I have added a new page to this site that contains a listing of all of the resources that you can download here:-

http://www.guysmithferrier.com/resources.aspx

(There is also a link in the bar on the left under the section entitled "Resources").

It contains the slide decks and source of most of my presentations since July 2004 as well as links to webcasts, articles, podcasts, interviews and other stuff that you might find useful. (I didn’t bother going back further than July 2004 because it all gets a bit obsolete before then). I will update the Resources page as I give each presentation so it provides a common point that you can check at regular intervals (and I will continue to post entries with updates to it so you will get an RSS feed anyway).

Note that I only post the most recent copy of the files so if I have done the same presentation at multiple events you will only get the most up to date version.

I have also added the slide decks for a number of presentations that were previously only available to people who actually attended the presentations in person.

In the How To Give Great Presentations article I wrote recently I mentioned the Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 and said that it had programmable buttons, one of which could be used to magnify a screen. I also mentioned the Kensington Wireless Presentation Remote and said that it was a combined laser pointer and remote PowerPoint slide controller. Whereas I recommend that you do not use laser pointers and I personally prefer either NLarge or Zoomit for magnification if you like the idea of these two devices you might like to know that Microsoft has released the Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 that combines all of these features into a single mouse.

It is true to say that I have waited for this book for literally years. Since Duncan Mackenzie was first going to write this book and then Duncan joined forces with Brian Noyes and then finally Brian took over the reins himself. It was worth the wait. The title Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce says exactly what the book is all about. Smart Clients (ignoring the pointless myriad definitions of "Smart Client") are Windows Forms applications and ClickOnce is the deployment technology introduced in the .NET Framework 2.0 and developed further in Orcas to be released later this year (?). I was especially pleased to learn that Brian was writing this book because I have enjoyed his articles, webcasts and live presentations and his clear no-nonsense style and in-depth knowledge of his subjects. This book is another great example of Brian’s style and knowledge. The 8 chapters (and 1 appendix) and 285 pages cover ClickOnce in depth and cover all of the subjects that I am looking for except one. Brian kindly gives a nod to my own .NET Development Series book, .NET Internationalization, where I cover the subject of ClickOnce for internationalized applications in a depth that is only relevant in a book dedicated to internationalization. Clearly you might feel that there is a conflict of interest in me recommending a book that recommends my own book but there is little I can do about this - Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce is a well written book that covers the subject in depth; it would be difficult not to recommend it. The chapters are:-

1. Introduction to ClickOnce
2. Initial Deployment with ClickOnce
3. Automatic Application Updates
4. On-Demand Updates
5. Application and Data File Management
6. ClickOnce Security
7. Prerequisite Deployment with the Bootstrapper
8. Advanced ClickOnce Topics
Appendix A. ClickOnce Deployment of WPF Applications

An obvious question now that there are two ClickOnce books (the other being Deploying .NET Applications: MSBuild and ClickOnce by Sayed Hashimi and Sayed Hashimi) is which one is best ? I bought the MSBuild/ClickOnce book in May 2006 and was pleased that the book existed because it covered two important subjects (MSBuild and ClickOnce) that had not been covered in a book until that point. However, I was disappointed by the lack of depth. Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce was released 8 months later and it covers a wider range of subjects in greater depth and subjectively I prefer the writing style. Both books have merit (particularly if you also have an interest in MSBuild) but for ClickOnce I clearly prefer Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce.

At DDD4 recently I saw Ben Lamb using a presentation aid called NLarge by Rob Burke. (You can download the binary here). NLarge is almost identical to ZoomIt by Mark Russinovich that I blogged about earlier this year. It is a tool for zooming and drawing on any screen. NLarge even uses the same activation keystrokes as ZoomIt. There are a few minor differences though. NLarge requires the .NET Framework 3.0 to be installed. NLarge’s magnify option is much smoother than ZoomIt’s and the speed of magnification is configurable (very useful). ZoomIt, however, has a Break option that NLarge lacks. On the whole both tools are very useful. I suspect that NLarge just pips ZoomIt for me because of the configurable magnification speed and the fact that I already have the .NET Framework 3.0 installed. If you don’t have the .NET Framework 3.0 installed then ZoomIt is probably a better option.

