I arrived in Rancho Mirage on Saturday night. The hotel is nice and the
room is spacious. After going out to eat, I wander around the hotel and
find the acoustic jam session. Ken Levy gives me a VFP 8 shirt. The
small group of us talk for a bit but not much is happening. I leave
after about a half hour, leaving the acoustic jam session with no audience.
Because the keynote is on Monday morning, I decide to do a hike on
Sunday. Get up at 6:15 AM, out by 7:00 AM, get breakfast and get to the
Fuller Ridge Trailhead at 9:00 AM. I brought my hiking gear in case I do
a hike, but I've forgotten my hiking shoes. Tennis shoes are my
backup... This is an hike to San Jacinto Mountain and back that spans
over 15 miles. I get there around 2:00 PM, meeting and partnering up
with a couple of nice people along the way. After eating lunch and
taking pictures, I leave and get back to the car around a little after
6:30 PM. By the time I get back to the hotel, it's 8:00 PM. Needless to
say, I'm tired...
After a quick shower, I have dinner with Twila Miller at PF Chang's.
Rick Strahl, Marcus Egger, Kevin and Nicole McNeish are also eating here.
The conference...
The conference officially starts with the opening keynote. Up on stage
are Ken Levy and Yair Alan Griver. After the "Welcome to DevCon" and a
couple of jokes, the "strategic" .NET message is given by YAG. It's all
very polished and much too long. The LA Fox User Group gets two mentions
during the keynote. After an hour is passed, VFP is the focus and the
audience stops fidgeting. After 15 more minutes, it's over.
Here are the numbers: Visual FoxPro/VFP gets 37 mentions, FoxPro/Fox
gets 88 mentions and .NET gets 77 mentions. This is fairly close to last
year's ratios. But unlike last year, these statistics are quite
misleading. A lot of discussion went into Tablet PC, Pocket PC, J#, the
Compact Framework and a bunch of other topics that do not show up under
the .NET count. .NET dominated the keynote. And the keynote ended early
for some unknown reason.
So, we trudge off to the sessions. The sessions are of high quality.
There's a bonus session at night. The discussion topic is the next
version of VFP. It starts at 7:30 PM. When I walk in and the PowerPoint
slides are up showing the bullet points of what is to be discussed. It's
more .NET. Then "Afternoon Delight" is pumped over the loudspeaker. This
is too annoying -- I've had enough crap for the day and leave for
dinner. The talk hasn't even started.
I go out, eat and come back. It's 8:35. Oddly, it looks like they're
finishing up the Europa discussion. Doug Hennig comes on and it wraps up
about 9:30 or so. A bunch of us gather around Ted Roche's computer,
looking at old DevCon images and photos. More acoustic jam session
(where's the official jam session???) and off to bed. Trouble is, we're
all talking to the same people. No newbies in the group.
Some analysis now...
For those that remember the Paul Gross keynote (I think it was the
Scottsdale 96 DevCon), that one was just bad. Afterwards, though, the
attendees could talk about how bad it was. They could, and did, have a
common experience to share. By the end of the conference it was pretty
much forgotten.
This keynote laid an egg, pure and simple. However, the keynote was in
the morning, followed immediately by sessions. This is like getting a
cold that you don't have time to treat. After the bonus session, the
newbies immediately went to their rooms. Everyone else was already
getting tired from staying up late. No bonding. No real time to share
experiences. The conference is off to a bad start.
Back to the conference...
By Tuesday afternoon, I received a FedEx package. Our portable USB
drives with the LA Fox logo have arrived! I have to admit, they're
pretty damn cute. Mike Stewart gets the first LA Fox USB drive. He likes
it. Everyone is hanging around Twila as word gets out about the USB
drives. Several people buy 'em right on the spot.
Up to this point, I've been quite careful to not say a word about my
feelings regarding the keynote/bonus session. I don't want a situation
whereby I "seed" my opinions onto others. After a day and a half I feel
that personal opinions have gelled to the point where I don't affect
them appreciably. To a person, asking about the keynote breaks open a
dam of emotions. None of them are positive. Somewhere in here I hear
about an interruption during the bonus session, Ken got flustered and
whizzed by his PowerPoint slides faster than you can read them.
There's a outdoor dinner on the golf course that's rather uneventful.
Ken Levy appears among the crowd. Prior to this he had been nowhere to
be found, short of the keynote. He looks tired and edgy. He tells me
that he's running on less than an hour's sleep. That explains the tired
part...
