April 2007 - Posts
I know that Microsoft Silverlight is currently taking all the lime light, and that this is still only Beta 1 of Orcas. Yet, I'm sure there are some of you out there just itching to get started on Orcas. So, download it! MSDN Subscribers can download the bits - others currently only have access to VPC images (which might just be a better option for a Beta 1 product).
Download from: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700831.aspx
Watch interview with Soma on Orcas Beta 1: http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=302229
Microsoft announced last night (15 April 2007) at NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) the brand name for WPF/E. It will be called (drum-roll)...
Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web.
Want to see some great samples? Check out http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/ - bottom of home page.
I'm not a designer at heart, but this DOES look cool.
Some of the Windows Live platform folks and friends have put together "Live in a Box," a set of easy step-by-step tutorials and hands on labs to help you get started building on the Windows Live Platform. It's posted on CodePlex (Microsoft's open source project hosting web site). So, use it to get you up to speed on Windows Live technologies and be sure to leave feedback to the team. And if you want, join the project!
Dowload the "box" and learn to use:
- Live Search APIs
- Virtual Earth (mapping) APIs
- Messenger Activity APIs
- Web Gadgets
- Windows Live Contacts Control
- WPF/e ( a new technology for delivering annimation, graphis, audio and video on the Web)
Very good news!
Expression is a new suite of designer tools for Windows and Web - obviously with designers as the target audience. However, developers are always looking for more tools/toys :-) So, it's good news to developers that Microsoft has decided to make Expression Blend (for Windows) and Expression Web also available to MSDN Premium subscribers, even though these guys are typically developers. Read Soma's and Forrest Key's blogs for more detail.
Other useful links are http://www.microsoft.com/expression and http://www.microsoft.com/design
TeamPlain is a web front end for Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) that enables users to access the majority of Team Foundation Server functionality from within a Web browser. TeamPlain gives VSTS a new avenue to reach a broader array of people within the development team who don’t use Visual Studio today and don’t want to install Visual Studio clients on their machines.
TeamPlain will become Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Web Access. TeamPlain is available as a free download to users who own a Team Foundation Server. It will be accessible by any user properly licensed with a TFS CAL. In the Orcas (next version of Visual Studio.NET) timeframe, Microsoft will be releasing Team System Web Access as an official, documented, localized, officially supported component of Team Foundation Server.
Check it out!