.NET Rocks!

Hosted by Carl Franklin

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Episodes

2009

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

.NET Rocks! is an Internet Audio Talk Show for Microsoft .NET Developers.

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60 recent

August 20, 202656 min

Beside, Inside, and Outside AI with Chad Michel

What's the best way to interact with an LLM in applications? Carl and Richard talk to Chad Michel about the evolving user interface to large language models. Chad recalls Build 2023, where Technical Fellow Steven Batiche talked about LLMs starting out beside your application (like Copilot), but eventually moving inside, like Claude Cowork. Then Steven suggested that the ultimate destination is outside - a separate interface that then orchestrates across applications. The conversation dives into how development has evolved with these tools, and what other applications could look like in the future.

August 12, 202657 min

OpenClaw with David Guttman

What can OpenClaw do for you? Carl and Richard talk to David Guttman about his work on OpenClaw, and helping others be successful with it.OpenClaw was one of the first personal agents released and has continued to evolve with the industry. David talks about controlling access to OpenClaw, and controlling what OpenClaw has access to. The challenge is managing prompt injection, and the agent can be manipulated by others to share information inappropriately. But it can also be a time saver for routine and annoying tasks - it takes time to set up properly, but that time is paid back quickly when it gets to work!

August 5, 202655 min

Catching Up with Shawn Wildermuth

What's Shawn been up to lately? Carl and Richard chat with Shawn Wildermuth about his work in the Netherlands. Shawn talks about his last show on being a senior developer - and how much that has changed in the past two years. The role of large language models in software development has changed careers, but they're still fun. The conversation also dives into the role of Aspire to utilize the best of cloud architecture and how LLMs make that easier as well - and enable developers to take on more architectural roles without getting stuck in the details of implementation.

July 30, 20261 hr 3 min

Identity is Hard with Michele Bustamante

Identity is hard, and getting harder! Carl and Richard talk to Michele Bustamante about the evolution of authentication and authorization in the current landscape. Michele talks about finding apps at clients that are still using older authentication strategies that are no longer secure - or are implemented incorrectly, so they were never secure! The conversation covers the array of tools available today for security, so you don't need to roll your own, and includes support so you can do it right. The role of the LLMs is important - old significant vulnerabilities are being found and fixed that can impact your apps, so it's important to review your identity solutions today!

July 23, 202656 min

Commercial Open Source Update with Jimmy Bogard

Last year Jimmy Bogard released commercial licensed versions of AutoMapper and Mediatr - how's it going? Carl and Richard chat with Jimmy about the decision to go commercial and what he's learned after a year. Making customer transactions is part of the process for sure, as is a new array of issues and ideas. But for the most part, Jimmy says it was the right decision and has been a good experience. Another great story of sustainable open source!

July 16, 202653 min

The Role of AI in Testing with Debbie O'Brien

How has testing changed in the era of AI? Carl and Richard talk to Debbie O'Brien in her new role at Zephyr about using LLMs to help build and validate tests - and much more. Debbie talks about joining Zephyr and using testing tools like Playwright to validate application workflows and generate documentation. This leads to a discussion about documentation being more important than ever, since LLMs will actually read it! Maintaining quality is a challenge with LLM-generated code and tests, so there's always a role for a critical eye in the process.

July 8, 202658 min

Open Source Maintenance Fee Update with Rob Mensching

The Open Source Maintenance Fee is more than a year old now - how are things going? Carl and Richard catch up with Rob Mensching to discuss the OSMF and its success in supporting Rob's WiX Toolset project. Rob talks about the key aspect of the OSMF - making it part of the licensing, so that it isn't optional. Of course, you can download the source from GitHub and compile it yourself without violating any license terms, but if you're that engaged, you can contribute too. The goal with OSMF is to have folks who want to use the product have a reason and method to pay - check it out!

July 2, 202658 min

Azure Container Apps with Paul Yuknewicz and Jan Kalis

Have you checked out Azure Container Apps lately? Carl and Richard talk to Paul Yuknewicz and Jan Kalis about how they have sped up startup time with Container Apps using a feature called Express, and then on to the big news - Sandboxes. Sandboxes let you experiment with Azure Container Apps with managed identity to access Azure Connectors to all sorts of resources, both within Azure and outside it - Salesforce, SAP, etc. It's an effective and secure strategy for building applications, but also for experimenting with agents - at no point does the agent actually have control of any credentials. If you haven't looked at ACA lately, you need to check out these latest features!

June 24, 202658 min

DNSimple CLI with Anthony Eden

DNSimple has a CLI! Carl and Richard talk to DNSimple CEO Anthony Eden about the evolution of the DNSimple CLI in today's software market. DNSimple provides DNS, domain registrar, and certificate services - so why does it need a CLI? Anthony talks about earlier experiments with CLIs for folks who didn't want to use the web interface. But today, large language models change the game and work best with a CLI - those specific commands mean more accurate results from LLMs, which make for a powerful natural language interface experience. The conversation covers the new tooling around LLMs, how the registrar market has evolved, changes to certificates, and ICANN's recent announcement of new gTLDs. DNSimple continues to evolve with the times! Check the show notes for a link for ten dollars off anything at DNSimple!

June 17, 20261 hr 17 min

Data Centers in Space Geek Out

Do data centers in space make any sense? Time for a rare summer-time Geek Out! Richard chats with Carl about all the hype surrounding building orbital data centers for AI workloads. Richard points out that enthusiasm for this idea surged in the fall of 2025, when the backlash against ground data centers peaked. But could you actually make the orbital data centers work? The conversation works through a reasonable satellite design, covering off the details of power, cooling, communications, and satellite management. But how many satellites would be enough? This leads to an exploration of Kessler Syndrome, where orbital debris gets out of control - and what we can reasonably do about it. Which leads to another idea - how do we make ground-based data centers not suck?