Q2 2008 now live!

The big release is finally here! Our teams have worked extremely hard to bring you another (mostly on-time) release packed with new features and controls, and now it's time for you to download it. Q2 2008 is a unique release because it welcomes two new product lines to the RadControls family- RadControls for WPF and RadControls for Silverlight- and we're very excited to be the first major UI component vendor to deliver UI component suites for all major Microsoft UI platforms- ASP.NET, WinForms, Silverlight, and WPF. It's just another step in our quest to become your one-stop-shop provider for all of your UI component and .NET tools.

Not much else needs to said. You can catch my earlier coverage of the Q2 release for some perspective of what's new today. The only new detail to mention: the Default2006 skin in the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX will not be retired in Q2. Many of you asked us to save it from being removed from the built-in skins and we listened. Otherwise, enjoy the release notes and the new bits!

RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX Release Notes
RadControls for WinForms Release Notes
RadControls for WPF Release Notes
Telerik Reporting Release Notes

New Telerik TV Episode: SimNet

In our continuing effort to bring you more "real world" examples of Telerik's controls, I am happy to announce the 3rd episode of Telerik TV. In this episode, Carl Franklin sits down with Torger Wuellner from Triad Interactive to show-off their SimNet application. SimNet is a cool online tool that enables developers to learn in a virtual Microsoft Office or Microsoft Vista environment with nothing more than a web browser and Flash. Surrounding the obviously unique (and did I mention cool?) e-learning tools are Telerik's UI components, providing the nuts and bolts for much of the site's core UIs. Check-out the new episode now and let us know what you think.

On a programming side note, you may notice that we've killed the BitTorrent links for each episode. We didn't feel enough people were using these links to justify maintaining them, and in exchange we're going to be introducing a number of new formats for each episode, including an audio only MP3 version for those unable to watch the video at work. We hope you enjoy the new formats and the new episode. Keep sending us your feedback and don't forget to let us know if you've got an app that you think should be featured on Telerik TV!

Q2 2008 delayed, due tomorrow

Well, there's nothing like eating crow after your first video update. I've been on the line with the teams in Bulgaria all morning and it appears the new Q2 2008 release will not be live until tomorrow. And while a one day delay is nothing compared to the delays some software projects have suffered, we hate to miss announced release targets. As it turns out, there was a last minute problem that our rigorous QA unearthed in the RadControls for WinForms and that is the cause for the delay. All other products- including the new controls for WPF and Silverlight- are ready to go and there is no question that everything will be live on the site tomorrow morning (US time). I apologize to those of you eagerly expecting the release today! While you wait, get a head-start on understanding the new features the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX by checking-out the already live Q2 2008 online demos.

Introducing Telerik Watch Minute

So there you have it. A new video series that will be running on Telerik Watch with the goal of bringing you the latest news from Telerik on a (at least) weekly basis. Telerik Watch Minute will be as concise as possible, usually no longer than 1 or 2 minutes, so it will be easy to catch on your lunch break or whenever you do your Internet video watching (which is never during work hours...right...). Most weeks I'll do my best to point you to any new and important things happening around Telerik while also calling your attention to great new tips, tricks, and demos that I think show-off cool features of the RadControls.

This format is not set in stone, though. If you'd prefer a different format, let me know in the comments. If you'd prefer not to see my ugly face on the blog on a weekly basis, let me know that too and we can adjust the frequency of these videos. At the end of the day, this is just another small part of Telerik's expanding effort to bring you quality video content to supplement our already vast written content and we're very eager to get some feedback!

Finally, I apologize in advance for the poor production quality of these first few installments. If this is a resource that some of you enjoy, you can fully expect quality to improve over the next few weeks.

Survey Says: You can't stop buying computers

Several weeks ago, I polled the readers of this blog and asked them to answer this question: How many computers do you own? After collecting responses for a couple of weeks, the super-scientific, accurate to 1/100 of one percent poll results have been analyzed and the results are very interesting. While we discover that a fair amount of you- about 47%- are content to only keep one or two computers around, it appears that once you buy that third PC (or Mac) you can't stop. Exactly 50% of respondents own more than three computers while a mere 3% managed to stop at three sharp.

So what does this say about the readers (who largely represent the .NET developer crowd in general) of this blog? Do we need a lot of computers or do we simply have a hard time getting rid of old computers after the new one arrives (or is built, as the case may be)? I'm betting it may be a little of both. Personally, I've got 4 computers that are actively used in the house (if you count my wife's Vista-running iMac), but I could probably squeak by with one less. I can't imagine only one computer in the house, though. My hat is off to the 9% of you that have found digital simplicity and can manage on a single machine.

Now's your chance to defend your digital lifestyle. Let us know in the comments why you need all those computers you've got (or even better, those computers you haven't got) and then vote in the new survey about video learning.

Update: Q2 2008 coming Wednesday

Release weeks are always exciting times. As new products are wrapped-up with bows and put under the proverbial Client.net Christmas Tree, customers eagerly await their arrival with regular, enthusiastic requests for updates on release timing. So for all of you preparing your "Is the release ready yet?" forum posts, just keep your browsers locked-in here for the most up-to-date and accurate information about Telerik's big Q2 2008 release.

