MSDN Flash - Volume 19, Number 2: January 26, 2015

Article
02/08/2015

Top News Worldwide

Windows 10: new developer platform capabilities, Cortana for the PC, new web browsing and more

Accelerate your skills – register now for Know It. Prove It.

Learn the why and how of Azure with David Chappell and Bret Stateham (February 10, 2015)

Overview of Microsoft Azure – get your first dev/test environment up and running (January 27, 2015)

Sponsors: Melissa Data, and Alachisoft

Save money by cleaning your data – free trial

Webinar: Scaling .NET Apps in Microsoft Azure with Distributed Caching

Your Featured Content

Got some coding skills? Earn rewards for your work!
DVLUP was created to fuel your success. Have fun, earn rewards, and bring new ideas to life. As a DVLUP member, you’ll have exclusive access to challenges, news, events, partner opportunities, and much more. Sign in with your Microsoft account to get started.

Azure is now bigger, faster, more open, and more secure
New capabilities include:

Easy-to-use and HSM-backed key and secret security with Azure Key Vault
G-series, the largest VM in the public cloud
Building on our openness with the availability of the first Docker image in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace

January 28: Implementing Entity Framework with MVC
Learn what EF 6 is, investigate how it can create databases for you, and find out how to manage that creation. Dig into managing transactions and integrating stored procedures, and get a look forward into the improvements coming in EF 7. For a practical guide to building web applications, check out Programming Microsoft ASP.NET MVC, 3rd Edition.

February 4: Web API Design Jump Start
Looking for the latest on Web API design? Explore ASP.NET Web API technology uses and nuances with experts Christopher Harrison and Jeremy Likness, and see why it is the ideal way to surface APIs that target browsers and mobile devices.

How to Get Started Quickly with Docker in the Azure Marketplace
The fastest way to get started using Docker is to go to the Azure Marketplace and create a VM using the Docker on Ubuntu Server image template created by Canonical and MSOpenTech. This automatically installs the Docker VM Extension with the latest Docker engine pre-installed and running on Azure.

On demand: PHP for Azure
Extend your coding toolbox with PHP. Walk through the basics of this popular server-side scripting language, with experts Stacey Mulcahy and Jamie Kosoy, and see how to set up your deployment environment, write a basic blogging app, and get up and running on Azure.

Creating an ASP.NET 5 Empty Application
Technical Evangelist Michael Palermo continues his series covering ASP.NET 5, guiding you through the “how-to” plus the “what” and “why” as well. Walk through creating, examining, modifying and running a project. To help you get started, download Visual Studio Community 2013.

Extend the reach of your Unity game to millions more players
Port your game with expert hands-on help at a Unity porting lab. Submit your ported game to the Unity offer program and get awesome benefits such as ad impressions, device, licenses, vouchers and a priority review to the ID@Xbox program.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in Microsoft Azure
April 14, 2015, 9:30 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time, online
Custom extensions, third-party controls, specialty OS or IIS modifications can keep mission-critical apps out of Azure PaaS. In this session we will discuss how you can move even these complex workloads to Azure IaaS.

Get a free Second Shot on your MCP exam
If you take any Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) exam by May 31, 2015 and you don’t pass, don’t worry! Get a free retake – find out how to get a Second Shot at taking and passing an exam.

January 29: C++/DirectX Game Development: Animations and Advanced Game AI
How’s the fun factor in your C++/DirectX game? Find out, on January 29, in the final course of the C++/DirectX Game Development series. Assess game features for budget, and test them for fun. Plus, explore strategies, situational awareness, and power-ups, with our expert instructors.

Big Data – how big is big?
Technical Evangelist Daniel Egan continues his series on Big Data, discussing tools beyond Hadoop, such as HBase, a non-relational (NoSQL) database that is a Java implementation of Google Big Table. Sign up for the Microsoft Azure trial to try HD Insight for 1 month free.

DevOps: Microsoft News from 2014
2014 was a year of learning and development for IT professionals and developers involved in DevOps practices. Get a quick snapshot of all the new tools announcements from Microsoft related to DevOps practices, including open source software like Docker. #talkdevops.

Indie chat with Livid Interactive
Learn about diversifying a studio, making money in the middleware marketplace, how to stay afloat as an indie, and how Livid uses Intel’s RealSense technology and Unity to create their gesture-based first person combat game, Head of the Order. Get started developing – download Visual Studio Community 2013.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) in Microsoft Azure
March 17, 2015, 9:30 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time, online
Azure PaaS services are the fastest path to extending your custom applications. We will review common uses for each of the core services. Attendees will be provided with a special link for a free hour of PaaS services review from one of our Azure architects.

On demand from MVA: SAP Gateway for Microsoft
Office 365 Devs, want to explore SAP Gateway for Microsoft? This flexible interoperability framework lets you build applications that consume SAP content using familiar Microsoft technologies. Take this free, on-demand course, and get lots of expert advice for smooth integration.

Events

Develop fast, beautiful, and interactive websites
Through April 23, 2015, nationwide
Take your websites to the next level with the new release of ASP.NET and Web Tools for Visual Studio Community 2013. After you build a cutting-edge site, deploy and scale it quickly with Microsoft Azure . Want to learn how? Join us for a free, live WebCamp in your local area. Don t miss this free opportunity to sharpen your coding skills – regardless of which languages or platforms you use.

Solve problems, see innovations, and make connections at Microsoft Ignite
May 4–8, 2015, Chicago, IL
Solve problems, see innovations, make connections. Test-drive technology in a hands-on learning environment that engages, excites, and educates. Meet the minds that make it happen and inspire yours to do the same. Register today.

Student News

Microsoft joins forces with GitHub
Visual Studio Community 2013 is joining the GitHub Student Developer Pack , a great set of developer tools and services, free to students! Please be sure to tell all your favorite student developers about this great resource. For more information, check out this blog post from Steve Guggenheimer.

Win a trip to the 2015 Game Developers Conference!
Do you develop games in your free time? Have you ever dreamed of a career in the gaming industry? Microsoft wants to empower student game developers like you by providing them with invaluable networking and learning opportunities that will jumpstart their careers in the gaming industry. We are proud to announce //GameOn 2015: a Microsoft-platform game development contest that gives students the opportunity to compete for a free trip and all-access pass to the 2015 Game Developers Conference.

Microsoft Virtual Academy

January 28: Implementing Entity Framework with MVC

January 29: C++/DirectX Game Development: Animations and Advanced Game AI

February 4: Web API Design Jump Start

On demand: What's New in ASP.NET 5

On demand: Creating Your First 2D Game with GameMaker

On demand: PHP for Azure

On demand: Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions

On demand: Introduction to Websites and Python and Flask

On demand: Architecting Microsoft Solutions

Resources

Free offers and discounts from Microsoft partners