Laurent Duveau

70-484 exam: Essentials of Developing Windows Store Apps using C#

pluginbaby — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:20:05 GMT

Just got this one! Here is a little tip for you:

While studying a new exam the first thing to do is to consult the “Skills Measured” section of the official page of Microsoft Learning website:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=70-484

Better than that, Vitor Ciaramella, put together this nice sheet with direct hyperlinks to MSDN resources for each topics covered by the exam:
http://www.vic.ms/microsoft/windows-8/exam-70-484-essentials-of-developing-windows-store-apps-using-c/

Asus Taichi review (Windows 8 convertible device)

pluginbaby — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:31:18 GMT

The Asus Taichi 21 is a convertible Windows 8 tablet with dual 11.6-inch screen. Here is my quick unprofessional review with it.

Hardware & equipment

The model I have has a Core i7 processor, built in 256GB SSD drive, dual front cameras and 4GB of RAM. So it offers strong performance, maybe except for the graphics, via an integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000, but this isn’t a gaming machine anyway, right ?

Ports on the sides:

Two USB 3.0
Micro HDMI
Mini VGA
Headphone jack
Volume controls
Switch for swapping screen modes

Audio provided by Bang & Olufsen ICEpower, the same I already enjoy on my Asus Zenbook Prime, is amazing, nothing to do with the anemic audio coming out of an iPad.

I like how Asus pay attention to packaging, and it comes full of accessories too: Network adapter, Micro HDMI adapter, nice sleeve, pressure-sensitive stylus.

Dual displays

So this is the originality of this device. It offers 2 nice screens to play with, offering a resolution of 1920x1080px each.

Inside screen (laptop mode) non touch
Outside screen (tablet mode) touch

Close the lid and Windows auto switch to the touch screen, open it and it goes back to desktop mode (inside screen). Beware it can takes up to 3 seconds to switch between screens, so don’t be impatient… things could be improved here.

The device also has a dedicated key to change between 4 display modes:

Notebook (inside screen only)
Tablet (outside screen only)
Mirror (Both screen duplicated)
Dual (Both screens independent).

Dual screen mode is interesting to share a presentation in a small meeting or class for instructors. Theoretically someone else could use your touch screen while you present on the laptop, two persons using the same device, but I doubt it will be a common use case.

Battery Life

Well, unfortunately the battery life is really poor, you won’t go very far without a power cord, I barely got 3 hours of normal use (and I just used one screen at a time).

This kind of device will suffer badly from competitive products.

No way to compete with a Surface of an iPad here. If you make a mobile device you need 7 hours of battery or you fail at this job, period.

My experience with the device

First note: it doesn't go to sleep when you close the lid, it switch to the outside display. So you have to turn it off using the power slider every time. The “Close and go” habit don’t work here…

I am the kind of guy that don’t care having a touch screen on a laptop. I am much more efficient with keyboard/mouse on “desktop mode”. Touch is for tablet. But Windows 8 is a “dual head” (desktop/tablet) OS and this device takes advantage of this nature. One screen+keyboard for desktop mode, one touch screen for tablet mode, all on the same device! I think this is the value proposition and strong differentiator of Windows 8 compared to the iPad, so I really like to see more device offering the best experience for Windows 8.

Even at just 11” I find the Taichi to be heavy for a tablet, you cannot really hold it in one hand.

Conclusion

Does it make a good laptop? No.

Does it make a good tablet? No.

But it makes a pretty good convertible.

Know what you need.

For now I will stick to my Ultrabook+tablet combo, but I really like the way constructors are exploring new paths.

My Building apps for WP8 and Windows 8 presentation

pluginbaby — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 01:54:41 GMT

Here are the slides I used today for my “Building apps for WP8 and Windows 8” presentation at our special full day event in Montreal on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Azure:

Building apps for WP8 and Win8 from Laurent Duveau

My Windows Store app development presentation

pluginbaby — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 01:51:01 GMT

Here are the slides I used today for my “Windows Store app development” presentation at our special full day event in Montreal on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Azure:

Windows Store apps development from Laurent Duveau

[french] Présentation Windows 8 au groupe .NET Montréal

pluginbaby — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:30:18 GMT

Voici les slides de ma présentation Windows 8 du 28 Janvier 2013 à la Communauté .NET Montréal.

Merci à tous les participants, c’était vraiment le fun!

Windows 8, Windows RT, WinRT, Windows Runtime, Surface RT, Surface Pro, ARM?!?

On constate beaucoup de confusion autour de ces sujets…
Windows 8 est-il réservé aux tablettes ? Qu'en est-il des desktop ?
Qu'est ce que Windows RT ? et WinRT ?
Quelles sont les différentes licences de Windows 8 ?
Combien ça coûte ?
Vais-je pouvoir faire un upgrade depuis Windows 7 et garder mes fichiers ?
Dois-je acheter la tablette tactile Microsoft Surface RT ou attendre la version Pro prévue pour début 2013 ?
Quels sont les modèles disponible chez d'autres fabriquants ?

