Rob Reynolds on Automation with Chocolatey - Episode 156

This week, Rob Reynolds, the founder and CEO of Chocolatey Software, is joining the podcast!

Rob is a developer-turned-founder who has been involved with several highly successful open source projects related to automation in the Windows ecosystem. He has over 10 years of experience in infrastructure automation, modern automation approaches, and agile methodologies. Most of all, Rob strives for simplicity and automation with low-maintenance solutions that solve customer needs.

In this episode, Rob is speaking all about Chocolatey Software, his solution for a universal package manager for Windows. Chocolatey makes complex tasks simple by easily handling all aspects of package management within the Windows software management ecosystem and works with all existing software installation technologies like MSI, NSIS, InnoSetup, etc. Chocolatey also integrates with all existing infrastructure management and RMM tools and is trusted by hundreds of organizations to manage software across their servers and desktops.

Rob shares about the current benefits of using Chocolatey, the origin story of Chocolatey, the next version of the software, his experience moving from Chief Architect to CEO, tips and advice for leadership growth and development, and much more!

Topics of Discussion:

[:14] About The Azure DevOps Podcast, Clear Measure, and Jeffrey's offer to speak at virtual user groups.

[1:22] Jeffrey is looking to hire an apprentice! If you, or anyone you know, loves to code and wants to pursue software engineering, apply today!

[2:09] Be sure to check out the new video podcast, Architect Tips.

[2:17] About today's episode with Rob Reynolds.

[2:27] Jeffrey welcomes Rob to the podcast.

[4:09] An overview of Chocolatey: what it does, its origin story, and why you may want to give it a try!

[8:02] How many community packages are in the Chocolatey catalog?

[10:25] Rob shares some examples of how people are using Chocolatey packages and offshoot projects that have branched off of Chocolatey.

[13:53] All about the system admin side of Chocolatey and why system admins might want to check it out!

[21:45] A word from The Azure DevOps Podcast's sponsor: Clear Measure.

[22:15] How Chocolatey makes everything easier.

[24:27] Why was the old-style Runbook process originally put into place? How and why have things become automated since?

[27:45] About RoundhousE, the professional database chance and versioning management tool that Rob authored.

[31:45] What led Rob to make the shift from Chief Architect to CEO? What was the experience like?

[39:40] The current open job positions that are available at Chocolatey.

[40:48] Rob reflects on his career journey and growth from Chief Architect to CEO.

[41:09] About one of Chocolatey's core values (growth) and Rob's recommendations for personal and professional growth.

[43:02] What's coming in the next version of Chocolatey!

[48:40] Jeffrey thanks Rob for joining the podcast.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Architect Tips — New video podcast!

Azure DevOps

Clear Measure (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook!

Jeffrey Palermo's Youtube

Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

Chocolatey Software

Boxstarter

Windows Remix

Azure Pipelines

Puppet

RoundhousE

Redgate

DbUp

The Chuck Norris Framework (Uppercut, Dropkick, etc.)

Ruby | Puppet

EntreLeadership

The Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast

The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.


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Jason Beres on DevOps for Shipping Libraries - Episode 155

This week on the podcast, Jeffrey is joined by none other than Jason Beres! Jason is the Sr. Vice President for Developer Tools at Infragistics; the world leader in user interface development tools and experts in User-Centered Design. As a senior software executive, Jason has over 25 years of experience in high-tech with a focus on customer and user experience, and has been with Infragistics for the last 17 of those years.

DevOps for shipping code as opposed to shipping applications

Mentioned in this Episode:

Architect Tips — New video podcast!

Azure DevOps

Clear Measure (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook!

Jeffrey Palermo's Youtube

Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

Infragistics

Jason Beres' LinkedIn

The Azure DevOps Podcast Ep. 154: "Dean Guida on the Future of .NET Components"

GitHub Actions

Slingshot

Indigo.Design | Infragistics

App Builder | Infragistics

Gherkin

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.


Download this episode (MP3, 40:55, 39.3 MB)

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This episode on the AI DevOps Podcast site

Dean Guida on the Future of .NET Components - Episode 154

Joining Jeffrey this week is the CEO and founder of Infragistics, Dean Guida! Infragistics is the world leader in user interface development tools and experts in User-Centered Design; empowering you to build and style immersive user experiences and rich data visualization in line with business applications across all platforms.

