Microsoft announced this week that it is eliminating its standalone Mobile and Embedded DevCon (MEDC) conference and rolling the content into two other developer events -- the Embedded Systems Conference West in San Jose, Calif. (April 14 through 18) and Tech Ed 2008 in Orlando, Fla., to be held in June.

Tech Ed 2008 actually will take place in two back-to-back events: Tech Ed U.S. 2008 Developers on June 3 through 6; and Tech Ed U.S. IT Professionals on June 10 through 13.

Microsoft plans to include track sessions on embedded development in the San Jose and Orlando events. It's not clear if Microsoft's consolidation of MEDC will result in a general scaling back of the number of sessions for mobile and embedded developers. At present, the agendas for Embedded Systems Conference West and Tech Ed 2008 are not publicly available.

Last year, the MEDC 2007's U.S. and international events included "more than 140 technical sessions and 60 labs tailored for developers, IT professionals and business professionals," according to the MEDC 2007 Web site.

Microsoft broke the news about this year's consolidation of MEDC via e-mails to past MEDC attendees. It was also noted by at least two Microsoft bloggers.

Blogger Frank Prengel, embedded evangelist for Microsoft Germany, described MEDC's passing for this year as "sad" but added that "it only makes sense since mobile & embedded development is becoming more mainstream."

Mike Hall, a Microsoft technical product manager, noted that the international MEDC events had been smaller than the U.S. standalone event. However, according to a Microsoft spokesperson, that international content will be rolled into other events worldwide, including non-Microsoft developer conferences.

While Microsoft has a precedent, in at least one case, of restoring developer events, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that this change is permanent.

 

 

ooo man… I’m exposed… Microsoft published the names of the TechEd SEA 2007 Blogger winners. I actually won 2 prizes in the blogging competition… one for the 3rd round of the blogging competition and I got myself a Microsoft Mouse

 

 

 

 

Attendees get taste of Silverlight

Microsoft demonstrated its new Silverlight online media platform, a rival to Adobe's dominant Flash player, at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering .NET-based media experiences and interactive applications for the Web. 

It offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, Visual Basic, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing web applications. 

Silverlight, which was announced earlier this year, also supports the fast and cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows. 

Also briefly on display during the demo session was the company's Expression Studio, a suite of graphic design and animation software that allows designers to create applications for both the Web as well as the Windows operating system. 

The suite includes five components: Expression Web, Expression Blend, Expression Design, Expression Media and Expression Encoder. 

Expression Web is a tool to create standards-based websites while Expression Blend is meant for developing user interfaces. 

Developers can use Expression Design for illustration and graphic design. 

Expression Media, on the other hand, is a digital asset management tool that allows users to organise and manage the elements in their software projects. 

Expression Encoder lets users convert and compress multiple video formats to SMPTE standard VC-1 video for mobile, Web, and high-definition (HD) video.

Macros are useful software shortcuts when you have to type a complicated sequence of commands repeatedly, for example, but viruses can also surreptitiously store code in such programs.  

Dr Nitin Paranjape, the chairman and managing director of Maestros Mediline Systems Ltd, said IT departments usually deal with this threat by disabling the ability to run macros completely. 

"While this prevents viruses from spreading, it also prevents you from using macros for automating repetitive tasks," he said at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. There is another option for IT departments, and one that would retain the usefulness and practicality of using macros. 

"An IT department can use digital signatures to mark macros that have been vetted," he said. Microsoft Office, said Nitin, can be configured to run only the digitally signed macros and would stop any other macros from running. 

Maestros Mediline Systems is a Microsoft preferred partner.

The Wii Remote, also known as "Wiimote," for Nintendo's game console is an intuitive device that can potentially be used for business applications, said Chad Z. Hower, a professional speaker for Cluminis, a non-profit organisation for IT development.  

He said the main advantage of the Wiimote as an input device is its motion-sensing capabilities which allow users to interact with objects on a computer screen. 

It has the potential to further enhance user interactivity in areas such as business and medical research. 

"The Wiimote, or devices like it, can be used by doctors examining 3D computed tomography scans or by businessmen to change slides or zoom in on parts of documents during presentations," he said.  

Aside from that, the Wiimote could also be used to navigate 3D map environments, like in Google Maps. 

Hower said the user interface on the PC has not changed at all over the past 20 years. 

"Our main method of inputting data is still through the mouse and keyboard," he said. 

"Nothing significant has been done to improve the way people interact with complex applications that require users to navigate in 3D space." He was giving a presentation on how the Wiimote can be used for business applications at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

Hower, who is a Micosoft regional director, said the problem is that developers still think in 2D when creating 3D applications. 

"You cannot expect doctors at a medical research institution to navigate through complex 3D models of cancer cells with a mouse and keyboard; those interfaces are just not well suited for the purpose," he said.

