Well, strictly, Monday was Day 2 of the Microsoft MVP Summit, as everything kicked off on Sunday. That said, I spend Sunday in bed in my hotel room with the flu – maybe some stuff happened. I have no idea. Google will let you know….
So, writing up these kind of event is always tricky – there’s a lot of things shared with us under non-disclosure agreements around the future of the various products on which we concentrate. We then have an opportunity to input and challenge based on what we’ve heard from the various communities we represent. Therefore, I can’t go into specifics around the discussions, but at least want to leave you with a flavour of what we get up to.
It’s a great two way catch-up, and I go into these two days hoping that the Windows Home Server team have a good understanding of the things that need to resolved with the current product, and can then knock our socks off with what’s planned and what’s being worked on.
Day 1 Report: You’re in for a treat.
Seriously, if it all comes off, Windows Home Server through the next few product releases is really going to become very cool indeed. You’ll start seeing the fruits of a lot of this work in the coming year (starting with Power Pack 2) which will tell you a lot about where Windows Home Server is headed.
It’s not just about the product – the MVP Summit is a great opportunity to catch up with some of the other guys whose work you admire from the various communities out there in Internet-land and beyond. On the home server side, we had Andrew Edney, Phill Churchill, Alex Kuretz, Grey Lancaster, Sam Wood, Donovan West, Eric Rux, Alan Ball, Yoshi Okabe, Ken Warren and Graham Jones – it was a shame that not everyone could make it, though.
A special shout out to Yoshi for not only ploughing through the day listening to every session in a foreign language, but for also bringing the best Windows Home Server swag *ever*.
Now, I’m not sure if I can give this away to you guys as it may have to be handed over to my wife, but we’ll see.
Dinner was held appropriately enough at a restaurant near Snoqualmie Falls. Great to hang out there with Media Center MVPs Richard Miller and Pete Stagman and find out more about what they’re looking for in the future of Media Center.
So, on to day two…..
