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Feb
28

OzFox 2007 – Wrap up

The post conference buzz is abound with OzFox and I am feeling it as I spend 13 hours flying from Sydney to Los Angeles, push/rush through US Customs to change terminals, and hop on my four and a half hour flight back to Detroit Metro. The best part of traveling back to Detroit is I arrive three hours after I took off. Looks like I found a time machine after all {g}.

We headed to the Sydney International Airport by cab. I’m still not used to the driving on the opposite side of the road. The only other time I experienced this was back in 1995 when I was on a business trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. You also have to be extra careful as a pedestrian too, or you could get blindsided. I also noticed Aussies are a bit more aggressive drivers than I am use to.

I have mentioned how nice the weather has been during our short visit. Storms hit the airport just as we were about to board our flights and this delayed us for the better part of two hours. Fortunately the winds were kind and pushed my flight to LA. We arrived only an hour later than expected. I was concerned because I had to clear customs in LA, get my luggage and walk 15 minutes to another terminal. I was expecting the same long lines I have experienced in Detroit and Sydney, but instead got the short lines I experienced in Frankfort last November. There was even time to grab a veggie burger and make a couple of phone calls. Shocking – I did not have someone sitting in the seat next to me on both flights. What a treat!

There is one thing I want to point out that I forgot to mention in previous posts. Andrew Coates mentioned something at OzFox, something I have been looking from Microsoft to make my life easier. I have battled the beta software installs and the disclaimers that you might have to reformat your machine to fully unload the product before you install the RTM’d version. I have asked Microsoft to just provide me a virtual machine with the product loaded. This saves every beta tester the hassle of building their own VM, and simplifies setup. The negative drawback is the vendor (in this case Microsoft) don’t get the software tested on a variety of machines and configurations. No matter, Andrew’s “reveal” during my Professional Developer Toolkit session is the VHD Test Drive Program. He discusses it on his blog. Andrew also mentioned it costs nothing to register as a Microsoft Partner (which I have already done to get the Action Pack) and the program is available to registered partners. So at least we can offer this service to our customers. Now I hope Microsoft (and other software vendors) start offering this to me. The big deal on this is you don’t have to worry about distributing your OS license. This program makes it ok to do so via the VHD redistribution agreement.

I am back home now. I love to travel and see different parts of the world, but there is nothing like coming home to your family and your own bed. Gotta get my rest because tomorrow is going to be a big day with a couple new projects to get started, a conversion to run, and a big announcement too! Whew, no rest for the jet-lagged.

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3 Responses to “OzFox 2007 – Wrap up”

  1. March 1st, 2007 at 07:15 | #1

    Hi Rick, Welcome back to your home.
    After reading your posts and the others from participants of OzFox, I got really impressed with all the great contents that were presented. I really wish I could have been there…

    The time difference is really amazing ! When I was in NZ some years ago, the flight back to Brazil was in my birthday. We had a small comemoration in the morning, and took the plane at 12AM. After more than 20 hours, 2 stops (at Sidney and in Buenos Aires), we arrived in Sao Paulo on the same day, 6 hours later, and I had another commemoration for my birthday. I think that this is the only situation of a 48 hours day !!!

  2. Alex Feldstein
    March 1st, 2007 at 08:08 | #2

    Rick,

    Great reporting on what seems to have been a great conference, but what do you mean with Buenos AIres? I’ll have you know that in Argentina they drive on the right, just like in the USA. Maybe the jectlag played havoc with your memories ? :)

  3. March 1st, 2007 at 10:19 | #3

    Hi Alex,

    Maybe my memory is failing me, but I swear this was my experience {shrug}. I do specifically remember sitting in the back seat and noting how I could roll down the window and touch the car next to me as we raced through the streets and in circles in the round-abouts.

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