Ignition Showcase

AboutYOU Windows Phone App Released

Bill Zack MS — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:27:24 GMT

There is an old joke: "But enough about me, let’s talk about you. What do you think about me?" A more serious description would be “Find out what people are saying about you on the web”. IMHO this is the ultimate vanity app that a lot of people would want to use. It is not just “about me”.

You can:

Search the web using the Bing API for news about <YOU>.
Display a list of references.
Page through the list of references
Select an entry in the list to allow you to browse the referenced web page
Change and save your search criteria for future requests.

Design

Application Tile

Main Page

Display search result references
Refresh button to re-issue the request
Settings button to change the search criteria
Help button to provide a help page

Details Page

Displays the referenced page

Settings Page

Criteria field for editing the search criteria
Save button to permanently save the criteria
Clear button to clear the entry
Help button to provide a help page

Price

Free, No advertising for widest distribution

Note: Somehow this got installed into the Games Category. So when you install it it will show up incorrectly in the Games Hub and not in the normal apps list. I am working with them to move it. So if you don’t find it in the apps list after you install it look in the Games hub on your phone.

Technical

This is a native phone app built using the Windows Phone Databound Application template.

It retrieves a previous value for the search criteria from the phone’s Application Settings and issues a web search using the Bing API. Then it parses the returned XML with Linq to XML to populate a viewmodel that is then bound to the references page list. The list includes the web page title, description and a hidden link to the web page. The user can then select an entry from the list. Selecting a list entry routes you to a page with an embedded web browser control to display the referenced page.

The Settings page can be used to edit the search criteria.

In keeping with the spirit of the Agile Manifesto This version is only Iteration 1 of the app. Subsequent versions may:

Use Mango to run constantly in background reporting new references to a live tile.
Include Polling interval, Method of notification (email, SMS, Notify service, etc.)
Add other sources such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Use more sophisticated search algorithms.

It all depends on the feedback that I get from this version.

Enjoy

Announcing free inbound data transfers to Windows Azure!

Bill Zack MS — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:48:23 GMT

News Flash: All inbound data transfers for both peak and off-peak times will be free for all billing periods that begin on or after July 1, 2011.

This can represent very significant savings if an application currently has substantial amounts of inbound traffic or if you have large quantities of existing data that you want to migrate to the cloud.

See here for more details.

Microsoft wins Best Cloud Service award at Cloud Computing World Series Awards

Bill Zack MS — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:44:14 GMT

Microsoft has won the Best Cloud Service award at the 2011 Cloud Computing World Series Awards.

Having been judged by an independent panel of industry experts, the awards was presented to attending winners at the 3rd annual Cloud Computing World Forum on June 21st in Olympia, London.

Since the Windows Azure platform became generally available over a year ago, it has been adopted by customers across 41 countries. These customers are creating new services and gaining greater efficiencies as they take their companies to the cloud, enabling them to able to address customer needs quickly with innovative solutions that are cost effective and reliable.

“It’s fantastic for us to see this type of recognition for the Windows Azure platform. We’re seeing companies creating business solutions in record times, reinforcing the new possibilities created by the cloud,” said Michael Newberry, Windows Azure lead, Microsoft UK.

For more information on Microsoft visit http://www.microsoft.com or attend the Microsoft Partner Zone at the Cloud Computing World Forum.

For further information on the Awards or about the Cloud Computing World Forum please contact charlie@keynoteworld.com.

And to try Windows Azure free see this blog post on how to get a Free Windows Azure Platform 30 Day Pass.

New this week on Ignition Showcase 6-22-2011

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:49:48 GMT

Please blog/twitter/facebook about this and forward a link for this to anyone who might be interested in the latest news and useful information about emerging Microsoft technologies. Note that they can subscribe to the full Ignition Showcase blog posts or just to the weekly summary newsletter.

Important News for All Partners

Try Windows Azure in 30 Minutes!

Get up to $150 cash back* when you buy one SQL Azure Core subscription

Events

Announcing the Rock Paper Azure Challenge – Grand Tournament

Vote for your Imagine Cup team today

Ithaca College Imagine Cup team heading to NYC for the Worldwide Finals

Windows Azure Platform & the Cloud

Windows Azure AppFabric - June CTP Released

Creating Facebook Apps That Can Easily Handle a Crowd

You can subscribe to receive individual posts, or subscribe to just our weekly summary newsletter that has links to appropriate article posts. You can also connect with us in the other areas where we share information online, such as our Facebook Wall and follow us on Twitter.

