Random .NET Ramblings

Thanks Microsoft? Now what's next?

woodyp — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:16:00 +0200

Today Microsoft announced another round of layoffs and I was included. It was totally unexpected and there was no explanation other than the (I am sure legally vetted) ?reorganize and restructure? answer. I am sure this is how they have handled past layoffs and if you look at the group I am in I can understand how the job I was doing was redundant, if I were management I could see selecting this position for removal. I had a counterpart doing the same job in NorCal and that is the market that Microsoft is more concerned with. I have looked at the current positions Microsoft has open in SoCal and decided not to apply as I would not be a good fit for them. So that leaves me with some thinking to do?

I will brush-up the resume but I really want to take some time to think about what?s next for me and my family. I am sure I will find many interesting opportunities and at least one that I will be excited about. My goal is to find something where I can make big contributions to ensure the success of an organization.

My network access and email will be shut off soon so you can reach me through this blog or use my gmail address or send a note on facebook or twitter @woodyp.

Thank you to all of the great people I was able to work with at Microsoft, I will look forward to seeing you all in the developer community soon.

Technorati Tags: Laid off

Thought for the day?

woodyp — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:53:31 +0200

Yet more ways to learn

woodyp — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:50:04 +0200

@ritzy is not going to like this post but?

After the ASP.NET User Group the other night I went and had dinner with Mark Rosenberg and Tim McCarthy and I asked Tim if he was planning on attending PDC. The surprising answer I got was ?No why would I? I can get so much content online that I don?t need to take the time or spend the money to go to conferences any more.? (ok that is not an exact quite but it was close) he also pointed out that all the content from PDC will be available on line soon after a given session is done. Well now we have yet more ways to learn on line with The Channel 9 Learning Center from the site:

The Channel 9 Learning Center is the destination for free technical training on emerging Microsoft products and technologies. The Learning Center consists of a set of courses with each course including a set of videos, hands-on labs, and source code samples to get you up-to-speed quickly.

So if you are in to the bleeding edge stuff here is where you can get information about what Microsoft is up to.

Technorati Tags: Training,Channel 9

What's New in Visual Studio 2010

woodyp — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:37:22 +0200

Last night I was able to present to the San Diego ASP.NET Users Group about Visual Studio 2010 and after some difficulties in downloading the Beta 2 the day before I was able to show the latest Beta.

On the cool factor I think the editor Zoom was a hit and many of the new debug features were also a big hit. If you were there let me know what your best feature you saw was. There was just not enough time to go through everything, I did not get to show some of the cool demos around ASP.NET and site deployment. I have posted my slides to SildeShare and embedded to below but for more information checkout The 10-4 Show on Channel9 and the VS 2010 / .NET Framework 4.0 Training Kit.

San Diego ASP.NET Meeting Oct 21st

View more presentations from Woody Pewitt.

Technorati Tags: Visual Studio,ASP.NET,User Group

Are you still using VSS?

woodyp — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:40:18 +0200

Your crazy! Please please please stop it? it hurts for me to say that but it?s true. I have a long history with Visual Source Safe starting with it when it was a One Tree Software product and it rocked but we must recall this was 1992 or so when I started using it. Now it is so easy to get much better source control software there is little excuse for still using VSS.

And now we have announced a great alternative to VSS it?s TFS (Team Foundation Server). Yes I am hiding under my desk right now as I expect every one is about to throw something at me but let me explain. In TFS 2010 the team has made some big strides in how easy it is to setup and maintain. For full details you should read Brian Harry blog post on the subject TFS 2010 for SourceSafe Users the rest of his blog is pretty good as well ;).

Technorati Tags: VSS,Visual Studio,TFS

Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2010

woodyp — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:52:40 +0200

Just in time for my presentation to the San Diego ASP.NET group tomorrow we have released the second beta to MSDN subscribers today and everyone can get it on the 21st.

Go get it! Visual Studio Beta 2 Page

Technorati Tags: Visual Studio

Microsoft Releases Antivirus Product!

woodyp — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:43:31 +0200

Microsoft Security Essentials was released a few days ago, it will help protect consumers against viruses, spyware and other malicious software. This comes from the work we have done with Forefront product family for corporate users so it?s quite robust. I had my father running the beta for quite some time now and he enjoyed the experience.

It?s about time we did this but I know we are going to have some major push back from other antivirus venders. The major players have a lot of other features to there products so they will still have customer demand and we have talked about this for some time so they would have had to be asleep at the wheal if they did not know this was coming.

Let me know what you think I would suggest uninstalling what ever antivirus product you have and then install Microsoft Security Essentials.

Technorati Tags: Security,System

Going to PDC? Or not...

woodyp — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:19:51 +0200

If you are going to the PDC in LA this year or just if you are going to be in town the day before and want to lean Windows 7 Kernel and architectural improvements, new shell integration points and a bunch more (sensors, location, multitouch, graphics libraries ho my) then you should no need to signup for the Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp! Yes a FREE pre-PDC workshop that will start on Nov 16th 10am through 5:45pm with a lunch break. All you need to do is register for PDC and select "pre-conference workshop only" as your registration type and when you get to the workshop selection page of the registration form, you'll be able to pick the Windows 7 bootcamp as a free item. (yes I said free again) w00t!

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,PDC

WebsiteSpark!

woodyp — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:56:25 +0200

Yes we have another spark program at Microsoft but this one is quite different so for review we have had BizSpark for software startups and DreamSpark for students. WebsiteSpark is for small web developers and design companies\shops and yes there is free developer and designer tools and free training resources but the BIG deal with this program is that we are building a tool that will let participating shops get found and get business leads! Yes Microsoft will help find WebsiteSpark participants work! If you are interested in the program you can signup at the WebsiteSpark site or let me know you are interested and I can send you an invitation.

Also check out scottgu talk about the program on Channel9 Scott Guthrie: Introducing WebsiteSpark and Web Platform Installer, Web App Gallery RTM.

Technorati Tags: WebsiteSpark

Get the straight info!

woodyp — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:54:00 +0200

If you have ever wanted to see where a Microsoft team blogs check out this list of blogs by products groups BlogMS - Official Microsoft Team Blogs : Official Microsoft Team Blogs / Microsoft Blogs thanks to whoever runs this blog because as strange as it seams there is no inclusive list of MS blogs.

Technorati Tags: MS Blogs