Keynote was a thoughtful talk by Ted Neward of Thoughworks. Ted say’s we’re in a perfect storm of development due to the emergence of tools, virtualization, processors and something else I couldn’t note because he flipped the slide so fast. Sounded reasonable, though.
First session this morning was a conflict for me–I attended an interesting talk on SQL Server CLR Objects, but there was also a good talk on WPF with Expression Blend at the same time. Bill’s talk was as much a warning as to how you can screw up your database as much as the power of SQL Server CLR Objects. It was good to know that SQL 2005 can host CLR 3.5 apps. The demos came from Bill’s book Hitchhiker’s Guide to Visual Studio and SQL Server, which is going to find its way to my bookshelf soon.
Currently, we’re in a Moulin Rouge type of theater, complete with heavy red velvet curtains and a disco ball. I don’t know whether to expect Lean Software Development or a Can-Can dance. Some attendees are sitting in the box seats, it’s kind of funny.
VSTO with WPF is mind boggling. Tim Huckaby is even more wound up than I am when presenting. Definitely will need some supplemental reading. You can do a lot of really cool stuff with this technology, and this will probably find its way into out enterprise in the future.
Project Estimation Madness–outstanding. Joel is a great speaker, and the session materials will be incredibly useful.