I’ve updated my Page Layout UserControl project page to include the VB.NET version ported by David Miles. Thanks David!

I’m back from the big MSFT conference. It took all day in bed to recover – I caught a virus while I was in New Orleans + I drank + I got about 4 hours of sleep per night.

While it sucked to be away from home for 9 days, it did give me a chance to hang out w/ teammates and other friend coworkers. One of them, Michael Lane Thomas, just spun a weblog up @ GDN Blogs. Like me, Michael is an evangelist in the field, though he’s on the dev side while I’m on the architecture side. In other words, we don’t build the stuff, we have to convince our customers to use it.

One other note: Michael is the “.NET Cowboy”. My teammate Paul (who should start his own blog along with everyone else on my team) has decided that everyone on the team needs a call sign. I guess he saw Top Gun one too many times. So now I work with Ogre, Guns, Jet, Groove Train and Voodoo among others. I have been dubbed “Wizard” in obvious reference to Harry Potter. I guess it could be worse – I could have been saddled with Peach Fuzz or Full Moon.

Two things have revived my interest in Messenger.NET (though it needs a new name – any suggestions?). Jamie’s addin and the upcoming release of RTC Client API v1.2. The new client API is designed lockstep with Microsoft Office Real-Time Communication Server 2003 (otherwise known as just RTC Server).

The current version of Messenger.NET is built on imcli, an implementation of MSNP7 – the IM protocol used by MSN Messenger prior to v5. While MSN Messenger still uses later versions of that protocol, Windows Messenger can support other protocols as well, such as Exchange 2000′s IM Service. The new RTC Server and Client API are using the IETF’s Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the SIP Instant Messaging and Presence Language Extensions (SIMPLE). That seems like a much more interesting foundation to build an app / addin around.

One quick downside of the new RTC Client API – it’s still COM based. The v1 shipped with Windows XP way way back before CLR and the new v1.2 is a refinement to that model. Of course, part of a “next-gen” Messenger.NET implementation could include a managed wrapper around that COM API. I’ve been diving into Code Access Security (CAS) recently, so building such a library would be a good opportunity to practice building secure assemblies.

Wireless access has been available, but time has not. I’ve at least caught up on my DevHawk email. David Miles ported my Page Layout UserControl project to VB. Jamie Cansdale made Messenger.NET into a VS.NET addin. And George Datuashvili and Doug Purdy both pointed out that the example XML in my XML Schema Doesn’t Need Inheritance entry is nondeterministic. I’ve got quite a backlog, but I will get though it later this week.

I just posted a little macro for changing the VS.NET default font (family, size and boldness). Of course, this is to automate one of Scott Hanselman’stop presenter tips.