The Complete C# Language Specification Version 3.0 Download

My friend Jerry just sent me this link to the C# Language Specification Version 3.0. I have been waiting for this for a while.

I would publish the TOC but it's 15 pages long. Just go download it.

Get it here.
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Overview of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 White Paper

Microsoft has published a new white paper on Visual Studio 2008.

Overview (from the download site)
This white paper provides an overview of Visual Studio 2008 and how it delivers key advances in the following areas:
-Improve Developer Productivity
-Manage the Application Life Cycle
-Employ the Latest Technologies

Get it here.

patterns & practices April 2007 DVD is Available for Download Again

The patterns & practices April 2007 DVD was taken down for a while, but it is back up for download. This time there are 2 posters included with the downloads.

Overview (from download site)
patterns & practices are Microsoft's proven recommendations for how to design, develop, deploy, and operate architecturally sound applications for the Microsoft Platform. This DVD contains detailed technical information including printable guides, source code, PowerPoint presentations, and multi-media content.

Below is a screenshot of what you get:

Click here for larger image.

Get it here.
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Microsoft Expression Blend 2 August 2007 Preview Available

Microsoft Expression Blend 2 August 2007 Preview has been made available.

Overview (from download site):
We are pleased to present our next preview of Expression Blend 2. The Expression Blend 2 August Preview allows you to create Silverlight-based applications. Additionally, you can export content from Microsoft® Expression® Design in a format that can be used in Silverlight-based applications that you create in Expression Blend 2 August Preview.

What’s new in this preview? One thing is Visual Studio 2008 support. This is from the Microsoft Blend site (Link provided below):

"Expression Blend 2 August Preview can open and work with Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 (formerly known as Microsoft® Visual Studio® code name "Orcas") Beta 2 projects and solutions. Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) projects created in Expression Blend are now, by default, Visual Studio 2008 projects if Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 is installed and such projects cannot be edited in Visual Studio 2005. Expression Blend 2 August Preview can still open the projects created using Expression Blend or Visual Studio 2005."

Find out more about what is new in this preview here.

Download it here.
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Using the Data Access Guidance Package in the Web Service Software Factory

David has a really nice post on the Data Access Guidance Package here.

He has also put together a screencast titled "Create Data Access Layer Using Data Access Guidance Package Screencast".

Overview of the screen cast (from the PnP Guidance Website):
This screencast demonstrates using the Data Access Guidance Package in the Web Service Software Factory to generate a data access layer for a Web Client Software Factory application.

The screencast highlights:
-Enable the Data Access Guidance Package
-Add a Database Connection
-Generate Business Entities from Tables in a Database
-Generate a Repository Class for Business Entities
-Generate CRUD Stored Procedures for each Table in the Database

Watch it here.
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Microsoft ASP.NET Futures (July 2007) Available

In addition to the Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 release, Microsoft has also released Microsoft ASP.NET Futures July 2007.

Overview (From MSDN)
The Microsoft ASP.NET Futures July 2007 (“Futures”) release contains an early developer preview of features providing a wide range of new functionality for both ASP.NET and Silverlight™. The functionality in the Futures release includes early experimental versions of features currently being considered for future versions of ASP.NET and the .NET Framework. The Futures releases assume prior knowledge of the core features of ASP.NET including the previous ASP.NET AJAX Futures January CTP.

Features in this release include the following:
- ASP.NET Silverlight server controls.
- New functionality for ASP.NET AJAX Extensions.
- Dynamic data controls, which enable rapid Web application development when you work with Microsoft SQL Server databases.
- Enhancements to dynamic languages, including IronPython and Managed JScript.

Get it here.

Check out the online Microsoft ASP.NET Futures (July 2007) Documentation and Resources here.
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Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 has Arrived

Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 has arrived.

Visual Studio 2008 Code Name "Orcas" Beta 2 - What is in it? ... Video Here.

Get it here.

Learn more about it here.

And even more at VS 2008 and .NET 3.5 Beta 2 Released - ScottGu's Blog and at VS2008, .NET 3.5, Silverlight and ASP.NET Futures - Brad Abrams Blog
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New Acropolis Expense Sample Overview

There is a new Acropolis sample available from the Acropolis team. It is definitely worth checking out. It includes a set of very thorough tutorial documents in the download.

