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• WordPress is now nicely supported on SQL Server (and SQL Azure for that matter)

  - by Eric Nelson

  WordPress is enormously popular for blogs and full websites thanks to an awesome eco system which has built up around it, the simplicity (relatively) of getting it up and running plus the flexibility to “bend it” in all sorts of directions. When I say bend, check out the following which are all WordPress sites My “back up blog” http://iupdateable.wordpress.com/  My groups “odd site” :) http://ubelly.com My favourite “cheap games” site http://www.frugalgaming.co.uk/  WordPress users typically run their sites on Linux and MySQL, although PHP (the language in which WordPress is written) can be happily run on Windows. Both fine technologies in their own right, but for me (and probably a fair few others) I would love to use WordPress but with the technologies I know best (aka Windows, IIS and SQL Server). However, that has proven to be actually rather tricky in practice to get working – until now. Earlier last month OmniTI released a patch for WordPress which provides SQL Server and SQL Azure support.  In parallel with that some fine folks inside Microsoft have also created http://wordpress.visitmix.com which contains information about running WordPress on the Microsoft platform with a particular focus on SQL Server and SQL Azure.  Top stuff! To run WordPress with SQL Server: Download and Install the WordPress on SQL Server Distro/Patch And then you will quite likely need to migrate: Check out how to Migrate to Windows and SQL Server by Zach Owens who is moving his blog to Windows and SQL Server Enjoy Related Links Running PHP on IIS on Windows http://php.iis.net/  If PHP is not your thing, then the following Blog engines are .NET based BlogEngine http://www.dotnetblogengine.net/ DasBlog http://www.dasblog.info/ Subtext http://subtextproject.com/ (which happens to power http://geekswithblogs.net where my main blog is http://geekswithblogs.net/iupdateable)

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• SQL Azure Roadmap gets a little clearer &ndash; announcements from Tech Ed

  - by Eric Nelson

  On Monday at Tech?Ed 2010 we announced new stuff (I like new stuff) that “showcases our continued commitment to deliver value, flexibility and control of data through data cloud services to our customers”. Ok, that does sound like marketing speak (and it is) but the good news is there is some meat behind it. We have some decent new features coming and we also have some clarity on when we will be able to get our hands on those features. SQL Azure Business Edition Extends to 50 GB – June 28th SQL Azure Business Edition database is now extending from 10GB to 50GB The new 50GB database size will be available worldwide starting June 28th SQL Azure Business Edition Subscription Offer – August 1st Starting August 1st, we will have a new discounted SQL Azure promotional offer (SQL Azure Development Accelerator Core) More information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/offers/. Public Preview of the Data Sync Service  - CTP now Data Sync Service for SQL Azure allows for more flexible control over data by deciding which data components should be distributed across multiple datacenters in different geographic locations, based on your internal policies and business needs.  Available as a community technology preview after registering at http://www.sqlazurelabs.com SQL Server Web Manager for SQL Azure - CTP this Summer SQL Server Web Manager (SSWM) is a lightweight and easy to use database management tool for SQL Azure databases, to be offered this summer. Access 10 Support for SQL Azure – available now Yey – at last! Microsoft Office 2010 will natively support data connectivity to SQL Azure – we can now start developing those “departmental apps” with the confidence of a highly available SQL store provisioned in seconds. NB: I don’t believe we will support any previous versions of Access talking to SQL Azure. The Pre-announced Spatial Data Support to Become Live – Live now* At MIX in March we announced spatial was coming and apparently it is now here - although I need to check. Related Links UK based? Sign up at http://ukazure.ning.com SQL Azure Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlazure/

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• Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 1.2 (June 2010)

  - by Eric Nelson

  Yey – we have a public release of the Windows Azure Tools which fully supports Visual Studio 2010 RTM and the .NET 4 Framework. And the biggy I have been waiting for – IntelliTrace support to debug your cloud deployed services (Requires  VS2010 Ultimate) Download today http://bit.ly/azuretoolsjune New for version 1.2: Visual Studio 2010 RTM Support: Full support for Visual Studio 2010 RTM. .NET 4 support: Choose to build services targeting either the .NET 3.5 or .NET 4 framework. Cloud storage explorer: Displays a read-only view of Windows Azure tables and blob containers through Server Explorer. Integrated deployment: Deploy services directly from Visual Studio by selecting ‘Publish’ from Solution Explorer. Service monitoring: Keep track of the state of your services through the ‘compute’ node in Server Explorer. IntelliTrace support for services running in the cloud: Adds support for debugging services in the cloud by using the Visual Studio 2010 IntelliTrace feature. This is enabled by using the deployment feature, and logs are retrieved through Server Explorer. Related Links: http://ukazure.ning.com for UK fans of Windows Azure IntelliTrace explained

