Brian H. Prince

CodeMash v2.0.1.2 tickets went on sale this morning, 10/24/2011 at 10:24am. Over the weekend I made my usual CodeMash bet: If we sell out by Friday, Twitter can pick my hair color.

Why Friday? I thought last time we sold 900 tickets in 3.5 days. This year we were going to sell 1200 tickets (not counting speakers, staff, volunteers, and sponsors). So I scaled up the time.

Boy. Was I wrong.

The 1200 CodeMash tickets sold out in 20 minutes. So fast, that we brought Eventbrite (our ticket SaaS to their knees). I have received plenty of email from people that are concerned about their money or ticket.

So what happened?

0. EB lets you start checking out. They use a greedy allocation algorithm, locking those tickets for you for 15 minutes. This is normally enough time for most people to check out. This is a time challenge for people that are buying more than 10 tickets at a time however.

1. During checkout, backend messages are sent to PayPal to process the credit card. Once that is done, PP sends a message back to EB.

2. You receive your PP receipt.

3. Normally, EB receives the response from PP and commits the tickets to you. In this case, EB was swamped and couldn’t respond to the response from PP. Because of this….

4. Failing a response from PP in the 15 minute window EB releases your tickets, and marks your order as ‘abandoned’.

5. The ticket buyer does NOT receive an email from EB.

6. Ticket buyer gets confused and emails me.

7. Tickets are re-allocated to someone else trying to buy their tickets, which perpetuates the problem.

If you fell into this crack, HAVE NO FEAR. The PP messages are queued, and EB is working through them, assigning tickets to people as they go. Everyone who paid, WILL GET A TICKET. Do NOT worry. If you haven’t received an email from EB in a few days, please let me know through the CodeMash EB registration page. That goes direct to me.

We sold 1,200 in 20 minutes. There are about 175 tickets backlogged.

Wow. Can’t wait for CodeMash this year.

Hopefully you know about the awesome series of online events called DC4D (Day Camp for Developers). This is a day long online camp that teaches important developer skills.

In this third incarnation, the day’s theme will be around projects and project management. I will be presenting about some hands on Agile practices. This talk arose out of all of the Agile hype five years ago. The talks about Agile at the time were very inspirational, but short on ‘how’. People would get all wound up, get excited, run home, and then not know how to start. I developed the talk to show people exactly how we (at the time I didn’t work for Microsoft) did Agile. The goal was to show some of the simple things you can do, and to show that moving towards Agile is a long cultural shift, and not just ‘read a new book’ exercise.

I hope you can join us at DC4D.The day does cost $40, but that is a drop in the bucket compared to what you will learn over the day, and what it would cost to go to a conference far away.

While at TechEd North America this year (held in fabulous Atlanta) I presented a session on tools that you should consider when working with Windows Azure. The recording has been published to the Channel 9 site. Watch away!

What were the tools? Well I considered making you watch the whole video, but I guess I will be nice and list them below.

1. AzureWatch – azurewatch.net
2. Cost Calculator – azureroi.cloudapp.net
3. Clumsy Leaf Blob storage tool - www.clumsyleaf.com/
1. Cloud Storage Studio – www.cerebrata.com
4. Cerebrata PowerShell Cmdlets – www.cerebrata.com
5. Greybox – cost limit your dev account – greybox.codeplex.com
6. SQL Azure Migration Wizard - sqlazuremw.codeplex.com
7. Lokad Cloud – .NET O/C mapper - lokadcloud.codeplex.com
8. Multitenant Web Role - zuretoolkit.codeplex.com/releases/view/62330
9. Windows Azure Migration Scanner – wams.codeplex.com
10. Fiddler – www.fiddler2.com

Do you have the next million dollar idea that you just can’t find the time to finish? Do you already have an app for Android and iPhone that you want to expand into new markets?

It’s time to turn your napkin sketches and leverage your hard work into real, sellable apps for Windows Phone in ONE WEEK!

The Central Region Evangelism team at Microsoft is hosting a week-long Windows Phone Accelerator Lab in Dallas (week of May 9th) and Chicago (week of May 16th). The purpose of the lab is to provide technical and design assistance to developers who are currently building Windows Phone apps and who need a little extra help in getting their apps into the Marketplace.

The event is a no-fee event (plan your own travel expenses) and all developers are eligible. Seating is limited and registration is not guaranteed. Priority registration will be based on:

• Apps currently in development with a plan to completion by May 31st
• Developers who have apps on other platforms that are looking for assistance to port over to Windows Phone 7
• Someone who has a great idea and needs help in getting their project kicked off
• Application must be ready to submit to Marketplace by May 31^st.
During these labs, you will be provided a working space, access to technical experts, access to phones to test your app on and access to all the caffeine you can consume! There will be a few other surprises thrown in for good measure as well! Register now!

The team I work on at Microsoft, Central Region Developer and Platform Evangelist (DPE), has been engaged with student teams participating in Imagine Cup.  A number of these teams have been selected to participate in the Imagine Cup US finals. 

What is Imagine Cup?  The Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition and is like “Olympics of technology.” 

