Effective Thoughts

Update: 3/28: Thanks for joining us in Mason, OH. Slide deck is here and on Slide Share here . Thanks for joining us at ArcReady in Columbus, OH "Architecting for the Cloud". I hope everyone got some good information out of my "Cloud Services" session. I'll also be delivering this same session in Mason, OH this Friday. Thanks for coming and thanks to Brian Prince for offering the opportunity to present. Architecting for the cloud For our next ArcReady, we will explore a topic on everyone’s mind: Cloud computing. Several industry companies have announced cloud computing services . In October 2008 at the Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft announced the next phase of our Software + Services vision: the Azure Services Platform. The Azure Services Platforms provides a wide range of internet services that can be consumed from both on premises environments or the internet. Session 1: Cloud Services In our first session we will explore the current state o...

One solution from Microsoft I've always been curious about but never had the time to dedicate to, Office Communication Server or OCS. Presence with instant messaging, VOIP, video conferencing...all kinds of neat stuff. The next meeting of will provide a full demo. Might want to check that out. What: Columbus Exchange and Windows User Group (CEWUG) Join Microsoft and BT to learn how Microsoft Unified Communications solutions help streamline communications between people and organizations, bringing together e-mail, calendaring, voice mail, IM/ presence, VoIP, audio, video, and Web conferencing. This interactive session will include a live demonstration of the Microsoft Unified Communications Solutions. CEWUG Registration Link Agenda: 5:30 to 6:05: Welcome time; meet the MS steering committee, pizza and beverages 6:05 to 7:05: Microsoft Unified Communications overview and demonstration 5 minute break 7:10 to 8:15: BT INS discusses how they saved money using Microsoft Unified Co...

I'm getting up to speed on Azure and the other cloud SDKs and need to configure an environment for development, demos and learning. My experiences... First off, if you've read my blog, you know I haven't installed non-productivity software on my core OS for years . Further, I don't get the warm and fuzzies installing CTP software on my core OS. I also love the recoverability and start-over-from-a-checkpoint features of virtualization. Virtual PC (VPC) houses all my development, demo and learning sandbox instances. So, let's start off with a VPC instance. For this to work well, ideally, you need a good 4GB of memory. Further to the ideal, you're running x64 so as to have access to the full 4GB of memory. ACQUIRE AN AZURE SERVICES DEVELOPER KEY To develop against Azure and/or .Net Services and SQL Services, you need an invitation code. Oooh, very exclusive. Pretty people to the front of the line! You can start the process here . If you run into problems, che...

Thanks to Randy Pagels for organizing and for all enjoyed this event in Columbus yesterday. Feel free to post any questions/comments here and we'll get them answered. One question that came up inquired about support for Sharepoint development within TFS/VSTS 2010. The Visual Studio team answered with a resounding: " Yes, Sharepoint is a first class citizen in TFS 2010 ".

I haven't installed a development tool (production or beta/CTP) on my core OS for years. I do all my development, presentation preparation and learning / experimentation on Virtual PC (VPC) instances. (Ok, my clients pony up development machines for client work but...and no developing / architect jokes) Also, these are not VPCs I created. Certainly, one needs to license these instances properly when used in a production environment (vs. testing/evaluation) but leveraging a VPC will save you loads of time and effort (and headaches). To be clear, I don't recommend this approach if you need to actually learn how to install and configure a product and/or operating system. If you're studying for your MCSE, it likely behooves you to actually install it a few times rather than leveraging an existing virtual instance. But, if you want to learn how to leverage or use the product rather than how to install and configure it , go out to your favorite search engine or search.microsoft....