Archives
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The Silverlight Tour is coming to Paris!
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My Silverlight session at DevTeach Montreal
During my “Business oriented Silverlight 2 application” talk at DevTeach conference (december 2008) I used Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Blend to build an application that retrieves SQL server data (Beers!) through an Entity Framework model and exposes it to a Silverlight client via a WCF service and LINQ queries. I did some design and animation, added a ComboBox and DataGrid to display data and asynchronously update the model as users edit it. Then I showed how to use local cache on the client to optimize network traffic and finally applyed some Style to shape the UI.
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Zune bag loves iPhone
Guess what’s inside my Zune bag…
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Win an MSDN Premium Team Suite at DevTeach Montreal!
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ASP.NET Dynamic Data: Customize a template field
Following my first post on ASP.NET Dynamic Data, I want to show you that you can customize existing fields used by Dynamic Data very easily.
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Customizing ASP.NET Dynamic Data
From Wikipedia: “ASP.NET Dynamic Data is a web application scaffolding framework from Microsoft, shipped as an extension to ASP.NET, that can be used to build data driven web applications.”
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[Cool Tool] Silverlight Defaul Style Browser
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Silverlight resources for designers
When I am training Silverlight I am often asked by designers how to find resources on Silverlight/XAML/Expression, so here is a post for them:
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Silverlight Tour Training FAQ
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Expression training in the new Microsoft videos portal
Microsoft has launched a new videos portal in Silverlight.
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Silverlight Extensions
Silverlight Extensions is a nice project which group useful Silverlight controls and best practices:
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Developing for IE8 (Accelerators and Web Slices)
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Silverlight 3: Line of Business app made easy!
Interested in building Line of Business app with Silverlight ?
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You shape it – a new Microsoft tech portal
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Silverlight FAQ from TechDays Canada 2008
My Silverlight sessions at TechDays Montreal were a great success and generated so many questions like “Is ASP.NET dead ?”, “What about Silverlight vs WPF XBAP ?” or “Would you recommend Silverlight for line of business application ?” that we decided to create a FAQ and it was published on the Canadian Developer Connection blog thanks to Qixing:
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Silverlight Contrib
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ASP.NET Dynamic Data Web projects templates
Since Visual Studio 2008 SP1 you may have noticed 2 projects template for dynamic data:
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My Silverlight presentations at TechDays 2008 Canada
Here is the Silverlight 2 project I build for my “Mastering your Silverlight Samurai Skills” 2 parts talk I did at TechDays Canada 2008.
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Silverlight sessions at DevTeach Montreal 2008
[via Guy Barrette]
Looks like there will be plenty of Silverlight content at DevTeach Montreal this year: -
I’M A PC at Apple Store…
What a couple of MVPs do when they get a free “I’M A PC” toque ?
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Add a translator bot to your Live Messenger
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My IE8 Zune Social Accelerators and Search Provider
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Zune feedback
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Expression Encoder 2 SP1 available!
The main info is in the title… -
Presenting at Microsoft TechDays Canada 2008
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Youtube Search Provider for IE8
I made a Search Provider for IE8 to search videos on Youtube: -
Formation Silverlight 2 à Montreal en Novembre!
La technologie Microsoft Silverlight 2 est maintenant disponible en version finale… venez vous former dès maintenant à Montréal… ne manquez pas cette étape du Silverlight Tour au Québec!!! -
My IE8 Accelerators to download
For those of you who are already running IE8 (since IE8 beta 2 is available), I made some accelerators ready to use: -
Microsoft TechDays Canada 2008
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TechDays comes to Montréal (Ostie!)
These guys seem to be announcing something:
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VPC for IE testing refreshed with beta 2
Microsoft has updated the VPCs to test your web apps with different versions of Internet Explorer. -
New Microsoft event coming later this year in Canada!
Hey there is a great new Microsoft Canadian conference coming!!
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Helping designers learning from Flash to Silverlight…
… and much more!
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[Cool Tool] Microsoft Office Labs: pptPlex
“pptPlex is a plug-in to PowerPoint that explores an alternate method for presenting a slide deck. Using pptPlex, you can present your slides as a tour through a zoomable canvas instead of a series of linear slides.”
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Silverlight 2 beta 2, ADO.NET Data Services and .NET 3.5 SP1
Following my Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and Silverlight 2 beta 2 post, ADO.NET Data Services in Silverlight 2 beta 2 users need to know that it is now safe to install SP1 by installing the ADO.NET Data Services Silverlight 2 B2 Client Refresh.
