BufferOverrun: Brian Johnson: Visual Studio

SSCLI 2.0 Released

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:02:16 GMT

I hadn't seen this anywhere else, and I found it on ActiveWin. SSCLI 2.0 is out. A lot of us have been hoping for this. :) The download page says it works on XP only. Check out the details and the download here:

Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure 2.0 Release
The Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is the ECMA standard that describes the core of the .NET Framework world. The Shared Source CLI is a compressed archive of the source code to a working implementation of the ECMA CLI and the ECMA C# language specification.

The current release builds and runs on Windows XP only. It is released under a Shared Source initiative. It is released under a shared source initiative. Please see the accompanying license.

The Shared Source CLI goes beyond the printed specification of the ECMA standards, providing a working implementation for CLI developers to explore and understand. It will be of interest to academics and researchers wishing to teach and explore modern programming language concepts, and to .NET developers interested in how the technology works.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft

Made in Express Contest

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 16:48:59 GMT

Somebody internally sent me a link to a new contest around the Visual Studio Express Editions. Check it out. The first rule explains it as well as anything else

Made In Express Contest

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The Microsoft "Made in Express" Contest (the "Contest") is a skill contest in which selected Finalists will build and display a "Project" consisting of a software application or physical device using Visual Studio Express and/or SQL Server Express products ("Express products"). Promotion begins at 12:01 a.m. (PT) on March 13, 2006 and ends at 11:59 p.m. (PT) on September 1, 2006 (Promotion Period).

So really, go make something cool. The tools are right here, what are you waiting for! :)

Visual Studio 2005 and Uninstalling the Betas

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 18:48:10 GMT

As many of you know, Visual Studio 2005 is available from subscriber downloads. If you were running the beta, make sure to do a good uninstall if you're planning on installing the release on the same machine that you had a beta on. It's probably best that you install on a clean machine, but if that's not possible, be sure to follow the uninstall intructions here:

Pre-RTM Uninstall Instructions

There's a fantasic tool for automating your uninstall, linked to from that page. The link to the uninstall tool is here:

Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 Auto-uninstall Tool

This tool automates the following instructions:
Uninstalling Previous Versions of Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions
Uninstalling Previous Versions of Visual Studio 2005

Enjoy!

IntelliSense XML Files for Visual Studio Tools for Office Developers

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 06:42:57 GMT

I guess the description says it all. Applies to both VS 2003 and VS 2005.

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Download details: IntelliSense XML Files for Visual Studio Tools for Office Developers
Adds summary descriptions of types, members, and parameters to IntelliSense ToolTips in code and in the Object Browser for Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, and Microsoft Office 2003 Shared PIAs in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005.

Disaster Relief: How You Can Help

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 23:00:16 GMT

Our emergency response team updated the Microsoft Disaster Relief page this weekend with links to charities directly involved in relief efforts in South Asia. If you're looking for a way to help, this might be a good place to start.

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Disaster Relief: How You Can Help
Every one of us at Microsoft is deeply saddened by the loss of life and injury to people in the wake of the South Asian earthquake and Hurricane Stan in Central America, and our hearts go out to those who have been impacted.

Backpack on Coding4Fun

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 20:42:30 GMT

I'm a big fan of Backpack and I was interested to find that they were linking back to an article about their product by Michael Campbel at the MSDN Coding4Fun site. Here's a link to the article:

Harnessing the BackPack API - Part I
...sometimes less can definitely be more. Enter a small company made up of five individuals that understands this very well: 37 Signals. They've successfully launched three VERY SIMPLE online applications that have made them nearly legendary in the web development community. The secret of their success: carefully targeted applications that leverage cutting-edge technology to make collaboration intuitive through absurdly clean and simple user interfaces that anyone can quickly and easily use....

The Art of Project Management: How to Make Things Happen

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 06:54:10 GMT

If you're at all interested in how to really get things done (in a world where you don't control everything), this is a must read. I didn't realize that it had been added to the MSDN library until I read it on ActiveWin. Check it out:

The Art of Project Management: How to Make Things Happen
In this chapter excerpt from his book, The Art of Project Management, Scott Berkun recounts what it took for him to be successful at Microsoft as a project manager. (16 printed pages)

Here's a link to the book on Amazon.

New Security Features in Visual Studio 2005

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 20:01:06 GMT

I was out on vacation when this was posted, so I picked up the link from Mike Howard's Blog. :) If you're interested in the new security features in Visual Studio 2005, this article takes you on a little tour.

