Cool application: Sapien’s PrimalMerge 2009

Although I’m quite busy, I try to find time to try out new products when I can.  I’m especially excited when I can try out one of these new programs to help resolve a problem I’m having.

I don’t have any kind of personal script versioning setup, so finding what has changed from one version of one of my scripts to the next can depend on whether I’ve added change comments in my scripts.  In this particular case, I didn’t have any comments.  What to do?

Fortunately, I have access to Sapien’s PrimalMerge product, and could very quickly and easily see what the changes were between my 2 scripts.

It saved me big time in this case!

TechEd 2010 in New Orleans – a brief report

I’m on my way back from my first ever TechEd.  What a great experience.  I was mostly working the PowerShell booth and trying to talk with vendors and attendees, but I did get to attend 2 PowerShell sessions.

It’s difficult to scan a big audience, but those 2 sessions had likely between 300-500 attendees each!

The impression I got from TechEd last year was attendees were mostly asking if they had to learn PowerShell…  This year, things have really turned around!  Most people I talked to were using it or actively wanting to learn it.

It’s no longer “do I have to learn PowerShell?”, but instead it’s “how do I learn PowerShell?”.

For lucky attendees, we even gave out (for free!) a few 100 copies of William Stanek’s “Windows PowerShell™ 2.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant”.  The book is available HERE.

Using Windows PowerShell with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) SDK for .NET

I recently had the opportunity to write an article for Amazon on how to use their .NET-based AWS SDK with PowerShell.

You can find the article HERE.

It’s a pretty basic PowerShell article geared more for AWS users.  It shows how to load the SDK then use some of its features to get a listing of objects stored on the S3 service, and also shows how to upload local files (for backup purposes basically) to the service.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to post them here or by commenting on the article itself.

TechDays 2010: My speaker bio is up

If you’re from Canada, you must have heard that TechDays is coming back for another year!  TechDays is coming back to Halifax again this November 2 and 3.

I’m excited to have another chance to get up in front of a local crowd and spread my knowledge and make contacts, but also learn from what others are going to present.

My bio is up HERE.  The content is still being worked on so I don’t what I’ll present exactly, but I’ll be looking to submit a session for their new community track (“Local Flavours”) tentatively titled: “Windows PowerShell: Automating Clients, Servers, Clouds and Everything in Between”.

Microsoft Official Course – PowerShell v2

Don Jones has just made it official HERE: Microsoft will be offering an official course on PowerShell v2.

I have had the honour on working on some of the labs for the course, and I think it is going to be a great course packed full of information for beginner and even intermediate PowerShell users.

I definitely agree with Don on his statement about how beneficial having a experienced instructor deliver such a course.

Books can be a struggle, but with a in-person course, you get to ask all those questions that may be lingering in your mind or they may be able to approach a concept from a different angle to help you understand all the important topics/concepts.

Microsoft is coming to Moncton: EnergizeIT

Register: http://tinyurl.com/energizeit-moncton

Details:
April 20, 2010 6:30 PM - April 20, 2010 9:00 PM Atlantic Time (Canada)
Welcome Time: 6:00 PM

Mapleton Rotary Pavilion
600 Mapleton Rd.
Moncton New Brunswick Canada

Language(s):     English.
Product(s):     Microsoft Hyper-V Server, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office "14", Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft SQL Server,
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, Microsoft technologies, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Windows, Windows 7 and Windows Azure.
Audience(s):     Architect, IT Decision Maker, IT Generalist and Pro Dev/Programmer.

Event Overview

Energize IT: Anything is Possible.

Energize IT: Community Connection Series is an evening event series hosted by your local Community User Group.  Throughout the evening event, you will hear us, Microsoft advisors, talk about Windows Azure, Office System 2010, Visual Studio 2010, Windows Mobile.  It’s evident the Microsoft-based platform presents a bevy of opportunities for all of us.  Whether you are a Developer or an IT Pro, knowing how these will impact you is critical, especially in the new economic reality.

This evening Energize IT: Community Connection event will help you understand Microsoft’s Software+Services vision.   You will find out about the possibilities that these technologies help realize and the value that they can bring to your organization and yourself.

We will explore the Microsoft-based platform through a scenario that will demonstrate different points of view - from developer to IT Pro, from consumer to the information worker.  From the client to the cloud, this fun-filled demo-intensive exploration will excite you about the possibilities of the Microsoft-based platform.  You’ll see how to build next generation applications with technology like Silverlight, .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. You will find out how to consume those applications on a variety of devices, like mobile devices running Windows Mobile, netbooks and PCs running Windows 7, as well as the web.  You will learn about how the Microsoft-based platform allows you to connect with your colleagues no matter where you are –office, coffee shops, or your own living room.  You’ll also see how you and your colleagues can be even more productive with Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010.

For cities that have a full day Energize IT: From the Client to the Cloud full day event, please note, the community evening event is an encore presentation of the first part of Energize 2010 daytime event.

EnergizeIT: Community Connection series is your opportunity to learn how to harness the power and flexibility of the Microsoft-based platform from the client to the cloud. Visit www.microsoft.ca/energizeIT to learn about the Energize IT: From the Client to the Cloud Tour; EnergizeIT: Install Fests (in select cities) and Energize IT Podcasts lined up for this spring 2010 program.

If you have any questions about this event, have food allergies or require special needs, please reference your city and email us at energizeIT@microsoft.com.

Registration Options

Event ID:
1032441793

PowerShell in Practice – 40% OFF

Last week HERE, I mentioned the upcoming PowerShell books for 2010.

Well, if you’re interested in one of these: PowerShell in Practice, I have some good news for you: YOU CAN GET 40% OFF NOW.

Just go to the Manning site, drop the printed or ebook edition into your shopping cart and use the code “marcoshell40” when you’re ready to check out and the discount will be applied.

You’ll get the book when it is fresh off of the press in about 2-3 months from now likely.

**I don’t stand to make any profit from you using the discount code.  It’s just a gift from Manning to you.**