20 Years of PDC Keynotes Online

Robert McLaws — Sat, 21 May 2011 06:17:59 GMT

When I heard earlier today that Microsoft had put all of the Microsoft PDC keynotes online, I was very excited. But I have to admit, it was for selfish reasons. Because I would finally get to tell one of my favorite experiences. Apologies for the self-indulgent post… but then again, aren’t all my posts that way? I figured since the Rapture is coming in a few hours, I could indulge myself in a memory or two.

You see, PDC 2003 was my first Microsoft conference. It was also time when those terrible fires in LA happened, that cancelled many flights out (including mine). It had been a crazy couple days trying to figure out how to get there, but I ended up having to take a bus overnight from Phoenix to LA. It was a long night, and I didn’t get any sleep the entire bus ride.

It turns out, I ended up being an hour late. I was really disappointed at not being able to see Bill Gates speak in person. Corny, I know… he’s something of a hero of mine. Bite me. Anyway, I had WAAAAY overpacked, and ended up rolling into the middle of Allchin’s keynote with my HUGE suitcase. Who happens to be standing there but Robert Scoble. So we grab a seat, I’m excited but exhausted, and not 5 minutes later, this slide comes up. I didn’t have enough time to get my camera out, so I couldn’t catch a picture of the new Longhorn-focused website I had just launched on Jim Allchin’s slide deck.

But now I can.

Had I been any more tired, I probably would have stood up and yelled “That’s my site!” But I kept it together. Later, Scoble told me that Gates, Ballmer, and Allchin were backstage checking out LonghornBlogs.com, and reading what people were saying about the conference (this was WAAAY before Twitter). I wish I could have seen that.

At any rate. If you get a chance, you should take a look at the PDC 2003 and 2005 videos. Pretty interesting contrasts of what was going on at Microsoft before and after MSBlaster. That is, if you’re still here tomorrow.

Robert McLaws: Windows Edition : Windows Server "Longhorn", PDC 2005, WPF/E

20 Years of PDC Keynotes Online