Join us for the seaside Windows 8 Summer App-a-thon on July 12

The word is out: on July 12 we’ll be organizing the first of our Summer App-a-thons.  And it’s going to be a special, seaside app-a-thon, at the Belgian coast in Blankenberge.  What could be more inspiring for building great Metro-style apps than the sound of waves crashing into the beach, ice cream and a beautiful sunset!

We’re building upon the success of the coding night at the Windows 8 Developer Day and have a hackathon to build cool Metro-style apps.  So team up with your best UX or developer friend and form a killer app team, come alone or sign up with an entire group, whatever you want!

 

This seaside Summer App-a-thon promises to be an experience like N.O. O.T.H.E.R!   Hands on. Code. Build. Shine. Totally Windows 8. 

There will be 2 coding sessions: 1 for Day Birds from 10AM – 4PM and one for Night Owls from 6PM – 12AM. You have 3 registration options:

1. Only the Day Birds coding session
2. Only the Night Owls coding session
3. Both the Day Birds and the Night Owls session  

 

So if you’re a developer or UX designer, sign up right now to join us for an unforgettable experience!

Technical pre-requisites
– Familiarity writing either desktop apps, mobile applications or developing websites. Familiarity with either Javascript, C# or C++.
– Bring your own laptop: any device capable of running Windows 8 and Visual Studio Express
– Required software: 

Windows 8 Release Preview
Visual Studio 2012 RC
Windows 8 SDK samples

Sales@Night: Why do your customers need Apps on Windows 8 and Windows Phone?

21 June 2012 (17:30 till 20:00)

@ Microsoft Zaventem

Be the first to know and catch the opportunity of Metro-style applications in Windows 8 and Windows Phone. During this session, you’ll learn more about the platform and how to talk to your customers about the business advantages of these Metro-style apps.

IDC expects 2 million Belgian devices running Windows 8 by end of 2013. Make sure you are ready to surf this wave along with Microsoft; it’s the single largest opportunity for apps & the nr 1 platform in 2013!

This is not a deep-technical session, focus is sales.

Register now

 

How to find Visual Studio Training

Are you interested in the new possibilities Visual Studio 11 offer, the application lifecycle management or the customer value it delivers and sales opportunities it offers? Or youre just looking for a 15 minute introduction to Visual Studio 11?

Look no further, we lined up three interesting online partner trainings for you:

Visual   Studio 11 Application Lifecycle Management: Delivering Continuous Value   ‘40mins’

Visual   Studio 11: Customer Value and Sales Opportunities ‘60mins’

Visual   Studio 11: What’s New ‘15mins’

Happy training!

 

How to find Visual Studio 11 Sales Training

 

Are you interested in the new possibilities Visual Studio 11 offer, the application lifecycle management or the customer value it delivers and sales opportunities it offers?

Look no further, we lined up three interesting online partner trainings for you:

Visual Studio 11: What’s New

Visual Studio 11: Application Lifecycle Management – Delivering Continuous Value

Visual Studio 11: Customer Value and Sales Opportunities

 

Happy training!

Microsoft reinvents certification program aligning to the cloud

Microsoft’s new certifications help bridge the IT skills gap as new jobs are created by the cloud demand deeper understanding and more rigorous trainings. As Microsoft technology moves to the cloud, so does its certification program.

The Microsoft Certification Program is raising the bar and validate now a broader and deeper set of skills to build Microsoft technology solutions in the cloud or on-premise, and a more comprehensive approach than certifications about individual components or aspects of a single Microsoft technology. 

The Expert level is Microsoft’s flagship product for those who want to lead their company’s journey to the cloud.   It is the destination for established IT Professionals and Developers who have expertise working with Microsoft technology solutions. 

The Associate level is the prerequisite certification necessary to get your Expert level certification. 

After people have achieved their Expert level certification, The Master level is for the select few who wish to further differentiate themselves from their peers.

Read the whole program here.

Working on an app? Register Windows 8 App Clinics

Combining the broad reach of Windows, best-in-class developer tools, a reimagined user experience, support for new chipsets, and a built-in Store with industry-leading business terms – Windows 8 is the largest developer opportunity, ever.

But now what? In Belgium we have announced a series of developer camps, webcasts and MIC calls for projects. These activities will allow you to dive technically into the platform to support you in building apps. However, you probably need more.

What about testing on more than one device? What about discussing the best UX and experience to integrate with Metro? And most importantly, what about getting that access to the Windows Store and publish an app?
The answers are the App Clinics. Meet with the Microsoft Evangelists and consultants to discuss ideas, the app, architecture, the platform, UX and technical questions. It’s an open discussion and allows you to be ready for the next step: passing an App Excellence Lab with a Microsoft engineer, the last step before getting access to the Windows Store as a developer.

Are you actively working on a Windows 8 Metro app? Have an idea but are not sure what the next step is? Join us at an App Clinic and we’ll help you move to the next stage.

Register for a free SQL Server 2012 training

We’re very proud to announce that SQL Server 2012 is now generally available for purchase and download.  SQL Server 2012 delivers a powerful new set of capabilities for mission-critical workloads, business intelligence and hybrid IT across traditional datacenters and public and private clouds.

To help you fully understand how SQL Server 2012 can impact your business – adding more business value to your solutions or by helping you reach new customer segments – we are organizing a free classroom training in cooperation with Oak3, one of our learning partners.  In this training session you’ll get a technical overview of the new capabilities of SQL Server 2012.

Because we know your time and that of your developers is precious, we have made this a compact, half-a-day training session.  And if you miss the first session on April 17, we’ll have 2 more re-runs on May 3 and May 31.

Don’t miss this opportunity and register now by clicking on the session of your choice!

Web Camps Special Edition on May 3rd

 

Come to camp

… on May 3^rd in Brussels on a very special edition of Web Camp to learn the latest on web development on the Microsoft Platform!

Web Camps are free, fun, no-fluff events for developers, by developers.

This European edition is really unique with speakers flying in directly from the Microsoft main offices: Brady Gaster (of Channel9 Web Camps TV fame) and Matthew Osborn currently working on NuGet. Except a lot of code and great fun!

Place to be is the exquisite Event Lounge in Brussels. Learn how to develop beautiful, interactive and scalable web sites using Microsoft’s web tools and platform including IE, ASP.NET, MVC, WebMatrix, Windows Azure and Visual Studio. Learn from experts and get the resources for publishing to the web.

Quick preview of your camp content:

• The Microsoft Web Stack
• WebMatrix 2.0 – The Comprehensive Web IDE You Thought You’d Never Need
• Creating Rich HTML 5 Experiences
• Integrating Your Site with IE
• Building Sites Using ASP.NET 4.5
• Deploying Web Apps to the Cloud

Check out the full program  & sign up to spark your expertise

Limited places, so please be fast!

We hope to see you on our campground !

Register for upcoming Windows 8 Metro Style App events

Now is the time to register for the upcoming Windows 8 Metro Style Apps events.
In this post you can find a summary of the main activities, for which you can find an updated view on our Metro Map.

1. Windows Camps at Microsoft and the Innovation Centers
2. MIC Call for Projects Windows 8 Metro Style Apps: still a few seats
3. MSDN Webcasts
4. Community events

—

1. Windows Camps

• 20/04/2012, 09.00-21.00: Academic Windows 8 Day and coding.
  From Metro Style to app development, to launching and selling your Windows 8 app in the Windows Store. A full day of Windows 8, specifically for academic audiences.
  Where: Brussels VUB
• 4/26/201209.00-17.00, Windows 8 Coaching Camp – Managed code and XAML Apps
  Spend a full day learning and coding Windows 8 Metro Style apps. Learn hands-on how to leverage your XAML, Silverlight or WPF skills and ride the metro.
  Where: Business Faculty Brussels
• 30-May-2012, 09.00-17.00 – Windows 8 Coaching Camp – Metro Style apps with HTML and JavaScript
  A full-day mix of presentations and hands-on labs designed to share all the knowledge you need to start building Metro-style applications for Windows 8 by leveraging HTML and JavaScript.
  Where: Business Faculty Brussels

2. MIC Call for Projects Windows 8 Metro Style Apps: still a few seats

A Microsoft Innovation Center Call for Projects is a streamlined process to call for ideas, give you training and support going from technical to Metro Design guidelines and UX. In addition, by participating in a Call for Projects you have a privileged access to App Clinics (testing on devices, discussion of the app) which leads to a selection of apps to go through App Excellence Labs later in June. The Excellence Labs are currently the only ticket for getting Windows Store tokens.

While the first info session has already been done end of March, there is still an opportunity to register. Make sure you register for each of the sessions separately in order to secure your full project call attendance.

MIC Brussels Project Call (all in English)

1. 16 April, 2012 09:00 — 17 Apr 17:00 – Windows 8 Metro Style apps – Hands-on Session
   Two full days of sessions and hands-on labs to build a Windows 8 Metro Style app in C#/XAML or HTML/JavaScript.
   http://micbru.fikket.com/event/call-for-projet-windows-8-metro-style-apps-hands-on-session
2. April 24 2012 9:00 to 17:00 – Windows 8 Metro Style apps – Brussels – UX Workshops session 1 – http://micbru.fikket.com/event/mic-project-call-windows-8-metro-style-apps-brussels-ux-coaching-sessions—3
   Attention: date change!
3. 14 May, 2012 09:00 — 17:00 – Windows 8 Metro Style apps- UX Coaching session 2 – http://micbru.fikket.com/event/mic-project-call-windows-8-metro-style-apps-brussels-ux-coaching-sessions
4. 21 May, 2012 09:00 — 17:00 – Windows 8 Metro Style apps – Brussels – Developer Q&A session – http://micbru.fikket.com/event/mic-project-call-windows-8-metro-style-apps-brussels-developer-qa-session

MIC Mons Project Call (in French)

1. 19 avril 2012 09:00 — 20 avr. 17:00 – Windows 8 Metro Style apps – Appel à projets – Windows 8 Hands-on training : http://events.mic-belgique.be/event/windows-8-metro-style-apps-appel-a-projets–2
2. 9 mai 2012 09:00 — 10 mai 17:00 – Windows 8 Metro Style apps – Appel à projets – UX Coaching sessions : http://events.mic-belgique.be/event/windows-8-metro-style-apps-appel-a-projets–4
3. 16 mai 2012 09:00 — 17:00 – Windows 8 Metro Style apps – Appel à projets – Developer Q&A : http://events.mic-belgique.be/event/windows-8-metro-style-apps-appel-a-projets–5

3. MSDN Webcasts

• 24 April 2012, 14.00-15.30Windows 8 Metro Style Apps: How to build a great app
  Learn how to integrate the Metro Design Principles. As we’ll focus on UI and UX expect little code but lots of input on how to make your app great, whether you are a designer or a developer.
• 8 May 2012, 14.00-15.30MSDN Live Meeting: Continuous Integration using TFS11 & NuGet
  This session will provide you with guidance, tips and tricks on how you can take benefit from NuGet and TFS11 to take your CI environment to the next level.
  Speaker: Xavier Decoster

4. Community events

• 4/27/201214.00-17.30, Windows 8 Metro Style apps – Conférence technique
  Join this technical conference to discover the Windows 8 Metro Platform and how to take advantage of the cloud to build connected apps. (Session in French)
  Where: MIC Mons

• 8 May 2012 18:30 – 20:30, Belgian C++ UG: Writing Metro Style Apps in Native C++
  User Group session consisting of two talks: Introduction to Writing Metro Style Apps in Native C++ (Marc Gregoire) and Going Deeper Into Writing Metro Style Apps in Native C++ (Karthick Gopikrishnan)
  Where: Microsoft Zaventem
• 9-May-2012, 14:00 – 17:30 – Windows 8 Metro Apps & Cloud
  Spend half a day at the Windows 8 Technical Conference, and learn all about Cloud powered Windows 8 Metro apps.
  Where: MIC Brussels
• 10 May 2012, 18:00 to 21:00 – FEWEB Full Screen session: How You Can Build Apps For Windows 8 in HTML5
  We would like to share how you can benefit from your existing skills and leverage them for Windows 8. There is a big opportunity for companies building Metro apps for Windows 8. You will Also get to know how you can prepare yourself for Internet Explorer 10.
• 11-May-2012 – 09.00-17.30 – Windows 8 Camp – Hands on session
  Spend a full day learning and coding Windows 8 Metro Style apps. Learn how to leverage your HTML5 and JavaScript, or C# skills and ride the metro.
  Where: MIC Brussels
• 21 and 22 May 2012 – Multi-Mania 2012
  Join Metro workshops and sessions in the largest Belgian multimedia and web conference.
  Where: Kortrijk
• 30-May-12, 14.00-17.30 – Windows 8 Conférence Technique MIC Mons
  Assistez à cette conférence technique afin de découvrir Windows 8 Metro Platform et comment tirer avantage du cloud pour concevoir des applications.
  Session in French
  Where: MIC Mons
• 5-Jun-2012, 18.00 – 21.00 – AZUG: Taking a metro ride on Windows 8 and Windows Azure
  Let’s explore what Windows 8, WinRT and Windows Azure can do together, how you can publish your application and how you can get live diagnostics from your users. Dive into push notifications and modern slavery in the form of worker roles in this evening filled with two practical sessions!
  Where: CapGemini Diegem
• 8-Jun-2012, 14.00-17.30 – Technical Conference- Windows 8 Metro Apps & Cloud
  Spend half a day at the Windows 8 Technical Conference, and learn all about Cloud powered Windows 8 Metro apps.
  Where: MIC Brussels
• 21-Jun-2012, 09.00-18.00 – Community Day Windows 8 track
  Where: Mechelen Utopolis

But wait, there’s more! You’ll find some Summer Hackathons and more sessions on our online Metro Map. See you soon at one of our events or App Clinics.

Don’t miss on the developer opportunity. Combining the broad reach of Windows, best-in-class developer tools, a reimagined user experience, support for new chipsets, and a built-in Store with industry-leading business terms — Windows 8 is the largest developer opportunity, ever.

Windows 8 for ISVs: Looking back & Moving forward

Friday Last Week we gave the ISVs a peek on the possibilities of our new Windows Operating System, number 8 already! The location of our Win8 for ISVs event was Sportoase Leuven. Skies were blue as if it was mid-summer so I grabbed the opportunity (and bike) with two hands and left the car where it was. Arriving at the venue 8 minutes l8er it became clear we were not alone there. The Windows 8 developer day took place in the same building and BeLux developers were well represented during the technical tracks.

At 15:00 the ISV track took off with an introduction of Giorgio Sardo, providing a vision on the future with Windows 8. Knowing what the future can look like for your company is good, getting there is another thing. Nick Trogh, Christophe Van Mollenkot and Kurt Claeys provided these insights and showed the way to go.

Find the slides of these topics on our Skydrive:

• Metro Design – Your ticket to ride
• Selling your apps to millions of customers
• Devices and Services
• How to prepare your apps for Windows 8

This event was the Kick-off of a whole series of upcoming Windows 8 events/workshops/training. Check out the Windows 8 Metro Map and find out what’s still coming. Keep an eye on our blog to get the subscription info for these upcoming events.

In the meantime, get a first hand experience and download your free customer preview and SDK.