Tech Ed Wrap-up...
I had a great time at Tech-Ed. I ended up getting so busy that I don't think I blogged most of the week. So consider this my one big Tech-Ed post. It may be a bit long, but so what? ;)
All the sessions that I attended I thoroughly enjoyed. There was a session on Team System presented on Monday, by Michael Leworthy, Bindai Hallauer, Ajay Sudan, and someone else I think, which was great. They showed how Team System could be used end-to-end, from the end user requesting a feature, through assignment, developing, testing, and deployment. This was an EXCELLENT way, in my opinion, to show Team System to the masses, as I think it really showed everyone exactly how this product is to be used. I attended some other Team System sessions as well, and all of them were good. I can't wait to get the conference DVDs so I can watch the sessions I missed.
I also participated in some focus groups while at Tech Ed. There was one on the MSDN Forums, hosted by Josh Ledgard. He was soliciting our opinions on the MSDN Forums, and what changes or other things we might like to see there. I also participated in an RSS focus group, hosted by Dave Morehouse, where we discussed where Microsoft was possibly going with all their Microsoft.com RSS feeds, and how we might envision an RSS Directory for those feeds. Josh also held a focus group concerning blogs, CTPs, forums, and the Product Feedback center. I think there was some good, lively discussion held at each group, and I hope the people hosting it got some good feedback.
I helped out in both the DEV Cabana, talking about Team System, and in the Team System area of the expo, talking to users and showing demos. While I didn't have a shirt which identified me as staff, I had a big button which said "Ask Me About Visual Studio Team System", and people did. I also engaged people in conversation while at the breakfast and lunch tables. I had a great time taking to developers about Team System, and how it might help them in their development efforts.
I got to catch up with Korby Parnell and Rob Caron, the two people who turned me on to Team System at last year's Tech Ed. We've talked via email a lot, but it was nice to see them in person. In addition, it was nice to finally meet some people who I have only talked to via email.
They announced at Tech Ed that the Team Foundation server will more than likely allow users of VS2003 (and possibly earlier) to access it. This is great! This means I'll be able to use Team Foundation to manage my legacy code until it is ported over to VS2005.
And did I mention Dave Bost? He is also blogging about Team System, and we hung out together a good bit of the time. My thanks go out to Dave for answering my questions and just being a cool person to hand around with at Tech Ed. Remember Dave, watch out for the red muscle shirts….
I'm sure there are lots of people I have not mentioned yet, but don't worry, I'll get to you I promise! ;)
And finally, I want to thank Rob Caron, Michael Leworthy, Ajay Sudan, and all the other Team System members, for the opportunity to attend Tech Ed, and help out in spreading the word on Team System. It really meant a lot to me. Thank you!