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David J. Anderson posted on his blog that Microsoft "will be releasing the Beta of MSF for CMMI Process Improvement on MSDN next weekend." I'm personally looking forward taking a look at the implementation. David first hinted at an Agile/CMMI "best of both worlds" methodology he dubbed "The Learning Organization Maturity Model" in his book Agile Management for Software Engineering. His blog contains really insightful information about architecture and process - I'd highly recommend anyone interested in this space to check it out.
My upcoming book "Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System" by WROX/Wiley Publishing will contain good coverage on both MSF Agile and MSF for CMMI Process Improvement. In fact, if you've worked at any length with Team System you'll come to the realization that process is the glue that binds all of the elements of Team System together. My epiphany occured while writing the chapter.
To stay on the pulse of MSF, I'd recommend looking at the MSF Forums on the Microsoft website, the official Team System MSF Website, and Randy Miller, Rob Caron and David Anderson's blogs.
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Learn how to migrate your old NT4 boxes to Virtual Server 2005! The Toronto Windows Server User Group is holding a LiveMeeting and you are invited. IT Pro Evangelist Bruce Cowper from Microsoft TechNet Canada will be presenting. Here are the meeting details:
Time: June 28, 2005 - 6:00-7:00 PM
Here is the link to attend:
http://www.placeware.com/rm/microsoft/attend?id=twsug280605&pw=198553
Otherwise, you can manually enter the following information:
Browse to: http://www.placeware.com/rm/microsoft/attend
Type your name
Type the Meeting ID as: twsug280605
Type the Password as: 198553
Hope to see you there!
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This Tuesday (June 28th), Bruce Cowper will be giving an excellent talk via LiveMeeting on the Virtual Server 2005 Migration Kit. This is the second part of the NT4 Migration Series hosted by the Toronto Windows Server User Group. If you are thinking of moving a Windows Server 2003 or Windows NT box to Virtual Server 2005, you won't want to miss this talk. Bruce is an excellent speaker - very dynamic, concise, and extremely knowledgable (and a super nice guy).
The presentation is very light on PowerPoint slides, with a very strong emphasis on practical demos. To sign up for the event, click here: http://www.twsug.com/Default.aspx?tabid=85
* An email will be sent to all attendees with the URL and credentials to access the presentation.
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I arrived early on Monday and I ended up being one of the first in line for Steve Ballmer's keynote. The highlight of the keynote for me was Mike Hall's presentation on Windows Mobile technology. We were all given a sneak peek at Longhorn Client build 5071 (check out the webcast to see for yourself: http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0506/24850/TechEd_2005_MBR.asx). After the keynote, I ended up meeting a lot of the vendors and product teams at the Exhibitor's area. I chatted a bit with Georgeo Pulikkathara - we talked at length about the pros and cons of webcasts, the power of reach using blogs and a little history lesson behind the origins of LiveMeeting. I also chatted with the staff of Osellus and learned that their head office is located in Toronto. At the Indigo booth, I had a nice talk with Mark Fussell and Steve Swartz. I must say that the networking opportunities at TechEd were plentiful and rewarding. My bag was already bursting with swag by the time the time the Exhibitor Hall dinner came around.
I attended a few sessions during the course of the day but found that they we're deep enough for my liking (200 Level/Introductory rather than 400 Level/Deep Dive). I headed over to the Matrix in the evening for the TechEd jam session. I got the opportunity to jam with Carl Franklin, and play keys and lead guitar. Carl is a fantastic player - he did a note for note rendition of the Sweet Home Alabama solo that sounded great. He mentioned that he's been playing guitar since he was 12 years old.
I'll post a photo retrospective of TechEd once I am finished (including photos of the jam session)...coming up, Day 4
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At my TechEd 2005 Birds of a Feather, I had an individual ask about a XAML magnifying glass demo. If you are out there reading this entry, here is the link to the demo on Ian Griffiths' weblog (Ian is writing a book on Avalon with Chris Anderson): http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/2005/05/29/magnify
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Woke up early and headed down to the INETA NORAM User Group Leader Summit 2005 (fortunately, the event was being held in my hotel). Met up with several INETA leaders past and present such as Julie Lerman, Stuart Celarier, Samantha Spears, Bill Evjen and many others. Ari Bixhorn gave a fantastic 5 minute peer-to-peer Indigo demo using the Peer Channel. I also got the opportunity to meet the heads of Culminis organization including David Sanders, Paul Hailey, and Peggy Gould. The Culminis event was of special interest because my user group (Toronto Windows Server User Group) joined up a few months ago.
