Atlanta .NET Regular Guys

Don Browning shows Visual Studio 2010 to the Atlanta Microsoft Professionals

Matt Ranlett — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:59:59 GMT

Don Browning from Turner Broadcasting came out of the fun buildings which bring you the Cartoon Network (and those other channels) to talk to the group about the new architecture features of Visual Studio 2010. Those changes include:

6 new designers
- case model – a visual view of user stories (including dependencies) backed to TFS (2008 or 2010) work items
- class diagram – UML class designer NOT tied to code so you can make changes without messing up code
- activity diagram – looks like a flowchart to show logic
- sequence diagram – across a given span of time, what objects get used or come into play
- component diagram – helps you define service interactions
- Layer diagram
architect explorer – architectural view of code supporting class view and solution view
model explorer – model elements that are reusable are listed in the model explorer, which is a repository model of elements
code analysis visualizations – a static analysis turned graphical including graph mode, force directed mode, and matrix mode.
Integration with TFS – supports the storage of model elements in TFS and can be tied to work items.

The talk was clearly popular as we had a huge turnout at about 65 people!

Great news from our hosting provider MaximumASP, great job guys

Brendon Schwartz — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:26:00 GMT

Here is the press release we just got from them being awarded the Hosting Solutions Go To Partner.

June 24, 2009 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

MaximumASP Honored as 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards Winner in Hosting Solutions

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, MaximumASP, www.maximumasp.com, proudly announced it has been selected as a 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards winner in Hosting Solutions. The company was chosen out of an international field of top Microsoft partners as delivering market-leading customer solutions built on Microsoft technology.

“We are thrilled to be recognized from among thousands of Microsoft partners to receive the 2009 Microsoft Partner of the Year award in the Hosting Solutions category,” said Wade Lewis, co-founder and Managing Partner of MaximumASP.

Co-founder and Managing Partner Silas Boyle added, “This award is a great testament to partnership and cooperation that we have worked to develop with Microsoft over the past nine years. We appreciate the recognition and view this as a great symbol of the benefits of a long-term, strategic relationship with Microsoft.”

Awards will be presented in a number of categories, with winners chosen from a pool of nearly 2,000 entrants worldwide. The Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year award recognizes partners who have demonstrated solution innovation and a commitment to engaging with Microsoft. As you complete your entry, document how your company and hosted solution focused on an end-customer business challenge either by identifying a new market opportunity or by using technology innovation to address the need. Along with demonstrating innovation, your submission should show how customers have seen you working closely with Microsoft. Showcase this commitment by providing examples, such as which version of Microsoft product your solution is built on or how you have actively promoted your solution through marketing campaigns. Also, if your solution allows for extensive customization or if you are selling through a channel of resellers, be sure to describe those differentiators in as much detail as possible.

To be eligible for this award, you must:

Be active in the Hosting Solutions competency.
First profile your nominated solutions in Partner Solution Profiler.

“Microsoft is pleased to recognize MaximumASP as the Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year for its MaxV platform, and for demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of Microsoft technologies,” said Ross Brown, Vice President, Solution Partners and ISVs, Microsoft Corp. “By working closely with Microsoft, MaximumASP contributed to the development of the Microsoft Dynamics Datacenter Toolkit, which enables hosting providers to deploy on-demand managed services and virtualized servers powered by Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center. By utilizing the toolkit, MaximumASP has proven its ability to offer instant scalability, increased support through advanced monitoring, disaster recovery, and ultimately higher customer satisfaction.”

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions over the last year.

About MaximumASP

MaximumASP, based in Louisville, Kentucky, was founded in 2000 as an outsourcing firm for Microsoft Windows based hosting and IT services. The company currently hosts more than 50,000 domains for customers in over 60 countries. With a strong focus on hosting solutions that combine advanced monitoring and management tools, MaximumASP has become a top choice for Microsoft developers seeking a robust hosting platform for mission-critical web applications. For more information, visit www.maximumasp.com.

