MSDN subscribers can now download the final bits for Visual Studio 2010.  Here is a list of what has been published:

• .NET 4.0 framework (x86 and x64)
• Visual Studio 2010 Express
• Visual Studio 2010 Professional
• Visual Studio 2010 Premium
• Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate
• Visual Studio 2010 SDK
• Visual Studio Team Explorer Everywhere 2010
• Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010
• Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010
• Visual Studio Test Professional 2010
• Visual Studio 2010 Tools for the Office System 4.0 Runtime

Ceton is scheduled to release a quad tuner PC card this May.  This card allows you to control 4 separate tuners by using a single cable card from your cable company.  If you are considering making your own media center PC you might want to pre-order one of these.  Why pay a TIVO subscription fee when you can build a better unit yourself. 

I wanted to pass the word that the .net framework beta exams have been release to the public.  I think this is a great opportunity to test your skills while helping test the next generation of exams.  Plus if you pass you are certified. 

Reblogging:

If you pass one of the beta exams, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. The 71-xxx identifier is used for registering for beta versions of MCP exams, when the exam is released in its final form the 70-xxx identifier is used for registration.
By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications. The following exams are a part of this beta offering.

Exam 71-511, TS: Windows Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Exam 71-515, TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Exam 70-513: TS: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Exam 70-516: TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Exam 70-518: Pro: Designing and Developing Windows Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Exam 70-519: Pro: Designing and Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Reference:

http://blogs.technet.com/betaexams/archive/2010/03/17/register-for-visual-studio-2010-beta-exams.aspx

When Vista was released in January of 2007 I decided it was time to upgrade my PC.  At the time I hadn't tried any of the betas and thought that the Microsoft propoganda sounded good.  The result?  I had to buy new versions of a LOT of software AND hardware just to make it work.  The new Vista machine didnt work with the software from my printer, video camera, digital camera, scanner or web cam.  The only external device it worked with out of the box was the keyboard/mouse.  My cd burner software, audio editing software and others just plain didnt work with Vista.  Video card hardware vendors were not ready at the time Vista was released and their drivers were buggy.  Needless to say I was rather disappointed with the Vista deployment.

Fast forward to Windows 7.  My first experience with Windows 7 was with their HUGE beta release to millions of public users.  I installed the beta right away and was ready to start to figure out the overall impact.  Would I need new hardware again or have to wait months to get updated drivers?  No.  Not a single program I have needed to be replaced.  I'm very happy with the improved performance and cool new features.  Go upgrade!

Why you should upgrade:

• Ability to boot off of a VHD.  I consider this the most valuable new feature in Windows 7.  Note that you have to buy the Enterprise or Ultimate editions to get this feature.
• Faster performance.  They have made nice improvements from boot speed to overall computer speed.
• Stability. Win 7 is much more stable.

More on the VHD booting...

VHD booting is cool.  I took that Vista PC that has only 1 hard drive with 1 partition and was able to install Windows 7 Ultimate into a virtual hard drive (VHD).  What this does is allows me to be able to go back to the original Vista installation any time I need to so I can work with programs or configurations that I decided to not install or configure on my Windows 7 install.

So why is VHD booting a big deal?

• I was able to install Windows 7 Ultimate and get it configured in isolation from the Vista installation.  If there was a problem I can always revert back to Vista.  (no problems yet)
• At any time I can boot back to the original Vista and straight copy the virtual hard drive file over to my external backup drive.  What this does for me is makes a full backup of my Windows 7 install and all the files/programs related by simply copying a single file.
• Easily test beta software in isolation.  Simply copy your VHD to a new file, mount the new VHD file and now you have a sandbox where you can play beta software without affecting your main Windows 7 VHD.  When you are done simply delete the VHD you dont want anymore.
• On a single drive with a single partition you can have any number of VHD disks until you fill up the drive.  I have 4 options on my laptop to boot from -- Windows 7, Windows 7 VHD1 (my main workplace), Windows 7 VHD2 (beta playground), Windows 2008 all from a single drive.