Documents with Download:
You get a readme document an overview document and the following word documents:

Step 1a - Building the Expense Application Shell
Step 1b - Building the Line Item Part and View
Step 2a - Building the EditPart, ApprovalPart, and HomePagePart
Step 2b - Building the RootPart
Step 2c - Building the ExpenseExplorer Control
Step 2d - Adding State-Aware Navigation
Step 3a - Changing the View of an Acropolis Part
Step 3b - Adding Authentication

Below is an image of the layout of the application (taken from overview document).

Click the above image for larger view.

Below are 2 screenshots of the application running logged in as manager.

Click here for larger picture.

Click here for larger picture.

Here is an overview description of the application (also taken form the overview document)

The Code Name "Acropolis" Expense sample represents a typical line-of-business requirement: providing a user interface to business data stored in a company database. This general requirement typically involves specific requirements that change over time. Potential changes include:
• Changes to user-interface requirements or technology.
• Changes to business-logic requirements such as validation or support for transactions.
• Changes to a database schema.
• The addition of features such as authentication, offline support, or theme support.

This tutorial focuses on common "Acropolis" tasks such as creating parts and their user interfaces, creating parts composed of other parts, and creating applications that combine new and existing parts and services. To demonstrate these tasks, this tutorial will guide you through the creation of various pieces of the "Acropolis" Expense sample. This tutorial will also demonstrate a few ways to improve an application: by replacing the user interface for a part and by adding an authentication service.

The Expense sample is complex enough to represent a real-world application for "Acropolis", but simple enough to demonstrate common "Acropolis" features and scenarios without too much distraction from the particulars of business logic. The complete Expense sample is too large to completely create within this tutorial, but typical "Acropolis" usage will more often involve the combination of new and existing functionality, making this tutorial more reflective of reality.

Get it here.

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Coming Soon: Version 5.0 of SEI's Framework for Software Product Line Practice

SEI’s Framework for Software Product Line Practice is a framework that describes the activities and 29 practices for implementing software product lines.

A new version of the Framework for Software Product Line Practice (version 5.0), is being built and is supposed to be released sometime in late summer.

A Framework for Software Product Line Practice, Version 4.2 is a Web-based, living document that is currently available here.

Linda Northrop has posted an article detailing the changes coming to Version 5.0 of A Framework for Software Product Line Practice. You can read the full article here.

She also mentions that the book that will accompany the version 5 release is expected to be released in January 2008.
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Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in the Real World: Free Book from Microsoft

I am not sure where it came from, but Microsoft has posted a free 196 page book titled "Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in the Real World" on their download site. It looks pretty good.

They released "Readings in Service Orientation" a year ago. It was pretty good too.

It is available in XPS and PDF format.

Below I posted the details of Chapter 1 from the table of contents, and the titles of the other chapters.

Chapter 1: Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) 7
Reader ROI 7 Acknowledgements 7
Introduction to SOA 8
The SOA Elephant 8
A simple definition for SOA 9
SOA Myths and Facts 11
The Evolution of SOA 12
Why should I care about SOA? 14
Understanding Services 16
The Tenets of Service Design 18
Tenet 1: Boundaries are Explicit 18
Tenet 2: Services Are Autonomous 20
Tenet 3: Services share schema and contract, not class 21
Tenet 4: Service compatibility Is based upon policy 23
An Abstract SOA Reference Model 24
Expose 25
Compose 25
Consume 26
Recurring Architectural Capabilities 27
Messaging and Services 27
Workflow and Process 28
Data 28
User Experience 28
Identity and Access 28
Management 29
Supporting the Common Architectural Capabilities 29
Common Architectural Capabilities and the Abstract SOA Model 30
Expose 30
Compose 33
Consume 34
Summary 36
References: 38

Chapter 2: Messaging and Services
Chapter 3: Workflow and Process
Chapter 4: Data
Chapter 5: User Interaction
Chapter6: Identity and Access

You can get it here.
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SPARX EA 7.0 and MDG Link 3.0 for VSTS 2005 Works, but the Annoying Upgrade Installation Process is Back

Today I took the chance that the problem in this post which caused me to revert back to EA (Enterprise Architect) 6.5 from EA 7.0 and from MDG 3.0 to MDG 2.1 was fixed with SPARX EA build 814.

According to the SPARX forum administrator it was addressed. See the forum post here.

