July 2008 - Posts
No, not the city in Norway even though that is a beautiful place it's far too cold to get my tail feathers in a flutter ....
I am talking about the "Oslo" initiative that Microsoft announced some time back.
Since it was announced it has caused more hooha than anything else Microsoft has announced since possibly the introduction of Windows!
So what is it?!?!?
Darn fine question .... Up until not many have been able to give me a definitive answer and often the messages being received by Joe Public are confusing and sometimes even contradictory!
Well thankfully Steven Martin, senior director of product management in Microsoft's Connected Systems Division (CSD) has shed some light on this topic at the recent Worldwide Partner Summit;
Check it out here ... Oslo: Road to Microsoft's Cloud
Probably the most clear description of what the imitative is aiming to achieve!
I particularly like this paragraph:
| Martin said the future of application development at Microsoft involves modeling and services and will feature analysis and design tools, next-generation declarative languages, process-aware engines and platforms, and self-aware system management. The Microsoft products and tools involved in this will include BizTalk Server 5, BizTalk Services 1, Visual Studio 10, Microsoft System Center 5 and the .NET Framework 4 -- all upcoming versions of core Microsoft technology. |
Seems the farm is safe so to speak ....
I look forward to exciting times ahead!
So ... this will be my 9th year in a row (if i can count 2000 .... 2008) that I have been to TechEd Africa, never missed a single one!
I always find something new to learn about; network with some cool people; and usually have an absolute PARTY!
I am always amazed that year-in year-out Microsoft can put on such an amazing event. The organisation is always so slick and each year it just seems to get bigger and bigger!
This year, well, this year might be a little different for me anyways; A) it's the first time it's NOT at Sun City but in Durban and B) last but not least because this time round I get the somewhat dubious honour of presenting a session or two (or 3 or 4 or ...) !
Can you say ....
PRESSURE!!
STRESS!!
I will be flying solo with these two breakout sessions; (SOA304) - Enterprise Service Bus As an Operating Environment for Services and (SOA301) - A Technical Drilldown into Microsoft ESB Guidance
And then if that were not enough, I will also be co-presenting the following breakout sessions with Markus Landler, Microsoft Field PM for EMEA from Germany, (SOA201) Microsoft BizTalk RFID in Real World Deployments: Connecting Movements in the Physical World to Enterprise Applications and (SOA302) - Everything You Wanted to Know about Real Work Value in RFID, Including the Kitchen Sink! If I survive these sessions you will find me recovering in my hotel room hiding in the speaker room hanging out with all you cool people out in the community lounges and in some of the "Ask The Experts" sessions or in some of the "Demo Lounges".
All this work doesn't mean that I will be missing out on some serious R&R and a few good cold ones, oh no way!
I'll just have to sleep for a week after TechEd!
So if you find yourself at TechEd this year do pop around and say hi.
The next instalment of the South African BizTalk User Group meetings will be happening tomorrow evening (9 July 2008) at the Microsoft Campus in Bryanston starting at 18:00.
If you have always wanted to know how to unit test your BizTalk solutions because you're an avid fan of TDD, then make sure you don't miss this! Nabeel Prior from Microsoft will be walking us through this very topic and how to use BizUnit and the BizUnit designer.
So short and sweet, but I am sure you will agree that it should be extremely interesting and add a bunch of value to your BizTalk projects. I know I am looking forward to it.
Remember to keep an eye on the BizTalk User Group site (here) so you don't miss out on the exciting stuff happening in the local community ....
There are RSS feeds all over the site so you can make sure that the latest content wings it's way down to your favourite RSS Reader; like the feed for User Group Meeting announcements which can be found here
That's it for now!
Hope to see you tomorrow evening.