Yesterday I attended Launch.

The Microsoft Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 Launch was held in Los Angeles. Tech luminaries (of the Microsoft variety) were breaking out the news on new and improved versions of Microsoft’s core products. The improvements are impressive, real progress in my opinion, and some even groundbreaking. What is more, the promise of these tools in combination is very exciting for development and dare I say, ease of deployment and use.

As for the venue… did I mention I’m a Lakers fan. Have been since I was about 5 and remember sitting with my Dad watching the 70’s era Lakers of Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, Wilt Chamberlain and the like play hoops. So it was exciting to be in LA at the Nokia Theater, Staples Center and specifically on 777 Chick Hearn Court. If you know LA basketball, then you know Chick! It’s great to see an icon in sports broadcasting like Chick (a warm, genuine and faithful man) honored posthumously with the naming of a Street after him (Chick Hearn Court) near the Arena where he made his last broadcasts as a commentator calling Laker games.

As for Launch. The focus areas are the 2008 product line. To review, you can find them here (as well as blog articles LINK I will add at the botton of this post):

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008

My big focus in attending was Virtualization. These technologies include Hyper-V (the new!) and currently Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 as well as the new management tools in System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Virtualization was obviously not the only focus area happening but for me, the promise of Virtualization for consolidation of resources, quick recovery from disasters, complete imaging of systems and entire data centers, and green computing (using less energy) made this the topic of choice at the event. Visit again here for future blogs on the topic as I go through what I know (a bit) and what I’m learning (hopefully a whole lot) that helps companies apply this technology today in meaningful ways with very low deployment costs.

To experience the Launch Wave yourself visit Microsoft Launch Wave 2008 Virtual Launch Experience . This online virtual event is designed to give everyone an opportunity to share in this information and the Breakout Sessions, Chalk Talks and keynotes that made Launch a memorable experience.

Thanks for reading. Comment anytime.
warm regards,
Mark

remarks

I have to include (because I believe it’s valuable to know) that the presenters were really great. I remarked on my comment sheet, submitted at days end, that I was very impressed with the quality of the people in the days event. I enjoyed their friendliness, candor and genuine interest in their audience. The people really were one of the highlights of Launch.

UPDATED: Blog updates from Launch

• Deployment for Windows in 2008
• Virtualization (notes from Launch)
• Essential Business Solutions (notes from Launch)
• Presentation Virtualization with Terminal Services (notes from Launch)

We all have it; a sense of self, a sense our abilities, our assets and our accomplishments. A sense of Ego.

I attended my first User’s Group meeting for .Net in the Inland Empire yesterday and I had a challenging time adjusting to what I perceive as the Ego of Microsoft.

First of all, I’d like to get something out in the open about me… I use Microsoft products. I might even be considered a fan of Microsoft. I’m a fan of many technologies actually and it should be noted that I do not champion any particular platform or language, I just like to use stuff that works. When it comes to .Net, I do find myself with the practical professional need of learning more about Microsoft’s current offerings. So off I go to the IEDOTNETUG and 3 hours with Lynn Langit (presenter) on Silverlight.

Lynn is great. She is one of those rarely gifted people that has both an inclination toward tech and a natural willingness to explain things patiently to others. Lynn has a solid foundation in Microsoft technologies, is a certified trainer, and has an ear for current trends. She also bears the front-line burden for Microsoft of going out and speaking the message of: “we know the Web is evolving and we intend to play in this space”.

My opinion’s are of course only my own but I can’t escape the feeling I have from last night’s user group meeting that Microsoft may consider other technologies to be inferior. I got this from two statements yesterday.

• “Silverlight is better than” and “uses less bandwidth than” Flash
• if you have friends in php/MySQL we have a place for those people with Microsoft Express Editions and SQL 2005 Express (as though anyone that uses php/MySQL needs to adopt Microsoft’s entry level offerings as though that is their proper place)

Now of course these two statements are isolated snapshots and presented here “out of context” but the gist is this: In the entire evening, no real credence was given to the legitimacy of other languages or platforms in a meeting atmosphere that is largely designed to endear developers and code hobbyists to Microsoft technologies and win new developers.

