DevReach 2008

A week after the event, I am writing a short review of some of the presentations on DevReach conference

1. Key Note - by Stephen Forte - very funny keynote. Also a great historical overview of Microsoft strategy for the data access. Steohen showed good examples that Microsoft is a reactive (not a proactive) company.
2. To AJAX or Not to AJAX by Lino Tadros - Ajax sometimes can be slower, really. Good talk and demos.
3. Introduction to Test-Driven Development by Stephen Forte - An introduction in TDD, One gem from it was Stephen telling us how to sell TDD to managers - just create regression bugs. Unfortunately Stephen did not tell that TDD is more about about design than testing but another presenter did that in a later session.
4. Pragmatic ASP.NET Tips, Tricks, and Tools, Part 1 and Pragmatic ASP.NET Tips, Tricks, and Tools, Part 2 by Steven Smith - some useful tips here. This was actually the most practical talk I attended.
5. Designing for Testability by Hadi Hariri - very good lecture, though it did not turn as interactive as the presenter expected. I am becoming increasingly interested in inversion of control.
6. SQL Reporting Services 2005 and What's New in 2008 by Remi Caron - I had used RS 2005, but this talk was not for me. SQLRS is not the best tool at the market, but I guess it is popular in Microsoft shops.
7. Effective Risk Management With and Without Team Foundation Server 2008 by Tadeusz Golonka - the presenter English was really unique. There were a few good ideas how to measure and manage risk.

NOTE: I am pleased that for the first time I saw presenters who used ReSharper in their demos Steven Smith and Hadi Hariri. Both of them used a dark scheme for VS.NET. Unfortunately people complained and they had to switch to the default colors.