If you saw Craig McMurtry's demo for the Xbox 360 finder earlier this year, you saw an interesting phenomenon.

In that example, he built out an app that queried for the availability of Xbox 360s at certain electronics resellers.  In theory, once the Xbox360 was acquired, the app would have served its purpose and be deleted. There would be no v2 (until perhaps the release of the Xbox 720). This poor app's existence was to be short-lived by design, and to be honest there's something cool about the state of software and services that this could be done. 

Today, I saw another one of these cool apps with an intentionally short lifespan.  Checking my email this afternoon, I saw that a colleague had forwarded me a link to download “Microsoft Soccer Scoreboard” (hopefully the internationalization team called it “Microsoft Football Scoreboard” for folks installing outside the US)

World Cup is upon us, and for those of us who left the 62 inch HD screen back home to go to TechEd were wondering where we would get our World Cup scores and reviews. For those who want up to date information, scores, tables, RSS feeds, etc.  You should check this out - the link is here:

-----------------------

Follow your favorite teams and players during the FIFA World Cup tournament with Microsoft Soccer Scoreboard. This fun program allows you to access all the latest tournament news and information with the click of a button! Live game data allow you to monitor your favorite teams progress in real-time. Want more? Check out your team’s fixture (schedule), standing, and news as they advance through the tournament. If you are a soccer fan, don’t miss a minute of the action.

Note: You can share this with everyone!!!

Download Microsoft Soccer Scoreboard today!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=df6a6e6e-21af-4786-ad1d-a38e8bfda82f&DisplayLang=en

----------------------------

For those who also want to check out the matches on someone elses big screens, you can try the Thirsty Scholar. I haven't lived in Boston for a few years, but when I was there for the last World Cup and they - and their taps - were open early, and the place was filled with fans from every country, who knew every song, and came in the type of gear you're used to seeing in Europe.  I checked their web site and it looks like they're doing the same this year. http://www.thirstyscholarpub.com/

WCF and WF in Public Sector.PPT (2.16 MB)

I did a webcast today on WCF, WF, and Infocard in Public Sector today.  For the Retail and Fin Serv webcasts I'd done previously, I'd had great scores (>8/9 in some cases), but there were always requests for additional vertical content after the fact.

I tried switching it up today for the pub sector session (more vertical, less core wcf/wf/identity), but the presentation just didn't click. I think I'll re-record and post a link to it when it's available, I'm pleased with the InfoCard demo, though, as I think it provides additional value. 

I've attached my deck to the start of this post, as I wanted people to see the legacy empowerment section that we didn't get to review.

If you're new to the blog, I wanted to point you to some of the demos I've got online, including:

http://www.marcmercuri.com/ct.ashx?id=d0cffe95-b683-4f7c-b883-44feeb0afd43&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.marcmercuri.com%2fDownloads%2fFinServDevCon.zip

As well as a syllabus for learning InfoCard:

http://www.marcmercuri.com/PermaLink.aspx?guid=eae5a6ef-a12e-4cfd-bd65-56fdf0b103f4

Cheers,

Marc

This is not WinFX related (atleast directly), but is something that's of value to MSDN subscribers, so I wanted to forward on.

The much-anticipated Team System VPC (a single-server, evaluation install of Team Foundation Server + Team Suite) has been posted for download from MSDN Subscriber Downloads.

Look under “Developer Tools” – “Visual Studio 2005”:

Much thanks to Rob Caron for the info on this.

Just a reminder - I've got a webcast tomorrow on WCF, WF, and Infocard in Public Sector.

This will also include some new, never before seen demos, so wanted to make sure it was reposted.  As a side note, I think I'll tweak with the blog while I'm at TechEd to provide more direct links to samples and webcast information.

I just realized that while I blogged about the excellent chalk talk session at TechEd being done by Leslie Muller, I didn't mention that I'd be there as well.

If you're going to be in town and would like to chat about WCF, WF, and/or Infocard and how you might include it in your solutions, let me know!

I'm going as an attendee and not as a speaker to this one, so will have more time to do some 1:1 or 1:few sessions with interested parties.

If you'd like to get together while I'm in town (10th-18th), send me an email (mmercuri@microsoft.com).

With the talk about Web2.0, you'll hear people telling you about mash-ups and these cool new AJAX applications.

I always chuckle a little bit when I hear “AJAX“ and new.  Saying AJAX is “new“ is like saying “Screencasting“ is new  (anyone else use Lotus Screen Cam back in the 90s?)

AJAX isn't new, it's been around for close to a decade. Heck, O'Reilly published the first edition copy of “Dynamic HTML - The Definitive Reference” back in 1998.

But writing these apps was never for the timid.  I developed a few in 2000, and the development experience was far from ideal.  That development experience has gotten better recently with Atlas. 

