It seems to have been under reported but Expression Studio was released today.  I don't see Blend on the MSDN Subscriber download yet.

I found a nifty little utility on CodePlex that will package MSDN Library web content via the MSDN Content Service to build a local help file.  Very nice the help for Office development was driving me nuts last week having it fast and local is sweet.

Package This

I am not at mix but I see the BCL team just announced

Silverlight 1.1 Alpha includes all the features available in Silverlight 1.0 Beta plus a number of new features focused primarily on improving developer productivity and power:

• Managed code support
• Support for dynamic languages including Managed JScript and Python
• Rich UI control model based on WPF
• Improved networking stack with support for REST, RSS, JSON, POX
• Enhanced, 2-way HTML/AJAX Bridge
• Comprehensive and consistent base class library
• Support for LINQ (LINQ to Objects, LINQ to XML)

That's right.  Silverlight 1.1 Alpha includes support for managed code and a comprehensive base class library!  Now you know what we've been up to and why our blog has been relatively quiet these past several months

Our partner .NET teams within Microsoft have been able to provide an amazing amount of additional functionality on top of the Silverlight 1.1 BCL.  There's a networking stack, XmlReader and XmlWriter, an HTML/AJAX Bridge, a WPF API subset, a safe OpenFileDialog control, LINQ, and the new Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR).  What's really exciting is that all of these APIs are cross platform and work consistently on both Mac OS X and Windows!

You can download Silverlight 1.1 Alpha today along with the SDK at http://msdn.microsoft.com/silverlight.  After you've downloaded the bits, check out the newly launched Silverlight community site.  It's a great resource for getting started with Silverlight.

This will indeed be an interesting year.  BCL on Mac I doubt Linux could be to far off.

Now we know why many Developers were left with the impression that Silverlight was a little lacking, Microsoft was just hiding their real work.

Very interesting idea Irena brought to light this morning.  please check it out Menus and Other Popups Without Any JavaScript

and the source Eric Meyer article Pure CSS Popups also Icons That Appear On Rollover.

Nice little WPF sample application put together by Vertigo Software for Microsoft.  It is a demo involving this display of a family tree,  I saw a demo at VSLive and its now available to be downloaded.

Family.Show Source Code

 Charles does not seem to be taking Jeff's recent analysis of his WPF book VS Adam Nathan's Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed to well. Petzold deemed prose to be dead and Power Point to be the new king of publishing.  I think Jeff is wrong.  First color is I a good thing we don't program with note pad any more, we have notepad++ or a nice IDE that offer us rich color coded goodness for fast digestion of information, and its difficult to go back.  To contrast Nathan's and Petzold's books is the difference between a Nutshell book and an instructional documentation.  For those of us whom have been reading the WPF blogs and bits for over a year now we may find it usefully to have a reference of the current WPF state of affairs rather then a book that takes you from the start.  When you pick your reference, it needs to be based on what you already know and your programing level.  Jeff is comparing Oranges to Grape Fruit, they have a lot incommon but their target audience is fundamentally different.  In summation Please Add color to your publications we are a pack of spoiled developers that demand no less!  Further more I certainly hope prose  is not dead I for one stopped picking out books based on the number of pretty pictures they contained in Junior High.

First IT Person

Best Brains published an article on why bugs should not be tracked.

Why Bugs should not be Tracked

I don't think they are joking but I think Lars rational is definitely a consultants overly simplistic/marcom spin.

What do you think?

Cool add a 32 GB Solid State Drive to your Dell Latitude for around $550.  I would love to see windows and Visual studio running off of this little guy.

Link to Posts tagged Ssd at Engadget

Interesting ArCasts relating to Remend's SaaS Architecture

Remend Overview (14'38 video)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is simply the idea that instead of paying for the bits and running them on your server, you ought to be able to buy the service you want and let somebody else manage it. Of course, this is nothing new. You may have my website hosted by people you've never met. You don't care too much about the bits that actually run the server, you just want it to run and you don't want to think about it. In this case study overview we meet Remend one of the new crop of companies who are moving to a SaaS business model.

Architecture Overview (14'24 video)

When your business model in SaaS you have some interesting architecture challenges to overcome.  The goal is to add new customers who have varying architectural requirements with a low incremental cost.  The question is, how do you do it?  Well listen up because in this episode Armando Hernandez is going to provide us with an overview of how they are doing it.

Architecture Drilldown on Workflow and Services (29'21video)

Now that you've heard about the business model of a SaaS provider and the architecture overview I'm sure you are ready for the meat of this architecture. In this episode we drill into the workflow and services portion of the Remend on demand architecture.

User Experience (10'13 video)

Everybody wants to do things their own way. When it comes to SaaS this is most definitely the case. They want their own branding, they want extra fields, they want things to look a certain way. How do you support all of these requirements without resorting to mass customization of UI and business logic? In this episode we learn how Remend took on this challenge using .NET 3.0.

Database Architecture (9'12 video)

The classic problem for Enterprise Software has always been that of extensibility. Not only extensibility of behavior but also of data. The team at Remend calls this "Polymorphic data" and they make heavy use of XML to make this work. In this episode we chat with the Remend Database Architect Vadim Brusilovsky to find out how he does it.

