A Look at ASP.NET 5: Part 4 - MVC 6
I had planned on finishing these a long time ago, but working on my Pluralsight course about ASP.NET 5 distracted me. Sorry about that.
If you’ve been doing web development in .NET, you probably have at least a passing experience with ASP.NET’s MVC framework. At it’s core, it’s a common way to build and architect web applications. The new stack is built on the same metaphors from the older versions. If you’ve been using MVC before, you won’t be lost and some of the additions are welcome.
Windows Phone, Surface, and Fanboydom
I admit it, I don’t know if that last word in the title is real, but anyway. I’ve used a Windows Phone since betas of Windows Phone 7. Like some of you I have the question of whether to believe the new Microsoft’s lukewarm support for the platform. Will Win10 be the savior of the platform or final coffin nail? I don’t have an answer to that.
I like to think that all that time has given me perspective, but I am not sure that’s true. I liken myself to a detached observer, but the reality is that I own a Windows Phone, a Windows Laptop, an Xbox One (and 360 before it), a Microsoft Band, and I even have a Spot Watch somewhere in a box. Does that make me a fanboy? I hope not, but certainly not a detached observer with a honest perspective.
Xbox One - First Impressions
My pre-order of the Xbox One arrived on Monday and I’ve had a little time to play with it. I mostly got the device for Forza which I love. So after a couple of days with it, here are my first impressions.
Let’s start with the Operating System. It’s gorgeous and fluid. The switching between apps is really impressive. While it’s missing some features from it’s 360 counterpart, I find it really satisfying.
My First Experience at the Microsoft Store
I wanted to get a Type Cover for my new Surface today so I headed to the Microsoft Store. I never go to malls so it wasn't a lot of fun just getting into the mall. But soon me and my girlfriend found the store. I was very surprised by the sheer number of customers. I didn't expect it to be empty on a Saturday afternoon but it was packed. As we walked in we were immediately approached and helped with where to find the Type Covers. Even with all those customers, the store was really well staffed. Was simple to find someone to help us get a Type Cover from the back and answer some pricing questions.
Unfortunately there was an issue with her Touch Pad. Whenever she closed her cover and re-opened it the keyboard didn't work until she unplugged it and re-plugged it in. So I thought while we were there, we'd ask them about replacing it.
TypeScript (or the obligatory post about it)
Like many of you, I've been itching to see what Anders had up his sleeve and I wasn't disappointed yesterday when they announced TypeScript. After teaching all day, I took a quick look at TypeScript (and I do mean quick).
There was a lot of buzz yesterday and the response seemed to be in one of two camps (for the most part):
ASP.NET MVP
Today I was renewed as an MVP for the tenth time and could not be happier. Over the past year I've been looking last XAML into the web stack and Microsoft has graciously moved me from a Data MVP over to an ASP.NET MVP. This doesn't mean I won't be sharing on Silverlight, WPF or data technologies; it's just a reflection of what I am working with now.
I want to thank everyone in the community for following me and reading my blog over past year...you're the reason I've been renewed again and I sincerely appreciate it!
New Era for Microsoft?
A lot of people are writing about the possibility of a new era at Microsoft. As a cynical fanboy I am hoping that this turns out to be true. I think there are a lot of great things coming out of Redmond these days and they deserve credit for making real change.
If you’re not keeping up, let’s talk about some of the comments that are being talked about. First up, Woz:
Introducing MSDNLink.net
Recently, while working on my Windows Phone 7.5 book, I found the need to display a short URL to some specific documentation. I found that you could use msdn.com to do this but the results were not very satisfying. In fact, if you take a typical documentation ID (e.g. “ff402535”), you can simply do this:
This works but takes you to a simple page that reformats the topic instead of the full MSDN documentation. I didn’t like that solution so I registered http://msdnlink.net. With this new address you can do the same thing:
R.I.P. GooNews
I recently wrote about the release of my GooNews application for the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace. The Application has now been pulled from the marketplace and will not be resubmitted. There were a variety of issues that finally forced me to give up and just pull the application and give up on ever getting it out there as a successful application. Here's the story:
A Week with WP7 from an Android User's Perspective
I spent most of the last week with my early demo Windows Phone 7 (e.g. WP7) phone as my primary phone. See I am a Verizon customer currently and therefore I couldn't use Verizon on the demo phone (as it takes SIM cards and Verizon can't spell SIM). So I took the opportunity while in Europe to get a pre-paid SIM card and use it as my main phone (since my Droid was useless there). You're probably wondering what my impressions were? Well, two caveats to start with...I have bet pretty heavily on the phone so I am not exactly a neutral party, but I'll try to be. Also, I've never owned an iPhone (AT&T is true evil incarnate) so take that for what its worth.
I am an MVP!
Url: https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Shawn...
I am proud to announce that Microsoft hasn't come to their senses yet and decided to renew my MVP status for another year. Being an MVP has been a great experience for me and I really appreciate the program. Five years into the program and I couldn't be happier.
Sara Ford's Blog
Url: http://blogs.msdn.com/saraford/archive/2008/06/...
I am surprised when I talk to developers these days and they don't know who Sara Ford is. She's responsible for CodePlex and many open source initiatives at Microsoft. In addition, her blog is an excellent source of information on Visual Studio tricks and features that most of us have never noticed. It is well worth a read. Just announced today, her blog is now available in Russian and Spanish so if English isn't your native tongue, you're in luck there too.
Not Sure the Copy Bug in Gone in Vista SP1
I am copying a video file across my wireless network (though this particular machine is kinda flaky, so it might not be Vista's fault) but I thought this was funny:
New CTP's from Microsoft...
Over the past week there have been a flurry of new projects coming out of Microsoft, mostly in the form of CTP's. I've been downloading like crazy and will likely be discussing my experience with them in the coming week. In case you missed any of them:
I expect that with the release of the EF Beta 3 means Astoria is coming soon. I'll let you know when it drops! Time to start digging in.
Is Windows Vista the new Windows ME?
This blog post may seem to be a clever way of increasing my web traffic but the fact is that I am growing frustrated with the adoption of Vista and Microsoft's general under-delivering on Vista.
The big caveat is this: I use Vista and really like it. I don't have any real problems (no driver issues) and I find that gaming performance close enough to XP that I can't tell the difference. In addition, I like the new UX sheen of Vista...so why do I ask if its the new Windows ME?
Is Aero Killing Your Batteries?
Url: http://news.com.com/Vista%20draining%20laptop%2...
I wasn't surprised to see thsi story on CNet as I wondered whether this would be the case as far back as 2003:
Free T-Mobile Hotspot Subscription for Vista Users
Url: http://hotspot.t-mobile.com/vista
I am in between meetings near the Microsoft Campus today and wanted a coffee so I headed to a nearby Starbucks. I wanted to check my e-mail, ut I had given up my T-Mobile account (at $40/month) because there is so much free wireless in my neighborhood. I wrestled with spending $10 for a day pass just to check e-mail when I noticed that Vista users would get a free trial to T-Mobile hotspots.
Vista Still Has Some *OLD* Code
I was setting up my new laptop with Vista today and it looks like everything is finally installed, except my fonts. So I opened the Font folder and picked, "Add New Font". This is what I saw:
Vista and NTFS Ownership
I thought I'd mention a problem I had with my new Vista installation.
I have a separate partion for my data, so when I upgrade to Vista I didn't do a clean format of the entire drive, but just did a clean install of Vista. Works great!
Realtime Taskbar Previews in Vista
I really like the realtime (or near real-time) preview of the windows on the Taskbar in Vista. Check it out:
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