Xamarin Form 4

Last Friday, Microsoft published Xamarin.Forms 4.0.0 with Shell, a simplified, navigation-aware container for making building mobile applications more efficient.

They first shipped a preview of Shell at Microsoft Connect() in December 2018. It was published in MSDN magazine at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/mt848639.aspx

Let’s highlight the top features of this release including Shell, Android fast renderers, image source unification, and accessibility.

Video Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfi-EfVHMTY

Technical Debt

Technical Debt is a metaphor, coined by Ward Cunningham, that frames how to think about dealing with this cruft, thinking of it like a financial debt.  Image reference is from Martin Fowler's wiki.

The danger here is that most of the time this analysis isn't done well. Cruft has a quick impact, slowing down the very new features that are needed quickly. Teams who do this end up maxing out all their credit cards, but still delivering later than they would have done had they put the effort into higher internal quality.

 As I'm working in SAFe Agile model, wishing to leverage Tech Debt theory in right way.

Amazon FedEx Contract

Yesterday, FedEx announced that it isn't renewing its US contract with Amazon to transport packages on FedEx Express. The move comes as FedEx and Amazon compete more directly in delivery logistics.

FedEx said in a press release it plans to focus on serving the broader e-commerce market with continued partnerships with brands such as Walmart and Target. The company said Amazon accounted for less than 1.3% of its total revenue in 2018.

Amazon is under increased pressure to deliver packages quickly. In April, Amazon said it planned to begin delivering packages to Prime customers in one day rather than two. Amazon loses contract with FedEx Express as it builds out competing delivery network.  The e-commerce giant is increasingly competing with FedEx, UPS, and USPS

It is no secret Amazon wants to own every link in its logistics chain, from the warehouses that store its products to the planes, cargo ships, and delivery trucks that move its products around the world. Just last month, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos celebrated construction crews breaking ground on the company’s $1.5 billion, 3 million-square-foot air hub attached to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Earlier this week, Amazon revealed its brand-new hybrid Prime Air delivery drone, a device that Amazon hopes will one day compete with FedEx and UPS delivery trucks

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac

Start of this (May'19) month, Microsoft made a great announcement for Mac users.It was about the next major update for Visual Studio for Mac: Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1 Preview.

In this update, Microsoft offers new C# editor as the default experience in addition to introducing support for .NET Core 3 Preview and new project templates.  They worked to improve performance and reliability across the board, based on feedback from the Visual Studio for Mac community
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Microsoft's interesting Mac roadmap is available at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/productinfo/mac-roadmap