Fabrice's weblog : News

MVP in 2011

Fabrice Marguerie — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:17:00 GMT

I just received an email from Microsoft telling me that my MVP status has been renewed :-)
I'm an MVP since 2004!

I'm still very busy this year and I don't see this change soon. I already have a lot of things on my roadmap.

It will start with a session at SDC 2011 next week and a new release of Sesame Data Browser soon.

Silverlight 5 roadmap announced

Fabrice Marguerie — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:28:00 GMT

With the confusion that followed the PDC, Microsoft had to announce their plans for the future of Silverlight. This has been done today during the Silverlight FireStarter event.

A beta release of Silverlight 5 is expected for Spring 2011, and the final release for the end of 2011.
I won't re-post the list of planned features here. You can get all the details on Scott Guthrie's blog.

How does Microsoft see Silverlight's future?

Fabrice Marguerie — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:44:00 GMT

Mary-Jo Foley offers an article you must read if you are using Silverlight or plan to: Microsoft: Our strategy with Silverlight has shifted.

So what’s a developer to make of Microsoft’s messaging (or lack thereof) about Silverlight at its premiere developer conference?

Of course, there is no official announcement from Microsoft in that article. But Microsoft's quietness about Silverlight during the PDC, except for Windows Phone 7 development, is precisely what's confusing.
Add to this renewed hyperactivity in Redmond around ASP.NET, HTML and JavaScript and you'll get even more confusion.

Update: Official Microsoft followup.
Update 2: Scott Guthrie's message about this.

LINQ or Lync?

Fabrice Marguerie — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 00:11:00 GMT

There's a new "link" from Redmond. It's not LINQ this time, but Lync.
Isn't it great to have two names colliding in the Microsoft world?

Is someone working on LINQ to Lync?

Cross-posted from http://linqinaction.net

Best ASP.NET hosting: easier, faster, cheaper

Fabrice Marguerie — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:49:00 GMT

After seven years with webhost4life, it was time to move on. Especially because of all the troubles with webhost4life due to their internal migration to a new hosting environment (the company has been bought out).
I've just moved all my websites elsewhere. I'm now using Arvixe and OrcsWeb.

I use OrcsWeb for metaSapiens.com. OrcsWeb kindly offers me free ASP.NET hosting because I'm a Microsoft MVP. I'd like to publicly thank OrcsWeb for this, and I invite you to have a look at what they have to offer.

I use Arvixe for all my other websites, the major ones being SharpToolbox.com, JavaToolbox.com, AxToolbox.com, Proagora.com, LinqInAction.net, ClairDeBulle.com, and madgeek.com.

Moving all my websites wasn't a walk in the park, but it was well worth it. Let's consider what I get with Arvixe:

Unlimited diskspace
Unlimited data transfer
Unlimited domains
Dedicated application pools
Unlimited POP3 and IMAP mailboxes
Unlimited SQL Server 2008 databases
Unlimited MySQL 5 databases
.NET 1.1, 2, 3.5 and 4
Full trust
IIS 7
Daily backups
A powerful and easy to use control panel
And more!

All of this for $8 per month. If you don't need all of the above features, you can even get an offer as cheap as $5 per month.
You can even get better rates if you use coupon codes, such as TOPHOST (30% discount) or MVCHOSTING (20% discount).

All in all, I paid only $134 for two years for a great hosting service!
Maybe it's time for you to move too?

Disclaimer: the links to OrcsWeb and Arvixe are affiliate links that may bring me some money home if you sign up.

MVP in 2010

Fabrice Marguerie — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:40:00 GMT

Microsoft has just named me an MVP for the seventh time in a row!

More .NET adventures with me expected in 2010...

My session at TechDays France 2010: How to detect and avoid memory and resources leaks in .NET applications

Fabrice Marguerie — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:18:00 GMT

This year, I'll give a session during the French TechDays about memory leaks in .NET. This session is based on my article and will include a demo with a sample application and debugging/profiling tools.