On Monday 4th December 2006 British Telecom launched BT Vision (http://www.btvision.bt.com), its next generation television service. Why am I blogging about British Telecom and television on a blog aimed primarily at .NET Developers ? The answer is because BT Vision is based on Microsoft’s television software MSTV. MSTV is an IPTV solution that is akin to a client/server version of Media Center and Media Center is written in .NET and runs add-ons written using the .NET Framework. If you want a compelling reason why user interfaces built using technologies like WPF are relevant and more than just flashy animations look at Media Center and BT Vision.

Getting back to the product itself, what do you get ? Well, firstly it is a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) with a hard disk that records "up to 80 hours" of TV. It offers over 40 freeview channels, an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) and videos on demand (most are chargeable). BT have signed up lots of content providers to provide channels and video on demand (including music videos) and are offering Premiership matches near-live from the beginning of the 2007/2008 season. The box itself runs various additional applications that let you take advantage of the fact that your set top box (STB) is a fully fledged computer attached to your television and internet connection.

And the best part of all ? It’s free. The STB is free. You have to pay £60 for installation (a BT engineer comes to your house to install the box, connect it to the TV and broadband line) and £30 for connection but the box is free and if you never use video on demand then you’ll only ever pay for the broadband connection (and you probably already pay for that).

The only requirement is that you have (or can get) a 2Mb broadband line. BT won’t install it if your line is less than this and you can’t install the box yourself.

Personally I think this is an exciting step forwards in the television world in the UK and it is an excellent example of what can be achieved with the next wave of user interfaces.

One of the best kept secrets at TechEd Europe 2006 has been that the .NET Framework 3.0 has been released! The news was apparently released in Eric Rudder’s keynote. It was made so clear that very few people at TechEd actually knew that it had been released. Speakers became exhasperated when they mentioned it to attendees and people didn’t believe them. Well, it’s true. Go download it.

Until recently I had always installed Vista in a Virtual Machine and everything had worked well because (a) the cozy environment provided for virtual machines hides them from the harsh reality of real hardware and (b) I was using it to investigate Vista and didn’t have to install everything that I needed for my host machine. Last week I installed Vista RC1 as the host operating system and I thought others might benefit from hearing some of the issues I encountered.

• Vista didn’t recognize my hard disk - At first Vista refused to recognize my hard disk and I was unable to find a suitable driver for it. After much searching I decided to install Windows XP from scratch and then let Vista upgrade it and all was well.


• Virtual PC 2004 - VPC2004 doesn’t run on Vista. The solution is either to use Virtual Server 2003 or the beta of Virtual PC 2007.


• Visual Studio 2003 - Visual Studio 2003 isn’t supported on Vista but it can be made to work. The user account that you run in isn’t in the debugger group so to debug you need to run as administrator. You also need to install Frontpage Server Extensions if you use ASP.NET.


• Various utilities for my Toshiba Qosmio G20 laptop don’t run in Vista - Toshiba don’t have solutions for these yet.


• Norton Antivirus/Norton Systemworks - These don’t work in Vista. Symantec say that a free upgrade will be released (for the latest versions of their tools) when Vista ships. Until then you have to use another AV tool.


• Visual Studio 2005 - You are advised to upgrade to VS2005 Service Pack 1. You also need to Run as Administrator for various parts of VS2005 to work. Unfortunately this means running as a different account so there are some differences in behaviour due to the nature of running as a separate account.


• Adobe Acrobat Printer - I have been unable to get the Adobe Acrobat Printer driver to install on Vista. This is part of Adobe Acrobat Professional and allows me to convert PPT files to PDF. I don’t have a solution for this at present.


• Shutdown - I am used to using Ctrl+Esc, U, U to shut down a PC. This key combination doesn’t work on Vista. Instead use Alt+F4 when the desktop is focused. (Use the Windows Key with D to focus the desktop).


• Vista and Projection Equipment - This is the biggest problem for me. Vista doesn’t like projection equipment. I was at VBUG this week at the Microsoft Campus in Reading and I was using the same laptop with the same projection equipment that has worked just fine for a long time. It didn’t work with Vista. I could get the laptop to output to the projector but the laptop’s own display refused to work in this mode. Other people had similar problems with Vista. However, still others (inc. Mike Taulty) had no problems with Vista. My solution in the end was to use my old Windows XP hard disk that I brought in case of emergencies. I am feeling very smug with my level of preparedness right now.


I think you should read this as a list of teething problems and not as any critique of Vista because clearly it doesn’t mention the wealth of new features that Vista offers. I offer it in case it saves someone else some grief getting up and running with Vista.