Author: Sam Basu

Sam Basu https://samidipbasu.wordpress.com Dev 🥑 for @UnoPlatform. Into X-Plat Dev & AI. 13xMVP. Speaker. Author. Streamer. ❤️ Family, Travels. 💜 Apple, Cricket, Fast cars. Foodie. Geek. 🌎

Sleepless in Seattle …

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Delta Force Rangers – Just like in combat, this is an elite group in the software industry when it comes to the Microsoft technology stack. It is the group of some of MSFT’s closest & best partner companies, believed to be the most influential in advising/delivering on MSFT technologies to our customers. Sogeti USA is a part of that elite group and we were invited to a Delta Force Rangers special event on Windows 8 @ the MSFT Redmond campus. And I was fortunate to be able to attend! Here’s the little story of four days of awesomeness ..

  • Got no qualms in accepting that this was the first time I got invited to Seattle/MSFT campus purely for work. So, I was really looking forward to soaking it all up, and it turned out to be an enlightening experience. Best part was catching up with folks that I talk to often, but have not met in person. The Hyatt House, MSFT campus & specially the cafeterias did not disappoint. Hopefully, more folks from our Mobility practice get to attend these Ranger events in future.
  • Day 1 & Day 2 were all sessions on Windows 8. It was great to hear from candid experts on a variety of development areas, hardware & what Windows 8 meant for enterprises/mobility. A lot of the sessions were under strict NDA for obvious reasons .. so my lips are sealed :). All I can say is you may want to really watch for news around Oct 26 – the Windows 8 GA date!
  • An evening reception on second night may have seemed bland compared to the Seattle Mariner’s game on first night. But boy, we were in for a little surprise after dinner – yep, Samsung Series 7 slates for all !! Complete with dock & bluetooth keyboard/mouse.
  • To sweeten the deal, our Global MSFT Business Development Lead, Darren Baker, personally dropped off a kickstand case for my slate .. how cool is that. Using the slate as a daily device now for Windows 8 development & showing the UX to clients.
  • Now, surely there would something wanted in return, right? Yes, MSFT wanted us Rangers to code a little, all in the fun to gain some experience. So, we were paired up based on our skills – 10 teams of 4 members each. And one day to dream & code up a working Windows 8 application, complete with all sorts of OS integrations & leveraging Cloud services. Go!
  • Guess I lucked out to be in an awesome team – Scott Newsome [Planet Tech], Hardeep Meen [CDW] & the awesome developer in Adam Grocholski [RBA]. We set our sights on a FDA product recall app, complete with Live Connect personalization, social integration & Azure services feeding Push Notifications. Between Thursday 8AM and the Friday 8AM deadline, our team slept for 1 hour only !! Hardcore effort to prove ourselves ..
  • Now, in all fairness, there was a little incentive for us as well. So, Friday had all the teams show off their Windows 8 apps. And while others were impressive, our team won .. woot! What’s the prize – the MSFT Surface tablets gets shipped to all members of the winning team the day it is publicly available. Heck yeah! 🙂
  • Oh, and not to be forgotten, we all got our customized traditional Delta Ranger Tilley hats – arguably the best hats in the world. And no Redmond trip is complete without a visit to the MSFT Company Store, where money simply knows to walk out of a geek’s wallet.

In all, a truly wonderful week of learning, networking & coding with peers. Windows 8 is going to big – the whole PC landscape is changing. Let’s gear up!

Adios

Windows 8 Apps: The 8 Must-Know Tricks!

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Windows 8 RTMs tomorrow – Aug 15th. This is big & should be awesome! Having had the opportunity to work on some Windows 8 applications with some brilliant internal developers/designers, I have learnt a lot in the past few months. So, wanting to give a little back, I started writing an article series on SilverlightShow on real-world development tips & tricks towards writing Windows 8 applications. 8 must-know developers tips in 8 days – simple & to the point, with some code examples on XAML/C# stack. Here’s the indexed list for the series:

Day 1: Know the ecosystem; Start
Day 2: Layout, Navigation & Visual States
Day 3: Semantic Zoom
Day 4: Controls & Styling
Day 5: Search, Share & Settings Contracts
Day 6: Data Persistence & Application Life-Cycle Management
Day 7: Use of OData or Web Services
Day 8: Live Services integration

If you are writing applications for Windows 8 or you are on the fence, please check out the series above for tips on how to quickly get started towards building Windows 8 Apps which feel right at home in the OS. And please leave me feedback!

