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• Twenty Five Years

  25 years ago Microsoft Word was released And 25 years ago, today, I got married. Today I received this card from my wife... with this inside This is the secret to a great marriage and a great company. Posted May 29 2008, 06:22 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: Silverlight Geek, Random Ramblings

• What is the point of a survey if....

  The key point of my survey was to measure your satisfaction and then to make changes to increase satisfaction. I'm pleased that overall satisfaction seems high, but there is always room for improvement. I will shut down the survey on Sunday and start to review the results in detail.  (Until then, you can take the survey here ) After that I'll make a few changes in how I approach the videos, and I'll conduct another round of surveys later in the summer. Thanks again for your participation and please don't hesitate to leave comments on any individual video,  or to send me mail with your ideas. In the meantime, I'm going to experiment with super-short surveys attached to individual videos and tutorials. Perhaps if they're short enough I can get a large enough response base to be meaningful. Thanks again. -j Posted May 29 2008, 04:28 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: Silverlight Geek, Recommended Resources, How Do I Videos

• Podcast Part 2 Posted

  On April 9, I posted a link to my first interview on Sparkling Client . Today I'm happy to post a link to the second and final part of the interview . Also, be sure to catch their terrific interview with Dave Campbell ( Silverlight Cream ). Posted Apr 17 2008, 12:11 PM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: silverlight 2.0, Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Learning Silverlight, Recommended Resources

• Sparkling Client Podcasts On Silverlight

  I'm pleased and proud to say that my first Sparkling Client interview is now available for download; and this gives me the opportunity to recommend subscribing to this excellent new podcast. Sparkling Client focuses exclusively on Silverlight and related technologies. The first couple broadcasts show some growing pains, but the later interviews are excellent (check out the interview with Adam Kinney !) Posted Apr 09 2008, 09:29 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Learning Silverlight, Recommended Resources

• New Look - Same Blog

  Don't panic! It's the same blog; I just changed the look to make it easier to use and easier to read. Hope you like it. Stay tuned for lots of videos and tutorials over the next fortnight. -j Posted Apr 05 2008, 08:25 PM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: silverlight 2.0, Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Recommended Resources, Random Ramblings

• Tim Heuer Joins the Team

  From time to time folks ask me what I do, and one of the wonderful things about working for ScottGu and more immediately Simon Muzio is that to a large degree my job is self-defined. So, while my task is to "build a developer community" on Silverlight.net, I've worked with Simon to set goals that fit in with my personal goals and what I think plays well to both my strengths and what I'd like to learn. These include creating tutorials, videos, writing a book on Silverlight, presenting at shows, writing examples large and small and so forth. The organization sees my job as within the "Evangelism" track, but the folks I work for know that I see myself as a developer first, and writer and trainer second; and "evangelist" is a word I have a hard time getting my head around. All of which is background to say that Tim Heuer is joining the team in the "same" role as I have. I put the word same in quotes because we'll have the same job, the same responsibilities, the same boss and title and so forth, but Tim will bring a different perspective, different enthusiasms, different skills, different energies, different interests; and so it won't look the same at all. Which is perfect. Together, we should be able to create many useful videos, tutorials and other helpful information; we'll also be co-authoring Programming Silverlight for O'Reilly, and, to quote Humphrey Bogart, "...I think this is the beginning of a beautiful Friendship." I don't know Tim well, but I do know him to be a rare combination of technical excellence and social grace, and he is a caring and calm man with a true dedication to his work and the people he interacts with. Working with Tim will take one of the best jobs I've ever had, and step it up a notch. Posted Apr 02 2008, 06:02 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: Silverlight Geek, Learning Silverlight, Random Ramblings

• What I'm Thinking About April

  I've been getting a lot of mail on the lines of "When will we have Beta 2?" or "what is the release date for Silverlight" and since I can't answer those questions, and since I know that folks need to plan, I thought I'd tell you what I can know (at least to some degree) and that is what I hope and plan to do in the next six weeks in terms of producing learning material for Silverlight 2 Beta 1. So, very briefly, here are my plans for through the end of April (just in case you are interested). 1. The first week in April I'll be presenting at VS Live San Francisco. Two presentations: Introduction to Silverlight 2 Programming Silverlight 2 Data Binding I'll also try to attend the Birds of a feather lunch on Tuesday. Once these presentations are complete, I will post them here for your use and / or feedback. Presentations According to one of the more useful new sites, Tripit , I'll be flying from SF to Redmond late Wednesday afternoon, and spending the rest of the week talking with the team about Silverlight 2 and trying to uncover what it is I don't know that I don't know. Webcasts The first of the Silverlight 2 Webcasts   - Live From Redmond (not) Silverlight 2 and  Event Handling. How Do I Videos Plans for Videos in April include (among other things) interacting with databases, web services and XML, Streaming, Deep Zoom (with David Isbitski) and more. Tutorials I hope to release two tutorials in April, and as noted previously, I plan to take them out of order, that is to say tackling some advanced topics even before covering all the more introductory topics. Upcoming tutorials might include topics such as Data Templates Linq and Databases Networking Custom Controls Dependency Properties Data Binding and Databases Data Binding and Web Services Transforms and Animation Isolated Storage Advanced Templates and Parts Graphics Animation Interacting with HTML Interacting with ASP.NET / AJAX Note that I've listed 7 months of tutorials off the top of my head, so take this list as brainstorming, not as a plan. This is the opposite of announcing only when you "know" -- and is more like "here's a peek into the chaos of my thinking" Programming C# Table Of Contents My goal is to have a first draft of the Table of Contents for Programming C# (O'Reilly Media) which I will post here in case you find it interesting and to get your feedback if you would like to participate.  There... Posted Mar 24 2008, 07:18 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: tutorials, silverlight 2.0, Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Learning Silverlight, Presentations, Random Ramblings, How Do I Videos, Feedback

