I just never understood this mostly male pastime. I just started working at a new place last week and I would say there are at least 100 males or more on my floor (and only 2 toilets). Just about every time I go in, there is someone in the big stall… reading. The other day people were coming in, needed to use a stall, and he just sat there quietly waiting for them to leave before he turned the page.

I never liked bathrooms, especially sticky, hot, dirty ones like where I work. I get in and out of a bathroom, including mine at home, as soon as I can. I never linger reading or thinking. So why do so many men do? Do they need to read to “complete the task at hand”? Is this the only place they can find peace and quiet so they can think?

Now, I could figure out why they might want to linger if they have a Playboy or Hustler with them, but here at work I see guys taking in the San Diego Reader? Go figure.

Microsoft has developed an almost ideal tool to help you configure security on computers in your organization. The tool is the Security Configuration Wizard, which is available in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. The tool can help you configure services, network security, auditing, registry settings, and more. The wizard accomplishes these goals by producing security policies, which can be used in conjunction with security templates and specific server roles.

Click here for the complete article.

Linux vendors Red Hat, Novell and Mandrakesoft on Wednesday released patches for several vulnerabilities, ranging from flaws that could allow denial-of-service attacks to buffer overflows.

For the complete article click here.

INCUBUS ANNOUNCES "MAKE YOURSELF FOUNDATION" GRANTS FOR 2005

Band Donates $100,000 to the American Red Cross

New York, NY - Grammy award nominated rock band Incubus today announced a number of donations today through their non-profit organization, the Make Yourself Foundation. At the top of the list, the band is donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross Tsunami Relief Fund. Founded in 2004 by the band, the Make Yourself foundation was established to donate funds to various charities which are listed on the Make Yourself Foundation website (www.makeyourselffoundation.org). In its first year, the Foundation raised an astounding $400, 000 through Incubus' music-related activities while the band toured around the world.

When sitting down to decide how to best allocate the funds, the massive tsunami hit Asia, altering the band's initial plan. The band explains, "We started the MYF as a vehicle to try and help people who have not been as fortunate as us. Last year we spent the year raising money and bringing attention to a number of worthy causes. When we sat down in December to allocate the money, we had no idea of the disaster that was about to happen. The magnitude of the tsunami disaster is truly overwhelming and we can only hope that this donation can help bring some relief to the people who've been affected by it."

In addition to the Tsunami relief effort The Make Yourself Foundation will be making donations to the following organizations.

The Red Cross www.redcross.org
Future Forests www.futureforests.com
International Rett Syndrome Association www.rettsyndrome.org
The Painted Turtle www.thepaintedturtle.com
Surfrider Foundation www.surfrider.com
Operation Smile www.operationsmile.com
Heal The Bay www.healthebay.org
Institute of Music and Neurologic Function www.bethabe.com
Sweet Relief www.sweetrelief.org
Save the Music www.vh1.com/partners/save_the_music/home.html
Break the Cycle www.breakthecycle.org

The band is planning more charitable related music projects this year.

CNet is reporting that tech jobs are on the decline. Click Here for Article

Continuing its flirtation with open source, Microsoft Corp. on Monday posted the code of a little-known collaboration application to open-source development site SourceForge.net.

[InfoWorld: Top News]

South Africa-based retailer Woolworths Holdings is set to deploy an upgraded application that it developed with the help of a new Mainsoft tool that converts code written using Microsoft's intermediate languages to Java byte code. For the complete article, go to: http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,96180,00.html

For the first time since the Microsoft Windows Installer has been around, I have had to write a “real” install for the small startup company that I am working at. What I mean by “real” install is one that customers who purchase our product or install it for demos will actually use. I am starting this tale a week into my ordeal. While I might talk a lot about the shortcomings of the Windows Installer here, you might learn a few tricks too.

Since I am one of the very first users of Wise, I decided to use the latest copy that I have from them (since they were bought out by another company, I cannot get a hold of any newer versions) called Wise for Visual Studio .NET. I did not want to use the installer that comes with Visual Studio .NET since I knew I would quickly run into issues with it.

Requirements

Both Wise and VS.NET will do a simple install your files and features with no issues. Wise has many more built in features than VS.NET has. However, my install has some additional requirements that I think are not that outrageous and should be simple to do. Here they are:

• Edit a web.config and app.config file.
• Install a SQL Server database.
• Install IIS if it is not installed (okay, this is a big one). Warn the user this is about to happen and allow them to back out of the install.
• Display a dialog based on a feature that the user has chosen.
• Create a virtual directory in IIS.
• Only install on Windows XP and Windows 2003.
• Create a directory and set permissions.

Except for automatically installing IIS, I do not think any of these things should be that difficult. To me, they are just normal tasks that any normal .NET application needs to perform these days. Well none of these tasks is easy with the Windows Installer/Wise. Before I continue, I need to say that the Windows Installer team has taken something that is not that difficult and have made it horribly complicated and hard to understand and even harder to test and debug. While Wise helped in some of the tasks above, I believe that the real problem lies in the lack of robustness in the Windows Installer. I come from the old Wise Installer days that use a top down scripting way of doing things. After working with the Windows Installer for a week now, I wish it were more like that.

What the Windows Installer Can Do?

One of the requirements is that our application can only run on Windows XP or Windows 2003. The Windows Installer can check for these system requirements but in a very limited way. I can set it to say it does not support any version of Windows before XP (good), but when it comes to the Windows NT versions, it can either check for all or one specific version (bad). Therefore, unless I write some custom script later, I cannot say “Requires Windows XP or Windows 2003”. All the other system requirements work in the same way.

Update: It turns out you can check for specific Windows versions with the installer (just not with the Wise IDE), but it is very confusing. After reading some of the Apress book listed at the end of this article I found out that installer properties can be Boolean or hold an actual value!?!? Okay, I have never heard of this before. Here is an example:

If you want to see if the user is running some version of Windows NT, you can use this:

NOT VersionNT

If you want to check to see if the user is running Windows XP or higher, you would use this:

VersionNT >= 501

As I am writing this, I am struggling with displaying a dialog that gathers information about a database server (server name, user name and password) so that it will only display after the Select Feature dialog if a certain feature was selected. This basically boils down to using Windows Installer events (discussed more in the “Wise or not so Wise” below).

Editing Files

Okay, this to me is a no brainer, most installs needs to edit files like web.config files, log files etc. Well, the Windows Installer does not have this capability!?!?! You have to write an external DLL or EXE to do this (which is not easy if you want to get information from the installer) or in my case, I used the Wise Script Editor (which complies to an outside EXE). While the Wise scripting worked, it was not elegant. I wanted to take a value in my web.config file like “{dbserver}” and just replace it with the real database server name gathered from the user during the install. Well you cannot…. the (Wise) script only has the ability to replace an entire line of text in a file.