Marketing professionals without any background in statistics or data mining can leverage on SQL Server 2005's built-in data-analytical engine to help them improve their strategies, said Microsoft. 

It can also help businesses improve their customer retention and acquisition by analysing collected data and reorganising the information so that it is more understandable. 

According to Microsoft Corp's customer advocate, Chris Chin, most marketers collect tons of data from their customers, such as personal and financial information, which can expand over time to the point where it is not easy to make sense of the data anymore. 

Chin: Business intelligence tools can help keep track and make sense of the information marketers collect from their customers.

Business Intelligence tools, such as data mining solutions, can help keep track and make sense of those mountains of data, but would require users to have some form of technical expertise. 

Chin said a new tool, Data Mining Add-in for Excel 2007, makes it simpler for business users to analyse their marketing data. 

"With the click of a mouse, the application analyses the data and presents the results in easy to comprehend tables and graphs," he said at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

It will allow users to see and predict future trends based on the analysis of historical behaviour, especially in regards to customer purchases, he said. 

However, the add-in only works with SQL Server 2005 that has been updated with Service Pack 2 (SP2). 

Another prerequisite is that the client (a laptop or desktop PC) must be installed with the Microsoft Excel 2007 spreadsheet program. 

Both SP2 and the add-in can be download from the Internet for free. 

"What's really great about this application is that it hides the complexity of data mining behind easy-to-use tools," Chin said. 

"To users, it is as if they do not leave the Excel 2007 program at all." Everything happens in the background — once a user presses the analyse button in the spreadsheet, the data goes to the SQL Server to be processed. 

Then, the analytical engine creates the data mining models based on the analysis before returning the results to Excel 2007. 

"However, users must take the results with a pinch of salt," cautioned Chin. 

They should also factor in their own intuition, based on past experience, in order to get the best possible predictions.

With more hackers out for personal financial gain, such attacks are expected to become more sophisticated and difficult to defend against, according to a security expert. 

"They are experts at crafting specific tools to attack data, with the intention of either stealing information or tampering with it before reinserting it," said Steve Riley, Microsoft's senior security strategist at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

Apart from such network breaches, a growing number of businesses are falling victim to laptop computer theft, which can also result in the costly loss of data. 

To protect against this, Riley suggests that users make it a habit to encrypt the data on their hard drives, even if it's on a home PC and especially if it's on a portable computer. 

This, he said, can be easily done using third-party software or by taking advantage of Microsoft's Encrypting File System (EFS), as well as its BitLocker Drive Encryption solution, which come with Windows Vista. 

Riley also advised users to consider using computers that come embedded with the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip. 

"A combination of these technologies should be used to enforce multiple layers of security," he said. 

He recommends using the TPM chip's abilities through BitLocker and enabling a personal identification number (PIN) verification mechanism. 

Computer users, he said, should also make a habit of choosing stronger passwords for authentication. 

This does not necessarily have to be something with a combination of alphabets and numbers, which would be difficult to memorise. 

Instead, they could use a phrase consisting of at least 15 characters, he said. 

Riley claimed that this type of password or "pass phrase" would make it very difficult for an attacker to crack even he or she used a rainbow table, which is a reference list used to recover plaintext passwords from hashes generated by a cryptographic function.

Microsoft's next SQL Server release, codenamed "Katmai," is planned for the coming explosion in business-related data and the next generation of data-driven applications, said its China R&D centre product unit manager Prakash Sundaresan. 

Scheduled to be available in the middle of next year, Katmai builds on the success of SQL Server 2005, which is a proven platform for providing data management and analysis solutions to all companies, regardless of size or budget, he said at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

The upcoming product is part of Microsoft's vision for pervasive Business Intelligence, illustrating its commitment to offer a complete and integrated BI solution that customers can rely on. 

Katmai will ship with a slew of new features, said Prakash, including built-in external encryption keys management, native data auditing, hot-pluggable CPU, enhanced database mirroring, native data compression and backup compression. 

These features will allow enterprises to access and manage rapidly increasing volumes of data for mission-critical applications, increase their ability to better understand their organisation, offer business insights and reduce difficulties associated with managing complex systems.

If there is one thing about Tan Loke Uei, Microsoft's technical product manager of the Mobile Communications Business division, its is that he's very easy to talk to. I had the opportunity to sit down with him over an unusual espresso and vanilla ice-cream drink to discuss Windows Mobile development and the future of the Windows platform last week. 

Tan, who was in town for Tech.Ed SEA 2007, is no stranger to the country. 

He is a Malaysian who moved to Washington to work in Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond.  

MOBILE FUTURE: Tan talking about Windows Mobile present and future.

But I digress.  

During our chat, we covered a few topics, including what application developers will be seeing in future versions of Windows Mobile, as well as how Microsoft is responding to the possibility of future competition from Apple's iPhone. 