I'll have a future post on how to create a VHD and set it up to be bootable. 

References:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions
• http://blogs.msdn.com/knom/archive/2009/04/07/windows-7-vhd-boot-setup-guideline.aspx  (great post.  thanks Max!)

Questions/comments/thoughts -- feel free to post or email me directly kevin _at_ goffsoft.com

So I'm back at maintaining my site.  Finally.  I guess all I needed was the right motivation.

As part of getting the site redesign up and running I found myself wanting an FTP client vs the built in FTP functionality in Windows.  I'm now a big fan of FileZilla. 

http://filezilla-project.org/

Filezilla is very light weight, has an easy installer, and isn't loaded up with a bunch of other crap (google toolbar, etc) you don't want.  If you need a good FTP client I think you'll like this one.

Interested in other tools that I use?  View the entire list here: http://www.goffsoft.com/page/Recommended-Software.aspx

Diagnostics: x64, ODP.net and "Unable to find ... Data Provider"

I came across a problem today on our x64 (extended 64 bit) servers when troubleshooting an Oracle installation. We completed the installation of the ODP.net Oracle client and setup as we normally do on our x86 machines but this time there was a problem: we weren't connecting to Oracle. I started diagnosing the problem using the typical techniques -- google the exception text. But -- no joy. There only 3 other articles that contained similar texts but none of them seemed to be pointing towards Oracle or x64. Now I knew I was in for some fun diagnosing.

Before I go to much further let me summarize the problem. First of all the error message, "Unable to find the requested .Net Framework Data Provider. It may not be installed.".

Next is the environment:

• Running x64 machines in IIS 32bit mode.
• We were using VS 2005, .net 2.0 runtime
• ODP.net 10
• Microsoft Enterprise Library - January 2006 version.

After trying several different typical fixes I realized I needed to start from scratch -- create a basic web app that hits oracle through ODP and see if it works. DING! The test project worked fine. So now what? Oracle works, IIS works, that pretty much leaves the Enterprise Library. After digging in to the guts of the how the Enterprise Library works I discovered that the installation process of the Oracle ODP client requires a little snip added to the machine.config. Further investigation found that Oracle did update the machine.config of the Framework64 directory but not the 32bit directory. AHA!

The solution: edit the machine.config (Located at C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\CONFIG\machine.config) and add the missing piece. The Enterprise Library needs this piece to function. (the piece that was missing for our configuration is listed in blue below)

Running an x64 (64 bit) version of Windows with Oracle ODP client can be a challenge to setup. If you need to run an x64 (64 bit) version of Windows with the Oracle ODP.net this is for you.

[NOTE: THIS INCLUDES INSTRUCTIONS FOR WORKING IN 32bit MODE ONLY]

IIS/ASP.net

If you need to run an x64 Windows machine with ASP.net using Oracle's ODP.net client you will want to run IIS in x86 (32 bit) mode. The reason for this is because, as of the writing of this article, Oracle has not yet published a production (non beta) release of the ODP.net client that runs in x64 mode. You can switch IIS to x86 mode using the instructions found here. You will also want to review this article if you are using the Microsoft Enterprise Library.

Console, Windows Forms, or Windows Services

.net will try and run in x64 bit mode by default. To force x86 mode you will need to switch the platform target from the default value of <Any CPU> to <x86> and recompile.

Another issue to be aware of is that any application that tries to make use of the either version of the Oracle client (x86 or x64) must NOT be installed in a path that contains parenthesis. That means anything installed under c:\program files (x86)\ will not work. Make sure to install these applications under some other directory such as c:\oraclestuff\.

References:

Find other issues w/ ODP and x64? Shoot me a note using submit feedback

Error messages and meanings:

[BadImageFormatException: An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.

--Translation: you are trying to use a 32 bit ODP client while in 64 bit mode.

HOW TO: Send a user to a timeout page when their session has expired using ASP.NET 2.0

ASP.NET

Are your users getting error messages when their session times out? You can easily forward your users on to a page letting them know that their session has expired and they need to begin again. The code below handles this rather gracefully: