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Tech Ed 2005

Got to get a lot done this week in Redlands because next week I'll be in Orlando at Microsoft's Tech ED conference. I'm going to try and blog from the conference and relate things back to the GIS developer.

Memorial Day

It’s Memorial Day here in the US, a national holiday to honor the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect this country. I know there are lots of strong opinions about US policy throughout the world and here in the US but I just want to say thanks to all the current military personnel and families for serving the United States. There is too much war in the world but I’m grateful for the many that have fought for the freedoms I enjoy.

More on ArcGIS 9.1

Good to hear Adena from All Point Blog is reading my little blog. Thanks to her link, my readership doubled today. Here is the official ESRI press release on the 9.1 ArcGIS. For me, I'm most excited about the new Network Analyst extension in 9.1 and the ability for free ArcReader to view 3D maps created in ArcGlobe.

ArcGIS Engine turns 1 year old

On this day last year, we shipped the first boxes of ArcGIS Engine as part of ArcGIS 9.0. It took a lot of work by some really smart programmers to create the Engine. So this evening after work, we took a little break from the 9.2 push to have some pizza as a team. It's been an eventful year for the Engine team. Once 9.0 shipped last May, most of the team moved to the 9.1 and 9.2 release however others worked to release 9.0.1 (the Linux and Solaris version of Engine).

This is also a special week here in Redlands as 9.1 is back from manufactoring and arriving at customer's doors.

Are you using the ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit to create a custom GIS application? If so let me know, I’m looking for some real world solutions built with the Engine.

Audioblogger Test

UC 2005

Are you going to the ESRI International User Conference this year? The conference is only 2 months away and we are planning a lot of stuff for developers this year. There will be lots of technical sessions on the developer products that make up the ESRI Developer Network. Almost the entire Engine, .Net ADF and Java ADF teams will be in San Diego so it should be a great time to meet the teams and ask any question.

The keynote speaker this year is Jane Goodall, so that should be really good plus the Padres are in town. Once we finalize the developer track, I share it with you so you can start planning your days in San Diego.

Blogger Trouble

It seems like every other time I try to do something on this Blogger blog, the site is down. I don't know the whole history of the rise of Blogger and Goggle buying them but hopefully Google will improve things with Blogger. I also hope they improve the photo sharing capabilities as that's something that Microsoft's Spaces has over Blogger IMHO.

MSN Messenger 7 now final

I've been using a beta version of Messenger for a few months but recently installed the final version. The best feature of the new version is integrations with MSN Spaces. I like the glow effect to let me know that one of my contacts has updated their Space. Here is my Space that I use to keep my family back East updated with my family here in Redlands.

EDN

Andrew Hallam from Digital Earth blogs about the new ESRI Developer Network (EDN) subscription we are offering developers. He's right to point out that ArcGIS Desktop is not part of the EDN subscription yet vital to being successful. We spent a lot of time on this subject but in the end decided not to include ArcGIS Desktop to keep the cost of the subscription as low as possible and limit EDN to just the pure developer products. ArcGIS Desktop is extremely useful for map creation, data management and is required if doing anything with ArcGIS Server. So if you are new to the ESRI platform you need at least one copy of ArcGIS Desktop and EDN subscriptions for each developer. We considered making Desktop a requirement prior to getting EDN but didn’t want to make things complicated.

I like your suggestion of a “EDN plus” that includes a limited use copy of ArcGIS Desktop. What should that cost? Feel free to email me (relkins@esri.com) or give me a call (909-793-2853 ext. 2310) to talk more about EDN.

EDN in the UK

ESRI (UK) launches EDN

The EDN community is growing! ESRI-UK has recently launched EDN in the UK. Nice comment from Paul, Partners and Alliances Business Unit Manager at ESRI (UK):
“GIS is often viewed as a niche technology within the corporate IT world, when in reality many core business processes have a location or spatial dimension. In response to increased market demand, ESRI (UK) is increasing its support for the development community through EDN, making it easier for partners to incorporate and promote GIS and spatial capabilities and take advantage of this growing market opportunity.”

Free Live Training Seminar--Introduction to ArcSDE

ESRI Virtual Campus Presents Free Live Training Seminar

For those wanting to learn more about ArcSDE, the Virutal Campus team is offering a free live seminar on May 19th.

