Comments on PDC Hype

From Dave commenting this post :

Exactly.

I commented a month ago someplace and made some predictions. After a week or two, I expect the inevitable backlash or letdown... Whidbey won't be released for months (thankfully the framework - ASP.NET 2.0 - may be separated from that) and the rest is now slated for 2005-2006. It'll be after the holidays that the true take on this PDC will evolve: some great previews of some great products, but products that are yet far away from being solutions to things we all use currently.

I thought about this last night. You don't - hell, you can't - pull off the immense logistical details of a PDC without tons of lead time. I suspect MS reserved the bulk of things in LA back in 2002 for this PDC. Remember where things were back then? Whidbey... VS.2004 being released in Q1. Yukon... at one point they thought they might release it with VS.2003! And Longhorn... targeted for late 2004.

My how things have slipped. I wouldn't be surprised if MS insiders had an entirely different picture of what they thought they would show at this PDC back when they initially scheduled it for this week.

What got me thinking about this is the rumor that MS is charging MSDN Universal subscribers for the PDC Longhorn bits. Not just others, but MSDN Universal. I realized they probably HAVE TO. How else can they justify charging the pants off of everyone attending the PDC otherwise? How would you feel spending thousands to preview things not ready for prime time and then just giving them away to those who were astute enough to stay home?

Dave the only thing I disagree is the last part where you suggest that MS will charge MSDN users for the PDC bits.
Indeed as a MSDN subscriber, I already pay for the bits I receive. I also contribute as an evangelist for the Cause ;-)

So if MS give me the bits guys have already at the PDC will surely make a lot of publicity for Redmond.

In the worst case scenario, if you are right, surely nobody will pay on top of their subscription, for stuff which are hardly useful.

Remember everybody that the hype created by the PDC is also good for us as developers, but we should keep our head cool and keep buys with the current version of .Net and Windows.

I am part myself of this community which I could name 'Real Ground- Feet deep in the mud' ;-)

UPDATE:

Really interesting to see that this post create some nice comments. It make me think I am surely right ;-)

What I would say too is that PDC should also be associated with 'Real problems - Real solutions' from Microsoft.

An example: Security !

I would like to see a clear (and clever) answer from Redmond about our daily security issues, not only with LongHorn, or Whidbey 2020, but with VS.Net 2003, and Windows XP - 2003 !

From Thomas Tomiczek :

Guess what - you are so totally right.

The stuff presented at the PDC is like star wars for most developers: a story a long time (ok, in the future) in a galaxy they are not part of.

Whidbey BETA is half a year away, a release more. Longhorn is even more in the future. Nothing against the great new technology, and some may be able to use some parts (we will switch some of our website stuff used on secondary sites to Whidbey next week, as it looks like). But you can not really use anything outside a controlled environment.

But then, people always like a great story, and this is what they get.

Practical conclusions: hard to zero for most developer's everyday work.

I htink Dave was right- planning got screwed up seriously here, timewise. Would Whidbey be at least near a beta, things would be more usable for the people.

From Fabrice Marguerie :

Whidbey is one thing, and not the more distant in time. Longhorn will not be released before 2006, and so probably not generally deployed by clients before 2008-09! This is at least 5 (five) years from now!

Of course, developers already have access to some bits, and will probably develop for this new platform long before it is out. But as developers, we have to keep in mind that we are creating applications that have to be in production... and so can't be based on Longhorn before a loooong while.

It's nice to see everybody excited, but wait for the depression when they'll have to get out of the dream and face back their dull applications for Windows 2000, ASP and VB.