Several things mark the forthcoming PDC out from other Microsoft conferences I've attended:

  • The fact that it's sold out so quickly, wildly ahead of expectations in this difficult economic climate. (That's not marketing fluff - we would definitely have planned for additional capacity if we'd known in advance that it would be so popular.)
  • That we're giving out bits without requiring NDA for a major Windows revision that won't be released for another two years.
  • The number of dress rehearsals that are taking place all over campus for the breakout sessions. I certainly don't recall this happening at previous PDCs - perhaps I just wasn't on the right internal mailing lists before, but most of the sessions are being run for internal audiences with the aim of getting as much constructive feedback as possible to hone the sessions still further.

If you're not going to the PDC, you'll still be able to get much of the technical detail by identifying attending bloggers whom you trust. I'm planning to post my notes here each day, and you'll be able to read others' opinions at pdcbloggers.net. Only ten days to go!