Another issue with editing installed files is when to do it! With the old scripting version of Wise, it was easy, you knew when the file was installed and you then could edit it. Well, the Windows Installer does not work like that. It has these different areas called “Interface”, “Immediate” and “Deferred”. Furthermore, in these areas it has calls that is makes like MoveFiles, InstallFiles, InstallFinalize and more. So at first glance, you would just implement the editing EXE after InstallFiles… right? Wrong! In the install script, InstallFiles is not actually executed until InstallFinalize is called. Actually, everything in the script between InstallInitialize and InstallFinalize actually is queued up and run when InstallFinalize is called. Very confusing. I am still trying to understand when the Immediate and Deferred calls are run. I also found out that some of the properties (internal variables) are not available at certain places, like in Deferred. Dang!

Installing SQL Server Database

The Windows Installer cannot install (run) SQL scripts to create a SQL Server database. Wise dose have a very cool feature called “SQL Server Scripts” that will not only run scripts for your but it will even recreated a database, data and all! This saved me a ton of time.

Install IIS

Here is the big requirement and I did not think that any install program would do this and I was correct. It took me awhile to figure out how to force an install of IIS but I did right before I gave up. To do the install, the Microsoft Unattended Install program (sysocmgr.exe) needs to be called. Simply call it from the install like this:

sysocmgr /i:%windir%infsysoc.inf /u:c:iis.txt /x

The iis.txt file (that you create and install) should look something like this:

[Components]

iis_common = on

iis_inetmgr = on

iis_www = on

iis_ftp = off

iis_htmla = on

There is more information about sysocmgr.exe and the format of this file on the Microsoft web site. The iis.txt file format above is for IIS 5.0. Here is the format for IIS 6.0:

[Components]

iis_common = ON

iis_inetmgr = ON

iis_www = ON

fp_extensions = OFF

iis_ftp = OFF

aspnet= ON

There is another thing to worry about after IIS is installed. If the .NET framework is already installed, then none of the mappings in IIS for .NET pages like .aspx, .asmx etc. will be there. Therefore your ASP.NET applications and web services will not work.

To create the mappings the aspnet_regiis.exe program will need to be used (which is located in the latest version of .NET framework directory). However, this is not as easy as you might think. First, you need to figure out where the latest version of .NET is installed. This is the issue. There is a registry key called:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoft.NETFramework

Value Name: InstallRoot

Which will bring back “C:WINDOWSMicrosoft.NETFramework”. From there it is difficult from the registry to figure out what is the latest version that is installed. I just gave up (for now) and hard coded it to the version of the framework we are supporting (v1.1.4322). (If anyone knows of a better way, please let me know)

Call aspnet_regiis.exe like this:

C:WINDOWSMicrosoft.NETFrameworkv1.1.4322aspnet_regiis.exe -s W3SVC/1/ROOT/MyWebService

This “-s” switch will make the mappings only for the specified web site (I like this switch because this does not mess with other web sites that could have different mappings). The second parameter is of course the path to the web site.

Another thing to worry about is that with IIS 6.0, due to security reasons ASP.NET page extensions are not enabled by default. The only way I could find to do this automatically is with this VB script:

Set IIsWebServiceObj = GetObject("IIS://localhost/W3SVC")

' Enable ASP.NET

IIsWebServiceObj.EnableWebServiceExtension "ASP.NET v1.1.4322"

IIsWebServiceObj.SetInfo

Now that I have listed all the gotcha’s, the order in which these are done (as I have found out the hard way) is very important. Here they are:

1. Right before CreateFolders in the Execute Immediate section

a. Install IIS.

b. Also run aspnet_regiis.exe with the “-ir” switch (this was very critical for our install because during CreateFolders a folder is created that the ASPNET user is given access too. If aspnet_regiis.exe is not run, then this user could not exist on the machine!)

2. After your virtual directories are created in the Execute Deferred section

a. Run the VB Script that enables the ASP.NET page extensions in IIS 6.0.
b. Then run aspnet_regiis.exe as described above so that the ASP.NET pages are mapped to your web application.

Interact With The User/ Display A Dialog

As you have read, I need to install IIS if it is not there already. In the actual wsi script, I wanted to display a yes/no message box to make sure the user wants to install IIS. Well you cannot do this in the Windows Installer (not from what I could figure out). The Windows Install can display a message, but that is it. Again, I looked to the Wise Script for help. It can display yes/not message boxes and use that as the beginning of an “if” statement. Score! Well this would not work… I wanted to give the user the ability to abort the installation (because without IIS the feature they selected would not work). The problem is that the Wise Script cannot return to the install an exit code that would abort the install.

Create A Virtual Directory In IIS

Again, the Windows Install does not have the capability to create a virtual directory in IIS. Wise does and it works great.

Create A Directory And Set Permissions

While this was not easy to find in Wise, the Windows Installer can do this. It took a learning curve to get it right because the Wise documentation was not that good and an article on their web site told me to do the wrong thing. I only got it to work after a support call to them.

Wise Or Not So Wise

Now lets talk a but about Wise for Visual Studio .NET. While it has features that the Visual Studio install does not, over all it is flaky and difficult to use (if you are doing any type of custom install). One of the things that makes Wise hard to use is their lack of documentation. While it does come with a reference manual and a help file, both are severely lacking in details and “how to’s” and there literally no samples on how to do the tasks in Wise. It took me awhile to figure out the only way to get to the help file is via a dialog box… there is no way to “browse” the help file if you want to just look around and get familiar with the product. Speaking of samples, Wise does not come with any sample projects or sample scripts to help you get started. It only comes with two tutorials in one of the included PDF’s. So, if you want help on how to write VBScript files or .NET projects to interact with your install, forget it. Their help file also includes many links to the Windows Install SDK help file, which did not work even after I installed the SDK.

Unfortunately, as long as Wise has been around their documentation has not been very good. They do have a knowledgebase up on their web site, but you have to be a registered user to even use it and it is not much better than their help files. I actually found an article that told me to do something the wrong way (which caused a support call to Wise).

Now let’s talk more about why Wise is flaky. Here is an example: Sometimes it takes three or more tries (or the planets align) to add a script from the Wise Script Editor to get it to work. It never seems to work on the first try. I usually add the script… nothing happens when I run the install. Then I add it again and I get a memory error when run from the install. Then I add it again and I get another error that the program cannot be run. Then, if I am lucky the forth try (or more) it will just magically start working! There seems to be no rhyme or reason.

Setting and creating dialog boxes in Wise is very difficult. What makes it so difficult if you want to move the dialog box to a different place in the sequence during the install. Basically, you can’t. One time I just deleted the dialog, added a new one and Wise totally screwed up the dialog sequences some how. I kept getting a “loop” error and I could not figure out why. I just had to start over and create an entirely new install.

Also when adding and removing dialogs, I have found out the hard way that to move from forward and backward through the dialogs it all has to be set up in Windows Install events. You would think that Wise would help you out when adding and removing dialogs and add these events so the dialogs will appear correctly. Well Wise tries (I think) but does a very poor job. You will have to learn all about events (not as easy as you might think) and fix them on your own. It took me about half a day or more of messing with the events and conditions and testing to fix what I figured Wise should have done.

