With the offical launch of Commerce Server 2007 just around the corner, the excitement around these halls is really growing. Interest in Commerce Server is definitely at an all time high and we have a record number of customers working on new site development. The engineering team has been working on producing a set of technical training screencasts produced by developers for developers and covering the various subsystems of the product. We’ll have a few of these available at the time of the launch and several more coming out in the upcoming weeks. You might notice that we’re not professional presenters, but I hope that you’ll realize a lot of value from them nonetheless.
Here’s the link (added 8/1/06): http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/comm/2007/webcasts.mspx
On the cool technology front, I’m really excited about the Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR) that is at the heart of the new MS Robitics Studio. I really buy into the design approach and I think the tools in the CCR are applicable to just about any application domain, certainly not just robotics. I’m currently reading David West’s book on Object Thinking (highly recommended) and I find the thoughts there congruous with the messaging philosophy underlying the CCR. And with many-core CPU’s being the next big thing, we need approaches like this to fully realize the value of the concurrency they can provide. I can’t wait to try this stuff out.
Personally I just got back from Las Vegas where I attended my brother’s wedding. He was married at the Wynn Hotel and Resort. We upgraded to a panoramic room which basically means you’re up higher than anything else along the strip and have a great view. But it certainly is a pricey place – definitely targeted toward the high rollers (which I certainly am not – thank goodness for the $5 single deck blackjack at TI across the street). I’m amazed at the amount of construction currently underway down there. The Venetian next door is being expanded and I hear that it will be the largest hotel in the world when completed. Then the Trump International Hotel and Tower is going up across the street, which will the tallest when completed. I hear the Luxor is coming down – they say it’s a waste of space. Too bad, it’s a cool hotel. Perhaps if the Mix ’07 Web conference is at the Venetian again I’ll make it down to Vegas again next year. Maybe I’ll see you there.