Below I have include information and voting links for some of teams.  Through April 9th they in the running to win the Imagine Cup People’s Choice competition.  Click the links below to vote AND learn more about the teams.  You can vote once daily via the link AND vote via SMS message through April 9th.

Software Design

Game Design

Cloud computing is emerging as a promising IT service delivery vehicle. But is the question "To cloud or not to cloud"? For IT professionals and your IT organizations, it is crucial to recognize the opportunities and play a key role in the transformation from existing infrastructure-focused IT into a service-oriented, user-centric, and IT-as-a-Service environment. Are you ready for the challenge to lead and transform your IT organization? Join your Microsoft® IT Pro Evangelists for this FREE, half-day event that will help you decide.

Sessions include:

Session 1: Cloud Computing Essentials for IT Pros
75 minutes, 8:30 AM – 9:45 AM

Session 2: Your Public Cloud: What, Why, and How
60 minutes, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Session 3: Your Private Cloud: What, Why, and How
60 minutes, 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM

Register now and save your seat for these FREE, half-day events in your local area.

Starting in March 2011, we’re rolling out a series of 12 Web Camps in the Central US. Microsoft's Web Camps are events designed to teach you all about building websites using ASP.NET MVC, WebMatrix, OData and more. We’ve held Web Camps all around the world over the past few years, but we’re taking them to the next level this year with more of one- and two-day events in Central Region, and one just might be near you.

If you’re near Austin, TX or Chicago, IL, you’ll want to join us for a special two-day Web Camp. We’ll cover ASP.NET MVC in-depth on day one and help you get hands-on on day two, facilitating smaller groups through labs, live-coding exercises, or even collaborating on your apps! If you can’t make a two-day event, never fear! We have a series of one-day camps in March, April, May and June throughout the region.

Join Clark Sell and Brandon Satrom for a special WebMatrix and ASP.NET MVC Web Camp you don’t want to miss. No matter your expertise in web development, these Web Camps are the perfect opportunity to get hands-on experience and 'unleash your coding genius'.

Our interactive sessions will:

• Introduce ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Web Pages and WebMatrix; discuss possible uses of these
• Explore new features of ASP.NET MVC 3
• Take a dive deep into jQuery
• Facilitate an in-depth discussion on when to migrate ASP.NET WebPages applications to ASP.NET MVC
• Discuss configuration and deployment of web applications.

This event is a unique opportunity, partnering classroom learning with hands-on-labs, and leveraging experts to help you build new and exciting websites.

1-Day Event Agenda:

Start Time	Duration	Topic
9:00 AM	10’	Welcome and agenda for the day
9:10 AM	50’	Web Stack Introduction
10:00 AM	50’	Building a Site in WebMatrix
10:50 AM	10’	Break
11:00 AM	60’	ASP.NET MVC Introduction
12:00 PM	60’	Lunch
1:00 PM	60’	Migrating from WebMatrix to ASP.NET MVC
2:00 PM	60’	jQuery Introduction
3:00 PM	1.5 hours	Instructor-Led Labs
4:30 PM	10’	Evals

 

Two-Day Event Agenda

Start Time	Duration	Topic
Day 1
9:00 AM	60’	MVC Fundamentals
10:00 AM	60’	Data Access and Modeling with Entity Framework
11:00 AM	15’	Break
11:15 AM	60’	Metadata, Validation and Localization
12:15 PM	45’	Lunch
1:00 PM	60’	MVC and Ajax, jQuery Templating, jQuery Globalization
2:00 PM	60’	Using Dependency Injection and Global Action Filters
3:00 PM	15’	Break
3:15 PM	60’	Testing and Custom Validation
4:15 PM	45’	Q&A and Evals
Day 2
8:30 AM	2.5 Hours	Smaller Working Groups/Development
11:00 AM	15’	Break
11:15 AM	60’	Smaller Working Groups/Development
12:15 PM	45’	Lunch
1:00 PM	3 Hours	Smaller Working Groups/Development
4:00 PM	30’	Q&A and Evals

Locations (Space is limited, so sign up now):

Date	City, State	Speakers	Registration Link
March 7 & 8, 2011	Austin, TX	James Senior, Scott Hanselman, Brandon Satrom, Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/fHDEb2 http://bit.ly/hF4uE0
March 17, 2011	Clive, IA	Javier Lozano	http://bit.ly/h1jNgO
April 27, 2011	Franklin, TN	Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/eFvMPO
April 29, 2011	Columbus, OH	Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/h0T0iN
May 16, 2011	Irving, TX	Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/f1Qfsl
May 18, 2011	Little Rock, AR	Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/emn6Ch
May 20, 2011	St. Louis, MO	Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/fi4xpU
May 24, 2011	Brookfield, MN	Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/i9agUK
May 25, 2011	Waukesha, WI	Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/hQ8Rjo
May 26 & 27, 2010	Chicago, IL	Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/fHTXAr http://bit.ly/gII54c
June 2, 2011	Southfield, MI	Clark Sell	http://bit.ly/gCNiPE
June 2, 2011	Tulsa, OK	Brandon Satrom	http://bit.ly/fdvSEF

All of the above registration links can be found in this link bundle as well: http://bit.ly/bundles/csell/5.  Of course balloons on a map are cool too:

Space is limited so sign up now.