Je vais tenter de clarifier tout cela et plus encore!

Bonus: Passage en revue des meilleurs devices Windows 8 présentés lors du CES Las Vegas début Janvier 2013!

[french] Ma présentation au groupe Microsoft Metro Montréal

pluginbaby — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:15:10 GMT

Hier soir avait lieu le lancement officiel du nouveau groupe Microsoft Metro Montreal.

Ce groupe francophone est dédié aux enthousiastes du développement pour Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 et Windows Azure… et ça correspond parfaitement à mes centres d’intérets actuels!

J’ai donné une présentation sur le Windows Store avec environ 35 personnes dans la salle, ce qui est excellent pour un tout premier meeting. C’était aussi l’occasion de présenter l’équipe des Microsoft Virtual Evangelists, dont on dévoilera plus de détails plus tard.

J’ai beaucoup apprécié cette rencontre car j’y ai croisé un public très différent des évènements que je fréquente habituellement (TechDays, DevTeach ou Communauté .NET Montréal).

Voici mes slides:

Je compte bien retourner assister aux présentations de ce groupe régulièrement, n’hésitez pas à m’aborder pour toute question ou simplement dire bonsoir ça me fera plaisir, en attendant vous pouvez me suivre sur Twitter: @LaurentDuveau.

[french] Atelier Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 et Windows Azure à Montréal!

pluginbaby — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 15:39:47 GMT

Dans le cadre des Samedi.NET et grace au soutien de Microsoft Canada, la Communauté .NET Montréal est très heureuse d’organiser cet atelier dédié aux développement d’applications ciblant Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 et Windows Azure.

“Venez participer à cette journée dédiée au développement Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 et Windows Azure. Au travers de présentations et de labs techniques, c'est enfin l'occasion révée de se mettre à jour sur le développement d'applications tirant avantage de ces technologies!!”

Tous les détails et inscription (obligatoire):
http://www.dotnetmontreal.com/events/96111122/

Au plaisir de vous voir nombreux!!

Speaking at the Microsoft Metro Montreal group

pluginbaby — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 04:23:53 GMT

I’ll be speaking about the Windows Store at the very first meeting of the new Microsoft Metro Montreal group on January 16, 2013.

Learn more (in french):
http://www.msmmtl.org/premiere-rencontre-le-16-janvier-2013/

The event is free and will take place at the Notman House.

See you there!

Re-Awarded Microsoft MVP for 2013!

pluginbaby — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:50:04 GMT

The first day of a new year is always a special moment for me, one of the very first email of the year announcing my MVP Award, since 7 years in a row now.

2012 has been an incredible ride, I got a second child, I turbo boosted my company with tons of great Windows Store apps projects, got awarded Microsoft Windows 8 App Partner of The Year. Now I have sold the company and ready to explore new challenges.

I am thrilled to continue as an MVP for one more year as I plan to get closer to technical stuff, more than ever.

Only drawback is I am still under the Silverlight category, which doesn’t make much sense for me now, as I have been focusing exclusively on Windows 8, Windows Phone and Azure for more than 1 year now. I can just think of it being a temporary period and I will be moved to something closer to Windows 8 later, waiting for this product group to establish how to deal with MVPs (they had a darn busy year I guess!).

Let me be clear on Silverlight: it still is an awesome technology, it reached v5 and is a mature product, it makes perfect sense for several scenarios, it is (currently) way superior to the XAML option in WinRT (but this is temporary, and XAML in WinRT will catch up quickly without any doubt). Well, features comparison set apart, you know that the real difference is SL being cross platforms (but maybe not enough platforms). BUT obviously that technology doesn’t need MVPs anymore. So again, I hope to be migrated to anything Windows 8 related in the near future. Waiting for that, in the short term I see more value in the RD program, which suffer from a decrease in quality communications but still remains very interesting, and a position in which I want to stay more than MVP (but both are ok too!).
By the way, the RD program has a fresh new logo:

Going back to Silverlight, I don’t want to judge *why* Microsoft de-emphasis Silverlight, but the WAY Microsoft did it was catastrophic, and a big mistake. Developers have been kept in the dark for months. It really hurt badly the community. People got angry. I saw lots of Silverlight guys fly to iOS or Android business, and I can totally understand that move. This total absence of communication and guidance from Microsoft was unacceptable, many developers have felt betrayed. The way Microsoft handled their shift in strategy was very poor if you ask me. I based my entire company on Silverlight, got a team of almost 20 dedicated devs, thanks to my connections I saw that coming and managed to successfully redirect the ship to Windows Store apps with XAML at the right time, but it could have been worse, no doubt it has been worse for some.