Okay, I've now found the official jam session. The great drummer is here
at this DevCon but he's not playing. The band is mediocre at best and I
don't stay long. The action is at the acoustic jam session. The fire
alarm goes off in the hotel around 12:30 AM. We mill around outside for
a bit, the alarm is cleared and we head back in. I give up around 2:00 AM...
Come Wednesday, people seem to be tired, talking and smiling. Monday's
keynote hangover has passed. More interest in the LA Fox USB drives. The
closing session is fairly enjoyable. Andrew Ross MacNeill is hosting the
closing session and does an admirable job, given the lack of questions.
Of note, however, is the first PowerPoint slide -- it has the word
"Marketing" with a flashing red circle with a slash flashing on top of
it. Does this mean "no marketing questions" or "no marketing during the
closing session"? Or both?
Afterwards, a group of three LA Foxers and three speakers head across
the street to the YardHouse for an enjoyable dinner. Afterwards, we hang
around in the lobby. Some other people join us, including Ken Levy. Jim
Duffy has Ken and I laughing our a** off. A few more join, a few more
leave...
Ken asks a question. I turn the question back on him but more
importantly, I make sure Ken doesn't interrupt me. He tries very hard
though -- we're both yelling at one point but he has to back down. I
make my point and Ken takes offense. He asks the rest of the people
standing around, but everyone agrees with me. Everyone. Now he's mad. He
gets back to his original point but his point looks foolish in this
crowd. Innocently, Twila Miller asks a EULA question. Ken snaps at her
repeatedly. Soon thereafter, Ken is gone.
We continue to talk well into the evening. We're all exhausted but we
talk anyway. The acoustic jam session is on and a few of us join in. But
we're too tired. I hang around until 2:00 or so and give it up.
Twila, Lauren Simon and I hung around on Thursday. All of a sudden, it's
four thirty or so and both Twila and Lauren leave for LA. I hang around
until Friday morning and drive on back...
I'll leave the detailed analysis for another message.
Bill
On Monday, June 23, 2003, at 12:27 PM, john.v.petersen wrote:
> It is quite another thing to personally attack him in an open forum -
> especially when he cannot defend himself.
Ken receives copies of every relevant post to this forum. He is fully
capable of responding, and has done so in the past.
___/
/
__/
/
____/
Ed Leafe
Bill Anderson wrote:
Here are the numbers: Visual FoxPro/VFP gets 37 mentions, FoxPro/Fox
gets 88 mentions and .NET gets 77 mentions.
JVP:
2 questions - First - how is this dispositive of the issue? Second - how
could you possibly listen to the substantive content when you are focusing
on a few words?
As for your entire post - I would classify it more as negative subjective
opinion as opposed to objective analysis.
About the only thing I gleaned from your post is that you are obssessed over
a few things and are definitely one pissed off Fox developer.
Finally, taking your private spat in a bar between you and Ken and
broadcasting it in public like this - is extremely bad form. All you people
like to do is use Ken as a punching bag. It is one thing to professionally
critique the job he is doing. And, it is one thing to - IN PRIVATE - bitch
at him. It is quite another thing to personally attack him in an open forum
- especially when he cannot defend himself.
I guess the bully tactics crafted by Whil and others are rubbing off on you.
Pity.....
Seems to me that when it comes to damage - guys like you are inflicting
quite a bit of it..... There is a right way and a wrong way to voice your
displeasure. Obfuscating the facts and personal attacks is not the way to go
about it...
On Monday, June 23, 2003, at 12:27 PM, john.v.petersen wrote:
| Finally, taking your private spat in a bar between you and Ken and
| broadcasting it in public like this - is extremely bad form.
I'm unclear how a public disagreement in front of others could be construed
as private? Perhaps you could enlighten me.
---
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john.v.petersen wrote:
>Bill Anderson wrote:
>
>Here are the numbers: Visual FoxPro/VFP gets 37 mentions, FoxPro/Fox
>gets 88 mentions and .NET gets 77 mentions.
>
>JVP:
>
>2 questions - First - how is this dispositive of the issue? Second - how
>could you possibly listen to the substantive content when you are focusing
>on a few words?
>
>
It's quite easy to do.
(Negative subjective....obsessed over a few things...one pissed off Fox
developer...bully tactics...inflicting damage...obfuscating the facts,
personal attacks...)
Uh, that's called projection John. Reread your message. You're
projecting yourself onto me.
Bill Anderson
>
>