140: The Twitter Conference - #tshirt Contest Winner!

I love simplicity.

This might be why I fell in love with Twitter. The requirement to get to the point in less than 140 characters mandates brevity. With this abbreviated burst of communication, my ADD-esque distraction tendencies, and my naturally snarky sense of dialogue, Twitter is perhaps the most perfect medium for me (@BMW).

It comes, then, as no surprise (to me anyway) that my short, to-the-point entry into the 140 | The Twitter Conference T-shirt contest for free conference admission (and, of course bragging rights), announced in early April. The contest rules simple:

come up with a better phrase for the back of the T-shirt, win a free seat at the conference

Apparently, my entry:

#tshirt

Was exactly the sort of cleverness judges (event speakers as I understand) were looking for.

For me, it was just another day fit into 140 character updates.

My contest submission, in entirety:



Learn more about the event, May 26th & 27th, 2009 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.



From the "140" site:

"We’re bringing together the top gurus in the Twitosphere to discuss all things Twitter, from understanding the business value of Twitter to exploring the what makes a great Twitter app."

Simple as that! Now, who's going? Guess I am now!

Open Source Software / OSCON 2007

KXL Tech Expert Segment for 23 July 2007

Open Source Software is a standard for creating software by which the license or permission to use the software includes the availability of the source code. Popular examples of "Open Source" software include Linux, Open Office, and more peer-to-peer file sharing applications than you can imagine.

To learn more about Open Source Software, check out these links:

• Top 10 most popular open source projects
• Open Source Initiative

Do you use open source software at your home or workplace? Feel free to drop me a line or post to the comments! Listen to KXL at 6:40am and 8:40am each Monday for more Tech Expert features.

TechEd 2007: Notes from the Keynote

The keynote just wrapped here at Microsoft's TechEd conference in Orlando. A packed audience listened eagerly to hear a roadmap of upcoming releases and product announcements from the software giant.

Microsoft SVP Bob Muglia appeared on stage with actor Christopher Lloyd of the “Back to the Future” series after a splashy and entertaining video introduction poking fun at previous keynotes (and unrealized “vision”) -- and making light of failed Microsoft Products (the other Bob and his sidekick Clippy). Christopher Lloyd took on the role of “MS-BS Detector” promising to sound a honking noise if the keynote were to drift into “vision” territory. The gimic was certainly memorable, but the keynote itself? Not so much.

Here’s a rundown of the product announcements from this morning’s keynote:

• First public beta of Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
• Microsoft launched a new strategy known as “Dynamic IT” with a suite of Microsoft Optimization tools
• Windows Server 2008 Core Installation option
• Windows Server 2008 will include Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7) web server software
• Microsoft Forefront security software sees updates
• Windows Vista’s add-on “Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack” gets new components to virtualiation, asset control, error monitoring, policy management and troubleshooting
• Microsoft has acquired Engyro Corp.
• Microsoft is acquiring Dundas Data Visualization’s Data Visualization products
• Office Business Applications include Open XML – an SDK was released today.

And finally, from the Department of Codename-Translation:

• ”Katmai” is now officially Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
  
• ”Orcas” is now Visual Studio 2008 with a Beta2 available later this summer.

The session ended with video montage timeline respective loook at Microsoft TechEd over the past 15 years. For more on Microsoft TechEd, check back soon or visit Microsoft’s Virtual TechEd site. I took some photos of Bob Muglia and Christopher Lloyd onstage from the press row and will post them here in a few minutes.