To get support with Wise and you are the registered user, you can log “Support Calls” on their web site, which are just really logging a question to their database. When you log a question, it says they will get back to you within three days! Well the good news is that they usually got back to me in one day or a little longer. The bad part is that I had to log seven of these support calls to finish my install requirements listed above.

Summary

Therefore, to end this long list of complaints on the Windows Installer and Wise, I just hope that the new version of Wise is better and comes with better documentation. I also hope that the Windows Installer starts coming out with more features and their SDK documentation get easier to read and understand. I’m fearful on what how much more difficult it will be when Longhorn is released. I just bought a book from Apress titled “The Definitive Guide to Windows Install” that I hope will help me understand more about the Windows Installer. In addition, I am completely surprised about the lack of information on the web on this subject. I Google’d for many, many hours and did not find much of any inforatmion, especially on interacting with the installer during runtime with VBScript or .NET. I did find a web site that seems like it might be of some help: http://www.installsite.org/. In addition, I found some help on the Microsoft newsgroup located at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.platformsdk.msi. If you have any comments of suggestions on the article, please let me know!

A Perfect Circle is releasing a new album on election day that is "a collection of songs about war, peace, love and greed".I kinda wished it would come out before the election to get us in the right mood :-) For the entire article about this album go to: http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000626795.

Tim Anderson: SP2 debate exposes deeper problems.

ZDNet's David Berlind: SP2's new firewall: better than nothing, but not good enough.

Security is an interesting issue. How much security is good enough?

Let's get out of the computer world. Let's talk about heirloom jewelry. My wife, Maryam, has a bit of jewelry. Does she store it here in the house? No. Why not? It's not secure enough. Where does she store it? In a safe deposit box in a bank. Let's talk about a bank's security and how many layers it has.

1) The jewelry is stored in a safe deposit box with a lock.
2) There's a camera on the box area, so if something goes missing they can verify what happened later.
3) Each box is alarmed. So, if you try to break into someone else's box, an alarm will cry out.
4) The safe deposit boxes are stored inside the bank vault. Three feet of concrete and steel with a very sophisticated lock on the door.
5) Video cameras on the vault door to verify who goes in and out.
6) The vault is behind a counter and you aren't allowed to go near it unless an employee lets you in.
7) The vault is in a building that's designed to be difficult to break into. Alarms. Heavy duty doors. Lighting that makes it easy to see in.

I'm sure there's more layers too that I'm not even aware of. But, let's not dwell on this. The point is that there's multiple layers of security all to protect my wife's jewelry. Let's say any one of these layers failed. Her jewelry would still be safe. It would take multiple failures for a criminal to be able to steal her jewelry.

So, what's my point? Well, when it comes to computer security you should have multiple layers as well. If you have multiple layers of security, then any one layer -- even if it's not well designed -- will prove sufficient in keeping criminals away from the digital equivilent of your jewelry.

If you visit www.microsoft.com/protect you'll see the layers that Microsoft is recommending. For me, I go further. Here's what I'm doing now.

1) Install Windows XP Service Pack 2. This update has many protections against attacks (recompiled code, closed APIs, firewall on by default, all known patches, etc).

2) Get a good anti-virus program. Visit www.microsoft.com/protect for some suggestions, including a Computer Associates one that's free for first 12 months. Why is this important? It'll protect your system from all the known viruses, worms, and trojan horses.

3) Get a good two-way firewall on every machine. The Sygate Personal Firewall is free and is good. Zone Alarm is another popular choice. Why don't I just use the firewall that's included in XPSP2? Because it is only a one-way firewall. Sygate's watches activity going on from both inside your computer as well as out on the Internet. What if your company already has a firewall? That's not enough. You need one on every machine now because if someone takes a laptop outside of your network, gets infected, then comes back in, they'll infect you too. In fact, I use two firewalls now, even at work (one software that runs on all my machines, and one that hooks to the network before I even hook a machine to it). XPSP2's firewall is definitely better than not having a firewall at all, but for some people like me it's not enough.

4) Get a hardware-based firewall or NAT at point of network entry. Why? Because many of us attach unpatched computers while installing, or want to play networked games, or have other reasons for turning off our software firewalls (some software won't work through firewalls). Plus, even if you don't turn them off, provides one more barrier that hackers have to go through. Again, it's about layers of security and not needing to rely on any one security device.

5) Turn on automatic updating. Visit www.microsoft.com/protect so you'll always have the latest security patches. Why do that? Because software evolves. We learn about mistakes we made in our code. We find new ways to keep criminals out. If you aren't running the absolute latest software, you're vulnerable (and this is true if you're on Linux or the Macintosh too).

6) Run the latest email and Web clients. Outlook 2003 and the latest Outlook Express, for instance, has another level of security against running exe's (you can't even run them if emailed in the latest versions, but if you used earlier versions they didn't have those protections). If you are running Firefox or Netscape, they regularly fix vulnerabilities in their products too. Always run the latest. That's the safest.

7) Visit www.microsoft.com/security regularly. for the latest information on security threats. That's the official place where Microsoft will communicate about security threats and/or the latest updates.

8) Run at least one good anti-spyware program like Adaware or Webroot's Spy Sweeper or Spyware Blaster. That'll make sure that no spyware sneaks onto your system. With XPSP2 I've found that spyware is far less likely to get onto your system, but I've already found one site that has some spyware that gets past XPSP2. So, you'll need to still check, particularly if you visit "high risk" sites (sites that aren't known to you, for instance, or adult sites which are famous for putting spyware on your systems).

9) If you visit high-risk Websites, turn off ActiveX and scripting in your browser. (I turn off scripting even on Firefox when I'm visiting high-risk sites -- you all can guess what I'm talking about here. It's just too risky.) In Internet Explorer, just visit Tools/Internet Options. Click on the security tab. Then move the security slider to "high." That'll disable both ActiveX and scripting.

10) Don't run in administrator mode. I'm slowly moving my machines to not running in administrator mode. That way if something does get through all the protection it can't do as much damage. Out of all the steps here, this one is the hardest to do, though, because a lot of things don't work on Windows if you're not running as administrator.

11) Keep an install partition on each of your machines. I put a backup version of my Windows XP install CD on the second partition so that if all else fails and my machine is taken down, I can quickly repair the system and get back up with nothing more than a boot floppy that any machine can produce (since my install bits are on the second partition I don't need to do anything fancy to get back up).

Update: Chris Coulter says that an even better thing to do is to get a second hard drive and put an image of the first drive on the second (he recommends Norton Ghost). If something happens to the first drive, you can build a new image off of the second drive and be back up and running within minutes.

12) Don't allow anonymous users on your wireless network. Why not? Because if they have been infected then you'll have invited them behind several layers of your security. Plus, a criminal could use your line to send spam or infect other people. Do you really want to help those people out?

13) Use better passwords. Come on, I know some of you aren't using good passwords. For instance, I knew one person who'd just use "password" as his password. That meant his machine could be broken into very quickly (never use a single word as a password -- hackers have dictionary cracking tools that can break such passwords ). Read Robert Hensing's advice. He's a security expert here at Microsoft and works in support and explains a good way to choose passwords that are hard to break.

