INETA Home | Speakers Bureau | Find A UG Near You | Become an INETA Member   
International .NET Association
*
* *
New UG's in April!
*
19 groups joined INETA in April. These groups are located in:

LATAM: Argentina, Brazil (3 new groups), Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela

NORAM
: In Canada: Quebec; in the U.S.: California, Texas, Michigan and Wisconsin

Europe: Germany (2 new groups), Greece, Norway, Russia, U.K.

There are currently 539 member groups in INETA representing over 200,000 user group members around the world!
* *
* * *
*
*
* *
Find A User Group!
*

It's A User Group Thing!
Find One Today!
* *
* * *
*

*
* *
Keep Your User Group Up to Date
*
Please be sure to keep your user group data up to date on the INETA website. Your group's website URL, your contact information and your group size are important pieces of information. If people are going to the INETA website to find a user group, and your link is broken, they won't be able to find you. You must be logged in to the INETA website to gain access to edit your information. Click Here
* *
* * *
*
*
* *
Charter Sponsors
*

Microsoft

MSDN

Microsoft and MSDN are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and is used under license from Microsoft

* *
* * *
*
*
* *
Hosting Partner
*
Maximum ASP
* *
* * *
*
*
* *

About this Newsletter

Back To Top
*
Editor: Julia Lerman [INETA User Group Relations Committee Co-Chair, Vermont .NET User Group Leader, .NET MVP]

Designer: Sheri Nawrocki [INETA Marketing Commitee, Florida .NET Group Leader, .NET Developer, Graphic Designer]

Coordinator: Robert Holmes, Boston .NET User Group

Special Thanks to Our Contributors: Marcie Robillard, Dave Noderer, Sara Faatz, Bruce Thomas, Jason Bunting and Brian Loesgen 

Anyone can sign up to receive this newsletter on the home page of www.ineta.org

Archived newsletters are available on the INETA website at www.ineta.org/newsletters

Please send news (and pictures) from your user group so we can include it in a future newsletter! Contact us at:
newsletter@ineta.org.

We welcome your feedback on this newsletter. Please contact newsletter@ineta.org.

Read our privacy policy on our website.

To contact INETA: Be sure to check the appropriate tab on the www.ineta.org site to see who is the correct contact for your areas of interest. Forums are open to all, but to post, you must sign in with your User Group's login and password
* *
* * *
*
*
* *
3rd Annual UG Leader Summit Agenda Back To Top

When: Sunday, May 23, 2004, 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Where:
Westin Hotel in Downtown San Diego
(910 Broadway Circle, San Diego, CA  92101)

Who:
The North American User Group Leader Summit is a coming together of INETA volunteers and user group leaders from the U.S. & Canada. If you are a user group leader from anywhere in the world attending TechEd in San Diego, please make plans to attend the Summit

What:
The aim of the Summit is to provide overall direction and vision for INETA and to provide valuable resources for user group leaders.

If you plan to attend, please contact Sara Faatz by Wednesday, May 19.

Time | Topic Presenter
8:30 - 9:00 Breakfast
9:00 - 9:30 INETA Overview Bill Evjen
9:30 - 10:00 Committee Updates Committee Heads
10:00 - 10:45 Vendor Presentations Ivis, Infragistics, DataDirect, Micrsoft Tablet PC Team, Via net.Works
10:45 - 11:00 Engaging on Public Policy Scott Fallon (Microsoft Worldwide)
11:00 - 11:45 Microsoft Overview

Catherine Vegher / Amy Mougette
Community Programs: FY04 Overview, FY05 changes

Shawn Morrissey - MSDN online

Bernard Wong - MSDN Events

11:45 - 12:00 User Group Relations Julie Lerman
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch
1:00 - 1:30 Beyond PowerPoint Presentations, User Groups Doing Training Devin Rader
1:30 - 2:00 Culminis Update Dave Sanders
2:00 - 2:30 Working with Vendors Sara Faatz
2:30 - 3:30 Microsoft Executive Microsoft Exec (TBD)
3:30 - 3:45 Break
3:45 - 4:00 MSDN Shawn Morrissey - MSDN Online
4:00 - 5:00 Working with Your Regional Office Jas Sandhu - (Microsoft Worldwide)
Heidi Dill/Brian Moore - (Microsoft US)
5:00 - 5:15 Volunteer of the Year, Closing Bill Evjen
5:15 - 7:00 Cocktail Party Appetizers and Cocktails
Submit a BOF Session or vote for your favorite at: BOF Sessions
* *
* * *
*
*
* *
Birds of a Feather at TechEd Back To Top

 

Kicking off the popular interactive sessions on Sunday night at 6pm is .NET Rocks featuring Carl Franklin, Rory Blythe and the attendees to discuss... "The Future!"

