So here I am, Durban by the sea, for the 09 instalment of Microsoft’s Tech-Ed. I have not been in Durbs for many years, but there’s something about the place that agrees with me, stepping of the plane you are welcomed by a thick blanket of humidy – and it’s the middle of winter. I bought a great book to keep me company on the long flight (which included a stop in the friendly city), its inspirational to read stories where people have taken hold of dreams and not let situations deter then from success.

I met Ugene from lightstone (?) on the flight who was also on the way to the event. He was a dead give away – after taking an hour to totally absorb every word he computer mag the whipped out his laptop and plugged himself into a movie. I introduced myself and guessed his reason for traveling to Durban and was right. Turns out that he has been to the last seven tech-eds. Grief, he deserves an award of some sort – matching microsoft mousepads or something. He was totally amped and said the parties are not to be missed.. I smiled and nodded, but remained a little sceptical.

The opening keynote had all the expected elements: big audio visuals, microsoft evangelism, a couple google bashing jokes and demos that mostly worked. There were some very cool things, the ones that come to mind are:
Visual Studio 2010
Control click to auto generate new methods and properties
Windows 7
making use of gestures
Project Gemini (Donald Farmer)
100 million rows in excel, sorted and filtered instantaniously.
Expression Blend Sketching storyboards

I had dinner with my brother, Gavin, and was introduced to Gail Shaw – one of two Microsoft sql mvp’s in the country. It is so amusing to see uber geeks getting there annual chance to be rock stars amongst the few people that actually get what they do. After spending some time with the guys from IS partners, I called it a night made my way back to the city lodge in the warm drizzle.

Tomorrow it begins in ernest with sessions every hour from eight till five. Hoping to get a gap to go for a dip in the warm ocean…