Tech.Ed SEA 2007

This coming September, Microsoft will be having its premier & largest annual conference in the South East Asia region, Tech.Ed SEA 2007, at 10-13 September at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center.

Why should you attend?

Those attending would be able to learn about the new Microsoft products and technologies, not from just any instructor, but experts and specialists in the industry, some of them even from Redmond, and even some which helped built the products and technologies. Which means you can fire questions at them without thinking twice, neat! (On second thought, do think twice)

Not only will you be able to learn, you would also get to know more people in the industry, share your knowledge, get to know more on what’s happening in the ever-changing world of technology.

Who should go?

The conference is mainly targeted at IT professionals and developers, not only to get them exposed and aware of the new products and technologies available, but to better equip them with the priceless knowledge on how, when, and what technologies or products should be used as their business solution, better improving both themselves, and their organizations.

But this time around, developers that like design, or designers that have technical knowledge, should also take part in this conference! Why? Continue on to find out more!

What tracks are there?

Ed Quek, the content owner of the event, has just recently announced in his blog on Tech.Ed SEA, that there will now be 7, not 6, tracks, which means this will be the biggest Tech.Ed SEA event to date, and what’s better, the added track is called the Web/User Experience Track!

You could get the list of all the tracks here, or if you want more detailed information on the any of the tracks, you could directly reach them from the links below:

• Windows Infrastructure Track
• Office, Messaging, and Collaboration Track
• System Management Track
• Enterprise Data Management Track
• Architecture and Team Development Track
• Developer Technology Track
• Web/User Experience Track

Loads of breakout sessions will be included for each track, where attendees would be introduced and exposed to the new technologies and solutions provided by Microsoft, and also allowing them to dive deep to understand much, much more about the potential of these products.

I have actually checked the list of tracks a few months back, but couldn’t find any particular track that interests me, but the addition of the Web/UX track was a pretty good move, which has sessions on Silverlight and development using the Expression Suite, neat.

On top of the breakout sessions, where attendees will also be guided in learning up these new technologies, by attending the Instructor-Led Labs and Hands-On Labs. Those attending would be able to access tutorials, sources, and be guided by instructors in getting to know these new technologies. There is also labs on WPF and Silverlight, awesome!

Also remember to check out who are the speakers here, view their short Biodata, trust me, you’ll definitely be impressed.

My Take

I think most of you have heard of Mix’07 (If not, click the link), and just recently held, Remix’07 Singapore & Remix’07 Australia, other than these, there are also many other Mix and Remix that will be held around the globe.

All of this year’s Mix conferences had one thing in common, they were all conferences revolving around tools and technologies for the Web, and the conference’s hottest topic is no other than…yep, you’ve guessed correctly, Microsoft Silverlight.

The neat thing is, Silverlight will be covered along with other online technologies ASP.NET AJAX and the Windows Live platform, so for those of you that are interested in developing RIA applications for the web and getting to know what user experience is, look no further, join the Web/User Experience Track!

For years, Tech.Ed has always been a “very technical” event that emphasizes on “very technical” stuff, but the inclusion of the Web/UX track, for me, sort of breathes new life into the the conference, making the conference not only appealing to developers, but probably even designers (with technical knowledge) to come for the event.

You may ask yourself, what is User Experience (UX)? Is it important?

I’m going to answer my own question by giving some examples, take a look at the Aero Interface of Vista, the Aero glass effect, Flip 3D, the effects and animations are very attractive and enjoyable, and they are all designed with User Experience in mind. What about the Office 2007? Some new features were added, but most of the “unknown features” within Office are now made to be more accessible by the new Ribbon interface.

UX is essential, for both Desktop and Web Applications, its the core that holds together creativity, technology, and strategy, in the same time, directly relates to the success of the developed product.

Today, RIAs (Rich Interactive Applications or Rich Internet Applications) dominate the web, and in certain cases may very well be the very reason behind the success of most web sites/services. This is where Silverlight and ASP.NET AJAX comes in, and by leveraging these technologies, web developers could come out with visually stunning and UX-centered websites.

I believe most of you have heard about the capabilities of WPF in facilitating designer developer collaboration, its the same case with Silverlight (as Silverlight is a subset of WPF), as the same tools will also be used to develop Silverlight Applications, and the usage of these tools will be covered in some of the sessions.

These tools I’m referring to is Visual Studio 2005 (though VS 2008 has much, much better Silverlight support) is  used by the developer, and Expression Blend for the designer, allowing both parties to effectively collaborate and rapidly develop and design Silverlight applications, seamlessly integrating both programming code and media assets.

Conclusion? User Experience is key, its not about users demanding much more nowadays, its about making products much more accessible, understandable, usable, and enjoyable, allowing users to be more productive with it, and giving the product potential attracting more and more end users. Thus, I believe that the Web/UX track would be great for those who are interested in design and technologies for the Web.

On top of that, you definitely wouldn’t want to miss out the chance to meet the experts in the industry, get to know new ideas and solutions, and further increase your market value, its a chance not to be missed!

Convinced?

You’re convinced? Neat. Head on to the Tech.Ed SEA 2007 site over here and register now!

PS: To lighten things up, check out these Tech.Ed LOLCATS, here, here and here, they’re cute, they’re neat, they’re plain hilarious!