BOF Sessions at TechEd 2011

In addition to being a speaker at TechEd 2011, I also have the privilege of hosting a few Birds of a Feather (BOF) discussions in Atlanta. If you've never attended a BOF session, these are essentially moderated conversations around specific technical topics where the value of the session comes from the exchange of ideas and feedback from fellow attendees. As a BOF moderator, it's my job to keep the conversation "on the rails," and make sure a great exchange of information is had. Believe or not, the BOF sessions at TechEd 2010 were the highest rated sessions at all of TechEd!

For my part, I'm hosting or co-hosting three different BOF sessions this year (some of the title's were changed by the BOF organizers- in other words, I'm not a huge fan):

• Silverlight, Flash, and HTML5/CSS: And the Winner Is? (BOF02-DEV)
  Hate the title, but the idea is a discussion about Silverlight and HTML5 (and I guess Flash, to some degree) and discussing which technology is "right" for various kinds of development. The idea of a "winner" is INETA's, but the discussion will be a frank discussion of how to choose between these competing rich options.
• How on Earth Do I Keep Up with All the New Technologies That Come Along? (BOF06-DEV)
  Another beautiful INTEA title, but the concept is simple: how do you survive the tech fire hose? With so many new technologies hitting every day (iOS, WinPhone, HTML5, IE9, etc.), it can be quickly overwhelming to try to keep-up. This discussion will cover the practical challenges and solutions for surviving and flourishing in this environment.
• Choosing Between WebForms, MVC, WebPages, Dynamic Data, and More (BOF08-DEV)
  Finally, this BOF discussion will address ASP.NET specifically, and how you should tackle the growing number of ASP.NET variants. Do you need to learn them all? Is one better than the other? Let's talk about it and figure it out.

If you're in Atlanta and going to TechEd, be sure to add these BOFs to your schedule, and swing-by for a good open conversation. For a complete overview of all BOF sessions at TechEd 2011, tune-in to the TechEdBOF blog.

Telerik wins Best of TechEd 2010

See that trophy sitting there? That’s the “Best of TechEd: Software Components and Middleware” award (right above the previously mentioned Code Project Members’ Choice award). This is a huge honor for Telerik and we are extremely grateful for all the support and feedback from you, our customers, that helped us bring this trophy home. As our CEO said, this is validation that we’re on the right track and it only pushes to go further!

And while we didn’t take home the trophy in the other two categories where we were nominated (congrats to Dundas and Quest!), being a Best of TechEd Finalist is still a major accomplishment. Hundreds of submissions from around the world get whittled in to fewer than 50 finalists, so being represented in 3 of 14 award categories (only Quest, Symantec, and Microsoft matched that feat) says a lot about Telerik’s success delivering solutions for all aspects of .NET development.

Thank you for being part of Telerik’s success and stay tuned for an exciting Q2 release in a few short weeks!

Telerik at TechEd, Winning awards

As you know, this is a busy week for Telerik because we’re in full-force at TechEd 2010. TechEd New Orleans is underway and the Telerik crew is busy doing booth demos, talking to Telerik fans, and helping developers learn how Telerik’s tools help them save time building great software. As you would expect at a conference made-up largely of the “IT Pro” audience, Telerik’s TeamPulse planning software and WebUI Test Studio testing software are very popular in the booth this week, and Telerik Reporting is a big hit with the BI attendees (especially with our support for Silverlight, WPF, WinForms, and ASP.NET).

We’re also very honored to receive some awards this week.

We kicked-off the week taking home the Code Project Members’s Choice Award for Best Silverlight UI components! The Telerik Silverlight Team has been working very hard to create the best Silverlight UI components available and we’re pleased that our work is producing results the entire .NET community loves. We’ll continue to build on this success and once again establish Telerik as the industry leader for UI components on any Microsoft platform.

Meanwhile, we’ve also been nominated for three “Best of TechEd” awards this year! We’re nominated in these categories:

• Best Database Development Tools (with OpenAccess ORM)
• Best BI Tools (with Telerik Reporting)
• Best Software Components (with Telerik Ultimate Collection)

It’s a great honor to be considered among the best of the best across such a wide spectrum of .NET, and we definitely appreciate all of the feedback and support that you- our avid fans and critics- provide to help make our products great.

