My exploration of automation and CI has started around somewhere in 2007. Back then it was more of a guess and trial, trying to figure out what I don’t know and should learn. Automated build scripts was the first thing I needed to learn. Back then, NAnt seamed to be the best candidate, and quite frankly, it was the first thing that looked solid to me, therefore making it my default. Ironically, I had my first build script working with Visual Source Safe.
There’s another kid on the .NET obfuscation block – totally free and plays nicely with command line - Eazfuscator.NET. It also has a NuGet package available for download, though it’s not up-to-date.
I am catching up on NuGet and learning a few good things. A project should be in buildable state once you pull it from the repository. This is always my goal with the projects I work on. Therefore, one of the requirements that I always set was to have “autonomous” project – everything included within the project itself (libraries, tools, etc.). Some exceptions would be things that don’t make sense to commit and rather have them installed on all machines (OS, Server apps, SDKs, etc.).
Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 7.5. And still no change. Consumer is not attracted. I hear a lot about cool features and awesome innovations on various .NET podcasts. A lot is written in MSDN magazine and different .NET developer blogs. Yet consumer is not interested. Or maybe is not even aware of all the mighty potential that can be his or her just by trading the iconical iPhone for Windows logo. Heck, let the trends show what consumer is interested in:
For somone who has expertise in PHP and not Razor/ASPX views Phalanger might be a great middle ground. This is an integration of PHP and .NET. Always great to see another language join the .NET club 
Ok, now that you actually looked at the post, here are the details.
I am looking into bringing Oren Eini to Calgary to teach RavenDB course. The group will not exceed 6-8 people, and we already have two participants willing to take it. This is a great deal, considering you saving almost 50% (flights, hotel, traveling time if not paid by your company). If you are from Calgary or around and willing to take the course, drop me a note at feldman {dot} sean {at} gmail {dot} com.
Ironically, there are too many people predicting the “end of the world”. For Windows 8 Metro style UI doesn’t make sense if you are developing business applications or using a non-touch interface computer. Windows 8 allows to disable Metro UI (and by that also disables applications that are Metro UI applications) and puts UI into the “conventional” Window 7 look and feel. Registry key for explorer can allow you switching between Desktop and Metro UIs as mentioned in this blog post. So end of the world is postponed to some later days folks.
Recent announcements for Windows 8 development is not including JavaScript with HTML5 has opened up Windows development for more developers. I wanted to see where testing for JavaScript is standing and was surprised at the variety of frameworks out there. Back in the days when I was trying to do web testing with WatiN, it was painful, especially when a browser had to be loaded for those tests. My interest was around JavaScript testing w/o need to load a browser. QUnit looked very good, but it still required an actual browser. Also, in a CI scenario, I wanted to be able to use a command line/tool execution style.
It’s 5772 New (Jewish) Year tomorrow. I wish everyone Shana Tova.
In general, NIHS (Not Invented Here Syndrome) is a negative for your core business. Trying to re-invent something that already exists and probably does the job 10 times better. But what happens when an existing tool doesn’t do it better, or it is not customizable to your business, or it’s something that you’d pay wa-a-a-y too much just to use a fraction of what it can?
I ran into an old post from Joel Spolsky and tend to agree. Also, something that sales people are not concerned about, in some cases testability is not possible with out-of-the-box products, leaving your product blindly trust that it’s working.