I am happy to report it has been addressed and MDG is working fine from VSTS 2005. I will be using Version EA 7.0 and MDG 3.0 to put together the documentation for a new project we are starting next week.

Back to the Annoying Upgrade Installation Process
There is one thing that has come back with build 814 that I was glad to see gone with the first build of EA 7.0, and that is the Patch that needs to be downloaded with every upgrade, extracted, and copied to the SPARX installation folder. It was gone for one build, since that build had no updates.

This has been an annoying upgrade process for years. By now you would think the SPARX crew could figure out how to do automatic updates. They have been around for years now, they have a great product, but they have the most archaic and annoying upgrade process I have ever seen.

They usually upgrade EA monthly with a new build, which is a good thing, but you have to go to the site every month to see if a new version has been released. If it has, you have to go through the patch download and extraction process with every upgrade.

In truth, not having to download and extract the patch was the thing I got most excited about with Version 7.0. But the process had not been improved, there just were no updates.

Below are the patch installation instructions from SPARX:

Enterprise Architect Registered Version - Patch/Zipfile
Note: You should download the full version of EA 7.0 and install it before using the patch. This will update your DLLs etc. from previous versions of EA. You can then use the patch for subsequent updates.

The zipfile contains, amongst other things, the EA executable file. Once you have installed the full version of EA 7.0, you must extract the complete contents of the zip file into your install directory (the default directory is C:\Program Files\Sparx Systems\EA). Click here to view the installation instructions.

Installing Enterprise Architect - Patch/Zip file
1. Download EA70.zip from our website.
2. Find the folder where you installed EA originally (the default is C:\Program Files\Sparx Systems\EA) and rename the EA.exe file to EA70.exe.
3. Extract the complete contents of the EA70 zip file into the folder from Step 2.
4. Run EA as normal.
Note: You can access the latest EA help files from the links above.

Snoop- A Utility to Explore Running WPF Applications

If you haven't checked out snoop yet and you are playing with WPF, I'd suggest you do.

Snoop is a utility to explore running WPF applications. It displays the visual tree as well as properties and events.

You can download and read about it here.

This is a nice blog about it that also points to some other sites about Snoop.

Family.Show Version 2.0 WPF Sample Application Available

Vertigo has released version 2.0 of the sample application Family.Show. It is a very cool WPF sample application.

New in Version Family.Show 2.0:

• New “Family Data View” with filtering, sorting, and in-place editing
• Family Analytics including last name tag cloud, age distribution historgram and birthday list.
• licking on the items in each control filters the main family list.
• Enhanced story editing with support for font name, size, alignment, bullets, and numerical lists
• Filtering and sorting the Family List view, in the main window
• More cowbell!
• Skinnable user interface with two skins: black and silver
• Improved Windsor family sample data file with stories and images.
• Source code migrated to CodePlex

You can read more and run the application from here.

You can download the source code and whitepaper here.

It is definitely worth checking out.
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A New Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Webcast Series

I have checked out the first one in the Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom Webcast Series by Michele Leroux Bustamante a Chief Architect with IDesign Inc., and I am sold. I will definitely be checking out the rest of this series. This info is great, and so are her presentation skills.

I think this is great because most of the other learning resources and Webcast series I found out there on WCF are very dated. I know, I know, WCF came out a while ago so the learning resources were made when it came out, but I like getting her perspective on it now that it has been around for a while.

If you like her series, check out her book here.

Cutting up the Mona Lisa with Usability and Industry Standards

I know our number one priority as Software Architects and Developers is to deliver the desires of our customers. But what do you do when your customer is asking you to destroy his business?

A story of how I feel-
Let's say we were art dealers and some how I was able to buy the Mona Lisa. I was in the business of buying famous paintings, reframing them to my customer's liking, and delivering them to them.

So I get the offer I asked for on the Mona Lisa. I call the customer and ask them how they want her framed. There reply is, I don't want her framed, I want you to glue the painting to cardboard, send her to a puzzle cutting business, and when it is cut up have them mail it to my grandmother. She loves puzzles and she loves Leonardo da Vinci's work.

Lately, every week I am cutting up a new famous painting at the request of my customer.

Real Life
I am not going to go into the details of what we are being asked to do. Mainly for 3 reasons. One is, I am sick of thinking about it. Two is, I am sick of talking about it. Three is, I am sick of writing about it.

