Kevin Daly

Tech Ed

Well,
 I went, I saw, I came back :-)

Here follow my disorganised reflections:
I'm really going to have to track down the web service interface for .Text (if it's enabled for DotnetJunkies) so I can write a client that will enable me to blog while I'm actually at interesting events - the WiFi access at Tech Ed was excellent this year, but the only problem was that I couldn't log onto the blog admin from my iPAQ (or rather, my employers' iPAQ), owing presumably to the limitations of the Javascript support in Pocket IE.
One of the highlights for me was Brian Randell's session on programming middle-tier business logic: it was both very well presented and also directly applicable to something I'm about to start work on.
Another highlight was Brian Goldfarb's two-hour session on ASP.NET v2.0, expanding on the presentation he gave in Wellington on Thursday.
The Vodafone stand was very interesting. Partly this was because of the smartphones and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices they had on display: the latter included the new device from HP (although I don't think Vodafone will be distributing it - I don't know what HP have planned of course) as well as the device elsewhere known as the XDA III (very cool indeed). The smartphones they had on display were the Motorola MPx200 (looking a bit long in the tooth now) and what appeared to be the MPx220...if Vodafone bring the MPx220 to New Zealand I may be forced to buy one. I should note that the Vodafone stand was noteworthy for something else as well but I can't say what because that would be sexist.
Lastly I'd like to comment on Visual Studio Team System. Firstly, it's wonderful and we need it.
Secondly, I'm afraid there's a case of marketing decisions having been made which suggest that a few more people may need to be thrown to the chihuahuas. Aside from the questionable merits of having an Architect's Edition that doesn't include developer tools (I say “Don't let them forget what code looks like”), there is the fact that the decisions about what to include in the various versions of Visual Studio 2005 are arguably pretty dodgy. Visual Studio Professional does not even include SourceSafe according to the table here, but it also doesn't include any of the new tools for unit testing, code coverage and so on, all of which should be an integral part of professional software development. At this rate Visual Studio Professional risks being Visual Studio for Cowboys, and that would be a waste. I've mentioned elsewhere my belief that there should be an Express-level product for device development, so I won't repeat that here. Er, other than to the extent that I just did.
Still, none of that detracts from the fact that the next generation tools are very promising. And I want them. Now.
PS. For anyone who's wondering about this point after attending some of the sessions, I would like to mention here that I have personally seen Visual Studio 2005 Beta 1 Windows Forms projects not crashing on a number of occasions (just now in fact I loaded, edited and ran one without any problems at all), so have faith.

And now I think it's time for bed.