PDC: Anton's Day 1

I watched the keynote via Silverlight while preparing for the rush of attendees expected at the Hands-on Labs area. Immediately after the keynote followed the first Windows Azure break-out session so most people went there first. But there were several who decided to skip hearing about it and rather go directly to source.

By then it was lunch time and I ran the length of the convention center only to be faced by a wall of people not being allowed into the already over-full rooms. One session had three overflow rooms! Every single one of the lunch sessions were full or beyond, so I went to get some lunch - tricky that since I have to walk past a Starbucks to get from the Big Room to the lunch area. After lunch I was back at the Hands-on Labs area and oh my, we had a full house! I guess word got out: we have three great Windows Azure labs: an introduction (create, build, deploy, debug), then an introduction to storage and the big ending: table storage in the cloud.

After my shift ended at the HOLs, I got to sit in on John Shewchuck's "A Lap Around Cloud Services" and then David Campbell and Zach Owens' SQL Server: Database to Data Platform. That last being my favorite of Day 1, it was one of those "free your mind" opportunities.

Had dinner, caught up on tons of email and then there was Show Off, down a quiet hall, late in the evening, and great fun! My personal favorite: Brian the Build Bunny

Now I'm off to the Day 2 keynote - watch it live!