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• Off-Topic: Tipping in Las Vegas

  A confession: I'm really bad at tipping. It's not that I'm deliberately ungenerous, but simply that I never know how much to give. The UK isn't really a nation for tips: outside of restaurants, it's not something that's particularly expected, which means that here in the US I'm a complete novice at the art. The result is that sometimes I lavish cash like Sinatra on surly and unhelpful staff, while at other times I completely blow an opportunity to recognize excellent service. To my embarrassment, I've only lately realized that it's polite to tip housekeeping staff at hotels. I determined to rectify my error this week while staying at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas for an event, and so I dutifully left a small amount on my bed when I left for the day. To my surprise, when I returned to my serviced room, I noticed that my toiletries had been "upgraded" from the uninspiring generic items that first adorned my room to some rather impressive high-end replacements. Next morning, I determined to show my gratitude for such thoughtfulness, and left a slightly larger amount on my bed. On returning later, I discovered that not only had the toiletries I'd stashed in my suitcase been replenished, but that I'd acquired still additional items, including a "gentleman's kit" of useful travel accessories. This turned into something of a game: the third morning, I excitedly tipped a little yet more out of fascination to see what would happen (a small vase of flowers and a Loofah sponge). For once, I was rather disappointed that I had to check out; it would have been very tempting to have upped the ante dramatically further to see what the ultimate reward would have been! As well as discovering a new aspect of the service culture in the US, I also discovered that there are a lot more fun ways to "gamble" your money in Las Vegas than putting it into a slot machine. And just so I don't come across as bragging about my largesse, I should note that the very same evening I horrified a colleague of mine for innocently tipping just 5% on a bar bill (I figured this was a pretty good wage given the size of the bill, but I was apparently so far out that I could have had the dregs of my drink poured over me!). I've still got plenty to learn, it seems. Posted Mar 08 2008, 08:31 PM by Tim Sneath Filed under: mix08, offtopic

• MIX08 Day 2 Keynote Live Blog

  I'm going to be "live blogging" the Steve Ballmer keynote this afternoon at this URL. Keep this blog post bookmarked and start hitting "refresh" shortly after the keynote starts at 1pm Pacific / 9pm GMT. Or simply tune in to the webcast ( 750kbps , 300kbps , 100kbps ) and watch it live yourself! 1:04pm - Ray Winninger (my boss!) is on stage to announce MIX09, taking place here at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas between March 18th-20th, 2009. No - registration hasn't opened yet! 1:07pm - Guy Kawasaki and Steve Ballmer are now sitting in comfy chairs, ready for Q&A. 1:08pm - Guy: why do you want to buy Yahoo? Steve: we've shown tenacity around advertising. Search is the killer feature for online advertising. You could say that we're not where we'd like to be, but we're very committed. Yahoo seems to be a way to accelerate that because of the required critical mass. "What's the current state of the offer?" Steve: We've made an offer - that's all I can say! 1:13pm - Guy: so you're telling me you're an underdog? Steve: Yes, you could say that, for this space. 1:14pm - Guy: I know this won't leave the room, but I use a Motorola Q phone running Windows Mobile, not an iPhone, because I need Exchange. 1:16pm - Guy: tell us about the deal with Facebook. Steve: again, it's about advertising. 1:17pm - Guy: what drives you? Steve: Three things: firstly, I love what I do - bringing out great products like Silverlight 2 and IE 8. Secondly, I get to work with some of the smartest people in the world. Lastly, I enjoy a challenge. 1:19pm - Guy: can you describe a typical day in the life of SteveB? Steve: there are three kinds of days. Sometimes I'm outside of Redmond meeting with customers, flying around the world. Sometimes I'm in the office with back-to-back strategy meetings. Sometimes I have a day where I can think, write and research where there's only perhaps one meeting and I can really focus on strategy. Guy: how much email do you have? Steve: I get perhaps sixty emails a day. Guy: really? I don't believe it. Steve: why do people get a lot of mail? Human beings aren't abusive in general, they send thoughtful, constructive mails. I might get more than sixty tomorrow, of course! 1:23pm - Guy: can you talk about Bill's departure? Steve: he's very fortunate. He's had something to build professionally in Microsoft, and now he's got a second opportunity... Posted Mar 06 2008, 11:37 AM by Tim Sneath Filed under: Silverlight, web, windows, vista, mix08, silverlight 2.0, Windows Live, ie, office

• Registering for the AOL Mail Client

  I mentioned yesterday that the Hard Rock memorabilia application was live already at http://memorabilia.hardrock.com . The AOL Silverlight-based mail client is not live yet, but they've just opened up their pre-registration site for testers who want to be the first to try out the new application, in just a few weeks' time. You can sign up here: http://ria.mail.aol.com/ . In case you didn't see the demo of this application either at the keynote or online, it's cool because it shows how Silverlight isn't just about flashy gradients or animations, but it's emerging as a solid RIA framework for building web-based applications that have the performance of a desktop application. It's not that you can't build a mail client in AJAX, obviously, but having client-side compiled .NET code, isolated storage for caching and a powerful rendering engine that supports control templates means that you're not relying on a chatty back-and-forth with a high latency remote web server. I've been using the application first-hand for demos over the last week, and there's nothing like it for performance - being able to flip back and forward in milliseconds from folder to folder takes all the pain out of web-based mail. This application makes AOL a real contender in the free webmail space, and it really raises the bar for the experience that users will expect from a web-based mail interface. Make sure you sign up! Posted Mar 06 2008, 11:27 AM by Tim Sneath Filed under: Silverlight, ria, mix08, silverlight 2.0