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Add games to your Zune
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Yosemite Extreme Panoramic with Silverlight DeepZoom
During my trips in West USA I have been twice in Yosemite National Park (California) and I loved it!
Today I am happy to experience that awesome Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project made with Silverlight DeepZoom and 45 gigapixels of Yosemite views! -
IE8 beta 2: shit that’s good!
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Montreal .NET Community
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Interesting SilverlightShow website
For now my main resource to learn Silverlight is the official portal: www.silverlight.net
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Live Mesh available in Canada!
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Looking for a Canadian Silverlight designer
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Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and Silverlight 2 beta 2
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Le Silverlight Tour à Montreal dans 1 mois!
C’est dans moins d’un mois… le Silverlight Tour arrive au Québec!!! -
The Silverlight Tour in Montreal in 1 month!
This is less than 1 month… the Silverlight Tour is coming to Québec!!! -
Quick backup with Live Mesh and Vista
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Le Silverlight Tour passe par le Québec!
[Translation of my english post here]
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Sync your Screen Saver pictures with Live Mesh
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The Silverlight-Tour comes to Quebec!
The Silverlight Tour now have some dates in Quebec!
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Certified ASP.NET 3.5!
I completely forgot as I did this in beta 3 months ago… that was a surprise this morning to get a notification that I earned the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development competency (exam 70-562).
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4 hours of Microsoft Silverlight 2 Training for free
AppDev is nice enough to give a part of their Silverlight 2 training for free. You can download the first four modules from their new eight-module "Exploring Microsoft Silverlight 2" course featuring expert Dino Esposito!! This is about four hours of video plus sample code.
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RunAtServer website new version
As you may know I am the co-founder of RunAtServer Consulting, a company based in Montreal, we are specialized in web development with Microsoft technologies such as ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight.
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Sync your favorites with Live Mesh
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Silverlight Partner in Canada
My company RunAtServer Consulting is a new Microsoft Silverlight Partner in Canada!
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2 great LOB Silverlight applications
These days I am seeking for Silverlight sample applications for business, as I am not really interested in those “Flash like” animations and medias Silverlight 1.0 demos. If you are a developer, the version you want is Silverlight 2.
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RunAtServer Consulting Montreal is now a Microsoft Certified Partner!
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Sync your Visual Studio settings with Live Mesh!
Did you know that you can use Live Mesh to share and sync your Visual Studio settings between computers ?
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Permission problem while trying to move/delete/rename folder in Vista ?
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[Cool Tool] Vector Magic
Vector Magic is an online tool that converts bitmaps into vector images. It provides a wizard that helps you through the process, so you can easily generate your vector graphics from bitmaps, then import into Microsoft Expression Designer or Blend. I already used it several times and the results are amazing! It is also impressive to have such a service as a website!
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Windows Live Mail accounts importing issue and feedback
In Windows Live Mail (build 12.0.1606) there is an inconsistency in the Export/Import accounts process that I have just reported to the product team:
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Expression Encoder 2 publish to Silverlight Streaming plugin
Expression Encoder 2 is out, but you might wonder where is the Publish to Silverlight Streaming feature ?? -
Microsoft TechEd 2008 pictures
Some pictures from Microsoft TechEd 2008 Developers in Orlando:
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Zune Parties in Montreal
There are plenty of events during June in 6 Canadian cities to celebrate the Zune availability in Canada starting June 13, 2008.
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Windows Live Writer CTP
The CTP of this wonderful blogging tool is now available!
Here is a list of new features: -
Expression Blend 2.5 June preview FAQ
Following my Silverlight 2 beta 2 Mega-FAQ here is a FAQ on Expression Blend 2.5 June 2008 preview as announced at TechEd 2008:
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Steve Ballmer apparition at TechEd 2008 Dev keynote!
The best part of Bill Gates's Keynote at TechEd Developers 2008 was the Steve Ballmer apparition:
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Silverlight 2 beta 2 Mega-FAQ
There has been some nice announcements here at TechEd Orlando regarding Silverlight 2, detailed here in this Mega Q&A on Silverlight 2 beta 2:
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My experience at TechEd 2008 Orlando
I am back from 10 days spent in Florida, where I was a trainer at Microsoft TechEd 2008 Orlando.
