Atlanta .NET Regular Guys

Giving thanks to our sponsors during the holidays

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:55:25 GMT

During this time of year it is always nice to thank and give thanks to the sponsors who make this site possible. We would like to thank MaximumASP for their continued efforts to make this a great community.

The recently announced a new offering for their MaxV program to support Microsoft HyperV so I thought the least I could do was post the info and let everyone know. Here is a press release from PDC.

MaximumASP Launches “MaxV” Virtual Dedicated Hosting Accounts

Free 30 Day MaxV Introductory Accounts Debut at Microsoft Professional Developer Conference

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MaximumASP, a Microsoft Gold Certified Provider of web hosting and IT services, today announced that it will provide free 30 day introductory accounts on their new MaxV platform featuring Windows Server 2008® Hyper-V™ virtualization technology. The introductory offer will debut at PDC (http://www.microsoftpdc.com/) October 27-30 in Los Angeles.

PDC attendees from around the world will receive sign-up information for a MaxV account free of charge at MaximumASP Booth #1018 and at various locations throughout the show.

The MaxV Virtual Dedicated Plan is hosted on either WS 2008 or 2003 Operating Systems with 32- and 64-Bit Editions, Recurrent Backups, Remote Desktop, 1 GB RAM, 30 GB Disk Space, and 200 GB monthly bandwidth. MaxV supports SQL Server 2008 and 2005 or a high-performance Shared SQL server is also available.

MaxV provides a quantum leap in server virtualization features and resources, while still providing the same high level of Superior Support for which MaximumASP is known in the industry. High Availability, Intelligent Monitoring, Recurrent Backups and Scalability are already included on the MaxV platform.

MaxV Virtual Dedicated Servers are isolated and secure “server instances” that occur on a single physical server, enabling better server utilization while also ensuring that applications do not conflict with each other. Each MaxV instance performs and executes exactly like a stand-alone server; MaxV can be rebooted independently and provides independent root access, users, IP addresses, memory, processor utilization, files, applications, system libraries and configuration files.

Silas Boyle, Managing Partner of MaximumASP explains, “The MaxV virtual dedicated server provides a lower priced alternative to our dedicated server offerings without making any compromise on quality of services.” Each MaxV virtual dedicated server performs and executes exactly like a stand-alone server for its users and applications. Boyle also said, “MaxV is an outstanding way for customers to take advantage of many of the benefits of a dedicated server at a lower price point until they are ready to upgrade to a truly dedicated server.”

The light overhead, efficient design, overall completeness and proven performance of MaxV also make it the right virtualization choice for server consolidation, disaster recovery and production servers with live applications and data.

Dominic Foster said, “As a managed hosting partner focused solely on Microsoft technologies since 2000, we are uniquely qualified to provide the superior support that our business is built on. Our unmatched expertise with Microsoft technologies lead to direct involvement with Microsoft as first to offer IIS 7 and SQL 2008 betas in a hosted environment; partnering in the Go Live Program for Hyper-V; and product co-launches built on WS 2008 with Hyper-V technology.”

MaxV Key Benefits

Revolutionize your infrastructure! Don’t waste valuable time rebuilding applications and rewriting code.
Don’t compromise on your preference of development platforms, software, or security options. Install and run the applications and services you want without server and infrastructure management worries!
Add capacity as your business needs it to reduce costs and minimize energy consumption.
Manage from anywhere in the world utilizing Remote Desktop.
Don’t worry about it (whatever IT is. . .) – with MaxV it is probably included.
- High Availability clustering
- Scalability
- Intelligent Monitoring
- Recurrent Backups
- Superior Support
Never worry about failed hardware again – Rely on MaximumASP for around the clock, superior support.

About MaximumASP

MaximumASP based in Louisville, Kentucky. was founded in 2000 as an outsourcing firm for Microsoft Windows based hosting and IT services. The company currently hosts more than 48,000 domains for customers in over 60 countries. With a strong focus on hosting solutions that combine advanced monitoring and management tools, MaximumASP has become a top choice for Microsoft developers seeking a robust hosting platform for mission-critical web applications. For more information visit www.maximumasp.com

Did you miss PDC

Brendon Schwartz — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:09:27 GMT

Don't worry if you missed PDC there is an event in Atlanta just for you. On Dec 16th, there will be an event in town that covers many of the topics from PDC and the cost is just $99.

http://www.msdndevcon.com/Pages/Atlanta.aspx

Here is a intro from the page

"We’re bringing the PDC to you! For just $99 you’ll get the best of the PDC in your own backyard and hear all of the exciting announcements around the Azure Services Platform and Windows 7. Other sessions include the latest developments in .NET, Silverlight, Surface, Parallel Programming, Live Mesh, and more."

Some of the speakers are below, I am sure you have heard of them before.