Je présenterai durant les TechDays à Paris une session à propos des fuites de mémoire en .NET et basée sur mon article. J'aurai le plaisir d'animer cette session avec Yann Schwartz.

L'intitulé de la session est Détecter et éviter les fuites de mémoire et de ressources dans les applications .NET.

Durant cette session nous analyserons les causes de fuite les plus fréquentes et nous verrons en pratique comment les détecter. Nous montrerons au travers d'exemples concrets plusieurs outils qui peuvent vous aider à dépanner vos applications. Le but de cette session est de vous aider à résoudre et éviter les fuites dans vos applications .NET, qu'il s'agisse d'applications Windows Forms, WPF, Silverlight, ASP.NET, console, ou services Windows. Vous obtiendrez également des conseils pour améliorer vos applications de manière à ce qu'elles deviennent moins gourmandes en ressources.

En bref, nous ne vous prendrons pas la tête sur les détails de la gestion de la mémoire en .NET, mais nous concentrerons sur les aspects pratiques.

La session a lieu mardi 9 février à 14h30. L'inscription est gratuite. Ca se passe par là.

MAJ: Le document Powerpoint, le code source de l'exemple, et l'enregistrement de la session sont disponibles

New York Times abandons WPF and Silverlight in favor of AIR

Fabrice Marguerie — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:25:00 GMT

The first version of the New York Times Reader was showcased in 2006 as one of the first and major WPF applications. Then, the Times Reader was ported to Silverlight, so it can work on non-Windows platforms such as Mac OS and Linux. The fact that WPF runs only on Windows was indeed a major concern for such a product.

The move to Silverlight was not a big success. The Silverlight version of the Times Reader suffered from technical issues and political rejection from Apple users.
There were hundreds of comments on the homepage of the Silverlight version. Roughtly half of them where related to technical problems, half to rejection. Many Apple users don't want to use Microsoft products.
Technical issues can be solved (over time), but solving rejection is another story (and I don't think it can be solved).

Version 2.0 of the Times Reader has been released recently, and what is interesting is that WPF and Silverlight have been dropped in favor of Adobe AIR.
No more political issues, a single code base, and less technical issues it seems.

This is a very interesting move. In fact, when I had to choose a technology for a new product a couple of months ago, I chose AIR too. As a .NET expert, I have of course considered WPF and Silverlight, but I had the same concerns as the New York Times.
A requirement was that the product should run on major platforms (Windows AND Mac at least), and even if Silverlight works on Macs, it was not a good choice for the same technical and political issues that the Times Reader faced. One big showstopper was the inability to create standalone desktop applications with Silverlight. It should be noted that Silverlight 3's out-of-browser mode won't be an answer to this because of its intrinsic limitations. AIR is much more powerful, with deeper desktop integration (such as file system access).

It will be interesting to follow what will happen over time, but in my book, Flash/Flex and AIR have a lot of advantages right now compared to WPF and Silverlight.
I believe also that the battle is not only on the Web and the desktop, but also on mobile devices. Something tells me that we'll see Flash on Android, iPhone and Pre before Silverlight. And that will make a big difference.

More about the new version of the Times Reader here, here and here.

Update: Here is the post that announced the original version for the Mac, based on Silverlight. I read a few months ago the comments made on this post. Have a look, it's very instructive. Oh of course, silly people posted comments there too...

MVP in 2009

Fabrice Marguerie — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:52:00 GMT

Microsoft just named me an MVP for the sixth year in a row!
What to expect from me this year? Well, I'll continue to improve my existing projects but I also have new projects in the pipe. The best way to know what I'm up to is to follow this blog :-)

Silverlight 2 training in Paris and DevTeach offer

Fabrice Marguerie — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:59:00 GMT

RunAtServer Consulting and Octo Technology are organizing a 3-day Silverlight 2 training in Paris and in French. Highly recommended.

