Ft. Worth User Group Double-Up, Awards, and Bench Time

Two for One in Ft. Worth

On October 14th, I will be presenting to the Ft. Worth User Group on “XML in .NET”, focusing on the XML classes in .NET.  We will be looking at how to combine XML and ASP.NET together to roll our own web services, coming to appreciate the plumbing already provided in .NET and extended in WSE 2.0.  The really cool part of the presentation is that I am doubling up with David Penton, fellow MVP and SQL Server extraordinaire.  David will be presenting on the XML capabilities of SQL Server.  This is definitely a meeting you will want to clear your calendar for.  I have a copy of my book that I am giving away as well.

Awards

MVP awards were announced today, and I am completely honored to be added to the list. Although, I was added to the wrong part of the list. I am flattered to be added to the “Security - Windows Server Systems“ category, I was actually nominated for ASP.NET contributions.

Bench Time

I am finally done with my hellish commute.  I was driving 2.5 hours each way (I am not exaggerating, either... 2.5 hours from Cumming, GA to Greenville, SC).  The project is currently done, and I am back on the bench awaiting assignment.  The good news is that I have plenty of time to catch up on lots of stuff, like a badly neglected web log and article series.  I am done with looking at OPC for awhile, and certainly done with living in a hotel room 4 nights per week for awhile.

OPC

Speaking of OPC (OLE for Process Control), what a neglected, red-haired stepchild technology this is. The first giveaway ought to be “OLE“ as a major component of its name.  The second ought to be the fact that it is an open standard supported by Microsoft with no real implementation for .NET.  There are a couple of vendors that have done some work in implementing OPC using .NET, some of which give away the marshalling source for free.  But it is a shock that there are obviously a lot of companies involved in the standard itself and yet are not screaming for a .NET implementation.  Sam Gentile... maybe this would be a great exercise for you!