.NET Sweatshop

2006-10-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

In addition to the new .NET Sweatshop, I am also blogging on non-MS topics on my new site "sandmansays.com" (instead of "Simon Says"). It's my way of sharing observations of my career in the software industry, particularly the last five since I graduated from b-school. I realized that my philosophical blog entries are probably better suited for a different place than anything that is MS-focused

2004-04-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

In case you still come here to look for my blog, I've moved to MSDN and I am blogging there. The link is at: http://blogs.msdn.com/sandyk

2004-02-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

We've been getting a lot of feedback lately about the simplicity of our blocks (or lack thereof). The Data Access application block (DAAB) has been a hit, but some people (myself included) think that while it was cool, the scope was small enough to limit the impact it's had on my coding behavior. But that's the beauty of it for most people. Two classes (one a supporting class, really) and a

2004-02-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago, I did another webcast--this time as a "guest appearance" with Ron Jacobs. Yes, my life has been reduced to a series of cameos in our webcasts. As the speakers get better, I step back and just orchestrate. Still, I like to participate and I've got no problem playing second banana. Ron was doing his presentation on Shadowfax, the upcoming reference architecture from PAG.

2004-01-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

If there’s one constant complaint that I get about my blog (OK there may be more than one complaint that I get about my blog, so maybe it’s the biggest complaint), it is that I do not have an RSS Feed. And unfortunately, Blogspot is still not supporting RSS or else I have not have not figured out how to use it. So what’s a good ex-developer to do (besides switch and incur the switching costs)?

2004-01-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

OK, I haven't stood on a soap box for a while, so what better time than in January when all things are anew. My latest thoughts revolve around the future of Microsoft and how I hope they evolve in their relationship with customers. Having worked at Intel, there's no law that is more near and dear to my heart than Moore’s Law. It has revolutionized the computing industry by constantly

2004-01-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

As you've probably heard, the Middleware Company launched the Serverside.NET (http://theserverside.net/) yesterday as a sister site to the Serverside.com. For those of you who are not familiar with Serverside.com, it is one of the most successful on-line J2EE community sites. We worked with Middleware a year ago on a completely unrelated project and I always thought of them as really bright

2004-01-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

OK so I took some time off from my blog over the last couple of weeks for the holidays. It was a refreshing time to go down to California and enjoy a little sun. Of course, any weather is better than Seattle this time of year. I keep mumbling the mantra “think of July, think of July”. Given that it is now 2004, I’m gonna fall into that same routine that everybody else does in January and look

2003-12-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS **************************************************** 'Twas the week before Christmas, when all through Bldg 5 The PAG team was cranking and the halls were alive; The big grids were hung by the stairwell with care, In anticipation of new patterns that would soon be there. And our devs were coding something far better than javabeans, For it was visions of app blocks that

2003-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks back, I blogged about the conversation that friend and I were having regarding CAS and whether it was a viable alternative for software developers nothing to create secure applications. I think one of the best parts of being an employee of Microsoft is having these engaging conversations. The differences of opinion make for great debates and interesting topics to write about in my

2003-12-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

I don't normally give that much time to the application blocks in this blog, but I am a fan--less of what they are now and more of what I think they could be in the future. In the days of COM & DCOM, the programming stack consisted of the (a) kernel, (b) the Win 32 API, and (c) the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC). My ideal stack of the future would be the (a) kernel, the (b) .NET Fx (CLR +

2003-11-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

An update on my ink-thinking code--it didn't win. Alas, there were a lot of submissions and many were very cool, although I don't think they were all really useful as much as they were nifty displays of technology and programming. I know, I know--sour grapes, right? Actually, I think it brings up an interesting point. I like bringing up Alan Cooper (Father of VB) a lot because I think he has

2003-11-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

I have a weird job. I work at the world's largest software company, but my group doesn't necessarily create software (sometimes we do, sometimes we don't). In some ways, I feel like a book/web publisher. Yet my job requires a higher technical acumen than the average MBA or even the average EE-turned-MBA. Sometimes, the stuff we create is as complex as the stuff that goes into the product.

2003-11-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

I was talking with someone regarding code access security (CAS) the other day. If you've never heard of it or always wondered what it was but were afraid to ask, CAS is a security model in .NET that selectively restricts system resources that code can access and the types of privileged operation that the code can perform. It ignores the user who calls the code in favor of the credentials of the

2003-11-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

So the biggest developer party of the year is finally over and my hangover isn’t too bad. I’m not talking about the alcohol—after all, who had time to drink? (OK, I did a little, but never on the job). No, I’m talking about the hangover from the exhausting process of envisioning our strategy for PDC and then executing on the plan for getting patterns & practices as visible as possible at an

2003-10-29T22:43:00.000-08:00

Viva la blocks. Another one is here!!! Everyone needs to monitor apps and there's a host of things to do: determine what info you want, design the event triggers, and make them available for analysis in an appropriate format. But building useful logging capabilities into applications can be a huge pain. To help provide effective event-capture for enterprise applications, PAG has designed the

2003-10-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

My code thinks in ink. Really. At Microsoft, they just had a competition for writing PowerToys for the TabletPC that thinks in ink. They plastered ads for the contest all over campus and they kept using the phrase "Does Your Code Think In Ink?" I admit it. I fell for it. But, I dragged my feet for the first few weeks of the contest. I was having a hard time figuring out an idea for what my

2003-10-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

I got a TabletPC a couple of months ago. I had been begging for one for a long time. I love the ability to scribble down notes and keyboards do not support scribbling. I have to admit that when I finally got it, I was a little concerned I'd be disappointed. Y'know, it's like when you get really excited for that Christmas gift and by the time Christmas rolls around, your expectations are so