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Silverlight accessibility, SEO and Flash/Flex comparison
To prepare my last talk I read a lot of information on subjects not usually found on Silverlight slides, here is some links that might be useful if you want to dig more on these topics:
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My Silverlight talk at W3Quebec
Yesterday I was invited by W3Quebec to do a Silverlight presentation. I was asked to introduce Silverlight and then talk about these specific topics:
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Live Search Farecast
Live Search Farecast helps you find the lowest airfares by predicting when is the best time to buy.
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Pimp my IDE talk at EnergizeIT
Here is a link to download the content I used for my quick talk at EnergizeIT Toronto ("Pimp my IDE" aka customize Visual Studio 2008):
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My Silverlight talk at Microsoft Innovation Briefing
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Silverlight talk for W3Quebec at Montreal
As announced on W3Québec I'll give a french presentation on Silverlight next week in Montreal. -
Useful free online string manipulation tools
www.string-functions.com is a set of online string manipulation tools.
Not that it is complex to do by yourself but it can be useful sometimes for quick-edit-stuff.
Direct links to services: -
EnergizeIT 2008 (Toronto)
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[Cool Tool] FTP Live
This is not a "must have" but a "good to know", as it can be pretty useful.
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Windows Live Mesh
It is finally here!
Live Mesh has been presented at the Web 2.0 conference.
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My talk on RIA and Silverlight
Recently I did a quick talk in a company to present the Microsoft direction on RIA, that means Silverlight.
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MVP Summit Sea of Red 2008
This year again the Canadian presence was strong at the MVP Summit!
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MVP Summit day 4
Back to Seattle Convention Center for Ray Ozzie and Steve Ballmer keynotes, then the farewell lunch.
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MVP Summit day 3
Second day on Microsoft Campus, as always it is raining... but we are inside for a high level technical content and lots of interactions with the products team, this is definitely a wonderful Summit!
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MVP Summit day 2: met The GU!
Today was a full busy Silverlight day on the Microsoft Campus!
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MVP Summit day 1
This first day was spent at the Seattle Convention Center:
Registration / keynote/ open sessions / welcome dinner / party.
This year Canadian MVPs still have the red jersey, but our lead Sasha had a new great idea: Meet a Canadian MVP, be nice to him and maybe he will give you a hockey puck. There are 4 different logoed pucks.
Collect all 4 pucks and find our lead: maybe you will get something REALLY cool... -
Montreal MVP Team is in ur summit
The big red wave is coming again at the MVP Summit!
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Heroes happen {here} 2008 Launch event in Montreal
Earlier this week I participate in the Ask The Expert booth with other Montreal MVPs at the Heroes happen here Microsoft show.
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[Cool Tool] Meta Tag Analyzer
Meta Tag Analyzer is a free online tool by SubmitExpress that analyze your web site and tells you how good/relevant your title and description are in relation to your content and chosen keywords.
Try Meta Tag Analyzer:
http://www.submitexpress.com/analyzer/ -
Save A Developer. Upgrade Your Browser.
A new campaign has raised on the web to invite IE6 users to upgrade to a high level browser (IE7, Firefox, Opera or Safari) in order to make everyone happier (users + developers).
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[fun video] Silverlight Addicted
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Testing web apps on IE6, IE7 and IE8
As web developers we have to test our websites on IE6, then IE7, and now IE8. -
April fools quick recap
I am a huge fan of Google's april fools!
because Google takes April 1 very seriously, and they turn it into an art! -
WebSlice Viewer Vista Gadget
Put IE8 WebSlices on your Vista SideBar or desktop ? * not an april's fool *
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MVP Summit attendees map
The MVP Summit is coming soon (check the MVP Summit Vista Gadget !), where are the MVPs coming from ?
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Calling a JavaScript function from Silverlight 2
Wow, this is far better now with SL2! no more tips and tricks.
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[Cool Tool] PhotoZoom
PhotoZoom is an experimental site developed at Microsoft, running on the Microsoft Live Labs Incubation Platform.
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Connect and share with Microsoft!
Microsoft Connect has been improved! The new website is much more intuitive and interactive. "Your dashboard" view helps to keep an eye on your activities and news. I find the new Connect much more interesting than the old!
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Code snippets not versioned according to VS2008 Multi Targeting
I have reported a VS2008 issue to the VS Team regarding code snippets :
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My talk on MIX08 (french)
This month I was a guest at the Visual Studio Talk Show, a well known french .NET podcast here in Quebec. -
Silverlight 2: migrating from alpha to beta 1
Today I had to migrate a Silverlight Alpha 1.1 project to Silverlight 2 beta 1 for a client.