David Scruggs
Jeff Barnes
Wallace B. McClure
Bruce Thomas
Mark Dunn
Todd Fine
Todd Miranda
Alan Stevens
Shawn Wildermuth
Jim Wooley
Mickey Gousset

My Microsoft Life Experience - updated!

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:17:53 GMT

I make not secret of the fact that I'm a Microsoft fanboy. I use a Microsoft Zune. I have several Xboxes (I kept 1 and gave 2 away). I use a Windows Mobile phone. This morning, my Microsoft Life got updated.

I fired up my Xbox 360 and downloaded the new Xbox Experience - an entirely new dashboard which introduces the "twist" style navigation familiar from the Zune and Windows Media Player. Now I have dozens of screens to look at and a generally improved way of navigating through the content. I spent all of about six minutes playing with it b/c I was excited to set up my most anticipated feature - integration to my NetFlix Instant Queue. Unfortunately I didn't get to demo that functionality as the NetFlix device activation web site was down. I'll hit that when I get home tonight. I also created an avatar, which I'd show you but apparently the Xbox Live site is still being worked on - I can't log in or look at my stats and friends.

I checked Twitter and saw Mike Gannotti talk about why he loves the Zune, including that he just got an update to the 3.1 firmware. This update includes new games like Soduku and some new listening features which I have yet to explore fully but anticipate loving the hell out of!

I'm thrilled with the new updates and can't wait to waste unbelievable hours of what would be marginally productive time listening to music, watching movies, and playing games. All I can say is that if the NetFlix integration is as awesome as I hope it is, I'm going to cancel HBO and ShowTime (and save a bucket of money). Next up - Windows Mobile 6.5. Rumors indicate we may finally see Zune software integration on handsets which will give me yet another way to kill my battery superfast. Yay!

Using Windows Live SkyDrive to share large files

Matt Ranlett — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:30:02 GMT

Figure 1 - SkyDrive home page

Windows Live SkyDrive is an online file storage and sharing system which can be used to replace a traditional FTP server.

http://skydrive.live.com

Sign in with a Windows Live ID (you can create one if you don’t already have one). Your Windows Live ID can be used for a multitude of services, including Hotmail, Expedia, Windows Live Messenger, MSN Spaces, and more.

Figure 2 - SkyDrive folders

SkyDrive can be used to store up to 5 Gb online with 3 different levels of security: Personal, Shared, and Public. Personal folders are extremely secured. Only you, with your Windows Live ID, can access Personal folders. Shared folders are password protected and can be accessed only by e-mail accounts you specify. Public folders are exposed to the Internet with no security – anyone can look at the contents of a Public folder if they have the proper link.

Figure 3 - SkyDrive Shared Folder options

When creating a Shared folder, you have the option to name the folder and specify who can access the folder. When picking people who have access, you can select from anyone in your Hotmail or Windows Live Messenger contacts list or you can explicitly specify e-mail addresses. You also have the ability to specify the level of access a user of your folder has – whether or not they can change or add items to the shared folder. An e-mail will automatically be sent to the people you have granted access to.

Figure 4 - SkyDrive e-mail notification

The HTML e-mail received by your invited guests gives them a link to the shared folder.

A losing proposition

Matt Ranlett — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:46:51 GMT

The numbers have been hidden to protect the innocent but the total drop from the high point to the low point represents 17 lbs to date. The chart was generated on www.LiveStrong.com, which allows you to track food intake, exercise, and more on The Daily Plate.

Local Atlanta Community Leader on TechEd Online

Brendon Schwartz — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:58:39 GMT

Have you been wondering what Jim Wooley has been doing lately? He has been working hard at code camps, Atlanta user groups and now is on the front of Microsoft Tech Online!

Jim is the Bloggers Spotlight

You can see Jim and more at http://www.microsoft.com/techedonline

Also if you want to keep up with LINQ and Jim's blog look at http://www.thinqlinq.com/

Social Computing and SharePoint - Houston SharePoint User Group presentation

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:24:00 GMT

This past Wednesday (Oct 15) I was the featured presenter at the Houston SharePoint User Group. I gave a well received presentation on Social Computing in SharePoint and how the Web 2.0 ideas can be used in combination with SharePoint to bring real business value to the enterprise. Due to time limitations, I broke the slide deck into two parts (in case I couldn't get to the second part). I've posted the slide decks online along with the demos I talked about. During the presentation, I only managed to get through the Wiki walkthrough.

Presentations	Advanced demos
Social Computing & SharePoint - first part - basic demos	Wiki walkthrough
Social Computing & SharePoint - second part - advanced demos	Blog walkthrough

About fifty people showed up, based on my rough eyeballing of the room. I was able to convince some members of the audience that I was serious about having an interactive presentation and managed to get some great feedback during the presentation.

It was great to meet everyone there and I'm sure that I'll be back.