Dean Guida shares his insights on the future of .NET components; lessons he has learned having run a software company for over 30 years; his top recommendations when it comes to managing software teams, DevOps toolchains, preparing for the release of .NET 6, server-side vs. Web Assembly, what .NET developers should be doing today for full system testing, and more! He also gives advice to aspiring entrepreneurial software engineers, an overview of Infragistics' tools, and what to be looking out for as a software developer today.

Topics of Discussion:

[:14] About The Azure DevOps Podcast, Clear Measure, and Jeffrey's offer to speak at virtual user groups.

[1:24] Jeffrey is looking to hire an apprentice! If you, or anyone you know, loves to code and wants to pursue software engineering, apply today!

[2:13] Be sure to check out the new video podcast, Architect Tips.

[2:17] About today's episode with Dean Guida.

[2:25] Jeffrey welcomes Dean to the show.

[2:33] What got Dean into software development, the journey of his career, and how he came to create his company, Infragistics.

[5:01] How many engineers do they have on staff at Infragistics?

[5:09] Dean's insights on managing software teams.

[6:08] Dean's perspective on cutting the scope vs. shifting the date.

[7:25] Dean's DevOps toolchain of choice.

[8:25] Dean's opinion on the adoption of GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, and Team City.

[9:28] Dean's vision for the .NET 6 release and his team's strategy regarding it.

[12:57] Dean's recommended path for the teams where developers are asked to lay things out and do not have a designer.

[14:00] Do most developers just need applications that are completely unique or should they be attaching themselves to certain UI framework and worrying about customization less?

[15:58] Why Blazor is going to work so much better with .NET 6 than it has with .NET 5?

[16:30] Dean's take on server-side and Web Assembly.

[17:22] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast's sponsor: Clear Measure.

[17:53] What would it take for web applications developers to make Blazor their framework of choice?

[19:22] What should .NET developers be doing today for full system testing when they need to go top-down, through the user interface?

[22:00] Dean's vision for the intersection of Digital Workforce and application developers.

[26:12] The tech stack behind Slingshot that puts it ahead of .NET 6 and MAUI.

[27:28] Is MAUI going to have a huge refactoring or are there gaps in MAUI that Slingshot can fill?

[29:08] About the current public preview of Slingshot on Infragistics of components for MAUI.

[29:28] Dean's take on whether developers will begin to create C# smartphone apps on .NET 6 if they haven't before?

[30:40] Having run a software company for over 30 years, Dean shares some of the important lessons he has learned and gives advice to aspiring software engineers.

[33:09] Jeffrey thanks Dean for joining the podcast!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Architect Tips — New video podcast!

Azure DevOps

Clear Measure (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook!

Jeffrey Palermo's Youtube

Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

Infragistics

Dean Guida's LinkedIn

GitHub Actions

Azure Pipelines

TeamCity

Slingshot

Reveal

Indigo.Design | Infragistics

App Builder | Infragistics

.NET 6

Blazor

Digital Workforce

.NET MAUI

Xamarin

Uno Platform

WinUI

Universal Windows Platform (UWP)

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.


Download this episode (MP3, 34:18, 32.9 MB)

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This episode on the AI DevOps Podcast site

Continuous Integration Review - Episode 153

In today's solo episode, join your host Jeffrey Palermo as he discusses continuous integration.

With the ease of setting up triggered builds on build servers (such as Azure Pipelines or GitHub actions), it can be easy to think that once the documentation of the product is followed, we are done — but that's not the case. The DevOps tools currently on the market have gotten really good at making some of the steps easy, but, there are other steps where it's still up to you to put them in place.

In light of this, Jeffrey provides listeners with an overview of continuous integration, its three major stages, and some of the rules of thumb that you need to follow to find success.

Whether you use Azure Pipelines or another tool, this episode will provide you with the information you need in order to make sure you have put everything in place that you need to.

Topics of Discussion:

[:14] About The Azure DevOps Podcast, Clear Measure, the new podcast Architect Tips, and Jeffrey's offer to speak at virtual user groups.

[1:30] About today's solo episode.

[2:46] The dichotomy of quality and productivity, and the dynamic of 'technical debt.'

[7:21] What happens when continuous integration is actually followed (and the benefits that result from it).

[7:59] An overview of the three stages of continuous integration: the private build, the integration build, and the first deployment.

