For those of you that attended my “A Lap Around Windows Azure” session, here are the resources I mentioned for you to get up and running with your first Azure service:

First, Download the SDK’s:

• Windows Azure SDK
• Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio

Those two SDK’s will get you up and running with Windows Azure. If you want to take advantage of some of the complex work we’ve already done and take your cloud development to the next level, grab the following .NET Services and SQL Data Services SDK:

• Microsoft .NET Services SDK
• Microsoft SQL Data Services SDK
• Live Framework Documentation and Resources

Next, Register for the Azure services to get your development token for the Azure service runtime environment, the .NET Services and SQL Data Services. My understanding is Live Services will be available shortly.

Also, check out the following learning resources, starting with the following sessions from the Microsoft PDC conference:

• Day 1 Keynote with Ray Ozzie
• ES16: A Lap Around Windows Azure, Manuvir Das
• BB01: A Lap Around the Windows Azure Services Platform, John Shewchuk, Dennis Pilarinos
• ES01: Developing and Deploying Your First Windows Azure Service, Steve Marx
• ES03: Windows Azure: Cloud Service Development Best Practices, Sriram Krishnan
• ES17: Windows Azure: Programming the Cloud, Daniel Wang, Stefan Schackow

As well as Steve Marx’s short vignettes to get you up and developing on Windows Azure:

• Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio
• Windows Azure Table Storage
• Windows Azure Hello Cloud
• Windows Azure Blog Storage

Finally, download and install the Azure Services Training Kit which contains a number of samples, demos and hands-on labs.

I hope this provides the necessary resources for you to learn about Windows Azure and the Azure Services Platform, but more importantly provides you the necessary training to get you developing for the cloud. Good luck!

The DreamSpark program has grown up and spawned a new sibling - BizSpark.

Today we announced the BizSpark program. BizSpark is an offer to early-stage software startups to leverage the Microsoft platform in delivering their software applications and services to the masses. As a software startup, joining the BizSpark program will give you access to…

• Software:  fast and easy access to Microsoft’s current full-featured development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products for immediate use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions with no upfront costs and minimal requirements
• Support:  professional technical support from Microsoft (MSDN) and community support from BizSpark “Network Partners” around the world who provide a wide range of support resources for software startups (e.g., entrepreneur incubators, associations, & investors)
• Visibility:  global visibility to an audience of potential investors, clients, and partners.  Startups will have the opportunity to complete a profile in the online Startup directory (BizSparkDB) which highlights promising companies, including the “BizSpark Startup of the Day”

This is a huge investment on Microsoft’s part and a great opportunity for your success. As such, there are some general criteria you should fall under to be included in this opportunity. They include:

• A private company building a software-based product or service (not intended for consultants/SIs or customers/enterprises)
• In business for less than 3 years
• Less than $1M in revenue
• Nominated by a Network Partner (referrals are also facilitated by the BizSpark portal)

As we’re talking Startups here, let me point out a great resource for all startups and investors out there that serves as guide to working with Microsoft, the Startup Zone. The Startup Zone includes a number of blogs from members of the Microsoft Startup team, articles and resources addressing the startup’s needs as well as an event calendar where you, as a startup, can meet members of the team at upcoming events.

Microsoft believes in the innovation that startups bring to the industry. Without them, there would be no future. BizSpark is a step to help that future come to reality.

It’s unfortunate, but true. Not everyone can attend the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC). That’s why the Microsoft Evangelist team across the U.S. is bringing the PDC to you. We’ve taken some of the best content from last week, packaged it up, wrapped it up in a pretty bow and will bring it to you through a series of events across the U.S. We’re calling it the MSDN Developers Conference (MDC).

In the grand tradition of DevDays events of the past, we will be conducting a 1-day conference covering some of the best sessions from PDC including announcements and developments around Visual Studio, the .NET Languages including F#, WPF, Silverlight, “Oslo”, Team System, ASP.NET, Parallel Programming and of course the Windows Azure Services Platform and Windows 7. We’ll also have a third track available for an Open Spaces area.