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VS2008 and IE8 auto Js debugging mode
Here is a nice feature of IE8:
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[Cool Tool] Browsershots
Browsershots is a free online tool that makes screenshots of your web site in different browsers/versions on multiple platforms (Win, Mac, Linux).
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Fix my CSS, win a Prize!
[Update: I have a Winner... contest closed!]
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Simplicity in software
An excellent one from http://stuffthathappens.com !!
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Blend 2.5 march preview: Where is the Silverlight DataGrid ??
[Post written as of Silverlight 2 beta 1 and Expression Blend 2.5 march preview]
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Expression Web 2
Back from MIX08 I've just installed Expression Studio 2 and my first try is Expression Web 2, not for the new features yet, but to check if my 2 most frustrating bugs were fixed, and they were!
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[MIX08] Back to Montreal
Due to major snow storm in Montreal area I spent 31 hours on my trip back from Las Vegas, finishing with a 11 hours bus ride from New York....
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[MIX08] Microsoft Big Ass Table (Surface)
Do you know Microsoft codename BAT ? Big Ass Table, sometimes presented as Surface...
At the VIP pre-conference a member of Microsoft SUX Team (Surface User Experience...) shown us this hilarious video: -
[MIX08] Sessions are available online (non Silverlight users banned)
Not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...
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[MIX08] Steve Ballmer Keynote: Oops he did it again!
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[MIX08] Announcing MIX09
MIX09 will be held in Las Vegas on march 18-20, 2009.
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[MIX08] Keynote
MIX08 Keynote was driven by Ray Ozzie, Scott Guthrie and Dean Hachamovitch. -
[MIX08] What's in the attendees bag?
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[MIX08] pre-conference day
Today march 4 was the MIX08 VIP pre conference "Together@MIX". We had sessions and panels on the morning and an afternoon full of fun activities (I chose the Las Vegas Extreme rides!). -
[Cool Tool] Zeta Resource Editor
Following my Resource Refactoring Tool post, Uwe pointed me to Zeta Resource Editor.
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Load a txt file in a TextBox
Here is a very simple piece of C# code to load a text file in a TextBox. Typical use to display a disclaimer
[Update 1: added using statement for the StreamReader]
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { if (!Page.IsPostBack) {
using (StreamReader StreamReader1 = new StreamReader(Server.MapPath("disclaimer.txt"))) { txtDisclaimer.Text = StreamReader1.ReadToEnd(); StreamReader1.Close(); }} }[Update 2: use the new File.ReadAllText() wrapper for StreamReader, exact same thing, but 1 line of code instead of 3...]
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[Cool Tool] VS Resource Refactoring Tool
The recently opened Visual Studio Gallery contains some free hidden Microsoft gems, Resource Refactoring Tool is one of them.
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[MIX08] WPF Schedule Manager
Going to MIX08 next week ? -
[Cool Tool] Search Engine helpful searches
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Visual Studio Gallery
Microsoft has just released a new website for .NET developers : the Visual Studio Gallery.
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Fun with Windows sounds
This crazy guy made a music based on old Windows sounds:
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MVP Insider Canada
For those who may want to know a bit more about me (as well as Bob the Sponge and Superman...)... I am the February 2008 MVP insider. -
SwissTrains: Impressive mashup!!
OMG this is *Really* impressive!!!
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ASP.NET 3.5 hosters list
Brad Abrams has a nice list of ASP.NET 3.5 hosters, check it out!
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Canadian 2008 launch events aka HEROES happen {here}
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MIX08 conference soon!
In case you do not know MIX is a Microsoft web development conference hold in Las Vegas each year. This is where they make great announcements like Silverlight last year (MIX07), people start to call it "The PDC for web developers".
-> MIX08 is being held March 5th-7th in Las Vegas.
This year's edition offers a great variety of sessions:
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What's in Vista Experience Index?
Ever wanted to now everything about Windows Experience Index ?
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Free Microsoft Press E-Books!
Good deal: 3 free e-books from Microsoft Press!
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MIX08 Countdown Gadget
"The Next Web Now"... well almost (d-50) -
Silverlight Tools for VS2008 installation issue
Problem after installing Silverlight 1.1 Tools for VS2008 ?
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MVP: one more time!
The first email of the year in my inbox is as sweet as last year...
I am renewed as an ASP.NET MVP!
