Wednesday, December 13, 2006

PDC07 Announced!

Just got this in the mail:

Microsoft will be holding the next Professional Developers Conference (PDC) October 2-5, 2007 in Los Angeles, with two days of pre-conference on September 30 and October 1.  Save the date!

 

The PDC is the definitive developer event focused on the future of the Microsoft platform.  PDC 2007 attendees will have the opportunity to access new code, learn about the latest Microsoft product offerings and hear from Microsoft executives about the various platform developments.

 

Check http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/ for updates; you can also subscribe to the RSS feed to find out more information about the event as we get closer.  Registration will open in the May/June timeframe.    

 

Thank you,

The PDC Team

I will definitely be saving the date.  The PDC has replaced TechEd as the premiere developer oriented event from Microsoft in my book.  I will be there.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006 8:14:14 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [2]  
 

  Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Vista Experiences

I spent the Thanksgiving weekend installing the Vista RTM bits to replace my XP install on my Thinkpad T60p.

I wasn’t sure how rocky it was going to be and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised.

I installed the base OS and right off the bat without loading any drivers my laptop was 95% functional.  I am used to loading 8–9 IBM drivers just to get the Wireless, Volume Buttons, Video, Brightness, Touchpad, etc. all working.  With Vista all of that worked with no drivers!  The only hardward not 100% functional at this point is the fingerprint reader (which I don’t use) and the Hard Drive active shock protection.  The latter I suspect at some point IBM will release a utility for.

Next it was off to the application stack that I run my life with. Not a short list:

InstallPad
Daemon Tools 4.x
SyncbackSE
TrueImage 10
BeyondCompare 2.x
BlogJet
CodeSmith 4.0
CodeRush
Refactor
Easy CD-DA Extractor 10
FeedDemon
FolderShare
Garmin Training Center
MacroMedia Fireworks 8
Microsoft .NET Framework SDK 1.1, 2.0, 3.0
Age of Empires III
Office 2007
Visio 2007
Onenote 2007
Project 2007
Enterprise Library
SQL Server 2005
Visual Studio 2005
NDoc 1.3
Nero 7.5.x
NetTiers 2.0
NUnit
Quickbooks Pro 2007
Quicktime
Skype
TestDriven.NET
ThumbsPlus 7
WinZip
WS_Ping ProPack
XENU LinkSleuth
.NET Memory Profiler
Fiddler
Money 2006
Streets & Trips 2005
NCover
TextPad
Windows Defender
Windows Live Messenger
Windows OneCare Live
SmartFTP
J2SE
uTorrent
FinePrint
Foxit Reader
Web Service Software Factory
Composite Application Block
CopySourceAsHtml
FireFox

All of the preceding applications installed fine and most I have run so far appear to be working.  There were a handful however where I wasn’t so lucky.

  • Plaxo – The installer tries, fails and then tells me to try again.  Sent email to support with no response.
    ActiveSync – This one I didn’t install.  I have been waiting for the WMDC to ship but it doesn’t appear to be available in final form yet.
  • PerfectDisk 8 – They have a beta out which purports to work with Vista but I must admit running a beta of Software that re-arranges all of the data on my disk makes me more than a little nervous.  Contacted support and was told they would have a version out when Vista was publicly available.  After several go arounds convincing them it is now they punted and said that Microsoft changed the certification rules at the last minute and that they were working dilligently to get certified.
  • Windows PowerShell – No Vista version available yet even though both have RTMed.  Disappointing.
    Google Desktop – This one is sketchy.  It installs fine.  Appears to have issues with Outlook 2007 even under XP.  Once installed on Vista I started getting two “Assert in LSP” assertions each time I started IE7.  Decided to uninstall this one and give it a few more weeks.  I can live without it, but just barely since search in Outlook 2007 still hasn’t gotten a lot better.
  • Camtasia Studio, SnagIt – They claim the capture tools work under Vista but the editing tools do not.  Contacted support and was told: “I do not have a date on when Camtasia will be compatible, but I would say sometime around when Vista is released to the general public, not just the business professionals. As for SnagIt, we are getting ready to release an update in the next couple of weeks that will be Vista compatible.” My bad for being a “Business Professional”.
  • Carbonite – January is the latest date for Vista support.
  • Cingular Communication Manager – This is installed but each time I boot up I get a message about an incompatibility. 
  • Ethereal – Not brave enough to try this one!