(As a side note, for those of you outside the U.S., poke your local Microsoft Evangelist team and ask them to bring MSDN DevCon to you!)

To register for the event in the city closest to you, simply click on the city link. This will take you to the landing page for that particular event where you will get more details about locations and the great speakers lined up for your city.

Locations
Date	City
12/09/2008	Houston, TX
12/11/2008	Orlando, FL
12/16/2008	Atlanta, GA
1/13/2009	Chicago, IL
1/13/2009	Minneapolis, MN
1/16/2009	Washington, DC
1/20/2009	New York, NY
1/22/2009	Boston, MA
1/22/2009	Detroit, MI
1/26/2009	Dallas, TX
2/19/2009	San Francisco, CA

If you missed the opportunity to attend PDC in-person, don’t miss your chance to hang with your developer community peeps at the MSDN Developers Conference.

You can also follow all the MSDN DevCon shenanigans on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Delicious, Twemes and MSDN Social.

Christian Heilmann, Yahoo Web Evangelist, pretty much wraps up the work we all do in 181 slides.

Being this is the Chippewa Valley area, that means one thing – home of Leinenkugel’s Beer! I’m sure a side trip to the Leinie Lodge will be in order.

What: Chippewa Valley Code Camp

Where: Chippewa Valley Technical College, 620 West Clairemont Ave., Eau Claire, WI (map)

When: Saturday, Nov. 8th, 2008, 8AM – 5:30PM

WomenBuild Workshop, Sunday, Oct. 26th, 2008, 11:30AM – 4:30PM

All PDC attendees (men and women) are invited to participate in this free workshop where you will work in small groups to solve real-life business challenges through the magic of LEGO® Bricks. How cool is that?!? Each team member will serve a particular responsibility in the team dynamic, bringing their own unique perspective to the group while collectively solving the problem at hand.

This is a great event to exercise your creative brain while at the same time networking and building relationships leading into the week long PDC conference.This event is part of the LEGO® Serious Play Program (LSP) and sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. Channel9 will be on hand to capture all of the creative energy. We may also try to squeeze in a Thirsty Developer interview or two as well.

Register: If you’d be interested in participating, please e-mail the Registration Desk at pdc2008@ustechs.com to sign up for the session. Space is limited, so please reserve your spot ASAP. This is first come, first serve. 

Also, be sure to join the Facebook WomenBuild group to be notified of upcoming WomenBuild events taken place across the nation and hopefully the world!

Women in Technology Reception, Wednesday, Oct. 29th, 2008, 6:00PM – 7:30PM, West Lobby

The PDC2008 Women in Technology (WIT) Reception is your chance to meet and share stories with the powerful, insightful, and intelligent women attending PDC2008. Enjoy drinks and snacks—as well as have the chance to win great prizes—while celebrating and learning from each other’s experiences and successes.

This gives me an opportunity to plug a recent Podcast we did with Jennifer and a few other highly intelligent and highly technical (Double Plus!) female co-workers of ours including Beth Humphreys, Angela Binkowski, and Rachel McKane (SalesGeek) about Women in Technology.

The only other thing to say is… Girlz Rule!

Holy Cow! PDC’08 is next week and I’m just now coming to grips with all of the activities, both day and night, that will surely keep me from the beauty sleep I so desperately need.

I’ve laid out my PDC schedule below. As you can see, I’m basically nuts. Sure, I’m ambitious now in trying to hit as much as possible, but we know how a PDC week can catch up to you. If you’re looking for me, there’s a decent chance you’ll find me in any of the places listed below. Or there may even be a better chance of catching me plopped in a bean bag chair somewhere.