As always, check out the other great content on SilverlightShow.net to suit your development needs.

Adios!

Quick Thoughts on future of Windows Phone ..

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What a week it has been if you follow MSFT Technology stack! First, the innovation we saw in the MSFT Surface. Today, it was the turn for Windows Phone Summit to lay down the what MSFT had in works for the future of the Windows Phone ecosystem.

Love it or hate it – you cannot deny, as a technologists, that relentless innovation from competing companies is what pushes our tech industry forward. Here are my 2 little cents on the Windows Phone announcements:

[Recently at a conference, I learnt from Jay Harris that “Bullets Kill People” :). Bullets are meant for guns & not presentations/blog posts. Sorry Jay, it was just quick this one time .. hoping you don’t see this! Moving forward, I promise …]

  • The One Ecosystem – First, in my opinion, Windows Phone 8 looks very very good; it delivers on everything we were expecting as enthusiasts. Most importantly, it draws from the power of Windows .. the NT Core stack for networking, file system, security & overall stability/performance. This was expected; but not a trivial ask ripping out the core underlying the 2 year old Windows Phone OS. This has positive implications written all over it .. the combo of Windows 8 & Windows Phone 8 sharing guts is going to make for brilliant opportunities. Just better together!
  • First Loves – Here are things I absolutely loved about the direction in Windows Phone 8 platform, as a consumer: Sharper high-res screens, Wallet, NFC, Expandable storage, Nokia maps & IE 10 rendering engine. Oh, and OTA is for the win!
  • Developer, Developer, Developer – Every tech giant knows who their best friends are; so no wonder developers need to be wooed. Here’s what I will be looking forward to in the next Windows Phone SDK: Native code support (Not smart enough to do myself yet; but this will be huge), In-App purchases (Thank You!), VoIP and Wallet API integrations. How do we make Digital coupons or use NFC APIs? Let’s hope the SDK lands soon .. can we have a BUILD please? Now, the real interesting thing would be the SDK. Would I be able to target both 7.5 & 8 from VS 2012 templates? What percent of us WPDevs would start jumping on the WP8 bandwagon, given most user base is on present generation & might not switch until their next phone? Let’s hope the transition would be smooth for devs ..
  • Buyer’s Remorse – Now, the bittersweet. Would you agree that in today’s age, we live with constant buyer’s remorse, specially with gadgets? So, Windows Phone 8 OS would NOT run on present hardware devices. Somewhat awkward, but really not much way around. Shooting from the hip here, but given generation shift in technology between Windows CE Kernel & NT Core, I would imagine it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to flash smartphone ROMs that close to metal. So, there. Now, all three of Apple, MSFT & Google are refreshing their mobile OS big time every year. So, in practicality, we are being enticed to buy new hardware every year! Unfortunate, yes .. but let’s set aside budget, shall we? As Rob Gibbens mentioned, would you want to pay a little more upfront for a phone, given a 1 year contract? Thankfully, there would be Windows Phone 7.8 that would be pushed out to present phones, to bring you the advancements of the new Start Screen experience.
  • Start – So, there is a somewhat new Windows Phone Start screen experience. See the wonderful video HERE. Live Tiles & pinnable content is one of the most loved Windows Phone features among users; so, nice to see this being pushed forward further. Live Tiles would come in 3 customizable sizes & various colors – so your phone is distinctly you! Personally, I somehow liked the little right arrow & the breathing space to the right in present generation Windows Phones – I think it’s aesthetic; most think it is wastage of valuable screen real estate. Guess I’m alone & we shall see how the new Start experience feels in hand. Clutter is uncalled for .. so may be we can be sparing in placement of the customized smallest Tiles.
  • Enterprise Features – Encryption, Security, Remote Wipe & Company Hubs – Love it!

Overall, I am pretty excited about the announcements at Windows Phone Summit. The future of Windows Phone ecosystem is in good hands and Windows 8 will only help propel adoption. In fact, starting this Fall, between the Phone, the PC & the XBox – the MSFT ecosystem is pretty darn difficult to not get excited for. And we are just getting started .. let’s see all that is in store for developers! We win as one 🙂

Adios!