According to Tan, while the Windows Mobile Team has been largely concentrating on the enterprise market in the past (where it holds a strong position), Micrsoft plans to focus more on the operating system's user experience and interface in the future. 

Also, he said, Silverlight — Microsoft's answer to Adobe's popular Flash — will be integrated into the next version of Windows Mobile. 

Tan explained that Silverlight will bring more advanced vector-based graphics and animation to the Windows Mobile platform, and possibly a more graphical and interactive user interface for the next-generation of devices. 

He also said that the Windows Mobile team is currently working towards streamlining (the confusing) Windows Mobile 6 Classic, Windows Mobile 6 Professional and Windows Mobile 6 Standard flavours of the operating system for the Pocket PC, Pocket PC phone and smartphone platforms into a single unified Windows Mobile version for all devices. 

In any case, the promised changes are still probably a couple of years away and the current focus on Windows Mobile 6 has been to make the platform more stable and easier to write applications for. 

In fact, a number of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) have been released to make it easier for third-party developers to code for the platform. 

For example, the new State and Notification Broker API addresses an issue where it was previously very difficult to have an application monitor various aspects of the state of a Pocket PC or a Smartphone client. 

The API makes it easier to write an application, which for instance, monitors incoming SMS or e-mail in Outlook Mobile from within the application, or to monitor the built-in camera in most smartphones or Pocket PCs, amongst other things. 

Tan demonstrated this by showing off a game called 3D Lawn Darts (www.concretesoftware.com/pocketpc/3dlawndarts.shtml) which allows the player to use the Pocket PC much like a Nintendo Wii remote, but utilising the built-in camera to detect a user's throwing motion, instead of an electronic accelerometer, to hurl a virtual dart. 

Windows Mobile 6 also introduces a more advanced Bluetooth API, which makes it easier for several applications to access the device's Bluetooth hardware at the same time. 

This abstraction layer also allows a developer to code a Bluetooth-related application without having to know the specific details of the GPS (Global Positioning System) hardware that is resident on the device itself.

Windows Mobile 6 operating system (OS) for mobile devices touts a handful of features that would certainly please business and enterprise users, said Microsoft. 

Andre Ngo, mobile solutions manager (technology specialist) for Microsoft Asia Pacific, Greater China and Japan, said that one of the highlights is its ability to support HTML (hypertext markup language) e-mail messages in Outlook Mobile. 

"Outlook Mobile in previous versions could only display e-mail messages in plain text — all HTML formatting information is lost when you view it on your smartphone or Pocket PC," he said at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

CHECK IT OUT: Ngo showing off a colourful data table in a HTML-enabled e-mail on his Windows Mobile 6 device. HTML e-mail support is one of the features found in Windows Mobile 6.

"But now that you can see the HTML formatting in e-mail, the message will be shown on your phone as it looks on your desktop PC. 

"And you'll finally be able to tell that your boss is angry when he uses bold fonts," he quipped. 

For business users, HTML e-mail also means they can view data tables on their phones, such as one containing the number of shipments made over several years for a particular product, Ngo said. 

"The ability to view data tables embedded in e-mail messages sent to your phone is important because business users may need the information at hand for decision-making," he said.  

Convenient features  

Another nifty feature in Windows Mobile 6, Ngo said, is its ability to "tunnel" into a corporate network's intranet through Exchange Server 2007. 

Business users can now access documents and files stored on a Windows SharePoint portal or through a UNC (universal naming convention) location or link from their Windows Mobile 6 devices, he said. 

"This means, as long as you have your phone and an Internet connection, you'll be able to access internal documents from your corporate intranet as if you were in the office," he said. 

Yet another convenience: Business users can now search for old e-mail messages stored on their corporate servers using Windows Mobile 6 devices, Ngo said. 

"It's now much easier to search for old e-mail or text messages. 

Just key in what you want to look for in Outlook Mobile and it'll retrieve the message from your mailbox through Exchange Server 2007," he said. 

"You no longer have to save several months' worth of e-mail in your mobile device just in case you need it — especially when it has limited storage space." Another enhancement to Windows Mobile 6 is the "smart filtering" support, used in several applications, including Outlook Mobile and Windows Media Player Mobile. 

"It works for your e-mail and text messages, and even if you want to look for a particular song in the media player. 

"Just enter a song title you want; the matches will be instantly displayed, while the rest will be filtered out," said Ngo.  

Better security  

Business users can also look forward to the enhanced security features in Windows Mobile 6, said Ngo. 

Mobile phones nowadays contain much sensitive business information, he said. 

Naturally, companies are concerned that such information may fall into the wrong hands should an employee lose his or her phone. 

Windows Mobile 6 has a feature that allows users to completely wipe out all data in their mobile phones, including those stored on memory cards, from a remote location. 

"You can do this yourself using Outlook Web Access (via Exchange Server 2007) ?without having to go through a helpdesk, which is good because if you have lost your phone, you probably won't even remember how to call the helpdesk," said Ngo. 

