Jan Tielens' Bloggings

In one of my previous posts I mentioned Microsoft Webcasts, where a lot of sessions can be watched. Recently they switched from Interwise software to Microsoft Livemeeting. But now it's not possible anymore to download the webcasts to view them offline. If you've read my previous post, you know that I love listening to technincal sessions while I'm driving to work. So I decided to make a suggestion for the Microsoft Product Feedback Team. The contents of my message are shown below and I'll keep you updated. I hope I've chosen the right channel to submit my opinion, if you know better places to do so, please let me know.

Hi MS Product Feedback Team

I would like to make a suggestion to improve the Microsoft Webcasts, which recently switched from Interwise software to the new Microsoft Office Livemeeting system. First of all I would like to tell you that, as a software developer, I really like the Microsoft Webcasts. They offer interesting information and are a great way stay up-to-date with the Microsoft technologies.

Before Microsoft Webcasts switched to Office Livemeeting, it was possible to download a Webcast to your machine, so you could view it offline. Now, the content is offered in streaming Windows Media format, so it cannot be downloaded for offline playback. So I think it would be a great improvement if the Webcasts could be downloaded again. Then it would be possible to download some cool Webcasts on a laptop for example, and listen to them while your on the road (or in a boring meeting ;-).

Additionally it would be even a greater improvement, if the content could be viewed not only from a desktop or laptop, but also from a mobile device (e.g. Pocket PC or SmartPhone). These devices have storage possibilities that easily could hold several webcasts because +128MB is fairly common these days.

So I really hope these features could be added to the Webcasts or Livemeeting functionality. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested.

Regards
Jan Tielens

There is a new version of the open source Hippo.NET Build Tool available to download, which addresses some bugs and introduces multiple project support. I would like to welcome Dave Ehrlich as a Developer, due to his input the 1.3.0 Release was possible. Features that will be worked on for a next version:

• Integration of the Hippo.NET BuildFile Builder to automatically generate NAnt build files
• MSBuild support (if I can get a Beta version of it)

For those of you who don't know Hippo.NET:
Screenshot 1 - Screenshot 2
Hippo.NET is a tool for streamlining the build process of .NET projects in a team envirionment. It provides continuous integration by monitoring the shared Visual SourceSafe database and starting the build process when changes are detected. An important design goal is to provide a nice and easy-to-use user interface, to monitor builds and trigger the build process when needed.

The Belgian .NET User Group (BENUG) has an upcoming event about ASP.NET 2.0. So it seems my post on the 2nd of September was correct. Michiel van Otegem will speak about the following topics:

This session will take a look at ASP.NET 2.0 which was introduced at the
Microsoft Professional Developer Conference in October. The session will
cover the following topics:
- Design goals for ASP.NET 2.0
- Creating a consistent look & feel with Master Pages and Skins
- Securing your site with 0 lines of code
- Personalizing a site using Personalization and Web Parts
- Quick & easy Data Binding

So all the .NET guys and girls that couldn't attend the PDC (like me): see you there! Register here.