March 2006 - Posts
I haven't posted anything this week due to being miserably sick since I returned from Mix06. However, here are the weekly highlights:
Last night, I updated the nameservers for my domain to use my VPS hosted by ASPNix. I manually edited the DNS of my GoDaddy account to redirect all requests to this site. This alleviates the headache of some people hitting the GoDaddy hosted site instead of this one until the domain change completely propagates across the web.
My GoDaddy account has been set to expire in a couple of weeks. You can believe that I am happy about that. Their service may be great for some people, but my patience expired a long time ago due to all of the trust issues. If you read my blog much at all, you don't have to go back very far to see me complaining about GoDaddy. In any case, I guess that is enough said about the subject.
So far, I am extremely pleased with the service provided by ASPNix. I highly recommend their VPS plans to anyone that is interested. They also have reasonable shared hosting plans that are competitive with GoDaddy.
Let's hope this is the last complaining you hear from me about hosting services for a while.
As you may have noticed, I am now running Community Server 2.0. I love this platform. The blog and photo galleries are perfectly suited to my needs. As time permits, I plan on modifying the CSS for more of a custom look.
After seeing so many cool things at Mix06, I thought it would be a good idea to bring some of that information back to our area for developers that were unable to attend. Consequently, I have submitted two presentations for the Alabama Code Camp.
Cool Stuff with Windows Live Messenger
This session will provide an overview some of the cool capabilities of the new Windows Live Messenger such as Bots, Activities, and Alerts. Come and learn about the potential value these features can add to your business.
Introduction to Windows Live Search Macros
This session will provide an overview of Search Macros available via Windows Live Search. Learn how to create these customized searches that dramatically impact the quality of your search results as well as how to integrate them into your site.
There is still a need for more speakers. So, if you are interested or know of someone that would like to make a presentation, then fill out the submission form and send it over to Joe Healy as soon as possible.
See you at Code Camp!
Here we are at the last day of Mix06. Due to an early afternoon flight, I wasn't able to attend many of the sessions this morning. However, I was able to catch Nikhil Kothari's presentation on Building Components and Services for the Programmable Web. This was a good presentation that went into some detail about leveraging Atlas to develop mash-up applications. He delivered an example that effectively demonstrates how useful it is for these applications to expose data via services and APIs. You can download his PowerPoint presentation here.
I would have to say that the conference was a success. It was definitely enjoyable, informative, and helped rekindle some of my passion to get in there and experiment with code using these cutting edge technologies. My mind is reeling with lots of potential ideas to try out when I get back home. This is an exciting time for developers as these new technologies start to become mainstream late this year and early next year. It is important to keep your skill sets updated. Download the SDKs and mess around with them. During transitional periods like the one that is coming, it is particularly easy to find yourself slipping behind in terms of your knowledge and skills that make you marketable.
Another day has come and gone at Mix06.
Today, I attended Scott Isaacs presentation entitled: Lessons from the Trenches: Engineering Great AJAX Experiences. I have to give props to Scott for squeezing in so much compressed material in such a short time slot. He outlined a lot of good things to consider when developing AJAX-style applications. You can download his PowerPoint presentation here. I would definitely recommend reviewing it if you are doing some serious AJAX development.
I also caught part a presentation to get an overview of WPF/E (Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere) delivered by Joe Stegman. In case you don't know, WPF/E is a subset of WPF that is intended to be cross-platform compatible. Basically, the idea is to allow certain aspects of WPF to be available for all major web browsers and operating systems other than windows. However, it doesn't stop there. They want to extend this concept to apply to mobile devices and smart clients as well. This was a cool first glimpse. Joe did a great job of demoing the current prototype. Hopefully, his PowerPoint presentation will be available for download in a few weeks.
Finally, I attended Making Your Site Work with IE7 Security by Rob Franco. He outlined changes necessary to make your site work in the IE7 security model. For the most part, I don't really see anything that will require drastic changes. The biggest difference is that the browser is much more secure by default. However, it is still a presentation worth reading once it becomes available for download.
So, what happened on the first day at Mix 06?
Bill Gates delivered an impressive keynote speech where he outlined Microsoft's vision of using their products (such as IE 7, IIS 7, Vista, WPF, and Windows Live) to bring the web experience to a whole new level for both users and developers. Scott Guthrie also gave a presentation that effectively conveyed how quickly Atlas can be used to build an AJAX enabled web application. Finally, Tim O'Reilly quizzed Bill about some various topics and had some general Q&A with the audience.
I got my first glimpse of the latest build of IE 7. It has progressed a long way from the first beta. I really like how they have simplified the interface by removing a lot of the buttons. This saves a lot of screen real estate that can be used for displaying pages. There have also been some dramatic improvements to the security feature of the browser. For instance, if you reduce your security settings to a low level that puts your computer at risk, the browser will warn you about it. Even if you close the browser, you will get a warning about your security configuration the next time it is opened. In addition, a feature has been added that changes the color of the background of the address bar to red when you visit a reported phishing site. If you visit a site with a valid security certificate, then the background will turn green.
I also got my first real exposure to Windows Live and WPF. I must say that my jaw dropped in awe at some of the capabilities. The graphics abilities in WPF is simply amazing. Using XAML, it is incredibly easy to quickly develop powerful applications that take advantage of the framework. Windows Live is also a very compelling web platform. I am excited about getting home so I can experiment with some code to leverage the platform. It is very sexy the way Microsoft has architected Live using a mashup philosophy. Gadget integration in Live is going to revolutionize the way a lot of people use the web. I think I may have found a good topic for a Code Camp session.
So far, this has been an awesome conference that was well worth the trip.
As of today, I finally acquired a Virtual Private Server from ASPNix. So far, I am very pleased with their service. They definitely offer some good competition regarding getting your money's worth.
I must say that I had forgotten how much work can be involved when you take complete control in a VPS scenario. It had been a long time since I was completely responsible for setting up IIS from scratch, creating DNS entries, and routing as well. Even though it is more work up front, it is going to be flippin' sweet to have complete control over the trust level of my site.
By next week, I will hopefully complete the process of transferring all content from GoDaddy to the new server. I keep going back and forth on whether I want to use Community Server 2.0 or DotNetNuke 4.2.2. Currently, I am swaying towards using the Express Edition of CS 2.0. The public face of my site primarily consists of my blog and photo galleries. While I really do like DNN, I just haven't been able to find any good blog modules. Personally, I am not that crazy about DNN's supplied blog module. Once I clear a few other projects off my slate, I might tackle writing my own DNN blog module tailored to my specific tastes.
In the meantime, don't be surprised to see a completely different look for my blog. It will be the first step of transitioning to a completely different website.
Yesterday, the Made In Express Contest was launched.
This is a cool opportunity to demonstrate your creativity while getting some cash and recognition. You have until April 30th to submit an idea. Check out the website for complete details.
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Disclaimer:The opinions and views expressed within this blog are solely my own and do not represent those of my employer or anyone else.