"If you do get your mobile phone back, you can synchronise it with the corporate server to retrieve all your data again — assuming that you have already backed up your data beforehand." Furthermore, a company can also enforce a policy, which sets an employee's phone to automatically destroy all its data after a certain number of illegal login attempts (if it has password-protection), said Ngo. 

"If you want to stop someone from accessing your data, you may put a password or PIN (personal identification number) lock on your phone — but what the person can do is take out your memory card and he still gets to access some of your data," he said. 

As an added layer of protection, Windows Mobile 6 allows users to encrypt files that are stored in their phone's memory card. 

However, the feature only encrypts succeeding files that are added to the storage card. 

It does not encrypt the entire storage card, Ngo said. 

"If you look at all these new features, you can say the experience of using mobile devices is getting closer and closer to that of using a desktop PC," he said. 

Microsoft, he said, has many plans to improve its operating system for mobile devices, but it will need to wait for the right time to implement them. 

"You need to balance between usability, security and features. 

It won't make sense to include features that will slow down the phone too much," said Ngo. 

For example, he said encryption for an entire mobile device has yet to be implemented because phones may not have the processing power to support this feature. 

"But the technology is definitely getting there — there are more mobile devices coming out, and they're becoming faster and more powerful," he said.

If you have never been to a Microsoft Tech.Ed conference before, you can trust Microsoft Malaysia's Tyson Dowd to get you interested. 

Dowd, who is known at the conference as the daddy of Tech.Ed SEA 2007, likens the technical conference to a buffet and not merely a training platform for programmers. 

One does not go to Tech.Ed to learn how to use current technology but to discover new ones and to implement old ones into a business, he said. 

"You don't go in there thinking 'Oh I am doing X so I'll learn about X. 

You want to go 'Gee, I don't know whether I want to learn about X, Y or Z and ooh, there's A and B as well,' " Dowd said. 

With new technologies being unveiled, Dowd highlighted Microsoft's goal for Tech.Ed this year, following a lively keynote by Microsoft South-East Asia president Chris Atkinson. 

"We're in between two waves at the moment, Vista wave and Server wave," Dowd said, and Microsoft wants Tech.Ed to be the place for people to prepare for the next wave of its technology. 

"Tech.Ed is all about Microsoft helping software developers get more people to fit in the 'flat world.' " Living in a flat world For his presentation, Atkinson took a page out of Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat which identified the 10 tenants that are changing the world at the moment. 

The tenants are PC revolution, Connectivity, Workflow software, Uploaded User Content, Offshoring, Outsourcing, Insourcing, Supply chaining, Informing and digital services delivered through converging devices. 

Dowd used an analogy of outsourcing to illustrate the flat world. 

"One way of looking at it is that you wake up one morning and realise that your job has been given to someone in another country simply because the service cost there is cheaper, or maybe more expensive because that fellow does a better job," he said. 

The 10 tenants of the flat world, Dowd explained, have made economic growth challenging for some people while others see it as an opportunity to grow. 

"This is very important for a knowledge economy," he said. 

And Microsoft's place in this flat world is to make a difference to its population by creating software and services that will enable these growth opportunities to be tapped, Dowd said. 

"Our job is to build the digital platform, workstyle and lifestyle for the enterprise, small- to medium-sized businesses, and the consumer," he said. 

At the macro level, Microsoft wants to include everyone in its flat world. 

So while the software giant tells developers about the technologies that can be used to make living in a flat world more comfortable, Dowd showed the big picture of how Microsoft looks at the flat World, in this case focusing on Malaysia. 

In order to operate in the flat world, he believes that Microsoft needs to be part of an economic equation that requires it to foster local innovation, transfer education and create job opportunities. 

And what it has done to fulfil these is work with teachers to use ICT (information and communications technology) effectively in the classroom; provide its Unlimited Potential Grant to help the underpriviledged be part of the flat world by providing them with ICT skills; and empower youngsters to come up with innovative solutions to everyday problems with its Imagine Cup competition. 

Another way is to build people-ready software to help everyone in the flat world make better decisions more efficiently. 

"People are at the heart of business so we want to build software that can help people make better decisions," he said. 

After all, he added, business decisions are made by humans and not computers. 

For this, Dowd explained that Microsoft technology can help more people easily visualise their choices before making a final decision. 

"The tracks at Tech.Ed will eventually help developers achieve that goal," he said. 

This year, to encourage the world community to congregate in a new flat world, Tech.Ed SEA 2007 included a track on Web 2.0, a concept which encourages user interactivity with the Internet. 

"We had a lot of demand from people wanting to learn more about Web 2.0 technologies, so that has been included this year," Dowd said. 

Tech.Ed SEA 2007 attracted more than 2,000 people this year from around the region and this figure does not include those that attended the conference on an ad-hoc basis. 