Il s'agit du Silverlight Tour, qui fait exceptionnellement une halte en France. La formation sera assurée par Laurent Duveau, un français qui a émigré au Québec et que j'ai rencontré à Montréal à l'occasion de l'événement DevTeach. Laurent connait bien son sujet et le programme de la formation annonce trois jours bien fournis sur Silverlight. Attention, cette formation a lieu du 19 au 21 janvier prochains. L'inscription se fait par là.

Speaking about DevTeach, our sessions in Montreal with Fred were well received and I enjoyed being a speaker there. If you want to experience DevTeach by yourself, here is an interesting offer:

You can save 50% on the price of DevTeach/SQLTeach Vancouver (June 8-12,2009)!
DevTeach has created a secret rebate code that will give you 50% off the regular price for the event. You will not find this code on the DevTeach or SQLTeach site. It has been given to only friends of the event to be posted in Blogs and sent by email. Plus, this code can only be used 30 times and expires on February 10th.

The rebate code is DEVT50OFFVAN

Your chance to win all of Manning's .NET ebooks

Fabrice Marguerie — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:28:00 GMT

If you're a tech books reader, you may have noticed that over the last few years, Manning has been publishing a lot of books (and ebooks) covering .NET.
Given all the good reviews Manning books are receiving, it looks like they are not too bad... As a Manning author, I'm a bit biased of course :-)

In any case, the point of this post is to announce their new competition: The .NET Daily Drawing.
It all starts on June 19. This promotion will run for one month, until July 17. "Each day’s lucky winner can choose one free .NET ebook of their choice. And finally, on the last day of the drawing, we're awarding one lucky winner... the entire Manning .NET library! (That’s nearly a $3000 value...)"

Sounds worth it, don't you think!

Cross-posted from http://linqinaction.net

.NET sessions at the Université du SI and .NET 3.5+ expertise

Fabrice Marguerie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:09:00 GMT

I announced in April that I'll be part of the Université du Système d'Information event on July 2 and 3. With Frédéric Schäfer, we're actively preparing our session, which will allow you to discover in action no less than .NET 3.5, Visual Studio 2008, ADO.NET Entity Framework, LINQ, WPF and Silverlight.

On Octo's blog, Frédéric gives the complete list of sessions that will cover .NET (in French).

I'd like to take this opportunity to announce that I'm available to give presentations and training about the above technologies and products. If you're getting started with VS 2008, C# 3.0, .NET 3.5 and the accompanying tools, feel free to contact me!

J'ai annoncé début avril ma participation à l'événement Université du Système d'Information, organisé par Octo. Avec Frédéric Schäfer, nous sommes actuellement en pleine préparation de notre session, qui vous permettra de découvrir en action pas moins que les technologies et outils .NET 3.5, Visual Studio 2008, ADO.NET Entity Framework, LINQ, WPF et Silverlight. Notre session d'une heure et demie se présentera sous la forme du développement en direct d'une application d'exemple utilisant les technologies sus-citées.

La session que nous allons présenter n'est pas la seule abordant .NET parmi la soixantaine que comprend l'événement. Frédéric reprend d'ailleurs la liste des sessions traitant de .NET sur le blog d'Octo :

Building Web Applications Using Volta par Erik Meijer (Microsoft)

Les défis de l'utilisation de LINQ to SQL par Guy Barette (Indépendant)

Survol des nouvelles techniques d'accès aux données de Microsoft par Guy Barette (Indépendant)

Séparation des préoccupations: Nouveautés pour diminuer le couplage et augmenter la cohésion par Mario Cardinal (Indépendant)

Futur de Java et Csharp par Alexis Moussine-Pouchkine (Sun) et Vincent Guigui (Octo)

L'avenir est aux technologies vectorielles ! par Christian Blavier (Octo) et Eric Groise (Octo)

Venez expérimenter en direct les dernières innovations de .NET par Fabrice Marguerie (Indépendant) et Frédéric Schäfer (Octo)

J'aimerais profiter de l'occasion pour annoncer que je suis disponible pour donner des présentations ou des formations sur les technologies couvertes durant notre session. Si vous démarrez avec VS 2008, C# 3.0, .NET 3.5 et les outils qui les accompagnent, n'hésitez-pas à me contacter !