The php/MySQL statements was given in response to a question I asked about PopFly. I said

I know a lot of users in php/MySQL and since PopFly is generating code in JavaScript, wouldn’t it be possible to attract some of those users to Microsoft technologies by introducing them to PopFly because they may be able to use the JavaScript that is built in PopFly in various ways as php/MySQL developers

Lynn’s response was that they needed to use Microsoft’s Express Editions and that “we have tools for people that use php/MySQL”.

I’m sorry everyone, but some of the php/MySQL people I know are quite happy with their tools and their goals are a little broader than just adopting .Net end to end. Some of them are quite smart and capable and even “geeky” enough I think to please Lynn. My personal view is it would be great for Microsoft to recognize the possibility that partially capturing the interest of the other camp with the cool tools Microsoft is about to offer might be a better way of attracting them then saying… NO what they need to do is swallow our stuff hook, line and sinker… then maybe we’ll acknowledge them. For me, especially given that it appears these user Groups are partially formed to increase the appeal of Microsoft, ignoring the other guys/girls is just plain foolish in planning the appeal of .Net and in the future, Silverlight.

uhhgg!

My personal opinion: I feel like the Silverlight pitch spread a considerable amount of spin by ignoring the currently installed offering (MEANING FLASH) and I’m quite certain it is this feeling that has motivated me to sit and blog a few lines on the subject this morning. I don’t know how much of the message is Microsoft speaking and how much is the presenter… she of course “works for Microsoft”.

As for me, I will keep using Microsoft products and I will keep attending these meetings cause I need what Lynn Langit and other trainers have to offer. She and others like her are on the cutting edge and they bring it! But I really don’t think I will abandon the idea that anyone that uses php/MySQL or Flash is somehow behind the curve. I’m quite certain Silverlight will gain ground for Microsoft in the Media arena but I’m not quite certain after attending last night’s event that Microsoft get’s it??? Flash is everywhere. Flash is YouTube. Flash is dominant and Flash already has captured the market! So how is it that concepts like “migration” are not addressed (in all seriousness folks) in a product meeting about Silverlight?

To Sum my concerns… the entire presentation of Silverlight was given:

• briefly conceding that there was another product in the same market
• with the bold claim that Silverlight is better and faster (with later acknowledgments the speed benchmark is actually a day by day and lap by lap affair of “lead changes” with Adobe making tweaks and Microsoft making tweaks to improve their position)

Also:

• Silverlight does NOT play a Flash file ? WHAT is up with that? (IMO a huge blunder given the volume of Flash content that now exists and I don’t think MS wins just by pushing the other car off the track)
• and most notably for me… with Silverlight and WPF going head to head with Adobe (10 years after the release of Flash)…. isn’t it a little like releasing the BetaMax 10 years after VHS has already been installed in a billion households?

This is what I mean by Ego!

The geeky stuff was great and I think Lynn rocks but in closing, how do you give this meeting and not talk about the <em>Elephant in the Room</em>.

So… here I am after attending a Microsoft sponsored event given to educate developers as well “win over developers”to Silverlight and I never got the idea that Microsoft could ever admit they’ve ever lost at anything. In short, that there was a need to win over anybody? Enough of a question IMO for me to blog. Flash has been a victory for Adobe and for that fact to be sort of given a wide birth, well, it smells like Ego to me. Lord knows, I’ve failed in my own pride time and again and I think I know the smell of it. So I hope to engage on this level: it’s Ok to acknowledge other people, other successes and the real world.

For today, I’m going to keep my hand on the pulse of Silverlight and I think I’m going to learn it and use it. But I don’t think I’m going to buy the message just yet and I’m certainly not going to move forward in Media without acknowledging the people that benefit from this stuff in the end. The Users… who don’t want to wait 2 seconds, much less 2 minutes to download and install Silverlight 2.0 and there just happen to be a few of them already using Video on sites in the other somewhat successful platform. Maybe we’ll get around to talking about that at some point.

Thanks.

Looking forward to the next meeting. I hope I don’t alienate the Micro-”softies” with my opinions. I’m one of them and I really do want to improve in .Net. Until then… thank you for reading.