Andrew Westgarth

VBUG Newcastle – W2008R2 and Windows 7 - Links

2009-07-08T21:45:25Z

Thanks to Richard Fennell for stepping into the breach this evening and covering the content for us so well. As soon as I have a link for the slides from the event, I’ll publish it here on this post. In the meantime here is the link for you to be able to get a key for the Windows 7 Release Candidates you may have picked up at the event - http://technet.microsoft.com/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx?ITPID=clminis Keep an eye on this blog and Jon Noble’s for more information on forthcoming events for...(read more)

Monkey Decides to Go On His Travels!

2009-07-08T13:01:24Z

Nope not me, although I am planning a three week trip to Australia later this year to visit friends, but Timmy my partner in crime. A couple of Friday’s ago I got to work and noticed that he was missing from his place on my desk and all that was left was this note: Well he returned to my desk on Monday, so I guess he’s had a bit of fun and is back for a while. I suppose I’d better take him on my travels a little more often then! Some pictures of his travels have appeared online...(read more)

Awarded Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award for 2009

2009-07-01T22:53:42Z

Today I received an email from Microsoft to tell me I’d been awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award for 2009, to follow the award which I received in 2008. I am very pleased, and once again extremely humble to be associated with a great group of very clever people around the globe. I hope I can continue to server the community in the best way possible over the next year! First thing on my list is more blog posts as I’ve been neglecting my blog over the last six months...(read more)

WebDD ‘09 – Saturday 18th April 2009 – Registration Open!!!

2009-03-30T08:47:56Z

Yes folks, WebDD is on Saturday 18th April 2009 and REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for this great community event, it’s free to attend and held at Microsoft’s UK Campus in Reading – register now - http://developerdeveloperdeveloper.com/webdd09/Register.aspx I’ll be delivering a session on the Web Deployment Tool and there is a great line up of speakers and sessions – http://developerdeveloperdeveloper.com/webdd09/schedule.aspx There are limited places so don’t miss out – register now!!!...(read more)

VBUG Newcastle: PowerShell 0-60 in One Evening – Tuesday 24th March 2009

2009-03-19T12:09:43Z

Damn, just noticed this has been sat in my blog drafts folder :( Hope this catches people in time. The next VBUG Newcastle meeting will be held at Newcastle University on Tuesday 24th March 19:00-21:00 (18:45 registration) and will be delivered by Jonathan Noble who will be doing a session on PowerShell: Windows PowerShell has been around since 2006, but now that version 2 will ship on the desktop in Windows 7, as well as being in Microsoft's Common Engineering Criteria and several 3rd party...(read more)

24 Hours of Firsts

2009-03-01T04:45:46Z

The 24 hours I'm currently writing this post in are all about firsts. First I've just got back from my first ever live gig, and first ever experience of Metallica live! I've been to the Sheffield Arena for the latest leg of Metallica's Death Magnetic tour, it was f***ing AWESOME!!!! Can't wait to do it again! Note to self - why has it taken 28 years for this to happen???? WTF!! Secondly I'm currently sitting in the departure lounge at Newcastle Airport waiting for my flight...(read more)

Alt.Net ‘In the North’ Conference – Registration opens at Noon!

2009-02-24T09:47:30Z

Last week Richard Fennell sent through details about an Alt.Net Open Space Conference he has helped organise in Bradford on 17th/18th April 2009. The event will be hosted by Black Marble at their office in Bradford, West Yorkshire , and there will be space for 50 attendees. The format will be the same as previous UK Alt.net conferences. A planning session on Friday the 17th April from 7pm to 8:30pm , followed by a trip to a bar to socialise The open spaces sessions from 9am to 4:30pm on Saturday...(read more)

VBUG NEWCASTLE : REARRANGED Parallel Programming in .Net (VS2010) with Eric Nelson Now 24th February

2009-02-08T20:52:07Z

I’m pleased to announce that we have rearranged Eric Nelson’s session on Parallel Programming in .Net (VS2010), which was unfortunately cancelled due to the poor weather, and the event will now be held on TUESDAY 24th FEBRUARY at the same venue. Please register for the event, even if you had register for the previous date, at http://www.vbug.co.uk/Events/February-2009/VBUG-NEWCASTLE-REARRANGED--Parallel-programming-in-NET-VS2010-with-Eric-Nels.aspx I look forward to seeing you there!...(read more)

EVENT CANCELLED: VBUG Newcastle 3/3/2009 Parallel Programming in .Net

2009-02-02T21:25:00Z

Unfortunately due to the adverse weather conditions we are experiencing across the UK at the moment, we have had to cancel tomorrow night's event. Unfortunately Eric is not able to make the trip up at this time due to being grounded at the Airport tonight. We hope to rearrange the event as soon as possible....(read more)

VBUG Newcastle Future Roadmap Ideas

2009-01-29T10:22:50Z

Over the course of the next four to six months, I have decided to change the regularity/format of the meetings for the usergroup in the North East. I had been speaking with a fellow Twitterer, Jonathan Noble , about desires for usergroups in the North East. It was mentioned that there are few very IT Pro events occurring in the North East of England, barring the occasional visits by the TechNet Team. Therefore in order to help with my planning and provision of events, with Jon’s help...(read more)