Let's just summarize the situation. We are trying our hardest to implement industry standards, common patterns for UI design found among the successful web sites our there (good book for that), and trying to implement industry wide usability best practices. The problem…. Our client loves to invent and their attitude is "I don't care what others are doing" (their exact words), which we have heard repeatedly.

What do ya do??? Document Everything, and Send it up the chain.
My status reports are where I do my best to put the issues on the shelf after I have said my final word on these topics. My status reports serve 2 purposes. One is to report our status, and two is to document the efforts that our team has made to make this project make sense.

Right now if this project I am on would be audited by the powers that be, someone's butt would be cooked. Today we are in no danger of that, but I have been on projects before where attention ends up being drawn on a project that for the longest time was allowed to bop along at its own pace, doing its own thing, thinking it was the tip of the power iceberg.

Change can be brought on by a lot of things. A change in personnel. Someone gets hired that does care what you are doing with the big fat budget you get every year. It could be brought on by a security breach that hits your application and that beach is news worthy. It could be brought on by a policy change. One day 'You're the man', the next day 'You’re on the man's' whipping pole. It doesn't really matter how, the point is it can.

To talk about your concerns is great. It allows for a dynamic attempt to change the situation. But if that doesn't work, and even if it seemed like it did, document your thoughts and send them up the chain. At any point in the chain your thoughts may changed (shot down) by one of the links in the chain, but that doesn't matter because your thoughts have left you in the form you presented them to the next higher up.

I have been in situations where my thoughts were changed (shot down) by the next person in line, and I have been in situations where they made it to the customer and then they were changed. But in all situations I make sure I have a paper trail that ends and starts with me. That means I have documented my thoughts and my team's thoughts. If they are changed at any level, I still have the proof I sent them on.

Paranoia the Destroyer (lyrics)
At one time I thought my thoughts spoken were good enough and I would have thought this is a bit paranoid. But experience has proved the opposite. On this project and on past projects. Keeping a paper trail on this project has shown to save us several times. I can't even fathom a guess at how many times this client has said, "I was never told that" and I have had the email to show them that they were. Most of the time I have one that they had responded to. There have also been a ton of predictions by our team of future problems that would result from a decision the client made. When the problem happened guess who the finger pointed at. At least until I resent the email that warned them it would happen, which I had sent months before.

When Documenting Everything, and Sending it up the chain should be avoided
When you love to invent and your attitude is "I don't care what others are doing". My suggestion to you is document nothing and deny everything!!!!!

patterns & practices April 2007 DVD Download Available

--------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE (7-30-2007): GO HERE.

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UPDATE (7-15-2007): Microsoft has taken the download off the site for some reason so the link below is currently not working. I found this post in the MSDN forums, but Microsoft has not responded to it as of this update.

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Microsoft's patterns & practices have put up all the content they have put together in one big download.

Overview (from download site)
patterns & practices are Microsoft's proven recommendations for how to design, develop, deploy, and operate architecturally sound applications for the Microsoft Platform. This DVD contains detailed technical information including printable guides, source code, PowerPoint presentations, and multi-media content.

Get it here
_

Microsoft eScrum - New Installation Package

Microsoft released a new install package for eScrum. The last release wasn't too user friendly. I haven't had time to check it out, and won't have time for a while. But I thought I would point it out since I blasted the last version.

Read about the new release here.

Download the new release here.
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New Code Generation Tool- patterns & practices: Repository Factory

Well speak of the devil. I did that here the other day. I read about the plans to do this a few months ago. It is good to see they are doing it. I will probably check it out at some point. Probably after a few updates have been made. Hopefully it ends up being a good tool that generates clean code.

From CodePlex:
The Repository Factory is a guidance package that automates creation of entity classes that map to database tables and repository classes to read and write those entity classes. The generated code removes the tedium of writing a persistence-ignorant domain model.

This package was originally published as the "Data Access Guidance Package" as part of the Web Service Software Factory. Data access is a much larger problem space than just services, so we've decided to split this package out into its own project.

The current source code is available here on this CodePlex project; releases are planned to start in about a month.

Goals
The Repository Factory is not intended to be a be-all-does-everything ORM solution. Instead, it's a lightweight code generator that automates most of the hand-coding needed to build domain model object and persist them to a database.

The initial set of work on the package is described in Planned Updates.

Get it here.

