Well PDC has come and gone. I had hope to blog each day on each keynote / session that I attended, but there were too many sessions and too little time... ;-)
What I like about PDC:
1) I really enjoyed the Keynote speakers / sessions. They did a great job on product announcements and had some very cool demos! Plus I really enjoyed learning all the new techologies! The future looks bright! ;-)
2) I really enjoyed meeting with my fellow MVPs, INETA speakers, and Microsoft friends. It was good to finally meet “the person behind the name” (in MSN IM / Newsgroup posts)
3) The conference transportation was excellent. I always found a waiting bus to and from my hotel. The conference even provided buses to the LAX airport on the last day.
4) I enjoyed helping out with “Ask the Experts”. It was interesting to hear all the different kinds of questions folks had on their mind. I help out in both the ASP.NET and ADO.NET tables.
What I did NOT like about PDC:
1) The conference was way too crowded. Most of the top sessions were standing room only OUTSIDE in the hall way (for the monitor). Because of this, the conference folks said they would put the top 10 session video on CD and mail it out to everyone a few weeks after the conference.
2) I was disappointed that there were no sessions on CURRENT tools and technologies. I was expecting to see some lessons learned, tips and tricks, etc. But all of the sessions dealt with products which were still one to two years away. Granted it's nice to know about these things, but many of us professional developers are still coding with current (and older) tools and technologies. I guess I'm use to TechEd / VSLive conferences.
3) The conference's wireless (and lan) network kept going out the first few days. Plus when it was up, it was very, very slow. Granted they finally got it working the last couple of days of the conference.
4) I was also a bit disappointed in www.pdcbloggers.net. The main feed was being filtered so much that if you were not the first to post something about a session, your post did not make it through. I guess I am used to http://weblogs.asp.net/
Overall I'm glad I went to PDC. It was the first one I ever attended. I got to see what new products Microsoft will be releasing in the next year or two. And given the choice I would go again! Thanks for all the hard work guys!
Well I finally made to PDC after spending 8 hours in the SEATAC airport. I got into LA at 7 PM. While the plane was about to land in LA, I could see the fires below. Wow! My heart goes out to the folks who last their home - over 1500 now!
So… day one at PDC. I cannot believe how large PDC is this year! It's seems like every professional developer in the world has come to see Microsoft latest tools and technology. Some sessions were so popular, it was standing room only for the monitor in the hall way!
I got a front row seat for Bill Gates keynote speech. As always, his presentation / demos went off without a hitch. I really enjoyed Jim Allchin's talk.
In one of the demos, Don Box and Chris Anderson had Jim write some code. At one point, Jim opened the file that Don had been typing lots of code into and it was blank! Luckily, Jim had open the wrong file. Once he realized his mistake, he opened up the correct file and the code was there. Both Don and Chris both let out a big sigh of release. Very funny! ;-)
Another funny point in the presentation was when Don was coding and a bug (moth?) flew out of the machine he was typing on. Don looks up at the moth flying away and says “look, there is the first Longhorn bug!”. LOL! (You had to be there to understand).
Overall, I'm very impressed with Longhorn and all of the tools and technologies Microsoft will be rolling out in the next few months / years. Longhorn's Avalon will allow us to build some really cool UI. Plus it's WinFS storage system will allow us to organize and search very diverse information. I'm looking forward to install the Longhorn preview. ;-)
Hurray! I'm on my way to PDC! No wait, flight has been cancelled due a fire in LA. It's the hurry up and wait game. Sigh... An interesting note: There were several Microsoft speakers (including a keynote speaker) on the same flight. I think they were going to catch a plane to Denver, then transfer to Los Vegas, then drive to LA (a 5 hour drive). I wish them the best of luck. I'm going to wait it out here at SEATAC.
Hey! I got re-awarded as a Microsoft ASP.NET MVP! ;-)
For more information about the Microsoft MVP Program
check out the Frequently Asked Questions