Overall I was pretty surprised by how well everything worked!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006 4:04:25 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [3]  
 

  Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Microsoft and Novell Kiss and Make Up

Just noticed this press release around the Microsoft / Novell announcement.  How can this be anything but good?  Vendors working together to make sure the mixed environments we work in everyday aren’t so hard to integrate/build/troubleshoot, etc.

Has some nice side effects for the Mono project I suspect also.  There has always been an unspoken question around how long Microsoft will ignore them. 

Ultimately all the companies involved are finally looking at what the customer wants/needs instead of exclusively what improves their bottom line.

Hopefully we will see more in this area…

Wednesday, November 15, 2006 6:46:49 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [1]  
 

  Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Office 2007 on MSDN SNAFU

I downloaded Office 2007, OneNote 2007, Project 2007 and Visio 2007 from MSDN on Sunday so I could install the final released products.

I spent all day Monday attempting to get keys and failed.

I finally got keys on Tuesday and installed the software.

Office 2007 installed and activated fine

OneNote 2007 installed and activated fine

Project 2007 installed and activated fine

Visio 2007 installed and would not activate.  Complained the product key was already used.

Come to find out the same product key is provided for Visio and Project but it can only be used once.   Whichever one is activated first wins.

Went to download the SaveAs PDF add-in and the Genuine Microsoft Software check told me that the Project 2007 key I obtained from MSDN was a false/counterfeit key.

Fun, Fun!!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006 2:20:47 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [3]  
 

  Thursday, November 09, 2006

VSLive San Francisco March 25-29 Call for Papers

Plans are underway for VSLive! San Francisco 2007 http://www.ftponline.com/conferences/vslive/2007/sf/ The Call for Papers is now open - please visit our online database at http://www.ftponline.com/conferences/callforpapers/ to submit proposals for both sessions and workshops.

Key Dates:

Event - March 25-29, 2007 at the Moscone Center West

Call for Papers - Deadline is December 1st

San Francisco will feature expanded ASP.NET coverage, special sessions on Vista and on .NET 3.0, more coverage of Visual Studio Team System/Team Foundation Server and new sessions on SQL Server 2005, C#, Ajax and VB.NET.  We are also planning 5 pre-conference and 5 post-conference workshops.

I am once again chairing the ASPLive! portion of the conference which has been expanded by one additoinal track.

I encourage you to submit your session proposals at the above URL.  Feel free to CC me on any with a VSLive2007 in the subject line.

 

Thursday, November 09, 2006 12:37:11 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [0]  
 

  Monday, October 30, 2006

Thanks for attending Code Camp 2.0

Thanks to all of you who attended my Code Camp 2.0 session on Virtualization for Developers.  As promised here is the slide deck I used which contains many of the virtual server tips I have collected.

File Attachment: VirtualizationForDevelopers.pdf (92 KB)

Monday, October 30, 2006 8:59:17 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [0]  
 

  Thursday, October 26, 2006

Code Camp Seattle v2.0 this Weekend October 28-29, 2006

I have been remiss in posting information about Code Camp v2.0 this weekend for the Seattle area.  Instead of it being held at Devry University in Federal Way like it was last year it was moved at the last minute to DigiPen in Redmond.

Check out http://seattle.techevents.info/codecamp/2/agenda.aspx to see the sessions. 

Jeff Richter, Bill Vaughn, Richard Hundhausen, Brad Wilson, Peter Provost, Steven Borg, Rod Paddock, Wayne Berry, Stuart Celarier, and many others are presenting some great sessions!