Vidéos d'annonce de l'Université du SI Octo Technology

Fabrice Marguerie — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:59:00 GMT

This is a followup to the announcement of my session at the Université du SI.

J'ai annoncé récemment ma participation à l'événement Université du SI organisé par Octo Technology les 2 et 3 juillet prochains.

Des vidéos viennent d'être mises en ligne pour présenter certaines des sessions. Voici la vidéo que nous avons enregistrée avec Frédéric pour notre session intitulée Venez expérimenter en direct les dernières innovations de .NET :

Vous trouverez plus d'informations dans mon message d'annonce et sur le site de l'événement.

Université du SI Octo Technology

Fabrice Marguerie — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:44:00 GMT

On July 2 and 3, Octo organises in Paris an event for "geeks and bosses" of information systems. Speakers will include no less than stars such as Neil Armstrong, Michel Serres, Eliyahu Goldratt, and Bjarne Stroustrup.

With Frédéric Schafer, I will give a presentation about the ADO.NET Entity Framework, LINQ and WPF. Here is its description:

Come and see live how to develop an application using the latest .NET innovations

2008 brings a wealth of novelties to the .NET platform, notably in the data access field. Microsoft indeed provide their own solution for objet–relational mapping with the Entity Framework.

How does this framework allow us to persist business objects?
How does it integrate with recent object manipulation and presentation frameworks such as LINQ and WPF?

We will address these questions in practice, by developing live a sample multi-layer application based on these frameworks.

OCTO organise à Paris les 2 et 3 juillet 2008 un séminaire à l'attention "des geeks et des boss" du Système d'Information.
Pour cette première édition, OCTO Technology sera entouré d’intervenants prestigieux : Neil Armstrong, ingénieur, pilote, astronaute, et premier homme à avoir marché sur la lune, Michel Serres, philosophe et membre de l’Académie Française, Eliyahu Goldratt, père de la théorie des contraintes, Bjarne Stroustrup, inventeur du C++, et de nombreuses autres personnalités du monde de l’IT.
OCTO a souhaité la réunion lors du même événement de tous les acteurs de son métier : Directeurs des Systèmes d'information, Architectes, Chef de projet, Responsables Métier et leurs représentants MOA ou Développeurs.

Pour cette première édition OCTO, ses partenaires et ses speakers proposent plus de 50 sessions (parcours libre) où vous pourrez construire vous même votre agenda personnalisé. Parallèlement l'université du SI propose 3 parcours formation de deux jours.

Avec Frédéric Schafer, je ferai une présentation à sur ADO.NET Entity Framework, LINQ et WPF. En voici la description :

Venez expérimenter en direct les dernières innovations de .NET

2008 vient avec son lot de nouveautés pour la plate-forme .NET, notamment pour l'accès aux données. Microsoft apporte en effet sa réponse au problème du mapping Objet – Relationnel avec Entity Framework.

Comment ce framework nous permet-il de persister nos objets métier ?
Comment s'interface t'il avec les récents frameworks de manipulation et de présentation d'objets que sont LINQ et WPF ?

Nous répondrons à ces questions par la pratique, en développant en direct une application d'exemple multi-couches basée sur ces frameworks.

Plus d'informations sur le blog d'Octo et sur le site officiel de l'événement.

MVP times 5

Fabrice Marguerie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:47:00 GMT

Microsoft has just recognized me as a MVP for a fifth year, for my contribution to the .NET community (mostly through SharpToolbox.com, Proagora.com, the LINQ in Action book, my posts on the forums, etc.).
I'll be at the MVP Summit in two weeks with hundreds of fellow MVPs -- I'll try to wear this promo t-shirt to be easily identifiable ;-)