webDU winding down ...

It's been a big couple of days, and while it's not actually over yet, the conference is starting to wind down. Yesterday we had keynotes from Mike Chambers and Bill Perry on the Flash Platform. Lots of very cool stuff with Flex hitting Labs now, and from what we saw of the new 2.0 framework, it's going to be a killer app making machine!

We also had Flash Lite sessions from Bill (Flash Lite 2.0 video) and Chris Blair from New Zealand (mutliplayer campaign based games for 2.0). Both gave people a great look at Flash Lite and certainly started a flood of questions (people started hammering Bill half way through his session).

Last night, as is now webDU tradition, was the conference banquet. Silly games and pre-dinner fun lightened the mood (was that Bill Perry in vampire teeth and a pirate sword? I don't know, I couldn't see from under my afro wig and lightsabre ...). The party just got started with the banquet, with just about everyone wandering downstairs to the casino to take advantage of Microsoft's (now annual) open bar tab. Hey, they've got the money ... so if Bill's paying (that's the Gates variety now, not Perry), then I'm there.

Day two of the conference is always a little light on numbers because of the previous evening's "activities" as Mark Blair put it in his Cold Fusion keynote. This is the second year that I've spoken on Day 2, and I think next year I'll be really pushing Geoff for a Day 1 slot (which I think most guys must do now). My session on the life cycle of a Flash Lite application went very well for the people that were there. Thanks to all my friends for coming along and sharing the love (and for not heckling too much). You can download the slides from my preso here if you're interested, but basically it was covering the big gap in Flash developer's knowledge where the development ends and they wonder who anyone with a phone is going to be able to buy what they just made. Hopefully it shed some light on the realities of creating Flash Lite content for commercial gain.

I'll make some more posts later on ... the final sesssions are just starting, then the speaker "roundtable" Q&A session. I'm staying with a mate tonight and am looking forward to an early night! More soon ...