Sunday, June 15, 2008

Microsoft 2008 Launch Session at Kolkata

Today, KolkataNet arranged a launch event for the three newest products from Microsoft:

  1. Visual Studio 2008
  2. Windows Server 2008
  3. SQL Server 2008

The product launch took place at the Nicco Park Administrative Building and started from 10:30 AM. Heavy rainfall resulted in a poor turnout for the registered developers, but the attending crowd was in high spirits. Everybody was enthusiastic about the event.

SQL Server 2008

Jadeja Dushyantsinh Anopsinh from Microsoft started the session with a session on SQL Server 2008. He talked about the features that we can expect in the yet unreleased version of SQL Server, supposed to release later this year. The different new data type to be introduced in SQL Server 2008 were discussed.  The key management features along with various other security features were discussed. Out of the box support for a variety of new technologies would ensure that SQL Server goes a long way towards gaining the topmost spot for Databases used in the Industry.

Windows Server 2008

Sourav Basu delivered the next session with Windows Server 2008. The new HyperV was a big point for discussion. The difference between HyperV and Virtual PC also occupied a large part of the discussion. Various encryption and security features of Windows Server 2008 were also discussed. Forefront, the newest technology from Microsoft was also introduced. Bit Locker and NAP occupied a part of the talk too.

Visual Studio 2008

The last session of the day, on Visual Studio 2008 was delivered by Microsoft MVP, Abu Ismail. The session started with a discussion on the generations and evolution of Visual Studio from version 6 to 2008. Designer-developer conflict was discussed and XAML was introduced as a possible solution. A brief discussion followed on the newest features of C# 3.0 part of which was delivered by Jadeja. The get, set techniques was discussed, followed by extension methods. Inevitably, some discussion on the much talked about LINQ, followed. All the features were demonstrated in VS 2008.

Throughout all the three sessions, the audience participation was quite encouraging. The thoughtful exchanges by the industry professionals proved to be quite a learning experience for all of us. I am sure this will continue in the future sessions as well.

At the end ...

The session came to an end with TShirts being distributed to the most active participants. Jadeja thanked all the organizers: Abu Ismail, Sourav Basu, Arijit Basu and Robin Roy with token gifts.

The Best Part

But in my opinion, the most fruitful thing that came out of todays session was the planning ahead of many further sessions by KolkataNet. Ropbin Roy, COO Digital Avenue promised to arrange for a premise to hold the monthly sessions of KolkataNet. Topics of 6 next sessions were discussed and finalized with everybodys approval. Apart from the usual speakers, we will also get to see some new faces from the industry, who I'm sure will be a great addition to KolkataNet. A list of the sessions and a poll for deciding the day-of-week will soon be put up in this forum, so stay tuned.

As for my part, I have my Exams from 1st of July, so I will not be able to attend the next session, scheduled for 1st week of July on LINQ by Abu and Jadeja. :(

Conclusion

In conclusion, I guess we can say that June 15th 2008 was a significant day in the history of KolkataNet and TechBengal. I hope we see many such interesting sessions from this UG in future. The participation level and the number of new faces were really encouraging. As a student and a future developer, KolkataNet is proving to be a great source of knowledge for me.