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• Great opportunity to try Windows Azure over the next 7 days if you are a UK developer &ndash; act to

  - by Eric Nelson

  Are you a UK based developer who has been put off from trying out the Windows Azure Platform? Were you concerned that you needed to hand over credit card details even to use the introductory offer? Or concerned about how many charges you might run up as you played with “elastic computing”. Then we might have just what you need. 7 Days of access to the Windows Azure Platform – for FREE (expires June 6th 2010) If you are accepted, you will be given a Windows Azure Platfom subscription that will enable you to create Windows Azure hosted services and storage accounts, SQL Azure databases and AppFabric services without any fear of being charged between now and Sunday the 6th of June 2010. No credit card is required. Important: At the end of Sunday your subscription and all your code and data you have uploaded will be deleted. It is your responsibility to keep local copies of your code and data. Apply now To apply for this offer you need to: email ukdev AT microsoft.com with a subject line that starts “UKAZURETRAIL:” (This must  be present) In the email you need to demonstrate you are UK based (.uk email alias or address or… be creative) And you must include 30 to 100 words explaining What your interest is in the Windows Azure Platform and Cloud Computing What you would use the 7 days to explore Some notes (please read!): We have a limited number of these offers to give away on a first come, first served basis (subject to meeting the above criteria). We plan to process all request asap – but there is a UK bank holiday weekend looming. We will do our best to process all by Tues afternoon (which would still give you 5 days of access) There will be no specific support for this offer. We will not be processing any requests that arrive after Tuesday 1st. In case you were wondering, there is no equivalent offer for developer outside of the UK. This offer is a direct result of UK based training we are currently doing which has some spare Azure capacity which we wanted to make best use of. Sorry in advance if you based outside of the UK. Related Links: If you are UK based, you should also join the UK Windows Azure Platform community http://ukazure.ning.com Microsoft UK Windows Azure Platform page

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• New SQL Azure Development Accelerator Core promotional offer announced

  - by Eric Nelson

  This is (almost) a straight copy and paste but represents an important announcement worthy of a little more “exposure” :-) Starting August 1, 2010, we will release a new SQL Azure Development Accelerator Core promotional offer.  This new offer will give you the flexibility to purchase commitment quantities of SQL Azure Business Edition databases independent of other Windows Azure platform services at a deeply discounted monthly price.  The offer is valid only for a six month term.  You may purchase in 10 GB increments the amount of our Business Edition relational database that you require (each Business Edition database is capable of storing up to 50 GB).  The offer price will be $74.95 per 10 GB per month.  This promotional offer represents 25% off of our normal consumption rates.  Monthly Business Edition relational database usage exceeding the purchased commitment amount and usage for other Windows Azure platform services for this offer will be charged at our normal consumption rates.  Please click here for full details of our new SQL Azure Development Accelerator Core offer.  Related Links: Details of 5GB and 50GB databases have been released http://ukazure.ning.com UK community site Getting started with the Windows Azure Platform

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• Register now for the UK Windows Azure Self-paced Interactive Learning Course starting May 10th

