Josh Holmes

Webinar on Oct 20, 2010 with Microsoft/Zend

Josh Holmes — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:19:49 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/10/15/webinar-on-oct-20-2010-with-microsoftzend.aspx

I’m looking forward to starting this new webinar series that I’m launching in partnership with Zend about running PHP in general and Zend in particular on Microsoft Azure.

My goal, as I’m writing the demos today after posting this, is to go through the Zend Guestbook quick start and then port that to run in Azure and leverage that platform. I’ll be posting the full technical write-up here once I get done.

Read the full post at Josh Holmes - Webinar on Oct 20, 2010 with Microsoft/Zend

Wordpress Podcast | Josh Holmes

Josh Holmes — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:18:33 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/06/02/wordpress-podcast--josh-holmes.aspx

I was thrilled and honored to be a guest on the Wordpress Podcast on WebMasterRadio.fm. This podcast is hosted by my friend Joost de Valk and Frederick Townes.

You can read about the podcast, PHP on IIS, PHP on Azure and much more on my blog at Wordpress Podcast…

Toughest Developer Puzzle Ever

Josh Holmes — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:49:30 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/06/01/toughest-developer-puzzle-ever.aspx

For the second year in a row, my friend and colleague Jeff Blankenburg has created what is quickly proving to live up to it’s namesake – the Toughest Developer Puzzle Ever.

Some of the puzzles are technical, some are not but all require that you understand the web, development and technology to solve. Even if you don’t get in on the fantastic prizes that Jeff has lined up, there’s great bragging rights in being able to solve the Toughest Developer Puzzle Ever.

This year, I was honored enough to get to create three of the puzzles myself – let me know what you think of them. I’m not going to tell you which ones I created now and definitely don’t ask me for hints – Jeff has threatened me if I give any of the puzzle away… ;)

All I can say now is “Good luck!”

Miami 311: Built on Windows Azure

Josh Holmes — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:50:01 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/04/29/miami-311-built-on-windows-azure.aspx

This is a cool use of Azure. The city of Miami tool their “311” data around potholes, trash pickup issues, recycling issues, broken sidewalks and the like and put that data in Azure. The next step is that they leveraged Bing Maps and Silverlight to visualize those issues spread on a map of the city.

The solution takes advantage of virtually unlimited storage and processing power, provides the ability to quickly address service requests and implement updates even during peak times such as hurricane season. If things change, the City can bring the solution on site or move to a physical facility, all based on need and cost-effectiveness.

As a result, residents logging on to Miami 311 can see on average 4,500 issues in progress - not represented as a ‘list', but located on a map in relation to other projects in their neighborhood . A simple click on the map allows them to easily drill down to more and more specific details if they want.

In short, they have turned what used to be represented by a meaningless list of data into useful information, and created actionable and consumable knowledge that is relevant to the citizens of Miami. For Miami, their ‘service call to the city' becomes an interactive process they can follow - and the City has a new tool to manage and deliver outcomes.

…

When the city made the move to the web, they chose tools they knew and software they trust. The Microsoft Windows Azure cloud platform made it easy to do, and they used both Bing mapping and Silverlight to build a user friendly front end.

According to Port25 (Miami 311: Built on Windows Azure - Port 25: The Open Source Community at Microsoft), it took two people 8 days to implement the whole system and they are going to open source their solution so that other cities can leverage it. I haven’t seen yet where and how they are going to release it but I’ll keep you posted if I find out.

Microsoft Contributing More to OSS

Josh Holmes — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:57:08 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/04/28/microsoft-contributing-more-to-oss.aspx

I’m all excited – Microsoft has signed the Joomla! Contributor Agreement. You can read about that on the official Joomla! blog – Microsoft signs the Joomla! Contributor Agreement.

There’s a couple of fairly momentous things about that statement. Read more at Microsoft Contributing More to OSS | Josh Holmes

Microsoft UX Kit

Josh Holmes — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:57:51 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/04/27/microsoft-ux-kit.aspx

Have you ever wondered what was possible with Silverlight, WPF or any of Microsoft’s User Experience (UX) technologies? Well, Christian Thilmany has answered that question in the form of the Microsoft UX Kit.

Read more at Microsoft UX Kit | Josh Holmes

Creating a Simple PHP Blog in Azure

Josh Holmes — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:22:32 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/04/17/creating-a-simple-php-blog-in-azure.aspx

In this post, I want to walk through creating a simple Azure application that will show a few pages, leverage Blob storage, Table storage and generally get you started doing PHP on Azure development. In short, we are going to write a very simple PHP Blog engine for Azure.
To be very clear, this is not a pro blog engine and I don’t recommend using it in production. It’s a » read more.

