smalle’s posterous

[shared memory]

Copying Databases in SQL Azure (#copydb #azure)

Windows Azure

Microsoft SQL Azure Database is the relational database service on the Windows Azure platform. Once you have created a database in SQL Azure, you can back up that database by copying it to a new database in SQL Azure. The new database that is created from the copy process is a regular database once the copy is complete: fully functioning and independent of the source database. In addition, the new database will have the same edition and maximum size as the source database.

Overview

The database copy feature enables many of the back-up scenarios you may be familiar with for on-premises databases:

  • Application data back up: Copy the application database to a new database in order to help protect it from user and application errors. Recover the application database state by renaming the new database with the application database name. Alternatively, recover a specific subset of data from the new database by use of Transact-SQL queries.

  • Application development and testing: Copy the production database to a new database that can be used for development and testing.

  • Application upgrade: Copy the application database to a new database before major application updates. If a mistake is made during the upgrade, recover the earlier database state by renaming the new database to the application database name.

via msdn.microsoft.com

Nice!

Best of Swiss #Silverlight 2010 #Award - If you are in #Switzerland, submit your applications!

We are pleased to inform all Silverlight Enthusiasts that on the occasion of Shape 2010 - The Web & Cloud Conference" (October 26th) we will be awarding the best Swiss Silverlight projects of the year with the "Best of Swiss Silverlight 2010" awards.

Best of Swiss Silverlight is a Swiss award for projects developed on the basis of Microsoft Silverlight. The competition is a collaboration between the Best of Swiss Web Association, in conjunction with simsa and the magazine Netzwoche, and Microsoft Switzerland. The awards are presented annually at Shape Conference.

The purpose of the competition is to recognize companies and individuals that have developed outstanding concepts based on Silverlight. The jury will judge entries on criteria such as technology, creativity, ease of use, value added and quality.

Service providers and project clients are eligible to participate in Best of Swiss Silverlight 2010, provided that their Web or Windows Phone 7 project has been launched within the last twelve months or is about to go online or the bulk of the project work has taken place during this period and that the project is based on Silverlight technology. Natural persons and legal entities residing or located in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein are eligible to participate. Participation is free of charge.

The registration time to Best of Swiss Silverlight 2010 ends on 8th October 2010. Read more and take part today: www.microsoft.ch/bestofswisssilverlight 

 

 

Windows Azure Deployment Stuck in Initializing, Busy, Stopping Why? - Snip/Shot by Toddy Mladenov

Windows Azure Deployment Stuck in Initializing, Busy, Stopping – Why?

Recently I see a lot of posts on Windows Azure Forum related to deployments cycling between Initializing, Busy and Stopping states. In this post I would like to summarize the most common reasons why is this happening. Here they are:

via blog.toddysm.com

Some valuable information

The Future of Silverlight (#Silverlight #html5)

The Future of Silverlight

Posted inAnnouncement // September-01-2010 at 11:56 AM PST // 1 comments

There's been a lot of discussion lately around web standards and HTML 5 in particular. People have been asking us how Silverlight fits into a future world where the tag is available to developers. It's a fair question—and I'll provide a detailed answer—but I think it's predicated upon an oversimplification of the role of standards that I'd like to clear up first. I'd also like to delineate why premium media experiences and "apps" are better with Silverlight and reveal how Silverlight is going beyond the browser to the desktop and devices.

via team.silverlight.net

Great article that explains why Silverlight is here to stay and how it is positioned vs HTML5

Windows Phone 7 – Released To Manufacturing (#WP7 #RTM)

Today is the day that the Windows Phone team has been driving towards, and we’re very excited to say that we’ve reached the biggest milestone for our internal team – the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Phone 7!  While the final integration of Windows Phone 7 with our partners’ hardware, software, and networks is underway, the work of our internal engineering team is largely complete. 

via windowsteamblog.com

Windows Phone Marketplace Developer Newsletter: August 2010 - Plenty of interesting Ifo

August 30, 2010
Final Windows Phone Developer Tools Available September 16
The Beta developer tools for Windows Phone 7 have been available here since July 13 and are a great way to get started building apps for Windows Phone 7. The final toolset will be released via the Marketplace developer portal on September 16. Please note that you will need to recompile your app with the final toolset before submitting it to the Marketplace. Plan to submit your app to Marketplace in early October to ensure that it will be available to the first users of Windows Phone 7 devices. We will provide more specific guidance on timing as we get closer to the opening of Marketplace ingestion.

Make sure you take the following steps to get your games and apps prepped for launch:

  • Build your application or game using the Beta tools
  • Download the final Windows Phone Developer Tools from the portal when they are released on September 16.
  • Recompile your app or game using the final tools
  • Have your XAP ready for ingestion into the Marketplace when it opens in early October

With more than 300,000 downloads of the Windows Phone Developer Tools, we know we'll see amazing games and apps for customers this holiday season. Will yours be ready?

Windows Phone 7 Design Guidelines Now Available
Windows Phone 7 is based on a new smart design system that focuses on what is most important to the user. Although you can create your own design, many developers have asked for guidance, tools and controls to help build integrated app experiences that closely resemble the Windows Phone 7 phone design system. The UI Design and Interaction Guide for Windows Phone 7, version 2.0 now offers detailed information about UI elements and controls, UI system behaviors, and the interaction model for the touch interface. The new Design Templates for Windows Phone 7 provides a collection of 28 layered Photoshop template files and the Segoe WP font family for use in application layouts and UI development, or for pitching an idea. Check out these tools for help in creating an app that is well- integrated with the Windows Phone 7 experience.

