Excellent recap.
Imagine how long the email would have been if you'd taken a boat home instead of the train. Yikes!
:)
/John
Scott Cadillac wrote:
Hello Everyone,
It was a long trip home from San Diego (I took Amtrak again, and enjoyed it thoroughly) where I also made a detour for a few days of work in Vancouver, but I think I'm finally recovered from the Conference and the gigantic dump of email I had waiting for me.
(I hope this email doesn't get flagged as SPAM for using the word "free" - but it can't be helped)
Last Year """"""""" Last year's Witango Developer Conference was a very important event because it was a time to finally put faces to the owners of our favorite Development language.
As a bonus, last year many of us made a personal connection with Phil and Sophie Wade when it was realized that "real" people where at the helm of one of the longest living Web Development platforms to grace the Internet.
From my perspective, this personal connection lead to a seemingly collectivesigh of relief from the community. Witango, in it's history, has had some brilliant engineers, developers and people working tirelessly behind the scenes - but let's face it, the previous "owners" weren't concerned about their customers.
Last year, Phil and Sophie swept away my reservations by modestly declaring "we're listening" - because it was obvious they were - and they are STILL listening!
This Year """"""""" Again, Phil and Sophie have listened and the Corroboree 2003 Witango Conference (18 months later) to me, was all about the "business" of Witango.
As the result of the voices of the List community and some well qualified minds and experience, Witango Technologies has come up with a formula for a great future that combines terms like "free", "business" and "innovation" in such a way that will surely spell success for us as Developers, and for our customers.
--- The midnight oil has been burning furiously for the last 18 months in the Labs at Witango Technologies, and as you'll see it was not just spent on v5.
Although I was the MC at this year's Conference (and privy to a few tidbits of their plans) I was totally blown away by the wide sweeping scope of the new vision that is Witango.
--- Going forward, Witango Technologies (the formal business entity in control of Witango) is instrumenting a divergence of Products and Services for Witango.
Free Witango
""""""""""""
~~ The main-stream success of many other Development platforms available
today have all had some "free" element to them - an important factor, and
enough said there.
Now, Witango is going to offer a FREE "lite" version (not a Trial) of both the Studio Editor and the Server.
The Witango formula involves separating some key "business" features from the Studio, such as COM and JavaBean integration and Site Deployment (and a few others to be detailed soon) to make a "free" Studio to help introduce developers (and non-developers) to the concept of "Visual Action Programming" that we all know and love.
Coupled with the new HTML Toolbar features and few other new goodies, the "lite" Studio will also be a useful for other general development - not just Witango.
The "lite" Server will simply be governed in threads, UserReference counts and load-balancing - but still very functional!
The "business" versions of Witango will of course incorporate everything including many, many, many new features (listed below) to support the constantly demanding and expanding needs of our customers.
"We" all know how powerful and valuable the Witango platform is, in versatility and speed of development - so, does "free" speak volumes to the rest of the world about Witango or what?
Witango-to-Java """"""""""""""" ~~ J2EE Compilation of your Witango code just a menu click away!
The value of Java is huge, but the learning curve can be steep - now, on the Monopoly Board of Enterprise Software Development you CAN pass GO and you CAN collect 200 dollars by leveraging your Witango knowledge to deploy Java code and "compete" and conquer in a very tough but rich market!
This little tidbit can be found on the http://www.witango.com home page:
"5.5 NEWS - The 5.5 Studio will be out next week along with the J2EE Compiler with the servers to follow thereafter. And yes - we can't believe you've kept it quiet - the 5.5 Studios and Servers will have a FREE Lite version."
In addition to the J2EE Compiler, will be a new Witango "Syntax Checker" feature.
And yes, deploying to .NET is still in the works....
WitangoUniversity """"""""""""""""" ~~ Soon to be open for business will be WitangoUniversity.com, as a new division of Witango Technologies (of which I play a role :-)). Although some details are still pending, the objective will be:
~~ WitangoUniversity will be the Resource for novices to experts on learning and leveraging Witango Development.
~~ WitangoUniversity will provide regularly scheduled training from beginner to advanced levels in Europe and North America.
~~ WitangoUniversity will qualify "certified" Witango Trainers.
~~ WitangoUniversity will manage the latest Help documentation and reference material.
~~ WitangoUniversity will offer on-line and printed materials ranging from quick-reference lists, large detailed reference posters, training exercises, books and more!!
~~ WitangoUniversity will provide Interactive Tutorials on-line.
