MSDN Roadshow 2008 Review and Useful Links
May 7th, 2008 Posted in .Net, C#, Silverlight, msdnOk, so a few weeks ago I posted about my plans to attend the MSDN Roadshow 2008 in Manchester and I said that I would post about the event once I had attended. So as promised here is that very post along with some useful links;
Firstly, the venue for this years event was excellent. The Odeon in Manchester City Centre in the Printworks is quite simply huge. Luckily there were escalators for those of use who were to lazy to climb all of the stairs.
Once you reached the third floor, we were greeted by poster boxes with MSDN posters inside with some nice quotes, such as "There’s No Place Like 127.0.0.1" and "I’ll make him a program he can’t refuse", which was a nice touch I thought. 
Made the whole thing feel like more of an event rather than just a meeting.
In the corridor outside of the actual conference room were the usual stands familiar to those who have attended a Roadshow before, such as the registration table, a stand with discount books from the guys over at Computer Manuals selling discounted books on a variety of subjects from Expression to LINQ and of course, every developers favourite stand, the SWAG stand, with free goodies like the updated Developers Highway Code (which is available for download and I have included a link in the useful links later in this post). We did all get a free software pack when we left, but more on that shortly.
In addition to the usual stands this year though, we were treated to a couple of really interesting tables showing off the XNA Framework on a dev Xbox 360 and the new Microsoft Robotics studio. I have to say, some of the games produced with the XNA framework for the 360 were pretty impressive and most of them are available as starter kits from Microsoft if you’re interested. I will include some links for both of these areas at the end of this post.
The conference room itself was actually a cinema room (surprisingly being at the Odeon :)), which was fantastic. This meant most people got comfortable seats to enjoy the show and those all important cup holders! I arrived slightly late, and so didn’t manage to get a seat, however, the nice Roadshow staff got me a seat and put me right at the side of the stage and I got a ringside seat which was great. As you can see from the picture to the right (apologies for the quality, somehow I managed to set my camera phones’ resolution unusually low by mistake) of MSDNs Mike Ormond presenting, the slide being on a cinema screen really helped, as they were always clear and nobody was struggling to see anything.
The presentations themselves were, as always, of an excellent quality, with the speakers conveying their expert knowledge in their respective topics clearly and concisely. I particularly enjoyed Mike Ormonds’ talk on the ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions, especially the new Dynamic Data capabilities (which I am hopefully going to be posting a small tutorial series about shortly. If you’re interested, add this blog to you’re favourites or subscribe to my RSS Feed).
The refreshments this year were good, a choice between ham, cheese and chicken sandwiches, along with crisps and soft drinks for lunch. Very nice Coffee during the breaks and even popcorn or Ben and Jerrys ice cream in the afternoon!
As I have already mentioned, if you handed in your feedback form and your pass before you left you were treated to a nice software pack, which didn’t disappoint. Contained within the set were promotional copies of Windows Server 2008 32bit and 64bit editions, SQL Server 2008 Preview along with a voucher to get a development copy when it is released, and my personal favourite, a full copy of Visual Studio 2008.
All in all, an excellent day, well put together and very well received!
One last note, the MSDN Roadshow’s are an invaluable free event from Microsoft giving excellent technical and hands-on insight into the latest techniques and strategies for developers. Every year they seem to sell out really fast, so my one message to you for next year is….REGISTER EARLY!
Now as promised, some useful links regarding the days speakers, events and topics;
Presentation Slides
Definitely worth a look through…..
Speakers Blog’s
I cannot recommend subscribing to these blogs enough. I read them regularly and the writers never fail to deliver worthwhile and timely posts regarding the latest in Microsoft technology.
Sites regarding specific topics of this years Roadshow
These are some links referencing the actual subjects and technology discussed during this years roadshow.
Xbox 360 XNA Game Framework and Microsoft Robotics Studio and the Developer Highway Code
As promised, a couple of links to the areas that were the subject of two impressive stands this years event.
Tags: .net 3.5, ado.net, ASP.NET MVC, Dynamic Data, Microsoft Robotics, msdn, Silverlight, XNA Framework
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