  - by Eric Nelson

  [Suggested twitter tag #selfpacedazure] We (myself and David Gristwood) have been working in the UK to create a fantastic opportunity to get yourself up to speed on the Windows Azure Platform over a 6 week period starting May 10th – without ever needing to leave the comfort of your home/office.  The course is derived from the internal training Microsoft gives on Azure which is both fun and challenging in equal parts – and we felt was just too good to keep to ourselves! We will be releasing more details nearer the date but hopefully the following is enough to convince you to register and … recommend it to a colleague or three :-) What we have produced is the “Microsoft Azure Self-paced Learning Course”. This is a free, interactive, self-paced, technical training course covering the Windows Azure platform – Windows Azure, SQL Azure and the Azure AppFabric. The course takes place over a six week period finishing on June 18th. During the course you will work from your own home or workplace, and get involved via interactive Live Meetings session, watch on-line videos, work through hands-on labs and research and complete weekly coursework assignments. The mentors and other attendees on the course will help you in your research and learning, and there are weekly Live Meetings where you can raise questions and interact with them. This is a technical course, aimed at programmers, system designers, and architects who want a solid understanding of the Microsoft Windows Azure platform, hence a prerequisite for this course is at least six months programming in the .NET framework and Visual Studio. Check out the full details of the event or go straight to registration.   The course outline is: Week 1 - Windows Azure Platform Week 2 - Windows Azure Storage Week 3 - Windows Azure Deep Dive and Codename "Dallas" Week 4 - SQL Azure Week 5 - Windows Azure Platform AppFabric Access Control Week 6 - Windows Azure Platform AppFabric Service Bus If you have any questions about the course and its suitability, please email [email protected].

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• Windows Azure SDK 1.3 addresses early adopter feedback

  - by Eric Nelson

  At the end of November 2010 we released a new version of the Windows Azure SDK which contains many new features driven by the great feedback of early adopters plus a shiny new portal. New Portal implemented in Silverlight: The new portal is implemented using Silverlight and replaces the (IMHO rather clunky) original HTML + JavaScript portal. It is 100% better although does still have a few bugs. Enjoy! P.S. You can if you wish still use the old portal:   New runtime functionality: The following functionality is now generally available through the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio and the new Windows Azure Management Portal: Elevated Privileges and Full IIS. You can now run a portion or all of your code in Web and Worker roles with elevated administrator privileges. The Web role now provides Full IIS functionality, which enables multiple IIS sites per Web role and the ability to install IIS modules. Remote Desktop functionality enables you to connect to a running instance of your application or service in order to monitor activity and troubleshoot common problems. Windows Server 2008 R2 Roles: Windows Azure now supports Windows Server 2008 R2 in its Web, worker and VM roles. This new support enables you to take advantage of the full range of Windows Server 2008 R2 features such as IIS 7.5, AppLocker, and enhanced command-line and automated management using PowerShell Version 2.0. New runtime functionality – in beta: Windows Azure Virtual Machine Role: Support for more types of new and existing Windows applications will soon be available with the introduction of the Virtual Machine (VM) role. You can move more existing applications to Windows Azure, reducing the need to make costly code or deployment changes. Extra Small Windows Azure Instance, which is priced at $0.05 per compute hour, provides developers with a cost-effective training and development environment. Developers can also use the Extra Small instance to prototype cloud solutions at a lower cost. Windows Azure Connect: (formerly Project Sydney), which enables a simple and easy-to-manage mechanism to set up IP-based network connectivity between on-premises and Windows Azure resources, is the first Windows Azure Virtual Network feature that we’re making available as a CTP. You can sign up for any of the betas via the Windows Azure Management Portal. Improved processes and simplified operations New portal! (see above) Access to new diagnostic information including the ability to click on a role to see role type, deployment time and last reboot time A new sign-up process that dramatically reduces the number of steps needed to sign up for Windows Azure. New scenario based Windows Azure Platform forums to help answer questions and share knowledge more efficiently. Multiple Service Administrators: Windows Azure now supports multiple Windows Live IDs to have administrator privileges on the same Windows Azure account. The objective is to make it easy for a team to work on the same Windows Azure account while using their individual Windows Live IDs.   Related Links Please also let us know through Microsoft Platform Ready if and when you intend to build an application using the Windows Azure Platform. Or indeed if you already have (Well done). You will get access to some great benefits if you do (more on that in a future post). It also really helps us better understand the demand out there which directly impacts how we will plan the next six months of activities around the Windows Azure Platform. Visit Microsoft Platform Ready to tell us about your plans for your applications UK based? Interested in the Windows Azure Platform? Join http://ukazure.ning.com Get started with the Windows Azure Platform http://bit.ly/startazure

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• Edd strikes again &ndash; IronRuby for Rubyists on InfoQ

