This is the segment where I talk about how PDC went and what I thought of everything tied to it, including but not limited to such factors as my flight here, my hotel stay, the conference itself, the quality of the sessions, etc. in order to give people a feel of what to expect should said people ever decide to come to PDC, for example, next year.

I’m doing this because many people have contacted me during the course of PDC to find out what I would recommend doing in order to get the most out of PDC and other similar events, so I’ll almost definitely put up posts like this after every single major event which I attend.

You can catch the list after the break, though here’s the quick summary:

Virgin America: Overrated.
The Omni Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles: Amazing.
AMD: Awesome, even if afflicted by some minor foibles.
Microsoft: Wonderful with most everything this time around.

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The taskbar team has an amazing innovation up their sleeves, but if you ask any of the team directly, what do you get? They’ll tell you that the taskbar is more an “evolution” than a “revolution” in the Windows UI.

For those of you who aren’t convinced, the old taskbar actually happens to still be around, but only in the sense that the opened applications can have text next to their icons in the new taskbar. Besides that, the new taskbar functionality will all still remain intact, even though you can bring it close to looking like the old taskbar. Take a gander below; you’ll see more in our interview next week.

Yesterday was packed with much news about Azure and other cloudy things. Thus, I’ll focus instead on some of the other things which took place on the 27th of October, the first day of PDC.

Today’s happenings, likely including images from the party as well as images from other goings-on, will come near the end of the night (pacific time).

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PDC this year will be huge, but it actually looks mildly subdued. I’ll update this with pictures and general experiences as time passes.

One thing to note: the process by which this post was generated is highly experimental. It’s a system we also plan on using during the keynotes, during some of the sessions, and during the days themselves. The timestamps which you may see are not representative of when they occured; rather, they represent when the post was updated with the labeled information.

Check the break for pictures and very quick analyses of different happenings today.
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We started tossing subtle hints on the site last week to highlight our presence at this year’s PDC in Los Angeles. Now, roughly three weeks before the event kicks off, I’d like to know what you want us to cover the most: which keynotes you want to hear the most, which sessions you would prefer to hear, and which “UnSessions” you’d like to see. If it’s within our bounds (A Sinofsky Interview is out of the question, unfortunately), we can deliver.

Events to choose from:

• Preconference Sessions
• Conference Sessions
• Keynotes
• Symposia
• UnSessions

If you have any people in mind whom you think would provide good insight into a particular subject, feel free to list them as well and I’ll see what I can do.

If you’re registered, please leave your ideas as replies to this forum thread. If you’re not registered, feel free to leave suggestions here. (On that note, why not subscribe? We pay out of pocket for these trips; Even a little bit helps!)

You might get the impression from Victor’s introduction to v5 that AeroXperience will no longer be about breaking the latest, greatest, and awesomest (!) news from the realm of Windows, Office, and other technologies emerging from Microsoft. For many of you reading this post right now, this thought may be mildly disconcerting.

This is true, but only in a limited way.

AeroXperience has been known for being a great place to talk about the latest UI trends, and some of the exclusive front page content has been known to foster some, ahem, interesting discussions both on the forums and within the halls of Building 37 (and others) on Microsoft’s Redmond Campus. This was content we were convinced would bring additional enthusiast favor in Microsoft’s general direction, in addition to maintaining the current appeal Microsoft currently holds amongst user experience communities such as AeroXperience.

Over time, we have become home to not only some of the most dedicated Microsoft technology enthusiasts around, but we’ve also gathered a dedicated following of experts willing to provide their time in order to serve the greater good of these various communities. We expect to bring our readers and members some of the most qualified information, commentaries, tutorials, and general content thanks entirely to a core group of developers, hackers, and expert enthusiasts all with time to donate to the cause of useful information.

While opinions on current news and events relating to current Microsoft technologies may be presented on the front page, purely reverberated information (dry cut & paste) or private/internal material will no longer be used to substantiate the front page. Why rely on illegitimate material if we can instead provide some of the best original content?

Bryant Zadegan

aeroxperience | Chief Editor, Public Relations Lead