Of course, beyond the booth and the awards, there are plenty of parties and meetings and parties this week in New Orleans. It’s a busy time, but an exciting time. And speaking of time, it’s time for me to get back to the expo floor…

Telerik at TechEd 2010

It’s hard to believe that it’s TechEd time again, but summer is upon us and TechEd New Orleans is kicking-off in 4 short days. New Orleans has had its share of bad luck in recent years, between Katrina and the current oil spill, and the general “theme” for TechEd this year seems to be charity and community. From GiveGeek’s Habitat for Humanity project on Saturday to Telerik’s “Deserving Developer” TechEd passes, the .NET community is coming together to make TechEd 2010 more than a geek fest.

The Telerik Houston crew will be Road Tripping^TM it to New Orleans this weekend, driving to meet a cadre of Telerik crew members from around the world, including our Boston, Austin, and Sofia offices. We’ll be pitching camp in the famous Telerik “dance floor” booth for the week (Booth 2001, if you’ve got a map), and we’ll have some great t-shirts, prizes, and demos to give at the booth. You’ll also want to stop by our booth on Monday to learn about our special contest that could give you a chance to take a trip in New Orleans (similar to the lucky people that won the Grand Canyon helicopter ride at DevConnections)!

Otherwise, keep your Twitterators/RSS Readers/Facebook-checker locked in to these resources next week as we bring you the sights, sounds, and news from TechEd 2010:

Twitter

• @toddanglin
• @telerik
• @telerik/insiders <- aggregation of all Telerik tweeters

Facebook

• Telerik “Fan” Page (exclusive videos and pictures)

RSS

• Telerik Watch (of course)
• Telerik Blogs
• Telerik TV (get updated when we add new videos!)

Developer news from TechEd 2009

As you may have gathered from my live keynote coverage on Monday, TechEd 2009 is not shaping-up to be a great conference for developers. With zero (zip, nadda) coverage of developer topics in the big TechEd keynote, the tone was set for a conference that would continue to prove heavily biased to the IT Pro. So, news from TechEd for developers: Uh... Well... There's... I've really got nothing. There is no beta for .NET 4 or VS2010. There is no new Silverlight 3 beta. There is no preview of ASP.NET 4 features in the Microsoft booth (I know- I'm working there). There's no update for Azure or SQL Data Services. There's not even new info about possible release dates for any developer technologies. It's really a conference devoid of much exciting content for developers. The general feeling at the conference amongst developers (the few that are here) seems to be clear: MIX and PDC are the events to attend and TechEd is now an IT Pro event. Sad, but unavoidably true...

LIVE from TechEd 2009 Keynote [update]

Welcome to TechEd 2009 coverage on Telerik Watch! This is your place to watch the TechEd 2009 Keynote unfold. I'm here in beautiful LA (ehem...) and ready to bring you the most complete live keynote coverage available on your RSS Reader dial. With so many Microsoft technologies in beta (or soon to be beta), there are bound to be some interesting announcements during the Day One keynote. And if you're tuned-in here, you'll get the announcement details as soon as they're made. All the action starts tomorrow morning, so bookmark this post and tune-in at 10:00 AM Pacific Time for the fun! 9:33 AM: Almost time for things to get started. I've grabbed a TechEd MountainDew, settled-in to my seat, and am enjoying the Microsoft electronic music in the morning. Room is probably 1/4 to 1/3 filled now, but people are streaming-in.

Click here to continue reading live keynote coverage

9:53 AM: Just got the Five Minute Warning. Looks like things will be starting right on time.

10:02 AM: Lights-dim, video starts- time to get started (a little late because everyone was still trying to find seats). “X Lives Here” is the slogan for this year (such as “Innovation Lives Here,” “Potential Lives Here,” etc.).

10:03 AM: Bill Veghte, Senior VP Windows Business, is taking the stage. Just basic “welcome” speech and some TechEd facts and figures. Claims about 7000 at this year’s TechEd. Rolling another video- interviews that look like they were shot at MIX with developers asking “What keeps you up at night?” “What are your pain points?”

10:08 AM: Tepid response from crowd to video (“courtesy” claps). Bill’s energy is a little low, too. Lots of pausing- not sure if he’s trying to create drama or if it’s just “his style.”

10:10 AM: Bill says Microsoft intends to support the community in these turbulent times by “inventing in you, driving value, and innovating together.” Says MSFT will grow R&D this year, despite other cut backs. “Pedal down” behavior, as he puts it.

