Microsoft on Stage at Eclipse Con 2006? Twinkie’s and booing what?

So what happens when a woman developer evangelist goes to Eclipse Con 2006 the first day? well....

Monday was the award ceremony for those who have made great contributions to Eclipse. Very laid back ceremony and at times most names weren’t event said fully, most people were called on stage by their first name and the audience heard: “Well you know who you are, just come up on stage.”

But the ceremony was broken into sessions, and in-between there was a game show. A DJ ran the show and they tried to balance the 3 men on stage with 1 woman. Well there comes round 1 where the DJ is asking for people and no one is volunteering. Nima my counterpart in Northern California and I were there to observe. The DJ got 3 men very quickly as the room was filled with men, (hence my goal in life to add more women, but that is a project I am always working on). So the DJ comes towards us and Nima volunteers me to go up on stage.

Once on stage, we all have to introduce ourselves and the DJ asks the 3 contestants and finally gets to me. He asks me my name, then who I work for. As soon as the word “Microsoft” comes out of my lips, the room lets out a BIG BOOOOOO!!!!!!

I must say I have never felt more loved and appreciated than at that moment.

The DJ continues to ask me “Well is there anyone else in the room you would rather work for?” and my response was “IBM…If they want to work for Microsoft” J

The DJ said: “You must be dyslexic!” So the game begins.

We are now to pick the TV shows the music playing represents. And for every right answer we get a Twinkie!! Well I was tied till the end when someone else won the prize which was 4 flavors of SPAM!!! Funny SPAM at Eclipse Con? J

I won a barrel of Monkeys! But for the rest of the event I was recognized walking down the hall as the Microsoft person. What a quick way to get noticed among 1000+ people J

But this is also the place where I met the RadRails guys. This was FANTASIC because we had a chance to later speak to them further about their business model, their goals and where they are headed over a fantastic dinner. Matt, Kyle and Mark are very futuristic and as they said: “The only ones at he exhibit hall with a free product!” They also said: “Everyone else at the exhibit hall is waiting for someone to come up with a piece of code which they can then package and sell, we are the only ones here without a product and everyone is surprised when we tell them we are Free!” RadRails sees offering support as a way to make money and are willing to look into creating a plug for Visual Studio. Ruby on Rails (RoR) for Visual Studio? Now that will be interesting.