Windows Azure AppFabric - June CTP Released

Bill Zack MS — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:38:43 GMT

We have announced the release of the Windows Azure AppFabric June CTP which includes capabilities that make it easy for developers to build, deploy, manage and monitor multi-tier applications across web, business logic and database tiers as a single logical entity on the Windows Azure Platform.

See this Channel9 blog post for a new episode of AppFabric TV. In this episode Ron Jacobs is joined by Karandeep Anand Group Program Manager for AppFabric Platform Services as they take a look at the exciting new capabilities featured in this CTP release.

Announcing the Rock Paper Azure Challenge – Grand Tournament

Bill Zack MS — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:42:42 GMT

Have you ever played Rock, Paper, Scissors? Then you already know how to play the game. Now’s your chance to code your own player “bot” and test your skills online against players from seven countries.

The Grand Prize tournament winner will take home $5,000, Second place wins $1,000 and the 10 runners-up each get $250. Everyone who participates and uploads a bot will receive the official Rock Paper Azure Challenge t-shirt.

Will your bot have what it takes to crush the coding competition? Play and find out! Visit http://www.rockpaperazure.com to sign up, download the tools, and watch screencasts with step-by-step instructions. Entries must be submitted by 6:00 pm Eastern Time on July 13^th to be eligible.

Vote for your Imagine Cup team today

Bill Zack MS — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:22:52 GMT

Activist, actor, author and philanthropist Eva Longoria invites you to celebrate the amazing work of student humanitarians by voting for the Imagine Cup 2011 People’s Choice Video Award. The videos in this post are by many of the 2011 Worldwide Finalists who imagined a world where technology helps solve the world’s toughest problems. Hear their stories, see their vision, and learn more about each of their amazing projects – and you too will be inspired!

The 2011 Worldwide Finalist team with the most "likes" by July 12, 2011 at 21:00 GMT wins the People's Choice Award and $10,000 USD.

Vote Today!

Creating Facebook Apps That Can Easily Handle a Crowd

Bill Zack MS — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:39:27 GMT

With 600 million users, even marginally successful apps and promotions need massive scale. Learn how to do so here. Then get your own no-cost Azure account CODE webcastpass, and deploy your 1st app in as little as 30 mins

Facebook welcomes 750k new users per day. Consequently, it's not unheard of to create a promotion or application that draws 150k+ views in 3 days. Add "friend status" to your app and updates could skyrocket to a million records daily. In this session, we walk through assets you can use today and cover applicable lessons that will help you architect for scale.

Try the cloud 30 days for free! Here’s an opportunity to try out the Windows Azure Platform and explore the possibilities it holds. Use promotional code WEBCASTPASS to activate your free trial.

See the video here.

Ithaca College Imagine Cup team heading to NYC for the Worldwide Finals

Bill Zack MS — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:57:56 GMT

The Ithaca College Imagine Cup team is heading to NYC for the worldwide finals in mid-July. They were profiled recently in an Ithaca Times article: Ithaca College students competing in worldwide game design finals

This July, four Ithaca College students will head to New York City to battle other student teams from around the globe while strutting their game design skills at the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals.

The team, known as ICsquared, is made up Ashley Alicea, Corey Jeffers, Evan Marinaro and Marc Howard, all members of the college's Game Developers Club.

For more details see this article.

New this week on Ignition Showcase 6-15-2011

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:02:46 GMT

Important News for All Partners

Try Windows Azure in 30 Minutes!

Get up to $150 cash back* when you buy one SQL Azure Core subscription

Events

Cloudy in New York!

Windows 8 Changes Everything!

Startups

Startup Weekend Boston at Microsoft NERD

Building a Startup in a Weekend with BizSpark & SQL Azure

Windows Azure Platform & the Cloud

Webcast: Building Phone Applications with Windows Azure

Looking for Good Windows Azure Guidance?

Building a Startup in a Weekend with BizSpark & SQL Azure

Windows Azure Appliance News

Windows Phone

Webcast: Building Phone Applications with Windows Azure

Windows 8

Windows 8 Changes Everything!

