Perhaps ironically, at least from a certain point of view, the Star Wars theme song was playing as I entered the premises of Microsoft’s Heroes Happen 2008 event.
I wondered, had the empire turned into rebels (in their own view)? Who is the new empire to rebel against? Or were they just blissfully aware of this angle?
Microsoft managed to get everyone to pay to listen to their new product introduction… that was pretty neat work. Mine was paid by my employer… Now, at display was Microsoft’s 2008 lineup – MSSQL Server, Windows Server and the Studio. All is now fantastically integrated, and if we are to use their tools, life is good – or so they say. One very cool demonstration was performed by a fellow Norwegian, who demonstrated JSON and a win/web bridging application. This was but one example of a lot of coolness on display.
Being a Machi-II ColdFusion developer, taking notes with my Linux powered Nokia N810, I could not help but be in awe at the way Microsoft have embraced the hottest Internet technologies. Studio 2008 even runs fast enough, or maybe that’s just my quad pumped 3.8ghz watercooled system? Nevertheless, going to enterprise computing one feels that Microsoft and their 08 range is the path of least resistance; J2EE certainly never gets as easy as this, and staying with ColdFusion would now seem like a career limiting move.
So I guess I will accept their challenge of becoming one of Microsoft’s everyday heroes. However it is not without trepidation of becoming another clone.
Cheers,
Funkdancer
ps. Freebies included time limited versions of Server, Studio etc, plus what the representative claimed was a non time restricted version of Vista Ultimate SP1. Opening the package, however, there was a note saying the software would expire in 365 days after installation. Has anyone confirmed which is true?