  - by Eric Nelson

  Colleague, friend and generally top guy on IronRuby Edd Morgan has just been published over on InfoQ. To wet the appetite… a snippet or three. IronRuby for Rubyists IronRuby is Microsoft's implementation of the Ruby language we all know and love with the added bonus of interoperability with the .NET framework — the Iron in the name is actually an acronym for 'Implementation running on .NET'. It's supported by the .NET Common Language Runtime as well as, albeit unofficially, the Mono project. You'd be forgiven for harbouring some question in your mind about running a dynamic language such as Ruby atop the CLR - that's where the DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime) comes in. The DLR is Microsoft's way of providing dynamic language capability on top of the CLR. Both IronRuby and the DLR are, as part of Microsoft's commitment to open source software, available as part of the Microsoft Public License on GitHub and CodePlex respectively… And Metaprogramming with IronRuby The art and science of metaprogramming — especially in Ruby, where it's an absolute joy — is something that could very easily span an entire article. As you would hope, IronRuby code is fully able to manipulate itself allowing you to bend your classes to your whim just as you would expect with a good dynamic language… And Riding the irails? So let's get to the point. I think it's a solid bet to make that a large proportion of Ruby programmers are familiar with the Rails framework - perhaps it's even safe to assume that most were first led to the Ruby language by the siren song of the Rails framework itself. Long story short, IronRuby is compatible enough to run your Rails app… Now… get yourself over to the full article and also check out some of Edds other work below. Related Links: 5 Steps to getting started with IronRuby Mini Book Review of IronRuby Unleashed by Shay Friedman Guest Post: Using IronRuby and .NET to produce the ‘Hello World of WPF’ – also by Edd Getting PhP and Ruby working on Windows Azure and SQL Azure Guest Post: What's IronRuby, and how do I put it on Rails? – also by Edd

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• A Cautionary Tale About Multi-Source JNDI Configuration

  - by scott.s.nelson(at)oracle.com

  Here's a bit of fun with WebLogic JDBC configurations.  I ran into this issue after reading that p13nDataSource and cgDataSource-NonXA should not be configured as multi-source. There were some issues changing them to use the basic JDBC connection string and when rolling back to the bad configuration the server went "Boom".  Since one purpose behind this blog is to share lessons learned, I just had to post this. If you write your descriptors manually (as opposed to generating them using the WLS console) and put a comma-separated list of JNDI addresses like this: <jdbc-data-source-params> <jndi-name>weblogic.jdbc.jts.commercePool,contentDataSource, contentVersioningDataSource,portalFrameworkPool</jndi-name> <algorithm-type>Load-Balancing</algorithm-type> <data-source-list>portalDataSource-rac0,portalDataSource-rac1</data-source-list> <failover-request-if-busy>false</failover-request-if-busy> </jdbc-data-source-params> so long as the first address resolves, it will still work. Sort of.  If you call this connection to do an update, only one node of the RAC instance is updated. Other wonderful side-effects include the server refusing to start sometimes. The proper way to list the JNDI sources is one per node, like this: <jdbc-data-source-params> <jndi-name>weblogic.jdbc.jts.commercePool</jndi-name> <jndi-name>contentDataSource</jndi-name> <jndi-name>contentVersioningDataSource</jndi-name> <jndi-name>portalFrameworkPool</jndi-name> <algorithm-type>Load-Balancing</algorithm-type> <data-source-list>portalDataSource-rac0, portalDataSource-rac1, portalDataSource-rac2 </data-source-list> <failover-request-if-busy>false</failover-request-if-busy> </jdbc-data-source-params>(Props to Sandeep Seshan for locating the root cause)

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• New Windows Phone 7 Developer Guidance released for building line of business applications

  - by Eric Nelson

  Several partners have been asking about guidance on combining Windows Phone 7 applications with Windows Azure. The patterns and practices team recently released new guidance on Windows Phone 7.  This is a continuation of the Windows Azure Guidance. It takes the survey application and makes a version for Windows Phone 7.  The guide includes the following topics: Prism for Windows Phone 7 Reactive Extensions WCF Services on top of Windows Azure Push Notifications Camera & Voice Panorama Much more... Well worth a read if you are an ISV looking at taking Line of Business applications to Windows Phone 7. Related Links: We have created Microsoft Platform Ready to help software houses develop applications for Windows Azure and On-Premise. Check it out and the goodies it can deliver for little effort.