14) Backup your data regularly. It's amazing how few people backup their stuff. Hard drives die. Things happen. If you have backups, you'll be OK even if your machine gets wiped by something. Personally most people don't need to do it very often. I backup once a month. Why? I'm willing to lose a month's worth of stuff. (Most of my important stuff is in Outlook and that's backed up automatically by the company I work for).

Anyway, my whole thing is to treat your computers like you treat valuable jewelry. Put up multiple security barriers. This is true, by the way, whether you are on a Mac or Linux too. All the above except for loading XPSP2 apply to you too. Just because the criminals aren't attacking your systems right now doesn't mean they won't in the future. That's like saying "well, if I hide my jewelry in a box at the North Pole the criminals aren't going to take the time to go there." That might be true, but is that really a good way to approach the world?

What do you think? How many layers of security do you have? How many do you need?

You might not need all the above, by the way. At home I don't have an alarm. I don't have video cameras. I don't have a vault with three-feet of concrete between me and any potential criminal.

So, the 14 security layers I use for my computers might be overkill for you. Which layers above do you choose not to have and why?

I was let down that there is no way to watch the concert footage (most of it new songs) in its entirety.

So I actually went to a book store today (I usually shop at Amazon.com for books) to go looking for some .NET books. Much to my surprise there isn’t a .NET section (at Bookstar at least). I found that they have books on .NET spread throughout the web, c/c++, vb, database and network sections. I found it strange they have an entire shelf section dedicated to Visual Basic, but not .NET?

A friend of mine told me later that day that the publishers like this… but for me, having a limited amount of time in the store, I found it frustrating to find the books I was looking for.

• .Net Security In The Real World - Examples From Corporate America
• Visual Studio: Deploying .NET Applications with Ease
• Defending Against Layer 8: How to Recognize and Combat Social Engineering
• IIS Data Mining with Log Parser

I attended my first “cabana” session today. These were small open areas in the Sail Pavilion that had seats for about 20 people. I kind of liked it because the speakers were more laid back. The problem was because the light came from the sun, it was near impossible to see the plasma screen they used. If it weren’t cloudy, it would have been impossible!

The speaker for “Defending Against Layer 8” (Steve Riley) was hands down the best speaker of the entire conference. He kept the lights on and did not stand on the podium at all. Instead he walked around the huge room and really engaged the audience. He was so energetic and had a great attitude even though his talk was next to the last of the conference. He also seemed to have the largest audience of the day and got the most applause at the end of his talk than any other session I attended the entire conference. One thing Steve mentioned was that he never uses the computers in the Commnet area to check his e-mail because someone could put a keyboard sniffer on them. Well he is completely correct… I use to work for the company that did Commnet (located in Carlsbad) for TechEd last year and they found keyboard sniffers on some of the computers. So attendees beware!

Is it just me or did some of you notice too that the presenters had a lot of programs running in their taskbar? One presenter today had 11 and another had 13! Okay, maybe I’m the only one around that is minimalist and keeps as few things running the in the taskbar as possible for performance reasons?

It’s been 1.5 years since I have been at a conference, but I still see that the number of women engineers does not seem to be growing at all. Also I noticed that the number of engineers with long hair have decreased (I only spotted two others). Maybe I should finally cut mine… not!

After the sessions were over, I meet up with my friend Stan and my new friend Ambrose and we hit the Gaslamp area. We went to The Field for food, played pool at San Diego Billiards, hit Dick’s Last Resort and back to the W for a few drinks.

Summary
To sum up, I think TechEd was great. I would say it was the best conference I’ve been to. I was very impressed on how Microsoft ran the conference. I wished there were less Microsoft speakers and more “real world” speakers. I also wished the talks were more technical and less “50,000 foot level”. Some people told me that the PDC is more technical, but I figured with “tech” in the name of the conference, it would be more technical than it was. I hope TechEd comes back to San Diego soon!

Business Card Count = 3

For more pictures click here.

• ASP.NET: Blackbelt Web Forms Programming
• SQL Server Data Access Developer Don'ts (10 Things You Currently Do That You Shouldn't)
• ASP.NET: Tips and Tricks for Building Server Controls
• ASP.NET: Best Practices for Managing and Operating IIS 6.0 and ASP.NET Solutions

At lunch I did my pass through the exhibit area since it was the last day for them. I gathered information I could take to the next meeting of the user group I hope run (San Diego .NET Developers Group). One thing I did notice was that it seemed that there were more vendors focued on the IT pro type person… not on the software developer. I thought TechEd was a developers conference… guess I was wrong.

After the sessions Microsoft rented out Sea World for the attendee party! It was pretty cool going to an amusement park and not pay for anything! Got to walk on to rides and exhibits. It was fun… thanks Microsoft!

Business Card Count = 3

For more pictures click here.

• Connected Systems: Using Web Services Enhancements v2.0 for Messaging Over Multiple Machines and Networks
• Smart Clients in a Service-Oriented World: Thomson Financial Case Study
• SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services: Managing a Reporting Services Implementation
• Improving Application Performance and Scalability

I think one of the reasons we all could keep our energy up was that throughout the day and throughout the conference area there were always coffee, snacks, soda and bottled water available. So any time we wanted, we could fuel up!

I made an effort at TechEd to not go to any Whidbey talks. Why? Easy, it’s a year away. Sure I want to learn about it, but it’s not even in an alpha release. I thought the conference focused too much on future technologies and not enough on the current ones.

They gave us two hours for lunch, so I spent the majority of that time doing what I call “slumming” for the user group that I help run (San Diego .NET Developers Group). What I do is go to all the vendors that I think could help out with the group by either donating software or come speak at a meeting. All of the vendors I targeted seemed into it… we shall see.

After the session I was invited to a private party thrown by Microsoft for people they call “influencers”. They rented all of the Dicks Last Resort bar/ restaurant and the billiards hall above it for three hours. It was a lot of fun. After that, my friend Stan and I went over to his hotel, the W, and hung out at the upstairs bar which is mostly a sand beach type of thing. That was pretty cool too.

Business Card Count = 6

For more pictures click here.

Here are the sessions that I attended today:

• XML Today and Tomorrow
• ASP.NET: Building Secure Web Applications-Defenses and Countermeasures
• Visual Studio: Programming Middle-Tier Business Logic

As I was sitting in these talks, I noticed that it seemed to me that a large number of Microsoft speakers have some sort of British accent. I checked with my friend later in the week to see if he noticed the same thing and he verified my thinking. I’m curious to know why this is. Do they make for better speakers? More charismatic? I wondered.

Today was the first day I went down to the exhibit area. I had a mission of just signing up for all the prize giveaways. Do my dismay, I found out when I got to some of the vendors (HP to name one) they made me go to three or more other vendors to get a card stamped before you could be entered for the prize. So I ran around the (huge) exhibit area and did as they instructed only to find out that I had to come back later in the week because I had to be present to win? What a scam! Some of the times they picked to give out the prize were the same time sessions were happening. Not cool at all vendors! From then on I only entered giveaways that they would notify me via e-mail or phone that I won.

