The 2009 Global MVP Summit is winding down.
Day 1 kicked off with a welcome keynote from Toby Richards, General Manager of Microsoft Community Support Services along with Rich Kaplan, CVP Customer and Partner Advocacy. It was a very uplifting message around the impact that MVPs have, not only within the community but at Microsoft as well. It is just fantastic to be a part of a worldwide community of folks who care deeply about the technology and believe that technology can transcend all barriers.
Day 2 included deep dives into modeling with “M”, new stuff coming out for WCF and REST and other WCF service enhancements, none of which I can talk about.
Yesterday was all about WF 4.0 and Dublin and all I can say is the bits are getting baked.
Today, we’ll meet with Steve Ballmer and get his perspective on the Microsoft ecosystem, as well as get an update on Windows 7 from Mike Nash and a recap of everything we’ve discussed from S. Somasegar.
So, since there is not much I can talk about, I thought I’d share how fortunate I feel to be a part of this great group of people from all of the world. As one of 4,400 MVPs I feel privileged I feel to be an extension of an organization I am proud to represent. No, Microsoft is not perfect, and I’ve never worked for or with an organization that is, but when you get an opportunity to collaborate on a rich technical level with folks that are so passionately committed, you can’t help but be optimistic. I am not only talking about MVPs, but the product teams themselves.
While this is now my second MVP Summit, and third time I’ve been on campus, I still marvel at how efficient things are run. From Microsoft Connect taxis that will shuttle you to any building you choose, to the extremely friendly and competent bus drivers and event coordinators that make the commute to and from Seattle run so smoothly. It was very cool to see the MVP Summit banners adorn the exterior walls of campus buildings including the Microsoft Convention Center and light posts along Microsoft Way.
Of course, one of the biggest highlights is the opportunity to catch up with my Phoenix MVP friends like Dave Campbell, Lorin Thwaits and Scott Cate. We joked that we have to fly up to Redmond to hang out which we must definitely fix! In addition, I enjoyed catching up with fellow Connected Systems Developer MVPs like Roman Kiss, Mick Bradan and Alan Smith and getting to know folks like Matt Milner whose work I’ve followed for quite some time- Brian Loesgen and Sam Gentile, you were definitely missed but I know someone has to work while we play :-)
And, as with last year’s summit, the genuineness with which the product teams interact with MVPs, and the effort put forth my the MVP leads, and Customer Experience folks like Ed Hickey is just remarkable. These folks live and breath this stuff, and the chance to geek out and be speaking completely the same language on the same wave length is something that few technologists really get a chance to experience. What I mean is that so often, our dialog can easily become a victim of the impedance mismatch that is pervasive in engineering communication (for more information, please see pattern language). The opportunity to have deep, rich discussions with the very teams behind the technologies that I work with customers on every day is truly a privilege.
So, again, while NDAs keep me from sharing any juicy details around all the tremendous vNext stuff emerging from buildings 42 and 43, I want to thank Toby and Rich for continuously building a case for the MVP program at the organizational level, Ed Hickey and Mark Clargett for making the CSD program what it is and putting forth the tremendous effort both every single day as well as in making this yearly event such a pleasure. I also want to thank members of the CSD team like Ed Pinto, Kenny Wolf, Matt Winkler, Don Box, Chris Sells, Richard Orr, Kent Brown, Cliff Simpkins and Marjan Kantlar- to name just a few- that make it so easy for guys like me to do what I do.