Doug Seven's Blog

My First Week as the PM for Codezone WW

Well, today ends my first week as the Program Manager of Codezone Worldwide at Microsoft. Not much to report this week, just trying to get up to speed on all of the various regional Codezone implementations.

Here are a few of them for you to look at:

• http://www.codezone.info
• http://www.codezone.org.uk
• http://www.codezone.at
• http://www.00001001.ch
• http://www.codezone.de

What is Codezone you ask? The definition I am currently working with goes something like this:

<waiver>This definition may be modified at any time without prior notice</waver>

Codezone is a platform to increase reach, adoption, and satisfaction with developers by encouraging and rewarding contributors, and helping third-party community Web sites and User Groups to grow.

I'm sure I will have more updates for you soon, and some great things to share...until then...

SQL Server 2005 Developer Webcasts

Starting in January, Microsoft's SQL Server 2005 team will be doing at least one (1) web cast per week focused on specific developer topics for SQL Server 2005.

Everyone who attends a WebCast will receive a copy of the Beta 2 Resource Kit and the Beta 3 Resource Kit when it ships. Also, the first 1500 people that watch 5 or more WebCasts will also receive a special, limited edition SQL Server 2005 WebCast T-shirt. Additionally, all WebCast viewers will be entered into a competition to win an XBOX, one for each day of the week. (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/SQL/WebcastRules.aspx)

Google Desktop Beta (the new WinFS?)

Google recently released their Google Desktop search tool. Personally I think it is great, and have been using it on my non-development laptop to try it out.

There has been a lot of talk about how Microsoft delayed WinFS...but Google didn't <g>.

While it isn't WinFS, it is a great tool. Check it out.

Search your own computer.

Find your email, files, web history and chats instantly View web pages you've seen, even when you're not online Search as easily as you do on Google Google Desktop Search finds:   Outlook / Outlook Express   Word   AOL Instant Messenger   Excel   Internet Explorer   PowerPoint   Text Download Here: http://desktop.google.com/

ASP.NET ValidatePath Module Scanner Released

On Friday, Microsoft released additional information related to the reported ASP.NET vulnerability. This guidance includes a new ASP.NET ValidatePath Module Scanner, which will make it easy for Web Site administrators to determine which machines have or have not installed the previously released ValidatePath HTTP Module. In addition, Microsoft released specific steps on how to use either SMS or Group Policy to easily and automatically deploy the ValidatePath HTTP Module to multiple machines. This update was released to further help simplify the deployment process for Web site administrators.

Information on the ASP.NET ValidatePath Module Scanner is available in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 887290, which is available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887290

For information on deploying the ASP.NET ValidatePath Module Scanner please see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 887405, "How to use Windows Installer and Group Policy to deploy the VPModule.msi in an Active Directory domain" available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887405

and Microsoft Knowledge Base article 887404, "How to use Systems Management Server 2003 to deploy the ValidatePath module" available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887404

Information on the ASP.NET ValidatePath Module itself is available in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 887289 available here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=887289

DevDays 2004 Session Videos Online

OK, I'm a little slow sometimes, but I just found out that the DevDays 2004 sessions from the Seattle DevDays are now online. I presented three of the sessions in the Web Developer track.

Here is the URL for the session videos: http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/devdays/sessions/default.aspx

Other Presenters:

Jim Blizzard, SR. .NET Developer Evangelist, Paul Murphy, Developer Evangelist Manager, Paul Litwin, Keith Pleas, William R. Vaughn, Jeff Levinson, Chris Kinsman, Stephen Walther

Quote of the Day

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional Special Edition Now Available

My friend Amy asked me to help get the word out on this:

For a limited time, developers can upgrade to the NEW Special Edition for only US $549! The addition of Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000 make this an ideal Web application development platform. For a full list of the tools eligible for upgrade pricing click here.

Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003 Special Edition enables developers to quickly create data-driven Web applications using familiar Visual Basic techniques and dozens of reusable, browser-independent Web controls. Web applications built using Visual Studio .NET and ASP.NET benefit from improved performance, reliability, security, and scalability.

The new Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional Special Edition delivers all the productivity of Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional

MUST READ: What You Should Know About a Reported Vulnerability in Microsoft ASP.NET

For those of you working with ASP.NET, please be aware of the following reported security vulnerability in ASP.NET.

From Microsoft's Web site:

Microsoft is currently investigating a reported vulnerability in Microsoft ASP.NET. An attacker can send specially crafted requests to the server and view secured content without providing the proper credentials. This reported vulnerability exists in ASP.NET and does not affect ASP.

This issue affects Web content owners who are running any version of ASP.NET on Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Professional, and Windows Server 2003.

The underlying issue is that ASP.NET is failing to perform proper canonicalization of some URLs. Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article 887459, "Programmatically Checking for Canonicalization Issues with ASP.NET," describes how to add additional safeguards to an ASP.NET application to help protect against common canonicalization issues, such as those related to this reported vulnerability.

Resources
     http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/aspnet.mspx
     http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=887459

Both DotNetJunkies and SqlJunkies have been patched.

MSN Search & Research

I spent a couple days this week with the MSN Search team and MS Research looking at what they are doing with search, and how they plan to compete in the Top-3 dominated search market (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Over all I was very impressed with what they are doing and what their goals are - although I can't share either of those things due to the NDA I signed.

What I can do though is point you to some public resources that they shared with us.

MSN Searc Technology Preview 2
This is a beta version of the new MSN Search. Try it out and provide your feedback.

Lookout
This is the popular Lookout toll that MSFT recently purchased. You can use it to search your email.

Wallop
A Social Computing Web site that links people together through all kinds of crazy algorythms and data.

MSN Direct Wrist.NET

I just got a Fossil FX3001 Wrist.NET for MSN Direct Smart Watch. I signed up for 1-year of service through MSN Direct ($39.95 includes 3 months free at the end of the year). So far I like it - I went through the activation, and set it up to give me all the important data, like NFL scores for the Seattle Seahawks and the Houston Texans, as well as the word of the day, and breaking news.

I've received a couple breaking news alerts, and I really like that feature. I tested the MSN Instant Messenger capabilities to send a message to my watch. THe first message was received in about 30-minutes, but I was also busy receiving a bunch of other stuff. I sent two more messages late last night, but I never recieved them - they are lost in cyberspace somewhere.

As time progresses, I'll let you know how I like it. I've already set it up to know to switch to the Las Vegas region from Oct 6-9 while I am at ASP.NET Connections. We'll see how it goes.