Welcome to November. The leaves are peaking, the Jets and Giants are having decent seasons so far, and the countdown is on to Thanksgiving. I probably sound like a broken record every time I say “it’s an exciting time to be a Microsoft developer,” but I have to be honest - I really mean it.
I just got back from the Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference out in Los Angeles last week. My brain is on overload still trying to digest all of the new technology announcements Microsoft made. The announcements made at that conference are some of the most exciting ones since .NET was first introduced back around the turn of the century!
Windows Azure, Windows 7, Office Web, Live Services, Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0, etc. If you haven’t caught the details on these yet, check out my link posts from the PDC here and here.
Before I get to the user group listing for this month, let me tell you about some other events going on in the tri-state area that you may be interested in:
MSDN “Suburban” Roadshow
Now that these PDC announcements have all been made public, Bill Zack and I are excited to finally be able to talk to all of you about them. We’re going to be giving folks in the tri-state area several opportunities to come out and learn about all of the new technologies. First up, our MSDN “Suburban” Roadshow series kicks off November 10 in Stamford, CT. We’ve got stops in Parsippany, NJ on November 13, and NYC on December 15. Stops are being planned for East Windsor, NJ and Long Island, as well. For more details and registration information, see this post.
MSDN Developer Conference
If you missed the PDC, we’re bringing the best of the PDC to the east coast via the MSDN Developer Conference. The MSDN Developer Conference will be coming to New York on January 20. If you can’t make it to NYC on that date, it’s also visiting the following east coast cities: Boston, Reston, VA, Atlanta, and Orlando. The MSDN Developer Conference is going to be a full-day, three-track event with 12 of the best sessions from the PDC. I’ll have more information about this event here on my blog as it gets closer. In the meantime, get the details and registration information here.
Fairfield/Westchester Code Camp is Coming!
That’s right. The Fairfield/Westchester Code Camp is coming to Stamford, CT on Saturday, November 8. This is your last chance to sign up and register.
Never heard of a code camp before? Code camps are free full-day events that take place on a Saturday. They are like a mini technology conference, usually with multiple tracks, and multiple breakout sessions throughout the day. Code camps are organized for the community by the community. That means that they are completely volunteer-driven events. See the Web site for details on speaking and registration.
Rumors are also brewing that NYC may have its own code camp being planned for early 2009.
NYC Mobile Camp 3 – Saturday, November 15, 2008
Are you into mobile development? iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Nokia? MobileCampNYC3 is coming on November 15. Microsoft is proud to host this open community event in their New York office. MobileCampNYC3 is an open-space event, similar to the BarCamp events that have taken place all over the world. See the Web site for details and registration.
MSDN Event & Long Island .NET User Group – November 6, 2008
MSDN Events is visiting Long Island on November 6 at the Marriott Hotel in Islandia, NY. On the agenda with this series of live events is SQL Server 2008 for Developers, Office Development with VSTO, and Silverlight 2.0 Development. The event is from 1:00 – 5:00 P.M., but you should stick around for the Long Island .NET User Group meeting in the evening. The user group will be meeting from 5:30 P.M. - 8:30 P.M. at the Marriott immediately following the MSDN Event. Visit MSDN Events for details and registration.
Wow! As I said, it’s an exciting time to be a Microsoft developer. Visit the PDC website to catch up on all the new technology announcements, but take advantage of the local events that bring the information to you close to home. This includes your local community user groups! There are over 25 groups in our metro area. These are all free opportunities to come out and network with your peers after work, eat free pizza, and learn about new technologies from experts in the field.
Here’s the user group listing for November 2008:
New Jersey
New York
Connecticut
Pennsylvania
Delaware