Then I was off to the MVP get together at the Peabody hotel. I met Carl Franklin for the first time - we talked briefly about the upcoming jam sessions. I also met with J. Andrew Duthie (a former MVP) who is now is working as an Microsoft east coast developer evangelist, Mark Dunn (one of the architects of .NET Rocks!) and Mario Cardinal (the guy behind BlaBla dot Net, a French radio show similar to .NET Rocks!). During the get together, a monsoon hit the hotel and we were forced to party indoors. :)
The final stop was at the Orange County Convention Centre. I got registered as a staff member and headed towards the Microsoft Store/Bookstore. Jim Minatel and a great bunch of WROX authors went out to Lulu's Bait Shack for "Gator Bites". There I met J. Ambrose Little and the creators of Dot Net Nuke (Shaun Walker, Joe Brinkman, Scott Willhite and Dan Caron). Jim has blogged about the dinner and posted a photo of the get together.
Day 3 coming up...
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I just came back from TechEd. If you've ever been at an event like that, you'll understand that it's incredibly difficult to get the time to blog. Now that I'm back at the home base, here is a day to day account of my experiences at the event.
Saturday - Day 1
I arrived at Pearson International Airport around 7AM. The sky was dark and cloudy - as I approached the terminal I noticed an ominous looking tornado-like funnel in the distance. Luckily, it didn't end up being anything important (but foreshadowed my visit to Universal Studios Orlando on Thursday). At the airport, my flight was delayed by several hours. I learned that the air traffic control tower in Philadelphia was on fire and the authorities had to evacuate the airport. I ended up being redirected to Charlotte, SC. As soon as I arrived in Charlotte, I ran towards a flight immediately leaving for Orlando. Lucky for me, there were a few passengers still boarding the plane. I was placed on standby and ended up getting a seat. Long story short, I arrived in Orlando two hours in advance despite all the delays. I met up with Chris Dufour, a friend of mine from the East of Toronto .NET User Group. We headed to the Peabody to attend the Party with Palermo. Met up and chatted with fantastic people including Jeff Palermo, Christian Weyer, Darrell Norton, Don "DonXML" Demsak, Scott Bellware, Mike Gousset (creator of the "Team System Rocks!" blog), Rob Zelt, Laura Hunter and a few fellow canucks such as Amanda Murphy, Shane Perran and D'Arcy Lussier. It was a great opportunity to network and chat - the event was lots of fun and definitely a success. As we were leaving the B-Line Diner, Scott Hanselman, John Bristowe and Juval Lowy came in to join in. Later that evening, Caleb Jenkins (seriously one of the funniest guys I've ever met), Antonio Chagoury, Amanda, Shane, D'Arcy, Chris and I sat down for a long and fun chat at the J.W. Marriott (an amazing hotel) to discuss topics ranging from the merits of VB.NET vs C# to running an effective user group.
Day 2 coming up...
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Georgeo Pulikkathara reports that if you drop by the webcasts and virtual labs booth at TechEd and you do one (or all) of the following, you will receive a limited edition Microsoft Webcasts T-Shirt:
1. Add your blog to http://msdneventsbloggers.net or http://techneteventsbloggers.net. You can also add it at the webcasts booth as well.
2. Post a comment to this blog post using your TechEd name and they will give you a T-shirt. You'll need your TechEd badge to get the shirt. You can also add a comment right there at the booth.
3. Blog about our webcasts and events on your own blog and have your blog post show up on Microsoft's blogger sites (http://msdneventsbloggers.net or http://techneteventsbloggers.net) and they'll give you a free T-shirt in addition to the free t-shirt you get above for add your blog above.
To view the details, click on the following link:
http://blogs.msdn.com/msdnwebcasts/archive/2005/06/01/424000.aspx