Visual Studio

Building Line of Business Applications with Visual Studio LightSwitch

Get up to $150 cash back* when you buy one SQL Azure Core subscription

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:28:32 GMT

Microsoft designed the Windows Azure Platform to make it very easy for you to move your app to the cloud: use the tools you know, deploy your app on multiple instances without having to worry about servers, VMs or load balancers and enjoy the peace of mind that someone is minding the security patches, upgrades and maintenance.

The SQL Azure Core subscription makes it even easier for you to move your app to the cloud, by giving you one SQL Azure database with up to 10GB capacity at 25% off of our normal consumption rates. And from June 1st until June 30th, if you buy one SQL Azure Extended subscriptions you may be eligible to receive a $150 rebate*.

Highlights of the offer include:

1. Purchase 1 SQL Core offer and receive $150 rebate.

2. Note: You need to hurry because the rebate goes away on June 30^th

4. You can lock in the lower rate now for up to 12 month.

Get started today, visit the Windows Azure offers page and buy one SQL Azure Core subscription, and then come back to redeem your offer.*

Webcast: Building Phone Applications with Windows Azure

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:49:42 GMT

So, you’re building phone apps for Windows Phone 7 –maybe even iPhone/iPad – and you’re curious about what the cloud can offer. Is it possible to deploy scalable, mobile Web applications on Windows Azure? How about storing data in the cloud? Is it possible to use the cloud for push notifications to the device?

⁺

In this session you'll learn how to build WP7 applications that are backed by scalable cloud components hosted in Windows Azure. This demo-focused session will cover the end-to-end experience and address how to tackle issues such as authentication, storage, and notification using the Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone 7.

In addition, we will also have Sebastian Witzmann, CEO of Vela Entertainment, who will present what Vela has achieved by harnessing the power of Windows Azure and Windows Phone 7 to create compelling applications and services for their customers.

Register for the event here:

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=738805

What to expect?

Academy webcasts are 1 hour online events for Partners and Microsoft employees using Microsoft Office Live Meeting. Connect with Microsoft and other partners; listen to Microsoft subject matter experts as they discuss their areas of expertise related to Microsoft’s sales and competitive strategy. Learn more about Microsoft’s products (including insight into products on the launch horizon); positioning of business value to customers; sharing wins from the field and how the account team won; world class selling skills and best practice; and leveraging Microsoft resources to maximize your productivity. Webcasts for partners caters to all depths of knowledge.

Before the Webcast:

To attend our upcoming Webcast please ensure you have downloaded the latest version of Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007.

Join the Conference:

- - Attendee URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/plc_usa/join?id=745621201152764325&role=attend&pw=K7H%24%25q%7E7f

- - Toll-Free (Within US & Canada): (800) 806-5561

- - Audio Pin: 3198

Technical Support:

Having trouble with the Live Meeting conference on the day of the session?

Click here for Live Meeting support or call: 866-493-2825

If you are having issues with the Partner Learning Center (PLC) or accessing the live or on-demand event, please contact the Microsoft Partner team at: msuspr@microsoft.com.

If you have any questions on this or future Academy Live webcasts, please contact us: mspal@microsoft.com.

Looking for Good Windows Azure Guidance?

Bill Zack MS — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:22:28 GMT

For some excellent Windows Azure guidance from the Microsoft Patterns and Practices Group don’t miss:

And for a free Windows Azure Pass cloud account and how to try it out very quickly see: Try Windows Azure in 30 Minutes!

Building a Startup in a Weekend with BizSpark & SQL Azure

Abby Fichtner MS — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:02:43 GMT

This article is syndicated from http://bizspark.com. BizSpark™ is Microsoft’s program for helping startups succeed with software (including Azure benefits), support & visibility. To learn more and sign up, go to: http://bizspark.com.

On the 30th anniversary of the 1st AIDS case ever documented, Scott Mustard pitched his & Claudia Pucci, M.D.’s vision for simplifying the arduous process doctors have to go through to document atypical cases, such as those first citings of HIV/AIDS.

When doctors note unusual findings in a medical case, they search the medical literature and may document it if they can’t find an exact or very close match. Often such cases are never reported due to a cumbersome submission process. In the example of HIV/AIDS, a small tight knit community was seeing the same observations but collaboration was word of mouth and analog. This delayed the publication of the first case by years.

Having a vetted central repository for this information – as envisioned by Claudia & Scott – would have been a huge help in identifying and treating new cases of HIV infections.

How did it all come together?

