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Conference |
The Vendor Fair is now over, and everyone is packing up. We visited the booths of many developers, and were impressed by a few noteworthy items:
Of course, we have many pictures of the vendor fair and of the 4D community members we saw there. We now are on our way upstairs to the Vendor Fair; the next update to this page will have pictures of the booths and news of the new products. One note we had heard earlier but forgot until now: Metrowerks CodeWarrior fans will be very happy to hear that Metrowerks is working on a Windows version of PowerPlant. Loïc Vandereyken, now of Altura Software, revealed that Metrowerks is using the Altura libraries to port not only the PowerPlant application framework, but the CodeWarior IDE as well. Since the Altura libraries worked so well for porting 4th Dimension, we can only presume that the Metrowekrs porting effort will be of equal quality. We have a picture of some of the philosophizing lounge rats toasting the new version of 4th Dimension. After a search for a nearby source of AA batteries for the power-hungry QuickTake 150, we settled down in the famous Fairmont Lobby to wait for the developer vendor fair to begin. Soon, a round-robin chat with other developers ensued, and we discussed the normal vagaries of 4D-Geek-Life: whether ORACLE was a better solution than 4D, what to expect out of the new version of 4D, the current climate at ACI, and other mundane issues. We were very amused when Jeff West of Logical Inventions told us of his latest project: it seems that Mr. West has been busy recently building a totally 4D-based web solution for selling pornographic video tapes for an LA-based adult film producer. We think this might be the most interesting use of 4D we've heard of since the Bare Facts Video Guide. After the classes were over, we ventured to the Fairmont's fourth floor to check out the gala DATACraft Hospitality Suite. The scene we found was absolutely fabulous: imagine a hotel suite jam-packed with 30 or so avid 4D aficionados, all gawking at the latest from the newly-enlarged brain trust at DATACraft. We have a picture of DataWave creator Dave Robbins showing off the latest version of his baby to a very enthusiastic crowd. When we left, we were sure to take with us our copy of the DATACraft Demo Disc (along with a delicious cookie that Tom Dillon assured us he made from scratch.) We have some more pictures from the second session break:
After the second half of the morning sessions, conference attendees enjoyed a boxed lunch, Fairmont style. We have a picture of Ladue Systems' Don Lapin and KAT Business Systems' Dan Katz enjoying the Focaccia-bread sandwiches, German-style potato salad, Granny Goose potato chips, and best of all, the cookie. We wonder why it is that hotels seem to excel at cookie quality. Class breaktime let everyone rest their brains a bit, with many pupils warming themselves with Fairmont coffee -- the classrooms reminded us of our former home in Anchorage; thank goodness we didn't need to scrape the ice from the PowerBook screen. We have a picture of Automated Solutions Group's Mike Erickson chatting with Braided Matrix's Lincoln Stoller, who (unlike the rest of us) dressed for the weather. We have a picture of DATACraft's newest empolyee, Tom Dillon, sipping coffee with Richard Ray while waiting for classes to begin. (Is it true that Tom had to shave his legs in order to join DATACraft?) Morning came bright and early in Silicon Valley today, and eager attendees lined up to register for the conference. SQL Connectivity, Extension Writing, and JPR's famous Tao of 4th Dimension classes are all being held today. | |||