Not only am I going to try and squeeze in everything below, but I’ll also be spending a majority of my time in the Open Spaces area, the Partner Expo, the Product Pavilion, the Hands-on-Labs and squeezing in as many Thirsty Developer interviews as we can. Yes… I’M NUTS! If you’re as crazy as me, I’d recommend you reading Thomas Lewis’ The Devil’s Field Guide to the PDC for some tips and advice on how to enjoy (and survive) PDC.

Here’s the schedule I’ve mustered up so far. It will change. I guarantee it. For any updates, changes or status checks, just follow me on Twitter.

We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it. – Willy Wonka

Sunday, Oct. 26th

• Arrive at LAX around 11AM
• Sunday afternoon, a pre-conference networking event for some of our special guests where we’ll apparently get to play tourist or cowboy
• Sunday evening, where else but Party with Palermo

Monday, Oct. 27th

• (Available for Breakfast)
• 8:30AM, Keynote, Ray Ozzie, Amitabh Srivastava, Bob Muglia and David Thompson
• 11:00AM, Microsoft Visual Studio Team System: A Lap Around VSTS 2010 (153)
• 12:15PM, (Available for Lunch, Let’s Meet!)
• 12:45PM, Microsoft Expression Blend: Tips & Tricks (408B)
• 1:45PM, ASP.NET 4.0 Roadmap (153)
• 3:30PM, Team Foundation Server 2010: Cool New Features (151)
• 5:15PM, Too many to choose! (Web Dev Futures, Framework Design Guidelines, Hanselman’s talk, VSTS Database Edition, Agile w/VSTS, Developing and Deploying Your First Cloud Service)
• 8:00PM, Private Customer function
• 9:00PM, Show Off
• After Party, the Lounge at Westin Bonneventure

Tuesday, Oct. 28th

• (Available for Breakfast, Let’s Meet!)
• 8:30AM, Keynote, Ray Ozzie, Steven Sinofsky, Scott Guthrie and David Treadwell
• 11:00AM, Keynote, Don Box and Chris Anderson
• 12:30PM, (Available for Lunch, Let’s Meet!)
• 12:45PM, Coding4Fun (403AB) or What I Learned Building my First Live Mesh Application (501B)
• 1:45PM, WPF Roadmap (515B)
• 3:30PM, Microsoft Silverlight Futures (153)

I have (4) tickets to a taping of “Rules of Engagement” at Sony Studios at 5PM. Tough choice between this and the attendee party. If you want the tickets or want to talk me into going, let me know. If I blow it off, than it’s…

• 5:15PM, ASP.NET and jQuery (403AB)
• 7:00PM, Attendee Party at Universal Studios
• 11:00PM, After Party at the Lounge at Westin Bonneventure

Wednesday, Oct. 29th

• (Available for Breakfast, Let’s Meet!)
• 8:30AM, Keynote, Rick Rashid
• 10:30AM, Parallel Programming (Petree Hall CD)
• 12:00PM (Lunch), Silverlight Controls Roadmap (404A) or XNA Game Studio (501B)
• 1:15PM, Programming Live Services using Non-Microsoft Technologies (501B)
• 3:00PM, A Day in the Life of a Could Service Developer (Petree Hall CD)
• 4:45PM, A Lap Around “Oslo” (502A)
• 7:00PM – 2:00AM, Customer Events + Underground@PDC

Thursday, Oct. 30th

• (Available for Breakfast)
• 8:30AM, Services Symposium Services (515B)
• 10:30AM, Silverlight 2 Control Model (Petree Hall CD)
• 12:00PM (Lunch), WPF: Data Centric Applications (408A) or Cloud Computing (Petree Hall CD)
• 1:45PM, ASP.NET Futures (Petree Hall CD)
• 3:00PM, Head home after an *exhausting* week at PDC!

Thanks to everyone who came this go round. Please, if you have any comments or suggestions on how we can make these events better, please leave a comment.

Bonus points to those of you who can find the Zen garden or count all of the bugs.