and so it begins....PDC that is.

Blog

Well, I made it to LA.  Flew out of Cincinnati airport (CVG) this afternoon and arrived at LAX about an hour later (or so the clock said).  I can already tell the 3 hour change is going to throw me for a loop when I get back.  I packed a carry one that had my tablet, spare battery, one change of clothes, and an assortment of things I would need if they lost my luggage.  Well, I must have packed too much in it because it really didn’t fit under the seat in front of me well and the overhead bins filled up quite fast (it didn’t help I was in the last group to get on the plane).  It was a long 4 hour flight with very little leg room.  Oh well.

Ran into Bill Steele before the flight out.  Bill told me that he spent some time flying MREs and other supplies down South to help aid the folks affected by Katrina.  This was very cool, and it sounds like he got a lot of backing from the guys at Microsoft for putting in the help.  He also told me that Microsoft has put some of their resources into the South with mobile technology buses which are going around getting people into a database that will help people and families find one another.  You can also find this site online at http://katrinasafe.com.  Again, this is very cool.

Okay, now to the PDC stuff.  Bill and I walked down to the convention center and got signed in.  It was pretty nice to get in early and not have to wait in lines to get your registration and such completed.  We were given some “tickets” to pick up some swag (a t-shirt, sling bag, and lots of literature).  The “goods”, or the software, will be handed out after the keynote on Tuesday.

In digging through my swag bag I found a couple of things of interest:

  • Code Master Challenge" - Code an application for Windows Vista and will a prize.  Looks like this competition starts up in early 2006.  (Note: the url wasn’t up at the time of this post)
  • A fold out that talked about two things I wasn’t familiar with:
    • Windows Feedback Platform : This is an extension of the current error reporting system that is built into Windows XP for sending error reports to Microsoft.  They are now going to provide a mechanism for the developer community to report their own application issue through this platform.  Supposedly you’d be able to view and manage the error reports through something called the Windows Developer Portal (I think through this current site).
    • Windows Workflow Foundation (sorry no url):  From what I can tell this is a set of tools to help implement workflow in your applications.  I have a couple of sessions on workflow this week so maybe I’ll get some more info from them.

Tomorrow: Pre-con session from Brad Abrams. “Framework Design Guidelines: The Art of Building a Reusable Class Library”

Oh, and if you couldn’t make it out here, at least check out the presentation contents. Just as they promised, in both PowerPoint and OneNote format.  Sweet. :)

[EDIT: 9/13: They have removed the downloads from external access and I can’t find them on Comnet anymore….very annoying.  Sorry about that!]