As promised, I wanted to let everyone know what it took to update the Morale Signup page with the new Microsoft AJAX library components which were updates to the Atlas controls.  My hope is that it will help someone out there. 

This was a pretty painful update even though I only had a few controls on the page.  I learned that I will not be doing as much UI glitz as I originally planned as long as the AJAX stuff is in beta.  I got support for the Safari browser from the upgrade so it was worth it for me.  Here is stuff that I had to do for the upgrade:

• Install the ASP.NET AJAX libraries
• Remove references to Microsoft.Web.Atlas.dll
• Add references to Microsoft.Web.Extensions.dll
• Change web.config for the namespaces section
• Change assembly references in config from Microsoft.Web.Atlas to Microsoft.Web.Extensions
• Change tag prefix specification from atlas to asp in config
• Change atlas tags in markup to asp
• Change mode property for UpdatePanels to UpdateMode
• Change atlas:ControlEventTrigger to asp:AsyncPostbackTrigger for UpdatePanels
• Download and unzip AjaxControlToolkit
• Remove references to AtlasControlToolkit
• Add references to AjaxControlToolkit
• Change Register page directive from AtlasControlToolkit to AjaxControlToolkit
• Change prefixes for AtlasControlToolkit in the markup
• Change some Javascript that was used for the animations

I also noticed that .NET is more strict.  For example, ScriptManager must be in a form tag and extenders must be in the same update panel that the control is in.  Simple stuff like that which made it take longer for the upgrade.  You can read about the changes here.  A helpful migration document can be read here.

Again, I think it was worth it but it was just painful because of all the name changes.  Hope this helps.

CodeMash is going to be a unique nerd convention.  It is an event that will have speakers about various current languages, technology, and methodologies.  The idea is that not only will .NET be talked about but also Ruby, Rails, PHP, and Java.  The cool thing is that it won't be at some boring convention center or university.  It will be held all weekend (January 18th and 19th) at Kalahari Bay.  Even though I don't feel good about the service there, it is a fun place to be.  Unfortunately, I may not be able to make it then since I have someone on the family who is expecting that week.  If I do get the chance, I will be there.

I am looking at my Verizon XV6700 right now and I am seeing the EV instead of the 1X signal like before.  I am working from home instead of from Detroit, where I usually see it.  Verizon has been upgrading some towers in the area and they have been testing EVDO at off-peak times.  I would sometimes look at my phone at night and notice the EVDO signal and I knew they were up to something.  It looks like Verizon has finally rolled out EVDO to the Toldeo area.  Its about time and just as they rolling out revison A EVDO in some markets.  We should get that in another three years.

Drew Robbins, a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft, will be presenting tonight at the Northwest Ohio .NET User Group.  The meeting is at HCR Manorcare in Toldeo, Ohio.  It starts at 6:00 and goes until about 8:00.  Come by for the party and get fed for free.  Here is more information.

Robert Peake wrote a guest post on Merlin Mann's 43 Folders site.  He talks about the idea of creating software using the David Allen Company's GTD system.  (If you don't know what GTD is about, get the book and come back to this post.)  Here is an excerpt from the article:

Using a trusted system with the GTD methodology allows you to serialize your work life — to freeze dry it in a readable format (your system, be that a Hipster PDA, a plain text file, or a fancy graphical task manager). By effectively bookmarking your complete working state just enough so that you can pick back up where you left off, GTD actually allows you to deal with the boss that comes in every five minutes to get an update on your TPS report cover sheet. The promise of a trusted GTD system is the promise of never having to think twice about what you were doing; just as the promise of serializing data is that you don’t have to re-instantiate or re-calculate the structure you serialized. Store it, retrieve it, add water, and poof — you’re back up and running without any wasted cycles.

I am very interested in the tools that the team used to "bookmark" where they left off.  It is hard to do with most of the tools out there today.  It is painful to enter all the tasks that you need to complete easily in order to get them out of your head and be able to serialize where you were at.  This is one of the goals of Morale.  To be able to easily enter tasks, update them, and remove them freely as the software process and the things around it change.  I'm going to be looking more carefully at this GTD process for software development because I think it fits great with the tools that we are building.

The Apple web site has an interview with Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson from 37 Signals discussing how they use a Mac.  I think it's cool because you get a quick inside look at the 37 Signals offices in Chicago.

The new version of Atlas, now called ASP.NET AJAX, has been released.  They have changed all of their marketing and naming to ASP.NET AJAX instead of Atlas.  There are several downloads to it.  The first download is the ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions which contains both the Microsoft client side library and the ASP.NET extensions for the server side items.  The client side library can be used independent of ASP.NET and contains several useful javascript functions.

The second download is called the ASP.NET 2.0 CTP which contains features that may or may not be included in the final release of ASP.NET AJAX.

I will be looking at these as I build the Morale web application.  I already need to replace some of the AJAX functionality in the sign up page of Morale and I will report what was involved in that.

You can get all the downloads here.

UPDATE: There is a third download.  One that contains the toolkit based on the new AJAX libraries.  You can get it here.

Innovativ Studios has launched a landing/sign up page for the Morale application which I talked about a month ago.  The launched page is a sign of things to come.  It is a sign up page using Microsoft AJAX technologies.  You can find it at http://teammorale.com.

All you need to do is enter your email address and you will be added to a list to recieve updates about the launch of Morale.  We will not flood your inbox with emails, you can unsubscribe easily, and we won't do any naughty things with your email address.  Sit back, join, and see what we have in store.  I think you will like it.

I wrote a previous post talking about how I think that there is not a large enough space for a dedicated reader and that the only way it would survive is with the content.  My view has not changed that much but I have found a new reason why someone may want one....e ink.

I had a chance to stop by a Sony Style store tonight just so I could check out the Sony reader since there has been so many reviews out there as of late.  I have to say that the e ink technology that it uses is just plain awesome.  It really captures the look and even feel of real paper.  It is a really neat technology.  I almost bought one just because it looked really cool.  Would I still buy one though?  No, I have need for one with my tablet and the content is still not there.  Maybe when the content gets fatter, I may.  If you get a chance, check it out, you really can't do it justice by explaining it.  You have to check it out for yourself.  I will tell you that once e ink goes public I will buy that stock.