New Code Generation Tool- patterns & practices: Repository Factory

Well speak of the devil. I did that here the other day. I read about the plans to do this a few months ago. It is good to see they are doing it. I will probably check it out at some point. Probably after a few updates have been made. Hopefully it ends up being a good tool that generates clean code.

From CodePlex:
The Repository Factory is a guidance package that automates creation of entity classes that map to database tables and repository classes to read and write those entity classes. The generated code removes the tedium of writing a persistence-ignorant domain model.

This package was originally published as the "Data Access Guidance Package" as part of the Web Service Software Factory. Data access is a much larger problem space than just services, so we've decided to split this package out into its own project.

The current source code is available here on this CodePlex project; releases are planned to start in about a month.

Goals
The Repository Factory is not intended to be a be-all-does-everything ORM solution. Instead, it's a lightweight code generator that automates most of the hand-coding needed to build domain model object and persist them to a database.

The initial set of work on the package is described in Planned Updates.

Get it here.

SPARX Enterprise Architect (EA) 7.0 and MDG Link 3.0 for Visual Studio 2005 Installation Headaches

---------------------------------------------------

UPDATE (7-19-2007): I have an updated post here.

----------------------------------------------------

UPDATE (7-18-2007): I noticed EA 7.0 Build 814 has been released. There is however no mention of resolving the MDG issue I mention in my post. I received an email, copied in my post, that said the issue would be resolved in build 814. There is mention MDG performance has improved, but I would think something that has stopped the product from being used would be a resolution.

Has anyone that could not open their repositories with 813 open them with 814?

I am not willing to upgrade until SPARX specifically says the issue has been resolved.

I have posted these questions in the SPARX forums here. You can check it for updates.

-----------------------------------------------------

I upgraded to SPARX Enterprise Architect (EA) 7.0 and MDG Link 3.0 for Visual Studio 2005 and then downgraded to MDG Link 2.1 for Visual Studio 2005.

The MDG link 3.0 could not open any SQL repositories. Well it could open them, but then it re-opened them and re-opened them and re-opened them until I killed the VSTS process.

I tried installing it twice, but no luck. The EA 7.0 install went well and I didn't run into any problems with it. It was able to open the SQL repositories.

The good news is that uninstalling MDG Link 3.0 and re-installing MDG Link 2.1 went ok and 2.1 works fine with EA 7.0. NOT!!! I had to also uninstall EA 7.0 and re-install EA 6.5.

I think I'll be waiting for MDG 3.1 to try again as it seems to be the problem. So much for using ICONIX with EA 7.0.

UPDATE (7-11-2007):
The answer I got from Sparx Tech Support:

This issue has been resolved and will be fix in EA Version 7
(Build
814).

The only workarounds are
1. Install the MDG 2.1
version until EA 7 Build (814) is released.
2. Use a local EAP file in your
VS Project.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

I am not sure why they still have it out there because this known issue makes the product completely un-usable for those of us using repositories.????

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Code Generation always Costs Something

It is nice to see some things remain the same, even if it does mean they haven't improved…

Code Generation always Costs Something

I wrote this a year and a half ago (December 2005):
Open Source Projects & Code Generation Tools

David wrote this one day ago (July 2007)
Code Generation and Maintainability - Developer Productivity at a Price?

Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0 Book Review

I really didn't need another book on WPF, at least that is what my girlfriend would say. I already own "Applications = Code + Markup" by Charles Petzold, "Essential Windows Presentation Foundation" by Chris Anderson, "Foundations of WPF: An Introduction to Windows Presentation Foundation" by Laurence Moroney, "Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed" by Adam Nathan, and "Professional WPF Programming: .NET Development with the Windows Presentation Foundation" by an assortment of Wrox authors.

But I saw Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0 on Amazon and decided to investigate the possibility that I need to have it. After reviewing the TOC I still wasn't sure. But after downloading the code from Apress I was sold. I have been a fan of Matthew MacDonald for some time. He has definitely worked his magic on this title.

Some of the highlights I like:
His in-depth coverage of printing.
His Custom Elements chapter.
His approach with 3-D drawings makes extensive use of the 3DTools from CodePlex.
The chapter on using ClickOnce with WPF.
Everything is gone into in depth. This is not a brush over the topic book.
The usability of the code makes the book all that much more valuable.

He also has a great site named ProseTech that has a companion site for the book. It contains all the links found in the book and the link to the code download.