Plan to drop by and participate

Thursday, October 26, 2006 6:24:57 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [1]  
 

  Sunday, September 24, 2006

Updated CohoWinery.sql for the WSSF Hands On Labs

Looks like they renamed a number of columns before regenerating the CohoWinery.sql script which caused a number of errors.  Here is an updated script that has the errors fixed:

File Attachment: CohoWinery.sql (44 KB)

Sunday, September 24, 2006 10:04:29 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [0]  
 

  Monday, August 07, 2006

Norco DS-1220 12 Bay 3U SATA NAS Subsystem

Those who know me well know I am a total hardware geek.  I am always looking for better storage options and made some forays into iSCSI based sans using software based targets but gave up due to immaturity in the products at the time.

Here is a nice alternative however that was posted on eHomeUpgrade.  A 12 bay eSATA storage enclosure that includes the controller!  Pretty slick.

From http://www.ehomeupgrade.com:
norco ds-12002 with g5

I just got an email from a representative at Norco Technologies who picked up on our DIY NAS post and refers us to his company's over-the-top DS-1220 NAS Subsytem – usually purchased by home integrators – that retails for around $799 - $834 [check prices | review]. At first glance, the first thing that came to mind was... Whoa Momma! The DS-1220 features 12 hot-swap drive bays, integrated power supply, 3 cooling fans, and a 4-port eSATA hard drive controller capable of 0, 1, 5, 0+1, JBOD RAID configurations. All that's needed to bring this beast alive is a motherboard, CPU, memory, an operating system of your choice, and of course a handful of hard drives which you can add to as your needs expand (max. 9TB total). More...

Related Entries | Email Story | Discuss - © eHomeUpgrade / Alexander Grundner Monday, August 07, 2006 8:10:31 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [0]  
 

  Wednesday, July 26, 2006

I am Hiring

In the last 6 months I have recently taken a position with a local software ISV in the Bothell area. We recently acquired some IP and I am now tasked with building a team to take over this IP and take it to the next level.  To that end I now find myself with four job openings I am trying to find great candidates for.

You’re ready to make a big impact, and we’re ready for you.  At AMS Services, we’re looking for a driven software engineer to be a charter member of a small, agile, and high-performing team, poised to introduce cutting edge technologies to a ripe industry. 

 

AMS is committed to using the latest technologies and methodologies when developing our comprehensive enterprise business solutions for independent insurance agents and brokers.  As a result, we’re forming a high-performing team to take the company’s new product, TransactNOW, to the next level.  TransactNOW is a suite of solutions designed to facilitate real-time transactions between insurance carriers and agents across both new and existing technology platforms.  Improving business efficiency through increased agent and carrier connectivity is one of the insurance industry’s best opportunities, and with you, AMS Services is prepared to lead that change.

 

As our team integrates this new product into the company and with our customers, we will drive the long term architectural vision for the company’s software products.  Reporting through the Chief Architect, we will serve as an incubation group for new programming practices and will be seen as the flag bearers for new software development practices within the company.  We will remain small, agile, and able to introduce exciting technological change into the industry.

 

AMS Services rewards top performance and skilled talent with a competitive compensation package including base salary, comprehensive medical benefits, 401(k), generous paid time off, cash-based performance rewards, educational assistance and, where appropriate, relocation benefits.  We support and encourage a diverse workplace.

 

Lead Software Engineer

As the lead for the AMS Connectivity Solutions Product, you manage a small team of 3 Senior Software Engineers.  You play an integral role in directing the software development process:  You drive design and Scrum meetings, provide architectural guidance, write specifications, participate in the development and testing of software, and manage project documentation and deadlines.  You also act as the initial escalation path for solving problems amongst the team.  Working across multiple teams, you drive shared services initiatives as well as evangelize new development practices and methodologies.  As the lead engineer for this organization, you administer both technical and personnel aspects of the project and report directly to the Chief Software Architect.  Most importantly, you manage a talented team in a highly collaborative and creative environment to impact the future of your industry.

 

Qualifications

 

The ideal candidate for this role will have 10 or more years of software product development experience with at least 3 years leading a small team.  You should be well versed in programming in C# and familiar with the .NET Framework.  We also expect you to have experience with new software development methodologies such as Scrum, Test Driven Development or Extreme Programming (XP).  Previous experience with XML and web services is a plus. 

