Xperimentality

On July 13th, Tim Sneath posted that Silverlight 1.0 Release Candidate would be posted soon.  While that is great news, there is more to this post than just spreading that word!

There are some breaking changes that will be introduced in the release candidate.  But after this release, there should not be any further breaking changes once it is finally released.  Of course it could always happen, but it is nice to hear that the Silverlight team thinks this is a stable API release.

Tim includes a download link in his post that contains:

• a new silverlight.js file that detects both the beta and the RC version of the plug-in,
• a document that lists differences between the Beta and the RC releases,
• an updated Visual Studio template that can be used to correctly embed the new plug-in,
• and a EULA that governs the legal usage of the items in the above bullets.

Although we don't have access to the new plug-in yet, these items will allow us to get a head start on making our Silverlight programs compatible with the new RC prior to its release.  If you have been working with Silverlight 1.0 and/or doing presentations on it, I encourage you to be proactive and update your apps to be compatible with both the Beta and the RC.  That way, when it is released, you will be ready!

A couple of good resources of information on the RC and some of the breaking changes can be found at:
Tim Sneath's blog post on the upcoming RC release
Joe Stegman's blog post on the breaking changes

I found out today that I have been awarded the 2007 Microsoft MVP Award!  I got an email that started like this:

Dear Todd Miranda,

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2007 Microsoft® MVP Award!
The Microsoft MVP Award is our way of saying thank you and to honor and support the significant contributions you make to communities worldwide. As a recipient of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional award, you join an elite group of technical community leaders from around the world who foster the free and objective exchange of knowledge by actively sharing your real world expertise with users and Microsoft.  Microsoft salutes all MVPs for promoting the spirit of community and enhancing people’s lives and the industry’s success everyday.  To learn more about the MVP Program, visit: www.microsoft.com/mvp.

Your extraordinary efforts in Visual Developer - ASP/ASP.NET technical communities during the past year are greatly appreciated.

I am extremely honored (not to mention excited) to have been given this award and to be placed in the company of many of the other MVPs I have come to respect!  I truly enjoy being deeply involved in the technology community and look forward to continuing that involvement (and doing all I can to increase it).

If you do not know what the MVP Award is, below is a short description from the MVP Award site:

The Microsoft MVP Award recognizes exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who voluntarily share their high quality, real world expertise with others. Microsoft MVPs are a highly select group of experts representing technology's best and brightest who share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others. Worldwide, there are over 100 million participants in technical communities; of these participants, there are fewer than 4,000 active Microsoft MVPs.
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Someone brought to my attention that I had not mentioned some of the WPF videos I have put together.  Two of them are posted out on the WindowsClient.net site.

• Building Standard WPF Windows Applications
Building Navigation Based WPF Windows Applications

There are more that will be posted out there soon.  I'll post when they go live.

Well a few more Expression Web Videos are available on the Expression Knowledge Base page.  The videos that are out there now are:

• Work with Images in Expression Web
• Work With Hyperlinks in Expression Web
• Create a Template-based Web Site Web
• Create a Standard Web Site With Expression Web
• Use CSS Layout in Expression Web
• Using CSS Style Sheets in Expression Web

Go to the Expression Site to view the videos.

Two more of my videos on Expression Web have been posted to the Expression site.

Well on June 6th, my wife gave birth to our second little girl!  It was a great day.  For those of you with kids, you know what a joy it is to add a new child to your family.  For those of you who don't have kids, let me tell you, it is a very special thing!  Mom and baby are doing really well and the nights have not been too bad so far!

Over the last month or two I have been recording some "How Do I" videos.  The videos I have been working on are about the Expression Suite and WPF.  The first video, Use CSS Layout in Expression Web, has gone live on the Expression Knowledge Center site.  I will post more of the video locations when they go live.

If you have not visited the Knowledge Center for the Expression Suite, it is a great place to get training videos, Webcasts, starter kits, virtual labs and more. 

Also if you have not been to the new Windows Client site and you are interested in WPF information, it is the place to go.  The content that used to be on the wpf.netfx3.com site has been moved to the new Windows Client site.  It is a great resource for getting started with WPF.

I am really excited about this!  Today, Microsoft announced Surface and the web site is now live.  To me, the fact that this technology has actually come to fruition is terrific.  It is like someone actually manufacturing one of those concept cars that we all wish would become reality but know we'll never really see!

I see so much potential for the technology!  From the Surface web site:

"Microsoft Surface, the first commercially available surface computer from Microsoft Corporation, turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, interactive surface. It provides effortless interaction with digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects."

Take a look at some of the videos on the site and then just let your imagination soar.  Now I just have to talk my wife into letting me get one of these!

Today I did a presentation on WPF at a Microsoft developer training day in Nashville, Tennessee.  I think the presentation went well, but this was a rather interesting trip.

When Mark Dunn asked me to speak at the event, I had all but decided I was going to let one of my co-workers, Brandon McMillon, go instead.  My wife is due with our second daughter any day now.  I knew there was no way I could risk being gone for a night that far away.  Granted, Nashville is not that far, but it is far enough that she could go into labor and deliver in the amount of time it would take me to get back home.  Jeff Barnes, another co-worker was giving the presentation on WCF.  So Brandon said he would drive there and back today if I wanted to give the presentation.  So bottom line, I took the chance and was able to deliver the presentation myself.  I am glad I did.  As usual, it was a lot of fun and I really think the audience showed a good deal of interest in using WPF or Silverlight in some of their current projects!

Shortly after arriving in Nashville, while we were heading to the venue, my wife called.  You can imagine, as soon as I saw the phone number I thought, "You have got to be kidding me".  Luckily, she was just calling to see if we got up there alright.  I got no other calls from her and obviously she didn't go into labor today!  Maybe I will be as lucky with the lottery ticket I bought!