Philip Colmer
06-19-2003, 07:00 PM
Microsoft describes Tech Ed as "the definitive Microsoft conference for building, deploying and managing connected solutions". This article is the first of four parts looking back at the 2003 conference that was held recently in Dallas.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-30.jpg" /><br /><!><br /><span><b>The exhibit hall</b></span><br />With more than 200 companies exhibiting at Tech Ed, this was a great opportunity to find out more about new releases, pin down a supplier on problems or issues you've been having, or just wander around soaking it all in.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-16.jpg" /> <br /><br />Like the sessions, the hall was divided into groups:<li>Administration and management<br /><li>Developer tools & Web services<br /><li>E-business<br /><li>Infrastructure<br /><li>Messaging and productivity<br /><li>Mobility<br /><li>Security<br /><li>Services and educational resourcesOf particular note from the exhibit hall:<li>Expand Beyond, who were demonstrating PocketAdmin for Windows - a product they are going to release later this year that is aimed at management of your AD environment & SQL Server on your Pocket PC. What was particularly attractive about this product were two things:<br /><br />[list:d672ad96b0]<li>That the product ran on a server and made itself available to the Pocket PC device through the Web browser.<br /><li>That a lot of thought had been given to how to best present the information, options and commands on the small screen of the Pocket PC.<br />Other members of the suite provide remote administration for SQL Server, Oracle & DB2. Watch for a review of this product on Pocket PC Thoughts in the future.<br /><br /><li>Dale Coffing!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-17.jpg" /> <br /><br />Dale, who runs <a href="www.pocketpcpassion.com">www.pocketpcpassion.com</a>, had his own booth in the exhibit hall and was doing a splendid job of demonstrating different devices, add-ons and generally being helpful and friendly to everyone.<br /><br />I even won a games pack off him - cheers, Dale!<br /><br /><li>The new Sprint Hitachi G1000 Pocket PC phone. This simply gorgeous device is a Pocket PC with integrated keyboard, camera and CDMA phone. Unfortunately, the latter means that it probably won't be seen in any of the countries that use GSM :(<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-18.jpg" />[/list:u:d672ad96b0]There was also a significant "Ask the Experts" area where you could tackle Microsoft experts on 52 products, services and other offerings. This was an excellent opportunity for me to find out more about the up-and-coming Real Time Communication server (and when they expect to be able to offer video conferencing) and how to get Project 2002 working with Windows Server 2003 … buy Project 2003 later this year :) Actually, the Microsoft expert was very helpful - I gave him my email address and by the next day, he had emailed me a KnowledgeBase article explaining how to do what I wanted.<br /><br /><span><b>The night life</b></span><br />Nightly Jam sessions have become a regular favourite of Tech Ed now and this year's Tech Ed was no exception. As with the rest of the extracurricular activities, Microsoft had thoughtfully laid on coaches, so nobody felt left out because of their hotel location.<br /><br />Monday evening was the exhibition reception. This was a great opportunity to meet more of the exhibitors. One of the downsides to the way that Microsoft had the agenda planned was that the exhibit area wasn't open for very long - typically 10am until 3pm. This didn't give you much of an opportunity to visit the exhibitors unless you were willing to miss out on sessions.<br /><br />Tuesday night <i>apparently</i> was MCP night. I say apparently because I didn't find out about it until afterwards! Bad Microsoft!<br /><br />Wednesday night entertainment was a choice of parties - the IT Pro party or the Developer party. I went to the former, which was held at the Circle R Ranch. This was a superb party with loads of activities, including the bucking bronco, armadillo racing and quick draw fights:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-35.jpg" /> <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-28.jpg" /> <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-43.jpg" /> <br /><br />The food was great, there was music, line dancing, caricature artists, a rodeo, horse-back riding, a wagon ride and a free 32MB USB disc stick on the way home. Well done, Microsoft!<br /><br />Thursday night was the traditional Tech Ed party. Held at Fair Park, there was live music outside, games and food in one building and gambling and food in the other building. Thursday brought the first rain we'd seen all week and Microsoft promised us that the party wouldn't be ruined - even if they had to hand out ponchos, but the weather stayed good for us. The gambling was a great idea - you got $1000 of chips and you could play blackjack, craps and roulette, with the aim being to spend your winnings on prizes. There were some top-notch high-value prizes (a USB stick, an iPAQ 5450, SQL Developer Edition and training vouchers) but these went very quickly, even after they doubled the asking price from $5,000 to $10,000! I'm not surprised, though - when I finally decided to cash in my $4,000, someone in front of me had won over $21,000! Still, I got some nice keyrings and torches :)<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-49.jpg" /> <br /><br />The games included Xbox, space ball gyro, bumper bandits, virtual reality, flight simulator, mountain climbing and laser tag. The food was an excellent selection as well, including barbeque, tacos, wraps, Cajun, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, pasta, salad and desserts.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-47.jpg" /> <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-48.jpg" /> <br /> <br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-50.jpg" /> <br /> <br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-51.jpg" /> <br /><br />I hadn't heard of either of the bands before - Smashmouth and The Wallflowers - but they were getting a great reception from the crowd.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-52.jpg" /> <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pcolmer-jun03-teched-53.jpg" /> <br /><br /><span><b>Coming next ...</b></span><br />In the final part of this series, I'll tell you about the goodies you could have picked up, Internet access, and share some of the sights of Dallas.