10:12 AM: Talking about “Dynamic IT.” Just remarking about how far we’ve come since 2003.

10:14 AM: Wants to call attention to 3 things (or “key themes”) MSFT is doing to watch for this week: 1) Virtualization (and how much MSFT is doing across products and platforms to support virtualization), 2) End-user access, Greater support for end-user mobility, 3)…

10:17 AM: Announcing a SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP will ship in H2 2009. No response from crowd, Also showing on screen a July 2009 tech preview of Office 2010.

10:19 AM: Just added that Office 2010 preview will be private- invite only. First dibs go to TechEd attendees. Again, no crowd excitement for this announcement.

10:21 AM: Running another video, this time talking to Windows 7 engineers. Making the case that Windows 7 is really listening to people and trying to build the best OS possible. Trying to provide some transparency for the Windows development approach.

10:23 AM: Flashed a website at end of video: talkingaboutwindows.com. Encourage you to “join the conversation.”

10:24 AM: Bill is now talking about the “Making of Windows 7.” Key points: Microsoft listened & learned before building Win7, Quality & Fundamentals are key, MSFT wants to “enable you,” and finally MSFT wants to “excite” end-users.

10:27 AM: Now talking Win7 and the Ecosystem. Talking about how MSFT is working hard to ensure ecosystem is better prepared for Win7 than they were for Vista. Slide is saying some “Intel Announcement” is coming.

10:29 AM: Two “announcements” regarding Intel: MSFT and Intel worked together to deliver better power management in Win7 and better OS support for hyper threading. Yeah, no crowd reaction…

10:31 AM: Bill is moving on to talk about new features in Windows7 release wave- specifically, features that help address the balance between “Control” and “Flexibility.” Examples: branch cache, direct connect (i.e. VPN-client-less VPN), etc.

10:33 AM: Bill is encouraging audience to compare Win7 RC performance to Vista to see proof that new release is already better performing than previous releases- even in RC.

10:35 AM: Demo time! I think the audience is relieved- Bill’s part was getting a little long. Bill is doing first demo- made the big “name mistake” and called Win7, “Windows Vista.” Finally got some audience laughter!

10:36 AM: Bill is demoing the “basic” UX improvements in Win7 (jump lists, reordering apps on task bar, etc.)- stuff you’ve probably seen before.

10:38 AM: More interesting than Bill’s Win7 demo is the fact that he’s got Office 2010 running on his demo machine! The UX is changing in office- no more big “Office Button” globe.

10:39 AM: Moving on to show-off Direct Connect. Requires WinServer 2008R2. And now we’re on to look at Branch Caching, and integrated Open Search (in Windows Search), and so on. Lots of quick little demos of Win7 features.

10:44 AM: Bill says he’s doing last demo- showing BitLocker ToGo. Don’t think people really got this last demo.

10:46 AM: Mark Russinovich, Tech Fellow at MSFT, is taking the stage to do Win7 demos for the IT Pros.

10:49 AM: Showing-off AppLocker- essentially a new “whitelist” for apps that an user is allowed to install that also enables you to filter at different levels of specificity (i.e. you can approve a publisher, a specific app, a specific app version, etc.)

10:51 AM: Demo snag. Mark was trying to show AppLocker group policy change in action, but something broke. First time I’ve seen a TechEd keynote demo stall for that long. Fortunately, the “magic behind the curtain” (i.e. the guys in back frantically trying to fix the problem) fixed the issue and Mark recovered.

10:53 AM: Big recovery! Mark just got the biggest crowd reaction so far showing-off the feature in Win7 that enables users to record the steps they took to hit a problem (complete with step-by-step) screen caps. People applauded this feature more than anything else so far.

10:56 AM: Moving-on to talk about PowerShell v2. Talking about using PowerShell to manage group policy settings.

10:57 AM: ASIDE: Mark suggested that one of the cool new features in IE8 is InPrivate Mode- for “personal reasons.” I see…

11:00 AM: Now on to MEDV (pronounced “Med-Vee”)- Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, the set of tools MSFT is shipping that enables admins to easily manage end-user VMs.

11:03 AM: And now “AppV” (pronounced “App-Vee”), Microsoft’s application virtualization solution. Mark says this feature will help support the idea of the “replaceable PC,” or a scenario where all user settings (including apps) can quickly be re-initialized on a new box if their first PC dies.

