Here's my thoughts on MXDU. I'm not at work ATM so there's no disclaimer on this email. But it's really needed for once. Because 'these are only my views', yadda, yadda, yadda...
I wanted to write this earlier but I was in no condition to do so yesterday (more on that later).
First of all: BIIIG thanks to Daemon (Geoff, Andrew & all) for organising this. It was great, and I'm really looking forward to the next one.
Thanks to the all the speakers for the great presentations. There wasn't a single one I haven't gotten something out of, even the couple of Flash ones that went WAAAAAAY over my head. Even bigger thanks (to those I spoke to anyway) for being friendly and approachable at beer 'o' clock. ...And special thanks to Spike for winning the game of pool (doubles) for me ;)
And last but not least thanks for Macromedia for supporting the event and yet not turning it into a marketing spin... And thanks to Robin for his insight... and all the attendees I've talked to for being there... this pretty much includes everyone... Oh yes -- NO thanks to the bouncer at Cargo Bar for trying to send us to a gay night club. It's quite a funny story actually, but still...
I've just got around to read through my (extremely terse) notes I took, and maaan, it's all good stuff. The most important thing I've learned from the presentations that none of this stuff is 'too hard'. What's too hard is trying to dig through my daily information load and all the hype about various technologies, and find those that are useful and relevant to me. But having a guru show me 'this is what it is, this is what it's good for.', I had the little light bulb light up inside my head many-many times during these two days. I'm sold on XSL, web services, CFCs (and the use of CVS < http://www.tortoisecvs.org/ >, thanks to Geoff). I've also learned a whole bunch of little tricks like callback functions for example)
Thanks mainly to Branden, I've also convinced myself to finally look at Flash. To understand why I haven't yet, you have to understand that I'm a penguin-worshipping long-haired GNU/Linux freak, and as such, open source and open standards are very important to me.
Don't get me wrong. Flash is great. It's a great product, it's like, you know the intro movie from the MX launch (they repeated it for Ben's keynote): fire, the weel, writing, mathematics, apollo 11, sliced bread, Flash MX ;) It's good and it's easier to develop and probably better than a Java applet or SVG or a monster Javascript / DHTML solution (where possible). It's not an open standard and so I was (and still am) somewhat less willing to embrace it than I should be.
I know that Flash is a well-documented standard, and I don't mean to say that Macromedia is in any way bad for not opening the standard (it's their standard, they do what they like with it), but it would be soooo nice.
I mean, AFAIK there are already Flash editors / generators written by others anyway (and the Macromedia Flash editor is still the best), and I just don't see anyone making a better flash player either. Opening the standard would mean that it's here to stay even in the unlikely event of MM abandoning it... It would also give me a warm and fuzzy feeling that I'm using an open standard. :)
Same thing goes for the Flash *player* -- open sourcing it into a Mozilla.org style community effort would further encourage the community to build on it. It would also mean builds for less popular platforms like Linux or BSD on PowerPC (Mac) hardware, etc). Anyway, I've decided to give Flash a go, and I'll be quiet and take my Penguins elsewhere, I just wanted to say how nice it would be ;)
BTW, since I mentioned I have long hair... Barry, your 'propellerheads vs. ponytails' stereotype thing has caused me some serious trauma :P
I *am* a coder. I hand-code every single line of HTML I do (and it's usually standards compliant and indented nicely). I even use gVim to write all my code for crying out loud... The only design-related thing I do is CSS. This helps me remind myself how I have no talent to do anything visually pleasing. But I'm also a metalhead and yes, I do have a ponytail. Do you now see the emotional scars forming? ;)
Actually it wasn't that bad. Fortunately I've only heard the 'Ahh, you must be a Flash guy' line once. Thank God...
One more thing I wanted to mention. Thanks for all who took part in the 'social' side of MXDU (beer'o'clock at the bar, dinner and the following pub crawl). BTW, Scott, where were you man?
I was a rather vocal supporter of the social side, and not because I'm an alcoholic (just making sure you all understand this). I do like beer and occasionally make home brew. But the real reason I was so keen is because it's not every day I get to socialise with so many great developers. There were some great discussions over a few beers, and even though the conversation did turn off-topic eventually (even without Scott), I did learn a bunch of things, bounced some ideas around, etc.
It also the best time to do the essential 'networking', getting to know the presenters and asking them about overseas jobs ;) putting faces to the familiar names from CFAussie and taking notes for future payouts ;)
Anyway, the reason for not writing this yesterday is because as one of the 'last men standing' at the end of the pub crawl I got home at 4am, then got up at 7 and gone to work. I still had a hint of a smile on my face all day after two days of MX goodness though. I was just somewhat less productive. And didn't feel like writing a long email... one that would have made little sense anyway :)
"And that's all I've got to say about this". Sorry about the long rant, I've got a bit excited. Those who didn't make it this year, better start saving for next time ;)
Cheers Vik
Barry Moore wrote:
For those of you who couldn't make it to MXDU this year make sure you get there next time. Lots of great MX-ites to mingle with, and of course there is basking in the presence of the great uncle Ben
Barry Moore
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