New Security Features in Visual Studio 2005

Visual Studio 2005 makes it easier for developers to write secure applications. Write unmanaged code that's safe, or get IDE tools that help you to build and deploy managed applications that take advantage of Code Access Security.

I'll get this into the RSS feeds and the headlines this week.

Erika Ehrli : Hosting Office in .NET applications

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:49:33 GMT

Ericka Ehrli has a great tip for getting Office apps into your .NET apps. Check it out here.

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Erika Ehrli : Hosting Office in .NET applications
If you are building a .NET application and you are struggling to find a way to host Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Visio drawings, Project files, or PowerPoint presentations, you might consider using the Visual C++ ActiveX Control for hosting Office documents. I learned about this download resource and I was shocked to see how you can add it to your solution and start working with Office applications in less than a minute. You can open Office applications, format content, update documents, save changes, print, and more inside your application. The Office Framer Control is an Active X control written in C++. The download includes source code to extend the functionality and sample code to use it inside Visual Basic 6 and HTML pages. You can also enable and disable specific functionality by using a full set of properties, methods, and events exposed for customization.

Blogging the PDC

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:00:06 GMT

Well, I really meant to do this, but I've been sort of busy. (Blogs are all about guilt you know.) The bottom line on PDC for me is that I've had some fantastic conversations with customers and I've gotten some really good, useful feedback about the developer centers and what MSDN can do to help you all be more successful developers.

I think one of the things I'm going to try when I get back is to lighten the pages a little. A few customers pointed out to me that the home pages on my dev centers are big; maybe too big to be useful. I understand the desire to have the page show just the most important information, but that set of information is a little different for everybody, so choosing what to cut becomes difficult. Anyway, look for some changes in the next few weeks, with even bigger changes coming down the road.

I'll be at the MSDN booth on Thursday from 12:00 until 3:00 so be sure to stop by and say hi if you get a chance. :)

Bill Gates - A short chat with Microsoft's Chief Software Architect

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 02:06:27 GMT

Looks like Channel 9 is getting ready for the PDC...

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Bill Gates - A short chat with Microsoft's Chief Software Architect
Visit Bill in his office for a few minutes to talk about where he sees the future going. This is a fun interview, prepares you for the PDC that's coming next week. It's going to be a fun next week, make sure to come back on Tuesday when we'll have tons of videos from teams showing off their secret stuff for the first time.

My PDC Schedule...

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 19:45:32 GMT

in case anybody is looking for me...

Staffing Commitments
Item	Location	Day	Start	Finish
(Product Pavilion) MSDN Online	(Product Pavilion) MSDN Online	September 13	11:00 AM	3:00 PM
(Track Lounges) Tools and Languages	(Track Lounges) Tools and Languages	September 13	5:30 PM	9:00 PM
(Product Pavilion) MSDN Online	(Product Pavilion) MSDN Online	September 14	10:00 AM	12:30 PM
(Track Lounges) Tools and Languages	(Track Lounges) Tools and Languages	September 14	2:30 PM	6:15 PM
(Product Pavilion) MSDN Online	(Product Pavilion) MSDN Online	September 15	12:00 PM	3:00 PM

Visual Studio 2005 Launch Information

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 19:43:20 GMT

DevDiv VP Somasegar has posted information about the Visual Studio 2005 launch. Check it out here:

Visual Studio 2005 update
We are now about 77 days from the November 7, 2005 launch of Visual Studio 2005, one of the most significant releases in the history of the Developer Division. We have been releasing Community Technology Previews regularly since Beta 2 and will have one coming out in August as well. I wanted to take a moment and update you on our progress towards shipping the final product....

There's a lot more information in the post, so be sure to read it all.

Microsoft Brings .NET to Katrina Relief Effort

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 19:41:50 GMT

Good story in eWeek about some of the Microsoft efforts around Katrina.

Microsoft Brings .NET to Katrina Relief Effort
A group of Microsoft technologists quickly deployed to contribute their time and talent to the relief effort, and decided to develop a Web site and supporting applications to help Katrina evacuees reach out to relatives and friends and also enable families to locate people they have not heard from since the hurricane hit, said Jim Carroll, chief architect and project manager for the system, known as KatrinaSafe.

The calls for help inside Microsoft went out and were answered incredibly quickly. Robert Scoble has more on similar efforts here.