Tag: English Post

[#VS2015] No more Premium or Ultimate, now is #Enterprise!

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Hello!

I’m not yet in a position to write a post for the April’s fools day, but it will come. Today what is new is that model licenses and versions of Visual Studio will finally start to get more human with Visual Studio 2015.

The main change is that from now on, the main version name is Visual Studio Enterprise. The Ultimate and Premium versions are merged into a single version. Now there are only 3 versions, which can be summarized as follows

-Community, free and with support for AddIns

-Professional, all a Dev needs, and some little testing.

-Test, all a testing role needs

-Enterprise, everything you need is here

Comparative versions Visual Studio 2015 officer, can be seen in this link.

Greetings @ Madrid

/El Bruno

PS: If a ninja cat holding a Microsoft flag, riding a Unicorn that shoots fire through the nose, not excites you… This is not your day.

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[#OPINION] My honest opinion about “meetings addicts”

Hello!

I was reading this entry on Forbes “The Art and Science of Team Optimization” (link), and I remembered a talk we had a few days ago with a few coworkers about those people addicted to meetings.

I’m not a SME in biology , but if you want to identify them is very easy. The following characteristics tend to define this type of people

  • Meetings usually do not have no agenda, no topics at all
    • This point is what make meetings a surprise every time. The subject of the meeting is usually something like “Checkpoint”. This word is so open and ambiguous that it can give rise to anything. These meetings tend to finish taking unexpected directions and perhaps, you take more unplanned work that you thought that you could fall.
  • The addict organizes meetings of no less than 60 minutes
    • Any meeting which initially lasts less than an hour, is considered a casual encounter. A target official of these people is to ruin your day. That is, if they can stretch the meetings a bit more, stealing time from here and there, that will be a big day for them. I still do not have access to it, but I am convinced that there is a group in Yammer where these people share their small achievements.
  • Punctuality is optional
    • This is fundamental, relativity at its maximum power. What it appears to be a lack of respect for you (5 minutes late, for example), for this kind of people is normal. And, of course, it goes in the 2 parts of a meeting, at the beginning and at the end of a meeting.
  • They are always the same faces
    • This is another principle of biology, where the crowd like tend to gather. I’m not much attend meetings; moreover it gives me pleasure to reject them when I see that they will be unproductive. However, what they usually do is look the same and, or chance, there is always the same faces. It’s amazing, there are people who spend their day to be “in meeting time”

And of course, to complete the phrase that defines this species: “bored or you feel alone? “Hold a meeting!“

hold-a-meeting

Source: Internet (link)

Greetings @ Madrid

/El Bruno

[#OPINION] Be ready for a #hackathon like you’ll do for a half marathon

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Hello!

Yesterday I ran the Madrid’s Half Marathon and now that spring is here, those 21K in Madrid are quite funny. In Avanade we have a Yammer group for runners, and in the past days before the race someone shared a list of 10 tips for the day of the race. (By the way, I already wrote about why must use Yammer, and forget about emails). Most of these are common sense ones, however they are quite applicable to the world of the development of the software, especially for a hackathon .

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For example: “do not use any new stuff“. Is a very bad moment if you to decide to use a set of new sneakers, in the same new day that you are going to spend more than 90 minutes punishing your feet. Blisters, abrasions or even a bad choice of shoes may be the failure in a race. Similarly, when arriving at a hackathon, it is “nothing new in hardware or software” is always a good advice. This types of event usually are located for a short period of time so, there is no time for software or hardware errors. If for example, you decide to bring your new laptop, it is best that you go installing all the tools that you use in your day to day during the previous week.

Caution, there is a big difference between a race and a hackathon. On the 2nd we will learn as well as you create. So, for sure, you’ll know people who help you to learn new skills. So, you really want to lose 60 minutes reinstalling a stable version of a soft-you know, when you could take them to install a new IDE and also learn beside someone .

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Another tip that you need to follow Yes or Yes, when you run is “rise time“. In addition to problems you can arrive late, or being anxious to upon arrival; Here the most valuable resource we have to take care of is time. It is advisable to eat about 3 hours before the race, that time is ideal to be able to assimilate the food well and take advantage of them in the race.

If we are going to the world hackathon, the comparison is simple and we can do it in questions of auto mode because of the style, really want to arrive late and Miss 1 hour in a 3 hour session? The previous day before the hackathon we recommend to leave prepared everything for the event. In the same way, properly plan trip to the event is something that is appreciated. (If, as in my case, you move with a variety of hardware in tow, planning is essential)

And during the holidays, I think that I’ll be here. Post could go much further, with comparisons related to training or the decision of what kind of task you will perform; but it’s time to add a couple of KMs more legs which, in a few days, there is another good competition.

Greetings @ Madrid

/El Bruno

[#OPINION] The non easy path from Managers to Leaders

Hello!