* cross-post with SharePointGuys blog

Struggling back after a long silence

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:23:30 GMT

I've been pretty quiet here on the blog recently. Lots of work has been going on, work at my job, work at home, and work on SharePoint-related items which has taken up my full attention. However, light is showing at the end of the tunnel and I'm committing to getting back into the blogging spirit. Look for more posts and general activity from me, coming soon...

Presenting at the Houston SharePoint User Group tonight

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:35:00 GMT

I'll be presenting at the Houston SharePoint User Group tonight, for anyone who knows me in that area.

Local community member working with HeroBox.org

Brendon Schwartz — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:01:21 GMT

Ryan Housley, one of the Atlanta community members that helped start and run MOSSmosis, a SharePoint user groups, is now going to help another great cause. He is helping HeroBox.org to send custom care packages to American soliders. Help support him in his cause.

You can find out more at their site:

www.herobox.org
http://heroboxblog.blogspot.com/

Virtualization Launch Event in Atlanta

Brendon Schwartz — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:49:21 GMT

Register today and getVIRTUALnow.
Atlanta event November 17, 2008

https://www.getvirtualnow.com/usevents/CitySelect.aspx

Find out how Windows Server 2008® with Hyper-V™, Microsoft System Center--including Virtual Machine Manager 2008—and Microsoft Desktop and Application Virtualization can help you virtualize from the data center to the desktop.

Choose from the seminars, the labs, and the expo booths.
Get access to everything, from three seminar sessions to the all-day Solutions Pavilion featuring Microsoft experts, virtualization technology partners, and Hands-on Labs.

Take virtualization home.
Take home a free readiness kit** that includes product, training materials, product evaluations, and learning opportunities.

User Group members can win 5 books from InformIT.com

Matt Ranlett — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:01:20 GMT

Pearson Education User Group Program

www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome

www.ciscopress.com/usergroup

It’ll only take a minute and helps us better serve your needs! Entrants could win five free books of their choice from InformIT.com!

Take it now!

http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=136703

We want you to participate in the user groups

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:27:39 GMT

Sometimes we don't have a formal process for getting people involved in the user groups, but if you are interested we want you to participate.

There are a couple of areas you can always help with such as:

Speaking at a user group
Updating the Web Sites
Getting a sponsor for a user group
Planning the food
Planning a place to go after the user group
Organizing the meeting location

Even though we don't have a formal process for any of these if you are interested or even curious, just email me and let me know which user group you want to help out.

We even want Aaron to participate, maybe as a speaker.

Great news Andrew Connell is coming to Atlanta to teach WCM

Brendon Schwartz — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:03:43 GMT

Here is the information I received from AC.

I’m pleased to help announce that there will be a local (Atlanta) training class for SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management. The instructor for this class is Andrew Connell, who is one of the world’s leading trainers for MOSS 2007 Web Content Management & recently released the first and only book on the subject: Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development. Andrew was also a renowned specialist in the previous Microsoft Content Management Server 2001 and 2002 technologies.

This isn't like other classes that hire contractors to write their courses, this course was written and developed 100% by the instructor, Andrew Connell. The class covers virtually all development topics related to WCM / Publishing sites such as building master pages, page layouts, field types & controls, Web Parts and custom workflows. In addition, it also covers creating multilingual sites using variations, performance enhancing techniques required for Internet-facing SharePoint sites, extending the authoring experience and security.

While the course does demonstrate and teach you how to use tools such as Office SharePoint Designer 2007 in creating master pages, page layouts and custom workflows, but students are taken a step further in understanding SharePoint customization vs. development. Along this concept, students will learn how to create all these different things (master pages, page layouts, custom workflows) as well as site columns, content types, list templates & instances among other things using Features and solutions. This latter approach makes life much easier for developers and WCM site implementers to move their custom code and layout files to other members of their development team as well as from development to user acceptance to staging and ultimately onto production.

Here's a list of the modules in the course:

WSS Development Primer
Web Content Management Architecture
Authentication & Authorization
Master Pages & Navigation
Creating Custom Page Layouts
Extending the Out-Of-The-Box Authoring Experience
Leveraging WCM & Custom Web Parts
Custom Field Types & Field Controls
Performance Tuning Publishing Sites
Understanding WF (Workflow Foundation) & Creating Interactive Workflows
Content Deployment
Implementing Multilingual Sites Using Variations

This is a 4-Day class, and will be held on the Microsoft Technology Center in Alpharetta, GA. The price is $2,395. To register, please use the URL below.

More Class Information: http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/articles/MossWcmDeveloperClasses.aspx

To Register: http://www.tedpattison.net/register.aspx?OfferingID=117

Need to remember what tasks to do

Brendon Schwartz — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:07:03 GMT

If you want to have lists of items to track that you can make public and private check out

Remember The Milk

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

It is funny they have a very similar logo to ours. The great part is that it is available from many different sources and all you have to is send it an email.

Anyone else have any good sites for keeping up with lists?