Back from India, boy was it hot. Sanjay (RD Bombay) and I had a blast. Off to speak at the North Africa Developers Conference in Algeria this weekend. Seven RDs (including the ones who speak French ) will be there in full force. I plan on making Clemens see the light while I am there. I am doing these 4 sessions:

Writing Secure Code for ASP .NET

Data Controls and Advanced Cache Techniques with ASP .NET

Ranking and Windowing Functions in SQL Server 2005

Using XQuery to Query and Manipulate Data in SQL Server 2005

And: The New York Mets and the New York Yankees have the exact same record. I am enjoying it while it lasts. It seems that the Mets are 1-5 when I am in the country and 3-0 when I am not.

Microsoft has announced the launch of the SQL Server 2005 Virtual Hands on labs. They are pretty cool.

In these labs, you will get to experience many of the new features in SQL Server 2005 including CLR integration, XML support (my favorite) and deep business intelligence integration.

Registration link:
http://msdn.demoservers.com/login.aspx?group=sql2005

While I campaigned for your death, you served me well from Fall 1998 to January 2001. You will be missed but the future of .NET is bright...

 Using Ranking and Windowing Functions in SQL Server 2005. See it here.

A long time ago Microsoft said that it is orphaning Visual Basic 6.0 on March 31^st, 2005. That is in 2 weeks. So basically you will no longer be able to buy it or get free technical support (as well as any bug fixes to the product.) In essence, the warranty is expired. Microsoft will continue to support VB 6 on a fee basis until March 31^st, 2008.

This is ok since VB 6 RTMed in the summer of 1998 and has been superseded by its two predecessors: Visual Basic .NET 2002 and Visual Basic .NET 2003. It has been almost 7 years and two upgrades, so this should not be an issue, right?  

Well, over 100 Microsoft MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals) have signed an online petition that demands Microsoft resume development and support VB6. The MVPs are calling for all VB developers and IT leaders to review and consider signing the petition.

Can 100 MVPs Be Wrong?

YES.

All good things come to an end. VB 6 is old technology and it is time to move on to the more powerful and flexible VB .NET or a more modern language like C# or Java. We always knew this day would come. Nobody uses WordStar for DOS anymore-for a reason.

I build tons of apps with VB6 back in the day. They will continue to run until the end of time, upgraded or not-MS has not dropped support for the VB6 runtime, which is actually part of Windows.

I do understand that some companies and government organizations are slow to upgrade and that upgrading can be expensive at times. But that said, the writing has been on the wall since the PDC in 2001. Microsoft made the orphan announcement almost a year ago.

VB6 developers say things like “VB .NET is too hard” or “it is difficult to upgrade.” Nonsense. I am by no means a genius and I was able to learn .NET when it shipped and was able to upgrade all of my stuff. In addition, I found that .NET was *easier* to work with and implement (epically ASP .NET)!!! My staff of 10 developers at Zagat.com was able to make the switch pretty fast.

I am still a VB MVP. I have, however, completely made the switch to C#. December 2002 was when I defected. That said, I still have a soft spot for VB and hope to see everyone migrate as soon as possible. You have four years, so get cracking. Maybe by March 31, 2008, VB .NET 2002 will be unsupported. J

It took me 33 years but I have finally achieved my life’s goal of walking barefoot on all 7 continents. It happened twice actually, before and after the marathon while changing my shoes. So how was it many have asked?

Antarctica is a great place since basically there are no humans (save for a few bases doing scientific research). The marathon was more like an eco-challenge. Did a time of 6:22:48, sure that sounds slow but the winner did 4 hours and he usually does a 2:15 marathon. Basically lots of mud, snow, ice, rocks, hills and then a GLAICER! Yes a glacier we had to climb up for over a mile and a half. Then down. Then again! Got my sneaker pulled off my mud and such but it was so much fun! Finished I think 113 out of 180 (200 started), Linda did about 50 minutes faster and was in the top 60! Awesome!!!

In one day two life goals accomplished, visiting the 7^th continent and running my first marathon. I also peed on all 7 continents and made a cell phone call on all 7 continents (the Russian base on King George Island had a tower, go figure.) I maybe the first to have done that!

Well back and better than ever. Techie posts resume tomorrow.

I am sitting at an Internet Cafe in Ushuaia, Argentina, the world´s southern most city getting ready for the marathon in Antarctica on Saturday. Linda says that after running for 5 days in Buenos Aires in 90 degree heat running in the snow and ice is welcome! Will be offline for 2 weeks, see you on the other side...