Got a few minutes to kill, and want to get to grips with Microsoft’s Windows Azure Platform? Let’s do it in the best possible way – by actually trying it. I’m about to show you just how easy that is and also explain how valuable that knowledge can be.
If you do this in Canada by Dec 31st 2010 and tell Microsoft Canada about it (see below), Microsoft will give CDN$25 to your nominated user group AND send you a $25 gift card too!! 
Let’s get a few questions out of the way first…
The following features have just been announced live by Scott Guthrie during the Silverlight Firestarter event.
Media features
Also, IIS Media Service 4 was recently shipped (and is free) – live and on-demand smooth streaming to desktop, Windows Phone 7 and iPhone (via live trans-muxing) – enhancements to Expression Media Encoder to support on-demand/live streaming to devices – also now announced is support on Windows Azure
New application features
Release Schedule!!!
Silverlight 5 Beta – Spring 2011
Release – by end of 2011
Get more details from Microsoft:
Scott Guthrie’s blog – http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/12/02/announcing-silverlight-5.aspx
Tim Heuer’s blog – http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/12/02/silverlight-5-revealed-at-firestarter.aspx
As a Microsoft MVP for Silverlight, I’m delighted to see the future of Silverlight 5 unfolding quite nicely (and stunningly in the case of 3D hardware acceleration) as well as an emphasis on what great applications can be built today with the existing Silverlight 4 technologies.
Note that there are no preview/beta bits available to download at this time.
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Tue Nov 30th 2010 at 5:00pm |
Windows Phone 7 Developer Briefing |
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Thu Dec 2nd 2010 at 11:45am |
Silverlight Firestarter (with roadmap announcement) |
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Thu Dec 2nd 2010 at 8:30am or 5:00pm |
Building Awesome Apps for Windows 7! Community Tour |
You can stay for the Windows 7 and Silverlight events on Dec 2nd at the same venue!!
Details below…
Tue Nov 30th 2010 – Windows Phone 7 Developer Briefing
Get Your App in Gear – Register today and join us at the Windows Phone 7 Developer Briefing
Join us for an informative Windows Phone 7 Briefing to learn more about developing on Microsoft’s latest mobile platform. The briefing will cover the two application frameworks available for Windows Phone 7, where to find developer resources, how to submit apps into Marketplace, and much more!
Register here:
Ottawa, On – November 30, 2010 at 5pm
AGENDA
Registration
5:00pm
Start
6:00pm
Introduction
Apps with Silverlight
Break/Q&A
Games with XNA
Next Steps/Q&A
End
9:00pm
Apps with Silverlight
Silverlight provides standard user controls and an event-driven model suited to building apps that bring information to the user. In this session, you’ll see an app or two built right in front of you, and learn about many aspects of Silverlight development for Windows Phone, including controls, laying them out, the model-view-viewmodel pattern, resources, themes, data binding and data templates, making asynchronous web requests, LINQ to XML and more.
Games with XNA
XNA is a game loop-based framework that makes it easier to build 2-D and 3-D games where gameplay, graphics and sound are key. You’ll watch the construction of a 2-D game and in the process learn about XNA’s game loop, resources, screen management, sprites, getting input from the accelerometer and touchscreen, collision detection, making use of game code libraries and other aspects of game development with XNA.
Next Steps
You’ve now had a taste of developing for Windows Phone with both Silverlight and XNA. What now? At this session we’ll cover where to get the tools and hardware, where to find additional developer resources such as tutorials, books and communities, how to register with the App Hub, how to submit an app to Marketplace and even talk about ideas for new apps.
Thu Dec 2nd 2010 at 12pm – Silverlight Firestarter (with roadmap announcement)
Come to the Microsoft Ottawa office on Dec 2nd 2010 @ 11:45 am ET sharp to watch the future of Silverlight unfold.
On Dec 2nd 2010, Microsoft is running the all-day Firestarter event about Silverlight. It opens with a keynote from Scott Guthrie (Corporate VP of the Developer Division) on the Future of Silverlight and features various sessions from renowned speakers. It’s like another day of PDC just for Silverlight.
We’ll be watching and discussing the morning portion of the live event as a group. Colin Melia (Microsoft MVP for Silverlight), will be there along with Microsoft’s Christian Beauclair to discuss the event and answer questions.
Silverlight is THE developer platform for rapidly building and deploying UI- and media-rich data-connected business and consumer applications for the web, the desktop and the phone. It’s available today. Microsoft has invested and will continue to invest in Silverlight, and in products that use it including LightSwitch, Lync, Windows InTune, the new Azure Portal, etc.
No registration is required.
100 Queen Street (the World Exchange Plaza – with underground parking)
Suite 500 (5th floor)
Ottawa, ON
K1P 1J9
AGENDA
Welcome
11:45am
Live Broadcast start
12:00pm
End – continue watching at home
4:45pm
What is the Silverlight Firestarter?
· An Event. A one day, global, live streamed and on demand event keynoted by Scott Guthrie.
· Training. New self-paced labs and walk through videos.