More information on this soon...
New Toys
""""""""
~~ From here, actions speak louder than words so following is a list of
things revealed at Corroboree 2003.
Phil and Sophie, and the team at Witango Technologies have been listening and have been working some incredibly late nights to bring you the following:
------ In addition to what was mentioned above, version 5.5 (soon to beta) will feature: ~~ HTML Tool Bar (Windows only at the moment) for quick insertion of HTML code.
~~ ORDER BY column reference, without having to include the column in the SELECT statement of a Search Action.
~~ JDBC integration in the Studio.
~~ Extended Formatting Menu options.
~~ Completely updated Documentation and Help System.
~~ New <@LDAP> Meta Tag and integration.
~~ Brand new XML Parser to provide extended DOM2, XPointer support, and XPath and XSLT capabilities.
~~ New <@XSLT> Meta Tag.
~~ New <@IFNOTEMPTY> Meta Tag.
~~ New <@WHILE> Meta Tag.
~~ Simultaneous Beta and Final releases for all platforms: OS X, Windows, Linux and Solaris.
~~ Witango code Syntax Checking.
------ Looking forward, version 6.0 will incorporate: ~~ Witango Studio written in Java to provide full cross-platform coding environment.
~~ Full internationalization and localization...
~~ Cached Datasources for off-line development...
~~ XML as a Datasource...
~~ Code-completion...
~~ Highlight of syntax errors...
~~ Multiple Customizable toolbars...
~~ Updated SQL Query window as a stand alone application, also being deployed as a "shareware" product to help promote Witango...
~~ XML/XSL editor...
~~ Switch/Case Action and Meta Tag...
~~ Actions in Snippets...
~~ Web Services (SOAP/XML-RPC) and WSDL support...
~~ Custom Actions built with HTML/Witango Actions and meta tags - similar to Custom Tags with GUI API for user created builders
~~ and much more....
Free Witango Code """"""""""""""""" And if the new features weren't enough for you, how about some valuable "free" sample code for:
~~ A complete Email Client utilizing <@EMAIL> and <@EMAILSESSION>...
~~ An on-line Survey System...
~~ A Secure Content Publishing System...
Go to " http://www.witango.com / Developer Resources / Witango Example Modules " and download!!
Witango Team """""""""""" This year we got to meet Fergal and Andrew, two obviously important members of the Witango Team. Both gave highly informative presentations throughout the Conference and also demonstrated a keen enthusiasm for the Witango product line that went far beyond mere loyalty as employees.
Thank you both, Fergal and Andrew, and thank you to the team members that couldn't make it to San Diego - obviously Phil and Sophie have a knack for selecting serious talent so equal praise goes to those that we haven't meet yet!
The Presenters """""""""""""" There is still much more that could be said about all that happened a Corroboree 2003, such as the invasion to San Diego's Old Town and the drinking involved 8-}
(I had to decline because the next day was my Training session)
But I must say I was very impressed with many of the elements of every Presentation given. The incredible range of topics covered by all our valiant Presenters over last year shows Witango's popularity is reaching a high among the community, and is keeping abreast with Industry issues.
Thank you goes out to all the Presenters for all your time and meticulous effort in bringing your favorite or pivotal subjects to us, and for sharing your knowledge for all.
My Perspective """""""""""""" I know my recap of this year's Conference might sound a little too promotional to be considered un-biased, but I have to tell you, when given the offer as Master of Ceremonies, Sophie placed no restrictions or guidelines on me and nor am I a paid representative of Witango as I write this.
I'm just someone from the List - like you.
These are my opinions and views of an event that has great importance on my career's future, and I have to tell you - my future is shining with a light that is stronger and further reaching than ever :-)
Next year, the MC duties will be passed to another List member. This someone will help emphasis how it was noticed by many that a younger generation of Witango Developers was evident at the Conference, and is emerging amongst us - that observation alone speaks a great deal about Witango's future.
--- Thank you for your patience with me as MC, and for the honor of being given the "Community Spirit Award of the Year 2003" (a close contest).
Next year I look forward to spending much more time with all of you, my
friends and colleagues, as a fellow attendee.
And Thank you Phil, Sophie, Fergal, Andrew and the Rest of the Witango Team :-)
Sincerely,
Scott Cadillac, Witango.org - http://witango.org 403-281-6090 - [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Information for the Witango Developer Community ---------------------
XML-Extranet - http://xmlx.ca 403-281-6090 - [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Well-formed Development (for hire) ---------------------
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