Atlanta SharePoint User Group meeting next Monday (6/15/2009)

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:44:00 GMT

Home - Atlanta SharePoint User Group

Come hear Tom Scott talk about “SharePoint Infrastructure Planning and Considerations” and Michael Lotter talk about “Building Browser Based InfoPath Forms for the Enterprise”

INETA helps you grow your career

Brendon Schwartz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:27:00 GMT

Next INETA:Career Webcast - June 4, 2009, 6:00 PM ET - Unlocking the hidden value of your organization through people, technology and innovation...

The implications of collaborative innovation are many—the most important being its potential to reshape not just individual enterprises, but whole industries, perhaps even entire economies. Hector believes in investing in innovation in good and bad times. This session covers the alignment of business and technology to create a flexible environment that fosters innovation without permission. How do we get the most out of your employees and how does the employee get the most out of management. Its a WIN-WIN proposition. This session will provide insights on how to unlock all of the assets that are hidden in an organization. i.e., technical, communications, services, experiences, and most important, the employees capabilities and desires. Unlocking thought leadership and innovation is at the heart of this presentation.

Hector Hernandez and Alex Funkhouser of Sherlock Technology Staffing ( http://sherstaff.com ) will present.

Register at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=81190787250 or simply attend the LiveMeeting June 4 at 6 PM ET at https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=43ZWP7&role=attend

If you missed the first two webcasts in this series, recordings of both are available on the INETA Live site ( http://live.ineta.org ).

You don't need talent to succeed, but Everything else Counts...
http://live.ineta.org/Videos/Player.aspx?video=debb517c-5f70-47b3-98c3-421eb667a80e

How to talk to your manager about your career and actually make it happen...
http://live.ineta.org/Videos/Player.aspx?video=9d2a4d7d-69ab-47ae-8a23-aa5fc4e492c6

Atlanta SharePoint User Group

Matt Ranlett — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:53:35 GMT

The second meeting of this new monthly User Group is next Monday. Head over to the Atlanta SharePoint User Group website and join the dozens other individuals who have registered. The meeting topic will focus on the development process and experience and will feature our illustrious leader Mr. Attis discussing how to build a proper development environment. We look forward to seeing you there!

Talking about Windows

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:07:00 GMT

The Next Generation of Windows® is almost here!

Microsoft has released a video blog called Talking About Windows.

This video blog provides insight on Windows 7 from the Microsoft engineers who helped build the product.

www.talkingaboutwindows.com

Check out what those who have used the product have to say.

Windows 7 Loadfest in Alpharetta

Brendon Schwartz — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:00:00 GMT

The IT Pro Evangelist in Atlanta will be hosting a Windows 7 loadfest at Microsoft in Alpharetta on June 11th at the Microsoft office. Come Join!

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032410648&culture=en-US

Atlanta MobileCamp later this year

Brendon Schwartz — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:27:00 GMT

Url: http://www.mobilecampatlanta.org/
Cost: TBD
Twitter: MobileCampAtl

Currently you can follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MobileCampAtl if you want more information or to keep up to date with them.

Also to get more info you can email

jonathan [at] mobilecampatlanta.org

Community News - Mashable online social news aggregator gets physical with Atlanta mixer

Matt Ranlett — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:00:00 GMT

*excerpt from http://mashable.com/2009/04/01/mashable-mixer-atlanta-tickets-now-on-sale/

Mashable and Regator are proud to announce the first ever Mashable event in Atlanta! We have a special evening planned and we look forward to meeting the Atlanta social media community.

Mashable team members in attendance will include Adam Ostrow (Editor-in-Chief), Sharon Feder (Features Editor), myself (Chief Operating Officer) and Brett Petersel (East Coast Events Director).

This event does require you to purchase one of 300 available tickets in order to attend. The event will be hosted at the offices of Paste Magazine.

Visit the Mashable article to learn more

Atlanta IPhoneCamp later this year

Brendon Schwartz — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:34:00 GMT

Url: http://www.iphonecampatlanta.org/
Cost: TBD
Twitter: iPhoneCampAtl

I am sure it will make MattR proud that I am letting everyone know about the Atlanta IPhoneCamp later this year.