For extreme coverage of Expression Blend you will have to by a book specifically on Blend. Too bad no good ones exist yet. One I have seen that is out has bad reviews. None of the books I have listed above cover Blend in-depth at all. The Wrox book has 2 high level chapters on it, but I have been playing with Blend 2 a lot and find myself in the XAML most of the time because I don't know how to get to what I want to do in Blend. On that note, this book is excellent for showing you how to work XAML to the maximum.

This book also does not cover Silverlight. It is a book about Windows Applications, not Browser Applications.

I highly recommend this book as addition to any developer's or designer's (those who need to know XAML) library. It was definitely worth buying.

Microsoft Acropolis Disappointment... What the heck are you people talking about????

There sure is a lot of disappointment in Acropolis being put out there for something that isn't planned to released for another 9-12 months.

Goodbye Acropolis, I hardly knew you
Disappointed - extremely disappointed!
Acropolis or Acrapolis?

I agree that the releases are no where near complete, but come on, it's a product for a product that is not even close to being finished yet (Acropolis will NOT ship with Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5)!!!!!

I will be the first to admit that if we can't get to the guts of the Acropolis framework and it is not completely open for customization at a code level, we will probably shy away from it. The last thing I want to see is the CAB turned into a VB 6.0 like tool that makes you work twice as hard when implementing low level features.

We have used the CAB extensively and so far the direction of Acropolis looks like it is on the right course in relationship to the concepts being evolved. Time will tell how well this framework will meet the requirements of enterprise level development, but there is a lot of time left before it needs to.

I plan on spending about an hour or two playing with this release and then waiting on the next one. Playing with that for an hour or two and waiting on the next one. To be fair I don't plan on taking any of the releases seriously until after the release of Visual Studio 2008. We will be watching it's evolution and raise any red flags when appropriate. But right now in the course of evolution it isn't much more than primordial ooze.

_

Microsoft Code Name "Acropolis" July Community Technology Preview is Available

Microsoft Code Name "Acropolis" July Community Technology Preview is available for download.

Overview (from MSDN)
Building on the vision of software + services, Microsoft Code Name “Acropolis” makes it easier to build and manage modular, business-focused, client applications for Microsoft Windows with the .NET Framework. It builds on the rich capabilities of Microsoft Windows and the .NET Framework, including the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), by providing tools and pre-built components that help developers quickly assemble an application from loosely-coupled parts and services. Code Name “Acropolis” reduces the complexities of building occasionally connected client applications and provides the ability to assemble and reconfigure systems without having to write as much code. It is part of the .NET Client Futures release, Microsoft’s preview of upcoming technologies in Microsoft Windows client development, available now at www.windowsclient.net.

There are three downloads. One is an .MSI file that includes the July Community Technology Preview product, and the second download is the set of samples that accompanies this Community Technology Preview. You can also download a .CHM file with the Help documentation.

• AcropolisMSI The July Community Technology Preview version of Microsoft Code Name "Acropolis".
• AcropolisSamples The July Community Technology Preview version of Microsoft Code Name "Acropolis" Samples.
• Acropolis_Help The July Community Technology Preview version of Microsoft Code Name "Acropolis" Help documentation.

Get it Here.

Read more about the July CTP Here.
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New Virtual PC Download: Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Preconfigured on a Windows Vista Environment

Microsoft has put up a new download. It comes as a pre-configured VHD. The download enables you evaluate Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite in a Windows Vista environment. The download comes in 29 separate files. 28 of them are 95 MB, and 1 of them is 33 MB.

Overview (From MSDN)

• Visual Studio Team Suite, a member of the Visual Studio Team System, provides each member of the core software development team with the most comprehensive collection of tools for software design, development, and test.
• Provides multi-discipline team members with the flexibility to work seamlessly as an architect, developer, and tester within a single familiar Visual Studio development environment.
  Includes new functionality based on tools used within Microsoft for years to create world-class software.
• When used in conjunction with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, Team Suite fosters better team communication and provides project stakeholders with unprecedented transparency into the software development process.

Get it Here.
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ADO.NET Entity Framework June 2007 CTP is Available for Download

This install is a little weird. I will be waiting until it syncs up with one of the major releases of Visual Studio 2008. Right now the installation requirements call a freshly installed machine in order to install the .NET Framework 3.5 June 2007 CTP, Visual Web Developer Codename "Orcas" Express Edition June 2007 CTP, and the ADO.NET Entity Framework June 2007 CTP.

