A Year Later
A year later, the number of attendees increased to over 1200 in Orlando for the VS Connections conferences (SQL Connections, VB Connections, VC++ Connections) combined with the Visual FoxPro Connections at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort from May 13 to 16, 2001. This year's keynote sessions were including the launch date Visual FoxPro 7. Robert Green confirmed the product will be in the pipeline this June. Visual FoxPro 7 will ship 'Out of the box' as a standalone product and with the MSDN library, but will not be included in the Visual Studio.NET product. Included in the box with Visual FoxPro 7 will be the MS SOAP client and the MSDE. The keynote demonstrations were given by the well known Visual FoxPro personalities; Robert Green, Ricardo Wenger, Gene Goldhammer, Calvin Hsia, Randy Brown and Mike Stewart. Directly following the VFP keynote, Ari Bixhorn delivered the keynote for the upcoming Visual Studio.NET development platform. Microsoft is positioning this collection of tools as the next generation of development based on integrating the Internet into every aspect of the process. This promises to bring unparalleled interoperability of loosely coupled devices and objects. The last keynote for SQL 2000 was delivered by Ryan Trout extolling the successful rollout of the latest version of this product. The new server platform includes many enhancements in reliability, scalability and performance. This major release is fully web enabled and includes complete XML support. It was specifically designed to host multiple applications and you can even run 16 instances of SQL 2000 on a single machine. It now includes support for four way failover clustering, integrated auditing, sophisticated encryption, and enhanced maintenance tools.
The Concept
DevConnections concept of providing attendees with concurrently run events in the same place at the same time is very well received. After having done several conferences (VS Connections in NOLA, VS Connections in Scottsdale, VS Connections in Orlando combined with Visual FoxPro Connections and several others), that formula has proven to be a winning one. The comments received from the attendees on the content and the layout are always positive.
From Wireless to Building Web Services
Attending DevConnections conferences which include several conferences under the same roof allows us to benefit of additional advantages such as the ability to network with other conference attendees and to attend other sessions. Attendees are able to attend several conference topics such as Visual FoxPro, SQL Server, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Wireless, Building Web Services and several others. The variety of sessions availability for each track is impressive. While working on the report for our official coverage of the event, I had the occasion to spend a few minutes in Mike Helland's Wireless session. It was quite impressive to see how you can develop for the wireless world. Then, a few minutes later, I was in a SQL Server session. At the same time, I could have also opted to go in a Visual Basic session. All those sessions were just a few seconds away and easily accessible.
Evening Events
In New Orleans, we had the occasion to have the main evening event to be at the famous New Orleans House of Blues. It is always interesting to have such an activity to be scheduled in the conference agenda. It allows a good occasion to relax from the intensive sessions attended during the day. It also allows us to continue our networking with other conference attendees in a different environment where we are all having fun.
New Orleans was not a top resort location. However, the friendly environment of that city with locations such as Bourbon Street and nearby restaurants was a good as being in a resort location such as Orlando or Scottsdale. Attendees were able to visit the city a litte bit during evenings while attending sessions during the day. The weather was also very good.
Our main evening event was at Universal's Islands of Adventure. The weater was also excellent. In a relaxing environment, we were able to have a nice dessert reception, attend a Sindbad show and envoy some fanstastic rides such as the Hulk Coaster and the Spider-Man ones.
Upcoming Events
DevConnections upcoming events will be at the World Disney World Swam from September 18 to 21 in Orlando. The Microsoft ASP.NET Connections will combine with the DevConnections VB Connections, VC++ Connections, C# Connections and SQL Connections. Steve Ballmer has also confirmed to be the keynote speaker. Then, from September 30 to October 3 at the Scottsdale Princess Report in Scottsdale, there will be the XML and Web Services Connections with the Windows 2000/Exchange 2000 Connections.