ALT.NET Conference

 

This past weekend (5^th – 7^th October) I headed down to the ALT.NET conference in Austin, TX.  ALT.NET can be best described as a group of industry influencers, who are “striving to create quality software on the .NET platform” (see this Yahoo group for a full  description).  Some of this focus reaches outside the mainstream (e.g. use open source, agile, ruby with .NET).  The conference was primarily organized by Scott Bellware, and the list of attendees included Martin Fowler, Roy Osherove, and David Laribee.

About 100 attended in total, and was “Open Space” style, meaning there was no set agenda and any topic could be proposed.  If people turned up to a topic that you proposed, then you had yourself a session.

Howard Dierking (Editor in Chief of MSDN Magazine) and I held a session on “integrating ALT.NET principles in guidance we deliver”.  In addition to several takeaways, there were many comments on the balance between “exciting materials / demos” and “maintainable software”.  Many attendees commented on screencasts and sample code that demonstrate the power of a product, but can result in a system that’s difficult to maintain.

In general, it was clear that we need to do more with the ALT.NET attendees, especially in the area of guidance.  Many participants are eager to speak and write about the work that they are doing, and I believe Microsoft needs to open up the appropriate channels to make that happen.  I would also like to see the ALT.NET principles integrated with our other technology offerings.  For example, how does TDD (Test-Driven Development) apply to Sharepoint/Office development?  A glance at some of the tools that are in use by this community (see this photo) gives you some idea of the breadth of guidance that we could cover.

In summary, it was an interesting and eye-opening perspective.  Maintaining the connections moving forward is important and I'm looking forward to follow up event in Seattle early next year.  Photos from the event can be found here.