Check out SecureLM's FAQ

How SecureLM works?

1. The software that is going to be distributed should be integrated with SecureLM. If you protecting your software using SecureLM Code Protector, the integration is almost done. In order to enable or disable GUI elements related to licensed functionality of software SecureLM API can be used. However, licensed functionality of protected software will not be executed without a valid license even if an attacker eliminates API checks.

2. Protected program requires a valid license in order to run. The creation and installation of a license for specific machine or USB hardware key is called Activation. The activation can be done online, via e-mail or via phone. A license is usually locked to machine, USB hardware key or USB flash disk. Non locked licenses are also allowed. Usually end user receives an activation key that allows software activation. SecureLM provides friendly user interface for software activation.

3. SecureLM server provides Web interface that allows performing operations like:

· Issue licenses

· Reissue existing licenses

· Perform e-mail and phone activations

· Increase number of allowed activations per license key

· Track issued licenses and online activations

· Define system configuration

· Much more.

 

What kind of software can be distributed with SecureLM?

Any Windows application or library can be distributed with SecureLM.

· .NET 1.1 or 2.0 Windows applications, services, or components

· ASP.NET 1.1. or 2.0 applications or components

· VC++/VB6/Delphi applications

I am just stumbling around their site it sounds interesting and worth a try.  Its nice to see another Giant in this market.  At least there is an alternative to MacroVision

If I knew enough I wouldn't trust my CPA, but I would like to highlight the fact that we do sometimes play Russian roulette with our money. 

Say you are an intuit Turbo Tax users just look at the mess that awaited you if you filed last minute.

Why you build for peak load,

Last-minute payers using Intuit software swamp e-filing servers,

TurboTax e-filing woes draw customer ire

Intuit Response #1- Not so good

I think Intuits vp is a little snippy when commenting on Dennis's Blog:

You are correct in that if you have zero capital gain/loss from the ESPP transaction, it is not showing on Schedule D. Although the calculations and tax liability are correctly computed, the fact that transaction is not reported on Schedule D may cause a reconciliation error at the IRS (difference between sales reported by broker and sales reported on Sch D). We believe this error crept in during one of our updates this season and we are tracking it down.

We will be providing an update as soon as possible to correct the reporting issue. I don’t have a specific date, but I know the team is working on it now.

Additionally, I’m skeptical that you would have no gain or loss on the sale of ESPP stock. In all the company plans that I’ve seen, employees normally have a nominal fee on the sale (something like a $5 fee). If you really don’t have any fees either on the sale or purchase, here is how I would suggest you workaround the issue. Simply enter sales proceeds $0.01 less than the actual amount(for example, enter $9,999.99 instead of $10,000). Or simply enter $0.01 in the box for purchase commissions/costs. This one cent difference will trigger the reporting and not have any impact on your tax liability.

I hope this information helps and I appreciate your bringing this issue to our attention.

Bob Meighan
VP, TurboTax

 

Now I have to admit at least you could file,  If you had chosen Tango from H&R Block they have a minor bug, you cannot efile.  At least they offer a simple workaround, print out your tax return and mail it( how old school).

 Known bug: HRblock.com’s Tango cannot actually e-file my taxes!

albeit it this error message may have been the bug according to one commenter

Hi Mark…thanks for checking out Tango! This is – I’m the Tango product manager, and I wanted to follow up with you about your account. Your account, along with 6 others, experienced a hic-up in the e-file messaging that we communicated- basically the reject message you saw wasn’t the right message. I assure you that the file submitted to the IRS was exactly what you entered in the product, and the reject message was related to something else on your return. (So everyone knows…Tango is setup to e-file and just like most tax products almost all returns filed are accepted when e-filed…)

We recognized this issue and contacted all users who experienced this…unfortunately you beat us to the punch and called us first. My apologies that we weren’t better equipped to handle the case when you called in. This issue has been resolved. Since I’m sure you don’t want the details of your situation outlined here, I’ll contact you separately to walk through the specifics of your return.

I did want you to know that we saw your post and we really do take these issues to heart—everything you mentioned has either already been addressed or is in the pipeline for the next release. At H&R Block we’re passionate about our customers, what you have to say, and the experience you have! This is just the beginning for Tango—we’re already well underway on version 2. I promise that next year we’ll knock your socks off!

 Much more friendly then Intuits VP go figure. 

I don't see any thing for TaxCut but I just take that to mean they are over do for a nasty error report.  Seriously some times we expect far to much from our software.  100%accurate 100% of the time.  Keep in mind that these are an ever changing set of requirements so no two years are the same which so helps your bug regression.

Useful short cut when reading a book in Safari Books online.  In any browser that supports the <accesskey> HTML tag, you can use Alt-2 to get to the next page and Alt-1 for the previous page. If you use Mac's Safari browser, it is Ctrl+1/2.line

Check out Microsoft's free .Net Framework 3.0 Virtual Labs and if you take part in any TechNet or MSDN virtual lab or labcast  you could win.

