Silverlight Rumblings

Yesterday at MIX11 the keynote featured IE9, what’s coming in IE10, and the HTML5 strategy.  Yawn.  I’ll concede that Microsoft made the right move in not mentioning Silverlight at all.  This is “browser wars 2.0”, and nothing matters but the browser.  The browser is more important that Silverlight or even Windows Phone, I get that.  But that doesn’t mean that I have to be excited about it.  Moving on…

Obviously today’s keynote will be focusing on Silverlight 5 and what’s coming next for Windows Phone 7.  We got a preview of what to expect during the Silverlight Firestarter last December, and during Mobile World Congress earlier this year.  I consider it to be very significant that for the first time in MIX history, Silverlight doesn’t have to share the stage with MVC, Atlas/JQuery/Javascript, or whatever else they want to cram into the keynote.

I’m excited to see what new phone features and APIs get announced today.  For musicians their sophomore album is really important in identifying who they are and where they’re going.  I think this same “long view perspective” should be taken with Windows Phone.  With that said, what I’m really hoping to hear about are not the new features on the phone, but what changes they are making to the marketplace submission process.  I’m definitely spending way too much time in what should be a simple task of submitting an update.  C’mon guys, throw me a bone here.

So what won’t be announced or hinted at today.  How about the tablet/slate strategy?  We already got a preview of that yesterday when Sinofsky showed his version of IE9 (or was it IE10?) running on an ARM processor.  The reaction was almost absolute silence in the audience, because most people had their mouths wide open and were thinking “Holy Shit!”  That was totally cool.  I’m expecting that to be a huge part of PDC later this year.  Wow.

One last thing I want to say, and hopefully I don’t get in trouble for mentioning this:

At MVP Summit we got the chance to listen to Steve Ballmer.  I really like Steve, I always have.  For the last year Steve has been slammed with questions over how Microsoft is going to respond to the iPad.  Microsoft is being quiet about their strategy and keeping their cards close to their chest.  I’m sure many shareholders appreciate this, I know I would.  However, the developers (at large) seem to think that because Microsoft isn’t telling them what they’re working on, then Microsoft obviously must not be working on it.  It seems like this type of attitude permeates the MVP community and is even championed by some of the press.  This attitude frustrates me to no end.

The Apple community doesn’t get to know jack-shit about what is being worked on or will soon be released.  Yet everyone in that community trusts Apple to do the right thing, and to innovate in such a way that will change their lives instantly and for the better.  Why can’t the Microsoft developer community (and MVPs) have that same mindset and trust for Microsoft?  Just because Steve Ballmer isn’t announcing what Microsoft is working on right now (e.g. a slate strategy) doesn’t mean that they aren’t paying attention and that they’re not actively working on it.  I mean, come on, this is just way too obvious and they’d be crazy not to be targeting on it.  A little trust goes a long ways.  Believe me, it’s a lot more fun (and healthy) to hope and believe, and to be excited and surprised rather than to be an untrusting cynic.  Deep breaths…

I hope you’re as excited as I am for today’s keynote.  It feels as though it were Christmas morning and I’m getting ready to open a present that was sent to me personally from Steve Ballmer and Joe Belfiore.  Awesome!!!

The last day for MIX11 early bird registration is this Friday (2/11/2011).

This early bird discount is not insignificant (contrasted to the $100 early bird discount to Google IO).  You'll save $500 on your conference pass ($1395 becomes $895), as well as receive one free night's stay at the Mandalay Bay when you book 2 or more nights through MIX.  Those saving alone make it worth going a day early to attend the workshops.

I've blogged previously on why I'm attending MIX11.  If you do decide to attend, then I highly recommend you make the effort to also attend the workshops.  I'll be sitting in on John Papa and Mike Taulty's Silverlight Boot Camp, as well as Adam Kinney and Grant Hinkson's Windows Phone 7 Boot Camp.

Hopefully I'll see you there!

This is my list of must-attend conferences for 2011.