 

As you will be interacting with teams at all levels, you should possess outstanding oral and written communication skills.  You should be well versed in balancing team management of both technical and personnel issues.  You must be able to win over teams and build consensus without authority.  As a charter member of this team, you should be able to work independently to solve problems and provide multiple solutions to potential roadblocks.  The ability to be flexible and diplomatic in working across ambiguous situations is a key attribute to success in this role. 

 

 

Senior Software Engineer – C#

As the Senior Software Engineer for the server side portion of AMS Connectivity Solutions, you design and build new product features based upon customer feedback requests.  You play an integral role in the software development lifecycle:  You participate in design meetings, provide architectural guidance, write specifications, develop and test software, and document projects.  You work across multiple teams to drive shared services initiatives as well as evangelize new development practices and methodologies.  Most importantly, you and your teammates partner in a highly collaborative and creative environment to impact the future of your industry.

 

Qualifications

 

The ideal candidate for this role will have 6 or more years of software product development experience.  You should be an expert C# programmer with previous experience with XML/XSLT, web services, ASP.NET, DHTML, JavaScript and you should have experience with new software development methodologies such as Scrum, Test Driven Development or Extreme Programming (XP).

 

As you will interact with teams at all levels, you should possess outstanding oral and written communication skills.  You must be able to win over teams and build consensus without authority.  As a charter member of this team, you should be able to solve problems and provide multiple solutions to potential roadblocks.  The ability to be flexible and diplomatic in working across ambiguous situations is key attribute to success in this role. 

 

Senior Software Engineer – C# / Build

As the Senior Software Engineer for the server side portion of AMS Connectivity Solutions, you design and build new product features based upon customer feedback requests.  You play an integral role in the software development lifecycle:  You participate in design meetings, provide architectural guidance, write specifications, develop and test software, and document projects.  Additionally, you spend a small portion of your time managing the team’s build processes.  You work across multiple teams to drive shared services initiatives as well as evangelize new development practices and methodologies.  Most importantly, you and your teammates partner in a highly collaborative and creative environment to impact the future of your industry.

 

Qualifications

 

The ideal candidate for this role will have 6 or more years of software product development experience.  You should be an expert C# programmer with previous experience with XML/XSLT, web services, ASP.NET, DHTML, JavaScript and you should have experience with new software development methodologies such as Scrum, Test Driven Development or Extreme Programming (XP).  Since you will be responsible for the build processes for this product, you should have expert knowledge of Source Configuration Management (SCM).

 

As you will interact with teams at all levels, you should possess outstanding oral and written communication skills.  You must be able to win over teams and build consensus without authority.  As a charter member of this team, you should be able to solve problems and provide multiple solutions to potential roadblocks.  The ability to be flexible and diplomatic in working across ambiguous situations is key attribute to success in this role. 

 

Senior Software Engineer – C++

As the Senior Software Engineer for the client side portion of AMS Connectivity Solutions, you design and build new product features based upon customer feedback requests.  You play an integral role in the software development lifecycle:  You participate in design meetings, provide architectural guidance, write specifications, develop and test software, and document projects.  You work across multiple teams to drive shared services initiatives as well as evangelize new development practices and methodologies.  Most importantly, you and your teammates partner in a highly collaborative and creative environment to impact the future of your industry.

 

Qualifications

 

The ideal candidate for this role will have 6 or more years of software product development experience.  You should be an expert C++ programmer and should have experience with new software development methodologies such as Scrum, Test Driven Development or Extreme Programming (XP).  Previous development experience with COM, C#, XML/XSLT, DHTML, and web services is a plus.  Over time, your C# coding responsibilities may increase, so while prior .NET experience is not required, a passion to learn and develop software in C# is important. 

 

As you will interact with teams at all levels, you should possess outstanding oral and written communication skills.  You must be able to win over teams and build consensus without authority.  As a charter member of this team, you should be able to solve problems and provide multiple solutions to potential roadblocks.  The ability to be flexible and diplomatic in working across ambiguous situations is key attribute to success in this role. 

 

To inquire about job openings with AMS, please send your resume to ckinsman@amsworld.com.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006 7:01:01 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)   #      Comments [0]  
 


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