Scott had already been planning on attending Startup Weekend. When Claudia, an Attending Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, mentioned her frustration with the current case reporting process, the idea for CaseReportal was born.

Friday night, Scott stood up and pitched the idea to over 130 Startup Weekend attendees. Then he got busy, getting out into the audience with the mission of finding the right talent. And he succeeded – to the tune of 15 people, one of the largest teams at the event.

15 people is a HUGE team to bring together to make something happen in 54 hours, especially when none of them had ever worked together before. Peeking into the conference room they took over for the event was like seeing mission control in action.

Validating their Idea

Half the team focused on the business end. They spoke to doctors. They did preliminary financial forecasting to start thinking about the revenue model. Over the weekend, they captured 20 data points from 18 doctors & medical personnel to validate their ideas.

Can you DO an Azure solution in 54 hours using the free Azure in BizSpark?

The other half of the team was split into designers and developers. They used ASP.NET MVC and started off on SQL Server. I invited them into BizSpark and let them know about the free Azure. Of course, they were skeptical. None of them had used Azure before and there’s no time for learning curves when you only have a weekend. But, they agreed to give it a try. We signed them up, a few clicks to create a database instance in the Azure Portal, and they tried connecting to it with SQL Server Management Studio. It worked!

Encouraged, they tried updating the server in their code’s database connection string to point to SQL Azure and… it worked! Their code was automatically building the schema, so once they connected it built the schema and started using it just as expected.

Nick Goodwin, their lead developer, admitted his surprise. “I had some pretty serious doubt about switching from a local DB to SQL Azure… but it was a breeze and just worked.”

Demo Time

5pm Sunday night. It’s time for each of the teams to demo what they’ve got to the other attendees and a panel of judges. The team got their software working literally within minutes of the demo and then Scott had to show it off and hope it would work.

Claudia couldn’t be there in person because she was hosting colleagues from Mass General Hospital when the demo took place. Hating to miss it completely, she joined in with Skype. And good thing! One of the first questions was from judge Rob Go (Partner, NextView Ventures) about a popular physician’s website. The rest of the team – not being doctors – had a brief deer-in-the-headlights moment before Claudia popped on screen from Skype to provide a brilliant answer.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and the rest of the questions went wonderfully. So well that the judges awarded CaseReportal 1st place. We also gave them an XBox/Kinect for their stellar use of Microsoft technology, which – as you can see in the picture below – they were pretty excited about. :)

What’s next?

A couple minutes after this picture was snapped, Scott rushed out to meet with Claudia and her MGH colleagues to show off CaseReportal. They were duly impressed and expressed strong interest in doing a pilot. Scott has since bought the trademark and is incorporating this week, with himself and Claudia as co-founders. Discussions are underway to keep a couple members of their Startup Weekend team moving forward.

Congratulations, CaseReportal! We look forward to your continued success & following your positive impact on the medical community.

Startup Weekend Boston at Microsoft NERD

Abby Fichtner MS — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:32:43 GMT

Over 130 people – half techies, half business folks – converged on Microsoft NERD this weekend to start their own companies, have fun & make a difference.

Friday night, 50 of them stood up and pitched their ideas in quick 60 second spots, interrupted only for a quick game of multiplayer rock-player-scissors.

Pitches ran the gamut from gamifying entrepreneurship to games to solve the world’s biggest problems. From help with dating to help finding babysitters. Helping investors forecast small company returns to a game that lets you invest in twitter hashtags.

One pitched a joke “I’m going to create a double rainbow – I mean, a Double Game Layer around the world!”. Some just sounded like it – DidWeShag.com for sharing those vital date details. And a guy named Sting pitched something about the Police (PayYourTicketsOnline.com).

There was some voting, but at the end of the night all that really mattered was weather you were willing to move forward with your idea. The 50 ideas dropped to 27, which eventually dropped to 16 – although part way through Saturday one of the entrepreneurs split from the startup he’d joined to return to his initial idea… And then there were 17.

Startups ranged in size from 2 to 15 people composed of everything from hard core techies to designers, business folks, even a doctor who came to build a startup for helping other doctors. Mentors came in on Saturday to help startups with their ideas. Several teams got out of the building to validate their ideas with potential customers. One even got a paying customer!