GIS and Geospatial Technology in the Information Age

GIS and Geospatial Technology in the Information Age - A New Perspective

Nice article from SJ... SJ is one of the Director of ESRI and I've always thought he has a good feel for the GIS industry. As a BYU man, I try not to hold the fact that he is a graduate of University of Utah against him.

Rise and Shout - Go Cougars!

SJ, you should start a blog

Open Geospatial Standards and .NET

Open Geospatial Standards and .NET

Here is an interesting article about an open source GIS project that is written in .Net. This is the first type project I've seen that isn't build with Java. The article is correct that most GIS desktop application users are on Windows and .Net is a very popular dev environment for GIS developers.

Developers Developers Developers Developers

Steve Ballmer Video

I can't help but laugh whenever I see the Steve Ballmer videos. I love his passion in the Developers Developers Developers Developers clip. Anyone know when and where this video takes place?

I agree with Steve, developers are the key.

Patches and Service Packs - ESRI Support

Patches and Service Packs - ESRI Support: "ArcGIS 9.0 Service Pack 3"
ESRI announces ArcGIS 9.0 Service Pack 3. This Service Pack contains all the issues addressed in the previously released Service Packs for ArcGIS 9.0 (ArcGIS 9.0 Service Pack 1, ArcGIS 9.0 Service Pack 2) as well as additional improvements and maintenance fixes.
It’s important to know that we didn’t release SP 3 because ArcGIS 9 is so bad and we still don’t have things good after SP1 and SP2. The Release Team here in Redlands is now having regularly scheduled Service Packs to constantly improve the quality of the software. For example, 9.2 is not yet shipping to customer but they are already planning a SP for that release.

Save Custom Toolbar Configurations

While trying to reduce the stack of magazine and other stuff from my “reading” pile, I came across this article from in ArcUser by Steven Lead of ESRI UK. It’s a nice write on using multiple normal templates. For those not familiar with ArcUser, it is a quarterly publication distributed at no charge within the United States. This magazine is dedicated to users of ESRI software. It provides practical, technical information on how GIS is used and how to use ESRI software most effectively.

You can subscribe to ArcUser online; send your name, organization, type of organization, GIS application, address, and phone number via e-mail to arcuser_circulation@esri.com.

10 rules for successful product managers to live by

From a copyrighted story at SoftwareCEO written by Bob Weinstein Software product management: If you can't define it, you're doing a bad job at it

Product managers' rule #1: The best product managers follow the Pragmatic Marketing maxim: Your opinion, while interesting, is irrelevant. Always use market facts to decide the best course of action.

Product managers' rule #2: Product management is a not a "natural" fit for everyone. A good product manager has a technical background with business savvy. Software engineers and programmers, for example, can make a smooth transition to product management because they're starting off with a strong technical background. But technical smarts alone won't cut it.

Product managers' rule #3: In "Crossing the Chasm," Geoff Moore says that product management is a senior, business-oriented role and typically fails because we staff it with junior, technically-oriented people.

Product managers' rule #4: Credibility comes from being able to manage the business of the product. Otherwise, product management gets relegated to a technical support role.

Product managers' rule #5: Product management is about delivering what the market needs. Good product managers spend more time in front of customers and potential customers; they spend less time on sales calls and in their corporate offices.

Product managers' rule #6: Product management is not necessarily about delivering what the customer asks for. The best products solve the customer's problems and no more. A product manager has to observe and understand what the customer needs in order to solve the problem, rather than building the features the customer requests.

Product managers' rule #7: Mature companies value product management and enjoy shorter time to market. According to a survey Pragmatic Marketing conducted with softwareminds, companies that consider product-management business critical cut their time to market in half. This results from more focus on the product and less last-minute reaction to sales demands du jour.

Product managers' rule #8: Product management usually fails when organized in the development or engineering team. Technical managers do not consider product management a value-add to their teams and relegate them to project management and scheduling.

Product managers' rule #9: Similarly, product management fails in sales departments. Naturally, sales management considers product management a sales resource and allocates 110 percent of its time for supporting salespeople.

Product managers' rule #10: It seems counterintuitive, but product managers who spend a lot of time supporting salespeople find that they are not valued by their companies. Invariably, the product managers who