ScaleOut StateServer is a great product. But there isn't much visibility into it at runtime. It doesn't provide any performance counters that you can monitor with tools like Nagios or Zenoss. I've written a Windows service that will probe the local instance of the ScaleOut StateServer and create a set of performance counters for it. You can then start monitoring interesting things about ScaleOut StateServer like:

• ActiveHostCount
• CreatesPerSecond
• DeletesPerSecond
• ObjectCount
• ObjectMemoryBytes
• PartitionCount
• ReadsPerSecond
• UpdatesPerSecond

Here's the Windows service solution which can be opened with Visual Studio 2005 or later. I've also attached the ReadMe.txt file separately in case you want to read about it without downloading the source code.

SossStatsHarvester20080330.zip (21.65 kb)    ReadMe.txt (12.08 kb)

I delivered a presentation to the Innsbrook .NET User Group this evening regarding Silverlight 2. I've attached the PowerPoint slides here.

Silverlight Version 2 - Hazzard - IDNUG - March 2008.pptx (237.20 kb)

During the presentation, I got dozens of questions which I truly enjoyed. It makes the presentation so much more fluid when the audience is fully engaged in the topic and feels comfortable in asking hard questions. I found one of the questions that was asked tonight particularly provocative. I'll paraphrase it as, "How do you decide when you're ready to use Silverlight for a development effort?" In the arguably justifiable excitement around Silverlight technologies (or Flex/Air/Laszlo for that matter), what should a business consider when making this kind of move?

During my presentation, I listed three key elements for making a decision like this. They were:

• Readiness of your users to make the move. Part of this decision is in understanding the cost of adoption. In the case of Silverlight, the barriers are low but there are barriers to consider. Some portion of your user base is going to be unable to install the required plug-ins due to incompatibility, inability by the user or even fear. If you are in a corporate environment, you may have more control of the incompatibility and inability problems. In the larger Internet community, there will always be a percentage of users who cannot overcome the hurdles required to implement the upgrade no matter how simple we believe it to be. Can you afford to write off those users?
  
• Ability to deliver something to your users that they cannot get (easily) using another combination of existing technologies. This is what makes Silverlight so interesting in my mind. I can build web applications in a lot of ways. But driving C#, JavaScript, IronPython and XAML to the desktop with Silverlight is compelling because it's the stuff I already know. Being able to push that core set of competencies so close to the user, all sorts of possibilities open up. In the case of this decision point, the question is, "Is the richness I can achieve by pushing my skills and tools out of the server and into the user's world so unique and valuable that I should do it?"
  
• Shifting resources in a way that allows the business to focus more money or time in areas that need it. There is no doubt that Silverlight will shift some of the importance quotient ascribed to ASP.NET into the browser over time. As that shift occurs, other technologies in the application stack will probably move upwards. For example, the SOA strategy your company uses today may be focused on providing so-called middle-tier services or even back-office services. Many companies put services on the edge of their networks for B2B transactions. But few do that for B2C applications. Arguably, AJAX callbacks fit this mold to a certain extent. But companies rarely focus on AJAX callbacks with the design rigor that's applied to middle-tier services. AJAX implementations are often seen as point solutions related to specific GUI requirements. So the "services" that support them get the same treatment. But what happens when much of the rendering load shifts to the desktop and inside the browser? That second layer of services that we're accustomed to applying contract-first, transaction, reliability and security principles will move up in the stack to fill the void. It's no wonder that Silverlight 2 has support for JSON, REST, POX, RSS and SOAP service calls built right in. Microsoft knows that this wave of change is coming. So, back to the original question. When the presentation engine moves out of the core of the network, what advantages will it offer your company, if any? What skills will you need in that kind of environment that are different than the ones you use today? Will it force (or allow) you to change your hiring patterns? How will your security model be affected? Will you buy more servers or fewer of them? What kinds of capabilities will those servers have that differ from the ones you buy today? How will your geographic distribution model for content be affected? With the reduced rendering constraints, will you be able to virtualize your applications to a greater extent? The list of questions goes on and on for this one.

If you can answer 2 out of 3 of these topics in an affirmative way (meaning: it makes sense to move forward), then I think you are ready to try building a rich Internet client using Silverlight. My advice is to start small. Pick bits of content that can easily be delivered the old way and the new way from one code base. Do a bit of browser detection work on your servers and deliver some Silverlight content optionally at first. In other words, try not to require the automatic installation of the Silverlight plug-in if possible. Perhaps you should even allow the users to opt in to such a program. Measure the uptake rate on the new capability before and after adding the installation requirement. Once you get a feel for the impact on the users and your own infrastructure/staff, you'll have what you need to make sound decisions. At SnagAJob.com, this is exactly what we're doing in our product development processes.