· Interactive. Watch live and ask the Silverlight product team and local experts questions during the event.
· Why Silverlight? Silverlight is a powerful development platform for creating engaging, interactive user experiences for Web, desktop, and mobile applications when online or offline.
Full streaming event details – http://www.silverlight.net/news/events/firestarter/
Thu Dec 2nd 2010 – Building Awesome Apps for Windows 7! Community Tour
Windows® 7 represents an amazing opportunity for application developers. Since shipping just one year ago, more than 240 million licenses of Windows 7 have been sold. (That’s roughly seven copies of Windows 7 sold every second!). Windows 7 is also an amazing platform. Through integrated capabilities through the Windows Taskbar, sensors, text, and speech, it blends the best technology, innovation, and creativity to empower developers to create awesome apps.
Join Kate Gregory or Richard Campbell in five cities in Canada for the Building Awesome Apps for Windows 7 tour. Come hear how you can start taking advantage of the capabilities of Windows 7 in your new/existing applications TODAY. (Registration is free).
Register here:
Ottawa, On – Dec 2nd 2010 at 8:30am.
Ottawa, On – Dec 2nd 2010 at 5:00pm.
AGENDA
Registration *
8:30am/5:00pm
Start
9:00am/5:30pm
A Lap Around the Windows® API Code Pack
Building Touch-First Applications with Windows® 7
Q&A
End
11:30am/8:00pm
A Lap around the Windows® API Code Pack
The Windows API Code Pack for the .NET Framework is a managed library for building applications that light up on Windows 7. It provides access to new user interface features (taskbar jump lists, libraries, sensor platform and more) as well as "behind the scenes" features that make your applications more aware and responsive (restart and recovery, power management and more). This is a must-have library for developers targeting Windows 7 with managed code. In this session, you’ll learn how to quickly incorporate the Windows API Code Pack into your applications to take advantage of features in Windows 7.
Building Touch-First Applications for Windows® 7
In Windows 7, innovative touch and gesture support enable a rich and natural interaction with applications. Are your applications ready to support this new wave of PC form factors? Are they finger-friendly to support interactions and gestures on Windows 7? This session highlights the new multi-touch gesture APIs and explains how you can leverage them in your applications.
Got questions about this event? Email John Bristowe (Sr. Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Canada) – john.bristowe@microsoft.com / @jbristowe / blogs.msdn.com/cdndevs
*Light refreshments and snacks will be available
Come to the Microsoft Ottawa office on Dec 2nd 2010 @ 11:45 am ET sharp to watch the the future of Silverlight unfold.
On Dec 2nd 2010, Microsoft is running the all-day Firestarter event about Silverlight. It opens with a keynote from Scott Guthrie (Corporate VP of the Developer Division) on the Future of Silverlight and features various sessions from renowned speakers. It’s like another day of PDC just for Silverlight.
We’ll be watching and discussing the morning portion of the live event as a group. As a Microsoft MVP for Silverlight I’ll be there along with Microsoft’s Christian Beauclair to discuss the event and answer questions.
Silverlight is THE developer platform for rapidly building and deploying UI- and media-rich data-connected business and consumer applications for the web, the desktop and the phone. It’s available today. Microsoft has invested and will continue to invest in Silverlight, and in products that use it including LightSwitch, Lync, Windows InTune, the new Azure Portal, etc.
No registration is required.
Dec 2nd 2010
11:45 ET (event started at noon)
100 Queen Street (the World Exchange Plaza – with underground parking)
Suite 500 (5th floor)
Ottawa, ON
K1P 1J9
On Dec 2nd 2010, Microsoft is running the all-day live streaming Firestarter event about Silverlight. It opens with a keynote from Scott Guthrie (Corporate VP of the Developer Division) on the Future of Silverlight and features various sessions from renowned speakers. It’s like another day of PDC just for Silverlight running from 9:00 am PT to 5:15 pm PT.
Silverlight is THE developer platform for rapidly building and deploying UI- and media-rich data-connected business and consumer applications for the web, the desktop and the phone. It’s available today. Microsoft has invested and will continue to invest in Silverlight, and in products that use it including LightSwitch, Lync, Windows InTune, the new Azure Portal, etc.
This Firestarter event was announced before PDC and with the recently announced keynote on the future of Silverlight, it emphasizes Microsoft’s commitment to Silverlight.
Want more commitment? Read or see what Microsoft executives have had to say:
The State of Silverlight with Scott Guthrie and John Papa (Oct 21 2010)
PDC and Silverlight – by Bob Muglia, President, Server & Tool Business (Nov 1 2010)
Silverlight Questions – by Scott Guthrie, Corporate VP, Developer Division (Nov 4 2010)
Also, here’s a great post on the subject:
Silverlight’s Bright Future – by Ward Bell (Nov 10 2010)
Windows Phone 7 phones are set for release next Monday, Nov 8 2010 in North America (though my local store seems very uninformed) and are already available in various other parts of the world. Luckily I’ve had developer device access since September, so I’ve been able to share information with you along the way in various articles (see below) and publish a few basic applications.