There was much use of the ample whiteboards (we actually wiped NERD out of flip charts!) in brainstorming and sketching out designs. Much head’s down coding. And unbelievable levels of creativity, passion, and energy – which was good, as there wasn’t a whole lot of time for sleep over the weekend.

By Sunday things got real as teams worked towards the 5pm deadline when they’d get 5 minutes each to demo their startups & compete for some pretty swanky prizes including a day at MassChallenge bootcamp, meetings with angels, an XBox/Kinect for the team with the best use of Microsoft technology, and… a Keurig coffee maker for the most energetic team!

Startup Weekend Demos

I’m not sure which was more entertaining – the demos themselves, including MapMyPad who actually broke out into the Hokey Pokey (forward to 2:10 in this video to see for yourself), or the twitter back channel.

1st Place: CaseReportal. Vital insights for atypical cases.
“WebMD for doctors”
“CaseReportal is sooo gonna win the XBox360 and Kinect” @scottefein

2nd Place: SellerCrowd. Salespeople working together to make contacts quicker.
“Quora for sales weasles” @JoshSamBob

3rd Place: CashTag. The Global Hashtag Exchange
”Twitter stock market for hash tags” @YoungImpact
“I own $16K worth of #SpongeBob on @playcashtag. It's kind of embarrassing” @JoshSamBob

Oh You Kids. Ensuring your inheritance.
“I named this company. In exchange for 25% equity or a mojito” @JoshSamBob

My Hobby Hub. Everyone has a talent to share.
“Does Hobby Hub have a Pirate I can sail with?” @scottefein

VidWheel. Create video channels of anything you could watch online.
“Pandora for video.” @412clifton

IdeaPhy. Turn your ideas into action.
“Lets founders get crowdsourced feedback on their ideas. momma always said to share.” @412clifton

Farora. Stay beautiful.
“Built for booking [hair] salons!” @marshsutherland
“Unfortunately, not enough hair to use Farora, but interesting idea!” @BrienBuckman

PrescribableApps. Leveraging collaborative care for doctor-patient synergy.
“Need to monitor your mental health? Now there's an @rxapps for that” @412clifton

HereHello. Making pickup lines obsolete.
"No more pickup lines? That's half the fun!” @jtagen

eForecqst. Forecasting tomorrow's gems.
“An interesting idea, which might be helpful for individual investors like myself.” @BrienBuckman
“I'd use this service.” @scottefein

HereHype. Connecting merchants downtime with students free time.
“Seems to be a flash groupon with lots of high-fives” @jtagen
"I wonder if they realize they look kinda like the Winkelvoss Twins...” @scottefein

PocketRoster. Always keep your members at your fingertips!
“A roster in your pocket.” @scottefein
“Probably one of the most immediately useful things introduced at #SWBoston” @JarrettGoetz
“Hard to say the name with a straight face, but the app is fantastic” @jtagen

And, yup, CaseReportal won the XBox/Kinect for most awesome use of Microsoft technology – CONGRATS!!

See More: Boston Startup Weekend Photos

Windows Azure Appliance News

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:12:34 GMT

Fujitsu Ltd. and Microsoft Corp. have announced that the first release of its Global Cloud Platform service powered by Windows Azure, running in Fujitsu’s datacenter in Japan, will be launched in August 2011.

The launch of this service is the result of the global strategic partnership between Fujitsu and Microsoft announced in July 2010. The partnership allows Fujitsu to work alongside Microsoft providing services to enable, deliver and manage solutions built on Windows Azure.

As of April 21, 2011, Fujitsu has been offering the service in Japan on a trial basis to 20 companies. This launch marks the first official production release of the Windows Azure platform appliance by Fujitsu.

By using FGCP/A5, customers will be able to quickly build elastically scalable applications using familiar Windows Azure platform technologies, streamline their information communications technology (ICT) operations management to accelerate business expansion, and enhance their competitive edge in the global market.

For more details see this press release.

Building Line of Business Applications with Visual Studio LightSwitch

Bill Zack MS — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:40:52 GMT

In a previous blog post we told you about Visual Studio LightSwitch as a way to publish applications to Windows Azure and SQL Azure.

This blog post discusses a video walkthrough that shows how easily create Line of Business (LOB) applications for the cloud by using Visual Studio LightSwitch and SQL Azure.

A video highlights the benefits of Visual Studio LightSwitch and explains how you can quickly create powerful and interactive Silverlight applications with little or no code.

