In a very insightful post, Scott Guthrie detail the current .Net web roadmap. Of particular interest is the Silverlight related text. First of all, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU for officially re-branding taking Silverlight 1.1 to Silverlight 2.0. As somebody that's given numerous talks, the confusion that existed between 1.0 and 1.1 in conjunction with all of the other version  numbers floating around became a little much. Silverlight 2.0 makes things a lot easier to explain.

In Scott's post, he details many specific new features that we can look forward to, hopefully in another preview release later this year before the beta next year. His highlights include:

• WPF UI Framework: The current Silverlight Alpha release only includes basic controls support and a managed API for UI drawing.  The next public Silverlight preview will add support for the higher level features of the WPF UI framework.  These include: the extensible control framework model, layout manager support, two-way data-binding support, and control template and skinning support.  The WPF UI Framework features in Silverlight will be a compatible subset of the WPF UI Framework features in last week's .NET Framework 3.5 release.

• Rich Controls: Silverlight will deliver a rich set of controls that make building Rich Internet Applications much easier.  The next Silverlight preview release will add support for core form controls (textbox, checkbox, radiobutton, etc), built-in layout management controls (StackPanel, Grid, etc), common functionality controls (TabControl, Slider, ScrollViewer, ProgressBar, etc) and data manipulation controls (DataGrid, etc).

• Rich Networking Support: Silverlight will deliver rich networking support.  The next Silverlight preview release will add support for REST, POX, RSS, and WS* communication.  It will also add support for cross domain network access (so that Silverlight clients can access resources and data from any trusted source on the web).

• Rich Base Class Library Support: Silverlight will include a rich .NET base class library of functionality (collections, IO, generics, threading, globalization, XML, local storage, etc).  The next Silverlight preview release will also add built-in support for LINQ to XML and richer HTML DOM API integration.

The most important part in my opinion is the official introduction of controls, layout, and binding support. A lot of people having been doing some very creative work on these to show the potential, but we've all been anxiously awaiting the official story. When you look at the sample sites of control vendors like Telerik, Component One, Infragistics, etc you can see the power that exists. Having the official base to build these on will just expand this potential.

Reading that "compatible subset of the WPF UI Framework" is music to my ears! This will make it extremely easy for organizations working with WPF/XAML today to instantly be productive with Silverlight. For people considering the technology, this gives you even more return potential for the learning and training investment required.

Having a Go-Live license in Q1 is also great news! It's been difficult to see the power, but not really be able to put it to use yet,

Great job to everybody that's been working on this, I can't wait to get my hands dirty on some new bits. (please be soon!)

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

The date has been selected for the CodeCampRDU 2008

Mark your calendars for Raleigh Code Camp on Feb 9, 2008. We'll be updating the website soon and issuing an official call for speakers.

Posted in TRINUG  | Comments [0] 

The Triangle .NET User Group is going to be hosting an exciting meeting in December to celebrate the release of Visual Studio 2008. As part of our launch party, attendees will be given an opportunity to install the RTM version Visual Studio 2008 Professional.

EVERYONE THAT REGISTERS FOR AND ATTENDS THE EVENT IN PERSON WILL RECEIVE A FREE LICENSE KEY FOR VISUAL STUDIO 2008 PROFESSIONAL! 

Please note a couple of key things, you must first REGISTER to attend this event by logging into www.trinug.org and registering for this event. Space is limited, so don't delay. We're working on a couple of options to secure a larger venue for the event, but will likely start a waiting list shortly. At the event, the Trial Version will be provided for install. The license key that wil be sent within 90 days from Microsoft will unlock this version without need for a reinstall.

At the event, during the install party we will be holding a number of short 30 minute presentations on a variety of VS2008/.Net 3.5 topics. If you're interested in presenting with us, please let me know.

As part of the evening, we will also be asking that all in attendance bring a donation for the local food bank. We will be accepting food and cash donations at the event.

For more information, please visit www.trinug.org

Posted in TRINUG  | Comments [1] 

I've ben closely watching the Scott and Scott show off the new ASP.NET MVC Framework. If you haven't been following along, here's some reading to keep you busy until we see a CTP release sometime soon. (Hopefully real soon!)

ASP.NET MVC Framework (Part 1)
The REST-Like Aspect Of ASP.NET MVC
An Architectural View of the ASP.NET MVC Framework
ASP.Net MVC Framework - Handling Exception by using an Attribute
In depth: The ASP.NET MVC Pipeline
RSS Feed with the new ASP.NET MVC Framework
DevConnections - The ASP.NET MVC Framework
ASP.Net MVC Framework - List and Save data

As somebody that's been following what been going on with Ruby frameworks like RAILS, as well as REST I'm very interested in seeing how this applies to the ASP.NET world. I'm still forming opinions, but I find the potential very exciting.

Posted in Rant  | Comments [0] 

Congratulations to all of the teams involved in bringing Visual Studio 2008 to market!

It's always a great feeling to be able to pull beta bits off of a system, and install the release version. It's been tough not using VS2008 for everything, but now that wait is over, and we're on to the rest. I anxiously await seeing the ASP.NET MVC Framework, the next Silverlight 1.1 update, more Astoria, ASP.NET Futures and anything else Microsoft wants to update before years end!

For MSDN subscribers the bits are available on the subscribers download site. For those that are not, Express versions are available as well as trials of various versions.

NOTE** If you are installed VS2008 Beta2 - READ THIS

Posted in Rant  | Comments [0] 

I meant to blog this last week when I noticed the announcement during the Silverlight DevCamp in DC that ComponentOne had released an Alpha Preview of their Silverlight 1.1 control framework.

I've been following along with great anticipation as they seem to have one of the most complete control solutions. We're all still anxiously awaiting the official Silverlight control story is going to be, C1 is certainly showing how great the potential is.

You can learn more and signup for the alpha release here:

http://labs.componentone.com/Sapphire/

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Microsoft has always been involved in the developer community, but it's great to see the new ideas and innovations that are taking place to spread the word on new technologies.

The latest includes a number of Microsoft DE's (Some that I've been privileged to meet recently. I met Lynn and Woody at the INETA Leadership Summit out in LA earlier this fall and I met Anand at Dev Connections last week following his MOST EXCELLENT Silverlight demo during the keynote)

Introducing Code Trip....

Put 8 developers in an RV and send them across the country to talk code. Sounds like a blast! I haven't seen the schedule, but I hope they make it out East to Raleigh NC, or I manage to end up somewhere along the route. It's definitely going to be a fun bunch to follow! (Twitter: http://twitter.com/codetrip Facebook: join the group RSS: Subscribe To The Feed)

I'm hopeful that they be sure to drop in on any INETA User Group meetings along the way. I'm sure most groups would throw together a special event while they're in town.

Posted in Rant | Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

 This morning after stuffing us with bagels and coffee, Frank La Vigne kicked off SilverlightDevCampDC. Frank started the day with a intro to SIlverlight keynote, followed by local Microsoft DE Andrew Duthie.

Pete Brown is now sharing some of his Silverlight 1.1 control experiences from his Carbon Calculator (Which was done in collaboration with Raleigh local Steve Suing).

More later... I hear the pizza is here!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1]