[Looking for opinions, links, articles and so on]

How do you implement LINQ to SQL in a classic 3-tiers (presentation, BAL, DAL) app?  A simple question, right?

So, if I create my LINQ to SQL DataAccess classes in a DAL, this is where the transport objects will reside.  I usually create a layer just for that so each layer can reference those objects.  Now, the presentation layer must reference the DAL directly.  Yuck!

OK, so let's return POCOs to the presentation layer instead.  Well, I'm losing all the change tracking stuff provided by LINQ to SQL.  Yuck!

What if I need to expose my BAL layer as a set of WCF services?  Well, I'm also losing the change tracking.  Yuck!

And what if I want to data bind my grid?  Using the designer, I need to point to the DataClasses sitting in the DAL.  Yuck!

OK, I'll lose the change tracking stuff.  Now I'll have to reload each record before saving it?  Yuck!

The way I see it, the only way you can possibly use LINQ to SQL is if you develop your app in a single layer.  I must be wrong.  I must miss something.  This can't be real.  Stunned!

 

Infragistics NetAdvantage 2008 Volume 1 is now available.  Besides new features, it provides support for Visual Studio 2008 + AJAX.

I was confused when downloading this release because you can download either NetAdvantage for ASP.NET 2008 Vol.1 for CLR 2.x and also NetAdvantage for ASP.NET 2008 Vol.1 for CLR 3.x.  If you download NetAdvantage for .NET (includes both WinForms & Web), it's labeled for CLR 2.x and does not contains ASP.NET CLR 3.x.  OK but what do you need to download & install to get everything? 

If you subscribe to NetAdvantage for .NET, install this one first then the ASP CLR 3.x (don't think the order is of any importance).

You can install both ASP.NET versions side by side but you can't use the two versions in the same project because you'll have conflicting namespaces.

http://www.infragistics.com/Default.aspx

Laurent Duveau is featured as the MVP Insider in this month MSDN Canadian Developer Connection.  Way to go le Français Québécois!

http://blogs.msdn.com/cdndevs/archive/2008/02/20/laurent-duveau.aspx

In many companies, there's an unwritten policy to wait for the release of the first service pack of a product before deploying it.  With Windows Server 2008 just out, you won't have to wait for SP1, it's already built in!

Seriously, Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 (SP1) are now sharing the same core.

Here's a great post by Ian McDonald explaining everything:
http://blogs.msdn.com/iainmcdonald/archive/2008/02/15/windows-server-2008-is-called-sp1-adventures-in-doing-things-right.aspx

 

SkyDrive is no longer in Beta and finally available in Canada.  What's SkyDrive?  It provides 5GB online storage for free.  It's a great way to share and exchange large files.

http://skydrive.live.com/

Yep, they did it again.  Mix08 is now sold out!

Great news!  My good buddy Mario Cardinal will speak at TechEd Dev 2008 in Orlando.  Congrats Mario!

Professional Developer and Designer for students tools at no charge

DreamSpark is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career.

Who can get this right now?
We are kicking this off in 11 countries/regions, giving DreamSpark to millions of students in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium. If you are not residing in one of the countries listed keep checking back, we will be adding more countries throughout the year.

Does that mean that I might not get in?
Possibly, if you are not residing in one of the countries listed, not attending an accredited university or not a member of one of the student organizations that we're connected with. But keep checking back, as we're working on adding more ways to verify your student status all the time.

What do I have to do to get this software? Not much really, just select a product and follow the steps below.

• Sign In with your Windows Live ID. If you don't have one, go get one here. Pretty basic stuff.
  
• Get verified as a student. The system is linked to schools and organizations around the world that can confirm student status. Simply choose your country and school, enter your info and hit submit.
  
• Download your products. Now remember these are professional tools. This means they are pretty big files so make sure you have the bandwidth and space to bring them to your machine. We support the latest versions of both Internet Explorer and Firefox for your download.

https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/Default.aspx

 

I did a little research for some antivirus/antispyware utilities so i thought I'd share my findings.

On one of my computers, I had some problems with occasional spikes on CPU usage.  I was not suspecting a virus since I had Live One Care installed and running.  However, I became tired of those spikes so I looked at antivirus reviews over the Web.  PC World did a review of the latest security suites and Norton Internet Security 2008 got the top score. 

I was a long time Norton antivirus user but high CPU usage convinced me to ditch it a few years ago.  This reviewer for a local newspaper noticed high CPU usage (20%!!!) after installing Norton Internet Security 2008 so I was convinced not to go that way again. (French but with many screenshots)

After giving up on Norton, I used the free version of Grisoft’s AVG antivirus.  While free and low on CPU usage, this version is for non-commercial use only and it places this message in each email you send:
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.4/1277 - Release Date: 2/13/2008 8:00 PM

What I was looking from an antivirus was:

• Simple antivirus program (not an entire suite of blotted software)
• Simple way to turn it off (I don’t need it most of the time)
• Very low CPU usage
• Cheap (even better if the license could cover 3 machines)

After searching a little bit, I found that BitDefender AntiVirus would fit the bill so I downloaded an eval version and did a scan of my PC.  Guess what?  It did found some kind of trouble in a file called smss.exe located in the \system32\drivers directory.  Live One Care didn’t detect that one.

After a few days of use, I came to the conclusion that it was meeting my needs.  I was about to buy it online when I was puzzled by the pricing.  Basically, the site shows you this pricing: 1 year/1 PC for $25.  However, if you dig a little bit, you can find a page that shows 1 year/3 PCs for $30.  Grrrr!

I then noticed that Staples/Bureau en Gros had a sale for the Internet Security Suite at $40 for 3 PCs for 2 years so I decided to go with the suite and to disable the functions I didn’t need.

While searching online, I noticed that PC World gave top marks to PC Tools’ Spyware Doctor so I decided to investigate.  Always, be careful with these magazines showdown.  Does the fact that the PC World Website is crammed with Spyware Doctor ads was a factor in the high rating?  Can’t say but  

You can buy it online at PC Tools Website for $40 for 1 computer but if you look at the different versions available, you’ll see a link for a “starter” edition available with Google Pack.  That version is free but with some disabled features, mostly the real time protection stuff.  However, that version has the ability to cleanup problems, the eval version does not.

This is a screenshot of the starter edition.  Notice that OnGuard protection is limited and there's one action required...upgrading 

You can enable the real time protection by upgrading for $25.  I decided to give the starter edition a try and guess what?  It did find one problem that Live One Care didn’t find.  Being happy with this version (you can disable it easily and it's very low on CPU), I didn’t want to upgrade to the full version until I saw it at Costco at $20 for a licence covering 3 PCs, so I bought that one.  But why does PC Tools charges $40 per PC if you buy it from their Website?  And why does it cost $25 if you go thru Google Pack?

One thing I found strange is the fact that you pay much higher prices if you buy direct even thought there are no CDs, no boxes and no manuals involved.  Go figure!

Oh, BTW, no more CPU spikes!  

Well, looks like the HD format war will end in 2008.  I bought the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player a year ago but I only bought about 5 movies knowing that it was foolish to invest in high prices HD movies while that stupid battle was taking place.  Looks like I'll have to buy a (gasp!) Sony product at some point in the future.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/852/852769p1.html

Etienne Tremblay: Les nouveautés de Team System et Team Foundation Server 2008

Nous discutons avec Étienne Tremblay des nouveautés de Team System et Team Foundation Server 2008. Entre autres, nous discutons des fonctionnalités comme Annotate, Comparaison de répertoires, l’intégration continue, les fils d’attentes pour les constructions de logiciels, les points névralgique d’exécution lors des sessions de performance et plus encore.

Étienne Tremblay est un architecte sénior chez EDS Canada avec plus de 15 ans d'expérience en développement d'applications d'entreprises. Il a travaillé dans les industries minières et manufacturières et récemment, la gestion de configuration et outillage de développement. Il a développé un système pour surveiller la qualité dans la fabrication de voitures, un système de gestion de réclamations, un système d’opération et de surveillance de mines et un système de gestion de d'itinéraires en utilisant des modèles d'application n tiers. Tout au long de ces années il est devenu un expert en matière d'outillage de cycle de vie de développement de logiciels et a été l'un des architectes de la solution corporative Visual Studio Team System chez EDS. Cette initiative l’a amené à voyager autour du monde pour donner de la formation adaptée aux développeurs .NET d'EDS. Il a été un conférencier lors de plusieurs conférences internationales en 2005, 2006 et 2007 sur Visual Studio. Il a aussi donné une conférence virtuelle pour MSDN sur « comment adopté Visual Studio Team System ». Il représente EDS sur le Conseil Consultatif de Microsoft pour Team System. Il a été attribué le statut de MVP Team System en 2006 et 2007 et a été choisi comme juge pour la compétition internationale de Design de Logiciel de l’Imagine Cup 2007 en Corée du Sud.

