My first TechDays 2007 Zurich visit

TechDays 2007 in Zurich is over and it was definitely a very interesting event with lots of impressions and many things to learn.
While I found that many sessions were rather general and tried to focus on all Developers, Decision Makers and Sales People, there were still quite a few sessions that gave good insights on common problems a developer faces almost daily.

Particular highlights i found were
- the keynote about security, held by Rafal Lukawiecki (whom i funnily enough knew from years ago from London already). Prior to the keynote we all found the topic 'Security' a bit of a wrong choice to listen to for 90 minutes. Sure, security is a key topic in our work, it's hardly ever an interesting topic. But I was proved wrong - Rafal managed like nobody i've seen before to make it a very entertaining, interesting keynote and dug up some very interesting facts that got me thinking - hopefully our future regarding security and malicious attacks is not as dark as it can possible become (although trying to be a realistic person, my hopes might go unheard).
- Ingo Rammer impressed with his in-depth knowledge of Windows Workflow Foundation and Hardcore debugging. While i have been paying attention to Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) for more than 2 years now (starting at PDC 2005), the product is just about starting to get to a stage that can be used for production, but has some very nice concepts. I was definitely encouraged by this session to finally try it sometime soon.
Hardcore debugging was VERY impressive. I would definitely not say about myself that I don't know alot about technical and internal details of .net and ASP.net. But what Ingo showed off here was a) very very geeky, which has become rare and thus a very welcome change every now and then for me and b) will definitely proof very helpful in the near future. To almost completely debug a compiled application on a production machine without installing Visual Studio, without adding log messages until the database is flooded with such messages, will certainly make it easier to find nasty production-only bugs in an application.

About the location: Why Microsoft chose our very old-fashioned (and due to rebuilding) congress hall is still a riddle to me. The location of the event hall is definitely awesome (in the heart of downtown Zurich, just next to the see, making it easy to enjoy a short stay off any session, enjoying the sun lying on the lake), the rooms were small, cramped and with hardly any leg space, which made it very difficult to sit still for 75 minutes or more. Why not choose the new exhibition and fair center that is modern and spacious and convenient ?

Anyway, it was a nice event with a good mix of visitors - and now it's time to look forward to PDC 2007 ;-) which i can hopefully attend.

TechDays start tomorrow !

The TechDays 2007 in Zurich/Switzerland start tomorrow ! It's my second 'Microsoft' event after PDC 2005 in Los Angeles.

It should be interesting to see the difference to LA (which will be substantial), but it will be good to meet local people and do some networking here as well.
More during/after the event, which will definitely be filled with new impressions and opinions to state here on my blog.