Cloudy in New York!

Bill Zack MS — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:47:33 GMT

This year for the second year in a row I presented a talk at Cloud Expo in New York. This time I had one of the two General (full-audience) sessions on the first day.

My talk: Patterns for Cloud Computing was attended by about 800 in the main presentation hall and overflow room.

Using the artifice of Jim, a typical software architect, we discussed his quandary in first understanding the cloud and second in determining if the cloud could be of any value to him in solving his company’s business problems.

The talk began with with an architectural model of the cloud as defined and popularized by the National Institute of Standards (NIS). This included discussing the 5 Essential characteristics, 3 Service models and 4 Deployment models defined by NIST.

We then covered four popular design patterns for taking advantage of the cloud, illustrating them all with Windows Azure. These patterns were in the area of using the cloud for:

Scalability
Compute
Storage
Inter-company communications

Judging from the number of attendees that kept me talking about the cloud for a half-hour after the presentation and the number of business cards that I handed out it is pretty clear that there is an incredible amount of interest in leveraging the cloud in general and Windows Azure in particular.

You can download the presentation deck from my SkyDrive here.

On Tuesday I got to be on the CTO Power Panel with several other panelists from companies such as: Eucalyptus, McAfee, Cloud.com, Dell and Voxtel. The subject of the panel was Has Cloud Computing Changed Enterprise IT Forever and for Always?

Here is a picture of me hogging the stage.

One of the questions that was asked was about Clouds and Open Source and I responded with all the things that we are doing to support Open Source in our Cloud: Providing a PHP SDK, an Eclipse Plug in, and even enabling the use of Apache Tomcat in Windows Azure. The latter was even a surprise to some of the panelists.

I also told them how we have donated our Hypervisor to the Open Cloud Stack initiative. One of the panelists was from Cloud.com (one of the leaders of that initiative) and he confirmed that was indeed the case.

Another question was on how the Cloud Changes things and I responded with three things:

The cloud gives enterprises another dimension that they can use to more rapidly solve the business problems of their companies and allow them to better align IT with business. (I mentioned IT Doesn’t matter and how IT is still recovering from that. It got a lot of laughs.
The change to an Opex Model from a Capex model (that got lots of nods),
Scalability: Not having to buy capacity in large chunks. Being able to match capacity with demand.

Video from the panel should be posted shortly as well.

Cloud Expo New York (June 6-9, 2011)

SanjayJain369 — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:06:00 GMT

I am looking forward to learn latest on the Cloud Computing Spectrum, meet several customers and partners and find ways we can help them by leveraging Microsoft Public & Private Cloud offerings (Windows Azure, Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, Windows Intune, Windows Server Hyper-V).

If you are around and would like to meet me, please feel free to email me.

Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

Blog: http://Blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SanjayJain369

Windows 8 Changes Everything!

Bill Zack MS — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:12:14 GMT

BUILD is the event that shows you how to take advantage of the future of Windows. Get insight on creating touch-centric user experiences, fast, fluid, and dynamic applications that leverage the power and flexibility of the core of Windows, used by more than a billion people around the world.

Learn how to create powerful new apps while retaining the ability to use your existing apps. See how web-connected and web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript have full access to the power of the PC. Explore how the full power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10 transforms your experiences with the web.

See how the UI was designed to work seamlessly with a diversity of devices and form factors. BUILD is the first place to dive deep into the future of Windows.

If you are a contemporary developer, who thrives on the newest and coolest, who loves the freedom of the web and the power of all devices from mobile to desktop, you need to join us to help BUILD the future. Our approach means no compromises—you get to use whatever kind of device you prefer to run the apps you love.

In 1995, Windows changed the PC. BUILD will show you that Windows 8 changes everything.

Try Windows Azure in 30 Minutes!

Bill Zack MS — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:59:25 GMT

Try a free Windows Azure Pass cloud account (CODE: webvisions), and put up your 1st Windows Azure app in as little as 30 minutes .

The new MyToDo app posted on CodePlex works with your free Azure Pass to give you a quick introduction to Windows Azure.

Unlike most trial procedures that start with developing and app and then deploying it to the cloud this procedure starts with you downloading and deploying an existing app to give you a feel for what it is like to deploy one.

Then this tutorial shows you how to create and deploy your own ASP.NET app in Windows Azure.

Enjoy!

