I have to hand it to Microsoft. Just when I get pissed off at them for Office Service Pack 2 (don’t ask) they remind me why I am in their camp.

 

I am in Cairo, Egypt at the moment with the anti-suck gang (the four founders are all here: me, Goksin, Malek, and Clemens) preparing for the 2006 Middle East Developers Conference. What is amazing is that we have 5,000 developers turn out for this event.

 

Why I give Microsoft so much kudos for putting on this event is that the developing world needs to build a rock solid technology based economy and Microsoft is right there leading the way. The charge for this conference is very low (about $8.75 USD) and the entire amount of money collected won’t even cover Clemens’ mini-bar bill. Microsoft has made such a commitment to the developing world, it is quite impressive.

 

I’ll be giving 4 talks:

 

XML in SQL Server 2005: The XML Data Type

Ranking and Windowing Functions in SQL Server 2005

Building Enterprise Applications with SQL Server Mobile 2005

Writing Secure ASP .NET Code

 

Thursday, January 19, 2006 2:30 PM - Thursday, January 19, 2006 8:00 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) Language: English-American Microsoft Corporation Central Park Conference Room 1290 Avenue of the Americas 6th Floor Microsoft Facility New York New York 10104 United States

General Event Information
Products: Visual Studio.

Recommended Audience: Developer and IT Professional.

Do you want to speak directly to the team that has brought Visual Studio 2005 to market?

Prashant Sridharan, Group Product Manager, Developer Marketing, and the NY .net User Group are pleased to announce an in-depth look at Visual Studio 2005 and what it can do for Enterprise Customers. The session will feature a project room where you can get assistance on your projects from Microsoft and community experts.

 Agenda

• 2:30 - 3:00 PM - Registration/Welcome
• 3:00 - 4:00 PM – Visual Studio Team System + Team Foundation Server
• 4:00 - 4:45 PM – What’s New for Web Developers? (ASP.NET)
• 4:45 - 5:00 PM Coffee break
• 5:00 - 5:45 PM – What’s New for Smart Client Developers? (Windows Forms/Click-Once Deployment)
• 5:45 - 6:15 PM Pizza

The session will be followed by the NY .net User Group meeting.  This will feature a presentation on: What's New in the .Net Framework?

For more information on the NY User Group meetings, please visit: http://www.nycdotnetdev.com/

And claims another one of us. Clemens Vasters is joining Microsoft. I have known this for a long time but he has finally made it public. Clemens you are a sellout but have fun! It was even front page news!

I hate unions. They have outlived their usefulness. All the transit workers have to do is listen to their international union that's urged them to go back to work, listen to the judge who ordered them back to work, and look at their families and their own economic interests. If they are not back to work tomorrow they should be fired.

On this day of thanks, especially right after Veterans Day, please take a minute between your turkey and football to give thanks to all the men and women in our armed services stationed overseas this holiday-as well as the families of the fallen soldiers.

 

While you are at it, take some time to remember the Tsunami victims, Katrina and Rita as well our friends in Pakistan.

Tomorrow is the 12th annual Technology Enterprise Forum here in Manhattan.

I was a judge this year in the outsourcing category. It was fun to judge the submissions, you can submit yourself for a best practice award next year here.

Have you ever been to a Microsoft conference and listened to them carefully? They make up words.

 

 Now those who know me know that I also make up words all the time-my staff at Zagat use to keep a list on a whiteboard, and then hold contests to see who can figure out what my new words mean. The problem is that since I attend so many Microsoft conferences as a speaker, I start to pick up Microsoftese. What is even worse is that I now use these “words” in every day life. When I am in the hardware store and ask about the “functionality” of the new vacuum cleaner I want to buy. Or when I am buying a new electronic toothbrush I ask if one model is more performant than the other?

 

Functionality is a word now, even if Microsoft made it up. I decided to start using performant in my new SQL Server book. I got this comment from the editor:

 

[LF] Steve: I don't think "performant" is a word.

 

And the tech editor replied:

 

[JFC] "performant" is one of those classic 'words' that Microsofties use in presentations; techies understand it, but it's not really a word.  Please revise, and avoid its use in the future.

 

I decided to use it anyway. I then emailed Bill and Andrew on the topic hoping they would think it is funny, but got this reply from Andrew:

 

----

From: Andrew Brust

Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 1:44 PM
To: Zack, William; Stephen Forte; Wzack (E-mail)
Subject: RE: some humor from book hell

 

I agree with her on that one.  It’s not a word, and it should be revised.  If you don’t take it out, the copy editors will.

-----

 

I decided to challenge Andrew on this one. I looked it up. It is in Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English.

So I guess it is a word after all….

My brother, Richard Campbell, and Carl will be in town tomorrow night, come on and check it out:

NET Rocks NYC!

.Net Rocks NYC! at our very own user group. Be part of the fun. Click
here to register.
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032280187&Culture=e\
n-US

Friday, October 14, 2005 6:00 PM - Friday, October 14, 2005 9:00 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) Language: English-American Microsoft Corporation 1290 Avenue of the Americas 6th Floor New York, New York 10104 United States

General Event Information
Products: .NET.

Recommended Audience: Developer.

That's right, America! Carl Franklin, Richard Campbell, Geoff the sound guy, and a makeshift podcasting crew are hitting the highway in an RV on a coast-to-coast road trip from Boston to San Francisco October 12th to November 7th, 2005!

They'll be hosting evening events and producing DNR shows in 18 cities: Boston, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Raleigh, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Nashville, Memphis, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Phoenix, San Diego, and Los Angeles; and ending at the launch of Visual Studio .NET 2005 in San Francisco!! 

In each city, a sneak peek at new and exciting things coming in Visual Basic 2005 and Mobility Development in Visual Studio 2005, and lots of giveaways including DNR swag, sponsor software, and even mobile devices!! AND post-event DNR interviews with local developers who are doing cool things with .NET 1.1 and the beta of 2.0!

There will be parties along the way! Of course, they'll be blogging and podcasting photos and video (for the next DNR Movie), and a new .NET Rocks! show online every day during the road trip! Ok, maybe not EVERY day, but they're producing a show in every city!