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Congrats to ScottGu on a well deserved promotion as a corporate vice president.  Well Looks like the day to day will stay the same.

Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET Developer Platform. Previously general manager, Guthrie will continue to oversee several development teams responsible for delivering Microsoft Visual Studio developer tools and Microsoft .NET Framework technologies for building client and Web applications.

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/feb08/2008ExpandedLeadershipPR.mspx

 

More info at www.guvsm.net

Concepts d'entrepôts de données et applications décisionnelles

Monday, February 18, 2008 at 6:15 PM

Conférencier: Marc Gagnon, architecte corporatif En plus de présenter les concepts d'entrepôts de données et d'applications décisionnelles, cette présentation survolera les différentes architectures possibles concernant leur mise en place. Les termes abordés seront les besoins décisionnels, la modélisation, les dépôts utilisés, les outils et l'accès à l'information. J.O. Marc Gagnon est architecte corporatif à la Caisse de Dépôt et Placements du Québec.  Il possède une solide expérience de plus de 25 ans en informatique, dont 15 ans en architecture, modélisation de données et de traitements. À plusieurs reprises, Marc été impliqué directement dans la vigie corporative et technologique ainsi que dans le choix et la mise en place de méthodologies tel MSF, RUP, P+, structuré, CONCERT, de techniques de modélisation comme UML, E/R, DW, OO et d'outils de développement incluant en autre Provision, Erwin, SQL Server BI, Oracle Datamart Suite. Il a été impliqué dans des domaines d’affaires aussi variés que la défense nationale, la restauration, la télécommunication, le divertissement, le transport aérien, le voyage, la loterie, la réassurance, l'ingénierie, le bancaire et l'investissement.  Son expérience en intelligence d'affaires remonte au siècle dernier, soit depuis 1992.

Looks like Microsoft has listened because Vista SP1 is now available for download right now before the announced (March 18th) date.  If you're looking in MSDN Subscriptions Downloads, it's not there yet but you'll find the links on this page:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx

First, Sony Ericsson is releasing a Windows Mobile phone:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206401730

Then Microsoft to buy phone maker Danger maker of the SideKick:
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9868954-56.html?tag=nefd.lede

Then Nvidia announces the APX 2500:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1202741043286.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/apx_2500.html

So funny, so true....

http://www.richterscales.com/

[From Mauro Sant'Anna, RD in Brazil]

Regarding my previous post about Vista anemic file copying.  Someone commented that this should be fixed with SP1.  Fixed or half fixed?

Read Mark Russinovich's blog about this problem and how it will be fixed in SP1:
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/02/04/2826167.aspx

On top of doing 2 launch events (Toronto & Vancouver) and the Technology tour accross Canada, Microsoft will host a series of community events in Canada.  After reading the events description (read below), you may wonder what the heck this all about!

In today’s constantly changing world, everything from our jobs to the technology is moving at a rapid pace.  As such, it is important to build out a plan to grow our skills and network to help guide and support our career.   Brought to you in collaboration with CIPS and ICTC, these interactive workshops will look at some of the core changes that are occurring from a technology, industry, community and career perspective - sharing experiences and connecting you with key individuals in your community to support your plan.

Yeah right!  Like I want to attend that!  John Bristowe even wrote this in the latest MSDN Flash:

Finally, there has been some misunderstanding about the community events that will be occurring in 14 cities across Canada during the 2008 Heroes Happen Here Launch Tour. For those of you who are wondering, the main goal of these community events is to have fun, to provide an opportunity for you to connect with your peers during a workshop activity and to celebrate the heroes in your community. I know the original description is pretty dry, but rest assured that my team owns these activities and you will benefit greatly from them. We made this event for you. So, please make sure to register at http://msdn.microsoft.ca/launch/. (Click on "Register {here}" and then the right tab entitled, "Community Connection Events".)

Well, Rick Claus took the time to write a blog post explaining in details what will happen at these community events:
http://blogs.technet.com/canitpro/archive/2008/02/04/community-connection-events-diamond-in-the-rough.aspx

Now that's a lot clearer so make sure to register early, places are limited.