[9:20] An overview of the first stage: the private build.

[12:17] A word from The Azure DevOps Podcast's sponsor: Clear Measure.

[12:48] The second stage (or phase) of continuous integration: the integration build.

[15:24] The third stage: the first deployment.

[19:30] A review of the three stages of continuous integration and the three most important questions to answer.

[20:47] What the 'commit phase' is.

[21:06] Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Azure DevOps Podcast!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Architect Tips — New video podcast!

Azure DevOps

Clear Measure (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook!

Jeffrey Palermo's Youtube

Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

The Azure DevOps Podcast Ep. 150: "Capers Jones on Software Quality and Productivity"

Applied Software Measurement: Global Analysis of Productivity and Quality, by Capers Jones

Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation, by Jez Humble and David Farley

Continuous Integration: Improving Software Quality and Reducing Risk, by Paul M. Duvall, Steve Matyas, and Andrew Glover

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.


Download this episode (MP3, 22:08, 21.2 MB)

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This episode on the AI DevOps Podcast site

Scott Hunter on Preparing for .NET 6 - Episode 152

This week, Jeffrey is rejoined by return guest, Scott Hunter! Scott is the Director of Program Management for .NET at Microsoft.

When Scott first joined Microsoft back in 2007, he was working on the ASP.NET team. As the Director of Program Management of .NET, Scott and his team build .NET Core, .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Entity Framework, managed languages (C#/F#/VB), as well as the Web and .NET Tooling for Visual Studio.

The last time Scott was on the podcast, he and Jeffrey spoke about .NET 5. Now, less than a year later, the release of .NET 6 is coming up. In this episode, Scott speaks about the changes that he and his team have been working on developing, what developers should currently be paying attention to in preparation for the release of .NET 6, the biggest changes from .NET 5 to .NET 6 that developers can look forward to, and his insights on .NET MAUI, C# 10.0, .NET Upgrade Assistant, Visual Studio 2022, and more! If you're a developer awaiting the release of .NET 6 or are currently experimenting with .NET 5, you should be tuning in to today's conversation!

Topics of Discussion:

[:14] About The Azure DevOps Podcast, Clear Measure, the new podcast Architect Tips, and Jeffrey's offer to speak at virtual user groups.

[1:23] About today's episode with return guest, Scott Hunter!

[1:35] Jeffrey welcomes Scott to the podcast.

[2:14] What developers should be paying attention to as the .NET 6 release approaches?

[5:16] Will .NET Upgrade Assistant be built in to Visual Studio 2022 or is it a side tool?

[6:16] Does .NET Upgrade Assistant function on all of the recent .NET versions?

[6:36] For those with extensive web form applications, does .NET Upgrade Assistant know that you're on your own or will it convert the rest of the solution and leave the web forms? Scott gives his recommendations for web form customers.

[7:37] Scott shares what one of their big goals are as a team for .NET 6 and his recommendations for customers looking to go from .NET 5 to 6.

[9:05] Scott talks about the tooling experience they're trying to create with .NET 6 and one of the biggest changes on the tooling side in the .NET 6 space: hot reload.

[15:09] A word from The Azure DevOps Podcast's sponsor: Clear Measure.

[15:40] How Scott and his team are working toward making .NET more approachable for all developers.

[20:40] How many of the changes that Scott has talked about will be making the .NET 6 release?

[23:05] Jeffrey and Scott talk .NET MAUI and building mobile apps.

[29:50] Leading up to the .NET Conf, what should developers be paying attention to?

[31:30] Would Scott say that .NET 6 is Microsoft's biggest release in a while?

[32:58] Jeffrey thanks Scott for joining the show!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Architect Tips — New video podcast!

Azure DevOps

Clear Measure (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook!

Jeffrey Palermo's Youtube

Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

The Azure DevOps Podcast Ep. 119: "Scott Hunter on .NET 5"

The Azure DevOps Podcast Ep. 24: "Scott Hunter on DevOps Capabilities in Azure"

.NET 6 Preview

.NET Upgrade Assistant

Visual Studio 2022 Preview

Blazor

C# 9.0

"C# 10.0: Introducing Global Usings"

.NET MAUI

Xamarin

.NET Conf 2021

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.


Download this episode (MP3, 33:54, 32.5 MB)

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This episode on the AI DevOps Podcast site