Updated Windows Phone 7 Policies Now Available
The Windows Phone 7 application, content, and certification policies have been updated to provide greater clarity on the requirements for games, use of the Microsoft location service API, and a variety of application certification requirements. Download the new requirements here, and be sure your app meets all the requirements before you submit it to Marketplace in early October.

Windows Phone 7 Jump-Start: Born to Learn
Missed the July training courses or misplaced your course materials? Visit the Born to Learn community area to find additional resources for developing apps for Windows Phone 7. Course materials for all four sessions are available in Microsoft OneNote 2010 notebooks.

Get Your App Ideas Here
You can find great ideas for new Windows Phone 7 apps at Mobile App Match, where we connect developers with ideas submitted and ranked by real users. You can also get an early peek at the projects from other Windows Phone 7 developers and see how-to videos and Q&A from the Windows Phone team by entering the search term WP7dev# at YouTube.

Windows Phone 7 App Categories Finalized
App categories are our way of organizing applications so that users can more easily find what they are looking for. For Windows Phone 7, we have 41 categories and sub-categories to help organize applications for users. When you submit your app to Marketplace you can choose from one of the categories below to help users find your app. Apps can only be placed in one category.

1. Books & Reference
- eReader
- Fiction
- Non-fiction
- Reference
2. Business
3. Entertainment
4. Finance
5. Games
- Action & Adventure
- Board & Classic
- Card & Casino
- Family
- Music
- Puzzle & Trivia
- Shooter
- Sports & Racing
- Strategy
- Xbox Companion
6. Health & Fitness
- Diet & Nutrition
- Fitness
- Health

7. Lifestyle
- Community
- Food & Dining
- Out & About
- Shopping
8. Music & Video
9. Navigation
10. News & Weather
11. Photo
12. Productivity
13. Social
14. Sports
15. Tools
16. Travel
- City Guides
- Language
- Planning
- Travel Tools


Windows Phone 7 at PDC 2010, October 28 and 29
Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference, PDC 2010, will include sessions on building and selling apps for Windows Phone 7. PDC 2010 has already sold out but you can join the event live on October 28 and 29 at the PDC site. You can also join the PDC email list to get a preview of what's planned for PDC, as well as stay abreast of local PDC events.

Xbox LIVE Games for Windows Phone 7 Announced at Gamescom
Earlier this month at Gamescom, Xbox announced a number of Xbox LIVE games that will launch with Windows Phone 7 later this year. This announcement signals an excellent opportunity for app developers because these aren't just big game studio games; they also include smaller, independent developer studios. Read more about the games at the blog, get the tools that are already available to you, and find support at the XNA Game Studio site.

Updates on Understanding the Windows Phone Application Execution Model
Last month on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, you read about the various app life-cycle events and how they differ from one another. The third installment of the series discusses saving the transient state and navigating to the right page, and the post closes out with a full understanding of how to launch, deactivate, activate, and close your application. Next up for discussion: choosers and launchers.

Follow Us on Twitter!
Get to know the people on the Windows Phone team by following them on Twitter:

@ckindel
@ozymandias
@mklucher
@cschormann
@shawnhargreaves
@ai
@brandonwatson

Swisscom TV air case published

You can find it here.

I particularly like :-)

  • Says Liechti: “We were working on a Smooth Streaming video player and a Flash-based video player at the same time. Thanks to the user-friendly tools in the Smooth Streaming development kit, it was twice as fast as developing in Flash.”
  • Gisi says: “The number of consumers that subscribed to Swisscom TV air showed that it had achieved our goals. This was a successful project at Swisscom with a fast return on investment.”

Microsoft Aurora Server Builds Small Business 'Bridge To Cloud'

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) this week made Windows Small Business Server (SBS), code-named Aurora, available for preview, promising small businesses and home users access to myriad Microsoft services in the cloud.

The next generation of SBS is dubbed as a "significant departure" from Microsoft's traditional on-premise version.

"Aurora will be Microsoft's first server to deliver both on premises and cloud computing capabilities for small businesses," the company said in a blog post announcing Aurora's availability.

Aurora targets companies with 25 or fewer users that utilize a peer-to-peer network versus a full Windows domain with Active Directory. The server also ties in built-in backup and recovery for all company computers, plus file-sharing capabilities.

"Aurora offers small businesses the help they need to ensure their data is safe through advanced backup and file restoration features," wrote Kevin Kean, Windows Home and Small Business Servers general manager, on Microsoft's SBS blog. "Aurora's users can quickly set automatic, daily backups of every personal computer on the network. If problems with those files arise, small businesses can restore individual files, folders, or an entire PC or server with simple recovery tools."

Microsoft said Aurora can link with other Microsoft offerings, like Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), the software giant's cloud collaboration offering, which includes Exchange Online, Office Communications Online and SharePoint Online. Aurora is being billed as the central hub from which SMB and home users will manage and access various services. Users will also be able to access files and documents via the cloud, when out of the office.

"Using a personalized web address, Aurora users will be able to connect to the server from virtually anywhere and access their computers and documents from any common web browser," Kean wrote.

Kean added: "Windows Small Business Server Codename 'Aurora' is a true 'bridge to the cloud' designed to integrate between on-premise and online services and to use pay-as-you-go online services to extend the server functionality without increasing workload and maintenance needs."

The Aurora preview is available for download now from Microsoft's Connect web site with a Windows Live ID.

Via CRN