I wanted to give you advance warning that we’ll be having our annual Web CMS Smackdown at SBTUG on Wednesday 29 September. Yes, September – roughly 6 weeks away. This was one of our most popular events at the Sydney Business & Technology User Group last year. If you’re already sold on the event and don’t need to know anything more, then just pop over and RSVP now on our Facebook Event. For those of you who might be a little lost as to what a smackdown is I’ll give a quick overview of the night and what we are aiming to achieve… Aim The aim of the night is […]
Office 2010 & Windows Intune at SWUG this Wed
I’m looking forward to the Sydney Windows User Group (SWUG) this Wed (only 2 days to go!). Nick Rayner (newly blogging again) has lined up another rip-snorter (<- the first definition) and managed to get both Alistair Speirs and Jeff Alexander presenting on the same night (many people travel miles to hear just one of these guys – they’re that good 
) Alistair (newly married) will be talking about Office 2010 including Visio, Project and SharePoint. I’m a big Alistair fan (as you know), so I’d be going anyway, but having just upgraded to Office 2010 I wouldn’t miss it. Office 2010 is an excellent upgrade IMO, particularly Outlook 2010 which has […]
SBTUG: Social Networking and Chocolate
If you’re like me, then you probably cringe when you see people referring to themselves as a ‘social media strategist’. And if they point to Gary Vaynerchuk as their main example of why you too should embrace social media then I really despair. Too often it seems, we’re told of the wonderful success stories, with scant mention of the hard work, sweat and perserverance these overnight social media celebrities have been putting in… for years (as most overnight successes do). Of course, anyone and everyone can use social networking, but with so many options, how do you know which path to choose? How do we avoid ending up like this […]
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) at SBTUG
Next Wednesday (Sep 30) at SBTUG we’re lucky to have Kristin Rohan from SassySEO along to give us a Beginners Guide to SEO For Business. Make sure you RSVP here. It kicks off at 6pm next Wed 30 Sep at Microsoft, North Ryde (full details and map here). (We ask for a $5 donation to help cover the cost of pizza.) SEO for Business She’ll be covering a number of areas including: Why it is relevant What tactics you can use both internally (ie on page) and externally (ie off page) How to optimise using ‘white […]
CodePlex.org versus CodePlex.com
At one time in the not-too-distant past, the mention of ‘open source’ carried a stigma with it. Perhaps an inkling that it was not high quality. Or managed by socially inept geeks. Or not well supported.
But those days are long gone, and the adoption of open-source in the enterprise is high. And while this in itself is not particularly new, what is new is that it is finally being acknowledged by major closed-source companies. Microsoft is an obvious case in point.
The recent announcement of Microsoft’s CodePlex.org is welcome news to many, and seeks to be much more active than previous initiatives – but what does it really mean?
versus
CodePlex.org is Microsoft’s new foundation:
“The […]
SBTUG – Wed 24 June 2009 – Visual Studio 2010, Customer Feedback, Google Wave
I love the Sydney developer community. Really I do. Here’s why… I’d previously organized a speaker for SBTUG tomorrow night, but he had to pull out (due to valid work travel reasons). This was two weeks ago. Then I got sick for a week and a bit, so it wasn’t until late last week I started getting around to finding replacements (yeah, I know – pretty disorganized for me). Two guys from the community quickly offered to help. But then one of them called me on Monday to say he couldn’t make it (due to valid health related reasons). No problem, Andrew Coates and Jodie Miners both jumped in to help at […]
Sydney Windows User Group covers Windows 7 and Touch
Last Wednesday (13 May 2009) we had the first meeting of the newly formed (reformed?) Sydney Windows User Group (SWUG). Nick Rayner and I are leading the group, although to be fair Nick is doing 90% of the work. He’s the initiative, drive and main organizer. And doing a fantastic job I must say. The first meeting was packed and had more interaction amongst attendees than I’ve ever seen in a long time. It bodes well for future meetings. (The group meets on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at Microsoft North Ryde, so make sure you get along to our next meeting on 10 June if you’re interested.) At the […]
Virtual Earth Developer Contest
Over on the ViaWindowsLive site they’re running a Virtual Earth contest. Simply submit an article or video about something cool you’re doing with Virtual Earth and you’re in the running. You get a T-shirt just for entering (assuming your entry is valid , and there are a bunch of other prizes if yours is up the higher end on the awesomeness scale. You can contribute your article or video on the Contribute Article page. The site gets a fair amount of traffic, so is a good chance to get yourself some exposure as well as contributing to the community.