There is plenty of books, posts, etc. related to the “managers problem”. Besides the unnecessary bureaucracy and hierarchy levels that are usually added within an organization, managers jobs tend to be the main rope to the neck which a professional can face at some point in this career. I usually told the story of my friend Pablo, as the clearest example of a career evolution

  • Paul was a great professional who one day decided to devote himself to the noble art of vegetable arrangement in the local market in the village
  • After 2 years, Paul was the best vegetables organizer in the market
  • The people who worked with Paul started to came to him to ask his view about the best way to organize vegetables
  • After a while the happiness of Pablo began to fall, in their working day he didn’t have time to arrange vegetables, he was devoted to help his teammates to organize vegetables
  • The owner of the market, when he saw this situation, thought that the best thing that could be done was to create a manager role for Paul. He will be dedicated to manager a team who arrange vegetables
  • At first glance, this seemed a “career development” for Paul, so I accept the challenge with lot of desire
  • After a year of being in this role, Paul realized that
    • He wasn’t really prepared to manage a team. Manage accounts, talk to the suppliers of the orchards and control the schedules of the people, was not something he liked
    • Paul just wanted to arrange vegetables! When he failed to do this work, his morale went down
    • With the low morale, Paul didn’t give his best in his work
  • … you can imagine the next steps in the story

As well, this classic-sounding incompetence of Peter principle (link) tends to be used as an example to demonstrate the low value of managers in organizations. What it seems to be a natural step in the career of a person, can become a very difficult wall. Personally, I have seen many examples of this kind: people who hold positions with responsibility for a team, but who lack the skills necessary to performs this role.

Now, if ever think on this with the point of view of a team I always ask myself: Do I really want to work with a person who only wants to perform one role?. I know I don’t.

I think that subject specialization is essential to have an agile and focused mind, while learning something new and play different roles in a team also helps to grow as a professional. In 15 years I have been in computer science I have performed a lot of roles. This has helped me to not became the best in a specific subject, however it also gave me enough perspective to be able to say things like Why not use branches or not add unnecesary tools. When I say this for the first time, more than one came to me to fight. Lucky me, after 5 years specializing in ALM, my reasoning had a bit of foundation.

When I hear people complaining of Managers jobs, many times I wonder if these criticisms are based on the experience or it is simply criticize as an sport. Anyone who has taken a position of “manager”, learns that, regardless of the technical skills needed to lead a team, there are some other skills which are fundamental. This is the ideal time to stop talking about managers and start talking about leaders, which is the ideal term for people who lead a team. For example, in the case of the leaders, I’m going to share 3 skills that are fundamental

  • Generosity. About this one, I more difference nowadays: “leaders of the old school” who believe that information is power. The basis of his bad leadership is summed up in “if we triumph, the team triumph; If we fail the failure is of the team”. Good leaders understand that equality and transparency in a team is a fundamental aspect.
  • Transparency. Related to the previous point. Leaders which are not transparent with information are destined to fail. 10 years ago it was a model that worked. However, today where everything is shared, all published, models are open and collaborative, a manager should adapt to this model; or the team will leave him.
  • Passion. This is fundamental, a person who lead a team has to have passion for the work. When a person demonstrates passion for his work, it is certain that passion will be transmitted to your computer. Take care that the same goes for the apathy.

This list could continue to grow and add topics as know to listen and know to ask. The number of managers who have their against their noses awkward situations and do not know how something as simple as listening is amazing and ask can help reach a solution. Others such as understanding body language, or have courage are also skills that a leader must have. But these topics are for another post with a title that sounds to “People Skills for a Leader”

Greetings @ Home

/El Bruno

Wikipedia, Peters Principle

[#VS2013] Node.js tools V1.0, much more important than you think

Hello!

After a couple of posts about the plugin in Visual Studio to work with NodeJs, we reach to final version 1.0.So here is a not so “great” news if you’re a Visual Studio developer.

However, from another perspective:

There are formal channels that echo on how Microsoft is changing and opening / promoting these platforms that are not 100% exclusive Ms.

For example: forbes.

Now before that I forget to, link to Node.js Tools 1.0 for Visual Studio (NTVS) and the link to the download

Then we’ve go to the classics such intellisense and some very good stuff like NPM integration (something like the NuGet for NodeJs) and the interactive REPL panel which is quite addictive when you get used to working with it.

Greetings @ Barcelona

/El Bruno

Sources

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2015/03/25/node-js-tools-1-0-for-visual-studio.aspx

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adrianbridgwater/2015/03/25/building-internet-of-things-robots-microsoft-opens-visual-studio-to-node-js/

[#VS2015] Where to look to start a little dev for #Windows10? course in #GitHub

Hello!

The official launch for the Windows 10 Dev tools was yesterday. It goes all around from Visual Studio 2015 to Team Foundation 2015, including some cool stuff like Visual Studio Tools, and other extensions. And that’s the easy one, you just only have download the bits. Now, as a good developer, our body does not need not long posts, we need examples. And if they are code samples, better for us.

The official examples repo is on GitHub, and if further reinforcement of the sentence pronounced a while ago

We want to be where the community are

There are 2 large repos, Universal Apps and Drivers.

