Overview of 2024

Intro

I'm Peter and this is the RoguePlanetoid Podcast where you will find insights about Microsoft or related platforms and technology, along with so much more whether you are beginner or an experienced professional or just interested in technology. Keep Current, Keep Coding!

Welcome

Welcome to episode twenty-four of the RoguePlanetoid Podcast with an Overview of 2024. 2024 was a year filled with more and different events than ever before, including my own and the highlight was becoming a Microsoft MVP! It is good to look back at last year although a bit later than expected with this episode delayed due to illness in the last few weeks of 2024 and first few of this year which was then followed by some unexpected issues. So, I am now pleased to be able to finally do this overview of 2024 as I look forward to a brighter and better 2025.

January

January started 2024 on the RoguePlanetoid Podcast with an Overview of 2023 covering all the things that I had done in 2023. January also saw Tutorial Tuesdays with more Windows App SDK Tutorials for tutorialr.com and the first event of the year with Silicon Mingle which is a great meetup event here in the North East of England. It also saw me work on a new presentation, “Take a Note of XAML with .NET 8”, which would make a couple of appearances during 2024.

February

February covered C# on the RoguePlanetoid Podcast with an overview of all the versions up to that point along with more Windows App SDK Tutorials for tutorialr.com. February also saw me attend Unlocking the Value of AI which was a one-off event which covered perspectives and realising the value of generative AI, and with an ask the experts panel along with other useful sessions that would help anyone make the most of AI or get to know it better. February saw me deliver my new talk, “Take a Note of XAML with .NET 8” for Dev Community North East and it was also accepted as a talk for DDD North the following month.

March

March covered XAML on the RoguePlanetoid Podcast including for Windows Presentation Foundation, Silverlight, Windows Phone, Universal Windows Platform and Windows App SDK. March also saw the last few Windows App SDK tutorials for the year until some of the functionality is supported which should hopefully be sometime in 2025, so I will be resuming the Windows App SDK Tutorials on tutorialr.com then. March was a great month of events with DDD North where I delivered a longer version of “Take a Note of XAML with .NET 8” with some amazing questions that really pushed my knowledge of the subject. There were also events I attended including Tech on the Tyne about emotional intelligence and the .NET Meetup Newcastle covering AI in the Modern Enterprise and Azure AoT with DotnetNano. There was also Platform which was an event I'd wanted to attend for some time organised by Paul Lancaster who really helps showcase local start-ups and was amazing to be able to go along. March also saw a fun post I put together after seeing a post about the cover for Halo 3, I had one for the original Halo Combat Evolved and got over 27,000 views and my most popular social media post I'll probably every have!

April

April covered .NET MAUI on the RoguePlanetoid Podcast and saw the release of a Talk, Rules Engine with .NET on tutorialr.com as a Talk Thursday for the very first time, as well as a companion article on RoguePlanetoid.com. April was also a chance to return to Crimecon in Glasgow to help promote Scottish Murders which was great to be able to do and prepare for the following month!

May

May started with the RoguePlanetoid Podcast covering Uno Platform along with my first ever hybrid event doing my “Take a Note of XAML with .NET 8” talk in Nottingham organised by Pete Gallagher which was my first time there too, it was amazing and got some great feedback afterwards. May also saw the release of another Talk on tutorialr.com about Windows Presentation Foundation with .NET which also had a companion article on RoguePlanetoid.com. May saw the stunning Northern Lights appear in many places in the northern hemisphere, something I thought I'd have to travel many hundreds of kilometres to witness to only need to step a few metres outside to see it in my hometown of Gateshead instead! May would see Microsoft Build 2024 as well as another .NET Meetup about Real World Cost Management and .NET interop. However the main event in May was going to The Podcast Show to launch Cluarantonn with our own stand there, it was a fantastic experience to be there and test the business idea of helping people get started in podcasting or make podcasting easier. The month ended with an event for DevHub North about AWS SDK and Malleable Apps.

June

June began with an episode covering the previous month's Microsoft Build 2024 on the RoguePlanetoid Podcast. June also saw a few events including one on Building a Robot Arm with .NET 8, Raspberry Pi, Blazor and SignalR by Pete Gallagher, which was great to see after being part of his own event the previous month. There are many things I covered that month including the WinUI Community Call, writing about .NET Myths and the first Platform event organised by Paul Lancaster in Sunderland. The biggest event of the year for the North East of England was TechNExt where I attended a few of the events including the Main Stage hosted by Jamie Hardesty which was about tech for purpose and was amazing to attend and in-between those events I attended Startup Awards North East 2024 organised by Charlotte Windebank to see the skill ups, start-ups and scale-ups talk about their business ideas. June ended with another Talk for tutorialr.com this time on Windows App SDK with .NET which was my first foray into writing a Widget for Windows 11, something I knew I wanted to look more into and make easier too as it was a challenge to get everything to work.

July

July began with an episode about the North East Tech Scene on the RoguePlanetoid Podcast which was a great way of highlighting what is going on in the region! July also saw a few new or one off events including a Newcastle Networking event by the FSB, 5G & Beyond: Boosting North East Business Growth, which talked about the 5G Immersive Lab that was opening in Newcastle. July also saw another Platform event in Newcastle from Paul Lancaster which also saw my own talk about Cluarantonn.

