functions which are visible change/b as each top level menu item is moused-over. Another time these "function menus" change in context is when you click on items in your Office files.As a demo, Excel was used. When a table was clicked in, the entire toolbars area changed to show functions particular to working with tables.This makes a HELL of a lot of sense...why just grey out items on toolbars that don't appy? Hide 'em! Just show the good stuff that I can do.That should get more people using more of the functions of Office. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it can be a double-edged sword: More functions means more time spent trying and exploring these functions rather than using just the subset of functions the user is familiar with today.In the end, I think that if this approach is taken and implemented properly, those functions in Office apps which are productivity enhancers/i rather than eye-candy builders/i, then progress will have been made._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Just a couple points until I get to more SharePoint sessions.Functional:/bulliA recycle bin is implemented by default/liliRSS feeds for doclibs and lists are built-in/liliNew function library: Slidestack (very cool way of working with PowerPoint filesliliOffline capability implemented by leveraging Outlook/li/ulTechnical:/bulliBuilt on ASP.NET 2.0 so ASP.NET 2.0 webparts apply/li/ulMore to come..._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Outlook 12 includes a built-in RSS reader!SharePoint is even more richly integrated.Outlook 12 is used to store the 'offline' content from SharePoint sites.Leverages many features from IE7.Again, more to come as the sessions disclose more._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net During Jim Alchin's presentation of the keynote, a little demo was done about building WinFX "Avalon", now called Windows Presentation Framework (WPF), applications that run on Windows PCs, Tablet PC's, Media Center devices and PDAs. Pretty nice portability!The incentive that was offered was this: A limited number of PDC attendees were being offered the ability to purchase a new Windows PocketPC Phone for $149/b. "%SmiliesDir%omg.gif"Now, we're not talking about the Audiovox 5600 or the i-mate SP3. Nope. We're talking about the i-mate JASJAR Smartphone/b, a device that has an MSRP of $1049. Here's a link to the http://www.imate.com/DETAILS_JASJAR.htm"product page/a.that's a deal.Of course, I rushed out of the presentation to go pre-order mine on the web site and picked the timeslot to pick it up.1pm: Gary B and I are standing in line waiting to buy our devices. Got 'em!/bI haven't read the details yet, but this little pearl is an unlocked phone + PDA/b that opens like a clamshell to have a mini keyboard/b (think Nokia Communicator 9100). Windows Mobile 5.0. SD/b card slot. VGA screen. WiFi/b, Bluetooth/b (unfortunately, only 802.11b and Bluetooth v1.1--so no A2DP). Also has TWO cameras/b built-in: one for taking photos/b (1.3Mpixel) WITH a FLASH, and one for video conferencing/b. Oh, the screen also rotates/b so it can look like a standard PDA. I don't think the Nokia devices do that yet...One nicety I notice on the web page is that this device also has Java support via J2ME. Not sure if that's standard for PocketPC/Windows Mobile devices but that's sure a plus for corporations who will use both .NET and Java apps on these mobile devices. .NET for internally-developed systems. Java for vendor-supplied stuff, like that from SAP. (of course, you can buy .NET-based stuff and build Java-based stuff too, but I expect the company that I keep will opt for the former.)Also, part of the offer was for a limited number of people to get a Plantronics 320 Bluetooth headset for only $9.95 (instead of a typical $70 price or a PDC special of $45). Couldn't pass up that option either!right now my i-mate is charging. Once it's fully charged, I'll swap my Cingular SIM into it and give it a whirl.Too cool...I guess all these Professional Developers are being urged to jump on board the mobile platform train. Do you think Microsoft just got a few more evangelists for the technology? Probably. I'll reserve judgement until I use the device [I couldn't stand the Audiovox]."%SmiliesDir%biggrin.gif"_bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net I just typed up all these postings and now I can't get an IP address over the wireless network..."Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger. Sometimes you're the ball." --Mary Chapin Carpenter_bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Today I start the conference with preconference sessions (the pre-conf stuff started yesterday, but I only wanted to cover one day of extra stuff). I'm starting with the VSTO stuff, then might hop over to other sessions as the day goes on. VSTO (pronounced visto/i), for those who don't know, is the Visual Studio Tools for Office/b. It's an add-on to Visual Studio .NET to bright together managed code development with the Office suite of tools (primarily InfoPath, Outlook, Word and Excel). Office 11 (Office 2003) isn't 100% managed code, and it's primary code interface is still COM-based. By leveraging VSTO, a bridge is built between .NET managed code and Office 11.The session is starting now, and we're covering a backgrounder (stuff like what VSTO is, how you can use it, blah blah). The focus is obviously about the new version of VSTO, VSTO 2.0, for Visual Studio 2005.Side comment: so far we haven't leveraged VSTO in any of our internal solutions in the KM program. eMOC, SOX and WITS were all built without the models provided by VSTO, but in being aware of its existance, we did pattern these solutions in the style of VSTO. In my opinion VSTO 1 (for VS.NET 2003) really didn't add a lot of great capabilities, but VSTO 2.0 does look quite a bit improved, much is typically the case with 1.0 and 2.0 versions of products._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Even though I have wireless access here at the LA Convention Center, I probably won't be checking in to my APCI mail during the day. Because I run an exception approved/b/i Windows Server 2003 desktop as a developer solution for SharePoint 2003, I have chosen to run the Windows Server 2003 SP1 firewall because the Symantec Client Firewall isn't available for the server OS.Because of how the VPN 'dialer' works with multiple transient tcp ports, it's difficult to get it to work with the Windows firewall. As such, my only solution today is to disable the firewall when I start the VPN 'dialer'. Given the crowd here at the PDC (techie geeks who might get a thrill from trying to hack other machines on this generally open wireless network), I'd prefer to not drop the firewall while here.Maybe while I'm here in session I can try to tune the firewall settings to get everything to work just right/i._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net PDC...LA...city power grid power outage.Yes, really. About 1pm today, just as the afternoon sessions were starting back up again after lunch, we experienced a power outage. Heard a 'bang', then the lights & projectors (& wireless network) go out.Bummer! Wireless network access is out too! OK...everyone funnels out of the rooms into the hallways and waits. Then I overhear a PDC network support person say "It's city-wide/i". WHAT?!? Couldn't be...that, in a city this size, would be a serious emergency. Tell you this: The cell phone network must have seen a huge flood of traffic once the power was out because everyone was on their phones either asking about the power drop or telling someone about it (I personally chose to SMS my wife).Looking outside, yes, the stoplights within sight one and two blocks away were also not functioning. Oh, great. But, it wasn't city-wide/i. THAT would have been an extremely interesting scenario. My guess (since I haven't heard anything formal yet): city power net suffered a hit in this one grid (some number of square blocks). Dunno...have to check the evening news tonight to get word. [another thought: rolling power outage? Naw...not in the middle of the business day, couldn't be, could it? Seems stupid if a rolling power outage takes out stop lights on busy city streets!/i]About 50 minutes into the situation, power was back up. First we saw the stop lights come on...then the lights in the conference center. So, all in all, about an hour lost from the pre-conference session. Good thing laptops have battery power! (and thankfully I have my PowerPad with me).On the up side, while wandering the hallways did run into Gary B. and Brian S. Can you believe it--we all happened to pick the same hotel (Wilshire Grand), and we're all on the same floor?!? Odd stuff sure does happen.Oh, well, back to session. Once the wireless network comes back online, I'll try to post this blog update to the web site. Strangely, it was working at the (re)start of the session, but since then it's down. Maybe they're rebooting everything after the power outage (but wasn't it rebooted during the power outage?!?)_bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net "Large portion of the Los Angeles area. Police say terrorism is not expected."I guess it was actually pretty-much "City-Wide/b/i".So much for my optimism (pessimism) that it couldn't have been that big of an incident.Not much detail, but apparently there were two power surges which occurred within a short time of each other and caused an overload. Everything from Santa Monica FW north to Venice (something like that).Huh. Go figure._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Oh, yeah...forgot to mention Kristen. She IM'd me asking for help debugging a failed release of a SOX404 code update to the development server..NET coding (debugging) lesson learned: br"Always...... no, Never....... forget to check your references./b/i" br(anyone that can tell me the Movie that line comes from wins the prize)When code uses shared assemblies with other projects, always suspect these first when trying to figure out why code that runs on a developer machine won't run on another machine._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Wireless down....yadda yadda yadda....Users upset....blah blah blah...I'm using Bluetooth from my laptop to connect to my SonyEricsson S710a phone and updating my blog over EDGE (115kbps)...PRICELESS/b.. http://blog.blanar.net VSTO...that thing I was writing about earlier for the session I was attending.VSTO 2005 is definitely an improvement. The data binding/data mapping is cool. Still struggling with it in my mind as to how scalable a solution using VSTO/Excel with data binding can be. I suppose it could be more of a business-area solution. BUT/b, using VSTO requires VS.NET (VS 2005 for VSTO 2.0), and Visual Studio isn't something the typical business user will have or use.Nevertheless/b, for some Office-centric development (InfoPath, linking Excel to Web Services or WinForm code (like we do with SOX404), VSTO does expose the COM object model for Office 2003 better than the PIA's (Primary Interop Assemblies) that come with a full/u/b Office load.Skipped out of VSTO for the rest of the day so I could catch some ASP.NET 2.0 stuff -- WebParts._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Made it here. A long plane ride from IAD (Washington Dulles) to LAX, but thankfully for the technology of noice-cancelling headphones, I was able to get some sleep on the plane. For those of you who have travelled with me before, you know that I never used to sleep on airplanes. I can honestly say that I know now it was the noise and the constant hum of the engines--somehow I think it just reverberated in my brain and wouldn't let me sleep. I love technology that serves a useful purpose!Anyhow, after getting a refresher on downtown LA I hopped the bus to the Convention Center to pick up my registration goodies. (More on that later). Interestingly, as much as Windows Vista has a presence here with banners and such, Office 12 IS/u/b the beef of this conference (hurrah!). Here's a picture of one of the banners for Office:IMG SRC="images/PDC/office12banner.jpg" WIDTH="1073" HEIGHT="233" BORDER="0" ALT="Office 12 promo banner (BI flavor)"After grabbing the booty, I headed back to the hotel--it's been a long day. Another nicety: free wireless access through the whole/u hotel. That, along with free wired or wireless access at the conference center, outta keep me quite connected (assuming the network at the conference doesn't suffer similar issues to those from 2 years ago [fingers crossed!] ).So, what's good in the welcome kit?* laptop bag* t-shirt* channel-9 foam toy (*sigh*)* numerous adverts and demo product CDs (including telerik)* WinFX (Vista) .NET class library poster* 4 magazines (MSDN, Visual Studio, SQL Server, Code) -- home flight reading!* something called the "Smart Client Applications - Spring 2005 Selection" [looks to have a few demo/free tools that Microsoft had out on their site before]Oh, well...enough for now. I should start planning my sessions.Until later..._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Hey, I'm a programmer and architect first. Somewhere down the list of my skills the title "graphic designer" exists, but it's somewhere after "ditch digger", but hopefully somewhere above "politician"._b.. http://blog.blanar.net Well, it's just a few days until I head off to the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference/b in Los Angeles. It's been two years since I attended my last conference. Back then, Longhorn was just being introduced in a "Preview" form (pre-beta) and SharePoint 2003 had just gone RTM weeks earlier.This year, Office 12/SharePoint & InfoPath/b are at the top of my list. Of course, the recent happenings with Microsoft's 'acquisition' of Ray Ozzie/b followed shortly with their purchase of Groove/b should make for some very/u interesting developments in the Office/SharePoint realm.Not a distant second by any means, Visual Studio 2005 is just dying for its launch.This should be a good and very informative couple of days. Stay tuned as I'll try to post information about my meanderings through the halls of the LA Conference Center._bruce.. http://blog.blanar.net Just seeing how this looks..... http://blog.blanar.net