January 2007 - Posts
Early-bird registration for TechEd 2007 is now open until April 7th. TechEd will be held in Orlando on June 4th-8th.
http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2007
There is also a special VIP Sweepstakes. Register by March 8 and be entered to win:
- A 6-day, 5-night stay in a hotel suite with priority check-in
- VIP treatment at the Tech·Ed 2007 attendee party
- Front-row seating at the keynote session
[Cross-posted from
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen]
Attendee registration has just been opened for Code Camp 7 - "Deer in Headlights"! Go to TheDevCommunity.org and reserve your slot!
As I mentioned earlier, Code Camp 7 will be on March 31st and April 1st at the Microsoft office in Waltham, MA and is always a fantastic opportunity for learning, fun, and networking.
Look for speaker/session registration to be open in February.
-Chris
[Cross-posted from
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen]
Here are some upcoming events and user group meetings for developers in the Northeast. Know of other events or user group meetings? Please let me know!
Connecticut
January 23
Connecticut .NET User Group
"Developing with Windows Presentation Foundation" - John Pelak
February 12, 10:30 - 3:30 PM
Microsoft arcCouncil - Farmington, CT
"Web 2.0"
February 22
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Cromwell, CT
Massachusetts
January 24
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event
Boston Convention Center
February 1, 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Beantown .NET User Group
"Implementing SOA Design Patterns with .NET" - Rob Daigneau
February 1, 6:15 - 8:30 PM
New England Visual Basic Professionals
"Introduction to Workflow Foundation" - Susan Wisowaty
February 6
Western Mass .NET Users Group
"Little is Big Again - Writing a Managed Mobile Application in .NET" - Steve Hawley
February 8, 6:30 PM
New England SQL Server User Group
"Developer-Centric SQL Server Topic [TBA]" - Adam Machanic
February 12, 10:30 - 3:30 PM
Microsoft arcCouncil - Waltham, MA
"Web 2.0"
February 13, 5:30 - 8:30
C# User Group of Greater Boston
"SharePoint Development with C#" - Robert Holmes
February 14, 5:00 - 8:30
Boston .NET User Group
".NET 101" - 5:00 - 6:00 PM
"Building Applications with Windows Workflow Foundation" - Michael Stiefel - 6:30 - 8:30
February 15, 5:30 - 7:30
Team System Public User Group
Topic TBA, but a copy of Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite will be raffled away!
February 21, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Boston .NET Architecture Study Group
[Topic TBA]
February 24
Microsoft Office SharePoint Mini Code Camp
More details coming soon!
March 31st & April 1st
Code Camp 7 - "Deer in Headlights"
More details coming soon!
Maine
February 13
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Portland, ME
New Hampshire
February 7, 7:00 PM
New Hampshire SQL Users Group
[Topic TBA]
February 15
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Nashua, NH
February 15
New Hampshire .NET User Group
[Topic TBA]
New York (Upstate)
February 7, 6:00 PM
Central New York .NET Developer Group
"WPF Overview" - Greg Smalter
February 13
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Rochester, NY
February 15
Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 Launch Event - Albany, NY
Rhode Island
February 7, 5:00 - 8:00 PM
Rhode Island .NET Users Group
"Building Web Applications with AJAX" - Stuart Jones
Vermont
February 12, 6:00 - 8:30
Vermont .NET User Group
VTdotNET's 5th Anniversary!
"Data Driven Websites with LINQ to SQL" - Julie Lerman
[Cross-posted from
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen]
Just a reminder that my main blog is now at:
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen/rss.xml
The future of this one is uncertain as it's a bit of a chore to keep the content synchronized.
Thanks,
Chris
I recently received a small package from Wiley. I opened it to find a copy of my book (Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System.) Only this copy seemed... different. Why is Anaya Multimedia also listed on the cover? Why is "Professional" spelled "Profesional"?
It turns out our friends at Anaya in Madrid have been at work translating the book into a Spanish language edition. Very cool!
Everything from the chapter content, screenshots, and code comments, to the bios and acknowledgements have been translated. Need a chapter on unit testing? Try "Preuebas unitarias con el framework de pruebas unitarias"! Test case management? "Administracion de un caso de prueba".