Following the .NET Rocks session on Sunday and continuing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights are a series of topics that will be of interest to many TechEd attendees. These informal sessions are not presentations and have been designed to allow interaction between people with similar interests (although opinions may vary!!).

Other scheduled topics include: The Smart Client is Back, Code Generation: So What?, Defensive Development with .NET, The One Armed Bandit, Virtual Server and Server Migration, Application Security - Developing Code Without Administrator Privileges, Object-Relational Persistence for .NET, Design Considerations for Tablet PC Applications, Continuous Integration in .NET, Integrating Unit Testing tools and practices into the Software Development Life Cycle, RFID and how it can benefit consumers and businesses, Home Automation with .NET, What really annoys me about .NET the most!, Thawte Notarization & PGP Key Signing Party, Microsoft.Com Technical Communities, Teaching .Net beyond VB.Net, Service Orientation vs. Object Orientation, Patch Management, .NET Speech, Authenticating and Authorizing Web Users, Implementing Microsoft Content Management Server 2002, The One Armed Bandit, Women Who Code : TechEd Edition, SAP .NET Connector, Working with Oracle on Windows and .NET, ISA 2000 and ISA 2004 Insiders.

Time slots are still available if you want to host your own session. Visit www.ineta.org/bof, select TechEd 2004 and submit an idea for a session. You can also see the pending and approved session topics.

To see the latest session schedule visit the TechEd site at: http://www.msteched.com/content/breakouts.aspx , you can also find the sessions in the attendee calendar tool.

Finally we will be needing volunteers to help cover the sessions each evening.

If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please contact Dave Noderer.

* *
* * *
*
*
* *
INETA holds APAC Planning Summit in April Back To Top

APAC Planning Summit

In late April, INETA held a planning summit in Bangkok. Twenty two user group leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region were brought together to discuss and plan the future of INETA in that part of the world. Countries represented were Thailand, China, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The event, led by Sanjay Shetty (India), Brian Loesgen (US) and Colt Kwong (Hong Kong) was a huge success. Over the course of 2 packed days, energized discussions occurred, and many plans were made. At times, the group was joined by Microsoft representatives from across the region. The region is poised for explosive growth, and represents a major expansion opportunity for INETA. INETA-APAC is on the launch pad, and we have ignition!
* *
* * *
*
*
* *
Spring Thaw to Arrive This Week Back To Top

*
North American user group leaders will be receiving their semi-annual shipment of "swag" - the Spring Thaw - this week. Contents in the box can be used as meeting giveaways, door prizes, etc. Vendors participating in this shipment include ComponentOne, Wiley, .NET Developers Journal, O'Reilly, CoDe Magazine, Infragistics, DeKlarit, Sams Publishing, Xceed Software, FMS, MSDN Magazine, Vista, XMLSpy, Apress and Xtras.NET .

Comments, questions or concerns? Contact the marketing committee at marketing@ineta.org. We hope you enjoy the Spring Thaw!

* *
* * *
*
*
* *
Montgomery, Alabama User Group shares their key to increasing membership Back To Top
On May 6, 2004, the Montgomery Area .NET Developer Group (MADEV) in Montgomery, Alabama held it's monthly meeting to a standing room only crowd. It was the best attendance the group has ever experienced. The topic was "Integrating Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Service with .NET applications". The presentation was given by Bruce Thomas, who is currently the founder and leader of the MADEV user group. MADEV was typically averaging about 50-60% attendance each month, but this month MADEV had nearly 100% attendance and was able to sign up a number of new members. Over the past several months, Bruce has given several presentations on a range of .NET topics usually to standing room only crowds and the membership base is growing steadily each month. "As someone who develops, trains, and consults on this technology everyday, I try and assess where our members are having the most issues and schedule talks and presentations to address those issues, which in turns drives attendance to our meeting." - Bruce Thomas.
* *
* * *
*

*
* *
The INETA Movie! Back To Top
*
Microsoft created a 12 minute video for their Global Conference last year to show their employees how important User Groups are in the development community as well as to Microsoft.

We have uploaded two versions of this video. One for highspeed internet access and one for slower internet access.

Click here to view the 56K video and click here to view the 300K video.

Feel free to share this video! We are very proud of it and you should be too.

Don't forget INETA's other media highlights!

* *
* * *
*
*
* *
New on MSDN to share with your User Group Members Back To Top


*
MSDN's "Improving .NET Performance and Scalability Guide"

Micosoft's PAG (Platform Architecture Guidance Group) has put together a document which is the most direct, tangible way for Microsoft to hand over an aggregation of the best practices, customer lessons learned, proven approaches, and cumulative experience direct to developers.

This document provides guidance for designing, implementing and tuning applications to reach performance objectives.

The Guide is a major contribution for .NET developers and can be read online on MSDN or download the PDF file.

* *
* * *
*
*
* *
TechEdBloggers.com Back To Top

*DevDaysBloggers.com
TechEd Bloggers is making it easier for professionals to connect with your user group. Readers of TechEdBloggers.net can use the Find A User Group feature on a page focused on INETA to locate user groups.

Whenever an article is posted to TechEd Bloggers about INETA activities at TechEd, readers will see a link to Find A User Group in their news reader.  

 

* *
* * *
*
*
* *

User Group Relations Committee News

Back To Top

Congratulations to Committee Member and DotNetUsers leader, Ruth Walther and her [INETA Speaker & Microsoft Software Legend] husband, Stephen, on the birth of their new baby girl, Athena, born on March 6th.

We'd like to thank Ruth for serving as co-chair of the User Group Relations Committee since last June. Chris Pels, the leader of Boston .NET User Group, has recently taken over this role.  The committee's other co-chair, Julie Lerman, says that she expects Chris to be the organizational YIN to her seat-of-the-pants YANG.

 

* *
* * *
*

*
* *
The DevSource Utility Programming Challenge Back To Top

*
Here's a great contest to share with your user group members!

Can you write a better Window's utility program than your colleagues?

Enter the DevSource Utility Programming Contest, and you could win one of 4 Fossil Wrist Net Smart Watches for MSN Direct-or even a free trip to the 2004 VS Live Developer Conference in New York City!

 

* *
* * *
*
*
* *
Another User Group Born in Toronto, Canada Back To Top


On April 20th another brand-new .NET User Group was born in the Greater Toronto Area. (That's in Canada). The Toronto area is quite large and though there are five other INETA groups in Toronto, some of these groups are 100 miles apart. This new group services the Eastern areas of Toronto, and as of yet does not have a name, but the working title is "East of Toronto". Group founder and first-meeting speaker Kate Gregory led the meeting to a smashing success. EDS provided the training room and refreshments, and after bringing in a few extra chairs from unsuspecting employees' desks, we had seating for all 35 attendees, plus one chair for Kate's giant laptop bag. EDS has a strong commitment to developer community here locally, so their involvement was a big help, particularly with infrastructure, not only in the form of meeting space, but also the website, and registrations. An EDS staffer even emailed each registered attendee to make sure they were still coming to the first meeting after the Toronto Maple Leafs inconveniently scheduled one of their playoff games to conflict with our meeting night.

Kate's topic was an Introduction to .NET, which attracted a nice beginner's crowd, many of whom were quite eager to begin .NET development but haven't yet had the opportunity to do so in their workplace. The question and answer session following the 2-hour intro seemed informative and beneficial to all.

We've lined up a larger room for the group's second meeting next week, so there is plenty of room for growth. Speakers are already booked for the next 6 months, including Ed Musters, Scott Bellware, local MS Developer Evangelist Adam Gallant, Dwayne Lamb, Marcie "Datagrid Girl" Robillard, and Jason Beres of Infragistics. Check out our website for the latest info: http://gtaeast.torontoug.net

* *
* * *
*
*
* *
Speakers Corner Back To Top

 

This Month Jason Bunting Interviews INETA Speaker G. Andrew Duthie

JB: How long have you been using .NET technologies?