Deep Zoom
http://joestegman.members.winisp.net/DeepZoom/
http://www.neogeo.com/samples/SilverZoom/

Financial Management
http://www.cookingwithxaml.com/meals/financials/default.html

WeatherBug
http://sl.weatherbug.com/?zip=23060
 
Learning and Discovery
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/earlyamericas/readingartifacts/

Image Snipper
http://silverlight.net/Samples/2b1/ImageSnipper/testpage.html

Form Controls
http://silverlight.net/Samples/2b1/SilverlightControls/run/default.html
http://labs.componentone.com/Sapphire/

Here's my speaking schedule for the next few weeks in case anyone's interested in hearing me speak on these topics:

• March 26, 2008 - Silverlight 101 - Innsbrook .NET User Group
  6:00 to 8:30 p.m. on the ECPI Campus at 4305 Cox Road, Glen Allen, Virginia
• April 26, 2008 - Richmond Code Camp
  8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the ECPI Campus at 4305 Cox Road, Glen Allen, Virginia
• April 26, 2008 - Richmond "Meet and Code" Dinner
  6 p.m. at the Markel Plaza Building, 4600 Cox Road, Glen Allen, Virginia
• May 1, 2008 - Silverlight and WCF - Roanoke Valley .NET User Group
  6 to 8 p.m. at the NEW Roanoke County Public Safety Building
• May 5, 2008 - Information Technology Career Symposium - Randolph-Macon College
  6 to 8:30 p.m. in Washington-Franklin Hall

In addition, I'll be attending these upcoming meetings but not presenting:

• March 27, 2008 - Richmond Sharepoint User Group
• April 3, 2008 - Richmond .NET User Group
• April 7, 2008 - Delivering Effective Presentations (Richmond Code Camp Preparation)
• April 10, 2008 - Richmond SQL Server User Group

If you're going to be in Richmond, Virginia on April 10, 2008, consider attending the SQL Server Product Roadmap Discussion at the local Microsoft office. Sign up here. I'll be there and I'll write about what we learn there after it happens. Some details:

Indeed.com tracks job statistics. I’ve been scouting there to determine what SnagAJob.com can and should be doing in future releases of our site. Along the way, I built this report which shows jobs posting as a percentage of all job postings for popular programming languages over the past 3 years.

As you can see, Java still beats C# 2:1 in popularity today. But C# is growing and Java has been essentially flat. Also, notice that Visual Basic is slowly declining and was eclipsed by C# in late 2005. C++ is flat, too. At the current rate, C# would eclipse C++ in the next 2 years and would overtake Java in popularity within 7 or 8 years. A lot can change in 8 years, though.

Also interesting, as of Q4 2007, there are more advertised jobs requiring Python skills than there are for COBOL. You gotta love that. Ruby seems to be tracking right along with Python. Javascript and C# are almost the same line. I predict that will continue and that the Python and Ruby lines will move upward and track just below Javascript line because of the rise in Silverlight and client-centric web programming that’s coming. XAML's a penny stock today but look at the relative growth in this graph.

Unless VB shifts back to its pre-.NET roots, it's a dying language, in my opinion. Not that I liked VB5 or VB6 at all but those who did like VB before .NET really loved it. Since .NET, there's not a lot of love for VB from anyone. VBx, the dynamic version of VB that's part of Microsoft's Dynamic Language Runtime initiative could change all that.

What's going to happen with C++ is anyone's guess. Maybe it will be around forever. I'm predicting doom and gloom for C and C++ at 3:14:07 a.m. on Tuesday, January 19, 2038.

Pretty cool vid from London's Transportation ministry aimed at helping motorists have more awareness about cyclists. My buddy Dave Holman aptly wonders how aware we can really be in light of the complexity of modern software. Watch the video and ponder that.

I presented at the Roanoke Code Camp 2008 a couple of weeks ago. I never got around to posting the slides and sample code. Here's the stuff for the .NET 3.5 Language Enhancements presentation I did. I didn't have slides or sample code for my Silverlight 101 presentation. It was all hands on using the DLRConsole and experimentation in Visual Studio 2008. Enjoy.

RoanokeCodeCamp2008 - Hazzard - C# 3 Language Features - Sample Code.zip (4.61 kb)

RoanokeCodeCamp 2008 - Hazzard - C# 3 Language Features - Presentation.pptx (159.87 kb)

Justin Etheredge is putting together a series of meetings in the Richmond area called "Meet and Code". It's a free-form, BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) kind of affair where people are encouraged to bring code examples and ideas to speak about. I'm not sure about all the details but it sounds very interesting and could go in some good directions. Check out Justin's blog post about this. Be sure to sign up on the Upcoming.Yahoo.com site so he knows how much pizza to order.