Besides the four days of discussions there were nights of fun activities for delegates to discuss the topics in a more informal manner. 

"After a big buffet, you need to relax and digest what you've just ingested," said Dowd with a laugh.

Some database administrators (DBAs) make many mistakes that can prove detrimental to the health of their databases and careers, said Microsoft technology solutions expert Chia Sheng Sin. 

"A lot of times it is because they've been pampered by the installation wizard," he said at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

"Many simply leave settings at the default ones and do not consider what can be done to improve performance of the server as long as it works." One often-made mistake, he said, is to have badly designed tables with redundant and inconsistent data — basically, a database that isn't normalised. 

Database normalisation is a technique for creating relational database tables that minimises the duplication of entries and protects against data inconsistency. 

Also, he said, badly defined relationships and inconsistent naming conventions within the database should be avoided to maintain clarity. 

Another pitfall, Chia said, lies in the testing phase where database administrators only perform functional tests to ensure that it works but do not truly stress test the system. 

Also, their tests rarely include proper benchmarking to determine if the system is performing at its best because, he said, performance may not be an important part of the deliverables.  

Big or fast? 

The third commonly made mistake, Chia said, is where users have the misconception that it is better to buy large hard drives to house their data when they should instead concentrate on faster drives that improve input/output (I/O) performance. 

He also said that users should separate their data files and their log files into different physical hard disks as it would be more ideal to leave the disk drive's read/write activity for accessing the database. 

Next on his list of common mistakes is the error of enabling unused features on the server. 

He said that a lot of users tend to leave all features, services and connectivity options switched on to make it easier for users to connect to and use the database. 

However, this leaves the server open and vulnerable to hacker attacks, among other things. 

"You should check if you really need the services switched on and turn it off if you don't," Chia said. A good password policy is also crucial for keeping a database's integrity. 

This policy, Chia explained, should not allow short, simple or no passwords at all. 

The use of the administrator account and its privileges as well as rights should also come under scrutiny. 

One mistake sometimes made is to escalate rights for accounts simply to get certain tasks done, which is a quick and dirty solution to most problems, but is very risky as any error could destroy the database, he said.  

Short and simple  

Creating long SQL queries in database applications should also be avoided, he continued. 

"Keeping it short and simple helps improve performance," he said. 

While the importance of creating backup copies of files is well known, Chia said some users make the mistake of not properly planning the process. 

He added that users should also verify that the copies created can in fact be used to restore a database, something many make the mistake of not doing. 

Users should also come up with clear documentation to go with the backup files so that it would be easier to restore, even if someone other than the original database administrator conducted the restoration process. 

Chia also reminded attendees that backup copies should never be stored on the same physical drive as the original in case of hardware failure. 

To avoid making such mistakes, Chia said that users should read the documentation that comes with their product and study other material as well to fully understand the system and its best practices. 

He also recommended that those using Microsoft's SQL Server database system should download the company's free Best Practices Analyser tool from the Internet and test their system for issues.

A new trend in the software industry is the offering of software as a service (Saas) but the business model for this needs work, said Ron Jacobs, an architect evengelist in Microsoft's architecture strategy team. 

Saas is about software accessed as a service over the Internet rather than being deployed on premise, he said, adding that this trend has emerged because companies are trying to avoid risks dealing with matters that are not their core compentency. 

"If you're an airline company, you don't want to deal with IT solutions, but you have to and you want it to be done in a less risky way," Jacobs told participants at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

IT projects, he said, are filled with risks and businesses would prefer to manage those risks better. 

Seeing this new trend among businesses, there is big business out there for software developers to offer Saas. 

But they shouldn't go about it the same way that they deal with normal software — a software contract. 

Most developers, Jacobs said, are trained to build software specifically for a company or client which is going to use that software. 

"And they approach Saas from this assumption and understanding. 

But this is where developers are making a mistake," he said. "For Saas to work as a business, you have to write software in such a way that it can be shared by many customers." Developers cannot assume that all customers are the same or that they all have their own databases. 

"If developers do that, they'll need to think about getting licences for their clients and getting more servers to support the databases, and this does not achieve economies of scale," Jacobs said. 

Instead, developers offering Saas need to figure out how to support hundreds of customers using the same software and running the same servers, but giving each of them what they need. Also, Jacobs said, it is important that the software is easily configurable to cater to each clients' needs. Normally, to configure a piece of software, Jacobs said, a programmer needs to write codes to suit the client's needs. 

But this will not work in a Saas environment because ideally developers should offer a try-before-you-buy promotion for customers, and a programmer will only complicate things. 

What needs to be done is to for developers to build the software so that it can be easily configured to suit each customer's preferences. 

Jacobs cited an example of a software developer that offered Saas to banks to conduct foreclosures. 

Each bank, he said, has a different idea of how foreclosure is done. 

The Saas developer then hosts the banks IT programmers on a web browser so that they can come in and design the workflow to suit them. 