To that end, I can officially confirm that this year's Q2 release will be live on the Telerik website Wednesday, July 23rd (for those of you wondering, that is this Wednesday). That means the release will be right on time and in your Client.net accounts for download in less than 48 hours. If you're looking for something to do 'til then, sound-off in the comments and let me know what you're most looking forward to in this release. Otherwise, Wednesday is the day and Telerik Watch is the place for all your release news.

Follow-up: Telerik in an ALT.NET World (update)

It's a little past midnight here in the "Amateur Sports Capital of the World" (Indianapolis for the uninformed), and several hours ago this was the scene for my talk to the Indy ALT.NET user group. The ALT.NET user group is still very young (this was their 3rd meeting), but it's already got a great active base of members. The meeting was lively with good audience interaction, and- despite a few "predictable" demo glitches- the talk went very well. Thanks again to everyone that came out tonight and for proving that ALT.NET developers really aren't that mean.

As promised in my announcement of this trip to Indy, my talk tonight focused on showing you how you can leverage many open source .NET tools (like NHiberante, LinqToNHibernate, NAnt, NUnit, NHibernateDataSource, and Dynamic LINQ) in conjunction with the latest features in RadGrid for ASP.NET AJAX (like client-side data binding , web service integration, and LINQ support) to build a demo app with an architecture much more fit for "real world" use. The result is a demo with a powerful data architecture that helps you see how to build a "better" practice (I'm not the person you should look to for "best" practice anything) application with Telerik's tools.

Since my demo code uses features coming in next week's Q2 2008 release, I can't make it available for download yet- sorry! In the mean time, you can grab the slides from tonight's session below, and as soon as the Q2 2008 release is public, I'll publish the code here for you to download, too. I hope you enjoy the resources. Watch for a "re-play" of this session at my future conference appearances and maybe even a webcast version. Anyone interested?

Telerik in an ALT.NET World downloads
Slides
Code

[NOTE(s): To use the demo code, you'll also need a copy of the HelpDeskBeta2 database, available on the Telerik website when you download the "original" Help Desk application, and the latest Telerik Q2 2008 Telerik.Web.UI assembly (put it in the bin for the two websites - omitted to keep download size small). Finally, I apologize for the 7zip archive. For whatever reason, FTP'ing a Zip kept failing, so this is the best I can do for now. I'll try to make a zip available ASAP.]

RadChart for WPF CTP sneak peek video

One of the new products that Telerik will be releasing next week during the big Q2 2008 release activities is our brand new charting product for WPF. Officially dubbed RadChart for WPF, our latest entry in the charting field is really stepping-up what Telerik has done in the past with charts. The new charting engine is going to deliver unprecedented 3D and 2D charting capabilities in a characteristically easy to learn and use Telerik component package. Everything from directional light sources to animated charts to gauges will be part of the new data visualization package, so we think you're really going to enjoy the new tools.

Now, what's being released next week during Q2 won't be version one. Instead, it will be a CTP that's designed to give you an early preview of our work in this arena. The final release will likely coincide with our Q3 release later this year. And while we wait for that date, Telerik will be actively listening to your feedback and striving to build the most useful charting tools you need.

And don't forget Silverlight! Remember, we build our WPF and Silverlight controls on the same code base. That means you'll eventually see RadChart for Silverlight, too, and when you do the API will be nearly identical to RadChart for WPF (though some of the more advanced 3D features may not be available in Silverlight, for obvious reasons). That means code you write for RadChart for WPF will be reusable in all of your Silverlight applications and vice versa. That should impress your boss and make your life a lot easier when management comes asking for a web version of your cool WPF application.

Download the RadChart for WPF CTP next week and start letting us know what you think! Until then, check out this quick sneak peek video I've created to give you a glimpse of the features we'll be packing-in to next week's CTP.

Q2 2008 comming next week

We've been building-up to this release for a while now- well, about 3 months, really- and it's time to prepare for the big event. The 2nd major Telerik release for 2008 will ship next week, and with it will come exciting new improvements, controls, and suites! Q2 2008 will not only bring many new features to the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX and WinForms, but it will also officially introduce two new RadControl suites: RadControls for WPF and RadControls for Silverlight (though the Silverlight release will be "beta" until the plug-in is finalized). With so much in this release, it's easy to miss some of the important details. So while you wait for the big day, I've prepared a list of essential posts (both from this blog and the Telerik.com blogs) that you can read to get all the details you need to prepare for Q2:

RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX

• Q2 2008 Futures now live (RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX)
• New features in RadComboBox, RadTreeView, RadUpload and RadScheduler
• What's new in RadGrid for ASP.NET AJAX in Q2 2008
• Q2 ASP.NET Skinning
  

RadControls for WinForms & Telerik Reporting

• Q2 2008 Road Maps updated for WinForms, Reporting
• Design your RadCarousel with just drag & drop in Q2
  

RadControls for WPF & Silverlight

• RadControls for WPF Beta 2 released
• Telerik RadControls for Silverlight 2 CTP released
• RadWindow for Silverlight
• Optimizing the load size for Telerik Silverlight controls
• RadControls for WPF and Silverlight
• Announcing RadChart for WPF

Enjoy the posts and keep your RSS readers (or your browsers, for those not in to the "reader thing") locked-in here for the latest updates as Q2 draws near!