Also I went and had my first TechEd lunch in the massive lunch area today. I have never seen a dining area so big (see picture)! There were 970 tables that sat 10 people each and an army of waiters/ waitresses that corralled you to your table and served you iced-tea. I was very impressed how they pulled this off and the food was good and hot! No boxed lunched the entire week! They even had special lunches for vegetarians, vegans, lactose free and more! I also found out that the convention center donates any leftover food to two different shelters located in downtown San Diego. Very cool!

Early that evening I went and attend the Regional .NET User Group Meeting (put on by the San Diego .NET Users Group) held at the Horton Plaza Westin. It was a very informative meeting featuring a speaker from the Microsoft VB.NET team and one from the C# team, each giving a separate talk on what is coming in VS 2005. Lots of cool things coming next year, but I have to say the VB.NET teem needs to add the refactoring that C# has!!!

My friend Woody and I found out about a party that MSDN Magazine was throwing at The Bitter End. On our way there (in an attempt to crash it), we meet up with Ari Bixhorn (from VBTV fame at Microsoft) and someone convinced him to go to the party with us. He had a pass in his hotel room… without him I don’t think we could have gotten in. Thanks Ari!

Business Card Count = 1 | Free Shirt Count = 4

For more pictures click here.

The rest of my day was filled with going to the following sessions:

• Service Orientation and the Windows/.NET Developer
• Prescriptive Guidance-Juggling Web Services, WSE, .NET Remoting, System.EnterpriseServices, and MSMQ
• Applied Web Services in Hewlett Packard's Core eCommerce Solutions
• Best Practices for Dealing With State at Multiple Layers Within Your .NET Applications.

All of these sessions were in the Connected Systems topic group. Unfortunately, most of them were kind of a let down, especially the first one. The last one was the best out of the bunch.

I was impressed how nice the San Diego Convention Center people were and there were always (free) food and drinks (including bottled water) outside of the session rooms at all times. On my way out for the day I stopped by the TechEd store to pick up some shirts.

Free Shirt Count = 2

For more pictures click here.

Besides a cool bag of swag we received when we arrived, the meeting was followed by an open-bar cocktail party (see picture to the right) and another very cool bag of swag provided by MSDN.

Business Card Count = 4 | Free Shirt Count = 3

For more pictures click here.

If you did not know it, TechEd is in San Diego this year! I believe this is the biggest Microsoft conference here since the PDC in late 90’s. The best part is since it’s here, I get to go (thanks to INETA)! Who knows when we will get a Microsoft of this magnitude in San Diego again, so I decided to take pictures and write some of my experiences in my blog for every day that I go (7 days total).

My TechEd experience actually started off the day before the pre-conference started (Saturday May 22, 2004) at a “Pre-Tech Ed Geeks Only Party” thrown by my very good friend Michele Leroux Bustamante (see in the picture to the right… the blonde) at her house in Bonita. The guests included lots of TechEd speakers, Microsoft RD’s and more! It was a very cool catered affair. I got to talk to some old friends and made some new ones. Any party is good when there is an open bar!

For more pictures click here.

Okay, it?s April 19, 2004 and I just installed the latest update to Outlook, which was an update to its junk mail filter. What I was hoping was that it would fix a major problem that I have been having? while Outlook 2003 is great at catching most junk mail from your inbox, it does not work at all if you have a ?rule? setup to move incoming mail to another folder. For instance, when I started up Outlook today, I had 35 junk e-mails in one folder (3 more as I was writing this)!!! Come on Microsoft, this cannot be that hard to fix!

I have also found out that if you have a rule that moves all the incoming mail from a specified account to a folder and you have it setup that only the e-mail headers are downloaded from that account, it won't process them at all!

Update: The Update for Outlook 2003: Junk E-mail Filter (KB870765) released in July 2004 seems to have fixed the junk mail filter issue described above.

It’s January 28, 2004, probably a year or less until the next version of Visual Studio.NET is due to be released and I’m already sick of hearing about it! Ever since the Microsoft Professional Developers conference last year, they have flooded us with information about it. Come on… many companies are having a hard enough time figuring out the first two versions of VS.NET or even are slow to adopt the new language.

So why so much “information overload” on a language that most people can’t use for a year or more? I would rather more time being spent on the current versions… providing more “real world” solutions for developers.

Just my two cents.

I remember all too well that day… I sat in front of the television for almost two days in a state of shock… numb and confused that something like this happed to over 3,000 innocent fellow Americans. Unfortunately, like the day that JFK died or Columbia blew up on liftoff, it will be etched in my mind forever. But unlike other recent events, this one we can never forget! What worries me is that we already are.

If it were up to me, this would be a holiday. All Americans would take the day off and remember those who died. Those who helped people to survive. Those who made a difference. Then, we would collectively work on how to prevent this from happening again… how ever that might be. We can never fall asleep at the wheel again!

So you think open source will save the world? Linux is great? Well check this out: Server breach raises Linux code worries. The GNU Project, which develops many of the components in the operating system, warns that the system housing its primary download servers was compromised by an attacker.

Today Rolling Stone released an article about the Iron Maiden "Dance" back outlining their tour and new album. I personally am going to skip their appearance in San Diego this week. Why? Well... their last album was week, during their last concert Bruce actually had the balls to say that they were going to bring metal back and they played way too many songs from the new album during the show.

Come on Bruce, groups like Disturbed, Tool, Sevendust and others are bringing metal back, not you. Take your place in history... keep touring, keep playing to the old (good) songs with a few (very few) new songs mixed in. That's what we like. Oh, curb the attitude too.

One parting question... does Iron Maiden really need three guitarists?

I think a lot of us were let down that Chris was not there and Queensrÿche did not make that abundantly clear beforehand. Also, the band seemed very stiff and tired. Except for Geoff, they guys pretty much stood in one spot. Their mood did not seem to me to be upbeat. Is this the end of Queensrÿche? Seems most of them have side projects. Chris wrote and played on the new album but then decided not to promote it (I just read he is flying planes most of the time and quit the band one week before the album was done)? I sure hope they will continue as a band. I look forward to seeing them again… soon!

I’ve wanted to see Weird Al for a really long time. He has been a favorite of mine ever since he first showed up on MTV. Anyone that pokes fun at popular music is awesome in my book! Since I saw his live DVD, I really wanted to see him (even though he was at the fair). This was the first show of his tour and we were not disappointed. Weird Al did songs from his entire collection. He did a fantastic job at entertaining by using his infamous costumes such as the fat suit for I’m Fat. He even used multi media videos shown behind the band. He even played hilarious videos between songs poking fun at pop artists while he was doing his costume changes (I think he did more changes than Nsync!).

