With OpenForce '07 only 2 weeks away, I want to provide the inside scoop on some of the exciting events which will be taking place at the conference. In many ways I believe this conference represents the tipping point for DotNetNuke, as it catapults our product and community into the mainstream Microsoft developer market.
Value Proposition
With the cancellation of PDC, DevConnections is the premiere Microsoft developer conference in 2007. With over 5,000 attendees and an army of expert speakers, DevConnections provides access to a massive amount of developer training resources. Since DotNetNuke OpenForce is co-located with DevConnections at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, OpenForce attendees are free to take advantage of as much of the DevConnections developer sessions and content as they wish. If you are interested in cutting edge Microsoft technology such as Visual Studio 2008 or Silverlight, you will have a direct opportunity to learn about these new offerings. So if your boss is questioning the business benefit of the OpenForce conference, you need to tell them that the combination of OpenForce and DevConnections is the absolute best value proposition for Microsoft developers this year!
KeyNote
I have the distinct honor of presenting the keynote address for the OpenForce conference. The keynote will touch on the worldwide growth of the DotNetNuke project to date, including a variety of valuable metrics on industry adoption, usage, and community involvement. It will also focus on our vision for the future, providing valuable insight into the DotNetNuke 5.0 Roadmap and beyond. As part of the keynote address, I also have the privilege to introduce a number of special guests:
Richard Gillis & Pete Diemert of C4 Communication will provide an overview of the highest volume DotNetNuke deployment which has been documented to date - The Official Website of the Australian Football League . The site currently handles 2.5 million unique users per month, 500,000 user sessions per day under peak load, 50,000 user sessions per hour under peak load, and 20,000 users concurrently.
Koji Kato from the Microsoft Windows Live Platform will explain the benefits of Windows LiveID and associated Live services. He will showcase how LiveID has been integrated into the DotNetNuke platform and how it is now being offered as an alternate authentication mechanism on dotnetnuke.com. He will also explain some of the new business opportunities for developers who wish to create custom DotNetNuke modules which leverage Windows Live services.
DOS101: Panel Discussion: Open Source on the Microsoft Technology Stack
This session will focus on the state of Open Source on the Microsoft technology stack. Presented as a panel discussion, this session will be hosted by myself and will include veteran open source developers Phil Haack ( SubText blog engine) and Rob Conery ( Commerce Starter Kit and SubSonic projects ). It will also include Scott Guthrie, General Manager in Microsoft's Developer Division. Session participants will share their opinions and viewpoints on Microsoft and Open Source and we will accept live questions from the audience.
DGN103: Panel Discussion: DotNetNuke – The Road Ahead
This session, hosted by the founders of DotNetNuke Corporation, will focus on our vision for the future of the platform. This includes both our vision for the evolution of the open source product and community, as well as our vision for the business model which will be employed by DotNetNuke Corporation to ensure the long term viability of the platform.
As part of this session, we are excited to introduce the first member of our Board of Advisors, Larry Augustin . Larry Augustin is an advisor to early stage technology companies. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Compiere, Fonality, Hyperic, Medsphere, Pentaho, SugarCRM, and XenSource. One of the group who coined the term "Open Source", he has written and spoken extensively on Open Source worldwide. We feel that Larry's experience and wisdom regarding open source business models will be instrumental in creating the optimal business foundation for the DotNetNuke project.
This session will be recorded live by Richard Campbell and Carl Franklin for DotNetRocks! .
DotNetNuke Booth
For the first time ever, DotNetNuke will have a dedicated booth in the exhibitor area of the conference. Representatives from DotNetNuke Corporation as well as from the DotNetNuke Core Team will be on-hand to answer questions and exchange knowledge. We will also have some literature available at the booth, outlining some of the service offerings available to the community. If you are looking for one-on-one time to share your thoughts and opinions with project representatives, I highly encourage you to take the opportunity to drop by the booth.