• Innovation, Renovation and Change

  So, after some minutes of trying this and that, it is time to take stock and see what's working and what isn't.  What's changing... Tip of the Day: RIP The Tip of the Day was a great idea, but I have yet to figure out what is the difference between a Tip of the Day and a blog entry, and I think it is causing more confusion than help, so I hereby kill it, put a stake through its heart, put a fork in it, bury it, liquidate it, drop a house on it. may it rest in peace. But only in name.   I still intend to post at least 5 days a week with substantive tips, follow ups, explorations of issues, and all the material I'd have put into a Tip of the Day; I'll just call them.... er... blog posts; like every body else.   The Micro Blog If I have your permission to stop experiments (like Tip of the Day) then I can experiment with truly wacky ideas. One, which was suggested to me in passing, I want to start right away: the Silverlight Microblog.  This is the idea of a blog that posts very frequently but only a line or two, and posts through Twitter . It is not a "here's what I'm doing" or even a "look here" reference to a bigger post somewhere else. Rather it is a complete blog entry in the 140 characters you are given.  This will take some practice. The Twitter account is SLMicroBlog and here's the first posting What needs clarification.... Tutorials: Not in Order The tutorials have been met with some enthusiasm, though it would be great to get more feedback and I invite you to send me email ( jliberty@microsoft.com ) or to post comments here. We're working on a way for you to post comments to the tutorials themselves. In any case, it is not my intention to write the tutorials in "order" -- I'm very aware that some folks would like to get to more advanced topics; though I do think it makes sense to go through most of the material at this level of depth before doing deep dives in the tutorials.  In addition, Scott Guthrie and I have agreed that the tutorials will be supplemented by the book I'm writing with Tim Heuer for O'Reilly (Programming Silverlight 2) which will provide more depth. Of course the book will be static, so after it publishes I'll continue to write tutorial pieces here as changes and new features emerge. Videos: Focus on:  Data and a mix of Intro and Advanced Topics Much like with the tutorials; it is my intention to move quickly back... Posted Mar 21 2008, 10:06 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: Tip of the Day, Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Silverlight.net, Recommended Resources, Random Ramblings

• The difference between a geek and a snob

  In my recent post I tried to distinguish between my (mis?)understanding of the role of an Evangelist (helping folks figure out if they want to commit to Silverlight) vs my role  as I see it (helping developers lean and use Silverlight).  It is hard enough defining ones own role, let alone the role of others. My Evangelist friends define their role differently, more inclusively as people who are passionate about the technology they work with.  In that sense, my post reeked with condescension ("you guys are just in sales, I'm a developer).  It is the Dilbert attitude towards marketing (at times  deserved, but certainly not applicable in this case). So, live and learn. The interesting thing is, none of them complained; they are too busy getting their work done. Some other ideas: Evangelist   Evangelist   Evangelist All of which is to say, there are a lot of folks here at Microsoft who are spinning in circles getting ready to talk with you about Silverlight 2; eager to show off what we have, and hoping that you will be as enthusiastic as we are. Much more to come soon.. Posted Feb 25 2008, 10:12 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Programmer insanity, Random Ramblings

• My Commitment To Support Silverlight 2 Developers

  Silverlight 2 is big. Very big. It's great, but it is very big, with many cool features. So we're preparing. And all that preparation means that there will be a lot of information, and many paths through that information. My goal is to ensure that Silverlight.net always has more than enough information to be the one-stop home for the community of Silverlight developers. As a step in that direction, I'd like to tell you a little about my own plans for providing an integrated set of materials to make learning Silverlight 2 easier. The Plan My plan, subject to management intervention ("stop that and get back to sharpening pencils"), your feedback ("you call that a tutorial?"), or unexpected acts of the Gods ("oh look, locusts") is this: The day we release Silverlight 2, I will post a number of on-line tutorials here on Silverlight.net with links through my blog . These tutorials will be targeted at .NET developers, but I will not assume the reader has experience in Silverlight or WPF . Each tutorial will be filled with illustrations and working examples (that you can download separately), and each will run about 4,000 - 5,000 words (the equivalent of about 20 pages), or more as needed. The goal is for the Silverlight 2 tutorials to compliment rather than replace or repeat the Silverlight 2 documentation. The tutorials are targeted at working developers who prefer more explanation rather than less, but my assumption is a high level of professional expertise; these are not for hobbyists; and they are not fluff. Along with these tutorials I will also post the first of my new How Do I video series on programming Silverlight 2. This new series will be a compliment to the tutorials; not repeating the material; but demonstrating concepts through developing examples in screen-capture videos, and adding a new level of post-production enhancement to increase their value. After we release , I'll personally commit to at least the following every month... Two tutorials, each covering a Silverlight 2 topic in detail, starting with the most compelling topics 6 How Do I videos A Deep Dive Webcast 20 Tips of the Day Numerous blog entries on Silverlight 2 news, events, and more Also, Tim Heuer and I have committed to writing Programming Silverlight, to be published by O'Reilly Media this year. I certainly will not be the only person producing material on Silverlight 2 (far from it) but I hope to create a useful set of multi-media... Posted Feb 25 2008, 05:50 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: silverlight 2.0, Silverlight Geek, Learning Silverlight, Silverlight.net

• The Difference Between An Evangelist and A Geek

  Today's NY Times declares (ever so quietly) the beginning of the Netware wars (did I just coin that term?). They get a lot wrong in the article, but if you know more than they appear to, you can conclude that Silverlight and Air/Flex will be competing for the hearts and minds of the same developers. For some developers, that is certainly true. Moreover, many will be facing a strategic choice in coming months (we've seen this movie: DOS vs. CP/M, Windows Vs. Unix vs. OS2, and on and on). This is a choice that the Evangelists at Microsoft are well equipped to help you make (as, I suspect, are the evangelists at Adobe and at IWannaPlayToo, Inc.) But even though I was shocked and dismayed to see that Microsoft's computerized career planner has me on their Evangelism track I am not an Evangelist . Never was, don't think I will be. I spent the last 15 years of my life doing three things: developing applications, writing books and teaching. I was hired into the Development Division and I don't Evangelize (at least not on purpose). I'm actually pretty useless at telling you why Silverlight is a better choice because I take it as given and self-evident. Worse (much much worse) I don't really care which you choose (gasp!) except in terms of keeping myself employed, selling books and for other entirely selfish reasons. Some of the people I respect and like most built one of the flagship AIR programs, and seemed to have a good time doing it, so I figure Flex can't be the Devil's work. But I have no desire to be a Flex programmer (and I secretly believe, though they have not said so, that if Silverlight 2 were available when they started, they would have used that; of course they would, at least some of them were already .NET programmers. But I speak for myself, not them. I certainly would have, that's for sure). The bottom line is that I suspect that there is merit to both technologies, though I can't quite imagine why anyone would choose to develop in Flex now that Silverlight 2 is (almost) available, when Silverlight is part of a product line that runs from ASP.NET, through Ajax, to WPF and one that includes SQL Server and Visual Studio, all with one 800 number to call; as a developer I always preferred to have a single vendor so that they could never say 'oh the problem is that other guy's stuff isn't working' -- but truly I digress because that is just my preference. That is not a compelling argument. It's... Posted Feb 25 2008, 05:47 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: silverlight 2.0, Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Learning Silverlight, Programmer insanity, Random Ramblings

• Tip of the Day - Suspends Until Mid March - Then Focus On Silverlight 2

  Rather than trying to provide a Tip of the Day as we head towards one of the larger and more important  shows of the year (you are going to Mix , right?) Therefore, I'm going to suspend the Tip of the Day from now until mid-March. After Mix, I'll be going on a family vacation we can't change (life is tough). But... ... As soon as I get back,  I'll be launching a set of coordinated  efforts , including a reliable Tip of the Day focused on Silverlight 2*. The new Tip of the Day will publish no later than  1pm Eastern, at least 5 days a week and will be part of a much larger effort that will include frequent Silverlight 2 blog posts , How Do I videos , monthly Webcasts and more .  Stay tuned; many details to come.       *Note: we've announced that we will be releasing Silverlight 2 during the first Quarter, which means by March 31. This note in no way implies any change to that plan. Posted Feb 19 2008, 08:41 PM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: silverlight 2.0, Tip of the Day, Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Learning Silverlight, Silverlight.net

• One more gadget (the ego never quits)

  I woke up at 5 this morning, so I decided to take apart the Silverlight Tip of the Day gadget that Kelly White had so kindly created and, as an exercise in egomania, modify it to display all my blog entries, rather than just those that are tagged as Tip of the Day. It turned out to be an interesting adventure in playing with Sidebar gadgets, in the frustration of making sure you find all the references to all the images, and not much more than that (oh yes, it was a good time sink). In any case, here it is, if you want a copy: Silverlight Blog.gadget.zip . Just unzip it into the usual gadget folder and it will run side by side with the Tip of the Day gadget, or you can choose one or the other or neither. Now, to make this at all relevant, the next step is to put a Silverlight control together that does the same thing. That would be worth blogging about! Posted Feb 10 2008, 05:05 AM by Jesse Liberty - Silverlight Geek Filed under: Silverlight Geek, Shameless Self-promotion, Silverlight.net, Recommended Resources, Programmer insanity