C#3.0 and LINQ offer new and compelling features to developers. You can get to know both better by taking a look at these hands on labs provided by Microsoft:

Grz, Kris.

VISUG offers a presentation, given by my buddy Gill Cleeren, on Silverlight. I'll be attending it and I hope to see several of my other friends there as well. If you're in the neighbourhood and have interest in this new technology be sure to be there. You can still register but hurry up as places are being filled up rapidly.

The place to be is at Ordina in Schelle. To see who already registered take a look at the VISUG site.

This is what'll be covered:

• Introduction to XAML
• Silverlight 1.0 with Javascript
• Silverlight 1.1 with .net
• Blend 2 and Silverlight
• Features of the final platform to come

Grz, Kris.

You just got to love this, when you download a starter kit, and run the .vsi file it doesn't only get into the available templates of Visual Studio 2005 but also in the templates of Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2, which I have installed side by side at the moment. When creating a new website, based on such a starter kit, I got to see this dialog:

I was thinking that I needed to copy paste the zip file, which gets created when you use the .vsi file to install, but it just installed on both locations. Great!

Do you have an ASP.NET starter kit that you think that might be interesting for other people? If so please post it on the Announcements forum or you can upload it on this new dedicated site: http://starterkits.org/ which was created by my co-moderator/MVP Curt.

Grz, Kris.

Like Silverlight? Like search? Like them combined? If so be sure to check out the new Tafiti search engine. I especially liked the treeview option where you can see, in a rotating tree, what's been found. Probably it won't replace, for me anyway, google or live search but it shows the possibilities that you can obtain when using Silverlight.
Speaking of which, if you're in Belgium on September 20th you can join the VISUG meeting about Silverlight. I'll be there too.

Grz, Kris.

Always fun to know what those names stand/stood for and what they became when the product got actually released. Take a look here: Microsoft codenames.

Grz, Kris.

I just read the sad news about the death of a great .NET community person: David Boschmans. I knew David as being a great and nice guy that took the time to listen to the community. I heard at the VIP community weekend that he had health problems but that he was recovering. Rest in peace good man, you'll be missed.

Grz, Kris.

Hi,

if you're into Microsoft technology you'll probably know about Channel 9 and On10. While I was surfing/investigating the revamped ASP.NET site I noticed a new entry in the community toolbar: Channel 8.

Channel 8 is THE place to be for STUDENTS who want to code, connect and create technology. Stay plugged into tech news and share in the experience with students around the world just like you who want to see their creations come to life. This is also a back door directly into Microsoft just like Channel 9 but from a student point of view. This means access to the inside scoop about our products and life working inside Microsoft and information on cool things coming out. This is your community – a place for you to share your tips and tricks and even your problems. Go check out what others are doing and talk about what you think is cool.

I hope a lot of interesting content will come up there just like on Channel 9. More to watch for all of us.

Grz, Kris.

A site that I visit frequently just got a repaint job. It looks nice I must say. Be sure to check it out at http://www.asp.net/. If you should have any suggestions or remarks you can leave them in the Feedback forum.

Grz, Kris.

Just saw it on the download pages: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700831.aspx.

Apparently Microsoft also created several pages with some webcasts:

• Build Next-Generation Applications
• Work Collaboratively
• Develop at Light Speed

I know where the rest of my bandwidth of the month's getting spend on this weekend.

Grz, Kris.

Taken from the download site:

The Windows Server 2008 Developer Training Kit includes a set of hands-on-labs and presentations for technologies such as IIS7, Management, WCF, WF, Windows CardSpace, Windows PowerShell, Virtualization and the Transactional File System (TxF). The content was originally created by Microsoft's Developer & Platform Evangelism group as part of the Windows Server 2008 Touchdown training activities.
The seven hands-on labs included in this kit are based on the DinnerNow sample application.

Windows Server 2008 Developer Training Kit (Beta 3).

Grz, Kris.