I already have 4 Virtual Machines I am maintaining and I don't want another one.

Check out the New installation instructions for June 2007 CTP for instructions on installing it if you are interested.

Overview (from MSDN)
This CTP contains updates to the ADO.NET Entity Framework since the Visual Studio Codename "Orcas" Beta 1 release, including changes in Object Services, Query, Entity Client, and the Entity Data Model Wizard in Visual Studio. Some of the new features include IPOCO, detaching from long-running ObjectContext instances, multiple entity sets per type, support for referential integrity constraints, span support, transactions, serialization, no more default constructors in code-generated classes, improvements to stored procedure support, access to the underlying store connection, directory macros in the entity connection string to support hosted scenarios, native SQL read-only views, UNICODE support in Entity SQL, query plan caching, and canonical functions in Entity SQL.

Get it Here.
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Feature Specifications and Downloads for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5

This page contains a list of the Feature Specifications for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5. They are all presented in a nice XPS format. Very cool...

This page contains all the Visual Studio 2008 Downloads. The Visual Studio 2008 Downloads page still points to the Beta 1 version of the .NET Framework 3.5. If you want the June 2007 CTP, go here.

You can also get An Overview of Microsoft Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" White Paper here.

A side note worth looking at is the Visual Studio 2008 Shell.
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Microsoft's Visual Studio Island in Second Life

First just let me say I am not at all excited about having a whole second world where Microsoft releases software. One world is enough. Actually I never play games because they are far to time consuming.

I figured I would check out the Visual Studio Island in Second Life however because they are planning some events, and my current company does not pay to send us to any events. Brad lists them here.

I would be willing to log in to hear talks and the such, I figure it is kind of just like any other webcast you have to log into.

In my first initial visit I teleported to a giant hole in the ground, then I fell off the second story balcony of the Microsoft Visual Studio Island Complex, and then finally arrived at the bulletin board below (A nice Second Life feature lets you take screenshots).




Click here for larger image.

I thought I would post that the signing up and logging in was effortless. I was in and transporting into holes and falling off balconies in no time at all. The signup process is painless and quick. I will most likely try to attend Brads ("Drab Beck" in Second Life) ASP.NET AJAX to Silverlight talk.

You can sign up to enter Microsoft's Visual Studio Island in Second Life here.
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Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 June 2007 Community Technology Preview (CTP) Available

The .NET Framework 3.5 June CTP is available for download.

Overview (From the MSDN download site)
.NET Framework 3.5 builds incrementally on the new features added in .NET Framework 3.0, for example, Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows CardSpace. In addition, .NET Framework 3.5 contains a number of new features in several technology areas.

These new features have been added as new assemblies to avoid breaking changes. They include the following:
--Deep integration of Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and data awareness. This new feature will let you write code written in LINQ-enabled languages to filter, enumerate, and create projections of several types of SQL data, collections, XML, and DataSets by using the same syntax.
--ASP.NET AJAX lets you create more efficient, more interactive, and highly-personalized Web experiences that work across all the most popular browsers.
--New Web protocol support for building WCF services including AJAX, JSON, REST, POX, RSS, ATOM, and several new WS-* standards.
--Full tooling support for WF, WCF, and WPF, including the new workflow-enabled services technology.
--New classes in .NET Framework 3.5 base class library (BCL) address the most common customer requests.

Get it HERE.
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Guidance Automation Extensions ( GAX ) 1.3 for ORCAS and Editing Text Template (T4) files.

In the past I have used the GAX/GAT (Guidance Automation Extensions / Guidance Automation Toolkit) tools extensively. On my current project we are not using them at all. We had planned too, but the client decided to take the project in a non Product Line direction.

In my previous assignment we used the GAX/GAT tools to create a configurable baseline framework of the core assets in a Software Product Line.

I noticed this post by David in which he talks about Guidance Automation Extensions ( GAX ) 1.3 for ORCAS and Visual Studio 2005 being in the Works.

One of my friends sent me this link the other day. The post has information and a download for the latest release of the Clarius Text Template Editor(T4). It looks like it will be a very handy addition to the Clarius Software Factories Toolkit.

