by asli
22. March 2010 09:14
7 Wonders of Windows 7 has launched and provides a rich set of tools and training to immerse yourself in Windows 7 and you can even win a Windows 7 laptop! The demos focus on seven impressive features in Windows 7, with a live feed to Springboard and TechNet. You can also download Internet Explorer 8 for free as well as a 90-day trial version of Windows 7 Enterprise. Use the Windows 7 E-Learning for in-depth knowledge on the features in Windows 7.
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by asli
20. February 2010 16:24
WebSiteSpark is a program geared towards small web developer companies. The goal is to accelerate the speed of web development & help companies to get websites up and running by providing 3 years of free software, guidance and marketing to build your web properties.
What’s the catch? First, you have to be a small upstart company and there is criteria on what defines a small upstart – less than 10 people including owners. Secondly, since the program is geared towards building web businesses, you need show that you used the software for the purpose of building a website and if you don’t deploy a site within 6 months, there is a $100 withdrawal fee from the program. Aside from that, that’s it! I’m surprised more people aren’t taking advantage of it. You can even use the software for up to 2 additional people at your company besides yourself.
Even better, if you are a hoster or very well connected with web development companies, you can be a provider yourself (as a Network or Hosting Partner) – this makes you the go to source for people wanting to deploy web applications – this is especially useful for small hosting companies to gain a competitive edge. How? As a network partner, you receive marketing support directly from Microsoft & become listed in our catalog of partners as the choice go-to platform for companies looking to build a web presence.
WebSiteSpark is not just for ASP.NET Web Developers
Following up on my previous post about migrating from PHP on Linux to Windows, WebSiteSpark can also help ramp up PHP development companies. Here a few samples from MSDev- our portal for training partners.
WebsiteSpark: Get Web Apps like WordPress and Drupal Running Within Minutes!In this short video we will show you where to find and give an example of how to use the Windows Web Application installers for common apps such as Drupal and Wordpress.
WebsiteSpark: Move an Existing LAMP Site onto WindowsIn this short session we discuss what resources you have available to help you transition existing LAMP sites onto the Windows Web platform.
by asli
7. September 2009 16:32
Before you build your system, you should have a vision for it. What will it do? This envisioning process kicks off the iterative software development process, with the phase known as strategy. 
Many software development shops have different names for the different phases, and some may add or subtract a phase or two, but for the most part you can think of software development in 5 phases:
| phase | who does it? | what happens? | what are the deliverables or artifacts? |
| Strategy | business analyst | the vision of the system is laid out in plain business terms. | business requirements: what must the system do in order to full its function
use cases: breaks out the requirements into a series of discrete steps.
activity flow, sequence diagrams : these identify the actors in a system and how activities and data flow through the system. An actor could be a person or another system |
| Design | architect | the relationships between entities (the nouns within the business requirements – for example: item, user, shipment) is laid out as well as the blueprint for the system itself | data / object model: identifies the shape and nature of the components (think LEGO bricks) and their behaviors and attributes
entity relationship model: shows have different “nouns” relate to one another. For example, there are many items in a group. |
| Develop | developer | the concepts of the design that were written for humans to understand are translated for machines | source code: the “translation” of the requirements into executable lines of byte code.
database: the house that will store all information captured and manipulate by the system. |
| Test | tester | the source code is executed for comparison to the original test cases. Does the system do what it says it was going to do and does it do it well? | test cases: the bookend for use cases, the test cases also go further and also address user acceptance testing (for example, in a web application user acceptance criteria may say that the page needs to load within 4 seconds) |
| Deploy | IT Professional
/ administrator | the source code is put in a place where the users can access it | setup package: if you have ever installed software you know exactly what this is |
For those of you looking for a career in software development, think about the phase that you would enjoy the most, and when you are applying for a job, look for roles that focus on that page. You definitely don’t have to write code in order to have a career in IT!
Most software development occurs in cycles, and the phases will repeat themselves to produce software in “versions” or “releases”. Let’s use that model to design our system.
First let’s identify of what we’d like this system to do. We can think of the system as having two parts – inventory management and sales management. Let’s focus on the former for the time being.
A few bullets on what an inventory management sub-system should do include:
- add, remove and display items . For example, we’d like to have specifics on each individual charm (color, age, description etc).
