Mix 07 UK Day 1
Got the train early down to that there London for the UK version of the Mix 07 event. With my whippet and flat cap I boarded the redeye from lime street at a brain popping 5.45 am to get to the conference center at 8.30.
The freebie count is pretty low right now, but I have it on good authority that this will improve dramatically at close of play tomorrow. Did get a nice little USB thing that apparently has some sort of fancy WPF powered content on it, but to be honest, it only looked ok at the demo.
The keynote contained all the stuff you would expect from a Microsoft keynote in the year 2007: Silverlight, Linq, Windows Live Services. The Expression suite of tools looks to have matured considerably since the last time I paid them any attention, deffo worth a go. The other demos in the keynote were of varying interest really. There was an Easyjet holiday booking demo that operated like any old AJAX powered website - nothing special.
There were hints to mobile Silverlight implementations and Linq running in the browser to cut down on server to-and-fro, but the highlight for me was a guy from Sage who did something as simple as converting a PDF to an XPS file and getting it going in the browser, complete with validation and computed entries, all powered by Silverlight and a bit of ropey looking Python. For some reason it really resonated with me, and pointed to a world where the UI is not just a load of flashy gradients and a movie - a world where Silverlight can add real value to form driven applications.
The Windows Live session was good, not my cup of tea, but definitely lots of interesting stuff in there. Anyway, currently sitting in the developer panel and then off for a few beers.
My name is Jon Paul Davies and I work for 
September 11th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
I agree regarding the SAGE demo - I was waiting for some “real-life” (boring but functional) type application.
As for the Live services, I wish I had gone to the “Cup of tea one”, I will be at the Live part 2 tomo but part one was pretty old stuff.
What you doing tomo? VS2008 is the obvious choice I guess but considering I have been using it since beta 1 I may skip part 1.
September 11th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Just read your post on the Mix backnetwork - sounds really interesting, keep em comming. With you in spirit bud!!
Did you do all your posting from your mobile?
September 13th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Hi Steve: I spent the morning of day 2 in the VS2008 track , and the afternoon in track 3 at micropresentations and swaggly fortunes. I’m going to write a full update tonight and have a good read of your blog too.
AJ: Nope, took my lappo! The N95 is good, but not that good! Good luck @ your Microsoft platform management sessions!!!