SBTUG: Wed 28 Jan 2009 – SharePoint, Windows 7 and Touch
Quick details: The Sydney Business & Technology User Group When: Wed 28 January 2009 Time: 6pm (until approx 8:30pm) Where: Microsoft, North Ryde Contact: Craig Bailey : 0413 489 388 Cost: $5 donation (to cover Pizza) More details: www.sbtug.com About our sessions: SharePoint for Managers : Kathy Hughes Kathy will […]
Team System Web site clean up
I’ve always liked how the Team System team work hard to provide details on what they’re up to. This is becoming more the norm on Microsoft assets (just check out the great job Beth Massi has been doing on the VSTO site for example), and so I shouldn’t be surprised to see just how serious they see simple things like content management to be. as Jeff Beehler notes, the Team System team have hired a dedicated web site manager for the Team System site. Sharon Elkins is the lucky person, and she blogs here about what her plans for the site are. Here’s the Team System community site, featuring everyone’s favorite defacto Aussie: Chuck […]
Office Development with VS Dev Center – the home of VSTO
Thanks to Beth Massi for alerting us to this – the Office Development with Visual Studio Developer Center has been launched. This is where the http://msdn.com/vsto URL will now take you to. The Office Development with Visual Studio Developer Center, as well as being short and pithy to say (not! is a very intuitive entry into many of the VSTO related areas, whether they be How Do I videos, Code samples, CodePlex, Forums, Community links, as well as links to OBA. […]
Live Services Jumpstart – Sydney – Dec 8 and 9
There’s only a few spots left for the Live Services Jumpstart in Sydney. It’s an intensive technical training session on Microsoft’s consumer web platform technologies. It’s being run by James McCutcheon and Dr Neil Roodyn (two of my new work colleagues at nsquared) and covers more than 20 technical sessions, hands-on labs and the opportunity to chat with numerous Live Services dudes. Sign up here. Technorati Tags: Live Services,Jumpstart,James McCutcheon,Neil Roodyn,Sydney
Melbourne Silverlight Designer and Developer Network
I’ve seen a few posts about this lately (eg Kordsi, Coatsy, Jordsy, sorry couldn’t resistsy), and with good reason – it looks like a really exciting new user group (or ‘network’ to be more correct). Here’s the Silverlight Designer and Developer Network (SDDN) website, which tells you their first meeting is next Thursday 27 Nov (held at Microsoft in Melbourne) kicking off around 5:30pm. It’s all based around Silverlight of course, but the cool thing is how they are targeting both designers and developers. As the site notes, designers have not really experienced too much of the love from Microsoft user groups, so bringing devs and designers together is an excellent move. […]
SBTUG: Next Wed 26 Nov 2008 – Steve Herzberg, Craig Bailey, EOY Party!
Quick details: When: Wed 26 November 2008 Time: 6pm (until approx 8:30pm) Where: Microsoft, North Ryde Contact: Craig Bailey : 0413 489 388 Cost: Free (Pizza + Drinkies + Nibblies all provided) More details: www.sbtug.com Yes, that’s right it’s almost Christmas (only 34 days till the consumer frenzy dies down… and then resumes with New Year sales . How time flies. Whilst I’d love to hold a December meeting of the Sydney Business & Technology User Group (SBTUG), unfortunately it would fall on New Year’s Eve and […]
Steve Ballmer rocks da house in Sydney – invites
You probably already know that Steve Ballmer is coming to Sydney next month – Thursday 6 November from 3pm to be precise. If not, then check out this site. I’m fortunate enough to have a few invites to the event (yes, it is invite only at this stage). If you’d like to attend simply drop me a line and I’ll send you the registration link and the invite code to use. I’ve only got a few left so you’ll need to be quick, and once they’re gone that’s it I’m afraid. Why would you want to attend? Well, for starters he’s going to be giving a super-condensed review of all […]
SBTUG: Next Wed 29 Oct 2008 – SQL Server 2008 explained
Next Wednesday 29 October 2008 we’ve got a special SQL Server 2008 night at the Sydney Business & Technology User Group (SBTUG). That means we’ve got Justin King, Omar Besiso and Geoff Orr talking about different aspects of SQL Server 2008. The focus is on covering high level benefits (ie there won’t be much in depth code). If we’re lucky we may even have a cameo from Rob Farley covering a few of the new Administrator benefits (but we’ll see). When: Wed 29 October 2008 Time: 6pm (until approx 8:30pm) Where: Microsoft, North Ryde Contact: Craig Bailey : […]
Office DevCon – 15-16 November 2008 – Sydney, Australia
Yes, Office DevCon is on again. Here’s the details: Office DevCon is an annual community-driven conference that allows Microsoft Office developers and power users to come together in one location to hear expert speakers present on a wide range of Microsoft Office-related topics. Come along and discover how to do things you never knew you could do with the Microsoft Office suite of products. What’s covered? We have Microsoft and industry experts from around the world who will present advanced topics the following products. Access Word Excel PowerPoint InfoPath […]
Web Directions South – Day 2
Another interesting day. I caught up with Michael Kordahi and had a play on the Surface. Oh, and yes I’ve ordered one for the Elcom conference room – should be turning up any decade now Keynote (Jeffrey Veen) The opening keynote by Jeff was good. Data is overwhelming, and analysing it can be an art-form. But failing to analyse is a business killer. The business of being social (Laurel Paworth) Laurel is really good. She understands her field really well and knows how to present it with interest and relevance. Social networks do (and should) make money. Being involved in your own social network should be […]
Web Directions South – Day 1
I had the pleasure of attending Web Directions South today – my first time. It’s interesting to compare it to TechEd from a few weeks ago in terms of how a conference turns out. Web Directions is much smaller of course, and has a nice intimate feel. General comments As a general statement it is no where near as polished as TechEd, and in fact highlights just how good TechEd is (I’ve taken TechEd for granted […]
Sydney ALT.NET User Group review #altnetsyd
I went along to the Sydney ALT.NET User group tonight, and was well rewarded. This was the kickoff meeting for the group and was an excellent start to what is sure to be an extremely useful gathering each month. Richard Banks was MC for the night, and started with news. I was pleased to hear good discussion amongst the attendees, and comfortable interaction. There’s nothing worse than a meeting where people don’t get involved (cues *sound of crickets*). Part of the reason I suspect was the meeting room (generously provided by ThoughtWorks) which had a huge conference room table, surrounded by 30-40 comfortable board room style chairs. Everyone was comfy. After […]
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