August

August started with the RoguePlanetoid Podcast talking about Presenting including tips that have helped me over the years. It was also good to cover the first Windows Dev Chat from Microsoft. August also saw updates to my Comentsys.Toolkit and Comentsys.Toolkit.WindowsAppSDK for .NET to add some more features including in the latter Widget functionality to make implementing a Widget much easier and would also set up things for the following month!

September

September began with a Windows 11 Widgets episode of the RoguePlanetoid Podcast along with an Article on RoguePlanetoid.com along with the biggest thing to have happened to me as a developer which was being awarded Microsoft MVP for .NET and Windows Development. It was an absolute honour to receive the award which arrived just over a week later and has pride of place on my shelf, it is wonderful to be amongst other MVPs who I respect or who have inspired me as a developer. September also was a chance to update my Comentsys.Assets packages for SVG based assets including Fluent Emoji from Microsoft and other SVG images, along with adding ones for the filled and regular Fluent UI System Icons from Microsoft. September also saw another WinUI Community Call and updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot along with attending and presenting at Qudos .NET Meetup about Windows 11 Widgets. September ended with going to the Tremula Festival in Brighton to learn about outdoor podcasting and Crimecon London to again represent the Scottish Murders Podcast.

October

October's episode of the RoguePlanetoid Podcast was about the Microsoft MVP Award I'd received the previous month and my journey in getting there. It also saw more updates to my packages along with a new Comentsys.Assets.Display package for a seven-segment and five-by-seven dot matrix display, which would be part of a new Workshop for tutorialr.com to create a Windows Widget to countdown to an event. October also saw the very first event I've been part of organising which was Podcast Paddock from Cluarantonn, with a presentation from myself about how we help new and existing podcasters along with lightning talks and it was a fantastic event and the first of many we hope to hold in the future, including one the following month! October ended with the Microsoft AI Tour in London which I was unable to attend in person but caught a few sessions but will hopefully be able to go once again in the future and another Windows Dev Chat from Microsoft.

November

November started with an episode about ASP.NET Core on the RoguePlanetoid Podcast. The month also saw the North East Expo which was an event with many small and other businesses from the North East getting together including exhibiting there too as Cluarantonn to talk to people there about the services we offer to help new and existing podcasters. November ended with another Podcast Paddock event with fireside chats with local podcast studios talking about the services they offer to new or existing podcasters. November also saw .NET Conf 2024 which saw the launch of .NET 9 which I would cover the following month.

December

December began with the RoguePlanetoid Podcast talking about .NET 9, which was launched at .NET Conf 2024 the previous month along with organising my first ever tech event which built on what I learned from Podcast Paddock to do .NET Conf 2024 - Newcastle upon Tyne which was an official local event which had a talk from myself along with lightning talks from others talking about aspects of .NET 9, it was amazing to be able to help celebrate .NET in the North East like this and end the year with my own event!

Conclusion

2024 was even more event-packed than 2023, I remember thinking it would be good to at least match that year, but I not only surpassed it but also held events I helped organise such as Podcast Paddock and .NET Conf 2024 - Newcastle upon Tyne, although unfortunately I did end 2024 by getting the flu which although I am better now did take a while for my voice to recover, which is why this episode was delayed!

2025 looks to be another great year where I already have some events in the calendar, I am either speaking at or attending including in ways I've not really done before! It will also be a chance to attend many of my regular events again and hopefully getting along to many new ones like last year and of course covering them with articles or posts even though the first month or so was not what I expected I hope the rest of the year is much better!

Finally, it will be great to see some of the projects I've been involved with that I've been working on but couldn't say anything about during 2024 which I'll reveal now for the very first time! The first has been to be one of the technical reviewers of Minimal APIs in ASP.NET 9 by Nick Proud, which is now available and can't wait to get my own copy, it will be the first book ever to have my name in it and is amazing to see all the work that goes into writing a book, and certainly understand it takes a lot of work and effort to do it and pleased to have played my own small part in the process! The second was being invited by Uno Platform to try out Hot Design a few months before launch and it was amazing and impressive, it was shown off during .NET Conf 2024 and will I be covering my experience of it in the near future! The last project I have been working on I still can't go into much detail but is a brand-new podcast I have been working on which has involved a few people here in the North East of England with a great concept that will hopefully help it stand out!

It is fantastic to look back at 2024, especially as it is the year I became a Microsoft MVP, which I still am so proud of and honoured to be, with everything that I did that year and was part of or attended and looking forward to an amazing 2025. I also want to thank again each and every one of you who take the time to listen to this podcast which makes the time and effort that I put into each and every episode worthwhile especially being patient with this episode being delayed and wish that you all have an amazing 2025!

Outro

Thanks for listening to the RoguePlanetoid Podcast where each episode you will find insights about Microsoft or related platforms and technology, along with so much more wherever you listen to your podcasts or at rogueplanetoid.com/podcasts for the RoguePlanetoid Podcast whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional or just interested in technology. Keep Current, Keep Coding!