“Atlas” is a codename for an extensible, object-oriented framework to facilitate AJAX-style web development, namely exploiting DHTML and asynchronous server communication to provide more interactive browser applications. It is implemented in JavaScript and helps abstract the variances across browsers and versions of browsers.

Since we have alot of cool new stuff coming out (WCF, WF, WPF, Infocard, Atlas, Expression tools, etc., etc.), Atlas might not be on your radar screen.

We actually released a CTP of Atlas back in March, and it actually came with a Go Live license so you both develop with it and put it into production.

I wanted to make sure you were aware of the WCF/Atlas sample code that was out there.  If you're used to WCF, it's a great first step on the road to building some really interesting AJAX-style apps. 

You can find the sample here. If you don't have Atlas installed yet, this site will be helpful.

As you know, I work with a number of companies who are adopting WCF, WF, and Infocard.  Up until this past week, the names of the customers has been a well guarded secret.

With WinHec just passed, TechEd coming up in a few weeks, and launch not too far off on the horizon, the names of these customers and their projects are now starting to be revealed.

Last week at WinHEC, Ami Vora spoke to PressPass about a project at one of my customers, Tyco.

Yesterday, I blogged that one of my other customers, Leslie Muller from Credit Suisse will be doing a must-see chalk talk at TechEd 06 in Boston.

Today, we launch a new site, http://www.seewindowsvista.com, to highlight some companies that are using WCF, WF, and WPF on the client. Check it out to hear about one of my other customers, Dollar Thrifty Auto Group.  They're listed under “Managing the Big Picture.”  They're using both WCF and WF in a number of areas, and we'll be following up soon with a whitepaper on the use of WF in the UI, with specific references to their project.

If you only go to one Chalk Talk at TechEd this year, check out this one. 

Anyone who's worked in a large Enterprise is familiar with the challenges of getting new machines provisioned and available in a reasonable amount of time. Typically the wait is days/weeks/months. Credit Suisse has solved this problem, and Leslie Muller will be discussing the Virtual Machine Provisioning System that was built and deployed  earlier this year using WF, WCF, Virtual Server, ASP.NET, and AzMan.

I've had the privilege of being involved in this project, and I think this session will be great in a couple of respects. It's an opportunity to go beyond the samples and the case studies and listen to an Architect at a Fortune 50 customer who's developed and deployed WinFX successfully. It's also a great opportunity to connect with Leslie, who is a thought leader and is doing some very interesting, very impactful work that transcends verticals.

Full abstract and location details below: 

Abstract: Credit Suisse Group is a leading global financial services company, providing clients with investment banking, private banking and asset management services worldwide. Like in most enterprises, Credit Suisse provided their developers with physical machines for development. Issues such as combination of authorization, physical delivery times and compliance-related workflows led to slow development timeframes. Their R&D group built an extremely extensible self-service virtual-machine provisioning system that enables software developers in a fraction of the time to easily, securely and rapidly provision on-demand disposable workstations, servers, and multi-tier environments. Credit Suisse will exponentially increase software developer productivity, drastically lower IT costs and ensure compliancy with continuously stringent regulatory requirements. The solution uses Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, and Virtual Server.

Speaker: Leslie Muller (Architect - Credit Suisse Global R&D)

Location: TechEd Boston, Thursday 6/15/2006 from 10:15-11:30 in Theatre 2.

The title of this blog is “Living in a World of Connected Systems“. It does not say “Living in a World of Connected Systems Written Exclusively on the Microsoft Platform“.  Why?

First, the title would go from long to annoyingly long. More importantly, if you're in the Enterprise space you know it's a heterogenous environment.  If you've seen me speak, I talk more about how to interop with what you've got and explicitly don't preach 'rip and replace' your existing stacks.

Several of the companies I work with have ,at one point or another, made some investments in Java. When we chat about architecture, number one on their list of topics to discuss is interop.

If you're doing work in both .NET and Java today, and you want to do more interop - there's a video clip I want you to check out.

 Watch this video from the JavaOne 2006 keynote here.  (Annoyingly, you'll need RealPlayer, find that here).

The video shows WCF/Java interop, with Sun showcasing what was called Project Tango (aka Web Services Interoperability Toolkit), which in their words is described as

“Web Services Interoperability Technology (WSIT) is an open-source implementation of next generation Web services technologies that deliver interoperability between Java EE and .Net to help you build, deploy, and maintain Composite Applications for your Service Oriented Architecture. Built upon JAX-WS (Java API for XML Web Services), this implementation will be made available as the "Web Services Interoperability Technology (WSIT)" and is focused on four main categories: Messaging, Metadata, Security, and Quality-of-Service (QoS). “

Nigel Watling, one of the co-authors of “Windows Communication Foundation: Hands On!” has just published a video on Infocard over at Channel 9.

In the video, Nigel leads an in depth discussion of how InfoCard works, how it's designed (and why) and how it will evolve in the future with InfoCard chief Architect Arun Nanda and Software Developer Ruchi Bhargava

Check it out here.