GAD : Since May of 2000, when I attended an author's summit in Bellvue, for what was then called ASP+ and NGWS (Next Generation Windows Services), along with COM+ 2.0. In fact, I have an email address that dates from that time with aspplusguy in it, and had registered aspplusguy.com, in hopes of building a site called "Ask the ASP+ guy". When they renamed it to ASP.NET, aspnetguy just didn't have the same ring to it, so I gave up that idea in favor of writing a couple of books about ASP.NET.

JB: What do you feel are the most compelling things about NET?

GAD : Probably the most compelling is the productivity of the platform, followed by the enhanced security. Because the entire platform follows an object-oriented model, with all functionality accessed through classes rather than the hodge-podge of APIs, COM interfaces, etc. that preceded it, .NET allows developers who become familiar with one part of the framework class library to have a head start on understanding how to use other parts of the framework as well. And the fact that nearly all of the functionality of the framework is available to all .NET languages means that you no longer have to know a specific language to access certain functionality.

With respect to security, the Common Language Runtime (which hosts all .NET managed code) provides a whole range of security-related services, from the Code Access Security subsystem, to type safety, that can make managed code inherently safer than unmanaged code. There are also built in cryptography classes, and other security features that make developers' lives easier while not requiring them to reinvent the wheel with every application.

JB: How did a music major end up in software development?

GAD: Music and Theatre, dual-major, actually. I spent about 6 years out of college working in technical theatre (building scenery, hanging lights, etc.), and realized that while I enjoyed what I was doing, the effort vs. the reward in that industry is sometimes a little out of whack. I knew I liked computers, so I talked with a relative who had his own software company about how to get into the field, and he suggested certification as a way to get a foot in the door, particularly since I'd been working with computers on my own for a while at that point. Six months later, Windows 95 certification in hand, I got my first help desk job, then graduated to a job at the Pentagon training end-users in Windows 95. I later decided that programming was more interesting to me than network administration, and having written some BASIC code in my youth, I started working on teaching myself Visual Basic 4, and got my certification in that shortly thereafter. The rest, as they say, is history...

JB: You were in a band called "3 Square" what does that name mean?

GAD: Nothing, really. It just sounded good when we were desperately searching for a name for the band, and lent itself to the pithy catch-phrase, "Be there or 3 Square!"

JB: What has your experience been in speaking to user groups as part of the INETA Speakers Bureau?

GAD: It's been a very positive thing for me, though I don't get to do it as often as I'd like. Whether large or small, talking to user groups is a good way to share information, and also to find out more about what people are doing in developer communities across the countryb&how people are using .NET, are they using .NET at all?, etc.

JB: What is so wrong with running a box with administrator rights on a daily basis?

GAD : Hah! Had a feeling I'd get that question. There are two problems with running a machine on a day-to-day basis with elevated privileges. The first is that you make yourself vulnerable to malicious code. If you are running everything with administrative privileges, including applications, you are providing a much larger attack surface for hackers to come after. All it takes is a click or two on the wrong link in your browser, and you are executing malicious codeb&with Administrator rights. Which means your machine isn't yours anymore. It now belongs to the person who wrote that code. Your best bet at that point is to reformat the machine and reinstall everything.

The second problems with running as admin is specific to developers. If you are developing software while running with administrative privileges, unless you are very careful to test your code extensively (including running it using non-admin accounts), it is likely that at some point you will introduce bugs that only manifest themselves when running with non-admin privileges. When your users encounter these bugs, they will in all likelihood solve them by...running as admin. And when they get hacked because of that, it will be *your* fault.

JB: Has your becoming a father changed your work habits, and if so, how?

GAD: Absolutely. Becoming a parent changes almost everything. Work habits. Sleep habits. Priorities. I've definitely found that I make more of an effort to look for work opportunities that will maximize my ability to spend time with my family. My most recent contract work has had me traveling quite a bit, so when possible, I've taken my family along with me, so I get the best of both worldsb&doing the work I enjoy, while still spending as much time as possible with my family.

Andrew blogs at "A Blog for Graymad" and you can read more about Andrew's consulting services, ASP.NET books, and conference speaking at his company website, Graymad Enterprises.

* *
* * *
*
   B)2004 INETA Privacy Policy  | Comments