- add and remove items so that they can be grouped into collections. For example, we’d like our add our charms to be listed as part of a particular bracelet – such as the Little Mermaid charm on the Scandinavian bracelet you see in the picture.
Think of other items that you’d like this system to do and write them down. Next, we’ll explore how we turn those into business requirements and user cases.
by asli
3. September 2009 13:40
For more tips like this, LIVE and IN PERSON, come see us at the MSDN Roadshow !
How do you set up multiple devices on a mesh? At this point you have read the first Windows Live tip: Why Mesh? and now you are convinced that you need Mesh. You’ll need a Live ID (usually a hotmail, msn or live account) to login to mesh site. This is the 2nd in a series of Windows Live tips that cover how you can leverage the power of the desktop, with the reach of web based services.
Setting up your very own Mesh
Once you sign in, you’ll see your desktop (You won’t see as many machines as I do, naturally):
- Click on the big Plus sign – Add Device.
- Choose your operating system from the drop down. Although it says XP, Vista, it will work on Windows7 beta. And note, there is support for Mac. You can read more about the support for the different Mac Operating Systems on the Live Mesh blog. You’ll also see support for mobile phones (more on that later).
- You’ll be prompted to run the LiveMesh install executable. Choose Run to install the program. You will see a little blue icon pop up in your system tray, with a bubble indicating that Mesh is being prepared for use.
- Once installed, you’ll need to sign your desktop in to connect with the services in the Cloud. Click the Sign In button.
- Give your computer a name to differentiate it from all the other computers on your Mesh, and click the button Add device :
- Once your device connects, your system tray will light up notifying you that the device has been successfully added:
That’s it. You are setup. Next we will cover how you set up folders for synchronization.
by asli
1. September 2009 00:08
Windows Live Mesh is by far our most compelling beta Software + Services solution for empowering your every day life. I shared several benefits with TechnoGranny earlier this year. Live Mesh extends the power of the Cloud onto your desktop and devices by enabling you to automatically sync files with people and their machines. .
Why use Mesh in your professional business life?
At Microsoft, I use Live Mesh quite extensively to share material with my colleagues because I love the fact that i don’t have to VPN/RAS into my corporate network. Although, now with Windows7 DirectAccess, the old days of VPN problems (lack of public IP address when traveling in a hotel, slowness and cumbersome connection initialization) have gone away. But the benefits of Mesh have not, here are some scenarios that I use quite often:
- Sync documents with your team. Share and synchronize team documentation and post alerts and announcements with the team. As you can see, the beta has the look and feel of Windows in the Cloud, and yes, you can definitely end up with a cluttered Live desktop for those of you desktop shortcut fans:
- Work offline. Because Live Mesh is truly an S+S solution, you can extend leverage the power of Windows and continue to work with your documents offline. When you reconnect with the cloud, your documents will automatically sync back up to the server.
Why use Mesh in your personal life?
- Back up your cell phone photos! I have Mesh on my phone and have it set to automatically back up the cell phone pictures I take. Although I have recently moved to MyPhone for backup, this feature is still one of the coolest demos to show. Stand in front of a roomful of people, demo’ing Mesh on the PC with a big screen behind you projecting your machine screen. Open up the mesh folder for your cell phone picture sync. As you are talking to the audience, take a picture of them with your cell phone. Suddenly they will see a picture of themselves pop up on the screen behind you, as I demo’ed with students back in February:
- Socialize & Share multimedia automatically. Most of my family lives many many server hops away and sharing large photo and video files over email doesn’t make a lot of sense. With Mesh, I can create a folder and invite them using their Windows Live linked email addresses. Then they can subscribe to that folder on their desktop and any time I drop a file into that folder, it automatically gets synced!
Why use Mesh as a student?
Earlier this year, I presented to a couple hundred high school prep students and demo’ed Windows Live Mesh. At the end of the session, I asked their feedback on what they thought of the technology and how it would be applicable in their lives. This is what they told me:
- Collaboration on group homework
- Field reporting /journalistic type activities
- Working online/offline when you travel a lot on planes
- Staying in touch & sharing video with families who may live in second world countries that have bandwith, yet not financial means to communicate
Mesh is definitely one of those products that has scores of uses, both professional and personal. In the next post for this series, we’ll walk through the setup process.
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