CodeMash 2009 – underway..

I just arrived at Kalahari – driving like a mad man out of Detroit to beat the “ice storm” – i felt like those guys you see on tv chasing storms, only I was trying to outrun one, and effectively did.  I made it in record time < 2 hours (again).  That said, i did nearly slide thru the intersection trying to turn in, so roads are getting bad out there.

After checking in, I made my way down to the registration area to see some familiar faces, Brian and Jim helping distribute badges and programs, just before 10pm.  Bumped into a few others, like Patrick of Pillar on my way to the room – everyone seems excited to be here, including me.  A quick glance of the program and a personal challenge on the back of my mind.  Lots of great content here, unlike my fact-finding mission around Agile last year, this time around I’m looking to roll up my sleeves and get back to coding!  Am most excited about iPhone development, starting with Chris Adamson’s iPhone development 101 session in the morning at the “precompiler” (day before the actual conference.)

Currently, I’m a total newbie to mac (*nix) development, so this should be interesting. I downloaded the iPhone SDK last night and started combing over the help docs, have yet to even fire up xCode, Apples development IDE, and I’m starting to feel like a non-techie, overwhelmed by a new wave of acronyms, completely outside of my domain expertise – but what the hell, that’s what codeMash is all about!   With any luck, or if I follow along properly, I should have a “useful, running iPhone application” by this time tomorrow.  Sounds too good to be true!

Other topics of interest include RIAs, (rich internet applications) including silverlight, and flex.  Ruby folks always have something interesting to say, but I’m not sure how much time I’m going to devote to it this time around, as I’m hoping to get up to speed on a few other subjects, such as  TDD (test driven development),  functional programming, Azure, VS 2010, and .net 4; oh, and I’m always looking to dive deeper into Agile and want to check out lean guru Mary Poppendieck.  Keynotes and Panel discussion tomorrow night also sound good.

So much content, so little time..  CodeMash does a good job balancing session tracks with break out rooms, “un-conference” formats and lots of social opportunities, movie night (dark knight @ 9:30) and even stuff for the kids (kidz mash) – and as always, it will be great to catchup with others, learning about the new and exciting things they’re working on and what challenges they may have around the corner.  Going to be an exhaustive couple of days..

More from the Microsoft Cloud..

Still thinking that taking advantage of online services entails a trade-off between the rich features of an on-premise client and the convenience of a cloud-based browser application? It might be time for another look. Check out the new software-plus-services offering from Microsoft Online Services: the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), which includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting, and Exchange Hosted Filtering – enterprise-class software delivered as a subscription service. Here’s a great Technical Overview of the Business Productivity Suite from Microsoft Online Services (Level 200) delivered via a webcast.

Next, read what some third-party assessments of Windows Azure and Windows 7 had to say:

•	Microsoft’s Cloud Vision Redmond Developer, November 18, 2008 Why Windows Azure and Windows 7 will change the way you work.
•	Windows 7 In-Depth Review and Video: This Time Microsoft Gets It Right Computerworld, November 12, 2008 In his hands-on review of the Windows 7 pre-beta, Preston Gralla decides that Microsoft’s upcoming operating system shows great promise.
•	Windows 7: The Five Most Talked-About Features CIO, November 17, 2008 A look at the five features of Windows 7 generating the most discussion and what they’ll mean to you.

Finally, there’s a new guide, available as part of the complete Infrastructure Planning and Design file: the Exchange Online: Evaluating Software-plus-Services guide provides a clear comparison of e-mail technologies across on-premises, standard hosting, and dedicated hosting scenarios. Check it out.

Ray Ozzie’s 2005 Memo & Agile

Shortly after Ray Ozzie arrived at Microsoft back in 2005, he wrote a memo (not unlike Gates’ Paul Revere-ish 1995 memo about embracing the internet) which was recently accounced, but not yet released. It outlined a few things, namely the company (Microsoft) had to start thinking and operting like an internet company, and as much as possible, liek a web startup!

Ray pitched ad-supported or subscription businss models, viral distribution and experiences that “just work.” Focus on being seemless, bottom line: Change big-time, or else.  Microsoft at the time was trying to ship Vista and Office so Ozzie project began.  Ray then gathered a team to begin delivering results, in short time frames (sound familiar)?  Ray began code name “Red Dog”, now referred to as Azure, with the help of Amitabh Srivastava & Dave Cutler, out from semi-retirement.

An interesting aspect of the new operating system is that is was produced with a fraction of the manpower the company typically directs to critical projects.  “There are literally thousands of people on windows, but Ray emphasized small groups with very focused people is a better way of doing things,” Cutler says. The goal it seems, was to produce working software faster.  Hmm, thats interesting, without spelling it out, it sure spells alot like Agile to me.  So what exactly does the Ozzie project entail?

1. Windows Azure – Microsoft’s long awaited “operating system for the cloud” doesn’t run on a laptop – it runs on the companies thousands of servers.  Customers develop their web-based businesses to operate on Microsoft’s data centers, and Windows Azure allocates resources as needed. (expected late 2009)
2. “Zurich” – codename for Azure services platform, a set of sophisticated tools to help developers manage their own cloud-based services and web apps. (available now in preview)
3. Live Mesh – a service built on Red Dog that allows people (PC & Mac) to synchronize all their files, photos, and music with all their devices. (expected in 2009, now in public beta, see mesh.com)
4. Office Web Apps – the next major Office release will include relatively complete Web version of Microsoft’s crown jewels.  Users can subscribe or access free versions supported by ads. (expected in 2010, but some versions may appear sooner.)

If you’re interested in keeping up with all the latest Microsoft developments, I strongly encourage you to check out the sessions from Microsoft’s recent Professional Developers Conference, now available online (for free) at: https://sessions.microsoftpdc.com/public/timeline.aspx