MMS : WrapUp

You know that old saying about a butterfly flapping it's wings causing a hurricane a thousand miles away? Well, a thunderstorm in Chicago causes repercussions around the world.

I finally landed at O'Hare at around 10:45, which was well after my connecting flight to scenic Champaign - Urbana has left the tarmac. And of course that was the last flight of the night.

I had already decided I would just rent a car and drive home. Unfortunately, there were several hundred people that had made similar decisions. So I got on the Hertz bus and they promptly kicked me off for not having a reservation. Then I got on the phone and started calling around, finally finding Budget who still had cars on the lot.

When I got to the Budget office, I was approximately 50th in line. With three workers behind the counter, I settled in for a long wait. When I finally got to the counter, Angel (really, that was the name on her gold nametag) hooked me up. I ended up in a enormous Chevy something or other. Turning to leave, I noticed there were more people behind me in line than there were in front of me when I started.

So at 4:10am I finally pulled in front of my house. My bag, which American would not let me pick up at O'Hare, finally arrived in Champaign at around 3:30 the next day. I figure I still spent less on the rental than I would have staying at O'Hare, and I got to sleep in my own bed.

My final thoughts on MMS? While the event was good, it wasn't great and from my perception not as good as last year. I can't quite put my finger on why. It could be that I was looking for more in-depth info this year. The newbie stuff is great for the folks that need it. But the older the conference gets, the deeper they need to dive into existing products. Let's spend on hour on the sms_def.mof (or the configuration.mof) file.  Have a session that walks through a distributed app in it's entirety, and let's have it not be the standard "web SQL Server" app. Take a group of servers, a web site, a sql back end, and a custom service. Better still, let's add some Linux monitoring in there as well. Then let's add the alerts and subscriptions, and figure out how to make them make sense.

The Meetup points were a great idea, I just wish I would have discovered them sooner.

The closing party was nice, but seemed to be geared for younger folks than me. The Halo farm was cool, the performers were OK (except for the juggler. I hope that wasn't his best stuff). But it just wasn't my thing. I'm not sure would be better, though, so I'm not going to complain too loud. My only suggestion might be, if Wayne Brady is still booked there, to get HIM to come and perform for the closing party.

I thought the venue was great. The Venetian is both beautiful and big enough to handle the crowd, and still has room to bring in more attendees. The food was OK, the service was great.

As before, the most important facet of the event was networking, making new contacts and hashing around problems, thoughts, and plans. That is what made the conference worthwhile for me this year.2009graphic

 

 

See you in 2009!

Published Sunday, May 04, 2008 4:00 PM by pwstrain
Filed under:

Comments

# re: MMS : WrapUp@ Monday, May 05, 2008 10:46 AM

Hoping to make it to 2009, but do not think I will waste another $85.00 bring my wife to the closing party. I heard about Los Lobos, got to see Jim Belishi and Dan Akroyd, enjoyed Sea World and the block party, and Circus Circus was ok but not what I was expecting as a follow up, nor my wife. I really think the MS should give warning about what the event is going to be before they start selling braclets. I really expected better from MS on such a major year with SCCM, SCOM, and Server 08 in full release. I believe a lot of us left early due to the noise from the DJ, and the horderves they were serving. What happened to the theme bars? Quite frankly I was very dissapointed, yes the XBox farm was ok for the kids, but they probably set up Xbox parties all the time.

For the past 3 years I have commented to MS on the exit survey that the food during the summit is ok, but as this is a US event, and we have many travelers from all over, why not do some simple American food for lunch? Pizza or  hotdogs and burgers? Coldcuts and chips? or at least offer an alternative to gourmet lunches. And how about getting the eggs done? Seems we get runny scrambled eggs every year.

OK, enough about the food, and the Thursday night fiasco. About the event itself, I agree 100%, need deeper sessions, or at least not the same old sessions. I enjoy getting together with friends I only see once a year, but I am also there to learn, and maybe to teach as well. I vow to try and come up with at least one new idea for a class for 2009, and ask all of you seasoned pros to do the same. This is summit after all was started for the users, right? You know who you are, I am always learning from you in the forums, time for us to get together and stand infront of the audience  instead of just watching.

by MReavis

# re: MMS : WrapUp@ Monday, May 05, 2008 3:25 PM

Well said. I wasn't going to comment on the food at the closing party, but I would certainly feel exactly the same way if I had paid to bring someone to it.

I've posted a starting point of in the [Site Forums] section as a spot to place our ideas for sessions next year. I know some Micro$ofties read this forum, hopefully they'll take note.

by pwstrain