The April Update of the Azure Services Training Kit has released and is ready for download. Below is a brief overview (taken from the download site) of what's included in the latest release.

Overview
The Azure Services Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Azure Services Platform. The April release includes the following updates:

• New Presentation for SQL Data Services
• 2 additional hands-on labs for WIndows Azure PHP and Native Code support

This technical content covers services including: Windows Azure, .NET Services, SQL Services, and Live Services.

Microsoft has recently published the first 9 or 40 Azure Services Platform “How Do I” (HDIs) videos for public consumption.  The intent of the HDI videos are to provide additional training and resources around building cloud-aware applications on the Windows Azure Services Platform.  These HDI videos are freely downloadable and contains a ton of useful information and guidance.  Over time, more HDI videos will be published that addresses many aspects of developing solutions on top of Windows Azure.  Included in the first round of videos are the following:

	Get Started Developing on Windows Azure?	If you’re a developer and you’re new to Windows Azure, start here! You’ll see what you need to download and install, and how to create a simple “Hello World” Windows Azure application.
	Deploy a Windows Azure Application?	You’ll see what it takes to move your application into the cloud – you’ll see how to request and register a token, how to upload your Windows Azure application and how to move it between staging and production in the cloud.
	Store Blobs in Windows Azure Storage?	Learn how to leverage Windows Azure storage to store data as blobs. You’ll learn about blob storage, containers and the API that makes it easy to manage everything from managed code.
	Leverage Queries in Windows Azure?	Learn how to use queues to facilitate communication between Web and Worker roles in Windows Azure.
	Debugging Tips for Windows Azure Applications?	The Windows Azure SDK includes a development fabric that provides a "cloud on your desktop." In this screencast, learn how to debug your Windows Azure applications in this environment.
	Get Started with .NET Services?	.NET Services are a set of highly scalable building blocks for programming in the cloud. In this brief screencast, you'll learn about the registration process, the SDK and the built-in samples - everything you need to know in order to get started.
	Harness the Microsoft .NET Service Bus?	The .NET Service Bus makes it easy to access your Web services no matter where they are. In this brief screencast, you'll see how to take a basic Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service and expose it to the Internet with the .NET Service Bus.
	Get Started with the Live Framework?	If you are looking to get started developing with the Live Framework, this is the place to start! In this screencast you'll learn how to get a Live Services token and what you need to download in order to start writing Live Framework applications.
	Use the Microsoft Live Framework Resource Browser?	The Live Framework Resource Model is a simple, straightforward information model based on entities, collections and relationships. In this brief screencast you'll learn how to navigate the relationships between entities by using the Live Framework Resource Browser, which is a tool that ships with the Live Framework SDK.
	Stay tuned!

To keep abreast of new HDI videos, head over to the overall HDI landing page regularly and sign up for the RSS feeds. 

The February Update of the Azure Services Training Kit has released and is ready for download. Below is a brief overview (taken from the download site) of what's included in the latest release.

Overview
The Azure Services Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Azure Services Platform. The February release includes the following updates:

• 19 demo scripts that walkthrough several of the services
• 10 presentations covering the entire Azure Services Platform
• 3 additional hands-on labs for Live Services

This technical content covers services including: Windows Azure, .NET Services, SQL Services, and Live Services.

Few sample .NET applications have had more impact on the .NET development community than the Terrarium sample application that was released during the version 1.0 release cycle of the .NET Framework.  This solution created a community of .NET enthusiasts that far exceeded the expectations of the .NET Framework team.  It showcased a "production-level" end-to-end reference solution that highlighted key features of the .NET Framework and showcased the power and creativity .NET can bring to software development.  I recalled that for many months I inquired as to when the source code for this application was going to be released, because, as you may recall, only the binaries were made available.  Sure you could decompile the executable and supporting libraries, or use great tools like Lutz Roeder's .NET Reflector, but there's nothing like having the Visual Studio projects openly released for all to see!! :-)

Well, Terrarium is BACK!! :-)  The project was resurrected by the Windows SDK Team and MVP Bil Simser has volunteered to coordinate development efforts for the project.

Head on over to CodePlex and be a part of the effort! For all you .NET Framework "old heads" like myself who looked at Terrarium as an amazing solution to dissect, learn from, and foster new ideas around the creation of solution architectures, I emplore you to check out the project. 

Thanks Windows SDK Team for evolving the solution and thanks Bil for stepping up to take on coordination for the effort.

Fun times (especially for me) are ahead! :-)  Especially with the introduction of WPF, WCF, WF, LINQ, Silverlight and an assortment of other technology goodies, this solution is sure to continue to evolve into something that we'll all continue to be proud to showcase as a premier .NET solution.

Announced on the SharePoint Team Blog, the SharePoint Deployment Planning Services program has been launched and is geared at helping our Software Assurance (SA) customers sucessfully plan and deploy SharePoint Products & Technologies.  I think this program provides a great resource for those customers who are struggling to make sense of SharePoint technologies or are trying to uncover proven "best practices" around how to properly deploy and implement SharePoint-based solutions.

During my time as a Technology Architect within the Reston, VA Microsoft Technology Center, I worked with a number of customers in definining SharePoint-based solution architectures where we covered topics such as understanding SharePoint architecture, definining portal taxonomies and physical deployment topologies/architecture, development and integration opportunities through Strategy Briefings and Architecture Design Sessions as well as "real world" implementation through Proof of Concept engagements to demonstrate the capabilties of a "live" SharePoint solution.  It's certainly great to see these getting packaged into a set of service offerings that we can make more widely available to our customers and partners.

And speaking of partners, this program is jointly managed by our partner ecosystem as well as Microsoft Consulting Services which together provides proven business and technical expertise in architecting/deploying SharePoint-based solutions for small, medium, and large organizations alike.

To learn more about the SDPS program and what it can do for you, head over to the SDPS website.  Microsoft Partners having strong competency in the Microsoft Office System stack are encouraged to sign up and participate in this growing community.

The final and complete edition of the end-user Office SharePoint Server 2007 Training is now broadly available to customers, in the Download Center. 
 
The training comes with rich set of videos, tutorials and articles that help end users learn the basics of SharePoint’s workloads. The kit can be installed directly to individual machines (stand alone edition), or directly onto a SharePoint environment (portal edition). IT Departments, or even groups such as HR, Corporate Learning, and others will be able to use and customize the kit to train users on SharePoint usage.

You'll be able to choose between two versions:

• Portal Edition: built on the Microsoft SharePoint Learning Kit (‘SLK’), the Portal Edition must be deployed onto a SharePoint Server site by a server administrator. It includes a reporting function that allows an administrator/trainer to track learners’ completed training topics. The content is compliant to the e-learning standard SCORM 2004.
• Standalone Edition: can be installed by an individual and easily accessed from a desktop icon. It does not allow customization or reporting, but give customers the ability to view the training before they deploy the Portal Edition on a SharePoint Server site.

Topics covered in the training include:

• Collaboration: team sites, permissions, Web parts, libraries, lists, blogs, wikis, and workspaces.
• Enterprise Content Management: document and records management, protecting files, using workflows, compliance, and more.
• Search: finding files, Web sites, information and people.
• Portals and personalization: My Sites, targeting content, and managing My Site access
• Business processes and forms: streamline business processes, gather information with forms, and configure workflows.
• Business intelligence: share Excel workbooks, work with a Report Center site, use dashboards, integrate internal data, and more.