Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Additional Source: http://www.heroeshappenhere.com
Three major Microsoft software packages were featured at the 2008 Launch Wave Kick-off Event (Windows Server 08, Visual Studio 08 and SQL Server 08). Each package was targeted to a specific group; namely developer, IT data platform, and IT Infrastructure. Strangely the overall theme of the event was "heroes". From the printed material (like a comic strip) to the keynote presentation (video of heroes that used Microsoft products). I can see why this marketing approach was created. During the course of the event, I was trying not to fall into the marketing strategy, but I couldn't help but feel like a hero myself considering how a hero was portrayed (using technology to help others). As a first time attendee, I will summarize my experience with this event from registration to hands-on labs for the Developer Track.
Registration was simple and fast. After I registered, I got some breakfast and then moved to the Keynote presentation.
The main keynote speakers were Tom Brokaw and Steve Ballmer. However, there was a "hero" user testimonials of the feature packages from all over the world. Not to mentioned demos that showcased the new products. I enjoyed Mr. Brokaw's speech, but of course I expected him to be a great speaker considering his news anchor background. Furthermore, Steve was a loud speaker and was not all convincing with some of the facts/charts that he used as proof to his arguments (SQL vs. Oracle).
The breakout sessions were my favorite part of the event. However, the rooms were not big enough. Namely, I counted roughly a 450 seating availability for the first session that I attended, Breakthrough Software Development Challenges with Visual Studio 2008 (Jason Zander). I was very impressed with the testing features now available in VS08. The next session I attended was the Reach End-Users with Next Generation Web Applications (Brad Adams).
The Hands-on Labs were setup very nice. The machine configuration included HP workstations with dual displays and virtual machines that ran the featured software. Additionally, the machines ran a tutorial/lab like application that guided you and provided a variety of labs available based on the track that you selected. However, not everything went as smooth as I thought. I'm not so sure if the problem was related to the virtual machine environment or if it was a Visual Studio 2008 problem. I had to restart Visual Studio 2008 numerous times due to behavior issues.
Additionally I attended a Chalk Talks session called "Build a Full Featured Peer-to-Peer Application in Under 30 Minutes!". The demo was useless to me, considering that I was only taught how to drag & drop controls and use code snippets that I couldn't make out. Overall the presentation was a failure due to Internet connectivity issues that took the focus away.
Nevertheless, I had fun and loved the goodies that were handed out (bag, featured software, photography book). Furthermore, I am excited about using Visual Studio 2008 to develop ASP.NET application and WPF applications.
