This year we FINALLY get a PDC. I have been looking forward to it for a long time, but booked my attendance and my flights during one of this year’s blogging hiatuses (hiati?). If you are responsible for any kind of strategy or planning, if you are starting a project that will take several years to finish and you want to use the latest technology while you’re building it, or if you just love making software and can’t wait to see what’s next, then the PDC is for you.
http://www.microsoftpdc.com/
It’s the last week of October, in Los Angeles (the only thing about it I don’t really like) and it will just cram your brain with information you actually can’t use to write code quite yet -- but that you really need to plan your own roadmap over the next few years. If you want to know something about a product that is already shipped (say, Visual Studio 2008) then this is not the conference for you. Even if your area of interest is software that is mostly written, maybe has a CTP out already, and will be released during 2008, then again, PDC is not really going to help you. PDC is about stuff that is just starting now. PDC is about getting a big headstart on those who waited till a product was released or a public beta was available. Here’s the list using their own keywords (the numbers are how many sessions are on that topic)
Ad Platform [2]
ADO.NET [3]
ASP.NET [9]
Cloud Services [27]
Dynamics CRM [3]
Entity Framework [3]
Expression [2]
HPC [1]
Hyper-V [2]
Identity [8]
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IIS [2]
Internet Explorer [2]
Languages [8]
LINQ [4]
Live Mesh [5]
Live Platform [11]
Office [4]
Oslo [6]
Parallelism [7]
SharePoint [3]
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Silverlight [11]
SQL Server [14]
SQL Server Data Services [6]
Sync Framework [2]
TFS [3]
Unified Communications [3]
Velocity [1]
Virtual Earth [1]
Visual Studio [13]
VSTS [6]
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WCF [6]
WF [8]
Windows 7 [5]
Windows Home Server [2]
Windows Mobile [2]
Windows Server [1]
WMI [1]
WPF [5]
XNA [1]
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Wow - 27 sessions on cloud stuff? Pay attention.
I also chose a random session so you could get an idea of the level of conversation PDC is for:
Unified Communications: Futures
Kyle Marsh, Chris Mayo
In this session we unveil the future of Microsoft Unified Communications (UC) technologies. Be among the first to see the UC roadmap, watch the new features in action, and walk though the code that makes it all possible. Come see how you can deliver breakthrough applications by embedding rich presence, build click-to-call features including voice and video, create communication workflows using speech and IM, and integrate Microsoft Exchange 2007 features and data.
Tags: Advanced, Unified Communications
This is one of the few conferences in the world that I get myself to (that's right, my own money) as an attendee. I'm not there to speak, work a booth, or be on a panel. I'm there to learn, and you should be too. See you there!
Kate