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• The future is looking brighter &ndash; debugging Windows Azure in the cloud with IntelliTrace

  - by Eric Nelson

  One of the “warts” on Windows Azure development has been that once your application was deployed to the cloud, if things went wrong it was pretty tough to figure out the root problem. I knew for sometime we had a solution coming for Visual Studio 2010 users and I couldn’t wait to tell folks about it once it became public. I planned to do a detailed post subsequent to briefly mentioning it when I talked about the 1.2 SDK release. However … other stuff just keeps on getting in the way. Hence I have decided to point at Somas blog post on just that. Enjoy. Check out Peering into the cloud with IntelliTrace  NB: You will need the Ultimate Edition of Visual Studio 2010 to use this feature. Sorry.

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• FREE Three Days of online SharePoint 2010 Developer Training March 14th to 16th

  - by Eric Nelson

  Over on my team blog I just posted another great opportunity. If you are UK based and work for a company that creates software products and want to dig into SharePoint 2010 development for FREE with a great UK based SME (subject matter expert) then register today. The training is 100% free and you don’t need to leave the comfort of your office/house/starbucks (other coffee shops with wifi do exist) – yet you still get to ask plenty of questions.

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• FREE Windows Azure Platform Compute and Storage through the Cloud Essentials Pack for Partners

  - by Eric Nelson

  It can be difficult to find something to look forward to in January – but this year it was a little easier as a) I got lots of great Xbox 360 games and b) the Windows Azure Platform element of the Cloud Essentials Pack for Microsoft Partner Network partners went live. I have previously explained what the Cloud Essentials Pack is and how you can access – but at the time I couldn’t share the details of the Windows Azure Platform element. The Windows Azure Platform element is now available. It gives you each month, for FREE: Windows Azure: 750 hours of extra small compute instance 25 hours of small compute instance 3GB of storage and 250,000 storage transactions SQL Azure: 1 SQL Azure Web Edition database (5GB) Windows Azure AppFabric: App Fabric with 100,000 Access Control transactions and 2 Service Bus connections Plus: Data Transfer:  3GB in and 6GB out (More details of the offer) To activate this offer You need to: Sign your company up to Microsoft Platform Ready (NB: there are other routes to get this benefit – but I know about MPR) Read about Microsoft Platform Ready Visit http://www.microsoftcloudpartner.com/ and sign up.

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• VBUG Spring Conference, 28th and 29th March in Reading

  - by Eric Nelson

  I presented at VBUG last year and can confirm that they put on a really good event. This year I stood aside for my “replacement” Steve Plank to work his magic. Worth checking out… VBUG SPRING CONFERENCE 28/29 March 2011 Wokefield Park, Mortimer, Reading RG7 3AH Day One (Mon 28 March): Developing SharePoint 2010 with Visual Studio 2010 - Dave McMahon Cache Out with Windows Server AppFabric – Phil Pursglove Extending your Corporate Network in to the Windows Azure Data Centre with Windows Azure Connect – Steve Plank Silverlight Development on Windows Phone 7 - Andy Wigley Day Two (Tues 29 March): Self Service BI for your users, but what does that mean for you? - Andrew Fryer Design Patterns – Compare and Contrast – Gary Short Projecting your corporate identity to the cloud – Steve Plank May the Silverlight 4 be with you – Richard Costall The Step up to ALM – an Introduction to Visual Studio 2010 TFS for the Visual Sourcesafe User - Richard Fennell For more information go to http://cms.vbug.net (It isn’t free but it is high quality)

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• Register now for the FREE Tech Days Online Conference January 20th

  - by Eric Nelson

  The perfect solution to the “January blues” is a good solid few hours learning about great technology. The 'Build an app for that' Online Conference is exactly that, featuring demo-rich sessions on building applications for the browser, Windows 7, and Windows Phone 7. There are three tracks letting you choose which sessions are most relevant to you - whether you're just considering client development with Silverlight, or you've already got stuck in to an advanced project. We'll also explore new form factors such as Phone and Slate, and how to develop touch-based applications. Finally we'll cover the important subject of how to create beautifully designed user interfaces. Register now Agenda:

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• Great User Group if based near Gloucester + Links from Entity Framework 4.0 session

