TechEd 2005 - Day 4

Well, it's becoming obvious that we're more than half way through the conference. That early enthusiasm is starting to wane. You can see people zoning and yawning and that's at 10 am. TechEd is not only a conference, it's also a marathon...

What can I say about Thursday? It's more of the same really. I spent all morning at the Architect cabana. Showing off some Application Designer features and having philosophical discussions about DSLs. Interest remains high -- people want to discuss how they can use our tools to solve the problems their facing today in modeling, visualization, and code generation.

I finally got to do a thorough pass through the product booths to see what other companies were doing. There are just a ton of interesting tools being created to plug into Visual Studio and Team System in particular. I saw additional source control tools, something for running Team System on Apple or Linux (or did I hallucinate that?), etc. There were also quite a few diagramming and modeling tools there. I have a list of product names can companies that I'll post once I get them all sorted out back at home.

And, of course, the TechEd party was tonight at Universal Studios, so that should really help everyone's energy level tomorrow morning. I've been to Universal Studios a few times and had been on most of the rides. But, the newer Mummy ride was kind of cool. Plus, there was free food and beer at every corner. That's really the way amusement parks should always run. Overall, a fun night although the mugginess here doesn't dissipate even late at night...