Dallas TechFest 2008

Let the word go out from the mountain tops, and bloggers the D/FW Metroplex and beyond link back to this post as they spread the word.  Not to be out done by our cousins to the north in Tulsa, Dallas will this year have it's very own TechFest. Dallas TechFest 2008 will occur on May 3rd, 2008 and will be a day of .NET, Java and Ruby learning FREE to attend for all who want to.  If you are interested in attending, we need you to register on the site (www.DallasTechFest.com) so that we have an idea of who is coming.  What can you expect you ask?  Let me tell you. Assuming most of my readers are .NET developers, I will focus on that side of things: Richard Campbell, Co-Host of .NET Rocks and Run As Radio, speaking on ASP.NET Scalability Don Demsak aka DonXML speaking on the Modelling Edition of Service Factory Dallas' own Trent Nix speaking on Silverlight Raymond Lewellan speaking on the ASP.NET MVC Framework Jason Kergosien speaking on ASP.NET Dynamic Data And more yet to come and be announced... Mark the day on your calendar, you will not want to miss these speakers.  Trust me.  If you have a blog I ask that you help spread the word about the event by linking back to this post.

Rest In Peace Gary Gygax

I am deeply saddened to learn that today we have lost Gary Gygax (via EnWorld), creator of Dungeon's & Dragons, from our company in this world.  I did not know him personally, but I can say without a doubt that this man has touched countless people through his games, and his ambitions. I starting playing role-playing games when I was 13, having been introduced by a family friend to what is now affectionately referred to as "Red Box" D&D. In the 21 years since that time I've played many games, I have lived through the turmoil of the "D&D is satanic" times, but I still to this day play role-playing games on a weekly basis and I recognize that Gary Gygax's games helped me define my personality, my sense of humor, and my style of storytelling.  I have in fact just returned from D&D Experience, one of many large gatherings of those who play D&D still and who participate in events run by the RPGA and was learning about the upcoming Fourth Edition of the game. Gary has not been involved with D&D directly in many years, and the game has moved from being owned by TSR, to Wizards of the Coast, and now corporately Hasbro though still through the Wizards of the Coast brand.  I would invite everyone reading to stop and think about the impact this man has had on our world.  While not alone, he is one of the pillars who brought about Role Playing Games (RPGs) in the United States.  From those games come so much we take for granted, it is from those games we have countless novels, movies, and computer games as direct products, but also indirectly games such as World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online cannot help but acknowledge that the systems used to model those virtual worlds stand on the shoulders of D&D, and as such this man. While I did not know him personally, I believe it is safe to say that Gary Gygax remained a fan of RPGs until his last breath on this planet, and as such I'd like to take a moment and encourage everyone here to block out some time on June 7th or June 21st to try your hand at the game again. June 7th, 2008  is the Worldwide Dungeon & Dragon's Game Day where game stores world wide will be opening their doors and running games for any who will be interested for free.  This is scheduled for the day after the release of Dungeon & Dragon's Fourth Edition and will be a great chance to see how Wizards of the Coast have stewarded the brand that Gary started so many years ago. June 21st, 2008 is Free RPG Day, and many of those same retailers will again be running tables of games, this time from a wide variety of game developers not just Wizards of the Coast.  There will be free games, and gaming supplies, being given away in most of those stores that day. So I raise a toast Gary today, and send my well wishes to his wife, six children and extended family.  And, perhaps belatedly, I thank him for what he has done for my life without ever knowing it.

Joining a Domain from Windows Server 2008

My current client is setting up an entirely new set of machines for their project running Windows Server 2008, and this includes a new Domain Controller and so we just went through the adventure of figuring out how to have a Windows Server 2008 box join a domain.  If you're having issues with this, the trick is two things: Change your network properties to be a Private network instead of a Public network.Go to Windows Firewall and turn it off. Don't worry, once you're on the domain it will by policy re-enable the Firewall, so this is just a temporary change.