Currently you can follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iPhoneCampAtl if you want more information or to keep up to date with them.

Also to get more info you can email

jonathan [at] iphonecampatlanta.org

Sweet little apps downloadable from MSFT

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:36:11 GMT

Notes Online

I’m a major MAJOR fan of OneNote, but it doesn’t really have an online interface which makes it tough to use when you’re really mobile (meaning you don’t have access to YOUR machine). Google has a Notebooks offering and there are wikis galore, but now Live Labs at Microsoft has release a cool new app – Thumbtack. Looks awesome!

Video: Thumbtack Introduction

Voice Notes

Lots of devices offer to record voice notes for you, but that hasn’t stopped Microsoft from offering yet another entry into this crowded space. This time, Recite from Microsoft (currently in beta) promises to add some really killer features to your Windows Mobile device, including a slick UI and the ability to search through your voice notes!

Obituary

Microsoft Encarta has been discontinued

Community News – Computer workshops for kids

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:57:00 GMT

Spring and summer are coming up and what .NET technologist wouldn’t like to steer their children towards a similarly rewarding career as their own? The challenge is, how to get started. Here is where places like Henley’s Haven Workshops come in. Teach your kids about 3D animation and games programming in fun and camp-like settings. Classes are starting soon!

http://henleyworkshops.com/classinfo.html

The following is a description of one of the many classes offered:

Technology Workshop for Kids-

1 hour class, for 12 weeks

$75/month, Pay in full and get a $25 discount.

12 WEEKS INCLUDE: Programming, Create a Video Game, and Web Design
Kids should have basic computer knowledge. Ages 10 and up

Programming Includes:

Visual Basics for Beginners
Creating a Project
The Windows Form Designer
Writing Visual Basic code
Compiling, Running and Saving your project
Errors and Debugging
Project Files, Properties and Customization
Data
Looping

Create a Video Game Includes:

Backgrounds, Sprites and Images
Basic sound functions,
Special effects
Animated Graphics
Create your video game

Web Design Includes:

HTML and JavaScript
Basic Concepts
Links
Body Tags and Lists
Using Forms
Cascading Style Sheets
Create Web Page
Basic text formatting
Graphics
Search Engines and Meta Tags
Tables

Atlanta Dot Net User Group meeting – March 30th, 2009

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:34:00 GMT

Excellent turn out this past Monday – we probably had around 80 or more people show up to the user group to hear Doug Ware give an introduction to the upcoming Windows 7 operating system and Sergey Barskiy give an introduction to Silverlight.

I’ve been so consumed with work recently that it was great to get out and see all the familiar faces and a bunch of new ones. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the Atlanta MS Pros meeting next week, but everyone should come out to see Keith Rome talk about Asynchronous UI in WPF and Silverlight

Are you interested in hearing about Startups and local Entrepreneurs

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:47:00 GMT

“Georgia Innovators in Financial Services and Payments Technology”
Thursday, April 2, 2009
7:30 to 9am
Entrepreneurs-only Roundtable 9:15-10:15am

Centergy One Building
75 5th Street, NW
Hodges Room (335)
Atlanta, GA Map

Event is Free for TAG members and $20 for Non members. Entrepreneurs Only Round Table is FREE for everyone.

There is an joint event from TAG and ATDC that you can attend titled “Georgia Innovators in Financial Services and Payments Technology” that will be held on April 2nd, 2009.

Check out the bios of the panel participants:

Lynne Laube, COO and Co-Founder, Cardlytics
Daniel Drechsel, CEO, FTRANS
Gardiner Garrard, CFA, Investment Partner, Total Technology Ventures

If you are interested you Register for the event now.

Microsoft Surface-like technology as a portable cellphone add-on

Matt Ranlett — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:35:59 GMT

All I can say is “Holy cow, when can I have this?” Oh, and I’ll pay the $350 for that device!

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/481

Truly awesome stuff coming out of the MIT Media Lab

Thanks go out to Joris for showing me this video