One of the highlights of the MVP Summit was the keynote by Bill Gates. This was the first time I have had the opportunity to see Bill speak live and there were certainly some animated people in the crowd. Bill’s session also included some Q&A time where MVPs were able to walk up to a number of microphones around the auditorium and ask Bill questions.

After the keynote, I attended a number of executive sessions* including a session from S. Somasegar (Developer Division Corporate VP) on the developer division roadmap. All I can say is that there’s some great things on the way. Soma has even mentioned the Summit on his blog.

I also enjoyed a session called “Server at the Core” presented by Iain McDonald which covered some of the new technologies coming up in Windows Server codenamed “Longhorn”. I recognised some of the content which will be included in the Longhorn Jumpstart sessions that the Microsoft Readiness team will deliver around Australia in a few months.

• Much of the content is confidential at this stage and is covered by an NDA so I can’t offer any specifics.

I know this post is a little OT for my blog but the product is very cool and now product details are available on the Internet I feel I can finally talk about some of the basics without breaking the NDA.

After completing registration for the MVP Summit on Monday I headed off to a series of presentations on Windows Home Server (WHS). I have been involved in beta testing WHS for a few months now and I am very happy with how this product is coming along. The thing you need to keep in mind about WHS is that it is targeted at a very specific market segment. Much of the feedback I have been reading on the WHS forum and on mailing lists has been about adding more and more features and trying to make WHS something it is not.

WHS is designed to be purchased as a preloaded solution on specific hardware which you will be able to buy from your local electrical/computer retailer. It is best to simply think of the device as an appliance rather than a computer as it will not have a keyboard, mouse or even a monitor attached to it – by design. WHS is designed to be simply plugged into your home network and provide backup for all your home computers, shared file storage, network health monitor as well as remote desktop and file access.

The SBS team have done some great work and one of the new innovations coming along in WHS is a new drive extender storage technology. I have recently added an additional 320Gb SATA HDD to my WHS and the process couldn’t have been easier.

You can read more about WHS using the following links;

• Bill Gates Unveils Windows Home Server at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show
  • Windows Home Server blog on Technet
    • Windows Home Server Beta 2 forums</ul> If you would like to apply to be part of the beta, complete the server on the connect website at http://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer.  This also where you submit any bugs or issues you find with WHS.

    PS. I have also been tweaking my WHS installation a little which I should be able to talk about soon.

One of the best benefits of being awarded an MVP is that I get to go to the MVP Summit. The Summit is held in Seattle and brings together MVPs from all over the world to attend both technical and executive sessions. Being a newly awarded MVP, I was looking forward to attending my first summit.

I left Brisbane last Saturday (10th March) on a direct flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles. I’ve never really been able to sleep on planes so I enjoyed four movies on the 13 hour flight over the Pacific. A 4 hour transfer in Los Angeles, spent sitting on a truly uncomfortable chair sipping a way-too-hot Starbucks coffee and I was back in the air again, this time on an Alaska Airlines flight. I had quite a surprise on this flight as I stepped aboard a brand new Boeing 737-800 that had a distinctive new-plane smell. One of the friendly cabin crew mentioned that plane was on its third day of service and everything was in pristine working condition. What a treat.

After collecting my luggage, I headed off to the Downtown Airporter bus service for the trip to the Seattle Hilton.

So why am I posting this now? Well two reasons… 1. I’ve had a few emails asking how the summit is going and 2. While I’ve struggled to find time to blog during the trip, I have been jotting my thoughts and experiences down in my PDA so I’ll do the copy & paste thing and post my notes over the next day or two.

A little while ago, I blog about the Outlook 2003 Addin and what a handy utility this was. Unfortunately at the time it was only available for Outlook 2003. Well the good news today is that the guys from the MS Israel community have released the Team System Outlook 2007 addin so for Office 2007 users the wait is now over.

More Info & Download

The Visual Studio “Orcas” March CTP is now available on the Microsoft Download site for download. This is the first CTP to include a look at the “Orcas” release of TFS.

To find out about the features in the CTP, Brian Harry has a good blog post entitled Visual Studio”Orcas” March CTP is available which covers many of the enhancements.

One of the features I was hoping to explore in this CTP is the new support for WSS 3.0. Unfortunately WSS 3.0 support in not in this CTP but the good news is we should see this in the next drop 🙂

Downloads – Virtual PC images

• VSTS Team Suite Virtual PC Image

  • TFS Virtual PC Image Downloads – Installers

  • VSTS Team Suite Self-extracting Install

    • TFS Self-extracting Install Queensland VSTS Users Group Presentation

    If you don’t have time to download the CTP but you’d still like to see what coming up in the “Orcas” release, I’m presenting a session entitled, A lap around VSTS/TFS “Orcas” at the Queensland VSTS Users Group on 13th April. Anyone in the Brisbane area in very welcome to come along and attend the session.

One of the things that many developers struggle with initially when moving to TFS version control is the concept of the Workspace. VSTS MVP and Teamprise guru Martin Woodward has started writing a series of blog posts entitled “Workspace 101: An introduction to TFS Workspaces“. He has just published the first post in the series and it looks great. I can suggest this might be a blog series well worth following.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we might see Martin here in Australia for TechEd on the Gold Coast later this year.

The word is out (Rob, James, Buck) that the latest version of the Team Foundation Power Tools is available for download.

Now what should I start playing with? The Process Template Editor, the Check-in Policy Pack or the new Test Tools Build Task?

I just read the good news that SQL Server 2005 SP2 has now shipped. Some of the key enhancements target support for Vista and Office 2007. Now to find out if it plays nicely with Team Foundation Server.

Download the service pack from the Microsoft website.

The Microsoft Australia Technical Readiness Team have now published dates for a three day VSTS Level 300/400 course here in Australia. I attended the first run of this event in Australia late last year and this course is a must* for anyone responsible for installing, administering and customising a Team Foundation Server in your organisation.

The Australian dates:

• Brisbane 16th Apr – 18th Apr 2007
• Melbourne 30th Apr – 2nd May 2007</li>
• Sydney 16th May – 18 May 2007
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You can find the course outline and registration info on the Microsoft Partner Site.

NOTE: Looking at the topics in the upcoming 70-510: TS: Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server exam (currently in Beta as 71-510), this course should also be very helpful in helping you prepare for the exam.

* Footnote. I am likely to be biased in my view as I’m the trainer

Technorati tags: VSTS, TFS, 71-510, 70-510

Like Willy-Peter Schaub, I have been asked more than a few times lately exactly what we can expect in the Visual Studio “Orcas” release. Brian Harry has blogged about many of these features but Willy has gone one step further and created a table that summarises the features list. Much appreciated Willy!

Check out the list of Orcas features on Willy’s blog post “What “main” features are coming to us with Orcas?“