After a long and healthy life, the good Fox is now dead.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2103695,00.asp

Speaking with Tamar Granor (FoxPro MVP) at the MVP Summit, we discussed the fact that there are at least 5 good years ahead for a good FoxPro consultant maintening and migrating all these apps.

Here's a picture taken at the MVP Summit. From left to right: Jean-Luc David (hiding), Étienne Tremblay,Mario Cardinal, Éric Moreau, laurent Duveau and me (pointing).  All Canadian MVPs had that great Canada hockey jersey.  Let me say that we were very noticable.  What a great idea from Sasha, our Canadian MVP lead!

Éric Moreau and Laurent Duveau were interviewed (in French) at the MVP Summit but the Benelux RD.

http://blogs.developpeur.org/redo/archive/2007/03/13/mvp-summit-2007-le-programme-mvp-au-quebec.aspx

I arrived in Seattle for the MVP Summit yesterday.  It was not an uneventful flight...

My Montreal departure was at 8:20AM so I arrived at Montreal-Trudeau at 6:15AM only to spent 45 minutes in line at Air Canada.  At one point, a lady asked the people in line if there were people heading to Denver (I was) and started to give us hell because we were late.  I told her that I was in line at 6:15AM and she told me that wasn't early enough!!!  One gentleman ask her if we needed to come a day before the flight.  C'mon!

Next was the American customs...
2 years ago, I had the worst experience ever crossing to the US with an over zealous custom officer.  Guest what?  I meet my friend again.  I don't mind beeing asked questions trying to disorient people.  I don't mind because it's important.  I don't mind because it's all about security.  What I don't like the tone this custom officer takes when trying to distabilize people.  He walks a fine line and almost insulted me.  That, I don't like.  Do you job but do it respecting people.

"Where do you live?"
"Montreal"
"How to you came to the airport?"
"I drove"
"Wow!  You must be self employed to drive here?"
"??????  Yes, I'm self employed"
and so on....

Oh BTW, the face recognition algorythms are clearly working.  Remember your last passport picture?  They are now taken with some very strick rules well, the custom officer haven't even scanned my passport that he was asking me questions that only my file would reveal.

2 years ago, that guy must have flagged me in the US custom system because for 6 months, every time I crossed the border, my luggages were searched.  I just hope that he didn't do that this time.

OK, so I had a connection thru enver.  The layover was a short 35 minutes.  I feared that my luggage wouldn't make it and...yep.  After waiting 30 minutes, I was told that it didn't made it and it would came on the next flight (4PM).  At least it was not lost.  The luggage finaly arrived at my hotel at 9:30PM.  Boy was I relived.

My good friends Etienne Tremblay, Mario Cardinal and Laurent Duveau picked me up at the airport after a pilgrinage at Fry's, geek heaven on earth.  They each bought a Zune.  Cool!

I'm heading to the MVP Summit that is taking place in Seattle and Redmond.  I won't be able to report most of the stuff hapenning over there because this is a conference under NDA.  This press release explains what is the Summit all about:

Microsoft Recognizes Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) at 2007 MVP Global Summit
Gathering acknowledges the technical community contributions of more than 3,500 individuals

REDMOND, Wash. —Feb. 20, 2007 — In the wake of the largest product launch in the company’s history, Windows Vista, 2007 Office system and Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Corp. will host the 2007 MVP Global Summit. This annual event recognizes the value that Microsoft designated MVPs around the world provide in helping to make its products successful while honoring their contributions to the objective exchange of knowledge and their dedication to enriching the Microsoft user experience.

MVPs are individuals recognized by Microsoft as outstanding technical community leaders who make an exceptional impact on the IT industry by actively, and voluntarily, sharing their expertise in technical communities worldwide.  Recent examples of the MVP influence on Microsoft’s products and technology users include:
• More than 2000 MVPs participated in the Windows Vista beta program
• On average, a newsgroup posting by an MVP will receive more than 43,000 views
• In 2006, the MVP community contributed more than 300 Knowledge Base (KB) articles in 7 languages across all Microsoft products.

 “Every year, the MVP Award program continues to evolve to reflect the diversity in today’s technical communities,” said Sean O’Driscoll, general manager of Community Support and MVP, Microsoft. “This year is no different. The MVPs serve as an inspiration, sharing their expertise and passion for technology communities with an unyielding drive to help others.”

Scheduled for March 12 – 15, the 2007 MVP Global Summit will be held in Seattle, WA at the Washington State Convention Center and at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, WA.  The event will kick off with a keynote address by Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates.  More information can be found at http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/MVPsummit.

About the Microsoft MVP Program
Microsoft began the MVP Awards in 1993 as a way to recognize members of the general public who devoted their time and technical expertise to helping users in various online technical forums. Over time the program evolved, and today awards are given to members of technical communities worldwide for their contributions to traditional communities (such as public newsgroups, forums, third-party websites, user groups, book  authors, event speakers) and emerging forums (such as web boards, blogs, and wikis). More information about the MVP Award and the 2007 MVPs can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/mvp. More information on Microsoft technical communities can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/communities.

Ludovic Dubois: Métaprogrammation

La métaprogrammation consiste à écrire des programmes en utilisant des programmes. Nous discutons avec Ludovic Dubois des moyens d'introspection et de modification du code en cours d'exécution disponible sur la plate-forme .Net.  Entre autres, nous discutons de la différence majeure entre l'introspection et la réflexion du code.

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It's been a while since Sandcastle was updated.  You can now download the March CTP.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e82ea71d-da89-42ee-a715-696e3a4873b2&displaylang=en&tm

Can't wait to see this product released because nDoc is dead and thee's no replacement yet.

Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista is now available.

Basically, you need to apply this after installing SP1.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=90e2942d-3ad1-4873-a2ee-4acc0aace5b6&displaylang=en&tm

Well, SQL Server 2005 SP2 was released a few weeks ago and we already (!) are seeing hotfixes for it:

Cumulative hotfix package (build 3152) for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933097

Critical Update for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (KB:933508)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=e2c358a1-ecc4-4c49-8f65-daa6b7800eec&displaylang=en

Infragistics NetAdvantage for .NET 2007 Volume 1 is released!

As of this morning, their Website hasn't been update but if you're a NetAdvantage subscriber, you should have received an email with a download link.

Interested in a free copy of ConceptDraw MindMap 4 Personal Edition? Then head there for your free copy:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Hurry, this offer is limited to March 6, 2007!

Looks like the man in the suit is on MySpace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=157443059

Make sure you scroll down and take a look at his friends.  One of the them is Elvis Trooper!

Seen a strange new icon in your Messenger lately?

Here's the explanation: http://im.live.com

i’m is a new initiative from Windows Live™ Messenger. Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes. We've set no cap on the amount we'll donate to each organization. The sky's the limit. There's no charge, so join now and put our money where your mouth is.

i’m is about making a difference. Not in a huge expensive way, not in a time-consuming way. But in a simple, effective way.

You won't have to change your conversation to change the conversation. With every instant message you help address the issues you feel most passionate about, including poverty, child protection, disease, and environmental degradation. It's simple. All you have to do is join and start an instant messaging conversation. We'll handle the donation.

Once you've signed up, every ad you see in your message window contributes to the grand total we send to the causes.

At this time, the i’m initiative is available only in the United States.

Within Windows Live Messenger, click Tools and select Options. Place the text code corresponding to the cause of your choice into your Display Name.

Text Code      Cause
*red+u          American Red Cross
*bgca           Boys & Girls Club
*naf             National AIDS Fund
*mssoc         National Multiple Sclerosis Society
*9mil            ninemillion.org
*sierra          Sierra Club
*help            StopGlobalWarming.org
*komen         Susan G. Komen for the Cure
*unicef         The US fund for UNICEF

 

Visual Studio Orcas March CTP is now available for download as an install or a virtual machine.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700831.aspx

So, what's this?

http://www.defyallchallenges.com/

I was asked this a couple of times so I thought I’d post the info here.  Here's a tip for a cheap hotel near the Venetian hotel where Mix07 will take place.  The Imperial Palace is located just beside the Venetian and the rooms are way cheaper than the $250 Mix07 special rate at the Venetian.  Sure, it won’t be as luxurious as the Venetian but usually, you don’t spend much time in your hotel room when attending a Microsoft conference.  After reading the reviews on the Web, I seleted the DeLuxe room over the Standard room.  Looks like the Standard rooms haven't been renovated in a while and are a little dated.

http://www.imperialpalace.com/

This is from Expedia.ca in Canadian $$$

Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino Tarif moy. le plus bas 56,92 C$

Las Vegas, NV Zone : The Strip

Informations supplémentaires sur l'établissement d'hébergement

Recherche de disponibilité : 1 chambre tarif promotionnel Expedia dim. 29-avr.-2007 au mer. 2-mai-2007

Type de chambre dim. lun. mar. Tarif moy. (par nuit)  Chambre standard 57 C$ 57 C$ 57 C$ 56,92 C$  Réserver  Chambre de luxe 80 C$ 80 C$ 80 C$ 80,15 C$  Réserver  Chambre, jacuzzi X 91 C$ 91 C$ N/A

Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce

Author: Brian Noyes
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN-10: 0321197690
ISBN-13: 978-0321197696
Retail Price: $44.99 US, $55.99 CDN
Publication Date: January 2007
Softcover: 298 pages
Online information: Table of Contents, Sample chapter
URL: http://www.awprofessional.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0321197690&rl=1

Source code available from the author's Website
URL: http://www.softinsight.com/clickoncebook

When Microsoft released .NET in 2002, most enterprises switched their development platform from VB6 Windows applications to ASP.NET Web applications.  Why?  I guess that they had suffered enough in DLL Hell, deploying and maintaining COM applications.  Sure, deploying Web applications is a lot easier then deploying a “fat/smart client” on hundred of desktops but the fact is that “fat/smart clients” a more feature rich then their Web counterparts.

Microsoft realizing that, introduced a new concept in Visual Studio 2005: ClickOnce.  The concept behind ClickOnce is to make smart client deployment as easy as deploying Web applications.  With this, you get the best of both worlds.

Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce is a book targeted at developers and architects wanting to learn more about ClickOnce.  Since a ClickOnce deployment is so easy to create, I was first intrigued that there would be enough material to fill a book.  Well, I was wrong because there are a lot of hidden capabilities in ClickOnce.  In the first part of the book, Brian Noyes explains the concepts behind Smart clients and step you thru you first ClickOnce deployment.  He then goes deeper by explaining how you can you the ClickOnce API to manage the updates yourself.  You’ll also see techniques on how to update files like databases without overwriting them.  Security is very important and a whole chapter is devoted to this.  Finally, you’ll read about deploying prerequites with the Bootstrapper and advanced topics like how to deploy COM and WPF applications with ClickOnce.

While I was evaluating if ClickOnce would fill the needs of a client of mine, this book helped me get a better understanding of ClickOnce, helped me ask the right questions and helped me do a correct proof of concept.  If you’re thinking of using ClickOnce, look no further, this is a great resource.  High praises for Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce.