AJAX is certainly a hot topic in the web development world. I remember building these Asynchronous-JavaScript-and-XML applications about 5 years ago. However, now that browser support has increased and a fancy acronym that sounds like a familiar cleaning product has been thrown out there and you now have a phenomenon.

AJAX applications weredifficult to build back in 2000 and they're still difficult to build today. Not tofret, though.The fine folk over on the ASP.NET
team at Microsoft have been hard at work for some time now on resolving that issue with “Atlas”.

from the source…

“Atlas” is a free framework for building a new generation of richer, more interactive, highly personalized cross-browser web applications.

The Chicago .NET Users Group will dive deep into Atlas and all of its merriment at the July meeting taking place in Downers Grove on July 19th. Unfortunatley, I won’t be able to make this particular event as I'll be continuing my World Tour 2006 with a stop off in Orlando for Microsoft's MGX conference. My comrade in arms, Kevin Hammond, will be there to host the festivites.

To attend the meeting, be sure to register over at http://www.cnug.org.

Microsoft has an Employee Purchase Program (EPP) set up with a number of companies, including Dell. As I was perusing Dell?s website to order a new computer for the misses, I happened across a non-descript banner ad labeled ?Dads and Grads ? Spin to Win?. What the hell, I thought, I?ll give it a shot. Once I entered the obligatory personal information, I was presented with what looked to be a Flash application resembling a slot machine. The rules are, match 3 items and win ? naturally. I clicked on the ?Spin? button and watched lady luck spin away. Slot 1: TV, Slot 2: TV, Slot 3: TV. Woohoo! I won? but what did I win?

At first I thought, ?Oh how cute, I probably won a Dell branded 128mb memory stick or something?, but I was wrong. As the next screened informed me? ?Congratulations! You are the grand prize winner and have one a 23? LCD Dell TV!?? My reaction was, ?Wha? Huh?.. Yeah, right!? Suddenly, I had visions of several airlines websites selling round trip tickets for $1. Surely, something was wrong. I read over the rules which clearly stated that if an error has been determined to occur, Dell is not responsible for awarding the prize for such an error. (Bingo!) That?s probably what happened. Next, I saw were I should be expecting an email from Dell immediately, verifying my prize. So I waited?and waited?and waited. After an hour or so, no email. Damn!

On a hunch, I decided to check my Junk Mail folder, and lo and behold there was an email from Dell. I anxiously opened it and read that ?Yes, Dave! You pessimistic bastard? you won a Dell 23? LCD TV!!!? (I?m para-phrasing, of course) Attached to the email was an affidavit instructing that if I want my prize, I must sign my life away. For a TV?!? You betcha! I even had to get the affidavit notorized, so it must be real.

Well? we?ll see. Seeing is believing. I had to send the affidavit back to Dell?s prize department within 10 days. No fax allowed. It must be mailed. The chances are higher that the snail mail won?t make it in time. Further increasing the chances of not claiming the prize I suppose. Anyhow, I won?t truly rejoice until I receive a special shipment from Dell within 8?10 weeks.

Update: The nicelady in the brown truck and brown polyester shirt and shorts delivered the TV on Aug. 23rd. People really do win on the web!

Microsoft has just finished our Fiscal Year 2006 (FY?06). Apparently the month after a fiscal year-end is a great time to travel the country for a number of meetings. FY?07 Kick-off meetings? sales conferences?.technical conferences?etc.

My July is shaping up to be the ?Dave Bost World Tour 2006?. Tomorrow we kick it off with a team offsite in Dallas from July 10?11, than the infamous Microsoft sales conference (MGX-Microsoft Global Exchange) in Orlando from July 19?23. And than, for some miraculous reason, Microsoft?s internal technical conference (TechReady), taking place July 23?28th in Seattle. I?m not sure who came up with the grand plan on schedulingMGX on back-to-back weeks with TechReady? on opposite ends of the country!

Normally, DE?s wouldn?t attend the sales conference, but our manager?s-manager thought it would be valuable for new employeesto attend MGX. After all the pain of traveling this month though, I?m looking forward to it. It will be nice to reinvigorate the batteries and get ready for some great things to come in FY?07. It?s surely shaping to be an exciting year.