After that's done, a virtual engine executes it. 

Saas developers also need to undertsand that customers like exclusivity and should treat their customers that way. 

"What they need to do is to make the software multi-tenant efficient," Jacobs said. 

This means, developers need to provide a layer of customisation that lets clients' configure the software the way they want. 

Finally, Jacobs said that software developers have to cut out as much of the human involvement to make a profit out of Saas. 

Ideally, Saas should be easily configured by customers. 

But in situations where there are no specific staff to take care of it, the Saas provider would need to have some sort of human interaction with the customers to help them out. 

Also trust becomes a concern in the Saas market especially for customers that are not as Internet or technology savvy. 

"To solve this, we can tell them to try it out for 30 days or so to see how it suits them to win the deal," Jacobs said. 

If software developers can do this, he said there are a lot of customers out there that can be reached — not only the large corporations. 

"The Internet has enabled software developers to reach small- and medium-sized business customers when it wasn't possible before," Jacobs claimed. 

Perhaps all that is needed is some understanding of the Saas business model, he added.

If you are an IT professional, there's a good chance that you've been designated as "the tech support person" by your friends, family members, and perhaps even your co-workers. 

Even if you're just a loyal reader of IT pullouts and magazines, you might still be expected to provide free tech support and PC security to others. 

Steve Riley, senior security strategist for Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group, covered this issue in his recent presentation titled "Securing your friends and family" at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

Riley

He outlined the various security threats faced by consumers, and suggested measures to be implemented by those who provide unofficial tech support. 

"We need to arm people with the knowledge they need to protect themselves from these threats," Riley said. 

Most IT professionals and power users are reasonably up-to-date when it comes to Internet and PC security, but this is often not the case with the average consumer who is probably more concerned about other things. 

For example, Riley notes that thousands of people still routinely fall victim to 419 scams (also known as Nigerian scams or Nigerian money transfer fraud).  

Sophisticated attacks  

Riley also notes the rise of more sophisticated attacks by criminals, in part to counter the security measures and education provided by "tech support" crews. 

Many users are now aware of phishing scams – fraudulent e-mail messages or fake websites designed to steal passwords or identities. 

As a result, scammers are turning to spear-phishing, a highly targeted phishing attack, he said. 

Spear phishers send e-mail that appears genuine to all the employees or members within a certain company, government agency, organisation, or group. 

For example, the phishers could send out e-mail messages to all users in a large company, asking them to update personal details "for internal records." The fake messages would purportedly be from the human resources department, complete with the proper fonts, text and corporate logos. 

Riley notes that spear phishers often attempt to install the Zotob worm, which can open a back door to infected systems.  

Other trends 

Riley claims he does not have to run antivirus software on his own computer, relying instead on the Windows Vista firewall. 

However, he will install antivirus and antispyware on others' PCs if he is asked to provide tech support, mainly because it can save him a lot of effort in the future. 

One worrisome trend he has noticed is that Internet service providers are increasingly offloading the burden of Internet security onto users. 

"I've heard of at least one ISP that has given up on e-mail virus-scanning because of the resources it consumes." Riley also spoke about the privacy risks created by MySpace, Facebook, and other social-networking websites. 

"We're creating generation of people with no expectation of privacy … What do you think this might mean to someone who aggregates and sells data?" Unsurprisingly, Riley also took a dig at software piracy, noting that "free" pirated software often comes bundled with other "extras" such as keyloggers, viruses and trojan horses. 

"Do you think you can trust that pre-release version of Windows Vista SP1 hosted on a PC in South Korea?" he asked.  

Countermeasures  

Riley outlined various security measures which have been mentioned before, but which bear repeating. 

These include installing all Microsoft security updates as soon as they are available, enabling Windows' built-in firewall, and keeping antivirus and antispyware up to date. 

He also suggests a using a password manager instead of trying to memorise or write down dozens of passwords. 

He recommended Password Safe, an open-source password manager originally created by Bruce Scheiner, a renowned cryptographer and computer security specialist. 

Riley also took the opportunity to highlight Microsoft Outlook's antispam filter and Internet Explorer 7's antiphishing filter, both of which are regularly updated by Microsoft.

 

I have not been programming for awhile now. 

But I sure had the urge to get into it again after watching a presentation by Lim Poh Sze, Microsoft Malaysia's associate technology advisor of Malaysian software economy, at Tech.Ed SEA 2007. 

Lim was sharing tips and tricks for programming in C# using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 at one of the developer sessions during the event. 

According to her, Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) that is focused on productivity for software developers and programmers. 

"The features included are meant to help developers write better code faster," she said. 

For example, the IntelliSense feature in Visual Studio can automatically complete text, or suggest options of text that it thinks the programmer is looking for. 

"If you cannot remember the exact name of the (programming) classes or methods you use in your codes, you can just type in a few characters, and IntelliSense will automatically filter out the options," she said. 