Easy Setup for PHP On Azure Development

Josh Holmes — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:21:22 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/04/17/easy-setup-for-php-on-azure-development.aspx

I just got back from the JumpIn Camp in fantastic Zurich, Switzerland. I’ll blog about that whole experience shortly. In the meantime, however, I thought I’d get some resources out here that would have been useful last week. Specifically in this post, I thought I’d tackle the Windows Azure 4 Eclipse tooling setup.
There are two major things that we need to do. First is to get the » read more.

PHP/Ruby on Azure World Tour

Josh Holmes — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:31:18 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/02/10/phpruby-on-azure-world-tour.aspx

I’m thrilled and honored to be doing another speaking tour through Europe. I’m getting to visit a number of countries that I haven’t visited before and some old favorites. I’ll be speaking on PHP, Ruby and other non .NET technologies on Azure.

The talk that I’m going to be doing in most places is PHP/Ruby on Azure or Leveraging Azure with Non-Microsoft Languages. For the full abstract and the schedule for when I’ll be speaking where, please read my post at PHP/Ruby on Azure World Tour

Hello World Azure in PHP

Josh Holmes — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:20:24 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/02/09/hello-world-azure-in-php.aspx

Building on the Windows Azure Command Line Tools blog post, I thought we could kick it up a notch and get PHP running in Azure leveraging the command line tools. The primary thing that we need to do is to copy the PHP bits up with the rest of your deployment and configure the FastCGI handler to know where the PHP interpreter can be found.

To see all the steps required, read my post at Hello World Azure in PHP.

Getting MySql Running on Azure

Josh Holmes — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:33:26 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/02/08/getting-mysql-running-on-azure.aspx

There are a few applications that I’m playing with in Windows Azure that are reliant on MySql for various reason. For example, I’m working with a group that is doing Joomla development and it’s completely dependent on MySql. Mostly this is due to using MySql native drivers rather than using a database independent layer such as ADO.NET in .NET or PDO in PHP or leveraging database specific features that are only found in MySql. Regardless of the reason, for me to run these applications in Windows Azure, I have to get MySql running in Azure. I found that it wasn’t as hard as I initially thought it would be and it’s a technique that I can reuse for a lot of binary executables.

I’ve got some strong thoughts on whether or not this is a good idea but to find out more, check out my post at Getting MySql Running on Azure

Windows Azure Command Line Tools

Josh Holmes — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:42:43 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/02/05/windows-azure-command-line-tools.aspx

There are times that you just need to leverage the raw power that you can get from the command line. For example, if you are trying to script something or if you are on a machine that is not all tooled up with Visual Studio, Eclipse and the like and, believe it or not, there are times that it’s just a lot easier to get stuff done without an IDE in the way. Great news is that we’ve got a couple in the Windows Azure SDK called CSPack and CSRun that work wonders.

To that end, I created a little tutorial on using the command line tools to create a very simple Azure package and deploying it up to the development fabric. To see the full tutorial at Windows Azure Command Line Tools

When to use what Microsoft Client Technology

Josh Holmes — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:09:32 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/02/03/when-to-use-what-microsoft-client-technology.aspx

I was asked earlier when to use what Microsoft client Technology. I thought about just sending a link to Michael Schroeder’s post but decided I should put in my own thoughts on the matter first.

For my thoughts on the subject – check out my post at When to use what Microsoft Client Technology.

Taking The Polar Plunge Again

Josh Holmes — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:24:35 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2010/02/01/taking-the-polar-plunge-again.aspx

Last year I did a Polar Plunge to raise money for the Special Olympics – Read about it at Taking The Polar Plunge.

I’m doing it again this year and have much loftier goals this year. Last year I raised $725.00 and this year I want to raise $1000.00 and inspire others to do the same. At the time of this writing, I’ve raised $500 personally and have inspired 2 others to do the dive with me.

To find out WHY I’m doing this and HOW you can help – check out my post at Josh Holmes - Taking The Polar Plunge Again

Review of Ext JS 3.0 Cookbook

Josh Holmes — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:24:32 GMT

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joshholmes/archive/2009/11/19/review-of-ext-js-3.0-cookbook.aspx

For full disclosure, Packt Publishing sent me a review copy of this book. They did not ask for a positive review, just a review.

This is the first book by Jorge Ramon that I’ve read. This book is exactly what the title says that it is, a Cookbook. It’s got 109 solutions to problems solved by Ext JS 3.0. I was expecting, like a lot of other books to get a fill of all of the philosophy behind what they are trying to promote but that wasn’t the case. This book just in with no nonsense and gets right to the code.

More on my blog at Review of Ext JS 3.0 Cookbook