Don't look now, but Microsoft just announced that it's releasing the reference
source code for the .NET Framework libraries. Developers will gain the ability
to review and debug .NET source code under Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework
3.5.
Released under the Microsoft Reference License, developers are able to view,
but not modify or distribute, the reference source code. The goal of the release,
the company says, is to give .NET developers an opportunity to better understand
"the inner workings of the framework's source code."
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 10/03/20070 comments
We're publishing a feature article on the OOXML and ODF file formats for our
next issue of
Redmond Developer News
, and we want to hear from you about
the technical strengths and weaknesses of each. Here's your chance to have a
direct voice in the argument.
Have you worked with or examined the OOXML spec? Tell us what you think Microsoft
needs to fix or improve in OOXML, and tell us what aspects of the spec have
impressed you.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/26/200719 comments
Just another reminder that the RDN Innovator Awards are under way. The RDN
Innovator Awards recognize outstanding accomplishments in programming using
the Microsoft Windows and .NET stack. Entries are accepted across a range of
independent categories.
Do you have a software development project that's worthy of recognition? Download
the RDN Innovator Awards entry form here.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/26/20072 comments
Call it "Standardization Theater."
Last
week
, I wondered about the lack of positive takes when it came to Microsoft's
proposed Office Open XML (OOXML) standard, currently under review with the International
Organization of Standardization (ISO). Having received a flood of decidedly
critical opinions about OOXML, I wondered how it was that no one reading the
RedDevNews newsletter -- an audience likely to be friendly to Microsoft technologies
-- was saying anything good about OOXML.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/26/20070 comments
RDN
Executive Editor Jeffrey Schwartz reported this week that Jason
Zander (formerly GM for the .NET Framework) has
taken
over as general manager
of the Visual Studio Team at Microsoft. Schwartz
caught up with Zander at the VSLive New York conference. Here's an excerpt of
their conversation:
RDN: How do you feel about this change?
Zander: I am excited about this. The developer division on the framework
and tool sides has always worked closely and that will not change. I have worked
with a bunch of folks on the Visual Studio team for years so I know everyone
over there. There's a whole bunch of stuff we can do.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/19/20070 comments
I like to think of myself as a fair-minded guy who's open to both sides of
an argument. So when I wrote about the recent
no-vote
for the Microsoft Office Open XML (OOXML) spec
by the International Organization
of Standardization (ISO), I was a bit astonished by the nature of the response.
To wit: Not one person wrote in to say they supported Microsoft or the OOXML
specification. Not one.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/19/200712 comments
Forrester Research has been cranking out a lot of useful research and insight
for the dev community lately. Now it's talking big picture, with its "Design
for People, Build for Change" forum, scheduled for Sept. 25 and 26 in Carlsbad,
Calif.
I'm always leery of grandly themed forums and initiatives, since they tend
to trip up on mundane stuff like the specifics of implementation, integration
and technology. And yes, some of the advance work on this event engages in suspicious
verbiage. Like this gem:
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/12/20070 comments
Developing software, especially inside the enterprise, can be thankless work.
There are no shiny, shrink-wrapped boxes in store shelves, no market buzz or
feedback from the media, and most such projects only get real attention when
things go wrong.
We want to put the spotlight on dev projects that went right.
To help recognize the best efforts of corporate software developers and management
working for the Windows and .NET platforms, Redmond Developer News in
September launched the first
annual Innovator Awards.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/12/20070 comments
How is it that a decade after cell phones have come into widespread use, mobile
business apps still aren't ready for prime time, unless enterprise IT hands
out the exact same handset to every employee? In our Oct. 1 issue, we look into
mobile application development and the upcoming platforms that enable it.
RDN
is looking for your input. We'd like to interview developers and
dev managers who have migrated their applications to smartphones and PDAs, or
who are evaluating platforms for doing so. If you're interested, please contact
our senior writer, Thomas Caywood, at
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/05/20070 comments
It's official. The Microsoft Office Open XML (OOXML) file format
won't
earn recognition
from the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) as a formally recognized international file format standard.
In the Byzantine process of ISO approval, Microsoft needed to win a two-thirds
majority among ISO P-members (national standards bodies that participated in
forming the proposal), as well as a three-quarters majority among all voting
members.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 09/05/20077 comments
When the servers behind the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation software
stumbled last weekend, users suddenly found their legitimate copies of Windows
XP and Vista flagged as invalid and pirated. For Vista owners, that dropped
their copies of the operating system into reduced functionality mode.
It took Microsoft until about mid-afternoon on Sunday to get WGA running correctly
again. Microsoft Program Manager Phil Liu blogged about the issue and its resolution
here.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 08/29/20070 comments
If you've been reading
Redmond Developer News
lately, you've probably
seen the new
DevDisasters
page
written by
Worse Than Failure
publisher Alex Papadimoulis. His accounts, submitted by readers, illustrate
the high price of botched development. There's no doubt that "train wreck"
projects can destroy budgets, crater business plans and ultimately ruin promising
careers.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 08/29/20070 comments