SQL Server 2008 Videos, Webcasts, Courses, Datasheets, and Downloads

SQL Server 2008 is just around the corner, along with a lot of other releases from Microsoft. The SQL Server 2008 team is doing a pretty good job of get the information out in easy to digest formats. I have compiled a list of some of the best below:

Courses:
Clinic 7045: What's New in Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008
Description:
In this clinic, you will learn about the new and enhanced features included in SQL Server 2008. You will explore the new data types and the data management features. Additionally, you will learn about the enhanced Integration Services, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services included in SQL Server 2008. This online clinic is composed of a rich multimedia experience.

To get the most out of this clinic, it is recommended that you have:
Knowledge of general SQL database concepts that are largely independent of a specific version of SQL Server.
Knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 features.
Knowledge of deploying and upgrading database solutions.
Knowledge of how to solve performance issues related to SQL Server hardware.
Performed the job role of a SQL Server 2005 database administrator or database developer.
Product or technology experience in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005.

Objectives:
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
Describe the features of SQL Server 2008 and their benefits.
Describe the features of enterprise data platform that help you to secure data in applications.
Describe the dynamic development features that facilitate the development of database applications.
Describe the features of SQL Server 2008 that provide data storage solutions beyond relational databases.
Describe the enhanced features in SSIS that help you to integrate data effectively.
Describe the enhanced features in SSAS that help you to improve the BI infrastructure.
Describe the enhanced features in SSRS that help you to improve the scalability of the reporting engine.

Take the course here.

Videos:
SQL Server Platform Vision

Enterprise Data Platform Vision
SQL Server 2008 will provide a more secure, reliable and manageable enterprise data platform.

Beyond Relational
SQL Server 2008 will enable developers and administrators to save time by allowing them to store and consume any type of data from XML to documents.

SQL Server BI Vision
SQL Server 2008 provides a more scalable infrastructure that enables IT to drive business intelligence throughout the organization.

Dynamic Development
SQL Server 2008 along with .NET Framework 3.0 will accelerate the development of the next generation of applications.

Webcasts:
TechNet Webcast: The Next Release of Microsoft SQL Server: Overview
This session provides an overview of the next release of Microsoft SQL Server that is currently under development. We cover the core value proposition, major themes and scenarios, and some specific improvements. We also discuss the new development processes Microsoft is using to build this release, the release timeline, and the disclosure calendar. SQL Server 2008 Overview: On-demand webcast (Direct Download)

SQL Server Code Name "Katmai" Data Management Overview
Attend this session to gain an overview of Microsoft SQL Server code name "Katmai," the next generation of SQL Server. SQL Server "Katmai" provides an enterprise data platform for your mission-critical applications, while providing a dynamic development environment and comprehensive business intelligence (BI) platform. Join us as we discuss the key features available in the next version of SQL Server.


Live Webcasts
An Overview of Manageability in Microsoft SQL Server 2008
In this webcast, we focus on the database engine in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 to teach you more about what is in store for policy-driven administration and performance data collection and analysis. For your organization to thrive in today's world of data, you need a vision to address your data explosion needs. Join this session to see the exciting new manageability features in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 that target these needs while reducing total cost of ownership (TCO).

Data Warehousing Enhancements in Microsoft SQL Server 2008
Join this webcast to learn about the enhancements for data warehousing in the next version of Microsoft SQL Server. We discuss how Microsoft SQL Server 2008 provides a comprehensive, scalable data warehouse platform that enables you to quickly build a data warehouse. By integrating all relevant data into a comprehensive warehouse platform, SQL Server 2008 empowers you to manage your growing data volumes with an enterprise-ready relational database and deliver actionable insights with the integration of the Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) platform.

Going Beyond Relational Data with Microsoft SQL Server 2008
As the data your applications work with changes from "words and numbers" to "sights and sounds," we are evolving our data platform to go beyond relational data, beyond online analytical processing (OLAP), to truly support all of the digital data types of the future. We strive to deliver the best platform for integrated storage and advanced applications, such as spatial data. We also make it dramatically easier for you to build data-driven applications, without needing to invest significant resources to bridge the gap between data and programming language data structures. Join this webcast to learn about the new enhancements in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 that can help you manage all types of data.

Datasheets:
SQL Server 2008 Datasheet
SQL Server 2008 Product Overview

SQL Server 2008 CTP
Download the SQL Server 2008 CTP here
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