During the show he stopped and said “Welcome to the first show of the show or what we like to call the sound check!” He was right about that. The sound was okay, but it seemed the guitarist did not have his rig “dialed” in. Other than that, the show seemed fine for being the first of the tour. I can’t wait until he tours again… I’ll be there!

Today our local NBC affiliate decided (for some strange reason) that the lead story of the day would be about the Evangelist Billy Graham holding a four-day mission at Qualcomm Stadium. The segment showed mission goers delighted that they get to hear this great man speak. Isn’t this the same man who said that if we listen to musicians like Ozzy Osbourne we would go to hell? Isn’t this the same man that said that if he does not get six million dollars by a certain date he was going to die?

Enough said!

REDMOND, Wash., April 24, 2003 -- Some things just work better together. A mouse and a keyboard. The connectivity of e-mail and the power of the Internet. Database servers, operating systems and development tools.

In recognition of how strong software can work better together as a team, Microsoft launches new versions of Windows Server, Visual Studio .NET and SQL Server today. Microsoft product teams took an integrated approach to the new releases to offer powerful technology that eases and expedites the development of new applications while improving server and database performance.

"We built these products to help solve IT and business challenges our customers are facing," says Bill Veghte, corporate vice president with Microsoft's Windows Servers Group. "Businesses need to reduce costs to accommodate shrinking budgets. At the same time they need to respond faster to changing market conditions and customer requests. There is a real demand to deliver connected, highly manageable applications."

In addition to manageability and connectivity, Veghte says that security and scalability are at the top of the wish lists of today's businesses. To illustrate the importance of security and scalability throughout a technology infrastructure, Veghte draws on the example of banks that work with credit card companies. Security is paramount. The database that stores the data, the applications that exchange the data among banks, credit companies and customers and the environment in which that data is exchanged -- the operating system -- all need high levels of security. Without security, the confidence of customers and business and trading partners -- not to mention money and sensitive identity information -- could easily be lost, or, at best, seriously compromised.

"We've built security in as a fundamental component of Windows Server 2003, Visual Studio .NET 2003 and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit)," says Veghte. "Security has become an increasingly important consideration, and Microsoft has responded by offering tools developers need to develop and deploy secure applications. The single security model that spans the underlying platform makes it easier and more efficient for IT administrators to manage their server infrastructure. In addition to secure applications, in developing today's releases we focused on providing an infrastructure and a means for more securely connecting people to their networks and the applications they rely on."

Then there's scalability. It used to be that only employees regularly accessed a company's technology. But today, a company's IT systems must also often accommodate customers and business partners. With business being conducted around the world at all hours day and night, the technology needs to be able to stand up to the erratic ebb and flow of Web traffic.

"The scalability enhancements we've made will add significant value for IT professionals, businesses whose livelihood depends on technology that can accommodate varying levels of traffic and the customers who patronize those businesses," says Veghte. "The ability to be highly scalable is a huge benefit of a technology infrastructure that has interoperability at its core."

Interoperability is another chief concern for business, especially when working with customer information. If systems aren't able to share data, such as when a customer calls their bank and keys in an account number, only to have to read it all over again when someone in the call center takes the call, it can be a frustrating experience for customers that can impact a business' bottom line.

Three Products Working Together

Windows Server 2003 plays a strong role in meeting the demands of business today with some of the most advanced application services available. The system tightly integrates platform services, XML Web services and the .NET Framework, which is an expressive programming model. "Windows Server 2003 has the muscle our customers, partners and independent software vendors need to build, deploy and manage all kinds of applications, including the increasingly important XML Web services," says Veghte.

With a plethora of enhancements and new capabilities, Windows Server 2003 was built to deliver several key benefits. Windows Server 2003, Veghte says, is highly scalable in order to accommodate the shifting level of demand today's businesses often face. Windows Server 2003 is engineered to be secure by default, design and deployment. With enhanced reliability and unprecedented speed, the operating system, Veghte says, is Microsoft's most dependable one to date.

With Windows Server 2003, customers have found they're able to run their server infrastructures 30 percent more efficiently. With built-in support for the entire application lifecycle, applications can be built in half the time with twice the performance.

Windows Server 2003 also provides the tools necessary for network infrastructures to be deployed, managed and used for maximum productivity. Windows Server 2003 can deliver a new level of connectivity by helping join customers, employees, partners and systems. The fourth primary benefit, Veghte says, is that Windows Server 2003, when combined with products and services from Microsoft's many hardware, software and channel partners, delivers the greatest return on infrastructure investments.

To address the challenges today's developers face in the areas of connectivity, scalability and beyond, Microsoft developed Visual Studio .NET 2003. "The typical application lifecycle used to be between 18 and 24 months," says Tom Button, corporate vice president of Developer Tools. "Now, due to increased customer demands, applications need to be released and updated every six to nine months. For that reason, Visual Studio .NET 2003 was developed to ensure maximum developer productivity in building, deploying, and managing applications."

The key capabilities of the initial release of Visual Studio .NET -- XML Web service support, application security and a high degree of scalability -- are still central. But Visual Studio .NET 2003, Button says, features key enhancements made to improve the developer and user experience.

By using a single programming model for building Windows, Web and mobile applications, Button says Visual Studio .NET 2003 will improve developer productivity by allowing them to develop different types of applications using the same set of skills. "This drastically reduces retraining costs and enables developers to transfer their skills across the various types of applications," he says.

In addition to developer productivity, Visual Studio .NET 2003 continues its focus on the rapidly evolving world of Web services. "Visual Studio .NET 2003 incorporates the latest industry standards for XML Web services, enabling developers to overcome challenges around application integration," Button says.

Visual Studio .NET 2003, according to Button, raises the bar with the high level of connectivity it delivers. "Data is the oxygen of the information age," he says. "Developers need to pull data for a variety of sources, so we've made sure that accessing data in Visual Studio .NET 2003 doesn't cause a bottleneck situation in the software."

Button added that Visual Studio .NET 2003 is about more than writing code. "It provides tools for software architects," he says. "Integrated software modeling tools and the Enterprise Instrumentation Framework will help developers and architects build software for maximum security, scalability and manageability."

Rounding out the trio is Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition (64-bit). "The bottom line is that it's a solid business investment," says Gordon Mangione, corporate vice president, Microsoft SQL Server. "SQL Server Enterprise Edition (64-bit) is a more scalable database that hosts more user databases and more applications The real win for businesses as they grow their enterprise and their applications is that they don't have to live with the fear of hitting a ceiling and not being able to go any further."

Mangione says that enhancements to SQL Server Enterprise Edition (64-bit) increase the ability to do parallel data processing -- a process that handles more data more quickly -- and to store and aggregate more data that answer more business questions. The enhanced processing capabilities allow a national grocery store chain, for example, to empower a larger amount of users on a single server to analyze, compare and contrast sales of a product brand or SKU over multiple business perspectives such as time, geography, location, etc.

Mangione says enhancements to SQL Server Enterprise Edition (64-bit) also make data more compatible and easier to migrate. The business value of that, he adds, is that businesses don't have to start over. "Connectivity is key to the product architecture," he says. "That means that development work that's been done previously is supported by SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit). Just move it over and it will run."