[Tip from Scott Stanfield, RD in California]

If you're tired of Vista Anemic File Copying, you may want to try TeraCopy.  Way faster and free for home users.

http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php

 

Microsoft announced yesterday that Windows Server 2008 has reached RTM.  The 64 bit version is available right now on MSDN with the 32 bit to follow.

Vista SP1 as also reached RTM and will be widely available (MSDN, Windows Update, Download Center) on March 18th.

Jean-Marc Heneman: Programmation en paire

Nous discutons avec Jean-Marc Heneman de la programmation en paire, une méthode de travail dans laquelle deux développeurs travaillent ensemble sur la même partie de code, en paire sur un même poste de travail. Entre autres, nous discutons des stratégies pour soutenir et favoriser la synergie dans la programmation en paire.

Jean-Marc Heneman, ingénieur, détient un baccalauréat en génie électrique avec une spécialisation en informatique. Il compte 18 ans d’expérience dans le domaine des technologies de l’information. Il est présentement consultant indépendant. Jean-Marc est co-fondateur et co-animateur du groupe d'utilisateur Extreme Programming de Montréal où vous pouvez encore le rencontrer régulièrement. Il y a présenté certaines des pratiques Agile et y a animé plusieurs échanges sur les pratiques d'Extreme Programming. Derniérement, il a également animé une présentation sur la programmation en paire et les arts et habiletés en relation interpersonnelle.

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www.guvsm.net

Prochaine assemblée: lundi 4 février

Sujet: Nouveautés des langages C# et VB + LINQ

4 février 2008 à 18:15 Conférencier: Guy Barrette, Architecte de Solutions, .NET Expertise, Microsoft Regional Director, MVP ASP.NET Lors de cette présentation vous verrez un survol des nouveautés des langages C# et Visual Basic offerts avec le Framework .NET 3.5 et Visual Studio 2008.  Parmi ces nouveautés on retrouve : Local Variable Type Inference, Object & Collection Initializers, Anonymous Types, Auto-Implemented Properties, Extension Methods, Lambdas Expressions, Partial Methods & XML Literals (VB).  Il est a remarqué que la plupart de ces nouveautés ont été implémentées pour LINQ.  Il va de soit que LINQ et ses variantes (LINQ to Objects,  LINQ to DataSets, LINQ to XML et LINQ to SQL) seront couverts lors de cette présentation. Guy Barrette est un architecte de solutions basé à Montréal, Canada.  Il est le directeur régional Microsoft pour la région de Montréal et un MVP ASP/ASP.NET. Il se spécialise dans les outils de développement Microsoft depuis la sortie de VB 3 en 1994. Guy aide les entreprises à bâtir de meilleures solutions avec Team System et les outils de Microsoft ainsi que l'architecture et le développement d'applications Web.  Il a été conférencier lors d'événements MSDN et lors de conférences comme Microsoft DevDays et DevTeach. Parlant de DevTeach, Guy est responsable de la piste française.  Guy a obtenu les certifications Microsoft suivantes: Solution Developer et Technical Specialist Team Foundation Server. Guy est aussi président du Groupe d'usagers Visual Studio Montréal et il organise le Code Camp à Montréal. Guy écrit une rubrique de critique de livres .NET mensuelle pour le Magazine Level Extreme.  Vous pouvez lire son blog sur guy.dotnet-expertise.com.  Guy co-anime l'émission de radio Internet Visual Studio Talk Show avec Mario Cardinal.

Some Mix08 news:

Ray Ozzie will do a keynote

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie joins Scott Guthrie on stage as a keynote speaker at MIX08 on Wednesday, March 5, 2008.  Ray will discuss Microsoft’s continued investment across the platform to deliver world class Web technologies and tools.

ScottGu talks about Mix
Part One: http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=378197
Part Deux: http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=378494

 

Make sure you read Phil Factor's blog entry called "Microsoft Boy announces his School Homework" about the 2008 product launch.  Oh man, this is so funny.

http://www.simple-talk.com/community/blogs/philfactor/archive/2008/01/27/43174.aspx

 

This is what I look like this morning due to icy sidewalks here in Montreal.  I'd like to thank my nameless guardian angels who called 911, took care of me and stayed with me while waiting for the ambulance.  Thank you from the bottom of my hearth.