January .Net Events

Listed below is a summary of the .Net events scheduled for this month. Attend a few and increase your .Net knowledge!

Jan 9: Windows Workflow Foundation http://www.bennettadelson.com/technicalresources/sig.aspx

Jan 11: Reporting Services – Level 300 http://www.bennettadelson.com/technicalresources/sqlsig.aspx

Jan 23: Microsoft Launch Event (office 2007/Vista)
http://www.msdnevents.com

Jan 23: Multi-tier Application Development
http://www.ClevelandDotNet.info

Microsoft Exam Insurance

Microsoft is now offering Exam Insurance for certification tests. For $175, a candidate can purchase an exam with insurance. This allows for either a free re-take if the candidate fails, or 25% off the next exam if the candidate passes. In addition, when you purchase Exam Insurance and take your initial exam by January 31, 2007, you get a one-year subscription to Microsoft TechNet Plus Direct (US$349 value). Please note you must register and take your first exam by January 31.

This is considered a very reasonable deal, considering certification exams are $125 each. Exam insurance can be purchased from local Microsoft certified testing centers. To find a local center, go to http://www.exampartners.com/default.asp. To learn more about Exam Insurance, go to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/insurance/default.mspx

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

Microsoft recently released a compatability pack allowing users of Office 2000, XP, and 2003 to be able to open, edit, and save files in the new 2007 format. This applies to Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), and PowerPoint (.pptx) files. Before installing the compatability pack, users should be sure that all office updates are in place. To download this free utility, go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&DisplayLang=en

Visual Studio 2005 SP1

Microsoft released SP1 for Visual Studio 2005 earlier this month. To view all of the new features in VS2005 along with SP1 enhancements, go to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/88fx1xy0(VS.80).aspx

To download SP1, go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=BB4A75AB-E2D4-4C96-B39D-37BAF6B5B1DC&mg_id=10055&displaylang=en#Overview

For related issues with installing SP1, go to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=928957

Microsoft support for classic ASP and VB6

Q: Do you know the date when Microsoft will end support for classic Asp and VB6?

A: Primary support ended in April of 2005 for those products. They are currently in the "extended support lifecycle" which means that we only provide free security fixes. That will be ending next year in April and then there will only be the "online" support of KB articles that are already published.

If you have a customer still using them, I highly recommend you upgrade them, as that technology just isn't up to the task of dealing with Today's types of security, scalability or reliability requirements.

Thanks to Bill Steele (Microsoft) for providing this info first hand.

Salary Survey

ComputerWorld has conducted a salary survery for a large variety of developers. It also provides a breakdown per region and vertical industry. To view these results and see how your salary compares, go to the 2006 Salary Survey. In addition, check out other related articles compiled by ComputerWorld.


* Salary Survey 2006: Smart Salary Tool For Comparing Pay http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/1004849/209182/41105/2/

* 2006 Salary Survey Blog: 'I Want a Raise'
http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/1004849/209182/41106/2/

* Gender Gap: Women's Paychecks Still Lag Men's http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/1004849/209182/41104/2/

Overseas Outsourcing

I came across an article from Computer World that looks at Overseas outsourcing in a different light. Typically the argument has been cost vs. quality, but in this article many are saying outsourcing is becoming a necesary evil due to lack of resources in the western hemisphere. A shortage of IT graduates from Western universities is leading companies to call on developing countries to meet research demand, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said today.

To read the full article, go to http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9004836&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1

DoEvents()

Q: I have a For-Next loop where intensive processing takes place. I would like the application to respond other events during execution of this code.

A: The method DoEvents() will handle this requirement. By placing a call to DoEvents at the top of the loop, this method will process all messages queued from the Operating System, including shutting down the application. Using the DoEvents() method requires a reference to System.Windows.Forms.dll. Furthermore, the DoEvents() method is found in the class System.Windows.Forms.Application.

Private Sub btn1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btn1.Click

Dim intCounter as Integer

For intCounter = 1 To 1000
DoEvents() 'located in System.Windows.Forms.Application
'Processing Procedure here
Next

End Sub

VB 2005 Presentation

For those that missed the last SIG meeting on VB 2005, you can catch it Monday night (Nov. 6th). I have been asked to give the VB 2005 presentation at a local community college. The presentation is scheduled for Monday, November 6th, 2006, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. If you're interested, please e-mail me for more information at sam@ClevelandDotNet.info.

New Content Management Functionality in Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft recently announced that EMC Corp's Documentum will offer better integration with Microsoft Office 2007, especially with SharePoint 2007. The Documentum product will offer it's content management functionality without requiring an upgrade.

There are two main new offerings from Microsoft:

1. Content Services for SharePoint, which provides access to the Documentum repository within SharePoint so users can check documents in and out and manage metadata and virtual documents.
2. Archive Services for SharePoint, which can either manually or automatically move content into SharePoint.

To read more about this, click here.

Microsoft due to release 11 security updates on October 10, 2006

On Tuesday, October 10, 2006 Microsoft will release 11 security updates. Six patches affect Windows, 4 affect Office, and 1 affecting the .Net Framework. A brief summary of these patches is listed below.

6 Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Windows. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. Some of these updates will require a restart.

4 Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Office. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. These updates may require a restart.

1 Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft .NET Framework. The highest Maximum Severity rating for this is Moderate. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and the Enterprise Scan Tool. These updates may require a restart.
Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

In addition, Microsoft will release an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services and the Download Center. This tool will NOT be distributed using Software Update Services (SUS).

Non-security High Priority updates on MU, WU, WSUS and SUS

Microsoft will release No NON-SECURITY High-Priority Updates for Windows on Windows Update (WU) and Software Update Services (SUS).

Microsoft will release two NON-SECURITY High-Priority Updates on Microsoft Update (MU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
Although we do not anticipate any changes, the number of bulletins, products affected, restart information and severities are subject to change until released.

To help answer questions on these patches, Microsoft will be hosting a web cast on Wednesday, October 11, 2006, the day after the patch release. To sign-up for this web cast click here. For more information on these patches, goto to the Microsoft TechNet site.

Take a look at http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2006/09/26/772250.aspx and you'll notice an item buried in this announcement for Visual Studio SP1 Beta.

Development compatibility and support on Vista:
VS 2005 SP1 supported;
VS 2005 NOT supported;
VS 2003/2002 NOT supported;
VB6 supported!

Interesting! Thanks to Mark H. for passing this interesting tid-bit along.

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