From 17th-19th June 2003, Microsoft organized its third PDC (Pakistan Developer Conference, internationally known as Professional Developer Conference) 2003 here in Karachi, Pakistan. The event was highly appreciated by the large Microsoft technology based community that exists here in Pakistan. A reasonable (and generous also – in my opinion) fee of PKR 800, equivalent to USD 13.73, was charged for the registration, but it was nothing as compared to the arrangements made, and the huge amount of investment that was done on the organizing of this event. The only problem that I faced was a late invitation, because of which I had trouble in getting a train ticket for traveling to Karachi to attend the conference.
Anyhow, I reached Karachi a day earlier and stayed with my relatives there. The PDC was held in two hotels – Pearl Continental Hotel and Marriot Hotel – simultaneously. Both the hotels were at a walking distance of 15 minutes from each other.
I won’t discuss much about the sessions, as it was a three day event having 9 tracks with 42 sessions on various topics related mostly to Microsoft .NET technologies, and the delegates were only allowed to select three tracks of choice. I selected the architectural tracks; 3, 6 and 9.
The Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony was held at Marriott Hotel, while a live broadcast via satellite, for which the infrastructure was provided by Cybernet (a local ISP), was being displayed at Pearl Continental Hotel (PC). Unfortunately, I also had all of my tracks being held at PC, so I missed the opportunity of being among those who were watching the addresses made by the Regional Manager, the Country Manager and the Chief Guest Mr. Awais Leghari (Federal Minister for Information and Technology) - who was of course not on time and was the reason of delay in the starting of the conference – live, at Marriott Hotel.
All the delegates got some great hearing from the Microsoft Managers and the most important of which was the announcement that this event will from now on be held annually in Pakistan. There were nearly 1300-1400 delegates in this event from all over the country. The MS Country Manager, Jawad Rehman, announced that for next year they plan to accommodate 5000-6000 participants from all over the country, as they have received a very positive response from the developer community here in Pakistan.
There were quire impressive statements delivered by Awais Leghari in his address also. I would quote down some of his statements that I found to be very impressive.
“It’s good to hear that Microsoft has discovered Pakistan.”
“We don’t want Microsoft to make its existence in Pakistan as a software vendor and seller. We want Microsoft to join hands with us and do joint ventures with the local software houses.”
The Conference
There were presenters from different parts of the world to present in this event. Most of them were from Turkey, Middle East and Pakistani’s from home and Redmond, U.S.A. I would especially like to mention the name of Ihab Foudeh (from Turkey) who was amazing. This guy’s performance was excellent. He is a presenter and made his sessions both informative and enjoyable for the delegates. Ihab promised to be here, in Pakistan, again for the Microsoft Open Doors Conference, expected to be held in autumn this year, but I ‘m not sure whether he will be coming to Lahore or not.
42 Sessions in 9 tracks and 3 days were well organized and were very exciting, however some what very basic concepts were delivered as in the case of Session 23 - .NET Application Pattern – a very high level overview was given and details of the topic were avoided.
The presenters also provided some links to important resources, related to the topic of discussion. However, the delegates seemed to be more interested in obtaining business cards and the presentation slides from them.
The Closing Ceremony
The closing ceremony was a short one and thanks God, the minister was on time. This time it was the Federal Minister for the Privatization Commission. Again, he was at Marriott and those at PC had to see via satellite broadcast. The majority of the public would have had left, if Microsoft wouldn’t had announced the lucky draw and some prizes that were to be distributed amongst the winners of the draw.
Well after the impressive and the hilarious speech of the minister and Jawad Rehmani, I was surprised as the winners of the lucky draw were given away X-Box game consoles. I would have written some more lines in praise of Microsoft, if I was amongst one of those lucky guys. Anyway, maybe better luck next time!
Overall, I appreciate the effort and the organizing of this mega event. No doubt, the Microsoft Pakistan, staff worked really hard to organize this event here in their country; to help the local developer community gain better concepts of development by making them interact with the international developers and professionals from Microsoft.