  - by Eric Nelson

  I had a really fun evening doing “my final” EF 4.0 session last night (26th May 2010) at GL.NET based out of Gloucester (although secretly I made it into a IronRuby and Windows Azure session). They are a great crowd and Jimmy makes for a fantastic host + it is a very nice venue (Symantec offices in Gloucester, lots of parking, good room etc) + free pizza + free SWAG + trip to pub afterwards (the topics were very varied!). What more could you ask for? The next session is June 16th and will be on multi-tenanted ASP.NET MVC and comes highly recommended. Links from my session: Entity Framework 4 Resources http://bit.ly/ef4resources Entity Framework Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet Entity Framework Design Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/efdesign/ The must have LINQPad http://www.linqpad.net Entity Framework Profile http://efprof.com/  IronRuby info on my blog http://geekswithblogs.net/iupdateable/category/10076.aspx

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• Is your company successfully applying Application Lifecycle Management?

  - by Eric Nelson

  Two separate emails arrived in my Inbox. Email #1: The results of  detailed survey of UK ISVs which we had commissioned – what makes them tick etc. In that survey it stated “76% of ISVs do not use any ALM tools”. It also stated that of those that did, most only did the basics. I#m not surprised … but I am disappointed. Email #2: The wonderful Black Marble have gone all Xmasy and are offering Visual Studio ALM health checks with chances to win an Xbox 360 + Kinect each week of Dec. It therefore seemed obvious to me that I should do my little bit to address an obvious issue from Email #1 with an obvious solution from email #2. Check out 5 Great Reasons to get an ALM health check  and then to find out more, call 01274 300175 or visit http://www.blackmarble.com/XBoxElfCheck

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• Q&amp;A: How do I cancel my Windows Azure Platform Introductory Special? (or any Subscription)

  - by Eric Nelson

  Short answer: Don’t! Just kidding :-) Long answer: I believe it is the same process as for other Microsoft Online Services – but I have never tried it. Hence please post a comment if you follow this successfully or not and I will amend. From http://www.microsoft.com/online/help/en-us/mocp/, search for “cancel” and you get: What I am not clear about is whether an Introductory Special is classed as a trial. Either way, the answer is to contact support and ask to cancel. I would suggest you are fully armed with details of your subscription which you can get from signing in to https://mocp.microsoftonline.com. You can contact support via a online web form at https://mocp-support.custhelp.com/ Or You can call them. The details are again on the support page http://www.microsoft.com/online/help/en-us/mocp/  In the UK you can call 0800 731 8457 or (0) 20 3027 6039 Monday – Friday 09:00 – 17:00 GMT (UTC). I hope that helps.

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• Q&amp;A: Does it make sense to run a personal blog on the Windows Azure Platform?

  - by Eric Nelson

  I keep seeing people wanting to do this (or something very similar) and then being surprised at how much it might cost them if they went with Windows Azure. Time for a Q&A. Short answer: No, definitely not. Madness, sheer madness. (Hopefully that was clear enough) Longer answer: No because It would cost you a heck of a lot more than just about any other approach to running a blog. A site that can easily be run on a shared hosting solution (as many blogs do today) does not require the rich capabilities of Windows Azure. Capabilities such as simplified deployed and management, dedicated resources, elastic resources, “unlimited” storage etc. It is simply not the type of application the Windows Azure Platform has been designed for. Related Links: Q&A- How can I calculate the TCO and ROI when considering the Windows Azure Platform? Q&A- When do I get charged for compute hours on Windows Azure? Q&A- What are the UK prices for the Windows Azure Platform

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• New London based .NET User Group &ndash; first meeting June 2nd on MEF

  - by Eric Nelson

  A new .NET User Group is starting up in Canary Wharf - CWDNUG. It plans to focus on technology for financial services such as: WPF & Silverlight. F# & other alternative languages. High volume systems & complex event processing. Agile tools, methodologies and experiences. Open source systems that you can use (or that need your help!). Upcoming releases from Microsoft (WP7, VS2010, TPL). The first meeting is on June 2nd and Marlon (WPF MVP) will be speaking about MEF. Register today as there are only 15 spots left :-) (as of Thursday 20th May)

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• Q&amp;A: Will my favourite ORM Foo work with SQL Azure?

