Steve Joubert

Let's Play Plinqo

You have got to check this out. Plinqo is a LINQ to SQL enhancement product that makes using Linq just that much more fun. Grab a download at http://plinqo.com.  It's easy to learn and brain dead simple to use.

Goodyear to Speak at the Space Coast .NET Group

Spread the word. Jonathan "Angry Coder" Goodyear is going to be speaking at the Space Coast .NET User Group. Check it:

Topic: I Didn't Know You Could Do That With MasterPages

Time: Wednesday September 20, 6pm

More Info: http://www.scdnug.org/Events_view.aspx?Eventid=14

Don't miss it!

Chasing Microsoft

So Microsoft has pushed off the date of the Office 2007 Release to the end of the year. Is anyone surprised. Show of hand please?

I think we all need to ease up just a bit. Sometimes I think we are all acting like hungry children waiting for next plate of food.

We accuse Microsoft of releasing major dot zero releases where there is little innovation over the previous version but when they do try to do something new, something that could make the product easier for all of us, we complain that it is taking too long.

We demand release dates. As soon as we get sniff of a new product coming out of Redmond we are on them like white on rice to commit to a release date. When We get one we don't believe it anyway. What's the point in that?

We love to bash Microsoft for pushing back release dates while at the same demanding new an innovative features that take time to develop and debug.

Lets cut Microsoft some slack. Let them get the product right and then give to us. That way they won't rush it out the door and we don't have start complaining that the first service pack is due out only a month after the release.

If you really need something to complain about add up your taxes from last year (Federal, State, unemployment (if you pay it), gas taxes at the pump & sales taxes). What percentage of your gross is it?

IE Dev Toolbar

Have you ever wanted to see what your web page looks like at different resolutions? Have you ever needed to View the current DOM in IE or outline the HTML in browser? Are looking for an easy way to Validate your HTML or your links? Downlaod the IEDevToolbar.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e59c3964-672d-4511-bb3e-2d5e1db91038&displaylang=en

This creates a new toolbar in IE and gives you a whole treasure chest of useful tools for analyzing the content of your browser. A must have for anyone building websites.

SQL Prompt - Free Intellisense Tool From Red Gate

It provides Intellisense for SQL Server (Query Analyzer in 2000 and Management Studio in 2005). Red Gate just purchased this product and its now free until September. Get your copy today.

Download it at:

http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql_prompt/index.htm

Code Camp - Tallahassee

Code Camp Tallahassee is going to be June 17. Code on out and learn little. Have a lot of fun.

Register at:

http://www.tlhdotnet.net/tlhcodecamp/

Hope to see you there.

Email2Face LIVE!

It's a simple concept. Register you a picture of you and your email address on Email2Face.com. Then anyone can see your picture simply by typing in your email address. How many people have traded email with an yet you've never had a face to with the email or the voice on the phone. Problem solved! Check it out.

Master Pages And Themes

Simple Talk just published my latest article on using Master Pages and Themes. Enjoy!

WinFX February CPT

Microsoft just released the February CPT of WinFx. You can get the bits on the MSDN web site. I highly recommend that you create a virtual machine and get this technology up and running. There are three components to WinFx and each is a significant technology in it's own right.

The Windows Presentation Foundation (code name Avalon) or WPF offers a new way to author user interfaces that will run both on Windows and in the browser (WinFx framework required). Under the hood WPF allows you to create UI definitions in XAML,  an XML standard markup. WPF gives us the ability to build UIs that are animated and fully incorporate sound and video. WPF delivers all the power of Flash but with a UI can that is fully connected to the .NET Framework and all it's resources.

The Windows Communication Foundation (code name Indigo) or WCF is a new messaging platform. Take all the power of remoting, web services and WSE 3.0, improve it and make it 10 time easier to use. That's the WCF. Check out WindowsCommunication.Net for samples and some really good tutorials. Also check out a new book on the subject Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation : Hands-on by  Craig McMurtry, Marc Mercuri and Nigel Watling. I went through the training labs included in this book in a class with Marc Mercuri a couple weeks ago. This book is well worth the money. Also nothing is confirmed or officially announced but there are at least some hints that Microsoft may be working on a visual designer for WCF.

Then there's the Windows Workflow Foundation or WWF or WF. This technology is a built on the .NET framework and enables you to easily build workflow logic into your applications. I must admit when I started a day of training on this technology I wasn't very interested. By the end of the day I saw this technology in a whole new light. It has a tremendous number of applications even in the systems I'm working on today. It has an easy to use drag and drop designer and Microsoft says that the next version BizTalk (not 2006 the one after that) will be written using the WWF. Check it out at WindowWorkflow.Net.

The last thing of interest is call Expression Studio. This set of products is designed to create WPF User interfaces. There's a Graphics Studio that works as a stand alone product and is targeted at graphic artists. Interactive Designer is targeted at software developers and snaps into Visual Studio 2005. Both are available for download and trial now.

WinFX offers a new set of development options. WinFx is designed for Windows Vista but it will also be available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It is the next big thing so start playing with it now.

Don't lose your files

My friend Chris Delmar is fond of saying, "There are only two kinds of computer users. Those who have lost data and those who will." I fall into the prior category as do most people. The worst hit I took was last August. I was working. Then I was blue screening. Then I was not booting. My hard drive was all kinds of dead. Yeah I could of had all the data back for just $1800.00. I don't think so.

My actual work for my job was fine. We use SourceGear Vault and we use it religiously so no data was lost there. My personal files including several development experiments and presentations were another story. That would be the story where they were kidnapped by my dead hard drive and held hostage by the data recovery people. I don't ever want that to happen again -ever.

Here's an inexpensive solution. http://www.ntius.com/default.asp?p=shadow/shadow_main It lets you backup selected folders to another drive including thumb drives. It can automatically backup every time you save to one of your specified folders or you can setup a back schedule. It will also do file versioning. It can filter what kinds of files are backed up but they are preset – no custom file filters. Anyway this is a cheap backup solution. I bought a 1GB Thumb drive at Staples last week for $40.00. This product is 30.00. Not bad for the cheap seats.