ObjectSharp has always been very community focused. Our consultants run user groups; we speak at user groups, code camps and conferences; we man the experts areas at big Microsoft events; and we run our own community events like Visual Studio 2008 at the Movies. To extend our contribution to the community, we've added the DevLounge to our website. This is an area where we will post videos, articles, code, and tools so they are available on demand when you need them.
As a special kick off to the DevLounge, we are featuring a video taken at the recent Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Summit in Seattle. At the behest of ObjectSharp's Barry Gervin, Steve Ballmer donned a Team Canada hockey jersey to show Canadian developers some love.
While I was in Vegas for Un-Mix 08, I sat down with Derek Hatchard to record a show for Devcasting. About a week later Derek decided to repave his machine but unfortunately, he forgot to backup the recording of the interview. We got together over Skype to re-record a couple weeks ago. What started out as an interview on WCF turned into a 90 minute conversation on all things geek.
Derek's done some editing and has extracted the WCF interview part into a show which you can check out at the link below. Stay tuned for part two where we talk about Mix, WPF, and more.
http://devcasting.com/index.php/2008/04/10/devcasting-10-wcf-with-rob-windsor/
Happy listening.
If you're not familiar with the concept, a Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) session is an open discussion lead by a moderator who is not a Microsoft employee. The sessions are not presentations, there are no projectors. Unlike the Keynotes and Breakout sessions which are mostly one to many communication, Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are many to many communication and don't necessarily focus on Microsoft products or technology. They are about people talking with people - connecting, sharing, networking, and creating community.
This year I'm doing a BOF session at TechEd Developer. From my expereince with the community at user groups and conferences it's pretty clear that there are lots of developers who still work with classic VB code at least part of the time. Many are still questioning what to do with this legacy code and how to move it forward or integrate it with .NET.
Strategies for Moving Your Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Investments to .NET: For years Visual Basic 6 (VB 6) was used by organizations world-wide to build key line-of-business applications and components. Now they have thousands to millions of lines of code representing a significant organizational investment. Many have struggled in the past trying to move this legacy code base to .NET, many are just starting that journey. The path from VB 6 to .NET has not always been clear - there are options but there is no one size fits all approach. One option is to rewrite your applications so you can re-architect and take advantage of all the features .NET has to offer. Another is to migrate the applications so automated tools like the Code Advisor and the Migration Wizard can assist you. Finally, you can use COM Interop and the Interop Forms Toolkit to continue leveraging existing working assets while phasing in new features built on the .NET Framework. In this session we will discuss all three options and explore the pros and cons of each. The goal is raise awareness of the choices and the tools available so you will be able to pick the best strategy for your organization going forward.
I recorded my first webcast a couple weeks ago. I teamed with Beth Massi on VB 6.0 to .NET integration and migration.
Visual Basic (VB) 6 was used by millions of developers world-wide to build applications ranging from thousands to millions of lines of code representing significant organizational investments. The path from VB 6 to .NET has not always been clear, there is no one size fits all approach. We’ll cut to the chase, exploring the pros and cons of each option using real world examples. You will leave this webcast with the framework and tools to develop the right strategy for your organization to leverage your existing investments while taking advantage of the power and productivity the .NET Framework provides.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032371436&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US
The VB Team has added about 50 "How Do I" videos to the VB Developer Center. The topics include Forms over Data, Windows Development, Office Development, Security, and so on. Most of the videos are 20 minutes or less so there a great way to get up to speed on a topic really quickly.
You can check them out at:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/bb466226.aspx
The agenda has been posted for the 2008 version of the Toronto Code Camp and it looks to be another awesome event. Twenty-five sessions from twenty-three speakers (six of which are my ObjectSharp homies) from all across the country (and New York). Check it out.
http://www.torontocodecamp.net/Agenda/tabid/56/Default.aspx