Michael Thomas

Michael Thomas

Michael Lane Thomas, also known as the .NET Cowboy for his sometimes untamed, Wild West-style passion for .NET, has been a fixture in the development community for many years. A speaker at professional, academic, and Microsoft-internal technical conferences, Michael has been a primary contributor to 26 books, including a multi-year stint as .NET Series Editor for Wiley's/Hungry Minds, going back to the Beta days of .NET. Michael has spent time as industry analyst, commentator, and co-host of a weekly radio talk show. As an exam-junkie, Michael is currently the eighth most certified MCP in the world, passing a total of 62 exams to date. Michael is currently a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft and greatly enjoys exploring the Alpha bits for Whidbey as a Microsoft VS.NET Insider, and his role of daddy to his 1-year-old son Noah, also known as "Mr. Pinchy Cheeks."

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Articles Authored

  • Deconstructing Add-In Architecture in Visual Studio .NET

    Last updated: Wednesday, August 31, 2022

    Published in: CODE Magazine: 2003 - November/December

    Visual Studio .NET provides an incredible leap forward from its predecessor in terms of functionality, but eventually, every developer finds a sought-after feature that just seems overlooked. VS.NET provides great features and capabilities, from intelligent wizards to very useful drag-and-drop functionality such as that provided by the Server Explorer tool window. If there's a problem, it could be one of too much success. A simple stroll through the IDE reveals feature after productivity-inducing feature, providing the developer with a high set of expectations. Eventually, you may find that an expected feature is missing. Fortunately, Microsoft included a very powerful extensibility model, allowing integration of new, custom features directly into the IDE.

  • Exploring New WinForm Controls in VS .NET Whidbey

    Last updated: Wednesday, August 31, 2022

    Published in: CODE Magazine: 2004 - January/February, CODE Focus Magazine: 2003 - Vol. 1 - Issue 3 - Whidbey and Yukon PDC Special

    Catering to the strength of the third-party .NET component market and the power of the .NET Framework itself, Microsoft includes several powerful new WinForm controls in the Base Class Libraries for Windows application development.The WinForm controls provided by the .NET Framework 1.1 are extremely useful, and the framework for developing new custom controls provided in 1.1 is very strong, but sometimes the development community expects more out-of-the box. Many needs of the development community are satisfied by the basic collection of WinForm controls while some developers have voiced their need for more functionality. Microsoft appears ready to rise to the occasion with the inclusion of many new WinForm controls.

  • Touring Base Class Library Enhancements

    Last updated: Wednesday, August 31, 2022

    Published in: CODE Magazine: 2004 - January/February, CODE Focus Magazine: 2003 - Vol. 1 - Issue 3 - Whidbey and Yukon PDC Special

    As the core API set underpinning managed application development in .NET, the Base Class Libraries, receive several long-awaited and notable additions in the Whidbey release.The Base Class Libraries (BCL) provide a standardized set of managed APIs to accomplish all of the common and most widely executed application tasks. BCL enhancements surface in as performance-based improvements, class-oriented feature additions, and the introduction of previously missing functionality through entirely new classes.