2003-10-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

OK, I spent a lot of time travelling over the past few weeks and I even planned to write an entry on one of my plane rides. But, I got carried away with my non-techie blog entry about the Orioles closing out the year (an off-line entry I still haven't posted :<) and never got around to that fun .NET stuff. Still, travelling out of the friendly (or sometimes, not so friendly) confines of Redmond

2003-09-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

Looks like Blogger got the site stats thing working, so now we'll know if people are coming to the blog. Time to start sticking the site on my e-mail signature... I'm real busy. Much like Ed, I've got a dizzying array of things going on. Some things I can reveal and other I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you (and I don't know how that would work with a blog--that's just not scalable

2003-09-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

The Tie Fighter looks great in the office, I must say. Lego just rocks. Stuff aside, right now got too much things to do. There's the reference app, smart client guidance, tools stuff, giving-feedback-to-product-groups thing, and aspect stuff. Plus the authorization and profile mgmt blocks are coming out and we have to review the design - they look great but in their infancy these things always

2003-08-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Building guidance is fun. And gruelling too. But, related to Sandy's last post, there's an aspect of building guidance which I'll share- it's the responsibility that goes with making recommendations on how to design, build, secure, etc your systems. It's with this is mind that I entitle this log entry.... The Weight Of Giving Guidance Providing best practices for application developers is a

2003-08-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

OK, Ed takes care of the thought leadership and I will serve as the shameless shill of new guidance that is on our site. The latest guide from our team is the WS-I guidance that we worked on in coordination with the XML Web Services team. It is located at: WS-I Guide I was able to witness some of the neogtiations that went on between all the companies involved to settle on the final ratified

2003-08-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

As Sandy said, if you got stuff to blame BlueBricks for, I'll take the hit..but please go to the GotDotNet wokspaces first. Theres lots of people who can help buffer the anger :) There's Models and Then There's Models So if you work specifying metamodels, or domain models, you will have surely gone through what I have just gone through right now. It starts simple. You start modelling a space

2003-08-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

As you see from the previous post, we have a new blogger in the .NET Sweatshop. Ed is Captain Bluebrick, the renegade Solution Architecture that is the father of the App Blocks you see on the patterns & practices site. There are few people at Microsoft with as much enthusiasm as EdJez and he backs it up with a great knowledge of the .NET Framework and customer challenges. He and Srinath

2003-08-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

BlueBricks. There it is. I mean, you shouldn't have to build the yet-another-once-again-data helper right? So if you have been following Sandman's shameless plugs into patterns & practices (please do: p&p) you know what I'm talking about - the Application Blocks for .NET. They help you build better systems, faster. It's been a privilege.... Before saying

2003-07-31T22:32:00.000-07:00

For the past five weeks, I have inherited the role of patterns & practices marketing dude. Steve Elston, a long-time MS employee and one of the coolest people I met here, finally stepped down and decided to lead the chill life with his wife and kids. Good for him, but unfortunate for our team--those are some big shoes to fill. p&p made some major strides in the past year. Still, we're not on

2003-07-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, Sorry to be slow on the blog, but the last month has been extra hectic. We've been churning stuff out left and right and now we are in event mode as well. We're heavy into TechEd season, we've got our internal field meeting coming up next week, and plans are already underway for our big partner event and PDC, the king of all events! But, I thought I'd fill you in on some nifty new

2003-06-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's finally here. After 8 long months of blood, sweat, & tears, the menfrom the "Security GoF" has just released the follow-up to Building Secure Web Apps. This guide helps you design, build, & configure tough web apps that withstand most attacks and mitigate the extent of damage if someone slips by. The key words: holistic and systematic. STRIDE is cool and it gets the ball rolling, but as

2003-06-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

Obviously, security is a key issue here at Microsoft and especially within our guidance juggernaut. Specifically dealing with ASP.NET, our first guide is out there and our second guide is soon to follow. The security studs at @Stake did a study of WebSphere on Red Hat running against Win 2003/.NET Fx 1.1 and I have to say I was pretty happy with what they came up with, especially because they

2003-06-06T23:44:00.000-07:00

Authentication flow in ASP.NET - Picture that never made it to big screen... One late evening Dunner, JD and I were discussing that we should have a BIG picture in the Building Secure ASP.NET guide that captures the complete process flow of Authentication in ASP.NET, starting from browser, to IIS and through all the layers in ASP.NET. I grabbed a couple of dry erasers and in 10-15 minutes, we

2003-06-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

I should take a second to introduce another member of the .NET Sweatshop. Srinath Vasireddy was pulled into the PAG team about a year or so ago as a subject-matter expert on ASP.NET technologies and his first task was to join forces with JD Meier to lead a team delivering on the corporate Trustworthy Computing message with an extensive examination of ASP.NET Security. What has ensued has been

2003-06-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

We've done a lot of exciting work around the application architecture and our design patterns are really coming along. Personally, I am on a mission to get smarter about the integration story. Applications & platforms that talk to each other. Business processes conducted like a perfect symphony. Taking information once restricted to a green screen and using it in your .NET application. I

2003-06-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

Apps designed by independent software vendors have helped make the Microsoft Windows® operating system the world’s most popular computing platform. Since the first version of VB, Microsoft has done a lot to make coding cool. Over the last several years, the evolution of computing has resulted in an increase in system complexity. This phenomenon led Microsoft to create the .NET Framework as a