So, while I'm sitting in my hotel room this Saturday afternoon (watching my beloved Cardinals get stomped into the ground by -gulp- the Dodgers), I feel like I've been drinking from a firehose for the past couple of days.
First, for those of you who have been sitting on the edge of your seat worrying about world security, rest easy. The TSA is still protecting us from chubby, bald, geeky threats...yes, they hand-checked my luggage again. The streak is still intact.
Thursday was an incredible day, spent entirely at Oracle HQ. There will be a blog post or two discussing Thursday in detail. I'm still contemplating on what to write and how to write it, because I think it will be a very important article. In the meantime, let me just say that Oracle's work in the area of user experience is a huge story. For those of you attending Oracle OpenWorld, come to the OAUG Fusion Council session on Sunday from 2-3 p.m. in Moscone West and you'll get a flavor for what I mean. Those of you who aren't able to make San Francisco this year, I'll get something up on the blog soon. And, trust me, this is big stuff.
I was part of the Oracle Ace Director briefing on Friday. Lots of good info on upcoming releases and improvements for the technology products. One recurring theme I was very happy to hear about: improving support for REST. For those of you considering a RESTful approach, you'll get news to be excited about very, very soon. The whole briefing was good - more about enabling developers and DBAs than some type of sales pitch. The presentation on APEX has really stuck with me. Although I do wish we had more news on applications-related technology; that piece was missing from the briefing. Nevertheless, the ACE Director briefings are always a highlight of OOW for me...we get more straight-up info here than anywhere else.
Today (Saturday) is like a brief respite before OOW kicks into gear on Sunday. However, my own brief respite has been just a little irritating. I changed hotels today, moving from San Marcos to downtown San Francisco. Checking into the hotel was a bit of an adventure, courtesy of some "help" from American Express, but all that got worked out (with a massive assist from my wife, who despite being loveable can really kick some butt when needed). Registration for OOW was no better: no speaker ribbon, no blogger ribbon (and you know how I love my ribbons) and no blogger credential. I had some friends work this last item on my behalf: Justin Kestelyn (Mr. OTN himself - I just refer to him as "The Man") got on the phone with the registration people, fellow ACE and blogger John Stouffer flirted with another registration specialist in an attempt to get some special consideration for me while his wife observed with more than a little amusement (which, understandably failed...poor John wound up sobbing on his wife's shoulder after the object of his flirtations broke out in uncontrollable laughter), and fellow ACE Director Steve Romeo offered to dance on a table for several of the registration specialists (an offer that was handily rejected - if you've ever seen Steve dance, you'd understand why). All those magnificent efforts when for naught. I understand that Oracle PR is working on the blogger thing, so that may still get worked out. Mr. Romeo was kind enough to buy me lunch today in an attempt to cheer me up and I'm having dinner with a group of old friends later tonight, but I hope this is not a harbinger of how OOW will go for me this year.
One last thing: I'm kicking off the previously-mentioned OAUG Fusion Council session tomorrow and speaking at the Unconference three times during OOW. I've decided to abstain from putting up any PowerPoint slides whatsoever at any of these sessions. I'm a little tired of watching the eyes in the audience drift away after I run through a few slides in a deck. I'm hoping that, by abstaining from PowerPoint, my sessions will have more give-and-take discussion rather than slipping into lecture mode.
So, batten down the hatches, here we go...
First, for those of you who have been sitting on the edge of your seat worrying about world security, rest easy. The TSA is still protecting us from chubby, bald, geeky threats...yes, they hand-checked my luggage again. The streak is still intact.
Thursday was an incredible day, spent entirely at Oracle HQ. There will be a blog post or two discussing Thursday in detail. I'm still contemplating on what to write and how to write it, because I think it will be a very important article. In the meantime, let me just say that Oracle's work in the area of user experience is a huge story. For those of you attending Oracle OpenWorld, come to the OAUG Fusion Council session on Sunday from 2-3 p.m. in Moscone West and you'll get a flavor for what I mean. Those of you who aren't able to make San Francisco this year, I'll get something up on the blog soon. And, trust me, this is big stuff.
I was part of the Oracle Ace Director briefing on Friday. Lots of good info on upcoming releases and improvements for the technology products. One recurring theme I was very happy to hear about: improving support for REST. For those of you considering a RESTful approach, you'll get news to be excited about very, very soon. The whole briefing was good - more about enabling developers and DBAs than some type of sales pitch. The presentation on APEX has really stuck with me. Although I do wish we had more news on applications-related technology; that piece was missing from the briefing. Nevertheless, the ACE Director briefings are always a highlight of OOW for me...we get more straight-up info here than anywhere else.
Today (Saturday) is like a brief respite before OOW kicks into gear on Sunday. However, my own brief respite has been just a little irritating. I changed hotels today, moving from San Marcos to downtown San Francisco. Checking into the hotel was a bit of an adventure, courtesy of some "help" from American Express, but all that got worked out (with a massive assist from my wife, who despite being loveable can really kick some butt when needed). Registration for OOW was no better: no speaker ribbon, no blogger ribbon (and you know how I love my ribbons) and no blogger credential. I had some friends work this last item on my behalf: Justin Kestelyn (Mr. OTN himself - I just refer to him as "The Man") got on the phone with the registration people, fellow ACE and blogger John Stouffer flirted with another registration specialist in an attempt to get some special consideration for me while his wife observed with more than a little amusement (which, understandably failed...poor John wound up sobbing on his wife's shoulder after the object of his flirtations broke out in uncontrollable laughter), and fellow ACE Director Steve Romeo offered to dance on a table for several of the registration specialists (an offer that was handily rejected - if you've ever seen Steve dance, you'd understand why). All those magnificent efforts when for naught. I understand that Oracle PR is working on the blogger thing, so that may still get worked out. Mr. Romeo was kind enough to buy me lunch today in an attempt to cheer me up and I'm having dinner with a group of old friends later tonight, but I hope this is not a harbinger of how OOW will go for me this year.
One last thing: I'm kicking off the previously-mentioned OAUG Fusion Council session tomorrow and speaking at the Unconference three times during OOW. I've decided to abstain from putting up any PowerPoint slides whatsoever at any of these sessions. I'm a little tired of watching the eyes in the audience drift away after I run through a few slides in a deck. I'm hoping that, by abstaining from PowerPoint, my sessions will have more give-and-take discussion rather than slipping into lecture mode.
So, batten down the hatches, here we go...
1 comment:
Interesting post! I also drink from a firehose before, Anyway, thanks for sharing this post. I enjoyed reading it.
-seff-
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