Teched 2007

Some thoughts on the Teched conference:

• Very little or no negative discussion of Microsoft technologies. The talk about Microsoft Live did not once mention 'google'. I only once heard someone mention a non-Microsoft Ajax framework, when someone in a Q&A mentioned Dojo. When a presenter is so one sided in their presentation or so narrowly focused, it makes question what is being resented. For example, how can someone go on and on about how great the 'Web Developer Toolbar' is and not once mention Firebug?
• A subtle implication that the 'buzz' around Ajax is in fact all about Microsoft's ASP.Net Ajax. Microsoft's framework is supposedly unique in that it uses OO concepts and 'prototype' in the javascript.
• Alot of the developer hype was around Silverlight and how it allows developers to write C# code on the web client. This seems to be Microsofts latest effort for world domination. There is no way to make money writing javascript libraries, so with Silverlight, the plugin will relegate the browser to the role of a window frame. If successful, microsoft will then have all web development in C#, selling more copies of Visual Studio... and more $ for Micro$soft. Scary.
• Office seems to be morphing into system for users to create and share rich browser based applications and documents, using Sharepoint.
• I find it ironic that while microsoft is talking about the great capabilities of its Ajax toolkit, their Teched website is terrible. It is full of postbacks, arcane menuing and is not Firefox friendly. Even the ASP.Net/Ajax site has missed obvious opportunities for Ajax use in its interface.
• There were some excellent presentations however. A couple of these were around security, with real-world examples of how systems have been breached and the implications.