You can check the new look (preview) for MSDN VB Developer Site - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbpreview/default.aspx

To know more, read Scott Hanselman’s Blog

Regards,
Bhavik.

Microsft Research Labs has made a new technology that enables Developers to create multi-tier Web Appz with ease in its quest towards Software + Services. Btw Volta was in Alpha phase when I was in Microsoft for an Internship. ;)

An excerpt from the website - http://labs.live.com/volta/

"The Volta technology preview is a developer toolset that enables you to build multi-tier web applications by applying familiar techniques and patterns. First, design and build your application as a .NET client application, then assign the portions of the application to run on the server and the client tiers late in the development process. The compiler creates cross-browser JavaScript for the client tier, web services for the server tier, and communication, serialization, synchronization, security, and other boilerplate code to tie the tiers together.

Developers can target either web browsers or the CLR as clients and Volta handles the complexities of tier-splitting for you.  Volta comprises tools such as end-to-end profiling to make architectural refactoring and optimization simple and quick. In effect, Volta offers a best-effort experience in multiple environments without any changes to the application."

Hope to get hands on it a 'lil faster...

Also Microsoft previewed an very innovative way of representing Passwords - http://www.inkblotpassword.com/ It uses sequence of randomly generated images and stores 2 alphabets per pic depending on what you perceive in da pic. Nice one.. have a look and try..

Regards,

Bhavik Vora

Hi,

I just came to know that VS 2008 Express and .NET 3.5 have officially been launched today !

Follow the links for Express editions here -

Visual Web Developer 2008 Express: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vwd/Default.aspx
Visual C# 2008 Express: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vcsharp/Default.aspx
Visual VB 2008 Express: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vb/Default.aspx
Visual C++ 2008 Express: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vc/Default.aspx

Also PopFly: http://www.microsoft.com/express/popfly/Default.aspx

and SQL Server 2008 Express: http://www.microsoft.com/express/popfly/Default.aspx are launched.

I have just put All-In-One DVD to download! (895 MB only !): http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=104679
UPDATE: Its downloaded.. check above post !

Regards,

Bhavik Vora

This post was originally posted on the official blog site of MSDN…

http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/

 

When speaking to developers about WinFX one question that repeatedly comes up is, “WinFX sounds great, but what happens to .NET?” .NET Framework has becomes the most successful developer platform in the world.  Developers know and love .NET.

The .NET Framework has always been at the core of WinFX, but the WinFX brand didn’t convey this.  The WinFX brand helped us introduce the incredible innovations in terms of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and the newly christened Windows CardSpace (WCS) formerly known under the codename “InfoCard.”  The brand also created an unnatural discontinuity between previous versions of our framework and the current version.

With this in mind we have decided to rename WinFX to the .NET Framework 3.0.  .NET Framework 3.0 aptly identifies the technology for exactly what it is – the next version of our developer framework.

The change is in name only and will not affect the technologies being delivered as part of the product. The .NET Framework 3.0 is still comprised of the existing .NET Framework 2.0 components, including ASP.NET, WinForms, ADO.NET, additional base class libraries and the CLR, as well as new developer-focused innovative technologies in WPF, WCF, WF and WCS:

The .NET Framework 3.0 will still ship with Windows Vista, and will be available down-level for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as planned.  This change doesn’t affect in any way the ship schedules of either Windows Vista or the .NET Framework 3.0 itself.

We are confident that this change will go a long way towards reducing confusion people may have about our developer platform and the technologies in which they should invest.