Heck, yeah: I am going to PDC2008. I've been getting psyched about this conference for a number of months now, but I had to coordinate with wife, life, and the job scene. It is truly amazing how much you can do with WS-Coordination. Now all is coordinated: LA here I come.
The keynotes. Okay, I have to get this one little thing off my chest. I have immense respect for Microsoft's Chief Software Architect, Ray Ozzie. But I have seen him deliver keynote addresses three times (twice live, once by webcast) and I have yet to be inspired. Sure, it is hard to compete with the explosive dynamism of, say, Steve "Developers! Developers!!" Ballmer, and I firmly believe everyone needs to find his or her authentic and individual style. But Ray — uh, you are reading my blog, aren't you, Ray? — my recommendation is you work at connecting, I mean really connecting at a visceral level, with the developers at the PDC. Make it relevant. Make us care. Make us scream and shout. Make it a cathartic experience, with the young folk passing out in the aisles. Don't go overboard, but aim high.
There are three other keynote addressers in the line up. Rick Rashid, Senior VP of Microsoft Research, is in the plum position of telling us about cool and groovy things coming down the pike from the Research Labs. I enjoyed his similar talk at PDC03, so I am waiting to see what Rick has to show us another five years along the technology arc.
Then there is the dynamic duo of Don Box and Chris Anderson, each of them Batman to the other's Boy Wonder. It would be hard for me to hide my admiration for these two big brains. Both of them think big, make it real for the developers, and can go deep without making your head explode. Expect the Chris and Don Show to deliver the goods on the main attraction: The Oslo Story.
Open your mind with Open Space. I have chaired the Birds-of-a-Feather sessions at a number Microsoft conferences. There is always a lot of work leading up to and at the conference. It's incredibly rewarding work, both exhilarating and exhausting. We obsess over how to keep the BoFs fresh, exciting, and compelling. From my personal vantage point, I am absolutely delighted to see Microsoft experimenting with new forms for attendee interaction.
The Open Space concept has been around since 1985, and it's been enjoying a rapidly expanding mindshare in the last few years. Microsoft held Open Space sessions at MIX08 and the 2008 MVP Summit. Building on those experiences, PDC2008 will feature Open Space sessions each day of the conference as part of the UnSessions. Think of them as a more spontaneous form of BoF sessions, and you'll be on the right track.
Sessions, sessions, sessions. The list of announced sessions continues to grow, featuring some very interesting topics. Oslo, Cloud Services, Mesh, Zermatt, Rosario, F#, .NET 4.0, Windows 7... it is all so exciting it will be hard to pick and choose which breakout sessions to go to.
Are you going to PDC2008? If so, see you in October.