[kanaloa]

Dang Larry... pretty sweet stuff. Looks like you're having one heck of a time. As always... very nice work.

[phileysmiley]

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6 - Longhorn Build 5086

After the Longhorn Fundamentals session, I returned to the Windows exhibit in the Expo Marketplace (see HERE) and spent most of Saturday afternoon with Aaron, Jay, and the rest of the Windows Client Group team. In between conversations with MS staffers and conference attendees, I played with Longhorn Build 5086. It was exciting to have a hands-on experience with some of the forthcoming features we had only heard about before now (see screenshots HERE).

Earlier, I had talked about the demo of the Alt+Tab feature showing apps running in the background in a slideshow format. I have now learned that this will not necessarily show up in the final version. The fact is, the development team is constantly working on new ideas and modifying previous ones. There are still user experience and UI features which have yet to be decided on and some are yet to be designd at all. Alt+Tab has been played around with and its possible ideas come in many forms. There may be dozens of different features activated through the use of Alt+Tab and there is no telling what it ultimately might do. This is something we must keep in mind: Longhorn is truly a work-in-progress.

Meanwhile, visitors to the booth enjoyed a steady stream of goodies and helped themselves to Windows shot glasses. I insisted they were votive candle holders, but MS insisted they were shot glasses. See the pic below and judge for yourself:

[phileysmiley]

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7 - Team Windows Appreciation Dinner

Originally, Saturday night was the only night of 4 that had no dinner or party on tap for me. That all changed when I was invited to join the Windows Client Group at the Capital Grille for dinner. This was a restaurant and a meal that was truly over-the-top. It was an honor to sit, eat, and talk for 4 hours (yes, 4 hours) with 22 MS staffers, including the head of the Windows Client Group and the Product Managers for Windows. It was only MS people and the woman who put the Expo Marketplace together. And me.

I was essentially Aaron's guest, and I must admit that he and I talked pretty much nonstop from 830 pm to 1230 am. It felt like a reward for what we here have accomplished at PROneT and I felt proud to represent you as the only site on the internet allowed to be at the table. The conversation wasn't all about Microsoft, of course, but I did learn some fascinating insights into how they view the world and how it relates to our membership. It was a truly unexpected and overwhelming end to what turned out to be the most exciting day of the conference: the Longhorn Fundamentals session, playing with Build 5086 all afternoon, and dinner with some of the brains behind Longhorn. I've posted much of what I learned in the above posts and will, no doubt, comment in posts to come.

[DRAGON OF DARKNESS]

This stuff is so awesome. Thanks for the screenshots. You must be having loads of fun.

[phileysmiley]

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8 - Steve Ballmer Keynote

Sunday brings the Grand Finale of the working conference, the Steve Ballmer Keynote. Like the Bill Gates Keynote at WinHEC (see HERE) this one was in the Main Hall with room for thousands. I sat in the front row and was able to feel the wind blow as Ballmer flew across the stage (if you've ever seen tapes of his speeches, you know what I mean -- this man defines high energy). Because this ended the conference, rather than opening it, it was more a recap than an introduction of anything new. The purpose was mainly to fire up the Partners in preparation for the next wave of MS products due out in the next 18 months.

Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Security Business & Technology Unit, opened up with a talk about security. Here are some points:
1) XPSP2 has over 218 million downloads --
2) Has 1/3 less vulnerabilities than SP1 --
3) Has 1/2 the critical vulnerabilties --
4) MS Antispy has over 21 million downloads --
5) Tens of millions of spyware packages removed --
6) Longhorn's User Account Protection (discussed HERE) --
7) Non-administrators will be able to get temporary powers to install programs, printers, etc.
8) There are 35,000 pages on security at MS site --

And now, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft:
1) Look at the progress made over the last 10 years --
2) 10 years ago, most people did not have a PC or cellphone, there was barely an internet, most people had no clue what broadband meant or what a virus was --
3) Windows 95 and IE1, w00t!
4) What about the next 10 years? Moore's Law is still valid, but it has less to do with processing power doubling and more to do with advancing technology in general --
5) MS is introducing a slew of new products: Longhorn Beta 1, Office 12, new Windows Mobile, SQL, Visual Studio, Xbox 360, interactive television, and on and on --
6) MS is not about giving people everything they want in one package -- if they did that, thousands of companies would go out of business (the Partners) -- Windows is enabling technology, a platform that allows 3rd party developers to build on -- (Ed. note: Longhorn is not supposed to do what Tiger does -- MS wants to have other developers add to the basics that Longhorn will offer -- so the whole Longhorn vs Tiger debate is really not even valid) --
7) Ballmer discussed the delicate issue of intellectual property, patents, copyrights --
8) MS has the leading desktop search and is convinced they will become the #1 internet search (I discussed this in the WinHEC thread also) --

[phileysmiley]

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9 - The Grand Finale

It was the final afternoon for the MS booth at the Marketplace. We celebrated a successful conference and filled our goodie bags some more. There were giveaways and drawings and lots of goodbyes and hugs. And then Sunday night brought the Grand Finale of the WWPCC 05: a party in the Grand Ballroom with a concert by the B52's.

Since there were 6,000 conference attendees, quite a large crowd showed up for this final event. There was a cocktail lounge, several Xbox auditoriums, and the main hall with food tables and the concert seating. Aaron and I had planned to meet here and spend this last night hanging out. What I didn't expect was that the other MS folks I had spent time with had all gone home. So It was just Aaron and me. We both enjoyed the concert -- this was a perfect band for this crowd. Both the older and younger ones were jamming to the tunes.

We went out to a movie and headed back to my hotel, reflecting on the experience and promising to get together again at some of the many upcoming events on the MS Conference schedule. There are already some events lined up which you'll be hearing about in the coming days.

I cannot thank Aaron and Microsoft enough for their hospitality and honesty and candor which they displayed this past few days.

Finally, I have to say how proud I was to represent PROneT once again at a major event, this time as one of only three sites invited by MS to attend. We have all worked very hard to earn this place and many rewards are in store for us as a result of our efforts. Stay tuned!

[DRAGON OF DARKNESS]

Sounds great Larry. Looks like you had a good time.

[NinjaAssassin]

I'm still curious as to what was in your goodie bag!

[kanaloa]

Great reporting here Larry... sounds like the conference was great and that a lot was learned. Good connections made, etc. Proud to have you there as a representative of our organization; as it's folks like you who make this organization what it is.

Job well done!

[jesusfreek]

I'm gonna have to go with you on the "shot glasses" Hope you had a good time down there.