11:07 AM: Last thing for Mark- demoing the new VHD support in Win7 (ability to managed VHDs from Disk Manager and even boot directly from a VHD).

11:11 AM: Bill’s back. Mark’s gone. No developer love so far in this year’s keynote (last year you may remember that there was a fair amount more for devs).

11:13 AM: Bill wants to talk about “two elephants in the room:” App Compat and Ship Date. Bill also seems to be much more amped-up on his return to the stage. Must have had some caffeine back stage…

11:13 AM: First App Compat. Essentially, MSFT is doing a lot to make sure all apps run: App Compat Kit, Guidance, Virtualization Tech, XP Mode, App Compat Factory, and ISV Engagement.

11:15 AM: Second, Ship Date. Bill is ready to announce something. Announcing that Windows 7 will ship for this holiday season. No reaction from crowd- think that shocked Bill.

11:16 AM: Telling people who don’t have Vista installed yet to start testing with Win7 RC instead.

11:17 AM: Time for another demo. Ian McDonald, General Manager of Windows Server Group, taking stage to do some Windows Server 2008 R2 demos.

11:21 AM: Talking about the focus of the Server Group: Consistent Delivery, Accelerating Technology Adoption, and Commitment to Value.

11:25 AM: Ian is now addressing how Windows Server focuses on four areas: Web, Management, Virtualization, and “Foundation for Business.” After that, he says there’ll be some demos. Looks like the keynote may run long…

11:29 AM: Keynote is definitely dragging. Ian is high energy, but I think people realize that this is going to run in to lunch and we’re not going to get any more interesting announcements as things go along. Just review of the RCs and Betas we’ve already seen. Ian is still talking to his key points slide.

11:30 AM: Take it back. There are some new announcements: 1) HyperV will now support up to 64 virtual processors (no reaction – Ian had to beg for applause), 2) [Something nobody understood], 3) New “Compat Mode” coming to HyperV to enable running on older hardware. Yeah…that did little to get the crowd back in this one…

11:33 AM: Another new thing: File Classification Structure. [OBSERVATION: People are really streaming-out of the keynote now. It started with a trickle and it’s turning in to a stream.]

11:35 AM: Ian is now starting his demos. They better be impressive to save this keynote. But they are “just” server admin demos, so…unless you’re a domain admin…this info isn’t likely to interest you.

11:37 AM: Ian got some demo applause! Apparently Windows Server now has some OCR features built-in. That’s cool, I suppose.

11:40 AM: Ian is now rambling on about Exchange 2010. Stream of people leaving is about to become a river.

11:43 AM: Ian is now demoing Outlook 2010 (another sneak peak of the Office14 UX). Showing some type of integration with something- demo problems. Demo failed. Apparently the demo was to make some joke about Mary Jo’s “MSFT Code Name” list.

11:48 AM: “And finally I’m going to get on to the headline artist of the night: virtualization in Windows Server,” says Ian as people continue their march out of the keynote. Apparently there’ll be one more demo today showing virtualization.

11:53 AM: Ian is still demoing some Windows Server 2008 R2 features. Actually, now he’s wrapping-up his time. [River is no turning in to flood of people leaving.]

11:54 AM: Bill is re-taking stage to wrap-up the keynote. I think people cut him short. Quick thanks for Bill and that’s it!

I know they practiced this keynote, but it’s not clear if any amount of practice have saved it. With the Windows 7 RC already released, the keynote just lacked any good announcements. It’s almost like MSFT forgot to save anything-up for this big keynote. Good thing Bill Gate’s last TechEd keynote is already in the books.

Either way, hope you enjoyed the extended coverage. Stay tuned for more from LA as TechEd continues!

Join Telerik at TechEd next week

While the global economic recession has definitely hit big tech events this year- including TechEd- the event is still going down next week and Telerik will be there to meet you. And while we won't be bringing a booth to this year's decidedly smaller event, you will still have many ways to interact with Telerik:

1. Microsoft Web Experience Experts Area- You can find me in this area of Microsoft's "Experts Area" throughout the week. I'm happy to talk Telerik, talk Microsoft, or talk whatever is on your mind. Stop on by and say hi.
2. BOF Sessions- As I've previously mentioned on this blog, I will also be hosting two BOF sessions on Thursday, so if you're interested in the topics (Telecommuting and Building Great Web Apps), don't miss what should be good discussions.
3. TechEd Sessions- Telerik CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) Stephen Forte and Microsoft RD will have a huge presence at TechEd delivering a voice-killing 11 sessions throughout the week. Be sure to check-out his sessions and send Telerik questions his way.
4. Parnter Booths- While Telerik's booth won't be on the floor, we have many great partners that will be at TechEd this year. You'll be able to find me at both the Novel booth where the fine folks from the Mono Project will be showcasing Telerik's RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX on Linux. You can also find me at our great training partner Falafel's booth, too, showing-off the incredible Learning Guides they have produced.