Mangione says that he is particularly pleased with the joint effort that culminates in today's three releases. "It's a great example of the investment Microsoft makes as a company," he says. "We have a group of distinguished engineers who are world-class experts. The teams driving the development of SQL Server Enterprise Edition (64 bit), Windows Server 2003 and Visual Studio .NET 2003 have partnered with one another to determine what key things should be built in each of the products. Our customers will benefit from working with a company like Microsoft that's committed to really understanding their challenges and their goals."

Customers Put Microsoft Technology to the Test

Customers working with pre-release versions of Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and Microsoft SQL Server 64-bit say that the technology trio is meeting their demands.

"When Microsoft builds a new version of its operating system, it always includes a myriad of improvements," says Jeff Cohen, vice president and chief information officer with JetBlue Airways, an airline that's been lauded for offering great customer service on a price-controlled model. Or, in Cohen's words, "Low-cost, high-touch."

Windows Server 2003, Cohen says, defines JetBlue Airways' computing environment. SQL Server Enterprise Edition (64-bit) takes care of data warehousing, handling tasks like running the company's frequent-flier program. And Visual Studio .NET 2003 is the exclusive language for JetBlue's 20 developers who juggle between 40 and 50 projects. "If you add up all three products, it's a powerful package," he says.

The Windows Server 2003 operating system is robust, he says. It handles memory better, and it's a highly manageable and reliable environment in which to develop. Active Directory is better. And he's definitely seen performance gains.

With data that's more readily accessible, JetBlue's Web site is a faster, friendlier experience for customers. For potential employees, the "Work Here" feature -- developed with Visual Studio .NET 2003 -- eases and expedites the process of applying online. For JetBlue employees, the travel request system on the company's Intranet handles arrangements and offers practical information such as the per diem expenses for different destinations. The ease of the development process in Visual Studio .NET 2003, Cohen says, allowed his team to get the site up and running quickly and efficiently. And the interoperability among the operating system and database server make it easy to manage and maintain.

For security purposes, developers on Cohen's team produced a crew member verification program. Gate personnel enter the employee's code into a system where it interacts with employee-specific data in SQL Server Enterprise Edition 64-bit to verify that they are in good standing with the airline before they board.

And for more efficient freight shipping, JetBlue took advantage of the power of Visual Studio .NET 2003 to build a tracking system. Freight is scanned when it is loaded and again when it's unloaded; technology does the rest in terms of managing what's where, and when. Cohen says he used to spend a lot of time sending e-mail to various JetBlue destinations in search of lost packages. "I don't do that anymore," he says. "At all."

JetBlue, Cohen says, is definitely in take-off mode. The company has 42 jets today but plans to grow the fleet to 54 by the end of the year. In addition to the 22 destinations it currently serves, JetBlue will land in Atlanta in May, San Diego in June and more beyond. The company is adding five employees per day to its current roster of 4,500. "We're growing, so scalability is critical," he says. "And Microsoft's technology is up to it."

Microsoft Technology Goes Back to School

The technology trio has also proven itself in more grounded environments.

The Cornell Theory Center is a high-performance computing and interdisciplinary research center located on the Ithaca, N.Y. campus of Cornell University. "What makes Cornell a leading research institution is that we have great facilities, one of which is the computational facilities," says David Lifka, the center's chief technical officer.

The research conducted at Cornell is broad. On any given day, engineers may diagnose the crash-test worthiness of automobiles, bioinformatics researchers might conduct sequence matching and someone from the business school might need to run risk analysis on a hypothetical investment portfolio.

The common thread at the Cornell Theory Center, Lifka says, is the demand for supercomputing, or high-performance computing. Supercomputing requires a large technological infrastructure -- either one enormous computer or several smaller ones -- that can handle programs that require an inordinate amount of data, intense number crunching or both. "The kind of computing we're doing typically cannot be performed on the desktop or a laptop," Lifka says. "We need power."

And the technology from Microsoft, he says, delivers that power.

Working in unison, Lifka says, the three technologies create a completely integrated development environment. "What's really cool about Windows Server 2003, for example, is that the .NET technology is baked in," he says. "Instead of having to install extra pieces of software it's all right there. Web services, seamless access to client serve applications, the enabling technologies like cluster load balancing -- they're all there. And they're reliable and secure."

Visual Studio .NET 2003, according to Lifka, simplifies and speeds up the process of writing, installing and running applications. "For example, it gives us all the tools and resources to write a Web service that will perform calculations on different data sets," he says. "With an application built with Visual Studio .NET 2003, a user simply goes to the Web form, enters the data and orders the calculations. If the Web service has to look at historical data, part of the .NET framework will automatically query SQL Server Enterprise Edition (64-bit) and get the data on the fly. Visual Studio .NET tools interface nicely with the database, and the code runs on Windows Server 2003."

The server's high scalability, he says, is also beneficial. "We have four terabytes of database storage served by eight linked SQL servers," he says. "This provides faster write access to users by allowing the DB admin to distribute the data across multiple servers while still providing the end user with the appearance that they only have to access one server."

Other benefits realized by the Microsoft technology infrastructure include improved performance, improved productivity due to the use of standardized technology, and improved manageability.

Finally, the center's "database-centric" approach allows for the real-time monitoring of computational resources and allows visualization of results, which supports what Lifka calls the Holy Grail of high powered computing -- computational steering.

Steering is the ability to monitor and manage complex analyses and simulations as they're happening, and then use the results to make decisions about how to proceed with the ongoing computation. "It used to be that you'd run code and then two weeks later realize that you'd made a mistake," he says. "You'd lost two weeks of valuable time. Now, you can see if you've made a mistake and correct it right away."

While Lifka's use of the technology is decidedly academic, he says the parallels between the computing challenges faced by the Cornell Theory Center and businesses are hard to miss. If genes can be identified quickly, discoveries can be made faster. "The ability to do things at a greater speed gives us a competitive advantage," he says. "If this technology solves the complex problems we ask it to, I have no doubt in its ability to solve business problems."

SAN FRANCISCO -- April 23, 2003 -- At the Embedded Systems Conference, Microsoft Corp., the worldwide leader in embedded operating systems, today announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft® Windows® CE .NET version 4.2, previously code-named "McKendric." Windows CE .NET 4.2 combines Microsoft's most advanced real-time operating system with powerful tools for rapidly creating the next generation of smart, connected and small-footprint devices. Windows CE .NET 4.2 adds new features for creating innovative solutions in gateway, voice over IP (VoIP) and set-top box (STB) devices along with faster performance and greater application compatibility for the wide range of consumer and commercial embedded devices in which Windows CE is used today. In addition, Microsoft announced that more than 60 companies participated in the Microsoft early development programs for Windows CE .NET 4.2, providing valuable customer feedback and at the same time kick-starting their own delivery of a wide range of devices and solutions based on the new operating system.

