.NET Rocks!

Can you make open source projects in the Microsoft ecosystem and live to tell the tale? Carl and Richard talk to Aaron Stannard about his view of the Microsoft open-source ecosystem, including the challenges of building and maintaining Akka.NET. Aaron talks about Microsoft being good producers of open source but not good consumers of open source - they still have that not-invented-here viewpoint on things. The conversation turns to either making an open-source project that is popular but ultimately consumed by Microsoft, or profitable because it lives in the long tail that Microsoft won't explore. But could there be a better way?

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Good user interface design makes your company money! Carl and Richard talk to Billy Hollis about his latest work around understanding the return on investment that exists with user interface design. Billy talks about a spreadsheet he's been using in presentations to actually look at the cost associated with bad UI designs, that require more keystrokes, more searching, more time and more frustration. Great UX design leads to users that work faster, consume less resources for each task and a happier work environment. Good UX is worth it!

Good user interface design makes your company money! Carl and Richard talk to Billy Hollis about his latest work around understanding the return on investment that exists with user interface design. Billy talks about a spreadsheet he's been using in presentations to actually look at the cost associated with bad UI designs, that require more keystrokes, more searching, more time and more frustration. Great UX design leads to users that work faster, consume less resources for each task and a happier work environment. Good UX is worth it!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Cake is shipping! Carl and Richard talk to Mattias Karlsson about Cake, aka C# Make. First on the show in 2016, Cake has been through a lot - all the twists and turns of .NET Core, becoming a cross-platform product - it's not easy to be a good build system! But things are stable now and version 1 is released. Mattias talks about how Cake fits into your build pipeline, working with many other components as needed. The conversation also turns to extensibility and the awesome community that has grown around it - have a slice!

Cake is shipping! Carl and Richard talk to Mattias Karlsson about Cake, aka C# Make. First on the show in 2016, Cake has been through a lot - all the twists and turns of .NET Core, becoming a cross-platform product - it's not easy to be a good build system! But things are stable now and version 1 is released. Mattias talks about how Cake fits into your build pipeline, working with many other components as needed. The conversation also turns to extensibility and the awesome community that has grown around it - have a slice!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Everyone wants AI - but where's the business value? Carl and Richard talk to Joel Hulen and Kyle Bunting about building machine learning models and what they can do for business. The conversation starts out with the typical AI-destroys-the-world debate, recognizing that these tools are just that, tools. Using them responsibly is important, but so is focusing on business value. What can this technology help with? Usually, the first goal is not the goal delivered!

Everyone wants AI - but where's the business value? Carl and Richard talk to Joel Hulen and Kyle Bunting about building machine learning models and what they can do for business. The conversation starts out with the typical AI-destroys-the-world debate, recognizing that these tools are just that, tools. Using them responsibly is important, but so is focusing on business value. What can this technology help with? Usually, the first goal is not the goal delivered!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

A new .NET Foundation board is elected - what does it mean for you? Carl and Richard talk to Layla Porter about her new role on the .NET Foundation board and the goals of the foundation to grow its membership, bring more open source projects into the fold, support the maintainers of those projects and to broaden the reach of .NET everywhere. Layla talks about finding new ways to connect with folks in the .NET community and the challenge of evolving a young foundation.

A new .NET Foundation board is elected - what does it mean for you? Carl and Richard talk to Layla Porter about her new role on the .NET Foundation board and the goals of the foundation to grow its membership, bring more open source projects into the fold, support the maintainers of those projects and to broaden the reach of .NET everywhere. Layla talks about finding new ways to connect with folks in the .NET community and the challenge of evolving a young foundation.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

The pandemic is sending a lot of work to the cloud - are you ready to move? Carl and Richard talk to Mike Richter about his work helping companies move .NET applications into the cloud. Mike starts out with the hard truth, that moving your virtual machines into the cloud can get expensive. Better to take advantage of the Azure platform, starting with AppService. There's a lot you can do with existing software, and even more if you're willing to recompile. Check it out!