I was having some trouble figuring out how to use the new ado.net entity framework in the last March Orcas CTP, but leave it to Scott to have all the answers.  Scott has posted a nice video covering

• new asp.net WYSIWYG HTML designer.
• create classes's from the ORM designer.
• Intellisense for LINQ.

full detailed blog post.  And you can find the video here.

You can find the updated LINQ samples for both VB and C# here

Mark Posted a nice walk through of adding a coderush feature to Highlight IDisposable locals that don't call Dispose.  While this just furthers his goal of 11 blog posts for the year, I find this blog format much simpler to follow then some of the CR screen cast videos.

Incase you missed it yesterday Soma announced the release of Orcas Beta 1, it can be downloaded here.

Sourcegear Vault's new version have been released I look forward to the fix for what Eric calls "We fixed some quirky behavior with Shadow Folders" which I think has been my main headache as of late.  You can Down load it here and find the release notes here

Take a gander at this little channel 9 video and Hear Scott Guthrie announce Microsoft's interest in bringing the Dot Net Framework to the Mac, I know its old but still promising.

Utah, They have a brilliant legislature.  Utah recently banned Keyword advertising on trademarked terms.  I am sure Microsoft and Google look forward to dealing with this.  The full stories are here and here.

I have no idea what Twitter is, I don't want to know.  But I hear they have scalability issues which raises a question at what time does a love for a language/platform interfere with your core business goals?  further more when should we as developers care?  Twitter seems to be infatuated with Ruby on Rails to the extent that Ruby is slow causes performance and scalability issues but Twitter seems to stick with it.

5 Question Interview with Twitter Developer Alex Payne

How has Ruby on Rails been holding up to the increased load?

By various metrics Twitter is the biggest Rails site on the net right
now. Running on Rails has forced us to deal with scaling issues -
issues that any growing site eventually contends with - far sooner
than I think we would on another framework.

The common wisdom in the Rails community at this time is that scaling
Rails is a matter of cost: just throw more CPUs at it. The problem
is that more instances of Rails (running as part of a Mongrel
cluster, in our case) means more requests to your database. At this
point in time there’s no facility in Rails to talk to more than one
database at a time. The solutions to this are caching the hell out
of everything and setting up multiple read-only slave databases,
neither of which are quick fixes to implement. So it’s not just
cost, it’s time, and time is that much more precious when people can[’t]
reach your site.

None of these scaling approaches are as fun and easy as developing
for Rails. All the convenience methods and syntactical sugar that
makes Rails such a pleasure for coders ends up being absolutely
punishing, performance-wise. Once you hit a certain threshold of
traffic, either you need to strip out all the costly neat stuff that
Rails does for you (RJS, ActiveRecord, ActiveSupport, etc.) or move
the slow parts of your application out of Rails, or both.

It’s also worth mentioning that there shouldn’t be doubt in anybody’s
mind at this point that Ruby itself is slow. It’s great that people
are hard at work on faster implementations of the language, but right
now, it’s tough. If you’re looking to deploy a big web application
and you’re language-agnostic, realize that the same operation in Ruby
will take less time in Python. All of us working on Twitter are big
Ruby fans, but I think it’s worth being frank that this isn’t one of
those relativistic language issues. Ruby is slow.

Poor Ruby Slow But cool.  Twitter does seem to be looking for a Senior Engineer so maybe they will find their way off of the tracks and back into the boring but scalable world of DotNet and Java.  Job postings via blogs are interesting.  Especial when your end users us it. 

Anonymous said...

Could someone please take this job? The current team obviously has no idea how to solve twitter's scaling issues, despite saying they were working on it a week ago.

Even if Twitter finds some one tomorrow they are looking at months to correct this issue(if they are lucky).  I wonder how many, if any users this will cost them.

Does time to market matter more then performance and or usability?  It seems to me that having a lot of pissed off customers is not a good thing.  Assuming Twitter's developers knew they had issues when they started with this architecture.

It sounds like Microsoft's Consulting Services has extended  Mr.Walker's OR-LOS for Commercial Lending.  If you have the time (28 minutes) its worth a look but my overall impression is this could only be useful for a supper huge bank/lender that has the IT staff to pull it off otherwise its just overly complicated.  The question still remains how scalable and dependable this framework would be.

Video: Loan Origination Commercial Extension

Also according to Mr. Walker Microsoft will increase its participation with industry standards ( ie MISMO)

I found this query on Google Groups,

select sum(length) from syscolumns where id = object_id('Table Name')

Microsoft has announced that Expression Web is now available for all MSDN Premium subscribers.  Further more Expression Blend will be available shortly after the Expression Studio release.  Its been a long time coming but it's fantastic to see Microsoft change there mind based on our feed back.

You can find out more at

Scott Gu's blog or Somasegar's weblog ( who broke the news.)

I wanted to take a moment to point out my new favorite DotNet Function.  At VSLive in San Francisco I was introduced to System.IO.Path.Combine( path1, path2) as string.  I no longer have to deal with the logic of adding a trailing or leading slash when combing  file and directory locations.