Introduction
Though are gobs of reports and pictures from Mix '06 already online, I decided to write about my little experience of it as well since me being there was rare, unique and seemingly just really weird.
I mainline PHP, have been documented as a "sick mac freak", have just started a small web site construction company geared towards local newbies to the web, but nonetheless dipped into my savings to attend this dominantly Microsoft-pimping-itself to-other-big-wigs conference.
The biggest reason was the chance to see Bill Gates and Tim O'Reilly yak it up. Additionally, I was intrigued by the different approach and focus Microsoft projected for this conference. The topics of many sessions, aimed at more general Internet themes, seemed too relevant to miss out on. And the final factor was simply proximity. I live only three hours away from Vegas.
General Observations
From the moment of registration, and being handed a bag with Visual Studio 2005 in it, the conference became of value to me. This value only increased with each hour.
"Mix": an apt title
Though the offerings of MS from Vista to IE7 were old hat for Mac OS X users, the fact that MS will someday soon embrace the advancements as well was good to know. Blatant and open acknowledgment by both Bill Gates and Dean Hachamovitch that there were lacks to be rectified was just cool.
I live happily in the Mac world of Safari, iTunes and iPods. I'd heard, however, about other ways of browsing the web, listening to music and watching TV shows. The MS fashion show was a look into how the rest of the world does these things. I felt this was very important to me as a developer to see first hand other ways this content is delivered and all the different types of devices to consider. It was a welcome exposure to many different user experiences; a theme that danced in my head throughout the conference.
Worlds Colliding
Somewhere recently in the evolution of the web, voices seem to have begun merging into one giant Ralph Nader-esque entity. United and amplified by the Internet, they've become a presence companies can not easily ignore. I never realized the extend of this until seeing the latest buzz of the web acknowledged by MS and other mongo companies there.
The jaded side of me, would usually blow it off as corporate PR fodder, except that the conference also showed me specific examples of big business acknowledging the little guy. Two examples that come to mind are from MS and Yahoo.
I got to check out Word 12 and was floored. I'd long read of complaints about the confusing interface. 12 looks great and just smart. Instead of a bunch of options of questionable and confusing value, the new interface shows options directly relevant to the particular goal one is trying to accomplish.
Yahoo's wealth of open APIs and developer tools and help was even more impressive. I hadn't realized the extent of its commitment and ongoing efforts to become a "participation platform".
I've long gathered my RSS feeds, tried to keep up on the latest web raves, followed open source and never missed a streamed Mac Cult meeting. Yet I'd always thought it was mostly fringe activities. For me, this conference showed that is not the case. Best exemplified in Tim O'Reilly's questions and discussions with Bill Gates, it's fascinating to see the voices of the web may really be affecting a new business model.
Keynote
Here's a few things I noted during the keynote.
User Centric
Not a phrase I'd expected to hear uttered from Bill Gates, though I'm not really sure what I expected. I love using Macs. I tolerate using PCs, at times I utterly hate using PCs. I've used them side by side for a long time now though, and always thought of the PC user as the victim. If MS has truly embraced a user centric approach, which does seem apparent in Vista, I welcome it.
Tim O'Reilly
His questions and comments during the keynote, as well as in a session afterwards seemed to challenge and poke at the MS' attempts to be one with the people.
In the keynote, he asked Gates opinion of the following: "So moving on to another aspect of Web 2.0, one point that I have made repeatedly is that one of the key concepts that's different about network applications is that they get better the more people use them. ...And in a similar way, every time somebody tags a photo in Flickr or a Web site in del.icio.us, they're basically making the application better for everyone else."
Bill Gates did not really answer the question, even later when O'Reilly rephrased it. To me, this revealed the two philosophies not connecting. As O'Reilly later stated, "it seems to me that you're starting to face competition from people who have just plain flat out different business models".
Personal Experience
Yakking
Between sessions, during meals and the sandbox offered a lot of time to yak with others in attendance. There was also an unofficial session about Microformats and Structured Blogging sketched in by Mark Canter. Mark discussed Structured Blogging and Tantek Çelik discussed Microformats. Kaliya Hamlin also chimed in about iTags. Still don't quite get it completely, but will study it further and appreciate the word.
Passions
After this meeting I was handed the coolest business card ever. There are those who tag, and then there are those who tag! The card was made by hand. Both in the unofficial meeting and in this card I got to see real passion for the web - live and in 3-D. Along with being surrounded by others inseparable from their computers, it was a welcome injection and validation of passion for the electronet.
The Venetian
My computers sit on a thirty dollar folding table. I rinse ziploc bags to reuse them. The Venetian was surreal to me in its decadence. I took this paper towel from the bathroom to show my family. I was wigged that it was paper nearly as soft as cloth with the hotel name on each one. The quality, size and softness of it is so high I think I will be able to use it as a beach towel. Talk about User Experience.
Conclusions
Am I a convert?
Well, no. But will I be happier about using both worlds side by side? Yes. Will I be more open to both worlds? Yes.
If I could change anything
I would have preferred more information prior to the conference. The Venetian is hell to navigate, and I didn't see any online directions for finding and getting around the meeting rooms.
I felt like I didn't have easy access to information about each session. The site didn't offer a way to print out detailed information about the speakers and sessions, and even the information handed out at registration was very limited. I saw all the information booths around, but it's not the same as having a nice detailed events schedule to ponder while chowing or during boring questions of sessions.
More discussion during sessions would have been nice. The larger rooms and mics for questions really limited things. Workshops or small groups to really discuss things would be a big improvement.
What did I gain?
- Visual Studio - really glad to have a copy of this to explore the .NET coding environment.
- Atlas - Looks to be a great way of incorporating JS into sites.
- Sharepoint Office Server 2007 - loved seeing a demo of the beta version. So glad to hear it is much more customizable and can be made to use a pure CSS template.
- IE7 - Since I use pure CSS lay-outs, I've been extremely concerned with how this will affect things. Enjoyed hands on time to check out my sites.
- And more - still haven't had time to figure out how to partition my PC's disk so I can dual boot in the old and new, but looking forward to getting that up to play more with all the new toys I was given.
- Yahoo API information
- Exposure to questions about User Experience and content to so many different types of devices
Would I return?
I would like to, but I would not. Too much dough fer me. Glad I went once though.