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What do WPF, Silverlight 4, and Internet Explorer 9 have in common? No, that's not a riddle. Really, it's not a riddle. They are all FTW. What I mean by that is they all offer developers unique ways to exploit the power of Windows 7, such as integrating with the taskbar, leveraging jump lists, or offering the ability to exploit multi-touch or hardware sensors.

This is going to be a great tour. It’s cool to see Jennifer take all of these platforms and stitch them together.

FTW?
And why am I even talking about this? Well closely following on the heels of our Windows Azure Boot Camp announcement, we are gearing up another boot camp series: For the Win: Window 7 Development Boot Camp. This new series of events will include evangelist-led presentations by none other than the purely awesome Jennifer Marsman as well as hands-on labs to help you really dig into developing client-centric applications using WPF and XAML, Silverlight, and Internet Explorer 9 (yes, client-centric integrations from your web site with just a touch of HTML5).

What's Covered?
Jennifer will cover application compatibility and transitioning your application to Windows 7, leveraging the Windows taskbar and jump lists, exploiting the taskbar and jump lists from your web site using IE9, taking advantage of new sensor, location and multi-touch functionality, and creating Silverlight 4 out of browser applications. Each boot camp will last a full day, starting off right at 8am local time, include lunch, several sessions and a couple of hands-on labs to help you really get a feel for how to take advantage of Windows 7 capabilities in your applications.

So, yes, this is a BYOL (bring your own laptop) event. Windows 7 is required, as is several other pieces of software: Visual Studio 2008 or 2010, Windows API Code Pack, Windows 7 Training Kit for Developers, IE9, and Silverlight 4.

What Cities?

• Waukesha, WI on 1/17/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Downers Grove, IL on 1/18/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Indianapolis, IN on 1/19/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Independence, OH on 1/24/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Columbus, OH on 1/25/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Mason, OK on 1/27/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Franklin, TN on 2/3/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Southfield, MI on 2/7/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Bloomington, MN on 2/14/2011 at 8:00 AM
• St. Louis, MO on 2/15/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Overland Park, KS on 2/16/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Des Moines, IA on 2/17/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Houston, TX on 2/21/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Irving, TX on 2/22/2011 at 8:00 AM
• Austin, TX on 2/24/2011 at 8:00 AM

*** In all fairness, the bulk of this post was written by the awesometastic Brian Moore. He did such a good job I chose to reuse his post.

Mike Benkovich invited me to be on his MSDN Radio show (with Mithun Dar) to discuss announcements at the PDC (see prior post here). It was only 30 minutes long, and was a lot of fun to do. I like the easy conversation without a lot of slides and canned lines.

Recording is located in the interwebs here: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=1032468481&role=attend&pw=B92F6029

Here is a list of PDC announcements made by Bob Muglia during the PDC 2010 Keynote (http://www.mcirosoftpdc.com). Remember that you can watch not only the keynotes and all of the sessions online.

Calendar Year 2010

· Virtual Machine (VM) role: increases flexibility to run software of your choice (stateless server components) on Azure platform. Database server is an example of a stateful server which you can’t run on VM role.

· Full IIS: allows multiple web sites per Web role and makes it possible to configure the ASP.NET pipeline

· Elevated Privileges: This allows you to temporarily elevate your privilege (e.g. installation of a software component that requires admin privileges), install a piece of software and downgrade the privileges in preparation for running the application.

· Remote Desktop: Enables the connection into a running Azure role instance for close inspection of the run time aspects of the application and debugging.

· Windows Azure Virtual Network: a collection of network services starting with Windows Azure Connect (formerly Project Sidney) which allows the establishment of IP Sec tunnel for enabling on-premise/cloud hybrid environments

· Extra Small Windows Azure Instance: provides developers a cost effective development and training option

· Windows Azure Marketplace: online marketplace for you to share, buy and sell building block components, premium data sets, training and services needed to build Windows Azure platform applications

The above features will be available by the end of calendar year 2010.

Calendar Year 2011

· Dynamic Content Caching: this capability allows you to cache application generated information in CDN edge nodes. Previously CDN only was able to pull content from Azure Storage.

· CDN SSL Delivery: allows the CDN delivery of content through TLS/SSL links

· Constructing VM role images in the cloud: in future IT Pros will be able to compose VM images on Azure instead of today’s on-premise composition and uploading to Azure

· Windows Server 2003 and 2008 SP2 in VM Role: more gust OS options

· Improved Java Enablement: Java will be a first-class citizen through a set of performance enhancing improvements to Azure roles, Eclipse tooling and Java client libraries for Windows Azure.

Other

TFS on Windows Azure: this is multi-tenant hosted TFS service which enables the integration of globally deployed development teams into a logical one. This is pretty offers same level of functionality as the on-premise equivalent.

For more details, please visit Windows Azure team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2010/10/28/you-spoke-we-listened-and-responded.aspx.

Brian Harry’s blog for TFS cloud service: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bharry/archive/2010/10/28/tfs-on-windows-azure-at-the-pdc.aspx