MIX11 (April 12-14, 2011) - This event is very important to attend if you're a Silverlight, Windows Phone, or aspiring HTML5 developer/designer.  Traditionally Microsoft makes all keynotes and sessions available to view online for free.  No schedule / agenda has been announced yet, but here's what I expect to see:

• Lots of sessions on HTML5 and IE9.
• Judging by what Scott Guthrie said at the Silverlight Firestarter in December, it sounds like the team is striving for having a beta of Silverlight 5 ready at MIX11 (although nothing official yet).  Based on past MIX conferences I'm guessing ScottGu will announce the new bits are ready for download sometime during the keynote (no promises!).
• Expect lots of sessions on new features in Silverlight 5, some of which were already announced by ScottGu at the Firestarter, and some of which we don't know about yet.
• Obviously MIX is the conference to get the latest news on the phone.  I'm hoping to hear more of the continued story from Charlie Kindel and Joe Belfiore.  Honestly though, we may get those announcements before MIX at Mobile World Congress.  Either way, MIX is the place to learn about what's new on Windows Phone, remember how well Windows Phone was covered at MIX last year?
• Lots of chatter and about hacking Kinect in the hallways and between sessions (look for Rick Barazza and the Cynergy booth).

WWDC (early June) - This is Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.  It's similar to Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference (PDC), only it sells out tons faster.  Both Scott Guthrie and Scott Stanfield were in attendence at this last year.  Scott Stanfield shared some great insight that while this is fantastic conference, unless you already have an app in the App Store then it probably isn't worth attending.  This conference typically doesn't give away devices, but does have lots of deep dive technical information for building on the iOS and Mac platforms.  Sessions are available to watch unless you attended the conference.  Right now I'm 50/50 on whether or not I actually attend it.

Google I/O (May 10-11, 2011) - This is Google's new conference talking about Android, Chrome, Google TV, App Engine, and everything else.  Let's face it, Android is currently the hottest selling smart phone OS.  Many companies aren't developing for Android right now.  I'd like to think that means there is is an opportunity here, but if you talk to anyone who owns an Android then the chances are 9/10 that they have not bought an app on their phone.  That scares me.  I've tried buying apps on my Droid and I must confess that the Android marketplace is horrible.  I'm hoping they'll get that fixed soon.  Still, you can't ignore the size of their user base.  Developing for this platform is something that will eventually happen.  Right now I'm 80/20 on whether or not I actually attend it.  I'm guessing the swag here is going to be huge.

Adobe MAX (October 1-5, 2011) - If I go here then it is for networking and the swag.  Last year the attendees got a Motorola Droid 2 and a Google TV.  Right now I'm 70/30 on whether or not I actually attend this.

PDC11 (late October) - If you read my PDC10 recap, then you'll know that I'm definitely planning on attending PDC11.  What do I expect?  Bah, it's too far out to speculate.  PDC traditionally has great swag.  If you develop for Microsoft technologies (and honestly, who doesn't) then this is a must attend conference.  While dates haven't been announced yet, there's just too many things coming for Microsoft to not have another PDC this year.

I was scheduling out the list of PDXSLUG meetings for the new year and just realized that we won't be having our normal meeting in April.  During that month our typical meeting time falls on the first day of Microsoft's MIX11 conference.  I'm sure we'll do a special event later in the month, something informal similar to what we did last year.

MIX is a great conference, and definitely a must-attend if you consider yourself a web developer trying to stay on top of the new technologies coming out of Microsoft.  However, now that Microsoft does stream live both the keynotes and many of the sessions, as well as making the keynotes and all sessions available for viewing later (stream/download), you may be wondering why you should pay to attend this conference.  Will you get a phone or any "good" swag?  Probably not, as historically the MIX swag pretty much sucks.  Although one year we did all get copies of Vista and Expression Suite 1.0, but then again, that was Vista and not Windows 7.

Unless I have tickets to watch the NCAA Basketball tournament then I'm always attending MIX in person.  That's the way it's always been and I imagine that's how it will stay.  Why?  Why pay to attend when I can watch the content for free?  I've previously blogged my reasons for attending conferences.  Interestingly enough, swag does play an important part in this decision, especially this year.  The bottom line is I don't go for the sessions, I go for everything else.

MIX11 registration hasn't opened up yet, but it will soon (late January).  If you register by February 11 then you'll save $500 on your conference pass, and receive one free night hotel when you book two or more nights at the Mandalay Bay.  That's a great deal, and please don't proscratinate and miss out on it.  Be sure to join the MIX email newsletter and be among the first to learn about open registration, special offers, speakers and technical content for this year’s event.

MIX11 Event Details

Hopefully I'll see you there.  Make sure to register for the workshops, otherwise you're wasting the whole trip (IMHO).