• A Great Early Silverlight 2 Showcase: TextGlow

  We're already starting to see some cool samples that use Silverlight 2 really effectively. Prior to MIX, we had a small private beta running to get some early feedback on the builds that we were producing, and a few folk made really good use of this time to build some interesting ideas out. This one is one of my favorites: TextGlow is a Silverlight 2 application that reads Word .docx files. The Open XML format is an ECMA-ratified standard, and having a web-based runtime with the power Silverlight makes it possible to accomplish something that I don't think you could do easily with any other technology. TextGlow downloads Word documents asynchronously, opens them as ZIP files, parses them with LINQ-to-XML and then renders them using the WPF-based text and graphics APIs. This is a big deal, and not just because it's a cool Silverlight sample. In years gone by, if you wanted to share a document on the web, you'd typically have converted it to PDF format (assuming you had the full version of Adobe Acrobat on your system). Having two versions of the document meant changes were hard: you had to reconvert the document every time you made a change or the PDF file wouldn't match the current version. TextGlow solves that problem by providing cross-platform access to the source Word document, regardless of whether you have Office installed on your machine or not. The version of TextGlow above is a demonstrator, but there's endless potential for this. I hope the SharePoint team is watching, in particular. TextGlow was written by Intergen , a New Zealand-based partner. You can read more about the way the application was built from one of the developers, James Newton-King . One caveat: the demonstrator currently has rendering issues on Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 (it's an HTML/CSS thing!). Although it works perfectly well, the control is sized too small. For best results, try it out with Internet Explorer 7, Firefox or Safari. Hopefully they'll have that fixed by the end of today. Posted Mar 06 2008, 09:40 AM by Tim Sneath Filed under: Silverlight, sample, mix08, silverlight 2.0, office, ooxml

• Download Links for MIX08 Announcements

  Here's a consolidated list of all the key downloads you'll need to update your developer workstation to the latest and greatest technologies announced this morning: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Windows Vista / Windows Server 2008 (x86) Windows Vista / Windows Server 2008 (x64) Windows XP (x86) Windows Server 2003 SP2 (x86) Windows Server 2003 SP2 / Windows XP (x64) Silverlight 2 Beta 1 Runtime Silverlight 2 Tools for Visual Studio 2008 and SDK Expression Studio 2 Beta (contains Blend, Design, Encoder, Media and Web) Expression Blend 2.5 March 2008 Preview ASP.NET MVC Preview 2 A couple of tips: The Silverlight 2 Tools release (third item above) includes Silverlight 2. You don't need to install the runtime separately first: just run the tools installer and you'll have everything you need. The Visual Studio extensions don't work with the Express editions - make sure you've got the full Visual Studio 2008 installed before attempting to install them. If you installed Silverlight 1.1 Alpha, uninstall it first, along with any related tools or SDKs before installing Silverlight 2 Beta 1. I watched someone get into a bit of a mess this morning by trying to update Silverlight 1.1 Alpha in-place. Fortunately, they were still able to uninstall and reinstall, but you're definitely best to start with a clean machine. Have fun! Posted Mar 05 2008, 12:57 PM by Tim Sneath Filed under: ASP.NET, Expression, Silverlight, Blend, mix08, silverlight 2.0, ie

• MIX08 Keynote Live Blog

  I'm going to try to keep up a live blog this morning through the keynote to provide folk with an Engadget-style blow-by-blow account of proceedings. Keep hitting refresh on this entry to see the latest news as it comes. 9:30am - Ray Ozzie is on stage promptly. In a few minutes, we'll show you IE8 and Silverlight 2. Wanted to first spend some time framing the big picture so that these individual releases don't seem random. Advertising is the economic engine that powers the Internet, and it's innovation in experiences that provide the fuel. Online advertising is predicted to increase from $40bn to $80bn over the next three years. Microsoft will do our part to ensure a vibrant ad ecosystem on the web. 9:35am - Three core principles driving our strategy: Firstly, thinking of the web as a hub of our social, technology and personal experiences. Linking, tagging and sharing will become as commonplace as File / Open and Save. The quaint concept of one PC or device per person will give way to a connected network of experiences based around the network. Secondly, the business world is in transition as applications are progressively refactored to take advantage of a utility computing model that will span from the datacenter to the cloud. All our software will be refactored to provide server / service symmetry. Thirdly, a transition from tightly-coupled systems to loose federations of co-operating systems. Transparency and standards are key to this: RSS, ATOM, REST-based services. Declarative languages like XAML allow us to recombine and refactor applications dynamically. Not just apps that are "ported" to different devices, but apps that take full advantage of each system. This requires new skills both at the front-end and at the back-end. Over the next five years, the way we develop, deploy, debug and maintain our applications will be transformed by this shift to utility computing. 9:43am - Connection is at the heart of the scenarios we're building. Connected devices : a mesh that provides common storage and personalization no matter where you are. Connected entertainment : by connecting portable, media center and gaming devices, we're reducing friction. You shouldn't have to buy the same music track multiple times just because you have multiple devices. Connected productivity : Office for Windows / Mac, Office Mobile and Office Live - three offerings to deliver seamless editing, note capture and anywhere-working. Look forward to... Posted Mar 05 2008, 09:40 AM by Tim Sneath Filed under: WPF, mix08, silverlight 2.0, Windows Live, ie, sql server, presentation

• MIX08 for Non-Attendees

  At last, the mad rush is over. The run-up to a conference like MIX is always frantic: for me, the first three weeks in February involved a constant juggle of competing priorities. With the exception of one last-minute firedrill, the worst was over by late Friday afternoon. Now it's the calm before the storm; it's too late to fix bugs, to rewrite labs, to rearrange the schedule! Instead, it's a perfect time to write a few blog entries. I'm looking forward to meeting a number of you at the event (do stop me and say hi if you see me!), but I know that the vast majority of folk reading this aren't able to join us in Las Vegas for various reasons. It's therefore my goal over the next few days to relay as many of the highlights as schedule permits. So what's worth looking out for over the next day or two? Firstly, if you haven't seen Scott Guthrie's blog over the last week, you should check out his two most recent posts on Silverlight 2. I never understood how Scott managed to write such in-depth blogs at the same time as running half of DevDiv, but I've finally discovered his hidden secret and it's time for me to reveal it to the world. Scott actually has an identical twin brother named alterScott and the two of them work shifts. alterScott works the night shift - when Scott goes to bed, alterScott is burning the midnight oil constructing lengthy tutorials on Silverlight 2 and Expression Blend . You'll never see alterScott in public - he's painfully shy and is also very pale since he never sees the daylight. But I snuck into building 42 early one morning and managed to take a quick photo of him before security forcibly removed me. Anyway, just on the off-chance that we decided to release a build of Silverlight 2 this week, you could do a lot worse than to work through alterScott's tutorials if you want to quickly get up to speed. Secondly, the real Scott will be sharing tomorrow's MIX keynote with Ray Ozzie and Dean Hachamovitch (GM for Internet Explorer). If you're into web development at all, that keynote is going to be required viewing - we've got lots of new announcements, some great demos, and one or two surprises. You can watch the keynote live at 9:30am Pacific / 5:30pm GMT by clicking on one of the following three streams: 750kbps , 300kbps , 100kbps . Thirdly, if any of the breakout sessions or panels take your fancy, you'll be able to view them online within 24 hours of each session... Posted Mar 03 2008, 12:01 PM by Tim Sneath Filed under: Expression, Silverlight, mix08, humor, silverlight 2.0, lab, screencast

• Public Service Announcement: MIX08

  Just wanted to remind folk to register for MIX08 ! Registrations are coming in thick and fast, and last year we sold out unexpectedly quickly, leaving a whole bunch of folk battering down the doors to try and figure out ways to get an exception granted. The fire marshals impose strict limits on attendance (the importance of which was brought home by the recent Monte Carlo Hotel fire ). Scott Guthrie has just trailed some of the announcements from MIX08 in the second part of a Channel 9 interview , but there's a huge quantity and depth of content that we're holding back for the conference. Of course, you'll be able to download all the software we release after the event even if you're not physically there, but you'll miss all the ancillary activities and depth content that makes an event like this worthwhile. Hope to see some of you there! Posted Jan 31 2008, 11:41 AM by Tim Sneath Filed under: mix08

• Flotzam: Mashing up the Web

  Have you seen Flotzam ? It's a fun mash-up that Karsten and Tim put together that aggregates a bunch of different data sources: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, YouTube and indeed any general RSS feed. You can install it either as an application or a screen saver, and it's a nice way to see what's going on out there on the "tubes". Karsten has coined the term panopticon to describe it (from the Greek, meaning all seeing ); to me, this feels like it has the potential to form the first step of a project to build the ultimate, pluggable, modular social networking client. Being a WPF application, Flotzam can be easily restyled. From the enter/exit transitions for new items to the overall visual look and feel of the Flotzam interface, you can do almost anything you want just by tweaking the XAML mark-up. And with MIX08 selling out quickly (hope you've registered), the team thought it would be fun to put together a little contest that gives you the chance to experiment with WPF by creating your own custom themes. We'll use the best entries at MIX, both on the keynote screens and on all the PCs around the show; Karsten hopes that walking around the show will be like visiting some kind of art installation with all these different skins appearing. Entering the contest is easy: everything you need to know can be found on the visitmix site . We've even got screencasts available to show you exactly how to use Blend to do the customization. Let your inner artist out - show us what you're capable of! Posted Jan 25 2008, 03:08 PM by Tim Sneath Filed under: WPF, Blend, Design, XAML, ria, mix08, flickr, twitter, contest, digg