Auto & Prog: RSTechED 2008

[ShawnMTierney]

I'm off for a week on business. I get to spend 10 hours a day in classes at RSTechEd. Yeah, it's in Florida but the most I'll get to see of that great place is the inside of a hotel

The good news is I've made it to the airport ok, and they have added a cool little spot to work on laptops:

[ShawnMTierney]

The Good:
- New
- Clean
- Good room service

The Bad:
- On three golf courses /not much to do for non-golfers
- $10 a day for internet
- $20 a week for the gym

[ShawnMTierney]

Plenty of room in gym at 6am

Breakfast was pretty good - bacon & eggs w OJ

Opening session was a little long but mostly interesting

[ShawnMTierney]

Session PV01's title, Complete Process Optimization was misleading - total sleeper zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Seesion CC13, Into to Drive integration with Logx and View was short and to the point - not bad

Session DC07, Low Cost Micro solutions - short but full of good info - very basic lab - random lab partners make some labs trying

Session PV12, Metrics Advanced - I really like the Report expert - good stuff

Session PV08, ViewPoint - cool, very cool, but how many customers are going to want the new objects in ViewSE regular clients? Need pricing too, and step forward program.

Session Distributor Round table - WORST SESSION EVER. Food was aweful - cold, no america style apps, so we filled up on beer and watched a customer powerpoint - ugh! I left half way through with two pals of mine to get a real dinner. Thanks Terry for buying!

[ShawnMTierney]

Alvin Toffler - very good speaker - very interesting.



Here's some of my notes:

- Alvin's first job was as an assembly worker after WWII

- Current Situation - He mentions the rise of Asia, the religious crisis in europe, South American Fasism, Muslin Terorists, Credit upheaval, Subprime crisys

- What was the 90's - ineternet, ipos, stock bust

- 1756 - first time more white collar workers than blue, first private sector computers

- Today's revolution? I.T., Nano Tech

World History - 3 stages of change

- Agriculture
- Industrial revolution ~1700, folks had JOBs, punched clocks, wear watches, work day not based on sunrise / set.
- Knowledge revolution

Crisis today - education, health, energy, emergency response, pensions

Systematic Issues - the breakdown reflecs society is changing and not keeping up with ot. Resembles the mass blindness of England 300 years ago

Shift from brawn to knowledge.

Everyone can us knowledge simultaneously, unlike a mfg line where only one product can be produced at a time.

We all grew up in the time of the Mass Produced, Mass Marketed, etc

moving towards more individualized products, and to smaller products are better

Key Fundamentals present through all history:
- Work
- Division of labor
- Time: Acceleration, today everyone is living in a hurry, things move faster
- Space: Location, place
- Knowledge: Data, Information, and Context

[ShawnMTierney]

Session FTSP07 - FT alarms and Events lab - pretty good labs

Session FTSP06 - Implementing FTAlarms and events - ugh same ppt as previous class - bailed early

Session PV05 - FT View SE design considerations - ok - similar to previous years

Session PV02 - FT View ME design considerations - better - different from last year

Session PV10 - PV Component lab - not bad - a little long and repetitive - Wayne and Glenn from IRBY kept me laughing

[ShawnMTierney]

I'm so not into dancers at dinner - or dancers hanging from the ceiling - but at least we could talk.





The fake casino was fun but the music was way to loud and some folks take longer to lighten up than others

[ShawnMTierney]

Having stayed up to midnight at EdFest with my 4 customers I slept in and then worked until lunch from the Hotel room.

Session C22, What's new in Logix Controllers - very good

Session CC08, Managing FW on Flash - pretty good

Session CC09, Designing Networks using reference arch. - pretty good - spent much of the class arranging dinner

Dinner plans found me and 2 colleges at the attached "Lands End" restaurant with 6 customers. GREAT RIB EYE. Very expensive.

[ShawnMTierney]

Session CC14 - Migration of legacy DCS's - very good

Session CC05 - Stratix Switches - pretty good labs

Session SA01 - FT ME Competitive landscape - good, but not up to date

Session SA04 - ViewPoint ppt - very similar to hands on lab ppt - redundant

Session SA02 View SE competitive roadmap - ugh, long boring nothing new - probably good review slides - left after intouch

[ShawnMTierney]

After traveling since Saturday, the flight home friday morning was long awaited.



My opinion of TechEd is that is was one of the best one's I've attended (I've only missed one). Next year they need to lower the volume of the music, and I'm not going to eat out so much (still have to figure that part out...)

Might even fly in monday morning? But, the wife wants to come down too, either before or after TechEd so that'll be fun.

My customers all gave TechEd great reviews - next year if we have that many customers come I'll be asking a sales guy to come down too - I'm there to learn - and I'm never going to be an "out on the town" entertainer.