  - by Eric Nelson

  short answer: Quite probably, as SQL Azure is very similar to SQL Server longer answer: Object Relational Mappers (ORMs) that work with SQL Server are likely but not guaranteed to work with SQL Azure. The differences between the RDBMS versions are small – but may cause problems, for example in tools used to create the mapping between objects and tables or in generated SQL from the ORM which expects “certain things” :-) More specifically: ADO.NET Entity Framework / LINQ to Entities can be used with SQL Azure, but the Visual Studio designer does not currently work. You will need to point the designer at a version of your database running of SQL Server to create the mapping, then change the connection details to run against SQL Azure. LINQ to SQL has similar issues to ADO.NET Entity Framework above NHibernate can be used against SQL Azure DevExpress XPO supports SQL Azure from version 9.3 DataObjects.Net supports SQL Azure Open Access from Telerik works “seamlessly”  - their words not mine :-) The list above is by no means comprehensive – please leave a comment with details of other ORMs that work (or do not work) with SQL Azure. Related Links: General guidelines and limitations of SQL Azure SQL Azure vs SQL Server

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• Windows Azure powers Father Christmas

  - by Eric Nelson

  Ok it doesn’t really but the Microsoft Partner Network folks have hit gold with this rather addictive chrimbo game. It is great fun to play yet has a little serious side as it “rewards” you with a Windows Azure related link after each level. Try it now! http://bit.ly/festivegame It is a Silverlight app which is: Related In the UK we are helping partners build applications for the Windows Azure Platform (and other technologies such as SQL Server 2008 R2) through Microsoft Platform Ready. Sign up for FREE to get access to some great benefits (more on that in a future post). It also really helps us better understand the demand out there which directly impacts how we will plan the next six months of activities around the Windows Azure Platform. P.S. I nearly forgot. Can I be the first (hopefully) to wish you Merry Christmas!

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• Have you downloaded the All-In-One Code Framework?

  - by Eric Nelson

  The Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework is a free, centralized code sample library provided by the Microsoft Community team. It aims to provide typical code samples for all Microsoft development technologies. The team listens to developers’ pains in MSDN forums, social media and various developer communities and write code samples based on developers’ frequently asked programming tasks. Additionally, our team offers a free code sample request service. Awesome?! I think so. Have also just added it to 99 technical resources for developers and architects inside ISVs – also worth checking out. Check it out on codeplex

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• FREE goodies if you are a UK based software house already live on the Windows Azure Platform

  - by Eric Nelson

  In the UK we have seen some fantastic take up around the Windows Azure Platform and we have lined up some great stuff in 2011 to help companies fully exploit the Cloud – but we need you to tell us what you are up to! Once you tell us about your plans around Windows Azure, you will get access to FREE benefits including email based developer support and free monthly allowance of Windows Azure, SQL Azure and AppFabric from Jan 2011 – and more! (This offer is referred to as Cloud Essentials and is explained here) And… we will be able to plan the right amount of activity to continue to help early adopters through 2011. Step 1: Sign up your company to Microsoft Platform Ready (you will need a windows live id to do this) Step 2: Add your applications For each application, state your intention around Windows Azure (and SQL etc if you so wish) Step 3: Verify your application works on the Windows Azure Platform Step 4 (Optional): Test your application works on the Windows Azure Platform Download the FREE test tool. Test your application with it and upload the successful results. Step 5: Revisit the MPR site in early January to get details of Cloud Essentials and other benefits P.S. You might want some background on the “fantastic take up” bit: We helped over 3000 UK companies deploy test applications during the beta phase of Windows Azure We directly trained over 1000 UK developers during 2010 We already have over 100 UK applications profiled on the Microsoft Platform Ready site And in a recent survey of UK ISVs you all look pretty excited around Cloud – 42% already offer their solution on the Cloud or plan to.

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• Announcing a new Free Windows Azure Platform Trial offer

  - by Eric Nelson

  We now have a  truly useful Windows Azure Platform trial. Which makes me very happy as I was a vocal critic of the original trial offer. Simply put, the small number of compute hours it included made it useless for many potential early adopters. This is now fixed. The new Introductory Special now includes a generous 750 hours of compute – enough to run a web role 24/7. Enjoy! Related Links Full announcement If you are an ISV then there is a better offer for you via Microsoft Platform Ready and Cloud Essentials and keep an eye on our events for ISVs as we will be doing Windows Azure Platform technical briefings starting March 31st.

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