>>Come on Mike you've got to be kidding here. When you don't know local laws well enough you should'nt try to establish probabilities.
>
>The fact of the matter is that this is the perception that people in the US have of Montreal. I actually went to the "Charter of the French Language" web site and it does appear that there would be few language issues to contend with regarding hosting a conference in Montreal.

I'm so sorry to see that. One thing that I hope for is that this will change in the near future. At least for information technology businesses. That could be easier because Montreal is more and more recognized as a really good city to establish those businesses. It was mentioned in a recent issue of wired. I think that because of that popularity the authorities will have to realize that the language of choice is english for those businesses. You can't demand for everything to be translated. It would be a waste of time a waste of money so in the end a waste of productivity.



>(As an aside, it also appears that this web site violates some of the laws because its advertisements are not offered in French but the company is based in Quebec.)

I knew about that law but I did'nt really gave it attention. One thing for sure is that I won't be the one reporting this site because it does'nt respect the law. It seems to me like it would be like shooting myself in the foot :-)



>At any rate, Microsoft & Advisor/DevConnections would have to at least investigate the language laws and make sure they were in compliance, and unless a compelling business reason can be offered that makes it worth the effort, this is in itself probably rules out Quebec.
>
>Before that can even be considered, a compelling business reason would have to exist to have the conference in Canada to begin with. With the current exchange rates, that would probably be pretty easy to provide though. Even then, I'm not sure a US company would find it worthwhile to deal with customs, work permits, etc. to host a conference in another country that is mainly attended by people coming from the US.

You're sure right about that. Why would anyone want go to another country if it's that much trouble. Should'nt it be a part of the NAFTA to make it easier with these issues? That's one of the things I don't understand about that deal.



>> Are you telling me that it's impossible to have exclusive english classes in Montreal?
>
>No. I never said that. However, there may very well be different rules for an event that draws over 1000 people vs. a small user group meeting.

I don't have a clue here. I can only say that I guess you're right



>> If you personally don't want to come to Montreal tell the real reasons.
>
>Other than Eldor Gemst living there, I can't think of a reason not to go. :-) Just kidding Eldor. I've been to Montreal and have spoken at the user group there and would welcome the chance to come back. I don't have anything against Montreal at all, it's a beautiful city. I resent you trying to turn this into something personal though.

Sorry if it looked like I wanted to make it look like a personal thing. I don't know you and you don't know me. I probably never had said that if i'd know you better. The only reason I said that is because it looked to me like your arguments were weak for not wanting to come to montreal.

I can't tell you how many times I heard persons say negative things about Montreal and giving all kinds of reasons not because of what they knew but because of what they heard.

Now I'm wondering if it's me that does'nt know that law well enough. But how could I know it better when I currently live in french 95% of the time. So I'm not confronted to it's darker sides.



>> How can I judge if none of those sessions are given in Montreal.
>
>Well, if you're going to continue to limit yourself to only attending conferences held in Montreal, you can't.

Do you really think that I'm trying to get all the future DevCons in Montreal :-)



> Of course if you haven't been to any of the other conferences than you really can't offer any justification for holding them in Montreal either because you don't have any basis for comparison.

It's not a matter of being able to compare. It's just that it would be nice for one of those conferences to be more accessible to me. Is it really possible to compare those conferences? How would that be possible to do? I guess that the sessions are not the same from one conference to the other.



>From what you've stated here, apparently your sole rational for holding a DevCon in Montreal is that you don't want to travel. I'm sure MS and Advisor are giving this the proper weight it deserves.



Hold on a minute I never said that I didn't want to travel. I said that I could'nt. That's different. But anyway I just think that everybody would benefit from one of those DevCon being in Montreal (without so many restrictions for the presenters). I know that eventually I will attend one of those conferences in Canada on in the USA.


Excuse me Mike If you feel that I was aggressive toward you. I did'nt mean for that to happen. I have to tell you (if you did'nt already knew it) that the language issue is a very delicate subject in the province of Quebec).