My *emotional* point of view: I don’t really care. I am by far not in a position to judge what MS needs to do with their products.
Who am I ?
A Silverlight enthusiast ? An entrenched Silverlight expert?
No.
I am a Microsoft Partner. And I chose to be a partner, not Microsoft.
Every time Microsoft has a strategy shift I have 2 options:

1. Follow and adhere to the new path
2. Stop being a partner and explore others vendors platforms.

Simple as that. You have the choice. You can’t blame Microsoft for killing its own product. Except if you are a shareholder Microsoft owe you nothing. I mean, we certainly don’t have all the economics, numbers and market vision for such a decision. So as a Microsoft Partner we must follow or get off. I am comfortable with that.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Windows 8 ebook giveaway

pluginbaby — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:32:59 GMT

Following my review of Building Windows 8 Apps with C# and XAML book, the editor was kind enough to send me 3 coupons to offer the book (ebook format) to 3 of my blog readers (a $32 value each).

Want a free Windows 8 ebook ?

I’ll make this very easy:
Follow me on Twitter @LaurentDuveau and send me your email address via direct message (I won’t do anything with your email address, I will only contact the 3 winners to send them the code).
I’ll pick the first 3 of you as winners.

(for the 3 winners) Instructions to Redeem Your Free Windows 8 eBook:

1. If you have an InformIT account, go to www.informit.com/account and log in. If you do not have an InformIT account, go to www.informit.com/join and create an account.

2. On your Account page, click the link for "Enter your code here" that appears under "Digital Product Voucher" in the right column.

3. Type in the code I’ll provide and click Submit.

4. The product and download link will now be listed under Digital Purchases on your Account page.

Building Windows 8 Apps with C# and XAML book review

pluginbaby — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:08:50 GMT

You are a .NET/C# developer ? Maybe you already had the chance to play with XAML in Silverlight or WPF ? And now you want to create Windows 8 Store apps ? You should really consider this book as your first reading choice then!

The author, Jeremy Likness, is a well known expert in the technical community. I was in the same room in Seattle when he was named Silverlight MVP of the Year in 2010. Back then I started following his contributions and I was amazed: this guy had created an MVVM framework and also an open source Isolated Storage Database System for Silverlight called Sterling, written 3 books and shared tons of stuff in blogs and presentations!!! His MVP of The Year title was definitely well deserved! So when I heard about his book on Windows 8 dev, I was dying to read from his experience…

…and I have not been disappointed! Jeremy did a great job explaining all the key concepts. From the firsts steps to a complete WinRT app you would manage to certify in the Windows Store, all is clearly detailed in an easy to read style. The book covers everything you need to know to get started. Note that if you are already familiar with XAML in Silverlight or WPF, you can skip chapter 3.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to jumpstart on Windows 8 app dev with XAML and C#. Experienced developers will find it to be a good reference book as well.

My Windows Store presentation at DevTeach Montreal 2012

pluginbaby — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 01:45:00 GMT

Here are the slides from the talk I did (in french) today at DevTeach Montreal 2012:

DevTeach Montreal 2012

pluginbaby — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:44:22 GMT

Like every time I am extremely pleased to see DevTeach coming back to my city!

DevTeach Montreal will take place in Delta Hotel Centre-Ville on December 10-12th 2012.

Note: You need to register to attend.

Awesome Content

48 sessions in 8 tracks.
3 Post Conference workshops: Azure, Windows Store apps, BI.

Free events

But everything is not paid!
DevTeach is strongly dedicated to the dev community and you will also find those free activities (meaning you don’t have to be a conference attendee):

Keynote

On December 10th at 6:30pm
DevTeach keynote is free for anyone (but you need to register). The keynote will be done by Howard Dierking who is a Program Manager on the Azure Application Platform and Tools team.

> http://www.devteach.com/Keynote.aspx

Windows Server 2012 Hands-On IT Camp

On December 11th at 6:30pm
IT Camps presented by Pierre Roman.

> http://www.devteach.com/community/

A Whirlwind Tour around Windows Phone 8 Development

On December 11th at 6:30pm
Windows Phone 8 Camp presented by Paul Laberge.

> http://www.devteach.com/community/

See you there!

Windows 8 at the Montreal .NET Community

pluginbaby — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:32:00 GMT

I'll be doing a session on Windows 8 at the Montreal .NET Community meeting on Jan 28th 2013.

For more info and to register, click here.

See you there!

[Update: date changed from Dec 5th 2012 to Dec 3th 2012]

[Update 2: date changed from Dec 3th 2012 to Jan 28th 2013]

My BUILD 2012 sessions selection

pluginbaby — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:01:15 GMT

Knowing that my focus is on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps with XAML/C# and Azure, here is my recommended sessions playlist if you want to catch up with BUILD.

Windows Store apps

Windows Phone 8

UX Design

Azure

Windows Azure Overview **
Developing Mobile Solutions with Windows Azure Part I ** (I don’t necessarily recommend part 2)
Windows 8 Connectathon with Windows Azure Mobile Services **

Viewing tips:

#1 That’s a lot of sessions… my advice for you is to download the video locally on a PC, then use Media Player and the “Fast playback” option, still understandable and you cut half the time!

#2 If your time is really limited, I marked the sessions I enjoyed the most with **

Enjoy!