So, lots of opportunities to interact with Telerik at TechEd this year. We look forward to talking to many of you next week and to having a great time at TechEd. And for those of you not there, keep your RSS Readers locked-in here where I'll try to bring some live coverage of various keynotes and events.

Join me at my TechEd BOF Sessions

Traveling to TechEd 2009 this May? If so, why not come visit one of my Birds-of-a-Feather sessions on Thursday. Thanks to your voting (and much thanks, by the way, for the votes!) both of my BOF sessions have been accepted and both have been voted popular enough to be on the "big BOF day." What's the big BOF day you ask? Well, since TechEd has cancelled the attendee party (typically held at Universal Studios) they are replacing it with a big "community night." One of the key "attractions" of the community night will be the Thursday night BOF sessions (I know- right on par with free food and drink at Universal), and that's exactly where you'll find me.

As a reminder, here are the two BOF sessions I'll be moderating:

• Build Great Web Applications Today: What Technologies Should I Use? In this session, we'll bascially discuss whether you should use ASP.NET AJAX, Silverlight, or mixture of both (or something else altogether) to build great web applications today. The goal is to bring some clarity to often confusing question: Which Microsoft technologies should I use or spend time learning? [Thursday, 2:45 - 4:00 PM]
• Telecommuting: Is the Grass Really Greener? In this session, I hope to moderate a good discussion about the pros and cons of working from home. I hope bring to the table my experience as a telecommuter for the last 2+ years and dispel some of the myths (both good and bad) of working remotely. It should be a fun session with lots of good answers to all the questions you've got about quiting your commute. [Thursday, 8:00 - 9:00 PM]

If you don't have time to visit my BOF sessions, be sure to stop by the Microsoft Web Experience Experts area and say hi. I'll be spending much of my time during the week staffing that area of Microsoft's "booth" and I'm always available to answer questions or talk about what's next from Telerik. See you in L.A. in a few short weeks!

Vote for my TechEd BOF sessions

I'm activating the Telerik Watch army(?) to help put my "Birds of a Feather" sessions on the schedule at TechEd North America this May. I will be at TechEd this year as a "Microsoft Expert," but I've also submitted a few BOF sessions that I think the TechEd crowd will enjoy. To get them on the schedule, though, they have to be voted-in by the super fair online democratic process that enables you (the random- but clearly intelligent) web surfer to give the thumbs-up or thumbs-down. I'd, of course, appreciate it if you could help by voting for my two sessions:

1. Build Great Web Applications Today
2. Telecommuting: Is the grass really greener?

The first session will focus on the tough question of how do you build "great" web applications today with all the new technology options that are out there. Do you use Silverlight? ASP.NET AJAX? jQuery? And the second session (clearly less technical) will focus on exposing the truth and answering the questions about telecommuting as a .NET developer. I figure I've got some experience in this arena and I'd love to see an open dialog on the pros/cons of this "non-standard" working arrangement. Unfortunately, the voting form is much, much less than pleasant. You'll find my first session 10th on the list and my second about 50(!) spots below that (near the bottom of the list). I appreciate your help and I hope to see some of you at these sessions at TechEd in May! Vote for my BOF sessions now

TechEd 2008 Wrap-up (with a twist)

TechEd 2008 has come and gone, and now that I'm back and settled in the office, I figured I ought to provide some wrap-up remarks- like every other TechEd blogger out there. I know, I'm not original. But with that confession, let's see if I can make this wrap-up post different from many of the others you've read.

Most wrap-up posts seem to follow this pattern:

1. Gushing thanks to those that visited the booth
2. Comments about how great the show was
3. Tantalizing promises of better things to come in 2008

Let me just get those out of the way by saying, ditto.

Now, on from there. I have a couple of interesting insights regarding TechEd 2008, a random tidbit from the MS Silverlight Team, a photo gallery to share, and Roy Osherove's TechEd 2008 version of "Every Build You Break."