According to Lim, Visual Studio cuts away the tedious parts of coding, with its smarter text formatting and drag-and-drop controls, among others. 

Back in the old days, if a programmer had wanted to rename a variable in a program, he would have to manually find and replace every single entry — quite a nightmare if the program is made up of a few million lines of code. 

With Visual Studio 2008, the programmer would just have to rename an variable through the Solution Explorer panel, and the IDE would automatically fix the rest, said Lim. 

Furthermore, programmers can now select and execute a portion of codes to debug. 

They can place their mouse over the selection to see what values each line returns, which is great for debugging, according to Lim. 

The IDE will not automatically fix bad coding techniques but it certainly makes hunting for bugs a lot easier. Visual Studio 2008 also supports "code snippets." "Quite often a developer may have to repeat certain lines of codes in a program," Lim said. 

"Instead of having to retype them, you can just put all these code snippets in an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file, and automatically insert the whole snippet wherever you want it in your program." Also, Visual Studio 2008 introduces many shortcuts that — once memorised — can help speed up the programming process, she said. 

"The design philosophy behind Visual Studio is to help developers become more productive when building applications." Visual Studio 2008, she said, can be used to create many types of software, from desktop programs to mobile applications and even computer games. 

"The idea is to have one IDE which developers can use to build a vast variety of applications, and in a productive way," she added

KUALA LUMPUR: Software giant Microsoft Corp has another feather for its cap — Tech.Ed South-East Asia 2007 is a success. 

The event — an annual technical conference and exhibition hosted by the company — attracted 2,300 participants this year. 

"That's 400 more attendees than we had at last year's event," said Tyson Dowd, senior director of Malaysian software economy at Microsoft Malaysia. 

He was speaking to In.Tech after the closing ceremony at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre last week. 

"Tech.Ed shows the strength of the IT industry .... It is all about building up skill sets. We will continue (with the event) and be back bigger and better next year."  

The four-day conference featured more than 100 speakers from various parts of the world, providing insights, tips, advanced information, and their experiences on many aspects of programming, network infrastructure, software tools, operating systems and much more. 

The information was imparted in eight to 10 simultaneous tracks daily over the duration of the conference. 

Among the participants was Dominic Tan, a datacentre systems analyst for the American International Assurance Company Ltd, who said the sessions have helped him improve his skills. 

"I have been attending Tech.Ed for the past four years and the information you get in those sessions is up-to-date and there's just no comparison," he said. 

"You also get to ask the professionals questions, which is something that you don't get much of a chance to anywhere else, " Tan added. 

He said he made it a point this year to attended as many breakout sessions as possible on Microsoft's SQL server. 

"There will be a new version out next year. I will be recommending it to my company because I think it is more secure and efficient," he said. 

Mohd Sahidan Mahyudin, AmBank Group's technical services, Windows system group infrastructure services and information service department executive, is also impressed by the soon-to-be-released SQL server. 

"Microsoft claims it offers faster connectivity ... up by about 30%. 

That's a big difference (over that of the current version)," he said. 

Sahidan enjoys Tech.Ed because the conference and exhibition helps expose anyone in the industry to new products and information. 

"The guys in my IT department are always eager to attend; I think there were 24 of us here. 

You get lots of practical tips at these Tech.Ed sessions," he said. 

Chan Yao Kang is another participant who gave the event the thumbs-up. 

An IT specialist for DKSH Shared Services Centre Sdn Bhd, he got lots of hands-on experience at the tracks he attended. 

"Also, I got the opportunity to evaluate products from both Microsoft and its 250 industry partners, all in one place," he said. Microsoft Corp has another feather for its cap — Tech.Ed South-East Asia 2007 is a success. The annual technical conference and exhibition hosted by the company — attracted 2,300 participants this year. 

 

 

Its the first day of Tech Ed SEA 2007 KLCC and we are ready to rock.

 


Last night was the dinner & LIVE Fest celebration.  The evening was great and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. 

What is LIVE Fest?
LIVE Fest is the playground and party for delegates to let their hair down, and mingle in a fun and casual atmosphere after a long day of conference. LIVE fest will kick start Tech•Ed SEA 2007 with a galore of interesting activities with lots of attractive prizes to be given away. So gear in your fun side you have not LIVE till you experience the LIVE Fest.

LIVE Fest features:
LIVE SEARCH
It’s time to have a little adventure roaming through the zones and booths in quest for hints and clues that will help to unlock the ultimate treasure! Complete the LIVE Search and treasures are awaiting the lucky few.

LIVE STAGE
You are LIVE on stage! Fret not, you need not perform, just ace our pop quiz and walk away with fantastic prizes. Look out as the contestant’s battle to prove that the phrase “ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS”; can be rewarding. Joining us on stage will be our fun and witty emcee who will entertain you with tons of humor, games and freebies.

