OK, so it’s hardly Monty Python but…

This was a bit of work that myself, Mark Quirk, Michael McClary, George and Will worked on as a simple explanation of Azure (RedDog at the time…)

Yes, that’s me on the treadmill with the bandage on my head. The things we do.

Eileen is going to be putting together some more serious info – cool. I’ll be talking about Azure tomorrow at OreDev too!

Talking of Blooders(who, like me is a ex-BBC) it was interesting to see that Ashley Highfield will be joining Microsoft. We like to think that it was our pathfinding that opened up this opportunity for another ex-BBCer. I’m sure it was…

This is the fancy new .NET logo that will be used at PDC. The old one has been kicking around since about 2000 so it was probably time for a refresh – and it seems in keeping with all of the shiny Silverlight and Mesh logos that have been appearing recently – there’s definitely a sense of some emerging cohesion here.

It’s also useful from a branding perspective (for me) because it is now clearly .NET, which has always been the case although the old logo seemed to be .net. Ah well. There’s a bit more on the branding side of things here.

Mark B has also just finished some prototyping work recently but is also able to give some details on what he’s been up to here.

I saw the applicaton just after it was finished and it was a smart, practical use of both Virtual Earth and Silverlight. The mobile application is super-useful too and is one of the few that I choose to have on my phone (Ah, Paddington, one day I shall beat you…)

When we’re preparing for prototyping work, we often describe the benefits as 3 things (I’ve written about this before from a Microsoft Technology Centre perspective):

• Acceleration. The 3-week lab sessions can really help to move a project along as we’re able to execute quickly and without “business-as-usual” interruption. Potentially, we’re able to engage stakeholders more effectively as they see progress at a rapid pace.
• De-risking. We’re able to tackle the thorny problems of a project (from a technology perspective at least) so can take the sting out of a risky project up-front.
• Evaluation. The lab is not the best place for true training, as work needs to be done, but it is good fun to mess with new technology and focus on the code. So a real benefit is that external developers (that’s you!) can get a feeling for the technology and whether it’ll work in the wider context of “back at base”.

It’s on the final point that Mark’s interview with Ra is interesting – it’s great to see some real reflection on the technology based on their experience.

In other news, this particular lab session represents the last chunk of work I’ll be completing as an ‘Architect Evangelist’ at Microsoft as I’m now moving into the role of ‘Evangelism Lead’ within DPE in the UK (so same overall team).

What does that mean? Well it means that my focus will be across a lot of the same technologies that I typically think about for Developers and IT Pros, but from a broad perspective rather than for a specific sector or customer (as you’ll know, I normally handle our media-related work).

This also marks another change as I’ll be picking up people management responsibilities for the community team. Who are they? Well, you’ll know them a lot better than you’ll know me I imagine, being the talented celebrities they are: that is Eric, Mike O, Mike T, Paul F and Eileen and her team Andrew, James and Viral.

From a blogging perspective, I should be able to blog a lot more about the stuff I’m up to, they’re up to and we (Microsoft) are up to. Most importantly, what are YOU up to? I really want to hear about the stuff you’re doing with our tech.

Wow. It’s amazing how much time that the lab can suck up. I just looked at my blog and saw my last post was 23rd September.

That exercise is coming to some kind of completion at the moment. Actually that’s not true as because it is connected to PDC then it is simply reaching a whole new level of crazy, but from my perspective I begin to relinquish control of the core development as resources are moved and new resources engaged in Redmond.

You can imagine the machinations of working with new technology, customers in the UK, product teams and event organisers in Redmond. I find it invigorating, but you sort of have to work 24/7 for a certain amount of time.

I’ll talk about the development once I can, but meantime, the whole idea that I can fire up Live Writer and type this note must mean I have a little bit more time – it is Saturday morning after all.

Much as I’m a big fan of working for big corps like Microsoft, I’m always envious of the environs of agencies such as AllOfUs. I first met these guys when I worked with Leslie from their team on some protoyping late last year.

Their all new website points out the work they’re doing for ReMix by way of the Microsoft Interactive Canvas. They’ve also been blogging about it to give a view on the creative and design processes which I think is really interesting.

We do quite a lot of this sort of thing here on campus too (typically via the MTC). Is that something you’d like to see more of? (Not the prototyping – the insight into the processes and activities!)

Great to see Blaise Agüera y Arcas of Photosynth fame making the TR35 list for 2008.

Blaise’s talks at TED and other events are a great source of inspiration for my own weak efforts at making technology look simple, making it relevant, and telling the story.

A couple of people in the office have invested in the Asus EEE PC or other "NetBooks" of one variety or another. I've been weighing up the options myself over the past few weeks, and this weekend picked up an Advent 4211 from my local PC World. The Advent is just a re-badged MSI Wind which has been receiving some good reviews.

I question whether the MSI is really a NetBook (not that that is especially well defined) as it has a regular 80GB hard drive rather than the SSDs that seem to be the norm. The reviews seem to criticise the battery life, but I haven't suffered from this at the moment, as I only need the thing for an hour or so at a time (on the train for instance).

But it is useful. The fact that I'm able to write this post on the train is testament to its utility for me.

I've installed the things I'd associate to writing and thinking rather than any kind of development kit. That means Office 2007, the Live suite (for Mail and LiveWriter), and of course Mesh - which plays to the notion of this thing being a 'companion' to my main devices.

This was also my first experience of buying stuff at PC World. And that's the only comment I have on that.

Anyway, here I am on the bandwagon.

A bunch of Softies won awards for their blogs. Well done to Steve for being 'Best in Breed' or some such. Also, well done to fellow DPEr Mike Taulty for netting "Best Programming Blog" (or similar) and everyone else.

Mike (and his blog) are always the first places I head for advice on any of the latest tech. I was honoured yesterday as he helped me out with a bit of code as I was in a bit of fix over some issues around photographs (don't ask, don't tell). I said "Hey Mike, this will take 5 minutes..." (as you do when influencing) and it, er, did.

He's speaking at ReMix in Brighton (you have signed up right?) on connecting Silverlight and HTML. That'll be interesting as it will bring home some of the power of .NET in the browser. I fiddled about with this sort of idea previously.

I don't personally go in for awards as this blog has already won so many. No. Of course it hasn't.