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The remote server returned an unexpected response: (400) Bad Request. Server stack trace:    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelUtilities.ValidateRequestReplyResponse(HttpWebRequest request, HttpWebResponse response, HttpChannelFactory factory, WebException responseException)    at ...

It was pointed out to me recently that my critical position on SQL Data Services and support for Azure in general are inconsistent, so I thought that a bit of clarification is required. SQL Server is my database of choice and have been using it since version 4.21, which was long before it became mainstream and I even spent a couple of years on ...

In the battle of the public vs private clouds, the lines have been drawn between those that offer infrastructure for use in existing data centres and those that offer platforms and services in their own data centres.  The discussions, while technically based, are philosophical, passionate, opinionated and about the market laggards trying to ...

Microsoft have launched a new Search Engine called Bing incorporating the technology comes from Microsoft’s acquisition of Powerset (not just a rebrand of Windows Live). It is being marketed as more than just a search engine, rather as a decision engine. It is in preview and you can try it out here, the video is worth a look too. ...

On my current project I wanted to do a little pit stop after our 1st sprint to ensure that the solution was running as optimally as possible. We’ve fleshed out the solution structure and have pulled together all the core pieces of technology – so within Visual Studio, the solution looks like: Solution ‘MyApp’ +---Data |   ...

Now, I may be a little slow on the uptake here but I have just found out that as of the 1st of April this year Microsoft released SharePoint Designer as a free download to all SharePoint customers.  This is great news for the businesses who have invested in SharePoint over the last few years and will save a great deal on licence fees I'm ...

As much as I avidly support cloud technologies and as much as I prefer using SQL Server, I can’t come up with a convincing reason to use or recommend SQL Data Services. SDS simply has no compelling (or obvious) business case. The reason for this is a limitation built in to SDS of a database size from 5GB-10GB, with a promise from Microsoft that ...

In the wake of all the glorious Silverlight announcements at MIX09, we’ve lined up a couple of sessions around the new features to be found in Expression Blend 3 and Silverlight 3. Microsoft are kindly providing the facilities of Cardinal Place (nr Victoria) so that we can accommodate a larger audience, and EMC Conchango will be providing the ...

This week Google announced immediate support for Java on AppEngine. While not surprising it does thrown down the gauntlet for PaaS (Platform as a Service) competitors such as Microosft’s Azure.  Technical details aside, there is a lot of Java code out there, a lot of Java developers and a whole new market to persue. A big part of Microsoft’s ...

There are a few last minute places available for the Open Space Coding Day tomorrow.  Click here for more info, would be great to see you there.