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Now that Visual Studio 2005 release version is finally here (for MSDN subscribers at least), it is finally time to learn what is new in .NET 2.0.
Generics are one of such new things, and they are worth studying well. If you haven't got much experience in them, you might wish to check the .NET Generics FAQ on MSDN. I'm quite sure it answers most of the questions you might have.
Earlier this month, I proposed an article to the Visual Studio .NET Developer magazine, and got a disappointing reply from the editor: the magazine had just been discontinued.
Now, my impression was that Pinnacle stopped publishing all Visual Studio related magazines, but in fact I drew this conclusion too quickly. Today, they have a new magazine to publish, and it is simply called "Visual Studio Developer".
I have to contact the editor to see what are the chances to continue my writing for this magazine.
As I noted in my post on October 4th, the Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) interests me. I finally found the time to read David Chappell's article on MSDN about it.
The article mentions the Workflow Designer that can integrate with Visual Studio 2005. Now, what is even more interesting, the document goes on to say:
"The Workflow Designer can also be hosted in, and customized for, other environments. An ISV that wishes to include workflow within its own offering might host this tool directly inside that product, giving it whatever look and feel is appropriate."
This is just great! I need to find out how this is done! Reports will follow if I succeed...
I had the change to attend Microsoft's Developer Tools Channel Summit 2005 in Athens, Greece.
As I'm writing this, I've just returned from work, having slept only three hours during the night. I can tell you it is not enough for me. :-)
The sessions in Athens were very informative, although I had already digested much of the material beforehand. However, the demos especially about Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite were very good, and I learned once again new ways to use the product.
I also snapped some nice pictures during the breaks, maybe I have a chance to upload them at sometime to this site.
It happened to me again: when I snap my monitor on in the morning, I don't see my desktop, but instead I see a Windows XP login screen.
No, my computer didn't reboot because it crashed, or because the lights went out. Instead, it rebooted because Windows Automatic Updates (WU) installed security patches that required a reboot.
Now, security is important, I certainly sign that, but I have when tons of applications open, inclusing VMware with a virtual machine or two powered on, I really don't want my machine to reboot without my consent.
Yes, I could install Windows Server 2003 to my workstation, but I guess that would be just overkill with today's virtualization technologies. So, the best option left is to tinker with Windows Update's settings.
Tim Rain has written a helpful blog entry how to do just what I wanted. Since I don't want to change the settings of Automatic Updates but I just want to disable the automatic reboots, this is the link I want to share.
Proceed with caution, though. You have been warned.
Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference (PDC) is the place to be if you learn the latest things about Microsoft's developments with unparalled focus on software developers.
However, not all can attend the conference, but luckily Microsoft is kind enough to let non-attendees download all the session presentations from their web site.
Now, it is not the same thing to just see the PowerPoint presentation (you miss the demos, for one thing), but it is better than nothing. Enjoy!
Borland has today announced its latest versions of the familiar Delphi development environment, Delphi 2006.
Actually, it is not just Delphi anymore, as both C# and C++ are integrated. As said in the press release:
"Delphi 2006, C++Builder 2006, and C#Builder 2006 are now offered together as part of Borland Developer Studio - Borland's multi-language developer environment for Microsoft Windows and .NET applications."
It will be interesting to see how succesful this version will be commercially. The Helsinki launch event date has already been set, but location is still under consideration.
I received an e-mail from the editor of Pinnacle's Visual Studio .NET Developer magazine, and unfortunately it was a mail that I didn't expect to receive.
Shortly put, the magazine is going to be stopped soon. It might be the October issue will be the last one, but I'm not exactly sure.
I liked the magazine, but maybe it just didn't generate enough revenue.
I learned today about this new thing that will be part of Microsoft's Vista operating system: "Windows Workflow Foundation".
Again, MSDN has lots of good material about this, but how did this pop up so suddenly? No rumors even in the MVP Coffeehouse?
Okay, I guess you can't know everything that goes into an operating system nowadays. But since workflows and their optimization have always interested me, WWF interests me quite a bit.
I will need to investigate what it had to offer for developers and for Vista users. I'll report what I will find here, so stay tuned.
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