It's a strange yet interesting thing to see your words when they aren't your words.
Hasta leugo!
-Chris
[Cross-posted from
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen]
I'm happy to announce we've finalized the dates for the next round of the Code Camp that started it all!
New England's Code Camp 7 - "Deer In Headlights" will be held the weekend of March 31st and April 1st at Microsoft's Waltham, MA office. Look for some changes to "the usual" this time around!
Haven't been to a Code Camp before? They're free events, held outside of work hours, that are a chance for regional .NET communities to gather and to learn from each other. High signal, low marketing. Code aplenty, slides afew. Check out the Code Camp Manifesto for the brief list of the Code Camp guiding principles.
The relaxed atmosphere of Code Camps is also a great way to break into practice of public speaking. If you've been considering giving it a try, this will be the perfect opportunity.
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for event registration and speaker submission details!
-Chris
[Cross-posted from
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen]
Okay, I'm the last of Andy Beaulieu's group of 5 tagees to blog five things that people probably didn't know about me. So, to curtail any further guilt (and to replace it with shame?), here we go:
- I'm a very big fan of craft beer. I love checking out the latest offerings from Dogfish Head, Avery, AleSmith, Rogue, Stone, etc. In fact, if you're in the Boston area, check out the Extreme Beer Fest. I'll be there on 2/10 and sleeping on 2/11.
- My older daughter and I are reading through the Harry Potter series together. Of course, when you read in 15-20 minute chunks at bedtime, it takes a while. Halfway through book 4... Go Gryffindor!
- Unusual skill that I'm not particularly good at - glassblowing. I have a collection of misshapen cups and random whatchamicallits to prove it.
- I started programming as a wee lad in 1979. "101 Basic Games" was one of the first books that sped me on the way. Ah, the fun of Boxing and hunting the Wumpus in full text-based glory.
- I can bend my left thumb back so it is parallel with my index finger - pointing the other way. Good for entertaining audiences when my demos fail. Used frequently.
Well there you have it. I'll try to find time later to come back and tag five other people who haven't been tagged yet, but I wanted to get this post up now to complete Andy's group.
-Chris
[Cross-posted from
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen]
Boston is one of the key launch cities for the upcoming Vista, Office 2007, Exchange 2007 launch series. The launch will be held at the Boston Convention Center on January 24th.
Some highlights:
- Attendees will get a free copy of Office 2007 Professional and Office Groove 2007
- Breakout sessions for developers, IT pros, and technology decision makers
- Keynote with Ron Markezich (VP, Microsoft Managed Solutions)
- Expo hall with Ask the Experts and Microsoft and Partner Paviliions
- Opportunity to test drive the new products
- Bumping into your friendly local Developer Evangelist :)
Full agenda
Registration is required - Developer or IT Professional | Technology Decision Maker
If you can't attend the Boston launch, there will be a number of regional launch events as well. Northeast events are:
- South Portland, ME - 2/13
- Rochester, NY - 2/13
- Nashua, NH - 2/15
- Albany, NY - 2/15
- Comwell, CT - 2/22
You can find details on these events here.
-Chris
P.S. Keep in mind this is the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (if you attended the Visual Studio 2005 launch event - same place) and not the Hynes CC.
[Cross-posted from
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen]
I will be giving a session on Windows Workflow Foundation for the Rhode Island .NET User Group tomorrow night, January 3rd, from 6-8 PM at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI. There is also a social hour from 5-6 with soda and pizza.
Here is the abstract:
Workflow Foundation (WF), a component of the .NET Framework 3.0, enables you to quickly and reliably implement workflows and business rules in your applications. WF provides a framework for constructing sequential and state-machine based workflows for any .NET application or service and includes tools to effectively manage and modify those workflows. In this session, we'll introduce the major concepts and purpose of WF, demonstrate the creation and maintenance of workflows with Visual Studio 2005, and show the potential uses of workflows within your applications.
The group requests an RSVP if you plan to attend. Hope to see you there!
-Chris
[Cross-posted from
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbowen]