Do you know one of these Messenger-etiquette offenders? How do YOU deal with them?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:10:23 GMT

Windows Live Messenger provides a great deal of freedom in how you can communicate and with whom, but I’m sure we all know people that like to push the boundaries of Messenger-etiquette…

Here’s a quick look the top 5 Messenger etiquette offenders:

1. The YELLERS

CAPS-LOCK IS APPARENTLY ALWAYS ON FOR THESE USERS AND THEY HAVE A STRONG AFFINITY FOR THE EXCLAIMATION MARK!!! REGARDLESS OF THE TOPIC, YOU CAN COUNT ON A LOUD RESPONSE!!!

2. Emoticon overload

Qixing’s Blend and SketchFlow Mini-Tutorials…

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:10:22 GMT

Qixing Zheng just posted a series of short video tutorials on Blend 3 and SketchFlow. See them at: http://blogs.msdn.com/canux/archive/tags/Mini-tutorial/default.aspx Stay tuned, more on SketchFlow very soon…...( read more )...(read more)

Experimenting with User Interface Colors with Expression Design

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:10:22 GMT

Learn more about how to apply the right colors for your user interface. In this video you will experiment how to apply colors to a user interface. Learn more about color while exploring Expression Design. Experimenting with User Interface Colors with...(read more)

Three great screencasts on Silverlight unit testing

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:10:21 GMT

If you're looking to learn more about Silverlight unit testing, here are 3 screencasts of interest....( read more )...(read more)

Route Optimization in Bing Maps powered by OnTerra’s free Stop Optimization Service

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:10:24 GMT

OnTerra is a Microsoft Partner specialized on tailored Bing Maps solutions and focussing on but not limited to tracking and fleet management. Recently they launched a free beta version of a Stop Optimization Service. The service allows you to send an unlimited list of stops for your route and receive a string with the order of the stops optimized for the shortest driving distance. Let’s have a quick look at how it works:

Bing Maps supports out-of-the-box Multi-Waypoint Routing for up to 25 stops through the method VEMap.GetDirections. However, the routing algorithm processes the stops always in the order in which they appear in the array of locations. If we want to start for example a trip in the Microsoft Office in Reading and want to visit Swindon, Oxford, Maidenhead and Newbury before we return to the Microsoft office we have to know in which order we want to visit these cities. If we just send the list in the order mentioned above it will guide us from one location to the next in exactly this order and come up with a route that is 185 miles long and takes about 3 hours and 20 minutes of drive time.

Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:10:23 GMT

I got a MVP award from Microsoft for my activities on the online community, especially in the Silverlight category....( read more )...(read more)

Choosing Colors to Complement Your User Interface with Expression Design

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:10:21 GMT

Learn more about how to choose the right colors for your user interface. In this video from the Principles of Design Series by Arturo Toledo, you will learn a few techniques to pick colors that work well with each other. Choosing the right colors for...(read more)

JUST RELEASED: p&p Acceptance Test Engineering Guide, Volume I - beta2

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:10:21 GMT

Microsoft patterns & practices is excited to announce the latest addition to the p&p library of software engineering guidance: Acceptance Test Engineering Guide, Volume I (BETA 2) Codeplex site: http://codeplex.com/TestingGuidance Here is some...(read more)

31 Days of SIlverlight !

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:10:21 GMT

Jeff Blankenburg has committed to publishing a Silverlight article EVERY DAY for the Month of July. [ CLICK HERE ] to check it out. Technorati Tags: Microsoft , Silverlight...( read more )...(read more)

Dublin data centre to improve Windows Live in Europe

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:10:33 GMT

In a blog entry yesterday entitled Microsoft Brings Two More Mega Data Centers Online in July Arne Josefsberg, General Manager of Infrastructure Services at Microsoft, announced that his team were about to fire up a new data centre in Dublin, Ireland; the big switch on is tomorrow, 1st July.

Speaking about this data centre back in November 2007 Microsoft's Vice President of the EMEA Online Services Group, John Mangelaars said:

“This is the first mega data centre deployment outside the US specifically targeted for the growth and performance of Windows Live services” (Microsoft Confirms Dublin Data Center Plans)

Well that all sounds like good news. Over the past few months I've found myself getting more and more frustrated with page load times on Windows Live which seem, to me, to be getting worse and they wre never particularly speedy in the first place. The login process at http://login.live.com is particularly troublesome which often takes 4 or 5 seconds (an age in internet time) and which, in the worst of cases, sometimes ends up in what I can only describe as an infinite loop of page redirects.

Here's hoping that we in Europe see a marked improvement in Windows Live services after this new data centre comes into operation tomorrow.

@Jamiet

So Much Is Happening The Silence Is Deafening!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:10:20 GMT

June has been a madhouse month; I’ve been working 80 hour weeks as has just about everyone who has anything to do with Silverlight, and yet there has been very little noise. It is, as they say, the quiet before the storm. As you know, we can’t yet talk...(read more)

WPF Toolkit: Charting release

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:10:23 GMT

The Silverlight Toolkit's chart controls have made their way into the WPF Toolkit! More details on David's blog....( read more )...(read more)

Organizational Chaos Followup

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:10:25 GMT

About a month ago I wrote about getting organized . Since it is Sunday and I’m saving my big announcement blog entry for tomorrow morning <smile>, I thought I’d take a moment for a not-so-quick follow up. Two Philosophies...(read more)

Game Programming with Silverlight.

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:10:21 GMT

Tomorrow, June 30th, is the release date for my book titled “ Game Programming with Silverlight ”. Writing this book was a great experience as it was the first book I have ever written. It was extremely time consuming mostly because it was a learning...(read more)

Principles of Design Series: Learning about Points, Lines, and Form using Expression Design

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:10:21 GMT

Learn more about the point, line and form; elements of design (some theorists see them as principles of design). These elements are the foundation you can use to compose and design user interfaces. Explore these elements while exploring Expression Design...(read more)

Imagine Cup 2009 – Team Croatia Builds GeoScout with Bing Maps

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:10:17 GMT

The Imagine Cup 2009 finals is in full swing. On July 3, 2009 in Cairo the winner will be announced for the most innovative project. The Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition, Imagine Cup is one way Microsoft is encouraging young people to apply their imagination, their passion, and their creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world – today. Now in its seventh year, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a global event. In 2008, more than 200,000 students from 100 countries entered the Imagine Cup competition.

The Croatian Team consisting of Tomislav Fotak, Ivan Lozić, Marko Škvorc, Ivan Švogor integrated Deep Earth (which uses Bing Maps) into their GeoScout.net project. Check out the videos of GeoScout to better understand how they’re leveraging Bing Maps.

GeoScout.Net is a platform which main purpose is emphasizing information flows, bringing experts, organizations, societies and people together. The fundamental assumption of this platform began with e-Governance. To visualize it, you can picture a pyramid. The idea that guides us is to

Unit Testing with .NET RIA Services

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:10:22 GMT

Vijay , one of the folks working on RIA Services recently posted a very good overview of how to do Unit Testing with .NET RIA Services. I think this is an important benefit of adopting the RIA Services pattern. Check it out and let us know...(read more)

Silverlight Attached Behavior and Commands

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:10:23 GMT

Recently, I am doing some research related to Attached Behavior and Command. The attached Behavior and Command features are only available in Silverlight 3 Beta and also Blend 3 Preview. If you want to experience how useful is it, please install those...(read more)

WPF Charting: It's official! [June 2009 release of the WPF Toolkit is now available!]

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:10:23 GMT

The WPF Toolkit team just published the June 2009 release of the WPF Toolkit . Those of you who know I'm on the Silverlight Toolkit team are probably wondering why this is relevant - so let's get right to the release notes for the next version of Silverlight...(read more)

Via Windows Live

Do you know one of these Messenger-etiquette offenders? How do YOU deal with them?

Qixing’s Blend and SketchFlow Mini-Tutorials…

Experimenting with User Interface Colors with Expression Design

Three great screencasts on Silverlight unit testing

Route Optimization in Bing Maps powered by OnTerra’s free Stop Optimization Service

Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional)

Choosing Colors to Complement Your User Interface with Expression Design

JUST RELEASED: p&p Acceptance Test Engineering Guide, Volume I - beta2

31 Days of SIlverlight !

Dublin data centre to improve Windows Live in Europe

So Much Is Happening The Silence Is Deafening!

WPF Toolkit: Charting release

Organizational Chaos Followup

Game Programming with Silverlight.

Principles of Design Series: Learning about Points, Lines, and Form using Expression Design

Imagine Cup 2009 – Team Croatia Builds GeoScout with Bing Maps

Unit Testing with .NET RIA Services

Silverlight Attached Behavior and Commands

WPF Charting: It's official! [June 2009 release of the WPF Toolkit is now available!]