I'm getting ready to head to LA for PDC 2005. I'll be representing the Microsoft.com Community team. Our primary goal is to build technologies that allow Microsoft customers to interact with each and with Microsoft. Current offerings include Microsoft.com Forums (http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn), Microsoft.com Chat (http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx), the Microsoft.com Blog Portal (http://www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs/PortalHome.mspx), Federated Community Services which powers the search at pages like (http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/search.aspx) and Smart Components for content syndication (note the web part-ish parts of this page; with the RSS buttons: (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/default.mspx). We working on a lot of exciting features for FY06 and we look forward to getting customer feedback at PDC.
I've attended every PDC since I joined Microsoft in 2000. The show is always incredibly exciting and a great chance for Microsofties to meet with the people who really count: our customers. Having been a developer on the Microsoft platform before joining Microsoft I have a special place in my heart for developers; and PDC is the best place to meet and talk with the developers who depend on our platform to allow them to really provide value through their work.
I've always had a great time at PDC; PDC 2003 was particularly fantastic: I was the Program Manager and guitarist for Band on the Runtime (Don Box, Ted Pattison, David Chappell, Carl Franklin, myself) and we had the opportunity to play on the roof of the Standard hotel as well as at the MVP party. Great fun and a wonderful chance to hang-out with some really great people: Don, Ted, David, Carl, and all the folks who were at the shows.
This should be another great show; sold-out, tons of great technologies to talk about and plenty of time to really dig in and understand our what our vital developer community is thinking, doing, and needing from our products.
George
