Heroes Happen {Here} was a success!

We had our Heroes even in Edmonton last Thursday.

There were two tracks, one for IT Pros and one for Developers.

In the Expert booth was Donald Belcham, a Microsoft MVP on C#, and myself, an expert on SBS, answering any questions that event attendees had.

For the presentations, there were a couple of technical problems that caused a bit of a struggle at first. But, in an event this complex, it is not too uncommon to have hiccups. They were essentially ironed out or circumvented and things moved on.

For the IT Pro presentations and demonstrations we had Damir Bersinic (Live ID may be required). As always, Damir has a great presentation style providing the IT Pros with a plethora of great Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 feature demos.

On the Developer track, we had John Bristowe. From the feedback we received, John's presentations went really well.

During the lulls while attendees were in the presentations, I got a chance to chat quite a bit with Donald, and listen to him chat with others around him about coding. It never ceases to amaze me how someone can wrap their minds around all of those lines of code and come up with a working software tool or product.

Donald took the time to explain and demonstrate the methodology behind the coding method he uses: Test Driven Development or Test-First development. After he ran through a number of different examples on the technique via his laptop, the methodology really made total sense to me ... a non-coder. That says a lot about Donald's ability to explain things in a language that can readily be understood ... a rare gift indeed!

After spending the day in the booth with Donald, it is pretty clear to me that Microsoft made a good choice in awarding him MVP status.

Some of the goodies - Swag - in the goody bag:

• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x86 & x64 DVD with 365 Day Trial License
• Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition NFR
• MS SQL Server 2008 Developer x86 & x64 DVDs (CTP 5.0)
• Windows Vista Ultimate x86 with SP1 DVD with 365 Day Trial License
• Windows Live OneCare 90 Day Trial
• Various vendor marketing materials.

It is literally a mixed bag! ;)

The 365 day limitation on the trial products brings in some breathing room for systems we would setup on trail based software for clients or students here in the shop.

There were also a couple of bonuses for sitting in the Experts Booth: A long sleeved Expert white shirt and a really nice red Heroes Happen Here jacket. Thanks to Microsoft for those gifts ... they are pretty neat!

And thanks too for the invite to sit in the Expert's booth and try and answer as many questions as I could.

For those who have not registered for the event yet, please do. It is well worth the time to get the creative "I can do that!?!" juices flowing around Microsoft's new products!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.