John Martin's Blog : Codeplex

CodePlex Turns 2!

John Martin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:42:00 GMT

Happy Birthday! :-)

Tonight, Soma blogged on CodePlex's 2nd birthday...

It seems like only recently, but is has been two years since we launched CodePlex. We launched this in Summer 2006 as Microsoft’s open source project hosting site. Our goal was, and continues to be, to provide developers with the ability to collaborate on open source projects using the tools they are most familiar with...

One of things that fascinates me about CodePlex is how surprised developers often are to find out that CodePlex is a Microsoft site!

To learn more, check out the CodePlex team blog for the Top 5 Myths & Facts about CodePlex.

Try the New Windows Live Translator Widget

John Martin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:41:00 GMT

To help extend the reach and availability of technical content across global languages and markets, Server & Tools Online (the group that manages the global MSDN, TechNet, Expression, and CodePlex sites) will be leveraging the latest translation technology from the Windows Live and Microsoft Research teams.

The Windows Live Translator is a web app that can translate English web pages or snippets of text into any one of these supported languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Netherlands Dutch.

The Translator Add-in can be added to any web page and makes it really easy for visitors to quickly translate the page into any one of the same supported languages. The translation is conveniently displayed side-by-side with the original page so that both original and translated languages are available to the reader. There are also other display options available to try out.

I have added the add-in to the header of my blog (see above). The add-in senses the language setting of your browser and offer translations in that language.

Going forward, we will be using this technology to translate valuable content from MSDN and TechNet Magazine, community-generated content from applications like Forums and Blogs, documentation from the MSDN and TechNet libraries, and more.

So, try it out and send the Translator team your feedback.

MSDN/TechNet GM Talks about Future Investment Areas

John Martin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:21:00 GMT

Today, Dan Truax, GM of Server & Tools Online, the group that runs the global MSDN, TechNet, Expression, and CodePlex sites, blogged about the high-level investment themes for our Social Platform and web sites...

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The Major Themes for Our Social Platform Investments

In May, when I first blogged on our social vision, I also said that we'd publish more information about our site and platform roadmap. We're ready to start doing that now. They best way to begin the conversation is to first talk about our investments themes.

Think of themes as high-level things that we think are important. They are...

An Integrated Site Experience

Better Discovery

Enabling Social Connections

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Read the original post on Dan's blog. Let us know what you think in the blog or on the Futures Forums for MSDN or TechNet.

Next up: specific features and site enhancements...

VIDEO: "No Need to Shout" - Ninjas and Pirates Just Might Be Able to Get Along After All...

John Martin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:43:00 GMT

For your enjoyment - this video came out of TechEd 2008 North America.

Fun and funny way to learn about Microsoft online community offerings, including the latest from MSDN, TechNet, CodePlex, and Expression. Most of the comments I've seen on it are actually serious debates on Pirates and Ninjas!

For more fun and interesting things, see http://microsoftcommunities.com/

Video: No Need to Shout

MSDN & TechNet at TechEd North America 2008

John Martin — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:29:00 GMT

TechEd North America is a launch event for the MSDN and TechNet teams (we're opening the sites up to the community) and this year we are bringing all our good stuff together into "Zones" - the MSDN Zone for Developer Week and the TechNet Zone for IT Professional Week.

The Zones are big (60-70 ft) and a whole bunch of us from the MSDN and TechNet site teams, Codeplex, subscriptions, support, Microsoft Learning, Channel 9 and TechNet Edge will all be there to answer questions and give you demos of our latest and greatest innovations.

Here's some reasons to stop by and visit:

Get a demo of the all-new Social Bookmarking on MSDN and TechNet
Find out about our new Social Platform and how to create a profile
See how we've made MSDN Search and TechNet Search better
Enter to win Channel 9 and TechNet Edge beanbags
Meet the experts (MVPs, MCTs, other various smarties) and ask them questions at the Ask The Experts reception (Thursday at noon each week)
Get some awesome swag (inlcuding new MSDN and TechNet laptop stickers)
Play the TechNet Jeopardy game (IT Pro week only) and win!
And more!

See you there...