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The Universal Apps are 2 MBs are covered where the Basic for Windows apps work relating to sensors (accelerometer, altimeter, gyrometer, etc)

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The drivers are more than 80MBs and I have not had time to see in depth what covers. So you can see covers the basics of audio, serial, etc.

Greetings @ Barcelona

/El Bruno

Homepage: http://microsoft.github.io/windows/

[#IOT] 2 options to save you backend work #LabOfThings and #ConnectTheDots

Good!

One of the most important parts in a solution of IoT is the decision of the type of backend which we will use. If you are a craft person, chances are that you think your own hub based in WebApi and hostees on AZURE. Then it will be time to think on topics such as security, scalability, etc. Here are actors like Azure Event Hub, Machine Learning, Azure Stream Analytics, etc. At the end you end up giving a look at Azure IoT Suite, that is more than just insurance.

Another important issue is the ability of data processing in the backend. Like it or not, the fact to be able to present the data in a friendly manner is something that is always appreciated. Here Excel and BI-Power tend to be one choice that Interestingly, in my case I prefer to use Avanade Touch Analytics (multi-platform and very powerful)

Now, if you want to be unaspruebas with a platform that you automatically, similar capabilities you can try other options. For example Lab of Things or Connect the Dots .

To give you a little bit of weight, just start saying that Lab of Things has been created by the people of Microsoft Research. This already by itself, gives us a good taste at the beginning. To me what more I liked is the quantity of projects of Research that are already created and which can be used as a basis for new solutions from IoT.

On the other hand Connect the Dots not start wrong, has been created by the people of Microsoft Open Technologies. Within this solution (hosted on GitHub, of course) we can find examples of code, configuration files, and more that will serve us to assemble a solution from scratch using Azure services. This example is that arrive starting from scratch, then investigate and learn a little.

So now you know, if you want to save a couple of days (or more) reversed a morning and up you can have a fun time.

Greetings @ Home

/El Bruno

Lab of Things: http://www.lab-of-things.com/

Connect the Dots: https://github.com/msopentech/connectthedots

PS: If you’re waiting for an analysis of necessary services and code to interact with each of these platforms, so that in upcoming posts.

[#HUMOR] RIP #InternetExplorer ;)

Hi!

Después de 20 años uno tal vez debería tenerle un poco de cariño … veo que internet comparte mi opinión

After 20 years together, you may probably think to have some love with IE, … internet thinks the same 😀

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Regards @ Madrid

/El Bruno

Sources

http://www.siliconbeat.com/2015/03/17/goodbye-internet-explorer/

http://9gag.com/gag/aYWL4Dv/rip-internet-explorer

http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/18/we-wont-miss-internet-explorer-but-we-will-miss-the-memes-5109057/

http://www.cuantarazon.com/948381/internet-explorer

[#IOT] Microsoft IoT Azure contest by #CodeProject, $10000 … so cool !!!

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Hello!

CodeProject friends have launched a contest about Internet Of Things based on Azure wich is very nice. The prize is $10 K (subject to the typical restrictions), and the interesting thing is that it is open to any idea you have and use devices and Azure to collect, aggregate, and explote data.

From what I understand, can range from the typical temperature sensor in your home by sending this information to AZURE to scenarios more complex with several integrated devices between if and trying to conquer the world.

The only problem is that the scenario you are describing in your article must be published and ready before March 23, so you have all this weekend to finish a nice article on the subject.

Saludos @ Madrid

/El Bruno

Fuente: http://www.codeproject.com/Competitions/795/Microsoft-Azure-IoT-Contest.aspx

[#OPENSOURCE] Now is #MSBuild time !!! ^_^

Hello!

It was hoped that after the launch of Roslyn, MSBuild will become an Open Source tool. Not so long ago Roslyn was published on Github, and of course >> MSBuild is the next step.

In addition to being “a tool / platform / something else” the release of MSBuild is special for Microsoft. During the last 10 years (or more) MSBuild has been the core platform for compilation of applications in the .Net world.

Since Visual Studio 2005 until today, every project, solution or asset related to Visual Studio was built by MSBuild ;).

I have no accurate statistics, but I’m sure I’ve written more than 200 posts on MSBuild customizations. And of course, Team Foundation Server uses MSBuild for automated build processes so the cycle is complete.

And now that is open source… because we can expect specific versions for Linux or Mac, customization to do to compile other types of platforms, etc.

For example, and this is more a personal guess than a line of work. Now that Android is an element as well integrated within the Microsoft ecosystem, why not be able to use Visual Studio to create native apps for Android? Integrate the environment for compiling Java / Android with MSBuild is not an impossible task 😀

Greetings @ Home

/El Bruno

References:

MSBuild now is open source, http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2015/03/18/msbuild-engine-is-now-open-source-on-github.aspx?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

MSBuild on GitHub, https://github.com/Microsoft/msbuild

Roslyn, http://roslyn.codeplex.com/

MSBuild posts, https://elbruno.com/category/visual-studio/msbuild/