Rob Windsor's Weblog

Guest Blog Post on the Canadian Developers Site: Discoverability

I've got a post up on the Canadian Developer's blog talking about Discoverability and the .NET Framework.   

Hmm... since this material comes from the talk I'll be doing, I guess this is a good time to plug DevTeach. You still have time to register so you can check out a ton of great sessions given by some of the top speakers in the industry (you can check out my session too if you want). 

If this hasn't enticed you enough, I hear there may be a reunion of the Mad Mexican and Johnny "the Pimp" Bristowe. If this happens you know the smack will be laid down - it's something you won't want to miss.  

Update: According to the comment from Donald Belcham (Robin the Boy Wonder to the Mad Mexican's Batman), the Mad Mexican will not be able to make it to the conference. He's either involved in some Central American revolution or somewhere wrestling for the Intercontinental Belt. 

Toronto Code Camp 2007 - Photos and Podcasts

Photos and podcasts from the recent Toronto Code Camp have been posted to the site.

http://www.torontocodecamp.net/

Some Blog Props for Bryan Phillips

Bryan Phillips has some good posts about how to work around issues when doing .NET development on Windows Vista.

http://bphillips76.spaces.live.com/

One post that I found particularly usefull showed how to make double-clicking on a solution file to actually open Visual Studio.

http://bphillips76.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F9B548E4C21D6166!362.entry?_c=BlogPart

MSDN Canada Offers Free Certification Study Kits

I don't know how long this offer has been available but MSDN Canada has a promotion called Jump Start Your Carrer which allows you to get a free certification study kit. There are six kits to choose from including Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications Study Kit and Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD): Upgrade Study Kit.

From the Jump Start web site:

"To help you achieve your certification goals, Microsoft Canada is pleased to offer you a certification study kit. Six different kits were created based on popular demand. Each kit relates to a specific certification and contains the associated Microsoft Press Book along with other resource materials. We hope these give you the additional motivation to take that exam you’ve been meaning to get. The rest is up to you!"

http://www.microsoft.com/canada/msdn/jumpstart/

Live From Redmond Webcast Series

The Visual Basic Team has just announced that they will doing a webcast series on Visual Studio "Orcas" and Visual Basic 9.0. The webcasts start April 18 and run through June. Get all the details at the link below:

http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/04/09/live-from-redmond-webcast-series-beth-massi.aspx

.NET Linkomania

Michele Leroux Bustamante has this post with links to just about everything you need to know about .NET. It was posted on March 23, hopefully the material isn't out of date yet. :)

Toronto Code Camp 2007 - Recap and Session Materials

Another outstanding event. Last Saturday about 300 developers got together for the 2nd annual Toronto Code Camp. The event went flawlesly thanks to organizer Chris Dufour and the twenty or so event volunteers.  Thanks guys and gals for all your hard work.

You can download the slides and demos for my session on generics here.

Beth Massi - New Visual Basic Community Champion

I found out at the MVP Summit that Beth Massi is joining the VB team. In particular she is going to be updating/adding content on the Visual Basic Developer Center and the Visual Basic Community Page. I'm looking forward to seeing some great new videos, articles and blog posts for VB developers of all skill levels.