"Windows CE .NET 4.2 provides customers with the desired technology for implementing sophisticated voice, video and data functionality for next-generation devices. Customers are already taking advantage of the new feature sets found in Windows CE .NET 4.2 as they prepare to deliver new gateway, voice over IP and set-top box solutions. The positive response from industry leaders to Windows CE .NET 4.2 demonstrates it is in lock step with the evolution of the embedded software industry," said Todd Warren, general manager of the Embedded and Appliance Platforms Group at Microsoft. "We're very excited to see industry data rank us No. 1 in the embedded marketplace and will continue to improve our products and services along with our strong partner base to maintain this leadership position."

Operating System Enhancements

Windows CE .NET 4.2 includes new features to create innovative solutions and deliver differentiated user experiences. These new features in Windows CE .NET 4.2 include the following:

• Enhanced foundation. Improved security and kernel enhancements include a faster compression engine and flexible cache flushing. Windows CE .NET 4.2 also increases the number of lines of source code available in the box to over 2 million to assist developers with debugging and device bring up.
• Innovative device solutions. New gateway, VoIP and STB features target the needs of device manufacturers to rapidly and effectively create compelling devices with communication, data and voice requirements. New features include support for Internet Protocol Firewall and Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), and the Telephony User Interface, which provides a fully integrated and telephony-specific graphical user interface.
• Enhanced multimedia and browsing. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can deliver rich, integrated browsing and multimedia with the inclusion of Internet Explorer 6 for Windows CE and Microsoft Windows Media® 9 Series codecs that provide an instant-on, always-on, playback digital media experience for broadband users.
• New applications and services. Developers will find improved ease of use and the ability to reduce time to market with new applications and services. The .NET Compact Framework enables rapid, managed code development for devices, leveraging the well-known desktop development tools. Windows CE .NET 4.2 also provides improved API compatibility across Windows CE-based devices, including the Pocket PC software platform.
• Easy access to partner solutions. Windows CE .NET 4.2 also provides an additional CD containing 18 third-party solutions from eight Windows Embedded partners. These additional components include board support packages (BSPs), hardware-specific device drivers and profiling tools to offer additional, out-of-the-box software options for embedded developers. Developers can always visit the Hardware Design Center or the Windows Embedded Partner Marketplace for additional third-party solutions.

Windows CE Early Development Programs

More than 60 companies are participating in the Windows CE .NET 4.2 early development programs, including industry leaders such as HP, NEC Access Technica, NEC Infrontia, Toshiba TEC Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The early development programs include the Joint Development Program (JDP) for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs), building devices on Windows CE .NET 4.2, and the Windows CE .NET ISV Early Adopter Program (EAP), building innovative software applications and middleware. These programs promote rapid adoption of the operating system by providing OEMs, ODMs and independent software vendors with early access to Windows CE .NET 4.2. In turn, Microsoft is able to design and develop a feature set based on direct customer feedback and industry needs. Through Microsoft's early development programs, these companies will soon deliver a breadth of devices, designs and software applications to the market that enable and enhance such devices as mobile handhelds, gateways, set-top boxes, and VoIP devices and solutions.

No. 1 Embedded Operating System Provider Worldwide

The strong interest in Windows CE .NET as well as Windows XP Embedded by industry leaders has been instrumental in securing a No. 1 position for Windows Embedded products. According to Venture Development Corp., Microsoft led in worldwide shipments of embedded operating systems for 2002. "With the strong feature set included in Windows CE .NET 4.2, we expect Microsoft to reinforce its leadership position in the embedded operating systems marketplace," said Chris Lanfear, manager of Embedded Software Research at Venture Development Corp. "Developers will find that the enhancements in Windows CE .NET 4.2 will provide a foundation for both releasing their creativity and meeting project timelines."

For 2001, Microsoft led revenue for embedded operating systems according to International Data Corp. document 27653, Worldwide Mobile and Embedded Operating Environment Market Forecast and Analysis, 2002-2006. Further supporting Microsoft's position in the embedded operating system industry, Fred Broussard, senior analyst at IDC, notes, "A key to success in the embedded marketplace is offering customers a strong solution suite, solutions that offer a robust product line that includes software development kits and licenses for cross-functional solutions. The new version, Windows CE .NET 4.2, specifically provides new tools, performance enhancements and features for VoIP, residential gateways and set-top boxes. With the addition of Windows CE .NET 4.2 to the Windows Embedded product family of Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded, Microsoft continues to build a strong position in the marketplace."

Pricing and Availability

Windows CE .NET 4.2 evaluation kits will be available at Microsoft's Embedded Systems Conference booth, No. 1002. Evaluation kits are also available for order at the Windows Embedded Web site. Pricing and retail availability dates will be announced shortly. More information can be found at the Windows Embedded Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/ce.net/.

The Industry Speaks Out in Support of Windows CE .NET 4.2

"As a leading provider of innovative network communications products, AboCom's latest Multimedia Residential Gateway benefits from Windows CE .NET 4.2. Delivering a reliable performance in a small footprint along with the latest networking and communications technologies, Windows CE .NET 4.2 provides enhanced features and technologies, including voice over IP (VoIP) phone and gateway configurations, platform development tool enhancements, the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 1.0, and expanded Board Support Packages (BSP). AboCom will continue to meet customer needs by delivering the latest in Windows CE .NET-based technologies."

Andy Tsai
General Manager
Mobile InterConnected Products Division
AboCom Systems

"The power of Microsoft Windows CE .NET 4.2 exemplifies Microsoft's investment in the embedded development community. Accelent Systems is pleased to enhance our development toolkit, leveraging the capabilities of this advanced software platform as a foundation for our embedded device community."

Albert McCabe
Executive Vice President
Worldwide Sales and Marketing
Accelent Systems

"With the increased support for VoIP and built-in Residential Gateway features found in Microsoft Windows CE. NET 4.2, Advantech can now answer our customers' needs in the growing e-home and building automation industries."

Jeff Chen
Vice President of the Embedded Computing Group
Advantech

"Windows CE .NET 4.2 provides a rich, real-time operating system for the embedded space and gives developers an improved set of tools and latest networking and communication technologies for creating the next generation of connected and small-footprint devices. With the enhanced features of Windows CE .NET 4.2 in combination with the high performance and low power of the AMD Alchemy Solutions processor family, our customers will be able to quickly offer a variety of devices that are faster, have longer battery life, support an enhanced multimedia and Internet experience and a more secure and scalable networking infrastructure, and offer greater interoperability."

Phil Pompa
Vice President of Marketing for the PCS group
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

"BSQUARE supports the powerful new features found in Windows CE .NET 4.2 across all of our major product lines. For example, our Power Handheld reference design showcases some of Microsoft's most advanced capabilities, such as the Pocket Outlook® Object Model. We just released Windows CE .NET 4.2-based development boards for AMD's Alchemy family of processors. In addition, the next release of SmartBuild Device Solutions will support Microsoft DirectX® for richer multimedia capabilities as well as standards-based USB OHCI drivers for enhanced connectivity."

Bill Baxter
President and CEO