Friday November 13th

Ok,

maybe not the best date to get a flight back home if you're superstitious but ok ... . Today the last day at Tech Ed and just one session I really didn't want to mis. It was about FAST search in SharePoint and yet again, Microsoft proved that it is really investing in making the pain points in SharePoint 2007 go away.

On my blog I will soon post a complete entry about this session telling you about a lot of new cool stuff you can expect from FAST search. FAST right now is the basis of BING but it's just the beginning.

Today I will try to use the time I have to complete my blog and tell you all about the sessions I saw here.

Thursday November 12th

Today less SharePoint 2010 sessions but one sessions really almost blow the others away. It was about SharePoint 2010 workspace, Groove's successor. This was by far the most interesting sessions. At the end, people just wouldn't stand up because of all the questions they still wanted to ask. This went on until our time was really up and the speaker excused himself.

In the following days I will blog extensively about this feature which allows SharePoint users to continue their work with all the data they need on any device, on any place. And this with or without an Internet connection.

Laying in the fat boy

Wednesday November 11th

Today another full day of SharePoint sessions. This is really exciting !! All this new stuff and the people are great. A lot of friends from Belgium and Holland as well and the hotels are crowded with Tech Ed people.

Today started of with a session about search in SharePoint 2010. To be clear, this it not about FAST which actually is a separate product but about the 'regular' search in SharePoint. You can read about it on my blog. FAST search will be covered in Friday so more information about that is to follow.

Later on there was a session about new stuff for Office 2010 developers. John Durant, the speaker which always has a ton of energy left, really pulled it off. Very nice feature and yet again I'm redirecting you to my blog.

The last two sessions spoke about the new BCS possibilities (which for me are a very big hit in this new version) and about SharePoint Designer 2010. Microsoft knows that SharePoint 2007 wasn't really loved by much people and the added value of the product was way to low. Ok, seen its history, this was a little bit understandable. Microsoft bought Front Page ages ago and this became the basis of SharePoint Designer. The new version had a complete facelift and also an other goal. It's now more some kind of a management tool for SharePoint and it really gives additional value.

The day ended with an informal drink with all other Belgians. Again cool people there. A lot of system admins, a couple of developers and owners of smaller businesses.

Tuesday November 10th

Ok, today a really exciting day with lots of new SharePoint 2010 information. I'm running from sessions to session and sometimes have a little bit of time to take a look in the exhibition room for both the sponsors and Microsoft's own room.

I will upload picture later this week as the connection in the hotel is horribly slow. But you can read some of the new stuff on my regular blog.

The day started with a session which gave an introduction to SharePoint 2010 for developers. During the day I also followed sessions talking about the new SharePoint tools in Visual Studio 2010 and the enterprise content management.

The day ended with a nice reception and a band during which I talked to several people about their jobs and lives. Really cool people on Tech Ed!!

Day by day I will post new entries in my regular blog whenever I have the time to do so. As I said, photo's are to follow.

All in line for some orange juice

Free booze

Free breakfast

Dark Maul present as always

Walter starting a Getronics balloon spree

No time ... :s:s

Sorry for not updating every day but I just don't have time to do it ! There is so much to do that I can't even find the time to write something good on the blog.

I now have some time to update the blogs so hopefully I can tell something interesting about the past days.

Monday November 9th

Today I saw some SharePoint sessions (not too many because the first one, which would give a complete overview of the new version, was completely overcrowded) and also some keynotes giving some more high level information about the new software version coming our way.

All the information about the SharePoint sessions can be found here.

I also took some time to say hi to my fellow Getronics colleagues at the Getronics stand. Very nice to meet al these people.

Sunday November 8th

First report from Berlin, Germany. Today I took the three o'clock flight and one and a half hours later I landed in Berlin. Smooth flight from where I could see the Getronics Evere building from above (ok not the finest picture). It's the orange building.

 

I then went to Microsoft Tech Ed to register. All the other things were already closed.

Tomorrow more information about the sessions !

Microsoft Tech Ed ... only a couple more days

Next week I will attend Microsoft's Tech Ed at the wonderful city of Berlin. In this blog I will give you a daily update of what new things I have learned and seen. I will mainly follow SharePoint sessions. The time that's left I will dedicate to more general sessions about .NET and IT.
I will try to include as much material I can find including pictures.