Mono 3.0 Brings C# Up-To-Date

Mono 3.0 has been released with a complete C# 5.0 compiler with asynchronous programming support, improved garbage collection and the incorporation of Microsoft's open-source framework for Web development.

Announcing Mono 3.0 on his blog, Miguel de Icaza writes:
After a year and a half, we have finally released Mono 3.0.

He also says the project is:
"moving to a more nimble release process with Mono 3.0. We are trying to reduce our inventory of pending work and get new features to everyone faster. This means that our "master" branch will remain stable from now on, and that large projects will instead be developed in branches that are regularly landed into our master branch"

This third major revision of Mono, the open source, cross-platform, implementation of the .NET framework, adds support for features added in .NET 5, in particular asynchronous programming which improves an applications ability to respond to input during long-running tasks. The .NET 4.5 Async API profile is now the default for the compiler, but it can support all .NET API profiles for compilation.

It also incorporates the assemblies from Microsoft's open-sourced ASP.NET framework for Web development with Mono's implementation of JSON now being replaced by Microsoft's. ASP.NET's Web Pages, MVC 4, Entity Framework object-relational mapping, and the "Razor" view engine are now all included. Obviously using the same assemblies as the "real thing" reduces the possiblity of any differences.
There are also performance and scalability improvements to garbage collection  and runtime optimizations and enhancements to the capabilities of Mono on Mac OS X and iOS, including the prospect of having F# 3.0 bundled with them. See the Release Notes for more details.

There is the wider issue of the place of Mono in the new landscape being created by Microsoft. There is a very real sense in which Mono carries the enthusiasm for .NET which Microsoft seems to have lost. However Mono isn't the real thing and many programmers are unsure of it. Certainly there is little point in switching to Mono under Windows unless you really need the open source or cross platform aspects.

However what about Mono 4?
Even with limited resources the Mono team might well run out of Microsoft sourced innovations to incorporate into the new framework. Will Mono then become the front runner in .NET development?

Source: I Programmer

Visual Studio 2012 met Visual COBOL integreet by MicroFocus

Integration achieves quality platform for modernizing business-critical COBOL applications

 Micro Focus , a specialist in the field of modernization, testing and management of enterprise applications, today announced that Micro Focus Visual COBOL integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2012. Developers can now use Visual COBOL within the development environment Visual Studio 2012. This allows existing COBOL applications are used, improved and deployed alongside other Microsoft platforms and programming languages ​​such as C #, Visual Basic and ASP.NET.

Organizations around the world depend on which enterprise COBOL applications run. These form the basis of many IT systems and business-critical processes. By integrating Visual COBOL and Visual Studio 2012, developers of both the current generation and those of tomorrow, use of leading development tools. Moreover, the productivity of the developer, in providing new and updated software, increased. Different development teams, which were previously spread across multiple technical disciplines, are now united and can therefore effectively together. Furthermore, organizations that make the transition to new platforms do not suffer from the lack of COBOL professionals.

"We are honored to partner with Micro Focus to work on the optimization of Visual Studio 2012," said Tom Lindeman, Director Visual Studio Industry Partner Program at Microsoft. "Visual Studio 2012 improves the development process and helps teams of any size needing to collaborate more efficiently. By adding Visual COBOL development teams have all the means to quickly provide quality and modern applications to build. "

Kevin Brearley, senior director of product management at Micro Focus: "Both Microsoft and Micro Focus walk at the forefront of technical innovation in the development and modernization market. We are constantly innovating and are proud that we are the new generation of COBOL development products can make to the current Visual Studio user. The integration is an important step that ensures that Visual COBOL not only now but in the future will continue to achieve business innovation. "

The main advantages of Micro Focus Visual COBOL are:

The ability to critical business applications ready for the future. The applications can be migrated to Windows platforms and retain as their value.
The productivity and performance of the developers improved. This causes the expanded resources and the software can be quickly developed and delivered.
The ability to modernize COBOL systems and access to mobile and web channels.
More information about Visual COBOL is available at www.microfocus.com/vs2012 .

Borland DevPartner Studio 11
In addition to the integration with Visual COBOL, Micro Focus has also Borland DevPartner 11 with Microsoft Visual Studio integrated. This integration improves application development, reduces costs and speeds delivery of applications. Application developers can now solve problems from within Visual Studio 2012, locate instability and potential defects detection.

Microsoft quietly bangs Bing's big bucks drum

Microsoft has created an angel investment fund for startups using its Bing.com search and ads platform.

The Bing Fund is described in a Microsoft job posting for a creative director as “a small team working with start-ups and accelerators to bring a wave of innovation to OSD”. OSD is Microsoft’s Online Services Division.


The creative director job post states that the Bing Fund, first reported here by Mary-Jo Foley, has a portfolio which includes "startups working on the web, desktop, mobile and console".

It appears that funding is not reserved for projects which solely use Microsoft technologies – a program manager job posting here says Microsoft wants engineers with broad experience of HTML, Javascript jQuery, the LAMP stack, AWS, Heroku, Google App Engine in addition to C#, ASP.NET and Windows Azure.

Heading up the Bing Fund is Rahul Sood, a former general manager for Microsoft’s Xbox and founder of PC maker VoodooPC, which was bought by Hewlett Packard in 2006. Sood joined Microsoft in 2011 and became a general manager at Xbox, which is part of Microsoft’s entertainment unit that is also home to Bing. Sood took over Bing Fund in March this year, according to his LinkedIn bio.

Microsoft hasn’t officially announced Bing Fund and everything seems to be in stealth mode. But there have been job postings, a cryptic Twitter feed – since the end of June – and now a website. A recent tweet from Sood suggests that his "new project" will launch in mid-July.

It's not unusual for tech companies to invest in startups to promote their platform or technologies: SAP, Intel and Google all run funds. Microsoft has run a programme called BizSpark under Silicon Valley veteran Dan’l Lewin since October 2008. BizSpark gives startups free access to Microsoft tools, technologies, and services and is open to private companies which are less than three years old and have less than $1m revenue. Microsoft claims more than 30,000 startups have joined the programme so far.

One beneficiary of BizSpark is IssueLive, co-founded by Bing Fund senior programme manager David Raskino.

Bing, along with Microsoft's online services business, are the weakest performing areas of Redmond’s empire. Despite pouring billions into building Bing, the business still earns Microsoft relatively little cash – $700m in the company’s most recent quarter – while it also reported a loss. The outlook is not great either: Microsoft just wrote off $6.2bn on the failed aQuantive acquisition from 2007, saying expectations for the future growth and profitability of OSD are lower than previous estimates.

Microsoft will likely use its annual Worldwide Partner Conference this week to rally both new and existing partners to Bing, asking them to build businesses and services on the platform. It wouldn't be the first time chief exec Steve Ballmer has begged partners to show Bing some love.

Apprenda Partners with Philly.NET to Present 'The Future of ASP.NET' with Microsoft’s Scott Hanselman

Apprenda, the open Platform as a Service (PaaS) stack for .NET, in conjunction with Philly.NET, is hosting an event focused on the Future of ASP.NET with Microsoft's Scott Hanselman. This special meeting will be held at the Montgomery County Community College Science Center Auditorium in Blue Bell, PA on Thursday, May 31 from 6:30-9:00 p.m.

“We work hard to be a contributing member of the .NET community through educational seminars, conferences, webinars, and our continued technological advancements,” said Matt Ammerman, vice president of client services at Apprenda. “Scott Hanselman is a leading voice in the developer community, and we’re proud to sponsor this event bringing together .NET developers with an industry thought leader like Scott.”
Hanselman is a principal program manager at Microsoft and works to spread information about developing software, specifically on the Microsoft stack. Previously, he was chief architect at the Corillian Corporation. He is also an adjunct professor at the Oregon Institute of Technology, where he teaches C#.

Software developers in hot demand

Technology employers still face skills shortages, and for software developers it’s a ‘sellers’ market, as they continue to be the most in-demand IT professionals in Australia, according to a survey of the technology jobs market by one IT recruitment firm.

The survey by Experis, a professional resourcing firm and subsidiary company of the Manpower Group, conducted in the first quarter of this year, found that software developers were the most in-demand group of IT professionals, particularly those with .NET, C# and ASP.Net skills.

Slipping in behind software developers at number two, as the next most in-demand group, are test analysts - especially those with automated testing experience – followed by project managers at number three, business analysts at four and in fifth place, infrastructure engineers with cloud, Citrix and VMware skills.

According to Experis’ general manager, Sue Howse, it’s “no surprise that as Australia’s digital economy continues to prosper, so does the demand for skills.” Howse makes that point while citing an Australian Computer Society (ACS) report which showed that IT careers had waned in recent years, with figures showing national university enrolments in IT were less than half the number they were a decade ago.

“This shortfall of candidates entering the job market is good news for those who already have professional IT skills, as they are certainly in demand. Some candidates may need to up-skill or refresh their credentials to ensure they’re the right fit, but overall, opportunities in IT careers are booming right now.”

According to Howse there are a number of factors driving this demand. “Fields such as cloud technology and social media dominating the business landscape; and with recent analysis estimating Australia’s digital economy was worth $100 billion in 2011getting people into the industry should be a top focus for policy makers, educators and employers.”

For employers struggling to fill positions, flexibility is key, according to Experis, and Howse says that employers should consider ‘teachable fit’ options – “that is candidates who meet most of their requirements, but need further training in some specific areas. If 65% of the fundamental skill set is there, sometimes up-skilling the candidate is worth the effort in the long-term.”

“Employers can also consider sourcing talent from international and interstate regions. This may mean including a talent mobility strategy or flexible working options in their employment plans to lure elusive employees, especially if they’re seeking candidates on a contract-only basis,” Howse concludes.