Update on Irish Launch Events

As I mentioned just over a week ago, I’m taking part in the Microsoft Ireland community launch events for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010.  I’ve been doing the deployment, Application Compatibility and XP Mode stuff. 

Galway was fun.  The audience was really into it and asking lots of questions.  But the “fun” was the previous 24 hours.  The servers that were used in the server side of the demo were delivered late to MS so Wilbour Craddock pretty much stayed up all night to get the demo’s built.  I was up till midnight getting the XP Mode and App Compat stuff ready.  We were working in Will’s room: servers, PC’s, laptops, home servers, XBox, and cables all over the place.  I took a photo (below) which Dave Northey showed to the audience the following afternoon to show how much work had gone into this.  The following morning we were late to get our Internet setup and access to the room.  Both me an Will were still prepping when the keynote had started!  Luckily it all went well with around 180 people in attendance. 

Also of interest was the presentation by the EDC guys who revealed that Windows 7 was a global development effort in Redmond, Dublin, Haifa, India and Tokyo.  Patrick Herlihy took the responsibility for doing the Exchange 2010 launch presentation by himself and showed loads of stuff.

In the evening Will did his IT Pro and Home stuff featuring Windows 7, Windows Home Server and XBox 360.  The audience really were into it, as usual.  It’s a good session and has me considering rebuilding an old PC as a home server for backups.

On Tuesday we hit the road and set up in the hotel in Cork.  The Rochestown Hotel is a lovely place but it’s a maze.  Getting from A to B where there’s only 25 metres between them (and steps) makes moving hundreds of kilos of equipment very interesting – especially when the place seems to be 5 or 6 different buildings just stitched together.  We had a hard case which contained the PC demo stuff and on it we moved the server demo stuff.  Trying to get from our temporary prep room to Will’s room was not fun.  Eventually I went scouting and found a non-obvious short cut.  We were in good condition for the demo.  I even got to do some work before we met up with Anthony Crotty for dinner at a really nice Indian and demolished some wine.

I’d say around 160 people turned up on Wednesday.  It was a quieter audience than in Galway.  We altered the flow a little show I added BitLocker to Go to the demo.  I also added a wallpaper to the PC’s I was doing a user state capture/restore on.  One or two people noticed it didn’t restore 🙂  I figured that little snafu out pretty quickly.  Will’s at home session was pretty interactive again.  The downside for me in Cork was the number of people who were leaving once they got their free of Windows 7.  I believe there will be changes to prevent that happening again.

Belfast is up next.  TechDays back in the Spring was good up there.  We’re heading up on the 12th and doing the session on the 13th.  At this point we have it running very smoothly.  I was even able to prep Belfast while we ended the demo in Cork.  Then we head down to Dublin on the 14th to set up for the 15th.  As of last week there were some 2000+ requests for the 350 seats at the main launch event.  MS has prioritised members of the user groups which is great.  They are hoping to record the Dublin session for those who couldn’t attend.  I believe the invites went out over the weekend to the lucky few who are getting to attend.

It’s a lot of hard work but it is fun standing up there and doing the demos, especially when we are doing complex things and they’re working.  I was in bits after travelling nearly 800KM’s and working early and late last week.  But it was worth it.  I’m already looking forward to see what surprises Belfast and Dublin spring on us.

I found out last week that my fellow UK & Ireland MVP’s selected my session on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and VMM 2008 R2 for the local MVP mini-summit in Reading.  That’s cool; two years in a row.  Hopefully my laptop won’t die in the hotel over there like my last one did last year, the day before the presentation.  I’m taking the ferry over this time so I can bring some camera gear to get a little shooting done during the following weekend.  It beats being screwed over by RyanAir.

And in November I’ll be staffing the Springboard stand at TechEd EMEA in Berlin.  I’m really happy to participate in this, as a member of the Springboard STEP program.  I’ll be there in the afternoon slots and able to attend morning sessions.  I’m itching to see where things are going next year.  Odds are there will be lots of Exchange 2010 and Office 2010 content.  Exchange 2010 is set to RTM in November so it wouldn’t surprise me to see that happen at a keynote in Berlin.  It looks like the attendance from Ireland is down a good bit from last year which is a pity.

EDIT #1:

Will has also posted a blog entry on last week.