Spelunking through the internet I came across a project at Microsoft to engage people with various Microsoft Technologies using comic form. Black Marble have been producing Xmas comics over the last few years and the results have been great.

The series of comics follows “Squishy” the stress ball, Leah and Zach in a Manga inspired view of IT and development

In "Climbing Mt. PowerShell" the heroes learn PowerShell and the power of scripting to save the day, get it here

"Conquering Virtual Sprawl" Leah and Zach fights the chaos of large numbers of servers and harnesses virtual servers to save the day get it here

finally the heroes go where no heroes have gone before “Into the Cloud” get it here

the guys over at the Microsoft Born to Learn site really should be applauded at their efforts of tackling these subjects in such a great way

b.

SQL Azure Labs have released Project Houston a lightweight web based Database management tool for SQL Azure. Houston allows you to develop, deploy, and manage SQL Azure and includes support for basic database management tasks like authoring and executing queries, designing and editing a database schema, and editing table data.

b.

Well in that case the ever fantastic Eric Nelson is your man, if you join the fans of Windows Azure http://ukazure.ning.com/profiles/blogs/free-100-page-windows-azure

I am sure Eric will find it in his heart to send you the password to download this masterpiece.

b.

The usual suspects of Black Marble speakers presented on the Microsoft technologies from 2008 and the forthcoming developments for 2009.  A rapid fire run through covered everything from Oslo to Windows 7 through Azure and Performance Point to System Centre.  All the news, and milestones for Microsoft releases in 2009 and beyond.

Good lunch too.

b.

The Developer & Platform Group at Microsoft are pleased to announce a series of technical briefings, targeted at ISVs and Start-ups, focused on the cloud based Azure Services Platform (first announced at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles in October 2008).  Black Marble are delighted to host the Bradford leg of this event on 13 February.

This event will cover:

· Windows Azure – The operating system for the Cloud

· .Net and Live Services – Mesh, Service Bus, Access Control and Workflow.

· SQL Data Services and data access

· Next Steps

The briefings will consist of technical discussion, demos and interactive discussion and will focus on what Azure is and how it can be used as a platform for cloud-based development. The sessions will be small, typically less than 30, to keep the flow of conversation going, and are suitable for Technical Decision Makers, Application Architects, Senior Developers and CTOs. There will be time after the event for more detailed ‘one to one’ discussions on any topics related to this session.

13^th February 2009, Bradford: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/InviteOnly.aspx?EventID=EE-AA-39-11-6B-DF-F0-2D-78-12-81-55-03-49-6A-33&Culture=en-GB Invitation code: 5A219E

Look forward to seeing you there.

b.