Microsoft Silverlight 3 and Windows Workflow Foundation 4 at Belarus .NET Group Meeting

Minsk, Belarus, April 13, 2009 --(PR.com)-- On March 19, 2009, Microsoft Silverlight 3 technology was officially presented to Belarusian .NET developers during the local .NET User Group meeting. Sergiy Baydachnyy of Microsoft Ukraine demonstrated the new capabilities of Silverlight 3, spoke on the scheduled release dates of the technology, and answered the numerous questions. The session was followed by the speech of Andrei Varanovich, Microsoft MVP, who demonstrated the new version of Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0—the technology for defining, executing, and managing workflows. More than 130 participants took part in the event and 53 more attended the presentation the next day in Brest, another Belarusian city. The event was supported by the Minsk Institute of Management and Altoros Systems, a global software delivery acceleration specialist.

“I’m really pleased that so many Belarusian developers not only take an interest in Microsoft’s cutting-edge technologies, but also use them in real projects,” said Andrei Varanovich, Microsoft MVP, the leader of the Belarus .NET User Group.

Pictures from the conference are here: http://belarusdotnet.org/forums/t/171.aspx

Silverlight for enterprise applications or a brief summary

Just 12 hours after the announcement of Silverlight’s new features at the Microsoft MIX ’09 conference, Belarusian .NET developers could see them with their own eyes. Sergiy Baydachnyy (Microsoft Ukraine) started the presentation with the announcement of the community technology preview release. He proceeded with the demonstration of 3D support on a video example, rotating dynamic plain surfaces around different axes, creating small code examples, and providing a detailed explanation of how it can all be done.

After covering the offline work of applications, Baydachnyy shifted to data validation in elements, creation of dialog boxes, and tool tips support. Then he touched upon the improved ability to work with bitmap images, new media formats support (MPEG 4, RAW audio and video, HD Photo, H.264 and ACC.LC decoders), improved data binding (updates control and simplified processes), and answered questions from the participants.

During the discussion, Sergiy gave examples of large projects created with Silverlight, referring to the official Web site of the Beijing Olympic Games and a few telecom projects; and also informed the audience about the dates of the Silverlight 3 intermediate and final releases. To wrap up the presentation, he added that Silverlight is “positioned not as an ad creation tool, but as a means of developing enterprise applications” and invited everyone to make a coffee-break.

During the second part of the event, Andrei Varanovich (the leader of the Belarus .NET User Group) made a review of the new version of Windows Workflow Foundation. He covered the new types of workflows, the improved integration with WCF and ASP.NET, and also simplifications in the object model that allow creating applications faster. Apart from that, Andrei dealt with the Oslo and Dublin projects—the code-names used by Microsoft to denote a new set of services for launching and monitoring activities in Windows Server and a new modeling technology.

From time to time, Sergiy Baydachnyy supplemented Andrei’s presentation with a minute account of ISS (Internet Information Services) and WWF, gave examples, answered questions, and was joking about his work and vacation on Cyprus. The next day both speakers left for Brest to participate in the local .NET User Group meeting and to take a stroll around the Brest Fortress.

PPT-presentations and audio recordings

1. “Introduction to Silverlight 3”
Speaker: Sergiy Baydachnyy, Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Ukraine, Kyiv

PPT (1.49 Mb): http://belarusdotnet.org/downloads/Introduction_to_SilverLight_3.pptx

Audio (83.9 Mb): http://belarusdotnet.org/downloads/sergiy_baidachnyy_silverlight_3.wav

2. “New Features of Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0”
Speaker: Andrei Varanovich, the Leader of the Belarus .NET User Group, Minsk

PPT (773 Kb): http://belarusdotnet.org/downloads/Windows_Workflow_Foundation_4.pptx

Audio (80.4 Mb): http://belarusdotnet.org/downloads/andrei_varanovich_wf_4.wav

About the organizers

The Minsk Institute of Management, founded in 1991, is one of the leading institutes of higher education in the Republic of Belarus. It provides all facilities for training highly competent specialists in economics, law, psychology, foreign languages, and information technologies. Today, the resource base and the fully qualified faculty ensure teaching on a highly qualified level with the use of the latest achievements in science and technology. Please visit www.miu.by for more information.

Altoros Systems, Inc. is a global software delivery acceleration specialist that provides focused outsourced software product engineering, independent Quality Assurance, and testing services to software organizations and information-driven enterprises. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Western Massachusetts, Altoros has representative offices in Tampa, Florida. It manages a software development center in Eastern Europe out of its offices in Minsk, Belarus. For more information, please visit www.altoros.com.

Microsoft Ukraine: In 2003, Microsoft opened a regional office in Ukraine aimed at developing the software market, promoting Microsoft products, and providing partner and customer support, as well as introducing and localizing the newest technologies and implementing social initiatives in Ukraine and Belarus. For more: www.microsoft.com/ukraine.

The Belarus .NET User Group strives to unite developers, IT companies, and everyone else interested in .NET technologies. The community plans regular meetings where the participants are able to communicate, attend presentations from leading specialists, and swap notes. During the two years of its existence, the community has brought together more than 200 Belarusian .NET specialists. To learn more about the Belarus .NET User Group, please visit www.belarusdotnet.org.

###