Partner Otaku

I just got out of the keynote and I’m really excited about the Windows Phone 7 Series. Pix are worth a thousand words so I’ll post a few here.

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http://www.windowsphone7series.com

I’ve worked for Microsoft over 19 years.  I’ve been through 4 cars, 16 various luggable/notebook computers, 9 operating system (not including MS DOS 4-6), well several pocket PCs and a couple of Windows Mobile devices.  I’m a loyal guy. For the past several years, i’ve had to take good-natured ribbing from my friends that have bought iPhones.

I really did have device envy.  There’s no two ways about it. The iPhone is sexy. Great industrial design with well-integrated software to complement it.  Apple essentially built another platform when they realized that the PC “war” was over. During the past 2+ years i’ve struggled with this device. It’s a Motorola Q9m, Running Windows Mobile 6. The best thing about the phone was the Verizon Network.  It’s user interface and web browsing experience pretty much sucked. 

My friends referred to their iPhone as their “J phone”, even though they had less than stellar experiences with AT&T’s service.  Their love or some would say their obsession with their iPhone was almost like a metaphor to describe Golum’s attachment and need for his “precious”.  I called their phones the iPrecious.

Fast forward to the ZuneHD.  This is a very cool device.  Awesome form factor – check; Great software – check; Touch – check, Radio – check; Phone Stack – uh no…The one thing that this device REALLY needed was a phone stack. 

We’ve all heard that patience is a virtue .  It’s really difficult to believe that when you see all the competitors coming out with interesting devices.  I was told…wait…and you will see the light…I’ve waited so long, but feared disappointment. 

Well at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, my dream of dreams was confirmed. The Windows Phone 7 Series was announced. The first reactions have been excellent.

I have not seen one in the flesh, but am really looking forward to getting my hands on one.  I’ve been holding back on upgrading my phone.  Now I have to wait until the holiday season, but at least I can see the prize on the horizon.

Check out the video on the Windows 7 Series 7 Features.

Enjoy!

Here’s a quick run down on the features.

• Monitor changes to a file (php.ini as an example). Will recycle FastCGI processes for the process pool.
• Real-time tuning of MaxInstances setting. Set by default now.
• STDERR stream handling.
• Sending a termination signal to FastCGI processes for cleaner shutdowns.
• _FCGI_X_PIPE_ environment variable for communication between the extension and FastCGI process.
• Relaxed enforcement of response headers syntax.
• Per-application FastCGI process pools. Allows for two different PHP version used for different applications within the same web site.
• Using UTF-8 encoding for server variable values.
• More descriptive error messages
• Changes in default values for configuration settings.

For more detailed information please visit Ruslan’s blog on this release: http://blogs.iis.net/ruslany/archive/2010/01/18/fastcgi-extension-1-5-for-iis-5-1-and-iis-6-0-rtw.aspx

If you have technical questions visit the IIS forum. http://forums.iis.net/t/1164235.aspx

In partnership with Marco Tabini and Associates (MTA) (php|architect; CodeWorks; php|tek), we are excited to announce the launch of The Great PHP on Windows contest. Do you have what it takes to win? Of course you do .

You are encouraged to leverage existing open-source libraries and applications, including blogs engines, forums, photo galleries and other platform/components as part of your submission.

For complete details visit http://phparch.com/win

The Quick Summary:

• Write a new application designed to run in PHP on Windows using IIS—or make a significant contribution to an existing open-source project along the same lines
• The best application, selected jointly by a panel of experts and by our readers, will win a grand prize
  which includes a 52″ Digital HD home entertainment system, as well as an all-expenses paid trip to php|tek 2010 in Chicago. Runner-up prizes include 2 XBox 360 Ultimate and subscriptions to php|architect.
• Not familiar with Windows? No worries—we have partnered with Applied Innovations to give you absolutely free hosting on a pre-configured virtual machine for the duration of the contest.
• Registration and submissions for the contest will be accepted October 19^th, 2009 through February 28^th, 2010 and with judging and public voting will occur March 1^st – 31^st.
• For the duration of the contest, Applied Innovations will provide free web hosting to all participants (shared) and a free VM to the first 60 participants who register.
• Contest is open to all U.S. residents excluding MTA, Applied Innovations, and Microsoft employees and affiliated individuals. (MTA is the official sponsor with AppliedI and Microsoft as promotion entities.)

The contest is open to residents of the United States only—but you can still win by voting, no matter where you are.

 Good Luck!

If you haven’t seen the news, Win7 will ship in the fall.  I’ve been using Win7 after PDC and each major milestone has seen improvements in both user experience and stability. Most of my friends outside of work, use either Vista or XP and often ask me why should upgrade to Win7.  I usually

discuss features that would be useful to how they use their computers. It’s often met with  “Ok…” Clearly it’s hard to visualize a new or improved feature. However, whenever they use Win7 they are deeply impressed with it’s performance and usability.  It’s like night and day. I can’t imagine having to go back to Vista. 

If you’ve been considering a netbook and heard that Win7 Basic would impose a 3 applications limit, well thankfully that decision was changed.

Quick note, the first link is still being built out, if you wish to register go the “Register here” link. 

Location – www.WindowsPartnerReadinessDay.com

Time – 8:00-2:45pm (Pacific Standard Time)

Registration – The event is FREE, Register here and be notified the day prior with the link to the live feed of the event.

At this event you will have the opportunity to learn about Windows 7, the next-generation operating system from Microsoft. Online attendees can take advantage of the readiness and marketing tools made available specifically for partners to help prepare for the Windows 7 business opportunity. 

Windows 7 Partner Readiness Day will provide the resources you need to become a Windows 7 expert and help better prepare you for customer conversations. Microsoft executives and product experts will be on hand to answer all your questions and to provide you with a look at the following Microsoft product strategies:

• Industry trends and how Windows 7 will affect the marketplace 
• The business opportunities that Windows 7 brings for partners
• An overview of the key steps and programs to get ready for Windows 7

The ISV track includes information on the Windows 7 Compatibility Tool and the Windows 7 Logo Program.

The PHP on Windows Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including demos and hands-on labs to help you understand how to build PHP applications using Windows, IIS 7 and SQL Server 2008. The March RC1 release includes the following: PHP & SQL Server Demos * Integrating SQL Server Geo-Spatial with PHP * SQL Server Reporting Services and PHP PHP & SQL Server Hands On Labs * Introduction to Using SQL Server with PHP * Using Full Text Search over Office Documents in PHP PHP on Windows Hands On Labs * IIS Access Control Features for PHP * Using IIS 7.0 Media Features in a PHP Application * Troubleshooting PHP * Migrating PHP Applications to IIS 7.0

Here’s the download link

Hello Windows 7 – Here’s a walk through of some of the new features we’re looking forward to in Windows 7

Apparently there are 24 bits of third party software in Chrome. One of which is the Windows Template Library which was released as Open Source in 2004.  Take a look at Scott Hanselman’s Blog for a deeper dive.