If you are in North America and waiting for Windows Phone 7, particularly if you are a developer, here are a few things for you to consider doing while you wait:
Get an App Hub subscription to publish software for the phone
It’s US$99 (with specific local currency variations) a year to get an App Hub subscription which now allows you to submit and sell both Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360 Arcade applications for sale. That includes the ability to publish up to 5 free applications on WP7 (US$20 for additional ones). If you are a student you may be able to sign up for DreamSpark and get a free subscription. Set up takes a few days including identity (personal or business) verification.
There’s an App Hub Developer Registration Walkthrough available on the process for registering for a subscription.
Prepare your social and ID accounts
WP7 brings data down automatically from various services that are associated with a single Live ID that you can optionally register on the phone. This includes services from any associated Zune and Xbox LIVE accounts (as well as Hotmail and associated social networking site accounts). You can also add feeds, email, calendar and contacts from optional additional accounts from various providers. You’ll want to get your primary Live ID and service associations in a row before you get a phone. This may take some careful planning and account configuration.
For the details on how this works, I’d suggest Paul Thurrott’s article – Getting Ready for Windows Phone 7
Pick a phone
There are a decent number of phone available at launch though there are spread over various wireless service providers.
You can go to the official Windows Phone 7 site, select your region in the top right corner and click the Buy link to see which devices are on offer.
Mobile Tech World has published a handy specification table that may help with your selection.
Build applications
So far I have 4 basic utility applications in the marketplace (with other more sophisticated apps on the way) which you are welcome to purchase 
by clicking the links below on a phone or with Zune 4.7 installed.
The first one is free of charge and you can see how it was built step by step from scratch in an article I recently published on DZone.
I’d also suggest you grab the free e-book from Microsoft Press, by Charles Petzold, Programming Windows Phone 7.
I’ve also authored a number of articles on DZone and Mobile Developer Magazine (free subscription required) including:
On Nov 15th 2010, a handy reference card will also be published on DZone for Windows Phone 7 development by .NET developers.
Submit applications to the marketplace via App Hub
There are important certification requirements you must comply with before submitting your application.
For a step-by-step example of building and submitting an application and submitting it you can see an article I recently published on DZone.
There’s also an official Windows Phone 7 Application Submission Walkthrough
The indicative certification turnaround time is 5 working days, though there are 1000+ applications queued for certification right now, so the timing may vary.
It’s almost time, so take the time to get yourself ready.
Do you want to know how to develop a Windows Phone 7 Silverlight application from scratch and submit it to the Marketplace via the new Microsoft App Hub?
My new article of DZone shows you just that with an application (that is live on marketplace for free) and demonstrates a few patterns/elements such as: MVVM, MVVM Light, Phone styles, Grid layout…
Enjoy 
The Windows Phone Developer Tools October 2010 Update (and breath) has been quietly released.
It includes a major tool for debugging applications on devices, that was mentioned back in the Summer during Microsoft WP7 Jump Start training, but not publically released.
It allows you to debug WP7 applications on a connected device without running the Zune software.
This is a good thing for two reason (personally to me at least):
To use it:
Connect your device
Close the Zune software if running – and you can prevent it from launching on device connect by going to Settings->General and uncheck the appropriate box.
Open a command prompt and navigate to:
Run WPConnect.exe
That’s it – now you can debug on the device without the Zune software ‘in the way’.
To go back to using Zune, just launch it again.
On Oct 1 2010, the award of Microsoft MVP was bestowed upon me, for "exceptional contributions to technical communities worldwide" by the Silverlight team.
I would have mentioned it sooner but for the facts that (1) you don’t easily get an award without being busy and (2) I had to wait for permission to use the award logo.
The MVP award process (which involved signing an NDA, signing up for benefits, agreeing to logo usage terms, getting access to the MVP site, receiving a physical package, being invited to the annual MVP summit and having access to product teams) is a well-oiled machine. Naturally the terms of the NDA prevent me from saying anything I learn that is not legitimately public, but of course I will be blogging merrily about those things when they are officially announced.
About that physical package – it included an actual physical award (heavy and made of glass), a pin, a card and a certificate…
That "2010" is a separate pieces that slides on. It will take a few years to fill up the side of the award – another goal 
I’d like to thank the Microsoft Canada’s DPE (Developer & Platform Evangelism) team and Simran Chaudhry for their relentless support in nominating me.
A new mobile developer web magazine launches today.
From the press release:
Mobile Developer Magazine Launches
CALGARY, Alberta, October 1 — Mobile Developer Magazine (MDM) is a new industry publication by mobile developers, for mobile developers, and is now online at http://www.mobiledevmag.com.
Mobile applications and architectures are evolving at an incredible speed; in order to grow with direction and success we must collaborate our knowledge. Developers shape the future of technology, and through MDM, seasoned coders to CEOs, and nearly everyone in between involved in the mobile developing world has come together.
Yours truly has a featured article in issue #1.
Want to know more about Windows Phone 7 and see how easy it is to build a application? Check out the article.
Enjoy!
Colinizer 