VBUG Newcastle: Parallel Programming in .Net (VS2010) with Eric Nelson – 3rd February 2009

2009-01-29T10:22:32Z

VBUG Newcastle kicks off 2009 on Tuesday 3rd February with Eric Nelson, Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelist, visiting to cover Parallel Programming in .Net using Visual Studio 2010. Session Overview: The next version of the .NET Framework will come with new classes that start to remove the difficulties in building multi-threaded applications that are able to take advantage of the modern multi-core processor architectures and the future many-core architectures that are coming over the next...(read more)

New Year – New Challenge #1 – Project 365

2009-01-01T23:58:17Z

In my last post, which wasn’t intended to be my last of 2008, I mentioned that I was looking for new challenges. Well one of those got underway in December when I changed jobs and started working for Hydratight in their Software Engineering Team. However the next challenge which I have embarked upon started today. I have taken my first steps into completing Project365 on Flickr ! What is Project365? Essentially Project365 is about having one photo for every day in a year. ...(read more)

BUPA Great North Run – Done – Next Challenge Please!

2008-10-14T21:47:43Z

I’m very late posting this but I want to say a big thank you to all of those who have supported me and sponsored me in my efforts to complete the BUPA Great North Run and raise some money for the Guide Dogs for the Blind . On Sunday 5th October, on a beautiful sunny morning, where conditions were perfect! The atmosphere on the Metro into Newcastle and at the start line was great. The BUPA Great North Run was a wonderful experience and I really enjoyed the whole day. I managed to...(read more)

VBUG Newcastle: Introducing OpenXML with Craig Murphy – Wednesday 29th October 2008

2008-10-14T21:36:51Z

I’m very pleased to be able to welcome Craig Murphy to VBUG Newcastle on Wednesday 29th October to give us his introduction to OpenXML. Craig has this to say about the topic: Overview With the release of Office 2007, Microsoft moved their document formats over to XML-based formats. This text-based format has many advantages, including, but not limited to readability, good compression and ease of reconstruction. However, as developers [responsible for report creation], OpenXML has significant...(read more)

Developer Developer Day 7 – Agenda Live!!

2008-10-14T21:21:32Z

Yes folks, all the votes have been counted and verified and the Developer Day Team have now published the Agenda for the 7th Developer Developer Day on Saturday November 22nd 2008 at Microsoft’s Reading Campus. There is a great deal of variety and what is most exciting is that there are a number of new speakers taking the plunge, including VBUG’s very own Phil Pursglove! It looks to be yet another cracking day! best of luck to all new speakers!! For latest registration information keep...(read more)

11th VBUG Conference 4th and 5th November 2008 – Book Now!!

2008-10-14T21:15:55Z

I have been heavily involved with the Agenda for this year’s VBUG Conference and am pleased to say that we have been able to set up a great selection of topics and a plethora of excellent speakers including the Keynote by Roy Osherove , sessions from Ken Getz , Jeffrey McManus , Oliver Sturm , Tony Whitter and many, many more excellent speakers. Session Highlights include Tips and Tricks for Successful Software Teams ASP.Net 4.0 Silverlight for Mobile Distributed Caching for ASP.Net Applications...(read more)

VBUG Online Meetings Return: Tuesday 21st October – CSLA.Net Introduction with Andrew Hallmark

2008-10-14T21:02:13Z

At VBUG we are pleased to announce the resumption of our Online Meetings, and we resume with CSLA.NET Introduction by Andrew Hallmark next Tuesday, 21st October 2008, from 19:30 – 20:30. I know a few people in my own region have asked for this topic to be covered but unfortunately it’s not been possible, but now you can see the presentation online from wherever you are :). Be sure to sign up for this free event – for more information and to register for the event be sure to visit the...(read more)

Flash Chance to Win an Xbox 360 Elite

2008-10-14T20:57:15Z

If you don’t already subscribe to the MSDN Flash newsletter, first of why not?? and secondly sign up now to have the chance to win an XBOX 360 Elite. Microsoft are running this competition until 28th November 2008 for all who sign up to the MSDN Flash Newsletter which is crammed with useful information, articles and event listings every fortnight Sign Up Now for the MSDN Flash Newsletter...(read more)

New Blog Design and Updated Content

2008-09-10T10:54:46Z

This morning I have put live the new design for my blog. For ages I have been unhappy with the look and feel of my blog, but as I know my limits :), I was struggling to come up with something to replace the default choice of theme. I am pleased to announce now and start using, a great new design, courtesy of my colleague Peter Mitchell at Canford. I am NOT a designer I am a DEVELOPER and therefore I know what I can and can't achieve. I can often picture what I'd like to see but to create...(read more)

Handling Webpage Display Issues in Internet Explorer 8.0 using IIS

2008-09-09T21:32:33Z

I have been using Internet Explorer 8.0 since the release of Beta 1. IE 8 requires more standards compliance in the code of web pages for them to display correctly. Today I was catching up on my RSS Feeds and came across this very useful article - Configuring IIS to work around webpage display issues in Internet Explorer 8.0 and this article discusses the use of adding a HTTP Response Header which then informs IE to run in IE Compatibility mode, therefore rendering the page as it would render in...(read more)