Win a Country Music Association 4 Day Pass with IE9

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:36:32 GMT

Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean, and Ronnie Dunn have different prize packages just waiting for you. Go to these links and follow the registration instructions. You’ll need IE9 and Windows 7, and the contest payoff could be big for the country music fan. Each artist has their own contest and they have different COOL prizes. They do each offer CMA Music Fest 4 Day passes, which makes this WAY COOL!!!

And 4 nights at LP Field plus these other prizes, it’s a country music fan’s dream event. If you don’t know, CMA Music Fest is like no other music event. During the day, you can visit Fan Fair Hall to meet artists, as well as see artists perform at music stages around downtown Nashville (just check out the Riverfront Park schedule – awesome by itself). Then at night, we head to LP Field and see some of the hottest names in country music (6 mini-concerts each night on the schedule). And as the CMA Music Fest veterans know, 4 day pass holders get special benefits at LP Field like STAGE-FRONT access in the Fan Photo Line. Nothing like a stroll right in front of a big act blowing out the stadium.

For more details see: Win CMA Fest 4 Day Pass with Internet Explorer 9

MAP 6.0 Beta: Accelerate the adoption of Microsoft private and public cloud platforms

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:51:00 GMT

The next version of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit—version 6.0— is now available for free download. To participate, register for the MAP 6.0 Beta Review Program at Microsoft Connect.

Planning your journey to the cloud just got a bit easier. The next release of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit—v6.0 Beta—includes assessment capabilities to evaluate workloads for both public and private cloud platforms. With MAP 6.0 Beta, you now have the ability to identify workloads and estimate the infrastructure size and resources needed for both Windows Azure and Hyper-V Fast Track. Also new to MAP 6.0 Beta is the Office 365 Client Assessment, enhanced VMware inventory, and Oracle Schema discovery and reporting. Expanded assessment and discovery capabilities from MAP help you streamline planning for your next migration project. Plan what's next with MAP.

New Features and Benefits from MAP 6.0 Beta Release help you:

Analyze your portfolio of applications for a move to the Windows Azure Platform.
Accelerate planning to private cloud with Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Onboarding.
Identify migration opportunities with enhanced heterogeneous server environment inventory.
Assess your client environment for Office 365 readiness.
Determine readiness for migration to Windows Internet Explorer 9.
Identify web browser compatibility issues prior to Windows 7 deployment.
Discover Oracle database schemas for migration to SQL Server.

MAP works with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Security Compliance Manager to help you plan, securely deploy, and manage new Microsoft technologies—easier, faster, and at less cost. Learn more.

Next steps:

Join the MAP 6.0 Beta Review Program and tell the MAP team what you think!
Learn more about the MAP Toolkit.
Send your questions or comments to the MAP Team.

Get the latest tips from Microsoft Solution Accelerators—in 140 characters or less! Follow us on Twitter: @MSSolutionAccel.

New this week on Ignition Showcase 6-8-2011

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:40:48 GMT

Important News for All Partners

A $250 Bonus for Completing Your First Azure Application! The deadline for this is June 17th. If you are eligible make sure to collect.

Events

Cloudy in New York!

Cloud Expo New York (June 6-9, 2011)

Windows 8 Changes Everything!

Windows Azure Platform & the Cloud

Try Windows Azure in 30 Minutes!

MAP 6.0 Beta: Accelerate the adoption of Microsoft private and public cloud platforms

Windows Azure Appliance News

Visual Studio

Building Line of Business Applications with Visual Studio LightSwitch

Internet Explorer

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Follow Ignition Showcase on your Windows Phone

Bill Zack MS — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:30:13 GMT

Ignition Showcase is a site focused on building and enhancing the vibrant ecosystem of Independent Software Vendors and start-ups on the Microsoft platform. The goal of Ignition Showcase is to bring together the right people and experiences from across Microsoft to provide ISVs with the resources they need to create new opportunities on our emerging technologies. Through briefings, readiness programs, social networking, blogs, and other events, we hope to empower partners to succeed on the Microsoft platform. Stay tuned to our blog for info on resources and activities!

The Ignition Showcase Windows Phone 7 app makes use of y our phone’s:

data connection
media library
web browser
owner identity
phone identity

It allows you to follow all topics on Ignition Showcase or to focus on specific technology topic areas such as Windows Azure, Windows Phone, SQL Server, etc..

Get it here.