So now that you've got the new bits, the next question is - “What's changed?”

The list of breaking changes for WCF and Infocard have been posted here.

You can now get Windows Vista Beta 2 and a new drop of WinFx (Beta 2/RC0).

This version of WinFX has a new Go Live license attached (the first since January). There's enough new since January that you'll want to make the jump to the May bits.

If you want to use Infocard, this is also the drop for you. This is the first broadly available build that has Infocard bits that work with IE7.

Find both Vista and WinFX  here.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/downloads/products/getthebeta/default.aspx#developWinFXApps

If you're an architect or an aspiring architect, you'll want to check out skyscrapr.  The site just launched today, and it definately fills a need.

Here's the scoop from the home page.

Skyscrapr is your window on the architectural perspective. Discover the different disciplines of system architecture, as well as perspectives on building successful systems. Check out our architects' blogs, learn about industry trends, download webcasts, watch videos, find training, and more.

	Solution Architecture Solution Architects decide which technologies to use. They work very closely with developers to ensure proper implementation. They are the link between the needs of the organization and the developers.
	Infrastructure Architecture The Infrastructure Architect finds the pragmatic solutions to the requirements of the organization as presented by the Strategic architect. They like to make things work. They know robust and secure systems keep everything running smoothly.
	Strategic Architecture Enterprise Architects create the master blueprint that guides their organization’s business and IT systems. They have the vision and long-term perspective that gives an organization direction.
	Industry Architecture Industry Architects focus on the cutting edge of technology in their industry. Whatever the business imperatives may be, Industry architects develop the vision and the roadmap to get there.

While I'm very good about posting the WF webcasts I'm doing, Paul Andrew keeps his list up to date with everyone's WF presentations.

He's got a good list going, check it out here -

http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/articles/460630.aspx

Because of what's possible to do with Infocard in the Feb CTP bits, I know that only a subset of my readers have used InfoCard up to this point, but as the folks who got an interim build of Infocard at the Mix06 conference can tell you, Infocard = goodness.

I expect people will start experimenting with Infocard with the next community release of WinFX.  In anticipation of that release becoming available, I wanted to make sure people had a single place to find the content currently available, such that you can be ready to hit the bits running.

Until my book comes out later in the year, this should help you get going.  Trust me when I tell you that this stuff is going to be the way we handle identity on the web. The Windows guys love it, the Linux guys love it, the Identity guys love it, and most importantly the Business folks love it. 

So, without further ado, this is my recommended syllabus to get prepped for Infocard:

First, get up to speed on the Laws of Identity and the Identity Metasystem.

From there, read David Chappell's whitepaper “Introducing Infocard“ which can be found here

If you want a little more background, you can read this other intro article or this article that goes a bit deeper.

Now if you're a visual person, and would like to see some videos, I'd recommend checking out my colleague Nigel Watling and Andy Harjanto's Channel 9 video here

Now you're ready to kick the tires and actually see this thing in action on your own machine.

You'll need the WinFX bits, which can be found here. Follow the directions in the section for developing WinFX applications.

NOTE: You'll need the post-February CTP bits to use Infocard in scenarios that involve a web browser (vs. services)

Check out Mike Jones article on using Infocard in a Web Browser, which can be found here. You can also check out Kim Camerons simple tutorial which you can find here.

Maybe now that you've used it, you're curious as to how the implementation of Infocard came to be. Check out Kim Cameron and Mike Jones' paper on Design Decisions here.

The folks at Ping Identity have put together a good whitepaper called “Integrating with Infocard“, which you can find here.

What about blogs for ongoing education? The two I read regularly are  Kim Cameron's identity blog which is here and Andy Harjanto's blog which is here.

I was in London earlier this week, and ended up having to come back the US a bit earlier than planned. As a consequence, I didn't have a chance to work with one of my customers on tracing, and committed to following up when I got back to the US.

If you know me, you know I hate re-creating the wheel, so I did a quick search to see if this information was already documented. As fate would have it, Madhu Ponduru literally just put together a good post on the subject.

If you haven't tried tracing yet, you definately should.

Check it out here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/madhuponduru/archive/2006/05/18/601458.aspx

If you're not familair with Juval Lowy, he's one of our Regional Directors and writes some great content that you can find in a number of areas (including MSDN online and in print).

He's just released an article on WCF instance management techniques - check it out here.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/default.aspx?pull=http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/06/WCFEssentials/default.aspx

I'm delivering a webcast next Monday, on WCF and WF in Retail and Hospitality. Details are listed below.  Also listed below is a link to Vittorio's webcast that covers Infocard for this vertical.

 Vittorio's got a session entitled Using Infocard to Safely Manage Customer Identity

Check it out here

http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032296340%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

Vittorio also recently did a session focused on the manufacturing vertical. You can check that out here.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032295605%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

Happy viewing.