While reviewing VSLive Dallas, I also want to mention that I sat in on a very good (keynote) session by Roger Sessions. I have read many of his articles and newsletters over the past years, so I wanted to take the opportunity to hear him speak in person.
His session was titled "Simple Architectures for Complex Enterprises" and spent alot of doing making some simple, but critical points about building complex systems. Of course, in a 1-hour session, he barely covered the analysis of the problem(s) - in order to really understand the analysis of the solution, you need to read his book on the topic by the same name.
I have the book and it look like a short, easy, but usefull read. It is definitely high up on my To-Read list!
One of the fun demos that I did in my session on the Windows Live SDK at VSLive Dallas earlier this month, was to do a live demo of adding Windows Live Instant Messaging to a live web site in real-time. I generally think (at least) twice about doing such live demos - especially on a production web site - since SOO much can go wrong. But adding the Windows Live Messenger control is really that easy!
The details on the control can be found on MSDN at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb936682.aspx.
However, here is a great blog post by a fellow Regional Director that walks you throught the 3 simple steps: http://www.venkatarangan.com/blog/2008/04/17/Why+I+Love+The+New+Messenger+Control.aspx
Next week I'll be in Dallas to speak at the VSLive conference there. Below are the 3 sessions I'll be presenting there - you can get all of the conference details at VSLive Dallas.
VS Tools and Techniques for Distributed Data Access in VS 2008
This session will discuss several challenges facing developers developing distributed data access applications. These issues include hierarchical updates, use of VS tools to generate truly N-tier applications, separation of data entity and data access objects, and local data caching with Synchronization Services for ADO.NET. We will demonstrate the tools and techniques provided in Visual Studio 2008 and discuss the benefits that they bring
Building Applications with Windows Live SDK
The Windows Live SDK exposes tremendous amounts of functionality that can be incorporated into your browser or smart client applications. Come and learn what Windows Live is about, what services are available and how to build Mashups using these controls and APIs. We'll take a look at developing both browser and rich-client applications using components such as Virtual Earth, Contacts, Windows Live ID, Live Search, and others. We'll also look at readily available solutions and resources to help you get started even faster!
Sync Services for ADO.NET - Optimizing Online, Enabling Offline
With Microsoft Sync Services for ADO.NET and SQL Server Compact, developers can now easily cache data on the client in a compact, yet capable, inprocess database engine. Sync Services enables developers to easily cache, manage, and synchronize the data directly or over services using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). Visual Studio 2008 delivers new developeroriented sync designers to easily increase user productivity, decrease the server workload, and simplify data access. In addition to caching, you can use Sync Services for ADO.NET to enable full offline ("Occasionally Connected") scenarios as well, with greater developer flexibility than that offered by Merge Replication or RDA.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend a special event organized by Boot Camp Ventures.
I was invited to participate in a great half a day of listening to 6 Internet startup companies make their pitches and then listen to the analysis of the panel of experts (along with some comments by the general audience such as myself). It was a very interesting and thought-provoking opportunity to meet and chat with members of the startup and VC community (from Israel and the US). It was also reassuring to see that at least there is still some serious interest and activity in internet startup companies, even in the current economic climate.
You can read more details about the event and the companies that presented (and those that attended) over here.