LIVE FOOSBALL
Viva la foosball! Calling all the foosers to don on your infamous jersey and strap yourself to our giant inflatable foosball table. Ever wish that your foosball pieces could stretch a little further to reach the ball? Now you can experience it at the LIVE HUMAN FOOSBALL!

LIVE XBOX 360
We bring you Microsoft’s greatest console XBOX 360, at LIVE FEST! Test out your skills and flex yours muscles in the world of gaming with the latest console prepped with high-end graphics, cutting edge technology and exciting games! Attractive prizes can only be won by the best - Don’t mess with the best or your die like the rest!

SPECIAL ACTIVITIES

September 10
- LIVE Fest

September 11
- Women In Technology
- GeekOut 2

All Days
Exhibition Hall Activities
Sumorobot Competition 
  

Nic Fillingham sent me an email at my Hotmail. Nic is invited all the bloggers to join their Sembang Tech.Ed 2007 event.
Do not be confused  because this event is for upcoming Tech.Ed SEA 2007.
This event will be held on September 9 2007 (Sunday).
The place is Bangkok Thai Jazz Bistro @ Chulan Square starting from 3 P.M to 6 P.M

This is the email
----------------------------------------------------------
Hi All 

Yu Tsing suggested you might be interested in attending a Tech.Ed blogger event we are holding this Sunday afternoon at the Bangkok Thai Jazz Bistro. 

Sembang Tech Ed 2007
EVENT BY INVITATION & RSVP ONLY
Calling blog-inclined photographers and tech-inclined bloggers.

Thanks -Nic 

Nic Fillingham Enthusiast Evangelist – South East Asia | Email: nicfill@microsoft.com Tech Blog: on10.net/blogs/nic Windows Live Spaces Blog: nicfill.spaces.live.com

 

 

Track: Windows infrastructure  
Session: Making the Trade-off: Be Secure or Get Work Done  
Presenter: Steve Riley  

ARE you the kind of security person who enables a setting just because it's there? Do your users constantly seek ways to bypass all your fine-tuned security, just so they can do their jobs? Every security decision your organisation makes ought to consider the security-usability (or even the security-usability-cost) tradeoff. 

While perfect security seems an admirable goal, in reality we must remember that usability often will trump our strongest desires. If people can't get work done, they'll either circumvent the security (without understanding they just created new attack vectors) or your company will simply lose out to your competitors.  Steve Riley will discuss several examples of real-world tradeoffs and will help you learn how to navigate the tradeoff in your own organisation.  

Session: Securing your friends and family  
Presenter: Steve Riley  

YOU are running a firewall.  You keep your virus and spyware scanners up-to-date. 

You know not to open e-mail attachments or visit links in suspicious e-mail.  You're a security dude – and that's why everyone who knows you keeps ringing you up at all hours of the night, looking for help eliminating all the viruses, worms, and trojans from their computers. 

Microsoft has embarked on a worldwide mission to raise general consumer security awareness, but we can't do it alone! We need your help: Each one of you is tech support for your friends and family and neighbours.  Looking for some basic information you can share with your "customers" so that you can sleep at night? We've got it right here.  Steve Riley will give you the information you can use to spread safe computing habits among those you help every day.  

Session: It's 11.00pm – do you know where your data is?  
Presenter: Steve Riley  

LONG gone are the days when you knew your data was safe because it resided only in your datacentre.  The explosive proliferation of laptops, notebooks, handheld computers, smartphones, removable drives, and Internet file storage demands that we rethink how we protect information.  Because it's the information the bad guys are after, and because the information flows so freely from device to device, our obligation is to protect the information.  People want to work wherever they can find a computer and an Internet connection. 

How can you make this work? Steve Riley will consider strategies and explore technologies to help you solve a number of thorny problems: How to classify mobile data, how to keep track of where it is, and how do control its movement. 

One question we will ponder: Maybe it's time to do away with the locked-down desktop?  

Track: Office, Messaging & Collaboration  
Session: Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007  
Presenter: Joel Oleson  

PART 1 of this session describes the new Deployment and Administration Architecture for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) version 3 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.  Learn about Logical and Physical design architectures, planning and deployment considerations, as well as Inter-Farm and Intra-Farm Shared Services Capabilities.  Also, understand the Administration Components and Administration Security considerations throughout the platform.  

PART 2 of this session is on Deployment and Administration in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.  Learn about advanced configurations and deployment architectures including Extranet Deployments.  Gain an understanding of global architectures and Advanced Administration techniques and capabilities for the SharePoint Farm including Disaster Recovery, Capacity Planning, and Caching.  

Session: SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture Guidance  
Presenter: Joel Oleson  

THE most important thing you'll do to ensure a successful deployment is create an Information Architecture.  Overlooking Information Management can lead to chaos.  Come learn key SharePoint Governance Models which can help you balance the security and control that you need while continuing to support an easy to use, easy to manage platform.