First, the insights. As many of you may know, TechEd 2008 was a unique show. It was the first TechEd to split developers and IT "Pros" (I think the term should be applied loosely), creating two (theoretically) smaller back-to-back, one-week events instead of a single massive event. In theory, this change was supposed to improve the quality of TechEd for developer focused companies, like Telerik, and better match attendees with the available sessions and sponsors. And while I definitely agree that all of the conversations at this year's TechEd were better than last year (no more, Me:"We develop .NET UI components and developer tools." Attendee:"I'm not a developer." Me:"Okay...here's a t-shirt" exchanges), the overall energy of TechEd has definitely changed. There's just something about 10,000+ geeks in one place that strangely energizes people, and that was missing for the TechEd Developer Week this year.

So is the change good? I think the jury is still out. For developers, the change makes TechEd feel like a slightly bigger DevConnections (albeit with much better MS participation and a much better keynote). For companies that want to reach both audiences, it makes TechEd a serious endurance marathon as they camp out in Orlando for two solid weeks. We'll see if this new format survives for a second year, but if you attended the show and want to have a say, let Microsoft know what you thought of the change.

Next, a random tidbit from the Sivlverlight Team. After attending yet another Silverlight session where the demoer implemented their own boilerplate class to support the mouse scrollwheel, it struck me that I should ask the Silverlight Team if we could hope to see this seemingly obvious code baked-in to Silverlight 2 before its release. Unfortunately, I got a pretty non-commital answer at the show, but with the promise of follow-up. I'll try to get a definitive answer from the Silverlight Team soon. Until then, plan on rolling your own scrollwheel support.

Finally, a photo gallery and a video. For the gallery, hit up my Picasa Web Gallery (complete with picture captions so you know what you're looking at) to see pics of the show, the Universal party, and the Telerik crew. For the video, check out my new "Every Build You Break" YouTube clip. This is actually my first contribution to the great time suck that is YouTube, so I apologize in advance for contributing more meaningless dribble to the Interwebs. I think you'll enjoy the video and the song, though- it is very "geeky" humor.

And that about wraps it up! I hope you found this TechEd wrap-up post sufficiently different from others you've read and I hope you enjoyed my TechEd coverage. I'll try to provide even better coverage at future events, so keep it locked-in here for all the fun.

Announcing Telerik Trainer, RadWebinars

When you're faced with choosing between 3rd party developer tools, what are the most important factors to consider when making your choice? Features? Price? Licensing model? Support? All of these clearly play some role in the decision making process, but I'd argue that when it comes to developer tools support- before and after the purchase- are of unique importance. Unlike other software products or services you might buy, 3rd party developer tools (like the UI components sold by Telerik) are completely worthless until you can figure out how to use them. The tools may have all the features and power in the world, but if you can't figure out how to harness them in your applications you could likely care less.

Point: When it comes to developer tools, their ability to help you build better applications is only as good as the available support and training.

Teleirk has long covered you on this front better than anybody else in the industry- UI component vendors or otherwise- but we're not content to stop there. At TechEd this week we announced two brand new training resources that are going to help you learn to maximize the value of the RadControls better than ever.

First, Telerik has announced that it is partnering with Falafel Software to deliver regular RadWebinars. These online classes will cover a range of topics, from RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX to Telerik Reporting and from beginner to advanced. They will be taught live by the training experts at Falafel (that means you can ask questions) and they will only cost $99. If you're interested in joining the first class on Telerik Reporting, sign-up now because the seats are almost gone!

Next, we have also announced the introduction of an amazing new tool we're calling the Telerik Trainer. This WPF training tool is easily the most advanced self-paced developer training tool I've ever seen and I think it is going to set a new standard in learning tools. We haven't put the Trainer online yet, but soon you'll be able to download it and see the training goodness for yourself. The best way to describe it for now is screencast tutorials on steriods- but that really fails to convey all of the features. Stay tuned for more details and a link to download the Trainer very soon.

With these new learning tools added to our already vast collection of videos and documentation, you should have no trouble learning how to completely maximize the benefit the RadControls can bring to your projects. We all hope you enjoy the new tools!

Day One at TechEd 2008, WPF Gauges announced

TechEd 2008 is officially underway. The shiny Telerik booth is once again standing tall the expo floor, the demo videos are rolling, and the people are flocking to grab their swag. If you're in Orlando and at TechEd, definitely make sure you stop by our booth (#1101) and get your free .NET Ninja or Geekette t-shirt. For everyone else, stay tuned this week and I'll try to bring you regular updates from the floor (as promised). Hopefully you've already seen my coverage of this morning's Gatesnote- his last public speaking engagement as a full-time Microsoft employee. There wasn't much new shared in the keynote, but we did get official confirmation that Silverlight 2 beta 2 will be available by the end of the week. That's good news for you Silverlight fans out there.

Also, continuing on my promise to deliver exciting Telerik announcements this week, we've officially revealed that we're working on a gauges product for WPF. There are not many details to share on this project at the moment (sorry), but I can say this:

1. The work on this product is already underway and the data visualization experience of the team building these gauges is incredible.
2. You can count on Telerik to begin shipping gauge components towards the end of this year, starting on the WPF platform.

If you're looking for another good reason to download our RadControls for WPF beta and starting the process of WPF application development, add Telerik gauges to your list. For now, it's back to the TechEd booth activity. Look for more updates and more announcements as the week goes on- there are still some really fun ones left.

LIVE from Bill Gates TechEd Keynote

8:30 AM: They're starting right on time! No keeping Mr. Gates waiting, I suppose. TechEd 2008 video running, talking about global technology

8:32 AM: Bill's taking the stage to a polite applause. No standing welcome (a little surprised).

8:33 AM: Bill talking about new TechEd format. Thought only 4,000 developers would come to first week. Actual numbers are closer to 6,000.

8:34 AM: Bill talking about how this is his last public speaking event as a full-time MS employee. Will be transitioning to part-time in July. Says he's not sure what it will be like, but he has a video that shows what his last day will be like. (It's the same video we've seen before, but a "Director's Cut" as Gates put it.) Video time...

8:38 AM: Video is actually pretty different from old video- and very funny! Bill is really willing to self-deprecate (with half the celebs in the world) for his retirement. Interesting moment with Jayz: Bill to Jayz- "You can unretire?"

8:43 AM: And the celeb parade continues...Tony Blair, all the US presidential candidates, Bono, Warren Buffet, Al Gore, Matthew McConaughey...

8:46 AM: Bill's back on stage.

8:47 AM: Now he's walking down memory lane and trying to set the stage for where developers will head in the future. He suggests there are two key factors involved in future development trends. The first is hardware improvements (primarily multi-core processing). A "Technology Megatrends" slide is on the screen behind him.

8:50 AM: Bill thinks one of the biggest changes coming to PCs is a change in interaction (how people interact with the PC). He thinks the current aging keyboard/mouse model is facing a revolution. Touch panel, pen capability (Ink), voice/speech, and vision are all "natural interfaces" he thinks will change the way we interact with PCs.

8:53 AM: See's a future where desks have computers in them, not on them. Thinks future whiteboards will be smart. Ultimately, tying this all back what MS is doing to support these features in Windows so devs can write a new generation of application.

8:56 AM: Now talking about how MS is innovating in 4 "key" areas relevant to developers- Presentation, Business Logic, Data Access, and Services.

8:57 AM: Presentation: talking briefly WPF and Silverlight. Thinks full 3D worlds will be mainstream this decade. Really?! Thinks their past failures were primarily due to poor performance, inadequate infrastructure. Says IE8 Beta 2 is due in August. He's clearly reading talking points for IE8- he's obviously not that involved with this project anymore.

9:00 AM: Demo time! Bill's inviting S. Somasegar (SVP Developer Division) to the stage to talk about Silverlight.

9:03 AM: Showing a Silverlight application called Crossfader. It's supposed to be an immersive social networking application. The idea was to create a "conveyor belt" of social media. Great moment- Somasegar gave us a regular 'ol Steve Jobs "Boom!" while showing-off Crossfader's video zooming.

9:04 AM: Moving on to show-off Visual Studio and Expression Blend workflow.

9:11 AM: Silverlight announcement! Silverlight 2 Beta 2 will be launching by the end of this week. SL2b2 will still ship with a commercial go-live license (as expected) and they've also confirmed that the Olympics site will be running on SL2b2.

9:13 AM: Bill's back. We're moving on to the business logic layer.

9:14 AM: Now welcoming Brian Harry (Tech Fellow, Developer Division) to the stage to talk about VSTS and his vision for its future. He's showing the Woodgrove Bank demo app and talking about VSTS' support for helping people understand applications (Architecture Explorer, Architecture Layer Diagram,).

9:19 AM: Showing-off Architecture Validation feature of VSTS- ability for VSTS to validate that your code is consistent with your defined architecture. Supposed to help avoid people making architectural problems. Now moving on to talk some VS for DB Pros- it can do DB2 development from the VS IDE! Yay...

9:24 AM: Battery getting critically low..."live" blog may become "previously recorded blog"...

9:25 AM: Bill's finally bank on stage and we're moving on to data access layer talk.

9:30 AM: Okay, my ThinkPad died. Now we're on the MacBook Pro. Let's hope this lasts. Dave Campbell is on stage now talking about SQL Server 2008. Demoing SQL Server's new spacial type used in conjunction with the Live Earth APIs for WPF. SQL Server 2008 has full time zone support- maintains time zones internally and can do time zone translations.

9:33 AM: Talking SQL Server Data Services. Says it's a REST-based application (I think he means his demo). Uses LINQ query syntax (essentially LINQ in the querystring). I'm sure DBAs are going to love this approach to accessing data...

9:36 AM: Still talking SQL Server 2o08 features. Probably nothing new if you've been following SQL Server 2008's development. Starting to wrap-up and summarize. Says SQL Server 2008 will be available in a "month or two." That's news if it's true.

9:37 AM: Bill's back. We're moving-on to our forth topic: Services.

9:38 AM: Says that MS data centers will house millions of servers in future- vs. hundreds of thousands today- to support the services future. Investing a lot in building a cloud service you can use reliably in your apps.

9:40 AM: I guess we're done with the 4 areas. We've just transitioned to talking more broadly about the future of application development. Talking about declarative modeling langauge- says a CTP of the oslow (spelling?) work will be available this fall.

9:43 AM: Another guest, Tandy Trower (GM of Robotics Group at MS), now on the stage. Bill says robotics in an infancy similar to PCs 20 years ago. Thinks MS can do a lot to help propel robotic development.

9:45 AM: Tandy talking about MS Robotics Studio. Bringing out "some friends" on stage- uBot5 (a.k.a. the Ballmer bot). Bot drove out on the stage with Ballmer's face and screaming "Developers, developers, developers..." Classic. Unfortunately, the PhD they brought out to drive the bot totally forgot his lines. Awkward...

9:49 AM: uBot giving Bill some kind of message- oh, it's his XBOX Live lifetime subscription (video reference). These robotics guys totally weren't ready for the stage...back to the labs, guys.

9:50 AM: Bills arrested the stage again and he's now wrapping-up today's topics. And he's done. That was quick.

9:51 AM: Looks like there is going to be some Q & A with Bill on stage. I'm going to run to the Telerik booth, though, so if you want to see the questions and answers, look for the keynote video online soon.

That's it. Hope you enjoyed the live coverage. Stay tuned for more TechEd updates as the week continues.

Join Telerik at TechEd 2008

I've been alluding to our presence at the upcoming uber tech event for a few weeks now, so let's go ahead and make the details official. Telerik will indeed be at TechEd again this year, so for those of you in the Orlando area (or those traveling there for a little business and fun), don't miss your next chance to come out and meet the Telerik crew. We'll have a strong contingent of Telerik-ers from our home office in Bulgaria in attendance, and I'll be around, too. We'd love to meet you, so stop by our huge new booth in slot 1101.

This year's event kicks-off with a keynote from Bill Gates (another "last" for Mr. Gates) on June 3rd, and you can bet I'll be there to bring you the live blogging coverage. I know many of you can't make it to TechEd, so I'll do my best to bring TechEd to you on this blog next week.

Meanwhile, in addition to being a Gold Sponsor of this year's event, Telerik will also be giving away more of the oh-so-popular .NET Ninja and Geekette shirts at our booth. I'll try to run another giveaway contest after TechEd to really share the excitement with those of you following along from your desks. On the technical front, we'll be showing-off brand new demo applications built with the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX and will be premiering our RadControls for WPF and Silverlight. Downloads of the stuff we show-off at TechEd should be available in the next couple of weeks.

Clearly, it will be a fun time. Keep your feed readers locked-in next week for all of the live updates and get ready for a lot of exciting new downloads and announcements from Telerik!